Caffeine

by Steve W.
A member brought us an article a while back that was quoting several studies saying that caffeine can boost athletic performance. Being an unabashed fan of caffeine (coffee) user myself I thought, “Wouldn’t that be awesome?” So I went into our stacks of NSCA journals and found a study that tested the effects of moderate caffeine intake on Colligate level football players in anaerobic (high intensity) activities. The test was published in the August 2009 issue and was conducted at Arizona State University.

In this study 17 colligate level football players underwent combine-like conditioning tests, including the 40 yard dash, 20 yard shuttle run, and a bench press, 185 lbs or 225 lbs reps to failure. One group of athletes was given a moderate dose of caffeine one hour before performing the drills and another group was given a placebo. Some of the athletes that where given the dose of caffeine reported moderate improvements in there tests. However, there was no significant difference in performance between the two groups.

The good news for us coffee heads is that there appears be no harm whatsoever in athletic performance either. I still feel however that one will be better suited to stick with water as their primary source of hydration. Other articles suggest that caffeine’s positive effects are more apparent in endurance type activities as opposed to anaerobic activities, which would agree with the NSCA article.

XGym Seminar

The Soda Jerk

by Evan Bylsma


There have been some new studies recently showing once again a very negative consequence to drinking America's favorite type of beverage: soft drinks.

A recent study came to the conclusion that as little as 2 soft drinks a week can almost double a persons chance of developing pancreatic cancer, which also happens to be one of the most deadly forms of cancer we face. The finger of blame once again points to the extremely high sugar content found in the soft drink industry.

This was all based on quite a large study which followed 60,500 participants in Singapore over a 14 year study. Of those participants, 140 were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and it was noted that those individuals having more then 2 soft drinks a week increased their risk of the disease 87% higher then those that did not drink as many soft drinks.

The pancreas is the organ in your body responsible for producing insulin which is the hormone needed to transport sugar from your blood into your cells for use as energy. Obviously the enormous amount of sugar contained in soft drinks puts a strain on the pancreas often times leading to pancreatic cancer.

There are some new soft drink products out there such as "Zevia" which is a soft drink sweetened by the stevia leaf, a sugar alternative that PJ has been preaching about for years now. Best of all "Zevia" has a Glycemic Index rating of zero which means your pancreas will not need to dump insulin as a result of drinking it. Bottom line is, keep sugar content low, and stay as far away from commercial soft drinks as you can.

XGym

We at the X Gym pride ourselves in minimizing time spent in the weight room while still surpassing the results of traditional resistance training. More evidence recently published (in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research) confirm that shorter amounts of rest given between exercises and/or repetitions matches, and in most cases surpasses, the results (muscle gain) of longer amounts of rest and recovery during resistance training—thus decreasing the amount of actual time spent in the gym. The presence of serum growth hormone was greater in the individuals in this study who rested less in between sets than those who rested longer, resulting in equal or great muscle gain in less gym time. Once again, the X Gym philosophy is confirmed by the latest research, saving you valuable time.

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Acid Rocks

Think of everything you’ve ever, ever thought about lactic acid. Now, throw it out the window. Actually, only some of it. But to find out what parts of it, read on…

Lactic acid is completely malignant. In fact, recent research has shown that our muscles create it intentionally. We actually use it as a fuel source. Some of the recent research actually believes it to be the preferred fuel source for our muscles, but the jury is still out on those details. So, why is it bad, then? Part of what we believed to be true before, still is. Too much lactic acid is bad. An accumulation will give you the “burn” you’re used to when you perform intense exercises.

What does this mean, then? In a nutshell, lactic acid is a great source of fuel that our bodies create, but can be detrimental to performance if levels get too high. But, like almost anything in life, you can get good at what you practice. It’s called the SAID principle: Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands. In other words, your body will start to change for the better, according to what you tell it to do. Since lactic acid is only created when we exercise, exercising is the only way we can “practice” utilizing lactic acid. The harder we go, the more lactic acid we’ll produce, thus forcing our bodies to become more proficient at using it.

This knowledge can also be applied during interval workouts. Instead of completely stopping between hard bouts, try walking, slowly jogging (or the equivalent to your given piece of exercise equipment). This will use some of the lactic acid that has been produced during the hard bouts, thus help keep its levels at bay.

You should go for the burn when you workout, so you improve the way your muscles tolerate it and to teach them to use it as well. The burn is your friend! The more it burns, the faster you are conditioning that muscle for the most rapid results possible. You will also burn more fat after exercise as your muscles respond with metabolic, chemical and hormonal changes to adapt, change and get stronger.

Look for Dr. George Brooks to continue studies on lactic acid for more updates in science.