Normally, I would do some research on an issue and then give my two cents and move on. Living in MN we get a lot of the pro-ethanol propaganda and to be fair, I am not very knowledgeable on the subject.

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It is obvious to many people that our nation is undergoing a change and we are trying to do so at a time of unparalleled debt. This can be a tricky thing to do. How can one manage the budget, fight multiple wars and have socially progressive programs? This seems like a recipe for disaster, bankruptcy and possibly far worse.

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The recent devastation to hit Haiti has caused an outpouring of support from all over the world. It is clear that Haiti is enduring an unforeseen crisis and they need your help. If you would like to donate I have gathered this information from the Red Cross. I will also try my best to keep you updated with different videos from many different sources regarding this tragedy.

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The holidays are over and it’s the time of year to start celebrating a new beginning. That’s right its almost 2010 and it’s time to start thinking about that all important goal that you have been putting off because it would make a great new years eve resolution.

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Supplementation has become a staple of the strength training industry.  There are a million and a half companies out there with millions of products to pump you up overnight it seems.  Sometimes it’s hard to sort the bullshit from the good shit.  Mostly everyone knows the 3 main things to take: a protein, a creatine, and a good multi vitamin. How come a good BCAA supplement is not at the top of the list?

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I like most Americans suffer from a lack of sleep. We simply have way to much going on in the day, and simply not enough time to do it. When did life become so hectic? Without a doubt if you get a full night sleep every night you will feel much better day in and day out. A good night’s sleep with help you feel more alert, responsive, and overall a much happier person throughout the day. If you train for any kind of sport sleep is vital to your recovery time, your body needs to rest to rebuild all the damage you do in the gym.
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Walk past the cardio section and to the weight room section of your gym, look at 99.999% of the people there, at least males and ask them what their diet entails. You will hear protein, chicken, fish, protein (yes it’s that important), complex carbs, 3000 calories a day blah blah oh yea and creatine. Nice creatine the most respected supplement out there proven to work time and time again. May I ask what kind you take and how much? Aw shit man I take 3-4 scoops a day probably like 20-30 grams shits good for you, and you can never have too much of a good thing right? What does creatine do for you, do you know, why did you choose that brand? Oh…ummm, the guy at GNC said it was the best?

Well first off you need to know where creatine comes from. Creatine is naturally found in meat, mostly red meat. Creatine is manufactured naturally in the body from the amino acids glycine, arginine, and methionine. This process takes place in the kidneys, liver, and pancreas.  The body stores two kinds of creatine, free creatine (CR) and creatine phosphate (CP). 40% of creatine is stores as free creatine and the other 60% is stored in phosphate. On average male uses 2 grams of creatine per day, and it is replaced through normal diet.So what does creatine do for the body? Creatine replaces used adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is the power that drives your muscles. When the muscles is required to contract, APT splits and creates ADP, when this happens the energy released powers the muscle contraction. When ATP is depleted the muscle can no longer contract. There are a couple ways to rebuild the ATP. The easiest way is through creatine phosphate, which bonds to the ADP turning it back into ATP. If the body’s stores of CP are gone it has to find other ways to replenish the ADP.This is where your creatine supplement comes in hand. It increases both CR and CP. When you have more creatine free or phosphate in the muscle to use, you have further capacity to regenerate your ATP. This will allow for power output for brief periods of high intensity workouts. We say brief because of the fact that your cells and only store so much CR, once it is gone your body will look for other methods of replenishment.

So how much creatine should a person take. When starting a creatine workout it is suggested you have a loading phase, usually 5-7 days. High doses of creatine are suggested during this phase to saturate the muscles. 20 grams is usually used in this phase. After that a dose of about 5 grams a day is suggested as a maintenance phase. I personally don’t agree with the loading phase and maintence phase, obviously works for some people but I usually just shoot for a consistant 5-7 grams a day. A lot of people experience head and stomach aches in the loading phase, I don’t want this, so for me 5-7 grams a day keeps the doctor away, catch my drift? This is all based on personal preference though.

As covered before creatine supplementation causes the body to store more CP. It is well known that the body for whatever reason stores far below what it is actually capable of storing. With supplementation you are able to fill up the excess stores. An interesting effect of creatine supplementation appears to be enhanced ability for the muscle to store glycogen.

Glycogen is a form of carbohydrate stored inside the muscle that is used to fuel anaerobic activity (i.e. activity that is too intense to allow the cardiopulmonary system to deliver adequate oxygen). Many studies have shown that replenishing glycogen stores may aid recovery and hypertrophy (muscle growth). Bodybuilders use a protocol known as “carb-loading” to supersaturate their muscles with glycogen. Glycogen requires water to enter the muscle cell, therefore having higher glycogen levels means more fat-free mass and larger, fuller muscles. This is why people who just start taking creatine think it is a god send as they look bigger, not because they are stronger but their muscles are full of water.

So is creatine for you? Creatine may not be effective for every person. With any supplement there are health risks. There also seems to be a significant amount of the general population that has no effect from creatine.  People on a vegetarian diet seem to have a great response from creatine, more than likely because of the lack of normal creatine found in their diet. The opposite could be said for high protein diet individuals, especially those of us who get a lot of our protein from red meat.

Is creatine safe for me to take? Generally creatine is suggested to be used on cycles. It has been shown the using it for long periods of time in high doses does not have adverse effects. One study concluded that supplementation from nine (9) weeks up to five (5) years did not adversely affect renal function. Yet another study examined muscle damage, hepatic (liver) and renal (kidney) function, and found no adverse effects from creatine supplementation.

