Bulletin #163 – Protein Power – More Proof

The optimal amount of protein for athletes and exercisers has been de-bated ad nauseam, as have other is-sues related to protein. Finally, last year, the International Society of Sports Nutrition took a positive re-search-based position on protein, saying, really, what we have be-lieved in at Parrillo Performance for decades. Let me give you a run-down of what this information tells us – and my take on it as it relates to your nutrition and training.

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The Society has put together seven points related to the intake of protein for healthy, exercising individuals:1) Vast research supports the con-tention that individuals engaged in regular exercise training require more dietary protein than seden-tary individuals. Absolutely! What stirred the debate early on was that the National Research Council put the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for protein intake at 0.8 grams protein per kg body weight per day (g/kg/day). This works out to be 0.36 grams per pound body weight each day (g/pound/day), which is 56 grams per day for a typical male and about 72 grams per day for a 200 pound bodybuilder. This value was determined to be the amount required by most of the av-erage population – not for athletes or other very active people. The RDA protein recommendation may be enough for sedentary people but en-durance athletes and very muscular athletes need more.2) Protein intakes of 1.4 – 2.0 g/kg/ day for physically active individuals is not only safe, but may improve the training adaptations to exercise train-ing. On The Parrillo Performance Nutrition Program, we recommend that bodybuilders consume 1.5 grams or more of protein a day per pound of body weight. At least one gram per pound of body weight should come from lean proteins, with the re-maining .

5 gram per pound of body weight coming from starchy and fi-brous carbs. We’ve seen bodybuild-ers greatly improve their physiques by following these guidelines.3) When part of a balanced, nutrient-dense diet, protein intakes at this lev-el are not detrimental to kidney func-tion or bone metabolism in healthy, active persons. True, there is no evi-dence suggesting that strength ath-letes consuming a high protein diet have an increased incidence of kid-ney disease. The data suggesting that a high protein diet contributes to the progressive nature of kidney disease come from people with pre-existing kidney problems.4) While it is possible for physical-ly active individuals to obtain their daily protein requirements through a varied, regular diet, supplemental protein in various forms are a prac-tical way of ensuring adequate and quality protein intake for athletes. Amen – which is why Parrillo Per-formance has a full range of protein supplements available to you.

To help you meet your protein needs, for example, we have developed Hi-Protein Powder™. Each serving provides 31 grams of ultra quality protein. Other high-protein supple-ments include our Protein Bars™, 50/50 Plus™ powders, Optimized Whey Protein™ supplements, and All-Protein™.5) Different types and quality of protein can affect amino acid bio-availability following protein sup-plementation. The superiority of one protein type over another in terms of optimizing recovery and/ or training adaptations remains to be convincingly demonstrated. Our protein supplements give you a variety of protein types, from whey to casein, and all have benefits. For example, research shows that whey protein diets increase the amount of glutathione in body tissues. Glu-tathione is a peptide (an amino acid derivative) that is involved in strengthening immunity. The eleva-tion of glutathione has been shown to inhibit the development of sev-eral types of tumors, according to numerous studies. Whey protein is found in the following products: Op-timized Whey Protein™, Hi-Protein Powder™, 50/50 Plus Powder™, Parrillo Sports Nutrition Bars™, Parrillo Protein Bars™, Parrillo En-ergy Bars™, Protein Chew Bars™, Pancake & Muffin Mix™ and Cake & Cupcake Mix™. We also offer our All-Protein Pow-der™, which covers just about every protein base there is.

Plus it’s fortified with amino acids: glycine, l-glutamine, l-leucine, l-isoleucine, and l-valine. Our suggested usage is one or more serv-ings (2 scoops mixed with 8 ounces or ¼ liter of water or beverage) taken as needed with or between meals, and taken before, during, and after work-outs. All-Protein Powder™ can also be mixed with food as needed.6) Appropriately timed protein intake is an important component of an over-all exercise training program, essential for proper recovery, immune function, and the growth and maintenance of lean body mass. Used to be that carbs took precedence over any other nutri-ent as a post-workout recovery agent. Not any more. Protein is equally as im-portant and pairs up with carbohydrate as a double punch for muscle building. Various research studies have proved that a carbohydrate/protein supple-ment triggers the greatest elevations in insulin and growth hormone levels in exercising study subjects. Clearly, protein works hand in hand with post-exercise carbs to create a hormonal environment that promotes the great-est increase in muscle growth.

