Vitamin shop magazin 022014

EN/NR 02/2014

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SUCCESS STORIES VITAMINSHOP®

MICHAŁ KARMOWSKI

ONE HUNDRED

PER CENTOR

NOTHING!

My adventure with sports began at a very early age. I was 12 when I became a member of a handball team in the pri-mary school I used to at-tend. I quickly began to develop myself towards

sports – I had good motor skills, I used to run quite well and that is why my results were very good. Then I got the impression that sport would

always make a part of my life. Teachers and trainers seeing my potential moved me to a sports school (handball) in grade 7. The division was simple

there – girls used to train basketball, while we would play handball. I had very good memories of the period, as fair sports competition had a very positive im-

pact on my relationships with my peers. Finishing the primary school I was dreaming

If I am not sure about doing something, I d

on’t do it at all.

But if I get down to something, I d

o it in 100%.

That applies to my whole life – I can’t do otherwise.

4www.vitamin-shop.co.uk

02/2014

MICHAŁ KARMOWSKI

ONE HUNDRED

PER CENTOR

NOTHING!to continue sports and still play handball, but the sec-ondary school I chose – the Technical College of Com-munication – was very de-manding. I had to spend lots of time studying, so trainings collided with my school du-ties. Unfortunately, it made me give up sport for some time.

Beginning of a great sports passionI had always liked physical eff ort and a sporty fi gure was something I was dream-ing of. Unfortunately, similarly to many of my peers, I used to eat lots of sweets and food that had nothing in common with a healthy diet, so my silhouette was far from ideal. That is how I fi rst went to a gym. It was a gym placed in a basement in my district. The equipment was basic: incline bench, fl at bench, two lat pulldowns – top and bot-tom, with several home-made barbells and dumbbells. I became hooked on bodybuild-ing thanks to older colleagues who I used to


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train with. Initially, due to a complete lack of knowledge, we imitated one another. These boys helped me discover that bodybuilding was the sport I wanted to do. The discipline became my passion. I found more and more pleasure in it during subsequent trainings. From the very beginning I knew that body-building, or exercising in a gym, was not for a while. I got really crazy about it. At the age of 17 I covered the walls of my room with posters of the champions of that time: Flex

Wheeler, Dorian Yates, Chris Cormier, Paul Dil-lett and all other professionals whose photos I could fi nd in magazines. I used to spend all the money I collected during birthday or holidays on buying bodybuilding magazines, such as “Flex” or “Muscle & Fitness”. English issues were available only in one bookshop in Gdańsk. Other people my age and family members could not understand my devotion and interest in the sport. They would spend the money on some pleasures and I would come back home with the magazines to cut out the posters with my idols and champions as quickly as possible. Bodybuilding was con-stantly present in my life – I used to train in a gym, develop the mass as a normal teen-ager, namely eat a lot with no knowledge about nutrition. At that time, people in all gyms kept on saying that training makes the foundation of success. Nobody would tell us anything about a diet apart from the fact that you have to eat a lot. At the age of 20 I weighed 138 kg. I was very big and strong, but I also had too much fatty tissue. Instead of going to the gym in the basement, I start-ed to train with strongmen in Przymorze, in a club called ATLETA. I looked at how they handled the weights and tried to imitate them. After some time, I gained a diff erent approach to my mass. I felt heavy and my weight became an obstacle in my everyday life. My friends kept on telling me I was too fat and they would even call me “Pork neck”. It was the result of my eating habits: I liked eating a lot but not necessarily healthy. I felt bad in my body and wanted to change it. I made a decision to lose some weight. I fo-cused on losing the fatty tissue I had been

building for so many years. I started boxing to burn as much fat as possible. I found a very good kick-boxing trainer – Rafał Kałurzny – and used to train under his supervision three times a week for some time. Naturally, I did not forget my real hobby – going to the gym, which I did regularly 3-4 times a week. I managed to lose some fatty tissue but a poor diet, i.e. eating wrong products, pre-vented me from achieving the silhouette of my dreams. At the beginning of 2004 I had

to leave to work and came back only 2 years later. That was the period when I continued doing exercise and reading bodybuilding magazines, where I learnt how important a diet is for training. I also discovered that the diet determines 70% of the success in developing a nice silhouette. I changed my diet and did not have to wait long for the results – when I came back home I weighed 92 kg and had visible abdomen muscles. At that time I started training in a gym located in Gdańsk Zaspa and in 2006 I met Jan Urba-nowicz there. He took me to the fi rst rugby training. I liked the sport. I joined the team of the coach of Lechia Rugby Gdańsk of the day. Running on the beach with the fellow team members or training with Jan helped me de-velop a good and sporty silhouette. Unfor-tunately, I suff ered a spine injury, which was particularly troublesome in my everyday life for a long time. Later on, it turned into sciatic nerve damage and forced me to quit rugby trainings and going to the gym. I had to give up all physical exercise for a month and a half. Regular rehabilitation combined with natural medicine therapy helped me relieve the pain to some extent and that is how I started it all over again. My fate did not let me continue playing for the Lechia team but since I loved rugby and was perceived as a creative and involved person, I was off ered to become the team manager. It was also then when I became a manager of a shop with diet sup-plements. As you can see my whole private and professional life were related to sports.That period was full of new experiences, as I met my fi rst coach and good friend – Marek Olejniczak, the current bodybuilding world

champion in the heavy weight category. It was he who took me for the fi rst proper training of legs. I still laugh that the muscles I trained with Marek then, have developed most of my other muscles too. He put a spell on my legs and I am most proud of them in my whole silhouette. Marek was the fi rst per-son to convince me to take part in a body-building competition. He also helped me prepare for it. I found it hard to understand why it was so important to count every sin-

gle calorie, as I had never done it before. I knew what products to use but I didn’t have the vaguest idea about counting calories. Hard work, systematic approach and conse-quence are most important to be successful.

Bodybuilding – a way of lifeIn 2008 I took part in my fi rst bodybuild-ing competition in Rypin. I took the 12th place among 19 contestants in the weight category of 95 kg. Then I promised to my-self that I would strive to be better in every subsequent season. In 2009, the coach of the national team – Leszek Michalski – was preparing me for the forthcoming competi-tion. I participated in a grouping and gained new experience thanks to Leszek. I also owe him my winning of the Bodybuilding Debuts competition in my own and in the open cat-egory. Three weeks later I was second best in the Polish championship in the heaviest category in bodybuilding (+100 kg).

Both victories kindled my appetite to take part in other competitions and developing, consequently. I met Radek Słodkiewicz who became my mentor and found a perfect diet for me. More importantly, he was preparing me in the last week before the competition, which is most important in this sport. Under his supervision I built several kilograms of muscle mass and weighed 115 kg in the com-petition in 2013. Until now Radek Słodkiewicz has been of great support for me and I can

Unfortunately, I su� ered a spine injury, which was particularly trouble-some in my everyday life for a long time. Later on, it turned into sciatic nerve damage and forced me to quit rugby trainings and going to the gym. I had to give up all physical exercise for a month and a half. Regular rehabilitation combined with natural medicine therapy helped me relieve the pain to some extent and that is how I started it all over again.


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always rely on him. The same applies to Rob-ert Piotrkowicz’s wife – Joanna. You certainly wonder what a woman who does not take part in competitions knows about prepar-ing a contestant. But Joanna is a woman with great knowledge about the mechanisms in the body and the impact of particular diet elements on the body.

New stimuli – new motivationPreviously, still in 2009, I went to the USA for the Mr. Olympia competition in Las Vegas. It was the opportunity to meet top bodybuild-ers who were my great idols. I extended my knowledge in dietetics, supplementation and training. The whole stay in the USA and the impressions I had became a stimulus for me to choose my future career.

First, I completed a bodybuilding instructor’s course and then a course for an international per-sonal trainer. In the meantime I was extending my knowledge of natural medicine, dietet-ics, supplementation and how to run personal trainings with clients. In the evenings, I would spend my time reading medical guidebooks and books on nutrition in sports.

2012 saw the beginning of my cooperation with TREC. For two years now they have con-stantly supported me in all my undertakings. Moreover, I have almost unlimited access to the top class supplements produced by TREC NUTRITION. We jointly develop many ambi-tious and interesting projects. We participate in a number of sports and charity events. Last time it was the Festival of Vampires involving actively persuading young people to donate blood, or an event called “Let’s burn calories”. Our cooperation has resulted in videos called “ASK A TRAINER” and “DIETETIC CUISINE”. Some time ago we also created an innova-tive project called “A SPORTSPERSON’S DI-ARY”, with a video camera fi lming my every-day life for twelve weeks. It was very popular. Owing to people who support and motivate me there are more and more ideas we want to implement with TREC.

Simultaneously, I was developing my Face-book profi le. I still regularly publish descrip-


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tions and photos of my meals and exercises for particular areas of the body. I also share information from my private life. In my profi le you can fi nd information about places where you can eat low-calorie meals or dietetic des-serts. At present there are almost 70,000 ac-tive users on my fanpage. They are people who motivate one another and whom I moti-vate and inspire. They are active in the forum, ask for advice and share new ideas. It boosts me for even more intense activity and harder work. Such a great popularity of my FB profi le helps me share my knowledge with a large number of people and believe that Poles will be even more sporty and determined in their sports activities. There are many people whom I helped to get rid of excess weight.

Naturally, I still participated in bodybuilding competitions and in 2010 won the second Polish Vice-Championship and the Polish bodybuilding competition in Słupsk. Then I won a competition in Strzegom. In 2011 I was the fi rst one in Poland to win the Polish Championship of the NAC federation. I went for the World Championship to Lux-embourg, where I was ranked among the top six contestants and ended up as the 5th. In the same year I also won the Polish Cup of the NAC federation and took part in the most prestigious competition held by the organisation – Mr. Uni-verse in Ger-many.

