Dynamic Musings & Rantings: Completely Unrandom, 3.0

More like Unrandom

Check that out: Oct 18th.  One month exactly since my last post (which seems to have frozen the thought process of millions of readers. Fitzgerald-speak will have that effect.  I'm sure folks are still reeling from the programming-insight epic-ness)

You'd almost think I had my shit together.  ALMOST.  But alas, this post is the compilation of a few dozen post-it notes with highly illegible chicken scratch that was, at the time, the best idea ever.  Anyways, Onward!  Let's start this Unrandom Show with a dose of total smoking hawtness:

So this is my good friend Tania; she is a figure competitor, mother of two young girls, and does online remote coaching, specifically for clients looking to improve body composition (aka look good nekkid).  And trust me, Tania knows a thing or two about improving body composition.  (Easy boys, she's married, and her husband is pretty jacked.  And she lives in Bermuda.  Yes, your life just started to suck a bit more).

So why am I telling you all this?  I get, quite frequently, requests for coaching with clients having this sole goal in mind; I've done it, but it ain't really my gig, and I'm partial to the competitive performance athlete.  Tania is absolutely fanatical about healthy living, and as such has a website: Health Fanatic where you can check her services out.  She also has a Facebook Page where she posts up health tips, and what I find quite cool, her kid's lunches.

 When you are a rockstar, people send you free shit.  When you are me, you get this in the mail.  

So a while back I was contacted by David Evans, and he wanted me to review his book, Cholesterol & Saturated Fat Prevent Heart Disease.  Of course, at first, I was like "WTF kind of godamn scam is this?"; once I shut off my over-caffeinated skeptical switch, I realized I had been reading posts from Mr Evans on cholesterol for years.  So, I jumped at the opportunity.  The book is small, just containing over a 100 pages that goes over, like it says, 101 different papers.  It's highly organized, gives a quick breakdown of each paper, and has a referenceable index and summary.  

This would be the perfect book to take to a party where a highly annoying T. Colin Campbell fanboi would be spouting forth; you could whip it out and beat his malnourished frame to oblivion in say, 2-3 backhands.  Or just drink more tequila.  Which is what I would do.

On a serious note, this is an awesome reference guide.  Paired with the behemoth of Good Calories, Bad Calories, one has the best of both worlds regarding the true history of cholesterol and SFA.  Tom Naughton of FatHead Movie fame does a great job of reviewing David's book here, also.

 Sciencey Goodness

J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2012 Sep 13;9(1):43. [Epub ahead of print]

A buffered form of creatine does not promote greater changes in muscle creatine content, body composition, or training adaptations than creatine monohydrate.

Jagim AR, Oliver JM, Sanchez A, Galvan E, Fluckey J, Riechman S, Greenwood M, Kelly K, Meininger C, Rasmussen C, Kreider RB.

Abstract

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND: Creatine monohydrate (CrM) has been consistently reported to increase muscle creatine content and improve high-intensity exercise capacity. However, a number of different forms of creatine have been purported to be more efficacious than CrM. The purpose of this study was to determine if a buffered creatine monohydrate (KA) that has been purported to promote greater creatine retention and training adaptations with fewer side effects at lower doses is more efficacious than CrM supplementation in resistance-trained individuals.

METHODS:

In a double-blind manner, 36 resistance-trained participants (20.2 +/- 2 years, 181 +/- 7 cm, 82.1 +/- 12 kg, and 14.7 +/- 5% body fat) were randomly assigned to supplement their diet with CrM (Creapure(R) AlzChem AG, Trostberg, Germany) at normal loading (4 x 5 g/d for 7-days) and maintenance (5 g/d for 21-days) doses; KA (Kre-Alkalyn(R), All American Pharmaceutical, Billings, MT, USA) at manufacturer's recommended doses (KA-L, 1.5 g/d for 28-days); or, KA with equivalent loading (4 x 5 g/d for 7-days) and maintenance (5 g/d) doses of CrM (KA-H). Participants were asked to maintain their current training programs and record all workouts. Muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis, fasting blood samples, body weight, DEXA determined body composition, and Wingate Anaerobic Capacity (WAC) tests were performed at 0, 7, and 28-days while 1RM strength tests were performed at 0 and 28-days. Data were analyzed by a repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and are presented as mean +/- SD changes from baseline after 7 and 28-days, respectively.