This nutrient combination also jump-starts your body’s glycogen-making process — faster than if you just consumed carbs. Research has found that a balanced amino mixture (0.15 gm per kg of body weight) taken immediately af-ter resistance exercise will produce a better anabolic effect than when the same mixture was taken later. We think one of the best times to take our 50/50 Plus™ or protein supplements is right after you train, based on this cutting edge research. If you want to take your recovery efforts up one more notch, consider supplementation with 50/50 Plus™, Hi-Protein™, Opti-mized Whey Protein™ and All-Protein™.7) Under certain circumstances, specific amino acid supplements, such as branched-chain amino ac-ids (BCAA’s), may improve exercise performance and recovery from exercise. Parrillo Performance sup-plies BCAAS in its Muscle Amino Formula™. A good time to use this product is immediately before and after training, as well as with meals. Hard dieting is a great time to supplement with branch-chain amino acids.During times of energy insufficien-cy (dieting), your body will actu-ally break down its own muscle to use as fuel if no other is available. Catabolism is a dreadful metabolic state that occurs when glycogen stores have been depleted and fat oxidation has maximized. Meta-bolically, your body requires a cer-tain level of glucose (blood sugar) to be maintained in order for the brain to function. While body fat provides a long-lasting energy sup-ply, fat cannot be converted into carbohydrate by the human body. But protein (amino acids) can.

Un-der adverse conditions, carbohy-drates are exhausted and your body breaks down protein stores (muscle tissue) to convert into carbohydrate to supply energy. Branched-Chain Amino Acids are effective because they form a substrate for growth and are metabolized as fuel direct-ly within muscle cells. A handful of Muscle Amino Formula™ cap-sules will help prevent the onset of catabolism and has both anabolic and anti-catabolic properties. Hi- Protein™ and Optimized Whey™ are fortified with extra BCAAs for just this reason. We suggest two or more with every meal. Remember that BCAAs require insulin for ab-sorption into muscle cells so take them with food (carbs) rather than on an empty stomach!For more information on protein and athletes, read the “Internation-al Society of Sports Nutrition Posi-tion Stand: protein and exercise,” published in the September 2007 issue of the Journal of the Interna-tional Society of Sports Nutrition.

Bulletin #96 – The Protein Packed Diet

Any bodybuilder or athlete knows the importance of eating a sufficient amount of protein each day. Protein has a number of functions in the body: It is involved in the growth, maintenance, and repair of tissue; it helps create hemoglobin, which carries oxy-gen to cells; it is required for the formation of antibodies to ward off disease and infection; and it helps produce enzymes and hormones for the regulation of body processes. Three Classifications of Amino AcidsProtein is made up of organic com-pounds called amino acids, which are required by every metabolic process. Your body needs 22 amino acids in a certain balance to synthesize protein for muscular growth. All but eight of the amino acids can be manufactured by the body. Those eight are called “essential amino acids,” and they are supplied by animal proteins such as chicken and fish. Essential amino acids include ly-sine; methionine; phenylalanine; threonine; tryptophan; and the branched-chain aminos, isoleucine, leucine, and valine.

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Foods that contain the eight essential amino acids are called “complete proteins.” Of the 22 amino acids, seven are considered “conditionally essential,” which means that under certain conditions such as extreme stress the body cannot manufacture enough of them. These amino acids include arginine, cysteine, glutamine, histidine, proline, taurine, and tyrosine . The remaining seven amino acids are termed “nonessential amino acids,” which the body makes on its own. These amino acids include alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid, citruline, glutamic acid, glycine, and serine .Protein and Your MetabolismOf all foods, protein has the highest “dynamic action” on the metabolism. This describes the ability of a food to stimulate the body’s metabolic rate. All foods do this to some extent. Studies, however, have shown that a high-protein meal raises the metabolic rate more than 30 percent in a 10 to 12-hour period, whereas carbohydrates and fats increase the metabolic rate ap-proximately four percent over the same time period. This is significant, since increasing metabolism aids in fat-burning. Without enough protein in your diet, the body can-not properly drive the metabolic processes or support growth and repair.

How Much Protein Do You Need?Bodybuilders have higher-than-nor-mal requirements for protein because the muscles use more amino acids during train-ing. For most bodybuilders, strength train-ers, and other athletes, the recommended protein intake is 1.25 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. At least one gram of protein per pound of your body weight should come from complete protein sources such as lean white meat poultry, fish, egg whites, and protein supplements. The remaining should come from starchy and fibrous carbohydrates, which also contain protein. These guidelines are explained in the Parrillo Nutrition Manual™.Each meal should be structured to include a lean protein, one or two starchy carbohydrates, and one or two fibrous carbo-hydrates. This combination of foods has two important benefits: First, the protein and fi-ber slow the digestion of carbohydrates - and consequently the release of glucose - to pro-vide consistent energy levels and sustained endurance throughout the day . Second, this combination provides a constant supply of nutrients so that your body can maintain its energy, growth, and repair status.Lean proteins should be baked, broiled, microwaved, or grilled - without fats; and vegetables should be microwaved, lightly steamed, or cooked in a minimal amount of water to preserve nutrient content.

