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Biotest Surge
Post-Workout 101
Immediately after a single bout of exercise, three
main physiological events must be manipulated for
enhanced recovery. These changes can only be described
as "destructive" in terms of both training performance
and muscle protein balance.
After a workout
1. Glycogen Stores are low
2. Protein Breakdown is increased
3. Muscle Protein Balance is negative
It should be noted here that in addition to the above
that Protein Synthesis also goes down after an endurance
training session. And Protein Synthesis either goes up
or remains unchanged after a strength training session.
But either way, Protein Breakdown still predominates.
For those not well versed in physiological jargon,
here's a little explanation of each: Glycogen is muscle
energy. Low glycogen stores mean that there's less
cellular energy for daily life and certainly less energy
for subsequent workouts. In this situation, training and
performance suffer.
Protein Breakdown indicates that body tissues (which
are made of protein) are being degraded. Increases in
protein breakdown can lead to losses of muscle mass.
Muscle Protein Balance is regulated by the balance
between Protein Synthesis and Protein Breakdown in the
following way: Muscle Protein Balance = Protein
Synthesis - Protein Breakdown Immediately after an
endurance workout, protein synthesis (building) goes
down and protein breakdown goes up. This leads to a
negative Muscle Protein Balance and a loss of muscle.
And immediately after a strength workout, protein
building either stays the same or slightly goes up but
protein breakdown goes way up.
This also leads to a negative Muscle Protein Balance
and a loss of muscle. As a result of these three post
workout phenomena, a failure to rapidly bring the body
back into recovery mode (i.e., to increase glycogen
stores, to increase protein synthesis, and to prevent
protein breakdown), has several potential consequences:
1. Prolonged muscle soreness and fatigue.
2. Poor subsequent performances on the track, field,
and/or in the gym.
3. Symptoms of and or full-flegged staleness and
overtraining.
4. Minimal gains in muscle mass despite a
well-designed training program.
5. Losses of muscle mass and a secondary lowering of
metabolic rate can occur if volume and intensity get
high enough
"But wait just a minute!" you shout. "I thought
exercise was supposed to increase performance, metabolic
rate, and muscle mass! Now you're telling me that it
could do just the opposite." Slow down, tiger. Let me
explain. It's interesting and very telling to look at
the time course of changes in protein and glycogen
balance after a workout. Back in 1995, researchers
showed that immediately after strength training, protein
balance is negative (indicating muscle loss) due to the
big increase in protein breakdown and the marginal
increase in protein synthesis (1). Furthermore, this
situation seemed to persist for a few hours after the
workout. But a few hours later, an interesting switch
occurred. Protein synthesis started to climb and
breakdown started to fall (although it was still
elevated). This ultimately (about 24 hours later) can
lead to a muscle protein balance where synthesis is
equal to breakdown (no gain or loss in mass), or a
positive protein balance where synthesis is greater than
protein breakdown (voila, muscle gains).
So, even if you do everything wrong after hitting the
iron, it's only the first few hours after the workout
that are extremely catabolic. Twenty-four hours later,
though, the body has normalized itself and is either
neutral or slightly anabolic. So it appears that under
normal circumstances, we've got to lose a little muscle
to gain a little muscle. I'm here to tell you, however,
that if you manage the post-workout period correctly,
you don't have to lose any muscle.
And not only that, if you know how, you can actually
achieve and maintain a positive protein balance
throughout the entire recovery process. We'll talk more
about this later on. Unfortunately for our endurance
friends, the prognosis isn't as good as it is for the
muscle bound. Immediately after an endurance-training
bout, muscle protein balance is very negative because
there's both a big increase in protein breakdown and a
big decrease in protein synthesis. This situation,
however, isn't as quickly reversible as it is in our
muscle heads.
In these athletes there remains a large negative
protein balance for 8 hours or more after endurance
exercise (2). Uh, say goodbye to the muscle! Please keep
in mind that these exercise studies were done with a day
of rest following the training and measurement period.
And most importantly, they were done without proper
post-workout nutrition! So, what about the athletes who
are training every day (and up to two times or more per
day) and then screw up on the post-workout nutrition?