RESULTS:

Muscle free creatine content obtained in a subgroup of 25 participants increased in all groups over time (1.4 +/- 20.7 and 11.9 +/- 24.0 mmol/kg DW, p = 0.03) after 7 and 28-days, respectively, with no significant differences among groups (KA-L -7.9 +/- 22.3, 4.7 +/- 27.0; KA-H 1.0 +/- 12.8, 9.1 +/- 23.2; CrM 11.3 +/- 23.9, 22.3 +/- 21.0 mmol/kg DW, p = 0.46). However, while no overall group differences were observed (p = 0.14), pairwise comparison between the KA-L and CrM groups revealed that changes in muscle creatine content tended to be greater in the CrM group (KA-L -1.1 +/- 4.3, CrM 11.2 +/- 4.3 mmol/kg DW, p = 0.053 [mean +/- SEM]). Although some significant time effects were observed, no significant group x time interactions (p > 0.05) were observed in changes in body mass, fat free mass, fat mass, percent body fat, or total body water; bench press and leg press 1RM strength; WAC mean power, peak power, or total work; serum blood lipids, markers of catabolism and bone status, and serum electrolyte status; or, whole blood makers of lymphocytes and red cells. Serum creatinine levels increased in all groups (p < 0.001) with higher doses of creatine promoting greater increases in serum creatinine (p = 0.03) but the increases observed (0.1 -- 0.2 mg/dl) were well within normal values for active individuals (i.e., <1.28 +/- 0.2 mg/dl). Serum LDL was decreased to a greater degree following ingesting loading doses in the CrM group but returned to baseline during the maintenance phase. No side effects were reported.

CONCLUSIONS:

Neither manufacturers recommended doses of KA (1.5 g/d) or KA with equivalent loading (20 g/d for 7-days) and maintenance doses (5 g/d for 21-days) of CrM promoted greater changes in muscle creatine content, body composition, strength, or anaerobic capacity than CrM (20 g/d for 7-days, 5 g/d for 21-days). There was no evidence that supplementing the diet with a buffered form of creatine resulted in fewer side effects than CrM. These findings do not support claims that consuming a buffered form of creatine is a more efficacious and/or safer form of creatine to consume than creatine monohydrate.

My Thoughts:  So, we know that CEE (creatine ethyl ester) compared to CM (creatine monohydrate) absolutely,  totally, sucks balls.  But what about Kre-Alkalyn, self labeled as "The World's Most Potent Creatine?" (I dislike that huge fallacy about as much as I dislike the "healthy" claims of Visalus)  Apparently, it kinda sucks balls, too.  Most folks deviate away from CM due to one effect:  GI bloating.  Doesn't happen to everyone, and being smart and NOT loading at 20g/5day completely negates this most of teh time.  Monohydrate, specifically the German trademarked Creapure (found in a lot of OTC creatine brands.  Just read the label.  Wait---you guys always read labels, right?  Right.) is the classic that doesn't ever let you down, just like The Man With No Name.  Ok, creatine and Clint really aren't related, but they are both awesome.  Just use the legit shit.

 

OPT CCP Nutrition, Day 2

So I had the opportunity to teach part of the OPT CCP Nutrition Level-1 in Scottsdale, AZ at the end of September.  The actual fact that this happened still seems a bit surreal to me.  How this came about:

Me, while talking to James:  "Hey man, what do you think of me coming down to Scottsdale in the fall, hang out, do some testing on some athletes?"

James: "Sure.  But why don't you come down in Sept and teach the Nutrition course"

Me, after long pause: "Hell yes, that will be a blast!"

What I actually thought, moments later: "Holy fucking chocolate covered Christ what the hell have I got myself into?!?!?!  Idiot!"

This seems pretty par for the course for James; he takes a simple idea, and blows it up into something huge.  Well, the course went phenomenal, I was teaching Day 2, which is implementation w/ clients---aka how to apply the science.  This was a big deal (to me), since this portion wasn't there before.  When I took the very first OPT course, I remember leaving thinking "Fuck.  I know a lot more than I did before.  But how the hell do I teach this to clients!??!"  A helluva lot of food logs, clients, mistakes, and progress later, and I have a bit of a system.  James wanted me to teach this, and it seemed to be well received by the attending coaches.

 Mat Lalonde (good interview here) of course, killed the science on Day 1.   Since we were both staying at the same hotel, I got a chance to hang out with Mat for most of the weekend; definitely a cool dude, has a crazy huge weighted dip (think he was at 180ish for 5 reps), and I even let him squeak by me in a short lil' DU/T2B 5 rounder, ha!  

We did check out a VERY sick restaurant called Fogo de Chao---Brazilian BBQ.  All you can eat meat, and a salad bar.  Holy Fuck.  Is that perfect, or what?  I had to tap out at about what I estimate at 20oz meat.  I think Mat ate double that.  Seriously out of control.

Next OPT course is end of Feb, and I *might* be heading to Scottsdale in Dec to put together the online version of the nutrition course---still working on the details.  Very stoked about the whole thing, though!

I'll leave you with this (poem sent to me from my good friend Sean'O):

Ode to Bacon

by Tom Vale

Light the burner, woosh,
the pan clatters to the grill.
Unwrap the paper, treasure awaits inside.
Black and silent burns the pan, this witches cauldron about to perform magic.

In mere moments, the silence turns to sizzling, cracking, popping.
The aroma wafts up, intoxicating,
but only a false phantom of the true blissful taste which awaits.
Turning, browning, crisping.
The anticipation is agony, an exercise in patience and restraint.
It is time, the tongs lower in and victory is pulled out.
Lowered to the plate like a newborn.
It is time.
You are mine.
Bacon

And, of course, some nice bacon-ey science:

 The Nitrate and Nitrite Myth, by Chris Kresser