Best Sources of Supplemental Protein

While bodybuilders and athletes ob-tain their protein mostly from food, many will supplement their diets with protein in the form of protein powders or sports bars. These supplements are typically for-mulated with several high-quality proteins from animal and plant sources. Egg protein (ovalbumin), for example, is a very high grade form of supplemental protein. Its use in protein supplements has decreased some-what, however, because it is expensive and high in sodium .1Extracted from milk, caseine is an-other high-quality protein that is widely used in supplements.

You find this protein in Hi-Protein Powder™, Pro-Carb Powder™, 50-50 Plus Powder™, and Parrillo Sports Nutrition Bars™, Parrillo Protein Bars™, and Parrillo Energy Bars™.One of the highest quality protein found in protein supplements is whey pro-tein, which is a component of milk that is separated from milk to make cheese and other dairy products . Whey is among the most rapidly digested of all supplemental proteins . What this means to you is that the amino acids in whey are rapidly absorbed so that the processes of repair and growth can be accelerated.2 In addition, whey is loaded with various health-building nutrients, including B-complex vitamins, selenium, calcium, and iodine .3 Whey protein is found in the follow-ing Parrillo products: Optimized Whey Protein™, Hi-Protein Powder™, 50/50 Plus Powder™, Parrillo Sports Nutrition Bars™, Parrillo Protein Bars™, and Parrillo Energy Bars™.Soy protein is also found in numerous products on the market. However, it lacks the amino acid methionin so it doesn’t have as high a protein efficiency ratio as milk proteins .

How to Use Protein SupplementsA good time to consume any of our supplements containing these proteins - particularly those supplements that con-tain some carbohydrate too is immediately following your workout. Scientific experi-ments indicate that protein/carb supplements initiates the rapid uptake of carbs by your muscles - faster than carbs alone.4In addition, a carbohydrate/protein supplement taken following a workout stimulates the release of two hormones (insulin and growth hormone), creating an environment favorable to muscle growth and recovery.5Protein supplements play a key role in metabolism and nutrition. Used in conjunc-tion with the proper foods, they can assist in decreasing body fat, supporting muscular growth, extending endurance, and promoting better recovery and repair after training.

References

1. Kreider, R.B. 1999. Protein: Is it all the same? Muscular Development, December.

2. Kreider, R.B. 1999. Protein: Is it all the same? Muscular Development, December.

3. Barth, C.A., and U. Behnke. 1997. Nutritional physiology of whey and whey components. Nahrung 41: 2-12.

4. Zawadzki, K.M., Yaspelkis, BB., and J.L. Ivy. 1992. Carbohydrate-protein complex increases the rate of muscle gly-cogen storage after exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology 72: 1854-1859.

5. Chandler, R.M., Byrne, H.K., Pat-terson, J.G., and J.L. Ivy. 1994. Dietary supplements affect the anabolic hormones after weight-training exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology 76: 839-845.

Bulletin #41 – Programned For Success: Supplementation For Optimal Results

In the previous bulletin we discussedthe importance of nutritional supplementsin an individual’s diet and reviewed thebenefits of Parrillo’s Essential Vitamin andMineral-Electrolyte Formulas as well asCapTri. In this bulletin we will review theimportance and relevance of several othernutritional supplements.We’ll start with the tandem of Hi-Pro-tein Powder and Pro-Carb. Hi-Protein isformulated from a base of casein and wheyproteins, two of the best protein sourcesknown. The highest efficiency protein ofall is whole eggs, but obviously wholeeggs wouldn’t make a very good supple-ment. So what we did was start with caseinand whey (which are milk proteins) andadd purified amino acids to adjust theamino acid profile of the formula to matchthat of whole eggs. This way we’ve gen-erated the highest efficiency protein in away that supplies no fat or cholesterol. Itmixes easily with a spoon and tastes great.Hi-Protein Powder is very rich in essentialamino acids, branched chain amino acids,and glutamine. These are the aminos yourbody needs the most to build muscle. Eachscoop provides 20 grams of ultra-high ef-ficiency protein along with six grams ofcarbohydrate.