Nevertheless, there were also hard moments in my life. The greatest diffi culty was to com-bine preparations for competitions with work. Accumulation of duties and personal consultations prevented me from participat-ing for one season. Then I received great sup-port and understanding from my friends and family. I threw myself into work.

I became a manager of instructors in IMPULS FITNESS club in Gdańsk. Then I got a propos-al to manage and develop ENERGY club in Gdynia. My task was to build the place from scratch and develop it. I was successful since ENERGY has so far been doing really well.

My own fi tness club

– dreams come trueIn 2013 after the expiry of my one-year con-tract with Energy Club, the idea to open my own club crossed my mind. Together with my wife we faced the challenge and within four months we managed to create our original

ALL TIME FITNESS club, located in Gdańsk at ul. Fieldorfa 2. It was opened in No-

vember but has been developing really fast ever since. We have a sauna zone with a relaxation room, fi tness zone, room for

a functional training and a gym with excellent equip-

ment, cardio area and a bar with supplements. Everybody

can enjoy friendly and homely atmosphere in our club. Our clients

have the opportunity to exercise with the best trainers in the Tricity.

It is all available without any time limits and at a very attractive

price. We are open to peo-ple with passion. New ideas are constantly born in my head. We are mo-tivated by the increas-ing number of people coming to our club. It is nice to look at those who

come back for the follow-ing trainings with smiles on

their faces. Feel invited to visit ALL TIME FITNESS and be active there.

2013 was a lucky year for me. Be-sides opening the club, I won the Polish Championship of the NAC fed-

eration, the Polish Championship of the WBFF federation and became the

European Vice-Champion. Bodybuilding takes my whole free time. It has always

been and will be my greatest passion.

Unfortunately, since I have broken my chest attachments, it is impossible for me to achieve further international success. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. This muscle group is my drawback. I had the ambition to win prestigious international competitions, so due to this defect and willing to change it I applied for a programme on TVN Style called “Life with-out shame” to try to have my chest operated on. Such corrective surgery is very expensive but TVN was supposed to cover all the costs. Unfortunately, after a specialised consultation it turned out that suturing the broken attach-ments would prevent me from further training. A load would quickly damage them and make them return to the condition from before the operation. Plastic surgery seemed to be the only solution but I did not want to have any im-plants. It contradicts my rules and the idea I have about sport. I achieved all my successes work-ing very hard. I would undermine it, if I agreed to have something artifi cial implanted in my body. Sport makes my whole life. I would not be able to function being aware that I cheat others. Even if I won a competition thanks to implants, I would feel like a liar and would not enjoy the victory. It all led to the decision to fi nish my bodybuilding career now.

I do not take part in competitions but I feel ful� lledI am now 100% fulfi lled as a club owner, per-sonal trainer, father and husband. I have many clients from Poland and abroad (distance is not a problem for me). My plans for the future include making healthy lifestyle more popu-lar and arouse the passion for training and healthy food in people. I would like to make people aware that hard work means the ability to reach the established goal. Systematic ap-proach and self-denial are essential. It is worth fi nding a sport that suits you and devote your-self to it. It is worth having dreams and striving for making them come true.

I am a perfect example that if you really want something, you will always achieve it. You only need time, systematic work and pa-tience. I am also very proud of all people who started doing something for their health and silhouette, regardless of their age. Several years ago somebody eating from a lunchbox raised astonishment. You can’t im-agine how happy I am to see every other cli-ent of my club paying great attention to what they eat. I am pleased to fi nd out that my clients bring home-made bread or dietetic meals. This is when I feel that what I do really makes sense.

BY MICHAŁ KARMOWSKI


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Then, about ten years ago, I worked in an Italian restaurant in London (restaurants are the easiest op-tion!) and did a lot of night shifts. It wasn’t diffi cult to go

back home at 2 a.m. but it could’ve been quicker and cheaper. So I decided to buy a

bike. It was a Brompton - one of those fold-able ones. It was a perfect choice for someone who shared a fl at and didn’t want to leave a bike outside for the night. It was fun to com-mute to London by bike but I could see that I could enjoy it even more. The next step I took was to sell my Brompton and buy a vehicle that looked like a proper bike. I got myself a fi x-ie. The fi xie is short for fi xed gear. It means that a bike has no gears. It has not got any brakes either. It’s basically the simplest of bikes. It had initially been used at velodromes and tracks but later was made popular by the couriers in New York. It had a red Italian vintage frame, a light and it was fast. It was just gorgeous! I started to have some proper fun with Sofi a (that was her name). I enjoyed the speed and do some long distanc-es. I was sure by then that I got the bike bug!

In the meantime, after years of work and saving, my partner Angelo and I managed to set up our dream business: a small authentic Neapolitan pizzeria (www.santamariapizzeria.com) that in few months was to be voted the best pizza in London by Time-Out. I cycled from Brixton, the place where I stayed, to Ealing – the location of “Santa Maria”, every day and my love for cycling grew stronger. Still, it wasn’t strong enough. I had to have a racing bike. Having done some re-search, I spotted on Ebay the one I had to have: an entry level carbon frame geared bicycle. That was a turning point in my life. I started riding even more then bought more equipment. I rode

success STORYVITAMIN-SHOP®

It was very di� cult for me to understand

why people get sucked into sports.

I didn’t see the point of all those e� orts.

I didn’t see the reason for it.

more still and did some climbing too. I spent long hours on a saddle. I just loved it! The chal-lenge was to become better, faster and stronger. So yet another bike was purchased. It had bet-ter equipment still and many more functional gadgets. When an addition proper replaced the initial fascination, I didn’t spend any time on casual rides as every ride had to be planned. Over-eating stopped when I had become more conscious about the amount and quality of food I have. After that, I arrived at the point where I wanted to tackle the highest climbs of Tour de France or Giro d’Italia. I wished I conquered the most challenging tracks and then I started at-tending the weekend races.

How is it possible to turn fun into an obsession proper? It’s one of the question my partner keeps asking me. I could give him hundreds of reasons. It could be endorphins that my brain releases when I cycle. It could be the pleasure of pain - the hardest the climb, the biggest the satisfac-tion or the more rewarding the result. It might be that cycling is a metaphor of life: no matter how big the challenge is no matter how painful the eff ort is, you need to prove it to yourself that you are able to overcome it. It also might be that cycling is my climax of karma. When I ride alone I don’t want any distractions, for example music, because I enjoy contemplating surroundings, the sound of a chain, the beat of my heart or air that’s coming out my lungs. When I ride with my friends or team mates (my team is called the 5th fl oor, check it out!), it means that it’s our cycling time. No work or family-related conversations or any other stressful topics. We talk about cycling. We joke a lot but when it’s time to push, we do push. Yet another reason could be to get fi t. I like losing weight and keeping myself fi t, without getting bored while doing it.

My pizza is absolutely delicious, and I don’t want to lose on it, so I allow myself two pizzas a week (honestly, I could do with two pizzas a day at least!). Possibly it’s all these things put together and more.

It’s defi nitely something that I love very much and something that I would change my life in order to be able to do.

I’m almost 40-years old and, at least, all my doubts and questions about sport addictions have fi nally been answered.

If you’d like to receive any advice about any cycling-related subjects, please email me!

Pasquale [email protected]


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The black MULTIPACK SPORT NIGHT FORMULA capsule is intended for taking before sleep – it pro-vides the most important mineral ingredients in eas-ily accessible chemical forms. Their supply is very im-portant for maintaining high physical condition and full metabolic balance. Deficiencies of these ingredi-ents may have very serious consequences, leading to a deterioration in the mental and physical condition of the entire organism. An athlete’s body is particularly exposed to their loss. Intense metabolic transforma-tions that cover the demand for energy all day long, lead to depriving the body of such important mineral elements as magnesium, zinc, iron or chromium. That is why it is so important to replenish them. The ma-jority of scientific tests have confirmed that the peri-od before regeneration at night is he best to supple-

ment mineral ingredients. Magnesium in the product has a beneficial influence on the nervous system func-tions, reducing the sense of fatigue. The product pro-vides an optimum portion of zinc, which is important for men, as it helps maintain the correct level of testo-sterone in the blood and sexual performance. More-over, MULTIPACK SPORT NIGHT FORMULA con-tains ingredients that have a positive impact on the DNA synthesis and metabolism of proteins, carbohy-drates and lipids. The night formula of the preparation was completed with natural precursors of serotonin – a hormone whose high level helps the body enter a deep and relaxing sleep, as well as gamma-aminobu-tyric acid (GABA) – a neurotransmitter demonstrating an impeding action in the nervous system, limiting its excess stimulation.

The night is the time to regenerate your body. Only then can the body devote the whole energy to biological renewal of all cells. Not only our mood but also the speed of building the physical condition depends on the quality of sleep.

The white MULTIPACK SPORT DAY FORMULA cap-sule is intended for use during the day and it contains all the necessary vitamins and stimulating concen-trated plant extracts. An athlete’s body’s demand for the important regulatory ingredients tend to exceed several times the standards established for non-train-ing persons. An increased supply of the essential vi-tamins has a fundamental significance for maintaining full capacity of the body. Deficiencies of the impor-tant ingredients may lead to weakening of the body and fatigue, resulting in over-training, whose effects are very dangerous. That is why the vitamin formula of the product is based on the latest scientific research concerning nutrition of active people. It contains in-creased doses of group B vitamins, indispensable

for efficient production of energy, absorption of nu-trient macro ingredients (proteins, carbohydrates, lip-ids) and complete mobilisation of the nervous system. MULTIPACK SPORT DAY FORMULA also provides anti-oxidising ingredients – vitamin C, vitamin E and citric bioflavonoids that protect the cells against oxi-dation stress and support the functions of the immune system during intense physical exercises. The formula is enriched with Q10 co-enzyme – a compound par-ticipating in energy production on the cellular level. This is an essential link of the respiratory chain that si-multaneously makes side metabolites harmless. The preparation additionally contains Guarana as well as Korean and American ginseng extracts to strengthen its energising action.