There is potential cause for concern, however. The by-product of creatine use in the muscle is creatinine. Creatinine is typically harmless, and is flushed by the kidneys. When the kidneys are not functioning properly, however, any type of excess strain can cause problems.

There are many different brands of creatines out there. Most people stick to creatine monohydrate which bonds with water, while others swear by Creatine Ethyl Ester which is basically creatine with a bunch of other junk thrown in to up absorption and help the effects of creatine. It is all based on personal preference. I have used both and have worked well with both. Do you research before walking into GNC as they just want to sell what makes the most commission?

Train Hard and Supplement Smart

Brandon Braner
IronBar Fitness

One thing that’s nice about lifting in a commercial gym is you are never short on a couple of gym rats sitting around making bullshit conversation about stuff they aren’t sure about what they are talking about. Anywhere from their silly little I am going to bench every day routine while wearing sandals in the middle of winter (yes every night at 10 PM a guy goes in sandals and all he does is bench and upper body…every day…we will come back to what he has sparked inspiration for later), to what the supplement of the week is.

As of late people seem to steer away from the classic favorites such as protein and the correct carbs to provide muscle rebuilding amino acids and energy and going to pre work out NO powders and post work out whatever they want to drink. Not to knock these products as I have used the pre workouts myself for days I need that extra edge…you really need to ask, do I need them for motivation?

I recently listened to a couple of mid twenties guys in the gym talking about their new N.O. product and all the MuscleTech products they are taking to get them that much more fired up for their workout.  Then they all get pissed off when they aren’t getting this super vascular pump that makes them lift so much more weight when they take $100’s of dollars worth of products. I can’t help but to laugh and think to myself what are these kids thinking. I can guarantee later in life all these misc. supplements will cause some bodily harm to them being taken I the high doses they are popping them at.

This brings me to what I refer to as my powerlifting frame of mind. The story above about the kids applies to many different aspects of the gym and not just about supplements.  Talk to anyone in the gym and there is something special they do to get themselves in the mood to lift. This is not a bad thing, I have certain shirts that I feel more comfortable lifting in, I bring my I-pod to listen to certain music, and mostly because I can’t lift to the Britney Spears shit they play in my gym. Another huge thing for a lot of people, is that pretty girl over in the corner, how much can you attempt to show off and further more look like a jackass? But do you need these things like the kids need their supplements to get in the mood to workout hard.

You need to find something within yourself that makes you want to success in whatever it is you are doing, in this case working out.  Mine has always been success, I have always wanted to do the best at whatever it is that I am competing at. Did you high school football coach ever say leave it all out on the field but you never knew what the hell he meant? When he said leave it all out on the field, it’s a way of saying have no regrets, have you ever thought to yourself man, I could have pushed that bar a little bit harder and I could have gotten that weight…then you didn’t leave it all out on the field.  The point behind that is finding something that is not an external staple that you need with you to make sure you get the most out of your workout. Another thing that has recently come to be a huge drive in my workouts is my mother’s passing.  At the wake and the funeral there wasn’t a single person that was there that mom hadn’t mentioned something to about my lifting and everyone knew how proud she was of me for it. Some people call this silly other people call it me being a fucking baby, but now I lift as sort of a remembrance to my mother. If you need to find something that like do it.

The biggest thing I can say is supplements are exactly that a supplement. Something to help you on your way, something extra you can do to increase what you are already doing. They shouldn’t be your god send, something you put all your faith in. You cannot use them as a safety net for piss poor training habits. If you skip a workout, the protein shake is going to do you no good. You need to find that internal source of determination that keeps you going and block out all the external junk, no one else is going to do it for you.

Find your fire and good luck in your training,

Brandon Braner
www.ironbarfitness.com

Most people I talk to at the gym ask me about my training and how to move big weight and a million other questions about how to do what I do in the gym. Then 90% of the time I come back with the question, are you interested in competing? Oh no they say, I could never lift that amount of weight.
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I have heard it over and over again that milk is bad for you, most recently
I heard it from my 81 year old grandma. Now wait didn’t she grow up in the
era of milk does a body good? This got my mind wondering and lead me to some
research on if I should be consuming my normal gallon of milk a day.

My research led me to some pretty interesting information on the bovine growth
hormone (rBGH) they give cows.
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Anywhere you work you will hear it; I am going to go get a cup of coffee. Sometimes people have a huge thermos of it. Take a walk down an urban side walk, what do you see, I would say probably one coffee shop for every 100 people. The coffee craze in America is out of control. Everyday there is a new Star Bucks or local chain popping up. This has me wondering what are the benefits to drinking coffee rather than caffeine which we all know is the main reason we all drink it.
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It’s Friday night and it’s time to find something to do. If you are like me, a mid twenties man (or women, not like me) most of the time there is only one option. We all filter down to the bar in some flash cloths trying to impress the opposite sex. I would say that 99.9% of the time this includes some if not copious amounts of alcohol. Generally this night is followed by a terrible night’s sleep, and a almost unbearable head ache the next day, yes you are hung over, but also you may have ruined your previous day’s workout.
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Cannabis (marijuana) is a Schedule 1 drug. US federal law prohibits use of cannabis and is illegal even if prescribed by a physician. This classification also includes methamphetamines and many other potent substances. Commonly consumed by smoking, people use cannabis in benign social settings that have many similarities to the consumption of alcohol.
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Source: FDA

Important Supplement recall notice.

The trust we put into food and drug companies is outstanding.  Do we really know what goes on in the factories of where our supplements are made? For that fact do you even know, we are so busy checking what is in our supplements, have we ever checked to see in which country they are produced?
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