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The carbs are included toprovide a small, steady insulin release,which helps muscle cells absorb theaminos. Pro-Carb is formulated withmaltodextrin, a slow release glucose poly-mer. Pro-Carb contains 22 grams of car-bohydrate per scoop and four grams ofprotein. So  how do you use Hi-ProteinPowder and Pro-Carb? These prod-ucts are designed as an easy andconvenient way to increase theprotein and carbohydrate con-tent of your diet. Many of ourathletes are eating 5,000 -6,000 calories a day (ormore) to maintain theirmuscle mass, and are look-ing for a way to eat more.Supplying nutrients in liq-uid form is an easy way toincrease calories and nutrient levels tosupport more growth. If you find your-self at a plateau in your training and arehaving a hard time gaining more muscle,the first thing to try is increasing yourcalories. Muscle is metabolically activetissue, meaning that it burns a lot of calo-ries, even at rest. It takes a lot of energyto maintain muscle, which must constantlybe repaired after each workout. The moremuscle mass you have, the higher yourmetabolic rate. This means your bodyneeds more calories every day just tomaintain itself, let alone get bigger. Sowith every pound of muscle you add toyour body, your daily energy requirementincreases.

This is why you need to slowlyand constantly increase calories as yougain more and more muscle. A lot ofpeople hit a plateau and don’t gain anymore muscle, simply because their exist-ing muscle mass is using up all of theirdietary energy (calories), leaving none leftto support growth. If you’re at such a pla-teau there are three places to look: notenough rest, not enough calories, or aproblem with your training program. Themost common problem is not enough calo-ries. If somebody is training hard, withheavy weights to failure, and eating asolid diet, there’s no reason theyshouldn’t be gaining muscle. Bodybuild-ing is not supposed to be about gettinggood gains for a year and then staying ata plateau for the rest of your life. If you’renot gaining muscle, you’re doing some-thing wrong. Change something. If youcan’t get it figured out, give us a call.That’s what we’re here for.Obviously, as your muscle mass in-creases your need for protein and calo-ries increases as well. Hi-Protein and Pro-Carb were specifically designed to meetthis need for quality nutrients.

One scoopof each mixed together provides 210 calo-ries, 24 grams of protein, 28 grams of com-plex carbs, and less than a gram of fat. Agreat way to flood your muscles with nu-trients is to take a scoop of each mixed inwater with each meal or between meals. Ifyou do this five times a day, this will sup-ply 1,050 extra calories, 120 grams of pro-tein and 134 grams of carbohydrate. Bytaking it between meals you maintain aconstant supply of energy and nutrientsfor your muscles. It’s very easy to put a scoop in a shaker bottle and drink it downwhen you don’t have time for a meal. Liq-uid nutrition is an easy way to supplymore calories without feeling full andbloated. If you’re stuck at a plateau, add-ing Hi-Protein and Pro-Carb to your dietmay be all you need to do.The Parrillo Bar has proven to be oneof our most popular supplements, prob-ably because they taste so good. They’reanother great way to supply quality nu-trition when you’re in a hurry. Each Barcontains 12 grams of high efficiency pro-tein, like that used in our Hi-Protein Pow-der, 38 grams of carbohydrate from ricedextrin, a slow-release carbohydrate, andcontains 240 calories. Each Bar also con-tains 5.5 grams of CapTri, so it representsbalanced nutrition for the bodybuilder.Put a few bars in your pocket or your gymbag, and you’ll never have to miss a meal.Endurance athletes love them too;they’re easy to eat while you’re on thebike.

A box of Parrillo Bars is a kind ofnutritional insurance, so you’ll never becaught without food or be forced to eatsomething you’re not supposed to.Liver-Amino Formula is a blend of de-fatted beef liver and casein, providinghigh quality protein, B vitamins includ-ing B-12, and heme iron. Iron deficiencyis the most common nutritional deficiencyin the world, and is surprisingly commoneven in America (3,4). Female athletes andendurance athletes are the greatest at risk,with as many as 22% of American femalesdeficient in iron (3-6). Regular iron, com-monly supplied as ferrous sulfate, ispoorly absorbed by the body. Some greenleafy vegetables like spinach contain asignificant amount of iron, but only 1.4%of it is absorbed (3). Iron from vegetablesources is said to have a low bio-avail-ability, meaning that only a small fractioncan be absorbed from the food. The bestiron source is called heme iron, which isiron complexed to the molecule heme. Thiscomplex is found in hemoglobin in redblood cells and is responsible for trans-porting oxygen in the body. Heme iron isfound in red meat, but red meat unfortu-nately contains a lot of saturated fat andcholesterol so I don’t recommend it onmy diet.