The day is the time of being active. Our body produces large

quantities of energy to meet the requirements we make it face.

The efficiency of that process determines the level of vital forces

but also the rate of adaptation to training loads.

12

a sportsperson’s lifestyleMany people treat a diet as an unpleasant necessity.

We nd it hard to implement motivating slogans such as “eat clean, train dirty” into our lives. In the case

of extreme reduction we tend to complain about the yo-yo e� ect, which actually never occurs when using properly balanced alimentary systems. What is a diet

then? Simply speaking, it is a nutrition procedure that is supposed to help us reach the established goals.

Finally, diet means controlling the quantity and qual-ity of the consumed food and not a punishment you

have to su� er to later come back to your old eating sins. If you treat a diet as a 30-day programme, you

can be sure to come back to the previous size within several weeks and you will not t into most of your

clothes. The diet makes a sportsperson’s lifestyle and the secret is to suit it well to the individual needs.

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a while – this must be a person who follows a very rigorous diet, does a lot of aerobic exercise and does not lose weight. They have reduced their metabolism so much that they have to literally starve to slim down. Therefore, I would defi ne a metabolic breakdown as a situation when one is not able to burn fat following a diet with a sensibly reduced number of calories. According to the rule “better prevent than cure” it is naturally better to observe some elementa-ry principles intended to prevent us from falling into a metabolic breakdown.

It is usually caused by several factors, with main-taining a very low-calorie diet for a long time being probably the most important one. It re-duces the metabolic rate, in particular when combined with low-intensity aerobic training. Research revealed that a sudden reduction in the number of consumed calories combined with such exercise reduces the metabolic rate, even if dry muscle mass is maintained. The fol-lowing question arises then: how many fi tness club clients made an overnight decision to re-duce their fatty tissue? How many more persons are there who on Thursday feed their body at the calorie level of 3600 kcal to reduce it to only 1800 kcal on Friday? You will easily point out at least ten such examples in your training room.

Another common mistake is increasing calo-rie supply too fast after a reducing diet, which does not let the body restore the appropriate metabolic rate and results in a sudden increase in the fatty tissue volume in the body. It is noth-ing else than a typical yo-yo eff ect, caused by periods of alternately too low and too high quantity of supplied calories. As a result, many people have to stop eating completely to burn further fat deposits. The body simply does not take the signal as a recovery of the meta-bolic level where it could use excess calories as means for anabolic processes within the mus-cle tissue. Quite to the contrary, it regards it as a nutritive super bonus that should be quickly deposited as reserve material – fatty tissue. The situation can be compared to extremely dry, cracked soil (body supplied with low-calorie food) being poured with water. The water in-stantly penetrates into the deeper layers (fatty tissue), still leaving the surface cracked (un-changed and still reduced metabolic level).

What is the message of this paragraph, then? A sportsperson does not have to run with a cal-culator, scales and boxes with rice and boiled chicken – common sense and following prov-en rules are usually enough.

LONGLASTING DIETMany popular diets are based on assumptions not confi rmed by scientifi c research and in-volve quitting some types of food or limiting the consumption of carbohydrates. They can help reduce weight for a short time but they are impossible to follow for a long period. Most people do not feel like giving up on their fa-

vourite food, no matter whether it is chocolate, bread or cheese, so no diet drastically reduc-ing their consumption will work for a long time. Sooner or later everybody will be tempted to taste the forbidden foodstuff s, will quit the diet and come back to the previous weight follow-ing a wrong diet. Regardless of the sport we do, the established goal and food preferences, we have to make several simple steps. Long-term weight control has to involve implementing simple but permanent modifi cations of our diet and introducing physical activity to our everyday routine. The dietary programme has to contain all kinds of food, in particular foods that:

satisfy the appetiteare rich in complex car-bohydrates with a low glycaemic index

contain moderate quantities of protein are rich in fi bre and contain a lot of water

The secret factor determining the success of the diet is the sense of satiation and satisfac-tion with the consumed meal. It seems trivial but the cause of failure in many diets is the fact that they are too strict, do not satisfy hun-ger and have very poor taste due to almost a complete lack of carriers of taste, such as salty, sweet, greasy and their combination, e.g. salty and greasy ribs. No matter whether you want to lose weight, improve your performance or build muscle mass, you have to choose food that is not only nutritive and tasty but also satisfi es hunger. A diet that is too restrictive and deprived of carbohydrates to the maxi-mum is to blame for failure and snacking, as the body wants to replenish the level of sug-ar in the blood. If you are hungry after a meal, you are more likely to eat a snack or eat more than you should next time. On the other hand, choosing more stomach-fi lling food, i.e. food that is nutritious and better satisfi es hunger, you will discover that you are able to fi ll your stomach consuming the appropriate number of calories and maintaining the required pro-portions of nutritive macro-ingredients, such as proteins, carbohydrates and fats. The sense of satiation and satisfaction resulting from eating tasty meals will make following a diet much easier.

DIETARY KNOWHOWWe are not all equivalents of Jamie Oliver in sports. The knowledge of how to prepare de-licious meals and to properly balance a sport-sperson’s diet is a great skill. How should we select food to compose healthy, tasty and in-teresting meals? Many people will claim that it is completely contrary to the term of “dietetic food”. Specialised magazines and posts pub-lished in social media by bodybuilders give us the impression that a dietetic meal means a bland breast of chicken boiled in unsalted wa-ter, served with al dente brown rice and fresh vegetables sprinkled with olive oil. You can’t be more wrong! There are several rules of design-ing a healthy and tasty diet:

BY JAKUB MAURICZ, mauricz.com

Many of us associate a diet with a peri-odical procedure and meticulous calculation of eve-ry gramme of nu-tritional macro-in-gredients. It is not

only about the weight-losing time and sculpting of the muscles. We implement extreme feeding solutions to gain mass and strength, and to lose weight. We eat loads of protein, calculate doses of fatty acids and carbohydrates and then forget it and go into extremes – from an obsessive nu-tritive approach involving quick building of the mass or draconian reduction of the fatty tissue to a complete lack of control over the food con-sumed and devouring anything you can fi nd around. However, it is enough to maintain com-mon sense and follow only several rules of good nutrition. There are two groups to be blamed for the poor state of aff airs: people who mis-understand certain aspects of a good diet and those who develop new diets and consciously or subconsciously contribute to the phenom-enon. You can fi nd the following statement in the book by Michel Montignac – the author of the glycaemic diet: “Montignac’s method is not a diet in the traditional sense. Following a diet, we eat a reduced number of products, that is why the diet duration has to be limited” – such a comparison of a nutritive system based mainly on eating food with a low glycaemic index is un-favourable for the very defi nition of a diet, and the only kind of a diet that has to be followed for a specifi c (and short) period of time, is a hypoca-loric diet, providing less energy than necessary to maintain a healthy and slim fi gure, with no risk to suff er from metabolic complications.

CONSEQUENCES OF A WRONG DIETA metabolic breakdown makes one of the most common side eff ects of following extreme and short-term nutritional solutions. What is it? Let me explain it. One can say that fat burning is quite an easy thing, isn’t it? According to the common dietary knowledge, it is enough to eat appropriate quantities of protein, fats and carbohydrates and exercise to burn more calo-ries than you consume. Unfortunately it tends to happen that the metabolism is disturbed so much that it is impossible to burn any fat without starving and doing aerobic exercise for hours. The human body does not like rapid changes applying to many aspects of its func-tioning and when we get below a certain calo-rie level or quantity of fatty tissue, the body will defend itself to prevent their further loss. Some of the results of the battle include alternate in-crease and decrease of appetite, reduction of li-bido, level of energy and metabolism rate – it all makes fat burning more diffi cult.

Most probably you also know someone who suff ers from a metabolic breakdown. Think for

14

BASE YOUR DIET ONLOWPROCESSED FOOD The less processed and richer in fi bre the car-bohydrates are, the more stable the rate of energy release and sense of satiation. When making a selection, pay attention to the kind of cereal – it is best to eliminate wheat products and replace them with amaranth and rye. Wheat grains contain lots of gluten, which may lead to a development of celiac disease, a troublesome intestinal disorder. Wholemeal rye fl our and bread and pas-ta made from this kind of fl our, oat and rye fl akes, buckwheat groats, brown rice, Basmati and parboiled rice, sweet potatoes, fruit and vegetables make the basic sources of car-bohydrates to be found in a balanced diet. Consumption of food from this group will provide us with carbohydrates with a com-plex index that we can use along the day – a mixture of the simple and complex ones (e.g. porridge with fruit) in the morning, fruit as the source of sugar to replenish glycogen after training, and complex carbohydrates (cereals) during the day to maintain constant level of glycaemia. When selecting fats, let us focus on non-refi ned lipids such as butter, avocado, egg yolks, nuts and seeds as well as virgin plant oils. Such a combination of food will ensure a proper ratio of saturated fatty acids to single unsaturated fatty acids, will help control infl ammations and will not con-tain trans fats, whose consumption has been linked to the metabolic syndrome – a disease leading to type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiac disease, and consequently to death. Such fats can be found in many processed products such as hard margarines, yoghurt fi llers, puff pastry, crumble etc. In the case of protein-rich food it is best to select lean sources, which will help you better control the consumption of fat all day long. It is also good to provide protein of plant origin, con-taining valuable nutraceuticals, anti-oxidants and fi bre that animal products do not con-tain. The main cause of resigning from eating these products is that they contain saturated fats, technological fi llers of dubious origin and salt whose amount in a single portion can make for as much as 75% of our daily de-mand for sodium

CARE FOR THE TASTE OF YOUR FOOD Low-processed foodstuff s mentioned in item 1 are defi nitely healthy and nutritive, but their taste requires improvement. It does not always entail supplying extra calories such as sugar or fat. There are many combinations that can render excellent taste sensations and fully preserve the nutritive value. A sample combination covers the fatty and sweet taste of smoked salmon and fresh pineapple snacks. Skewers of prawns and avocado will provide a fatty aftertaste that will satisfy our taste buds. Adding a pinch of cinnamon or cardamom and dried fruit to pancakes and cereals with whey protein makes a perfect example of how you can make your meal more varied. Natural taste enhancers also in-clude: xylitol (birch sugar, a polyol recommended to people with insulin resistance), car-ob (molasses and breadfruit powder), lovage (making the salty taste stronger), spices and herbs (cinnamon, cardamom, rosemary, caraway and herbes de Provence) and aromatic plants such as garlic, onion, pepper, courgette etc.

