Less running, more weights???

[wandyfan]

Hi Kerry,

I just need pointing in the right direction.

Since the start of January I've been on a campaign to get myself fit. I'm 6'2" and was about 13st 10lbs. I've been running about 5-6 miles, 4 - 5 times a week (25-30 miles per week) in an attempt to burn body fat and tone up. I'm now 13st 1lbs however I don't want to look skinny.

I'm considering starting weight training in order to put the weight back on as muscle. I currently have 3 nutrition products. Vyomax Maxi Carbs Powder, USN Pure protein ISF-1 and Kre-Alkallyn capsules.

Basically I want to know how best to utilise these products. How much and how often of each should I be taking daily and do I need to cut my running distances down and concentrate more on lifting?

Or am I wasting my time with these products and need to do something completely different?

I do intend to start using CNP products after these and continue to seek your advice.

Regards, Andy

[kerrykayes]

kk - I read your post and wondered how I can possibly answer you, it's like asking Jag (or dare I say Bentley) about your car, when you are driving a VW. In other words you are asking me "how best to utilise these products" when they are not products that come from CNP. I don't include some of these ingredients in CNP's range for a particular reason. The protein powders you are talking about, ask the manufacturers, do they come from a cheese plant? and they been heat treated above 60C degrees. which means they have been denatured. There is a lot more to protein than amino acids and as far as the Kre Akyllyn capsules, the problem with creatine supplementation is not the creatine itself, but how we take it. The original studies on creatine supplementation recognized that creatine was best absorbed and utilized by the body when it was consumed at an acid pH. Why? Creatine is a chemical that reacts rapidly with water. When the creatine reacts with water, it forms a new compound that is not anabolic and could even do some harm to your kidneys - creatinine. At neutral pH (the pH of water) this reaction happens quite rapidly. So, you might mix your creatine into water and then over a span of 5 to 10 minutes drink your creatine. The problem is that over that time span, the creatine is converting to creatinine. If you started out by mixing 5 grams of creatine into the water, after 10 minutes, you might be drinking 1 gram of creatine and 4 grams of creatinine. This is not optimum for an athlete. Researchers discovered that the reaction of creatine to creatinine is slowed significantly if creatine is dissolved in acid pH water (coca-cola, orange juice, etc). At acid pH, much of the creatine you mix in actually makes it into your blood stream as creatine - not as creatinine. Some savvy marketers came up with the idea of marketing "buffered" creatine - buffered to remain at a sufficient acid pH when mixed into water so that it remained as creatine while consumed. Creatine, when buffered to remain at acid pH is more effectively absorbed than creatine consumed at neutral pH. One company patented the idea of buffered creatine. The patent prevented other companies from also marketing buffered creatine. So, many companies tried to figure out how to prevent creatine from converting to creatinine without buffering at acid pH. One company figured out that creatine/creatinine conversion was also slowed down significantly if one went towards the alkaline end of the pH range - just as effectively as going towards the acid end of the pH range - this was the birth of alkiline pH creatine. Others started looking at how to stabilize creatine in neutral pH water. One of the best ways is to add a chemical group on to the creatine molecule that will prevent it from converting to creatinine at neutral pH. Products such as Creatine Ethyl Ester are examples of chemical groups being added on to the creatine molecule to stabilize it against conversion to creatinine. Which form is best? Take your pick. For me, it seems most logical to go with the least expensive form - creatine monohydrate - and mix it into orange juice when you drink it. As for proper dose of creatine, the original studies showed that a dose of 5 grams was sufficient to give the optimum effect (but those studies were performed with creatine monohydrate being consumed at acid pH). Proponents of Creatine Ethyl Ester state that a dose of 2.5 grams is all that is necessary from CEE. I would tend to want to save my money and stick with the original studies and take 5 grams per day of creatine monohydrate in orange juice. You need to take creatine every day to gain maximum effect. It builds up in your muscle tissue and gets depleted every day also.

As your main goal is losing body fatI think you should do come cardio that is more concentrated in losing body fat, than fitness.

As you want to lose body fat, it means that you have eaten more Kcals (units of energy) normally from carbohydrates and fats than were needed by the body for energy and if you have eaten more of these than was required, your body has store them as energy for future use. To lose that body fat you now have to eat less energy than the body needs or use more energy.

Your body uses blood glucose and glycogen for immediate energy so if you train extremely hard you are using energy very fast, so your body will need fast energy which is blood glucose and glycogen. This will not burn body fat and when you have run out of blood glucose/glycogen, you will “hit the wall” which means your body cannot process body fat fast enough so you will simply stop training.