Liver-Amino Formula has beenspecially prepared so all of the fat andcholesterol is removed, leaving a goodsource of quality protein and heme iron.It’s fortified with pre-digested amino ac-ids to further improve it’s amino acid pro-file, and also has added B-12. This is acore supplement for many strength ath-letes. The iron helps build red blood cells,and increased oxygen transport improvesenergy and endurance. It doesn’t containmany calories, so it’s not used for weightgain. It’s real benefit is in increasedstrength and endurance. This should bea core supplement for all endurance ath-letes and hard-training bodybuilders. Ifyou’re looking for a nutritional productto give you increased performance, thisis it.Essential Vitamin Formula, Mineral-Electrolyte Formula, CapTri, Hi-ProteinPowder, Pro-Carb, Parrillo Bars, and Liver-Amino Formula are the core supplements.The vitamins, minerals, and CapTri are re-ally the entry level products. Beyond thatyour needs depend on your diet and levelof training. If you’re stuck at a plateau,try Hi-Protein and Pro-Carb. That combi-nation alone will usually add severalpounds of muscle in a month or two. Ifyou need more energy to train, try Liver-Amino.

This should be considered an es-sential supplement for serious enduranceathletes. If you’re having trouble eatingall of your scheduled meals or getting inyour required amount of calories, the Baris a great answer. If you’re trying to losefat and have hit a fat-loss plateau, cutback on 100 grams of starchy carbohy-drates a day (400 calories worth) and useone-half to one tablespoon of CapTri ateach meal. This will get your fat loss go-ing again. To get in contest shape youmay have to cut back on carbohydratesfurther, increase CapTri, and increaseaerobics to an hour a day. I have yet tomeet a person who could not get excep-tionally lean by following this protocol.The exact details of how to structure yourdiet are in the Parrillo Nutrition Manual.Finally, we have several other supple-ments designed specifically for advancedathletes. Muscle Amino Formula is a mix-ture of the branched chain amino acidsleucine, isoleucine, and valine, in the op-timal ratio for assimilation into muscle tis-sue. The branched chain amino acids(BCAAs) are among the most abundantamino acids incorporated in muscle pro-tein (7). (Note that glutamine is the mostabundant amino acid in muscle, but mostof it is free in the cytoplasm rather thanincorporated into contractile protein.)

TheBCAAs thus supply a concentratedsource of building blocks your bodyneeds to build muscle. Why is this so im-portant? Because your body cannot makethe BCAAs, they must be obtained fromthe diet or supplements. The BCAAs havebeen shown to be anti-catabolic (8), re-sulting in a net increase in muscle masssince they also have the ability to be usedfor energy in the muscles. Ultimate AminoFormula is a blend of crystalline “freeform” (single) amino acids profiled in the ratio of the ultimate protein. It’s an ex-tremely efficient amino acid source, re-quiring no digestion. It’s designed for pe-riods of intense training and strict diet-ing, to help prevent muscle loss while pre-paring for a contest. Since it’s very low incalories, this is not what you want to useto gain muscular weight. To gain musclemass, Hi-Protein Powder is a betterchoice. Ultimate Amino is for the guy whowants to compete at 240 pounds and 4.0%body fat, instead of 239 pounds and 4.1%body fat. See what I mean? It’s used whenyou’re training hard and getting lean.Advanced Lipotropic Formula is aspecial blend of nutrients used by theliver to metabolize fat, including L-car-nitine (9,10).

This product ensures thatyour body has all of the required nutri-ents and co-factors it needs so that allthe fat-burning metabolic pathways canoperate at full efficiency. Again, I have toget back to the basics, which is a goodlow-fat diet and a regular exercise pro-gram. Some companies lead people to be-lieve that if they simply take a lipotropiccompound, they’ll automatically loseweight. I want to be very clear in statingthat to lose fat you need to clean up yourdiet (see last month’s article on nutrition)and exercise regularly. Advanced Lipo-tropic Formula supplies nutrients used infat metabolism, but it won’t burn fat foryou. You still have to do that yourself byexercising. So if your goal is to optimallyburn body fat, make sure to pay close at-tention to your diet and exercise, and in-clude Advance Lipotropic Formula to en-sure your body has all the nutrients itneeds to perform the metabolic fat-burn-ing processes.Enhanced GH Formula is a mixture ofarginine and lysine, two amino acidswhich have been shown to increasegrowth hormone release. Growth hormoneacts in the body to increase muscle massand decrease body fat. This is anotheradvanced product, and you should startwith CapTri and Hi-Protein Powder beforeadding it to your program.Max Endurance Formula is designedto increase energy and endurance in en-durance athletes. It contains magnesiumand potassium aspartates, as well asinosine, phenylalanine, and ferulic acid.The aspartates help the body detoxifyammonia, a break down product of pro-tein metabolism which occurs during en-durance exercise.