MAKE YOUR MEALS WELLBALANCEDBoth the pre- and post-training meals should contain large quantities of carbohy-drates and proteins in the case of sports with sprinter adaptation, such as weight-training, MMA, BJJ, running and swimming sprints. The main focus of endurance adaptation is on the supply of carbohydrates whose share in he diet may be up to 70% of the daily amount of calories. Endurance athletes have such a high demand for carbohydrates, that they should be present in every meal, together with polyun-saturated fatty acids (plant oils, nuts, fatty fi sh). Endurance athletes should consume ca 1.2 g of protein per kilogramme of the proper body weight, so a bar being an equivalent of a meal – BOOSTER from TREC – served with a breast of chicken and several eggs should cover the entire daily demand for building material in the form of protein. The most important rule for balancing a sportsperson’s meals is to com-pensate for energy losses caused by training and constant regeneration. It is neces-sary to calculate the TM (total metabolism), using the following formula:

TM = BM x PAIBM = basic metabolism, correct body weight x 24 for men and muscular women, x 22 for slim womenPAI = physical activity index, amounting to 1.5 – 2.4 for the majority of active people However, the calculation does not release us from the obligation to listen to our body. If you lack motivation for physical exercise and feel tired quickly, try increas-ing the quantity of carbohydrates in your diet, even taking supplements, if you can-not eat more cereals and fruit.

15

TAKE SUPPLEMENTS Sometimes it is hard to eat out or eat the food you prepared at home. You can then use hydro-gels containing carbohydrate mixtures – CARBO FULL GEL from TREC – or carbohydrate supplements packed as single portions, e.g. MAX CARB or VI-TARGO ELECTRO-ENERGY. Snack bars substituting a meal – BOOSTER – or carbo-hydrate-protein supplements are also useful. The complete range of TREC products includes handy bottles with a single portion of HARD MASS or sachets with MAG-NUM 8000. You can always have them on you and eat in emergency situations to avoid starving the body. Amino acid complexes such as AMINO 4500 also make a good solution, as they can be used as a perfect supplementation of less valuable meals.

DO NOT BECOME OBSESSED WITH YOUR DIET, GIVE YOURSELF SOME REST Sometimes our appearance deteriorates as a result of overtraining. In such cases tightening the screw of training even harder and following a more restrictive diet makes the fi nal nail in the coffi n. Sometimes it is better to quit a diet for a week or two, eat our favourite food and have more mental relax. The same applies to eating out. Don’t bite your nails if you are not able to fi nd dietetic food on the menu. Ask the waiter whether they can serve you grilled meat instead of meat in breadcrumbs and substitute potato chips or potato rounds with rice or grouts. Planning your shopping and trips in advance is one of the ways to stay healthy and fi t all year round. Then you have full control over the contents of your fridge and you can prepare the food to take with you when travelling or staying in another place. I keep my diet healthy by always taking with me some raisins, oat fl akes, cinnamon, almonds and whey protein – ULTIMATE PROTEIN from TREC, whenever I travel. You will easily fi nd milk or water everywhere and preparing such cereals you will give your body everything it needs.

DO NOT QUIT EATING YOUR FAVOURITE FOOD Including moderate quantities of your favourite food or snack in your diet will make it easier to follow the selected dietary regime. When you are aware that every day you can eat a small portion of your favourite dish, you will no longer think about the forbidden products and will avoid temptations. That is why you should include your favourite chocolate or ice-cream in your diet, remembering that you can only eat them in very small quantities, preferably with the morning or post-training meal, when the metabolism and absorption of nutritive macro-ingredients are the highest.

SUMMARYRegardless of the sports discipline, a human body needs carbohydrates and some pro-teins. The greater the muscle workload for strengthening and building their mass, the more proteins the body needs. Appropriate quantities of carbohydrates make the com-mon denominator for all sports. By effi cient balancing of meals and following the above-mentioned rules, you can stay in a good shape all year round, make training progress and enjoy tasty food. The conviction that be-ing on a diet means sacrifi ces of eating taste-less meals is a thing of the past. If you are not able to eat a healthy meal, use diet supple-ments. Many supplements – despite their bodybuilding-related names – can well sub-stitute meals for all sportspeople, including runners, basketball players, fi tness instructors and fans of outdoor sports. Healthy nutrition is essential in all sports.

Sometimes our appearance deteriorates as a result of overtraining. In such cases tightening the screw of training even harder and following a more restrictive diet makes the fi nal nail in the coffi n. Sometimes it is better to quit a diet for a week or two, eat our favourite food and have more mental relax. The same applies to eating out. Don’t bite your nails if you are not able to fi nd dietetic food on the menu. Ask the waiter whether they can serve you grilled meat instead of meat in breadcrumbs and substitute potato chips or potato rounds with rice or grouts. Planning your shopping and trips in advance is one of the ways to stay healthy and fi t all year round. Then you have full control over the contents of your fridge and you can prepare the food to take with you when travelling or staying in another place. I keep my diet healthy by always taking with me some raisins, oat fl akes, cinnamon, almonds and

from TREC, whenever I travel. You will easily fi nd milk or water everywhere and preparing such cereals you will give your body everything it needs.

Folk wisdom is of-ten re� ected even in medi-

cine. “If you had known you would trip, you would have sat down”– this

perfectly describes the topic of this text. How many times have you ruined yourselves

training extremely, expecting great results but it all ended only with a � u or another condition

related to overtraining or the lack of care for regular medical examinations that we can very frequently sing up for and charge the costs to

the National Health Service (or spend only several pounds)? Find out how often you

should have your body diagnosed and what the results of individual

tests can reveal.


02/2014

One says that it is bet-ter to prevent than to cure. But in order to prevent some-thing, we have to know about it, as in the abovemen-tioned saying. Pre-

ventive treatment could help in the assessment of the general condition of a sportsperson’s body, but people tend to forget it. Training at full speed for a specifi c period of time without monitoring our health, we can end up with stag-nation or illness. However, much can be read from blood tests or urinalysis. Before the body begins to fail, it lets us know that something is wrong and the problem can be identifi ed analysing the results of such tests. Unfortu-nately many sportspeople do not know that prevention can be a perfect tool helping to stay in a good shape. During trainings I keep on repeating to course participants that in order to make progress in sports, you have to compensate for metabolic losses being the consequence of training, and it involves

appropriate diet, supplementation and regeneration. Regeneration tends to be

severely neglected, though. Taking hand-fuls of supplements will not help, if we train too hard, while the length and quality of sleep and the eating habits leave much to be desired. Have you ever wondered why sports profession-als are constantly supervised by sports physicians, physiotherapists and dieti-cians? Physical eff ort at this level means

a great load for the body that has to be eliminated at all costs – both with ele-

ments of prehabilitation as well as nutri-tion and supplementation. Doing sports as

an amateur does not release us from regular laboratory tests. Even six hour of training a week mean a great load for the body, and the diffi culties of everyday life distort the body

Bodyfor service

in


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functions even more. Many people agree with the English folk wisdom saying that “one apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Regular medical check-ups are absolutely normal in developed countries, both for sports profes-sionals and amateurs. Due to unknown rea-sons, a person doing such tests is approached with suspicion. “Why do you have tests done, since you are not ill?” or “I am 20 years old and do not have to have my testosterone level checked, and the problem of increased sugar level does not concern me, since I train hard” – you can frequently hear it in fi tness clubs or at training consultations. We still do not un-derstand that we have to do medical tests to avoid a disease.

Why is it worth doing periodical check-ups regularly? First of all, it helps detect danger-ous or even lethal diseases that can be cured at a very early stage. Secondly, the results of tests provide information on how to modify your diet, which often helps avoid serious diseases such as arteriosclerosis or type 2 dia-betes. The last benefi t we are most interested in is to identify, based on the test result, if we border overtraining.

Preparation for testsIt seems that information on how to pre-pare for blood tests is common knowledge, but still many people run stressed from one specialist to another, when they get results indicating a high limit level of sugar in the blood, increased level of cholesterol and triglycerides. Bodybuilders are particularly exposed to the problem, as they eat their last meal about an hour before going to sleep, being afraid of muscle catabolism. You need to have the test done on an empty stomach, namely without eating or drinking anything beforehand. However, it is not commonly known that the period of not eating or drink-

ing should last ca. 12-16 hours. It means that the dinner or supper you eat the evening be-fore the test should be light and consumed at about 6.00 – 8.00 p.m. If you eat an abundant meal containing carbohydrates and saturated acids (meat, dairy products, egg yolks, but-ter etc.) late, it will result in the test indicat-ing an increased level of glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood. It also applies to training. You should make at least 48-hour break from exercising before going for the test. Otherwise, the test may reveal a sig-nifi cantly increased phosphocreatine kinase (CPK), which could mean rhabdomyolysis (kidney failure caused by fi ltering myoglobin from muscle tissue decomposition) or dam-age to the cardiac muscle in healthy people, whereas in a bodybuilder it will simply mean painful muscles and infl ammation caused by micro-injuries. It may all lead to unnecessary anxiety, while it is enough just to be properly prepared.