To lose body fat you need to train more moderately (slow energy output) so your body can use slow energy which is body fat. The best way to calculate this is as follows:

220 minus (your age) = Maximum heart rate, train at 60%/70% of this.
Example 220 minus (a 20 year old) = 200 maximum heart rate, 60%/70% of this 120/140 beats per minute.

If you can maintain your heart beat at 120/140 BPM as a 20 year old, you will be using energy at a rate that your body will burn body fat and not sugars. Also, if you train at 100% maximum you may only be able to train for 10 or 15 minutes, risk shin splints but if you train at 60%/70% you may be able to do this for over an hour and burn more overall Kcals.

You must also concentrate more on your carbohydrates and stay away from simple sugars. All carbohydrates (4 Kcals per gram) are sugars and for simplicity let’s split them into two categories, fibrous and starch.

Fibrous carbs are obviously anything that is high in fibre which is veg and these carbohydrates are normally high in volume and low in Kcals. An example :- a normal portion of mixed veg is about 100 grams but contains less than 40 Kcals.

Starch carbohydrates are a lot higher in Kcals and these give you energy. These are rice, pasta, potatoes, whole grains etc.

You can then further split starch carbohydrates into 2 categories, simple and complex. They are both the same energy value (4 Kcals per gram) yet simple carbohydrates under most circumstances will create body fat but complex carbohydrates will not but will give you timed (slow) released energy.

Simple food carbohydrates are anything that has been processed. The body does not need to work hard breaking them down and because of this they go into your blood very quickly. This elevates your blood sugar levels, higher than you body is comfortable with. Once your body realises this, it releases a hormone called insulin which takes that sugar out of the blood but your body will never waste energy, it will convert it to body fat.

Complex carbohydrates have to be broken down by the body and this process takes a lot longer, releasing the energy slowly. The energy (sugar) drip feeds into the bloodstream and does not create high blood sugar levels (no need to release insulin) allowing your blood sugar levels to remain normal.

When you train you use your blood sugar (energy) a lot faster. These levels start to get low and as you’ve only eaten complex carbohydrates (that are being converted to sugar slowly), you can end up with low blood sugar levels, known as hypoglycaemia. When you have finished training (if you have trained properly) you need to restore those blood sugar levels to normal as quickly as possible. If you don’t take simple sugars your body will goes into various emergency modes. Pro Recover contains these simple sugars to combat this.

You cannot train (any sport) without using muscles so as soon as you have finished you need nutrients to help recover from the trauma of training. The ideal nutrient is a fast acting protein, this is the only time you should ever take fast acting protein. The best one is hydrolysed whey which is also in Pro Recover.

Pro Recover - http://www.cnpprofessional.co.uk/all-products/post-workout-recovery/pro-recover-1-28kg-16-servings-post-workout-recovery-drink.html/

If there is anything specific to ask me after this then by all means do so.

[wandyfan]

Wow, Firstly thankyou very much for the amount of time and effort you've put into your response. Now that i've read it I quickly realise how ignorant I am to the complexity of suppliments... I pretty much thought protein was protein, carbs were carbs, all under different brand names. How wrong I am. I shall learn a little more about it before I come back for any advice so's not to waste your time educating me with your lengthy reply. I also now understand why you can't comment on the products I have been advised to buy by someone else as you don't know their exact content and the processes in which they're made, unlike your own products.

First things first, before i use up anymore of your time I think I'll be looking at CNP products from now on so that I can continue to seek your sound advice in future. I'll go away and think about what it is I'm trying to achieve exactly.

Before I do though can I just ask two quick questions...

1. Do you do privately arranged nutrition and training consultations in person at your gym. If so how am I best arranging this with you? (Through this forum, email, telephone etc)

2. How did you know I drive a VW? (LOL, that's a joke!)

Thanks again for your time and effort in replying, it's very much appreciated.

Andy

[kerrykayes]

kk - Thank you for understanding the position I was in, I did a seminar at Betta Bodies (my gym) on Wednesday this week and didn't advertise it but over 100 people turned up, last night people were saying they would like to hear it again and some people couldn't make it because they work shifts etc. so I'm going to do another one on Wednesday 17th March at 7pm, it is free of charge as it is a way of me educating my members and not having to repeat myself again and again.

[admin]

admin - The date for Kerry's seminar has now changed to Wednesday 17th March 2010 at Betta Bodies gymnasium ,Denton.