The urea cycle is a meta-bolic pathway in the liver which convertsammonia to urea, which is then filteredout by the kidneys and excreted in theurine. The urea cycle requires aspartatefor activity. Inosine is a precursor (build-ing block) of ATP, the energy source ofthe cell.I’ve tried to summarize how to intelli-gently incorporate supplements into yournutrition program for best results. Remem-ber that the proper diet is the foundationof everything. If you’re not making theprogress you want, look at your diet andtraining program first. A healthy diet ofwholesome food is the foundation ofgood nutrition, and you need to be eat-ing right in order to derive the maximumbenefit from your supplements.I’ve also tried to describe a rationalapproach to designing your own indi-vidual supplement program. Start with thebasics: vitamins, minerals, CapTri, and Hi-Protein. Strength athletes should addLiver-Amino. Endurance athletes shouldadd Liver-Amino, Pro-Carb, and the Bar.Advanced endurance athletes should addMax Endurance Formula. If you want togain muscular weight use CapTri, Hi-Pro-tein, Pro-Carb, and the Bar. If you want tolose body fat use CapTri and AdvancedLipotropic Formula.

Competitive body-builders should add Muscle Amino. Pro-fessional bodybuilders should addMuscle Amino and Ultimate Amino.If you’re at a plateau in gainingmuscle, add Hi-Protein Powder and Pro-Carb to your program. If you hit a plateauwhile losing fat, cut back on carbs andsubstitute an equivalent amount of calo-ries from CapTri. If you want to improvestrength or endurance, add Liver-Amino.Call for a free supplement catalog(800-344-3404), which includes a list of allthe ingredients and the amounts in eachformula, as well as suggested usageguidelines. More information about maxi-mizing your results from supplements canbe found in the Parrillo Performance Nu-trition Manual and our Sports NutritionGuide, which includes technical and sci-entific information. Our technical servicesProgrammed For Success: Supplementation For Optimal Results, Part IIIline (513-531-1311) is staffed to answerany questions you may have in optimiz-ing your program and selecting the bestsupplements for you. We’re here to sup-port you and you strive to achieve yourtraining and nutrition goals.

References

1. Bach AC and Babayan VK. Mediumchain triglycerides: an update. Am. J. Clin.Nutr. 36: 950-962, 1982.

2. Babayan, Medium chain triglycer-ides and structured lipids.  Lipids 22: 417-420 (1987).

3. Scrimshaw. Scientific American,October, 1991, p. 46-52.

4. Sherman and Kramer. Iron Nutri-tion and Exercise, in Nutrition in Exerciseand Sport, Hickson and Wolinsky. CRCPress, 1989, p. 291-308.

5. Haymes. Proteins, Vitamins, andIron, in Ergogenic Aids in Sport, Williams.Human Kinetics Publishers, 1983, p.27-55.

6. Whitmire. Vitamins and Minerals:A perspective in Physical Performance,in Sports Nutrition for the 90s, Berningand Steen. Aspen Publishers, 1991, p. 129-151.

7. Rombeau JL and Caldwell MD. Clini-cal Nutrition: Parenteral Nutrition, SecondEdition. W.B. Saunders Company, Phila-delphia, 1993.

8. Bucci L. Nutrients as ErgogenicAids for Sports and Exercise. CRC Press,Boca Raton, 1993.

9. Shils ME, Olson JA, and Shike M.Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease.Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia, 1994.

10. Linder MC. Nutritional Biochem-istry and Metabolism with Clinical Appli-cations. Elsevier Science Publishing Com-pany, New York, 1991.

Bulletin #29 – Parrillo Performance Guide to Muscle, Part 2

This month we continue our discus-sion about muscle. In this installment we’llcover some basic concepts about muscleanatomy and physiology. This will lead toan understanding of the adaptive responseof muscle to exercise, so you can betterdesign an effective program to ahieveyour training goals.First off, you should realize that thereare three basic types of muscle tissue inthe human body.  Skeletal muscle, alsocalled striated muscle, is attached via ten-dons to the skeleton.  Usually the two endsof a skeletal muscle are attached to twodifferent bones across a joint.  The onlything a muscle can do is contract, andwhen it contracts (shortens) it brings thetwo bones closer together.  

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This causesmovement of the skeleton at the particu-lar joint spanned by the muscle.  Thus thefunction of skeletal muscle is to move theskeleton.  Other skeletal muscles, suchas those between vertebrae and betweenthe ribs, play more of a structural role,helping the skeleton to maintain its propershape.  Notably, skeletal muscle is undervoluntary control, which means that youcontrol when a skeletal muscle contracts.Another type of muscle tissue issmooth muscle, called that because itlacks striations.  Probably the best ex-ample of smooth muscle is the stomachand intestines.  Your digestive tract is ahuge muscular tube which propels foodfrom your mouth to the other end.  Yourintestines are ringed by circular bands ofmuscular tissue which squeeze the foodthrough the tube when they contract.This is called a peristaltic contraction, andis the same kind of contraction that pro-pels food down your esophagus when youswallow.  