Blood test and interpretation of its resultsReading the previous paragraph, you should have noticed one thing. Metabolism of an in-tensely training person is much diff erent than in the case of a physically inactive one. That is why the rules of the recommended daily in-take (RDI), referring to the amount of sugars, vitamins, minerals, proteins and other nutri-ents that you have to provide the body with do not apply to sportspeople. The same con-cerns the results of tests. Only few people are aware that even physicians know very little about sportspeople’s metabolism. Preventive medical testing such as blood cell morphol-ogy involves a biochemical analysis of the blood. We get detailed information whether

the blood composition is correct or an infl am-mation has developed in the body, which can be indicated by an increased ESR. Naturally, if you have a blood test done at great mus-cle pain it will mean an increased ESR in the results. Identifi cation of the sugar amount in the blood, professionally called glycaemia, is identifi ed from the same sample that is col-lected for blood morphology. In the printout of the test result you can fi nd your results and the standard value to compare it to.

Standards of sugar level

in the bloodfrom 70 to 99 mg/dl (from 3.9 to 5.5 mmol/l) – correct resultfrom 100 to 125 mg/dl (from 5.6 to 6.9 mmol/l) – increased level of glucose, which can mean pre-diabetic conditionover 126 mg/dl (7.0 mmol/l) in at least two measurements – diabetesThe previously mentioned abundant din-ner may falsify the result, just like stress hor-mones such as adrenalin and cortisol. How can we then check if we are threatened with diabetes? A glycaemic condition on an empty stomach between 100 and 125 mg/dl is considered to be a suspected diabetic condition, and it is often followed by gly-cosylated haemoglobin test (GHB). It is a very useful, retrospective glycaemia index (there is a relationship between the GHB concen-tration and mean glycaemia) and the risk of occurrence of chronic diabetic complications. Since the erythrocyte (red blood cell) mem-brane is permeable to glucose, the quantity of the glycosylated haemoglobin in it refl ects the mean glucose concentration in the blood in the last 120 days (i.e. in the mean life of an erythrocyte). The level of HbA1C below 6.5% indicates a good control of diabetes (its met-


02/2014

TOTAL CHOLESTEROL

CORRECT below 200 mg/dl (5.17 mmo/l)

ELEVATED200–239 mg/dl (5.17 – 6.18 mmol/l)

HIGH, IMPLYING A HIGH RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES

240 mg/dl (6.21 mmol/l) and more

STANDARDS OF SUGAR LEVEL

IN THE BLOODCORRECT RESULT

from 70 to 99 mg/dl (from 3.9 to 5.5 mmol/l

INCREASED LEVEL OF GLUCOSE, WHICH CAN MEAN PRE-DIABETIC CONDITION

from 100 to 125 mg/dl (from 5.6 to 6.9 mmol/l

DIABETES over 126 mg/dl (7.0 mmol/l) in at least two

measurements

abolic balance). Elevated values of glyco-sylated haemoglobin mean poor compen-sation of diabetes, which entails a higher risk of complications. The higher the concentra-tion of the glycosylated haemoglobin, the greater the risk of their development.

If you do endurance sports, you should pay attention to the haematocrit in the standard blood morphology result. The average value for a man is 42–50. The haematocrit deter-mines the ratio of the volume of red blood cells to the total blood volume. The higher it is, the more oxygen will be supplied to the muscles during physical eff ort. In sport-speople the level tends to be signifi cantly reduced, which is known as pseudoanaemia. It results from dilution of the blood, as an en-durance athlete’s body gets used to regular perspiration of large quantities of water and to the possibility of much easier pumping of the blood, so it dilutes the blood so as not to strain the heart. How can we diff erentiate between pseudoanemia and real anaemia in a sportsperson? A professional sportsperson has a very high level of red blood cells (RBC) at a simultaneously low level of haemoglobin and haematocrit, while in typical anaemia

the level of all the three indicators is very low. If the blood tests reveal anaemia indeed, you have to establish its causes – it is most often due to an excess loss of iron combined with its insuffi cient supply. In the case of anaemia in sportspeople, in the majority of cases iron defi ciency is the only cause. Overtraining is partly to blame for the phenomenon, infl u-encing the level of the element in the body in various ways. An overtrained sportsper-son’s body simply does not have enough energy to produce new erythrocytes. If the level of red blood cells drops signifi cantly (below 4 mio/mm3 in men), it is worth taking a longer break and carefully examining the diet and the amount of time devoted to re-generation in the week. In order to diagnose the defi ciency correctly, one should have their ferritin (basic protein binding iron ions in the body), TIBC (Total Iron Binding Capac-ity) and CRP (C-reactive protein – the marker of infl ammations) examined. We diagnose

iron defi ciency when there is a simultane-ous low level of ferritin, high level of TBC

and low level of C-reactive protein. Instead of CRP one can use the ESR index. The point is to check whether there is no infl ammation in the body increasing the level of ferritin, which is an acute phase protein.

Another item that deserves attention in blood cell morphology are the white blood cells. Their quantity drops dramatically after severe overtraining, as a result of long-last-ing defi cits of some important nutrients or in the case of a chronic disease. The correct value is between 4 and 10 thousand/mm3. A much higher result usually indicates infec-tion but it can also help detect leukaemia at an early stage.

A lipid profi le will provide information on the general level of cholesterol in the blood and, more importantly, on the level of the “good” cholesterol fraction of high density (HDL) and “bad” cholesterol of low density (LDL). The information is important, since it happens that the general level of cholesterol is correct, but it comes with high LDL, which may con-stitute a risk of atherosclerosis development.

WHY IS IT WORTHDOING PERIODICAL CHECK-UPS

REGULARLY?[1] It helps detect dangerous or even lethal diseases that can

be cured at a very early stage.

[2] The results of tests provide information on how to modify your diet, which often helps avoid serious diseases such as

arteriosclerosis or type 2 diabetes.

[3] The last bene� t we are most interested in is to identify, based on the test result, if we border

overtraining.


02/2014

LDL FRACTIONOPTIMUM

below 100 mg/dl (2.6 mmol/l)

ELEVATED100–129 mg/dl (2.6 – 3.34 mmol/l)

BOUNDARY130–159 mg/dl (3.36 – 4.13 mmol/l)

HIGH160–189 mg/dl (4.14 – 4.90 mmol/l)

VERY HIGH190 mg/dl (4,91 mmol/l) and more

TRIGLYCERIDESSTANDARD

below 150 mg/dl (1.69 mmol/l)

BOUNDARY150–199 mg/dl (1.69–2.25 mmol/l )

HIGH200–499 mg/dl (2.26–5.63 mmol/l)

VERY HIGHover 500 mg/dl (5.64 mmol/l)

HDL FRACTIONHIGH HDL, CONSIDERED TO BE HEALTHY

60 mg/dl (1.56 mmol/l) and more

HDL STANDARD FOR MEN35 mg/dl (0.9 mmol/l), a risk of cardiac

diseases occurs below this value

STANDARD FOR WOMEN45 mg/dl (1.2 m mol/l), a risk of cardiac diseases occurs

below this value

It requires taking preventive measures. A lipid profi le will also inform us about the level of triglycerides, whose increased value is a more dangerous marker of the risk to come down with a car-diac disease that a high level of LDL cho-lesterol. In this case as well, there is a huge diff erence between a statistical Mr Smith and a sportsperson. For the majority of sports professionals hypercho-lesterolaemia (increased level of cholesterol in the blood) is ab-solutely normal. Its level may amount to 200-300. A higher value in sportspeople is the evidence of bodily vitality. Diet has little impact on its level that increases when we are overweight, suff er from hypertension, smoke cigarettes and eat food con-taining lots of trans fats and sugar in combination with too many omega-6 acids and satu-rated fats. It leads to infl ammation and the cholesterol clogs blood vessels. Nevertheless, the indicators for the major-

ity of the population prove that a lipid profi le should be as follows:

Total cholesterolbelow 200 mg/dl (5.17 mmo/l) – correct200–239 mg/dl (5.17 – 6.18 mmol/l) – elevated240 mg/dl (6.21 mmol/l) and more – high, implying a high risk of cardiovascular diseases

HDL fraction60 mg/dl (1.56 mmol/l) and more – high HDL, considered to be healthyHDL standard for men – 35 mg/dl (0.9 mmol/l), a risk of cardiac diseases occurs below this valuestandard for women – 45 mg/dl (1.2 m mol/l), a risk of cardiac diseases occurs below this value

LDL fractionbelow 100 mg/dl (2.6 mmol/l) – optimum100–129 mg/dl (2.6 – 3.34 mmol/l) – elevated130–159 mg/dl (3.36 – 4.13 mmol/l) – boundary160–189 mg/dl (4.14 – 4.90 mmol/l) – high190 mg/dl (4,91 mmol/l) and more – very high

Triglyceridesbelow 150 mg/dl (1.69 mmol/l) – standard150–199 mg/dl (1.69–2.25 mmol/l ) – bound-ary200–499 mg/dl (2.26–5.63 mmol/l) – highover 500 mg/dl (5.64 mmol/l) – very high

Examination of kidneys and liverChronic renal diseases do not result in pain, until it is too late. Testing kidneys is easy and cheap – it is enough to check

creatinine in the blood or the urea to uric acid ratio combined with a gen-

eral urinalysis. Another advantage of the examination is that it helps detect some neoplastic diseases at a very early stage. Deviations in the urine pH (standard value being between 4.5 and 7.8) may also indicate other health problems. A permanent alkaline reaction may

be an evidence of impaired renal ability to acidify the urine or infection

of the urinary system with ammonia decomposing bacteria. It may also be an

indication of kidney stones. Some foods (e.g. citrus fruit) or drugs (e.g. neutralising

drugs) may infl uence the pH of urea. High, al-kaline pH may be caused by severe vomiting,

MEASUREMENT OF SUPPLEMENTATION EFFECTIVENESSPeriodical tests can also make a perfect tool to verify supplementation effi ciency. If you take FAT TRANSPORTER from TREC you will notice a signifi cant improvement in the HDL to LDL cholesterol ratio (the correct ratio is 1:2 or 1:3) and a decrease in triglycerides. A testosterone test will also show an increased value as a result of supplementation with testosterone boost-ers such as ZMA ORIGINAL, TRIBULON, TRIBULON BLACK or DAA. MEGA MINERAL PACK and MULTIPACK SPORT will help increase the count of erythrocytes, haemoglobin and iron. As you can see, laboratory tests reveal the body’s reaction to many supplements. Using them also eliminates unfavourable fl uctuations in the level of factors indicating poor metabolism. If the tests reveal that we have a problem with testosterone, level of iron, sugar or cholesterol in the blood, we can instantly implement preventive measures using specialised products for sportspeople.

SIMPLE TESTS TO MEASURE OVERTRAININGORTHOSTATIC TESTThere are many ways of doing the test; sim-ply speaking it indicates the level of body re-laxation after regeneration at night. It involves measuring the resting heart rate, immediately after waking up, followed by getting up calmly and checking the pulse again after 20 seconds. The diff erence between the fi rst and the sec-ond result is the indication of the degree of body fatigue. If you are in a excellent shape, it will be les than 10 beats, while it will increase over 40 beats at overtraining.

RECOVERY HEART RATEThis test checks how quickly your heart recov-ers after a hard eff ort. This indicator is much more sensitive than the orthostatic test. After 10 minutes of training with great intensity you check your heart rate, wait one minute and measure it again. The dif-ference between the results is the recov-ery rate. If it is lower than 30 heartbeats, we are in a group of increased risk of heart attack or severely overtired, while the result of over 50 means we are in a perfect shape.


02/2014

renal disease, infections of the urinary system or asthma. Low, acidic pH may be the sign of pneumothorax, uncontrolled diabetes, as-pirin overdose, drinking too much alcohol, drinking ethylene glycol, prolonged diar-rhoea, dehydration or starving. The presence of ketone bodies may indicate poorly control-led diabetes, following a low-carbohydrate diet (protein and fat diet), starving (including anorexia and bulimia) or alcoholic disease. Ketone bodies appear in the urine of people who have not eaten for 18 hours or more. It

is also the case of people suff ering from n a u -

sea and vomiting for a long time. A low level of ketone bodies sometimes occurs in healthy pregnant women.

Liver problems may occur in the case of us-ing oral anabolic-androgenic steroids for a long time or as a result of taking an excessive amount of strong thermogenics. Hepatic dis-ease detected at an early stage can be cured easily (the liver will regenerate) but if we wait and cirrhosis develops, we will be disabled till the end of our lives. Liver function tests (measuring AspAT and AIAT enzymes) and bi-lirubin blood tests make cheap and relatively

precises tests. A civilisation dis-ease of our century – stea-

tohepatitis constitutes a much greater prob-lem. It has a very signifi cant impact on sports results and is hard to detect in tests. High liver values, increased level of the total cholesterol or one of its fractions, macrocytosis in blood cell morphology, permanent sense of fatigue and slight pain on the right side, under the ribs indicate that the issue should be inves-tigated more closely. Biopsy is necessary to properly diagnose steatohepatitis – nowa-days this test is easy to perform and pleasant.

SummaryIt is really worth doing periodical tests and hence taking your body in for service. Con-trary to a car, your body will not have a fl ash-ing “service” light. We can’t say that such tests have to be done at specifi c intervals counted in kilometres either, as it happens in the case of vehicles – we have to remember about them ourselves. It is worth doing basic medi-cal tests at least once a month and learning how to interpret the results. Moreover, they are usually inexpensive or even free of charge, but they tell you a lot about the condition of your body. The majority of tests in a complex package cost from 50 to 100 PLN. Do not for-get your health when calculating the money you can spend of supplements or other things. The results of the tests can provide information on how to plan your training and diet in a better way or can even save your life.

BY JAKUB MAURICZ, MAURICZ.COM

PAPAJ’S TRAINING SCHOOL

Below I describe a good training plan you can set up based on the presented exercises. If your goal, similarly to mine, is to develop symmetrical shoulders with a great emphasis on the development of the posterior part of the deltoid muscles, you should start your training with this part. Below you can fi nd a

plan of the shoulder training that I do now. As you can see, it brings very good results. 1 Bent-over lateral dumbbell raise on incline bench 5 series x 12-15 repeats.

2 Seated dumbbell press 5 sets x 10–12 repetitions3 Seated lateral dumbbell raise 5 sets x 10–12 repetitions

4 Wide-grip barbell raise along the trunk 5 sets x 8–10 repetitions

My shouldertraining plan

Those with greatly developed deltoid muscles or those whose shoulders are much narrower? Everybody would like to have beautiful, round, bulbous shoulders but not everybody has. Some people are not so endowed with good genes, while others are not so diligent when training. They make lots of exercising mistakes or neglect some muscle parts considering them as not so important. I used to be one of such persons. I focused very much on various kinds of presses and lateral raises, neglecting the posterior deltoids that stood out from the other muscles after some time. Fortunately, I came back to my senses and

at the beginning of my adventure with bodybuilding, I decided to focus very much on the posterior part of my shoulders. The majority of training people do posterior deltoid muscle exercises fi rst, while I started training it at the very beginning, since the posterior part was my priority. After some time I noticed signifi cant changes in the build of my muscles – they became more complete. The referees are very vigilant and notice all silhouette drawbacks, while I cannot aff ord to fail at a competition due to my training negligence. Now I suppose that my deltoid muscles are quite good. Below you can fi nd some tips on how I worked on them.

Please note: Make sure to warm up properly before every training of your shoul-ders. Shoulder joints are very often subject to injuries that can prevent us from training in a gym even for several months!

BY: TOMASZ PAPAJ LECH

DELTOID MUSCLES ARE A PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF OUR SILHOUETTE, SINCE THEY PROVIDE IT WITH SIGNIFICANT WIDTH. IMAGINE YOU ARE AT A BODYBUILDING COMPETITION, WHERE 15 CONTESTANTS COME TO THE STAGE. WHO DO YOU THINK WILL ATTRACT YOUR ATTENTION FIRST?

symmetricalshoulders

symmetrical

symmetrical


02/2014

Correct technique Sit on a bench with backrest position at right angle. Lift the dumbbells, keep-ing the elbows aside. Press the dumbbells up but do not lock the arms in the elbow joints, then slowly start lowering the weights to the initial position. The dumbbells have an advantage over a barbell since they provide a greater scope of movements and hence better isolated deltoid muscles.

Mistakes elbow locking in elbow joints the movement is too short the load is too heavy lack of control over the weights in the eccentric phase (return movement)

Muscles involved in the exerciseanterior and lateral deltoid muscle

1Dumbbell bench press

symmetricalshoulders


02/2014

Correct technique Raise the dumbbells laterally when standing. In the initial position the dumbbells are on the sides of the thigh muscles. Perform the movement upwards using only the deltoid muscles, to the height of the top line of the shoulder girdle muscles.

Mistakes barbell raising above the shoulder line causes unnecessary in-volvement of the trapezius muscles incorrect position of the palms – if the thumb is higher than the little fi nger when raising the dumbbells, the work of the anterior part of the deltoid muscles increases, while lateral heads of the shoulders are involved less “swinging” the body when lifting the weight reduces the work of deltoid muscles and increases involvement of auxiliary muscles

Muscles involved in the exerciselateral and anterior part of deltoid muscles

Correct techniqueStand with your legs slightly apart, one leg positioned a bit forward to maintain better balance. Grip the barbell at the width of your shoulders or a bit more. Try to press the barbell only using your shoulders and arms, not involving the legs, which is a common mistake in this exercise.

Mistakes throwing using your legs – by cheating you unnecessarily involve leg muscles, which leads to the deltoid muscles working less in the exercise the load is too heavy – an overly heavy barbell may cause loss of stability and conse-quently injury of shoulder joints or spine

Muscles involved in the exerciselateral and anterior part of deltoid muscles

3

Stand with your legs slightly apart, one leg positioned a bit forward to maintain better balance. Grip the barbell at the width of your shoulders or a bit more. Try to press the barbell only using your shoulders and arms, not involving the legs, which is a common

throwing using your legs – by cheating you unnecessarily involve leg muscles, which leads to the deltoid muscles working less in the exercise

the load is too heavy – an overly heavy barbell may cause loss of stability and conse-

2 Standing front barbell press

Standinglateral raise


02/2014

Correct techniqueAnother very popular exercise that I do for my del-toid muscles is raising a barbell with a wide grip along the trunk. Stand with your trunk leaning slightly forward, hands with the barbell lowered to the maximum but not touching the thighs. From this initial po-sition, start the movement upwards, which is performed only with the shoulder joint and deltoid muscles. When the barbell is in the concentric phase, hold the weight for a fraction of a second and then lower it, trying to maintain control over it.

Mistakes the load is too heavy which makes it impossible to control the barbell pushing the load from the legs – deltoid muscles are less involved the grip on the barbell is too narrow – trapezius muscles are involved too much while deltoid muscles are involved too little

Muscles involved in the exerciselateral part of deltoid muscles

Correct techniqueLie down on an incline bench, on your stom-

ach, hands hanging freely with the dumbbells, elbows slightly bent. Start raising the dumbbells,

keeping the arms aligned with the shoulders. Hold the weights for a while in the top phase of the movement, try-ing to keep slight resistance. The load we use in the exer-cise should not be too heavy.