Smooth muscle is not undervoluntary control, but instead is controlledby the autonomic nervous system.  Theautonomic nervous system receives inputfrom the brain, but at the subconsciouslevel.  The autonomic nervous system hastwo divisions: the parasympathetic divi-sion which speeds up movement of foodthrough the digestive tract, and the sym-pathetic division which slows down move-ment.  Of interest, the intestines have theirown nervous system built right into theintestinal wall, between muscle layers.  It’scalled the myenteric nerve plexus, andintegrates information from the intestineswith input from the autonomic nervoussystem to precisely control digestion andfood movement.  Most people don’t real-ize that there are nearly as many nervecells in their intestines as in their brains.The complexity of this system has onlybecome understood in the last couple ofyears.  It’s what gives us the freedom tothink about other things instead of havingto constantly be worried about con-sciously controlling the movement of foodthrough the gut.

The third type of muscle tissue is car-diac muscle, found exclusively in theheart.  It’s somewhere between striatedmuscle and smooth muscle.  It does havestriations like skeletal muscle but the fi-bers are arranged more like smoothmuscle, so it has elements of both.  Car-diac muscle is not strictly under consciouscontrol (your heart beats without youthinking about it), but is influenced byconscious thought.  For example, beingnervous or scared will speed up your heartrate, while relaxing will slow down yourheart rate.  This too is mediated by theautonomic nervous system.  Here, thesympathetic division speeds up heart ratewhile the parasympathetic division slowsit down.  Heart muscle has some veryspecial properties which allow it to do itsjob.  For one thing, it has a built in pace-maker which causes the heart to sponta-neously contract all by itself.  You cancut all the nerves going to the heart and itwill still beat just fine.  (This is what makesheart transplants possible.)The rest of this series is devoted to astudy of skeletal muscle, especially howit works and what to do to make it biggerand stronger.  Each muscle is made ofmuscle cells, also called muscle fibers ormyofibers (1,2,3).  Muscle cells are verylong, sometimes spanning the length ofthe entire muscle, and are about 50-100microns in diameter (about the size of ahuman hair).  Each muscle cell containsmany nuclei which are located around theoutside, just beneath the muscle cell mem-brane, or sarcolemma.  

When you look ata muscle fiber with a microscope, youcan make out cross striations runningperpendicular to the length of the fiber.Each muscle is contained in a bag of toughconnective tissue for protection.  Thisconnective tissue is called epimysium,because it’s around the muscle.  This isthe stuff you’re stretching when you doyour stretches and fascial planing.  It’sreally tough, kind of like those nylon-re-inforced mailing envelopes, except thin-ner.  The idea is if you stretch the con-nective tissue covering the muscle you willmake it easier for the underlying muscletissue to expand, but that’s a story foranother day.Just under the epimysium the musclecells are grouped into bundles calledfasiculi, which contain as many as 150fibers (cells) each (1).  Inside the musclecell is the sarcoplasma, the name for thecytoplasm of a muscle cell (1).  Therewe find the contractile proteins, storedglycogen and fat granules, and mitochon-dria.  The contractile proteins are groupedinto bundles called myofibrils, which areabout 1 micron in diameter, or about 1/100 the width of a human hair (1).  Themyofibrils are made of the contractile pro-teins themselves, which are called myo-filaments.  

The two main proteins in themyofilaments are actin and myosin.  Sowe have myofibers, myofibrils, and myo-filaments.  (Don’t blame me – I didn’tmake this up.)Actin and myosin, the two main pro-teins responsible for muscle contraction,are organized into structural and functionalsubunits called sarcomeres.  When youbuild more muscle tissue, mostly whatyou’re doing is increasing the amount of actin and myosin proteins in your musclecells, thereby making the muscle biggerand stronger.  As you know, proteins aremade from building blocks called aminoacids.  What happens is when you eatsome protein your stomach and intestinesdigest it and break it down into the indi-vidual amino acids.  These then enter thebloodstream and are transported to all thecells of the body.  The cells absorb theamino acids from the bloodstream andthen use them as building blocks to as-semble whatever proteins the cell needs.Muscle cells absorb the amino acids anduse them to build more actin and myosin.Each protein has a unique sequence ofamino acids linked together in a chain.You need a different ratio of amino acidsto build different proteins, just like youneed different letters to spell differentwords.  The proteins in muscle contain alot of the branched chain amino acids(BCAAs), along with a specific ratio ofthe other amino acids as well.  