Mistakes the load is too heavy, involving other muscles e.g. back failure to lead the dumbbells along the shoulder line, with the movement directed more towards the hips – back muscles are more involved

Muscles involved in the exercise posterior part of deltoid muscles

4

55

Correct techniqueAnother very popular exercise that I do for my del-toid muscles is raising a barbell with a wide grip along the trunk. Stand with your trunk leaning slightly forward, hands with the barbell lowered to the maximum but not touching the thighs. From this initial po-sition, start the movement upwards, which is performed only with the shoulder joint and deltoid muscles. When the barbell is in the concentric phase, hold the weight for a fraction of a second and then lower it, trying to maintain control over it.

Mistakesthe load is too heavy which makes it impossible to control

the barbellpushing the load from the legs – deltoid muscles are less

involvedthe grip on the barbell is too narrow – trapezius muscles are

involved too much while deltoid muscles are involved too littleinvolved too much while deltoid muscles are involved too little

Muscles involved in the exerciseMuscles involved in the exerciselateral part of deltoid muscleslateral part of deltoid muscles

4 Wide-grip barbell raise along the trunk

Bent-over lateral dumbbell raise on incline bench


02/2014

PREWORKOUTW

e sometimes have bad days when we lack motivation and energy, which hin-ders our training a c h i e v e m e n t s . There are a number of ingredients that

can impede fatigue of the central nervous system or increase the level of glycaemia, but it is not commonly known how to com-bine them and at what doses to achieve the right eff ect – fi rst of all an increase in exercise intensity. Some of you might be shocked to learn that not everybody needs a pre-train-ing supplement with a complex composi-tion. It happens that all you need is a certain amount of caff eine, tyrosine and quickly as-similated carbohydrates in a form of a sup-plement, which guarantees an almost instant transport of the components to the blood circulation. ADRENALINE GEL from TREC makes a perfect example. The most impor-tant aspects to be considered while selecting the right pre-training preparation include: training experience and the goal – develop-ing strength and weight, concentration and

endurance. Most teenagers fascinated with supplements intentionally choose too strong formulas. They think that the stronger the ‘kick’, the better the training. Unfortunately, it tends to be quite the opposite. Accumula-tion of substances that stimulate the nervous system very strongly leads to a kind of burn-ing of the synapses. Naturally, we feel excel-lent while doing physical exercise, we do not experience fatigue but rather a sense of eu-phoria similar to an adrenalin rush, and the training is really pleasant. Problems come lat-er, when the body has to cope with the up-set balance caused by training several times more intensely than usually. Then, we expe-rience side eff ects similar to those of people getting over an amphetamine bender – per-manent fatigue, lack of strength to do even the simplest activities and other negative ef-fects related to a signifi cantly increased lev-el of cortisol in the blood. Additionally, there are infl ammations that affl ict the body due to muscle injuries and they actually can hardly be called micro-injuries. That is why training experience is so important, as it takes years for a sportsperson to learn their regenera-tion capacity – what exercise intensity and

volume increases stimulation of anabolism to the highest extent, and what leads to over-training. Intuition and experience tell one what pre-training product they should use in the regeneration or preparation for train-ing and what to take during intensifi cation or a microcycle requiring an increased supply of energy to perform more demanding exercise than normally. Beginners generally need only a small dose of stimulants, e.g. a combina-tion of caff eine with tyrosine, as well as BCAA eliminating fatigue of the central nervous sys-tem (CAFFEINE 200 PLUS + BCAA X-TANK from TREC). A beginner’s body will react very well even to a low dose, providing appropri-ate training stimulation that the organism will be able to cope with during regeneration.

The training goal makes another aspect, which is equally or even more important than expe-rience. Let me explain it using a simple exam-ple: in the lead I asked the following question – is a supplement that strongly stimulates the brain function better than one that does not cause the euphoric eff ect? Let us now consider whether a sportsperson training for a half-mar-athon needs more of a “drug-induced high”

28

„When you feel that you would rather have a nap that train hard, you need something that will make you right as rain – pre-training preparation!” These are typical advertising slogans of pre-training supplements that owe their popularity to e� cient action and instant stimulation. Is a pre-training product that gives you a „kick” always better than one whose action is not so evident before training? This class of supplements makes a tough nut to crack for many sportspeople. The majority of them misclassi� es the quality of this kind of stacks only for the achieved pseudo-narcotic condition. Are they right, though?

and muscle pump, or a stable sugar level in the blood, impeding fatigue of the central nervous system and blocking the increasing acidifi ca-tion. I suppose most of you have bet on the latter. Every sports discipline, training micro-cycle and kind of adaptation we are subject to during physical exercise have a signifi cant impact on the demand of our body. Although such guidelines as building muscle mass and strength as well as improved concentration have a common denominator being a com-bination of methylxanthines (caff eine, theo-bromine and theophylline) as nitrogen oxide boosters (L-arginine, citrulline and their salts, ViNitrox® or inorganic nitrates) to stimulate the training intensity and pump, in the case of mar-tial arts, endurance or team sports the situation is completely diff erent. The results we want to achieve have confusingly similar names but the kind and dose of the ingredients vary signifi -cantly. We want to achieve the following goals training the abovementioned groups:

STIMULATION OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM – by us-ing L-tyrosine, caff eine, taurine, synephrine

and ginseng you will develop training mo-tivation and improve coordination, which matters particularly when training in the morning,

DELAYED FATIGUE – quickly assimi-lated carbohydrates such as glucose, isomal-tulose, maltodextrin or Vitargo® will delay the rate of muscle glycogen consumption and will help you train longer and more intensely,

OPTIMISATION OF METABOLIC PROCESSES AND INCREASING THE LEVEL OF STRENGTH AND ENERGY – it is possible due to creatine, citrulline malate, inosine and group B vita-mins,

IMPEDING OF MUSCLE ACIDIFICATION – owing to a combination of hy-drochloride and ethyl ester of creatine, beta-alanine or carnosine.

I suppose that reading this section you have understood why pre-training supplements have become so popular over the years

and why their composition has developed. Once, diet supplements used to be associ-ated with strength sports such as bodybuild-ing. Although many bodybuilders used pre-training products, they were not normally considered to help you move mountains. Nowadays the awareness of the need to sup-plement your body when doing any sports has helped develop formulas that do not stimulate the central nervous system to burn the synapses, but result in products which impede fatigue, improve endurance and optimise metabolic processes to achieve in-creased capacity. Advanced technologies have contributed to the development of new forms of supplements, e.g. liquid, con-centrated shots or innovative hydrogels that are easy to use and guarantee quick absorp-tion since they do not crystallise in the stom-ach and are quickly transported from the in-testines to the blood circulation. I defi nitely recommend to you the latest ACTION LINE from TREC, which contains supplements in a form of hydrogels, shots and liquid concen-trates, off ering a wide range of products to select from according to individual needs.

BY JAKUB MAURICZ mauricz.com

29

PRODUCT

GUIDE on ingredients of pre-training preparationsLARGININE – I particularly recommend it in a form of alpha-ketoglutarate, malate or hy-drochloride as these ingredients make the most common components of pre-training prepara-tions being nitrogen oxide boosters. Why? They simply do their job and when based on the high-est quality material they ensure the maximum blood fl ow to the muscles that receive the nec-essary nutrients and the muscle fi bres are fi lled with oxygen to the maximum. Increased sup-plies of oxygen to the muscles have a positive impact on the production of red blood cells and help strengthen the walls of the fi bres, which leads to the body looking solid and with visible veins, which is desired at bodybuilding compe-titions.

AAKG LARGININE ALPHAKETOGLUTARATE – it is a salt composed of L-arginine amino acid and alpha-ketoglutaric acid. Products containing AAKG eff ectively in-crease the level of anabolic hormones and me-tabolites of amino acids, including insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). Moreover, AAKG has an an-ti-catabolic action and assists in protein synthe-sis, which results in muscle growth.

Test results also indicate that L-arginine taken to-gether with carbohydrates may help start regen-eration. During one of the tests, the training par-ticipants were administered a carbohydrate or carbohydrate-arginine product 1, 2 and 3 hours after the training. The supplements contained 1 g of carbohydrates per kilogram of the exer-cising person’s body weight. The observed lev-el of glycogen increase in the muscles during a four-hour regeneration period after training was much faster in the sportspeople who had taken the carbohydrate-arginine mixture. The research-ers attributed the results to the arginine capacity to increase bioavailability of glucose, resulting in its greater amounts being transformed into gly-cogen and stored in the muscles. With regard to the above, I recommend using NO boosters with carbohydrates both before training to strengthen the muscle pump and directly after training to in-crease bioavailability of glucose.

In some persons iNOS enzymes are very active and after a short period of taking supplements containing L-arginine they become resistant to it. The phenomenon is fairly rare. The action of iNOS limits nitrogen oxide synthesis by increas-ing production of ADMA (asymmetric dimethy-larginine). However, modern preparations (not the ones based only on standard L-arginine) con-tain ingredients combating ADMA. They include citrulline, L-norvalin, agmatine as well ketoisoc-aproic salts of arginine and citrulline. By imped-ing the process, L-arginine degradation and pro-duction of nitrogen oxide are not reduced even when used for a long time. Pre-training prepa-

rations based on arginine are mainly dedicated for bodybuilders but considering that arginine impacts glycogen resynthesis, they can be used as post-training supplementation by sportsper-sons struggling with endurance adaptation. I particularly recommend NITROBOLON and NI-TROBOLON II in this category of supplements.