This is thereasoning behind our Muscle Amino For-mula™ and our Hi-Protein Powder.™These products are designed to supplyyour body with the perfect balance ofamino acid building blocks it needs to buildmore muscle protein.Like all cells of the body, muscle cellsare surrounded by a plasma membrane.The membrane of a muscle cell is calledthe sarcolemma.  The sarcolemma re-ceives electrical impulses  from motornerves at specialized structures calledmotor end plates.  At the ends of themuscle, the sarcolemma fuses with thetendon, which inserts into bone (2).When the muscle contracts force is trans-mitted to the tendon, and in turn to theskeleton, which brings about movement.Inside the sarcolemma is the cytoplasmof the muscle cell – the sarcoplasma (2).The sarcoplasma is a gel-like substancethat bathes the myofibrils – thecontractile elements.  The sar-coplasma contains minerals,ions, glycogen, fat, and or-ganelles called mitochondria(2).  Mitochondria are pow-erhouses inside the cell wherecarbohydrates and fat are con-verted into ATP, which is thesource of chemical energy directly usedby the myofibrils when they contract.The sarcoplasma also contains a proteincalled myoglobin, which functions to bindoxygen much like hemoglobin binds oxy-gen in red blood cells.Enclosures of the sarcolemma calledtransverse tubules, or T tubules, pass tothe interior of the muscle cell.  When anerve impulse, or action potential, arrivesat a muscle cell it releases a neurotrans-mitter called acetylcholine (ACh) from thenerve terminal at the motor end plate.  

TheACh diffuses across a space called a syn-apse and binds to receptors on the sarco-lemma.  This initiates an electrical poten-tial, called a wave of depolarization, alongthe surface of the sarcolemma.  The Ttubules function to bring this electricalimpulse inside the muscle cell to the myo-fibrils.  The sarcoplasmic reticulum is aseries of membranous channels which runparallel to the myofibrils.  The sarcoplas-mic reticulum serves as a storage site forcalcium, which is essential for muscularcontraction (2).  When the electrical im-pulse is conducted inside the cell by the Ttubules, it reaches the sarcoplasmic reticu-lum where it triggers the release of cal-cium.  Calcium then binds to a regulatoryprotein called troponin C.  This initiates aseries of molecular events which allowsATP to bind to myosin.  Myosin breaksdown the ATP to release energy which isused to power muscle contraction.This is starting to get technical.  Tosum up so far: when you decide to con-tract a muscle an electrical impulse is gen-erated by your brain.  This travels downthe spinal cord and out a peripheral nervecalled a motor neuron.  This nerve car-ries the electrical signal to the muscle.  Thenerve releases ACh which diffuses acrossthe synapse at the motor end plate.  Thisin turn initiates another electrical signal,or wave of depolarization, along the sar-colemma of the surface of the muscle cell.

The T tubule system carries this infor-mation to the interior of the muscle cell,where it triggers the release of calciumfrom the sarcoplasmic reticulum.  Calciumbinds to a protein on the surface of themyofibrils which normally prevents ATPbinding.  After calcium binds, these pro-teins shift positions which subsequentlyallows ATP to bind to the myofibrils.  ATPis then broken down to release energy.This energy causes the actin and myosinproteins in the myofibrils to slide past eachother, thus making the muscle contract.This contractile force is transmitted to thetendons and then to the bones, causingmovement of the skeleton and the bodyas a whole (1,2,3).  Simple eh?Next month we’ll talk about exactlyhow ATP binding to the myofilamentscauses the actin and myosin proteins tomove, resulting in muscle contraction.That will conclude the anatomy and bio-chemistry part of our muscle super-fea-ture.  Then we’ll move into exercisephysiology to discuss how exercise train-ing affects muscle performance.  Finallywe’ll tie everything together and explainhow exercise training elicits an adaptiveresponse in muscle – cellular and molecu-lar changes which make the muscle big-ger and stronger.  Once you understandhow all of this works, you will be betterable to design a training program specifi-cally to achieve your individual traininggoals.

References

1. Baechle TR. Essentials of StrengthTraining and Conditioning. Human Kinet-ics, Champaign, IL, 1994.

2. Wilmore JH and Costill DL. Physi-ology of Sport and Exercise. HumanKinetics, Champaign, IL, 1994.

3. McArdle WD, Katch FI, andKatch VL. Exercise Physiology -Energy, Nutrition, and HumanPerformance. Lea & Febiger,Malvern, PA, 1991.