BETAALANINE – assists in increasing the level of carnosine in the muscles, which reduces their fatigue after training. Research has demon-strated that it can improve the body perform-ance by blocking muscle acidifi cation that in-creases under a physical eff ort as a result of ATP hydrolysis and by increasing dry body weight. Scientifi c evidence indicates that beta-alanine and various forms of creatine have a synergic action and maintain the maximum power of the muscles. It has also been proven that beta-alanine increases the explosive strength, dry muscle mass and increases the level of anaero-bic and aerobic endurance. BETA-ALANINE 700 from TREC is a supplement containing beta-alanine of pharmaceutical quality. That is why I recommend the product to anybody doing sports from typical sprint disciplines, through to mixed and endurance sports. CARNOTRIX with its carefully composed formula will also be per-fect, as it is a combination of beta-alanine pow-er with the best nitrogen oxide boosters – L-ar-ginine malate and citrulline malate.

GLYCEROL MONOSTEARATE – it oc-curs naturally in the body as a side product of lip-id decomposition. When it makes an ingredient of a pre-training product, it is absorbed and in-creases the concentration of liquids in the blood and tissues. The body maintains the concentra-tion at a constant level, so water absorbed by glycerol is not removed until additional glycerol is not excreted by the kidneys or decomposed. Taking it in a form of a supplement instantly in-creases hydration of the body and improves as-similation of simultaneously taken supplements. As a result, nutritive substances are absorbed faster when you need them most. Pre-training supplementation with glycerol monostearate results in extreme muscle charge due to strong retention of water. It can also be used in martial arts between weighing and fi ghting, when a pe-riod of a few to more than ten hours can help regain the body weight lost due to earlier dehy-dration. The content of beta-alanine and glycer-ol monostearate makes CARNOTRIX from TREC a perfect combination to charge your body with energy before a fi ght. Naturally, you have to re-member to drink suffi cient quantities of liquids.

CREATINE – the proven and well-known cre-atine is one of the most important supplements available on the market. Taking it, most of us may hope for measurable benefi ts. It has been

30

GUIDE on ingredients of pre-training preparationsproven that it increases the power and size of muscles in sportspeople, it helps reduce muscle catabolism and buff ers acidifi cation of the body by “devouring” hydronium ions (H+) formed as a result of ATP hydrolysis. It acts in synergy with beta-alanine. In the case of endurance sports and martial arts we have to focus on the forms of creatine that minimise water retention – crea-tine hydrochloride, creatine ethyl ester and crea-tine malate. These creatine forms help maintain a high level of energy with potential weight con-trol before a competition. I defi nitely recom-mend CREA9 XTREME and CM3 from TREC.

BCAA – branched-chain amino acids: L-va-line, L-leucine and L-isoleucine. Reducing the number of consumed calories has a catabolic impact on the muscle tissue due to many rea-sons. The more slender you become, the great-er the chance to lose the muscle mass since the body will try to maintain homeostasis by retain-ing the remaining fat deposits. In order to make up for the energy defi cit caused by a reducing diet, the body will start to use the muscle mass. At the cellular level it involves intensifi cation of protein synthesis to release amino acids from the muscles to use them as a fuel and to reduce protein synthesis so as not to lose energy. Taking BCAA may increase dry muscle mass, improve strength, performance and reduce damage to the muscle cells. Positive results of supplemen-tation with this substance in the case of protein decomposition and synthesis are not the only advantages of taking it during a reducing diet. It can also improve the training intensity, eliminate fatigue and sense of apathy. BCAA competes with L-tryptophan (a proteinogenic amino acid) to enter the brain. L-tryptophan can be trans-formed in the brain into a neurotransmitter – se-rotonin. The level of serotonin increases during

physical exercise, which can increase the sense of fatigue and simultaneously reduce intensity of the training. BCAA supplementation can reduce the level of L-tryptophan getting into the brain and decrease the level of the produced serot-onin, which will help you work harder and long-er. Only a few grams of the substance before and during training, as well as between meals on non-training days, may optimise anabolism of muscle proteins. Since it is necessary to take BCAA during training, I defi nitely recommend BCAA TURBO JET, characterised by excellent solubility and quick action, and for persons re-quiring greater stimulation – BCAA X-TANK. I recommend smaller tablets – ANABOLIC BCAA SYSTEM or SUPER BCAA SYSTEM capsules to beginners and sportspeople who do not need such high doses as bodybuilders, as they do oth-er sports disciplines. Both preparations addition-ally contain taurine and vitamin B6.

When selecting active substances you have to remember that a combination of several ingredi-ents tends to have a stronger action than when they are used separately. It is a synergy eff ect. Ready-made stacks have an advantage over the individually made ones in that their composition is much more complex and their formulas are reserved, which guarantees the desired eff ect. Naturally, there are dodgy companies that devel-op the formulas intuitively and the ratios of the substances are not tested or supported by scien-tifi c evidence. Moreover, many formulas contain large quantities of stimulants, such as geranium extract (DMAA) banned in the European Union. It causes an extreme exhaustion of the nerv-ous system and the commonly known sense of a “come-down” after training. Additionally, as a result of combining many supplement com-ponents we can experience an action antago-

nistic to the intended one, as it happens when taking too high a dose of caff eine not correlat-ed with nitrogen oxide boosters. S.A.W. makes an example of a perfectly optimised formula. It is a number 1 pre-training stack based only on safe, tested and approved ingredients. It comes in several forms – powder to make a drink, con-centrated shot, capsule and now it is also avail-able as gel made in the HYDRO GEL technology. In it, you will not fi nd any illegal boosters, drugs or substances listed in the register of WADA dop-ing substances, as happens in the case of many products from overseas available on the Polish market. S.A.W. is a concentrated stack without unnecessary fi llers with a very strong stimulating action, whose action can be adapted to the indi-vidual needs of the body and training character-istics, starting with the basic 5 g portion (45 ml of liquid shot, 4 capsules or 45 g of gel) and in-creasing it gradually. 10 g of the product is usu-ally optimum for sportspeople with several years of training experience (equivalent of 90 ml of the drink, 8 capsules or 90 g of gel). Most important-ly, S.A.W. does not only mean stimulation and a strong muscle pump. The product contains a high dose of beta-alanine and a large portion of creatine, which is often missing in many prepara-tions. That is how the muscles get all they need for intense work. Moreover, the product not only helps increase the intensity of training but it also reinforces the eff ects, leading to a sustainable development of the muscle mass and strength. NITROBOLON makes another family of prod-ucts worth recommending. They are multi-pur-pose pre-training stacks intended for amateur and professional sportspeople. They have been tested by thousands of enthusiasts of strength sports and fi tness, and have already become iconic. You can choose either NITROBOLON capsules or NITROBOLON II with quickly ab-

31

GUIDE on ingredients of pre-training preparations

DIY pre-training supplementsAmong the consumers of pre-training supplements there are persons with an investigative ap-proach to the biochemistry of alimentation and prefer to pick and mix the ingredients themselves. That is how they are able to strictly control the quantities of individual components and avoid the ones that are ineffi cient for them as a result of individual reaction of the body. A combination of the right supplements, e.g.AAKG MEGA HARDCORE + CM3 + BETA-ALANINE 700 + TYROSINE 600++ CAFFEINE 200 + BCAA X-TANK + TAURINE 900 from TREC means components of excellent quality and the set is very economical – it will suffi ce for 2–3 months of training. Taking single supplements makes a perfect solution to replenish the neces-sary ingredients in the diet and to stimulate and increase other training parameters, depending on the needs – you can either add or reduce the amount of the ingredient without changing the ratio of other components, as it normally happens when you take a ready-made formula in a form of a powder or capsules.

SummaryUsing pre-training supplements may help achieve the assumed training goals, in particular when we have to help our body to replenish the fuel in a form of carbohydrates, to boost it to work or simply to motivate it during intense work and sleepless nights. Remember that by taking appropri-ate blends suited to your individual needs you can improve your performance and mask any draw-backs of your diet. According to the proverb “all that glitters is not gold” one can say that not every pre-training supplement is supposed to cause a pseudo-narcotic euphoria – remember that before buying a product.

Pre-training preparationsnot only for bodybuildersIn the previous part of the article I have mentioned the role of individual ingredients but examples of stacks dedicated to various sports can still be a mystery. Below, you will fi nd a short manual on supplementation. See how easily you can modify the action of various products combining them in diff erent ways, depending on the sport you do and the result you want to achieve.

BODYBUILDINGCREA9 XTREME + S.A.W. + BETA-ALANINE 700 + BCAA X-TANKENDURANCE SPORTS CARNOTRIX + VITARGO ACTIVE FIRE + EXTREME LONG ENERGY GEL + BETA-ALANINE 700MARTIAL ARTSS.A.W. + BCAA TURBO JET or CARNOTRIX + BCAA X-TANK

Naturally, you have to select the portion size according to the training and weight needs, remember-ing the growing synergy eff ect when taking several products. You can freely modify the doses, e.g. most fi ghters recommend the combination of 5 g of S.A.W. with 3 CARNOTRIX tablets. It provides them with the necessary strength and endurance but not the muscle pump.

sorbed maltodextrins in a form of a powder with extended formula. They are typical creatine stacks that do not contain caff eine, and that is why they can be used even in late afternoon – not eve-rybody trains in the morning. NITROBOLON ENERGIZER is a bit stronger and it gives you a real energy “kick”, which is important before harder training sessions. It contains special stimulating in-gredients, pure isomaltulose (quickly absorbed disaccharide) and anti-catabolic compounds. TREC also off ers a prefect product for endurance sportspeople and endurance and strength athletes – VITARGO ACTIVE FIRE combining the best carbohydrates in the world and creatine malate, L-thyrosin, taurin, caff eine, BCAA amino acids, group B vitamins and plant NO boosters. The perfect pre-training formula not only helps increase muscle strength at training but also their resistance to long-term training load.

32

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Vitamin shop magazin 022014

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