One can only speculate that they'll suffer from a big
negative muscle protein balance. Since they're training
time and time again before protein balance has been
brought back to normal, they'll nearly always be in a
state of protein breakdown. Bye-bye muscle, metabolism,
and training intensity!
I'm going to share the secrets with you. For rapid
recovery from exercise, immediately after a workout
(strength or endurance), we must:
1. Rapidly replenish the low glycogen stores in our
muscles
2. Rapidly decrease the muscle protein breakdown that
occurs with exercise
3. Rapidly force further increases in muscle protein
synthesis in weight trainers and/or restore
muscle-protein synthesis in endurance athletes
In looking over this list, there are several things
to keep in mind. First, remember that glycogen
replenishment is important for several things. It's
necessary for maintaining peak performance in both
resistance and endurance training (3,4,5). In addition,
if glycogen stores remain low, muscle protein breakdown
can result and lead to loss of muscle mass (6). Finally,
since glycogen attracts water to the muscle, the
cellular hydration that results may stimulate new
growth.
Another thing to consider is the protein balance
factor. By rapidly increasing protein synthesis while
simultaneously decreasing protein breakdown, you can
shift to a positive muscle protein balance within 1 hour
after the workout (7).
Did you get that? You can recover within 1
hour! Remember I said earlier that typically a trainee
has to wait 24 hours for a positive muscle protein
balance (1)? Unfortunately, even after this 24-hour
period, recovery only means that there's at best only a
neutral muscle protein balance (there's no longer
breakdown, but building isn't occurring either).
Using recovery nutrition, you can recovery
nearly a day earlier that you otherwise would have! And
protein balance isn't just about muscle. If the body
remains in a negative protein balance for too long,
every cellular function can be affected. Hormones and
hormonal precursors may be deficient. Neurotransmitters
could be altered. And even the enzymes that are
necessary for everything from cellular metabolism to
digestion could be depleted.
Not a pretty picture. "Why are you putting so
much priority on the post-workout period?" you might be
asking. Well, it's because there are many parallels
between the physiological effects of intense training
and those seen in several illnesses. What happens during
illness? Well, illness can lead to the degradation of
many vital physiological processes. This degradation
leads to stress on the body that can lead to further
deterioration of the patient's condition.
In such situations, protein breakdown increases
dramatically, creating the same negative protein balance
as seen after a workout. Get it? Clinicians recognize
the fact that the net negative protein balance seen in
illness is a downward spiral that has to be stopped. So
with proper nutrition and supplementation, they manage
it. And that's exactly what athletes and weight trainers
need to do.
Maximize Post-Workout Gycogen Synthesis
There are two key factors to rapidly increasing
post-workout glycogen synthesis (8):
1. Adequate carbohydrate availability (to convert to
muscle glycogen) (9)
2. High insulin levels (to stimulate glycogen storage
and shuttle carbs into the muscle) (9)
Endurance athletes have traditionally been encouraged
to consume 1.2 g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight
immediately after training/competition (8,10). In
addition, they are encouraged to continue this
supplementation every 2 hours up until 6 hours after
their exercise bout. Recent evidence, however, indicates
that the addition of protein to a carb drink can
actually increase insulin levels higher than carbs alone
(11,12). There seems to be a synergistic insulin release
with protein plus carbs.
A couple of final factors need to be discussed.
First, the research is very clear that if you wait to
consume your post-workout nutrition, you lose (14). One
study showed that if the post-workout beverage was
consumed immediately after training, glycogen synthesis
was three times higher than if the beverage was consumed
just two hours later. So the sooner you drink the drink,
the better the recovery rate.
Secondly, with respect to the types of carbohydrate
and protein to consume, it's clear that immediately
after training, liquid nutrition is best tolerated
(8,15). Since liquid nutrition is more rapidly digested
and absorbed, nutrients are more rapidly delivered to
the muscle. In addition, according to the literature,
the optimal carbohydrates to consume are glucose and
glucose polymers, like maltodextrin (8).
As far as the best protein to consume, you want to
choose a protein that is absorbed as rapidly as the
ingested carbs so that the synergistic insulin response
can be maximized. Now that's hard to find. Most intact
proteins (yes, even in powdered form) take several hours
to be fully absorbed. We need protein that can get
absorbed within minutes, just like the carbs do. Without
this simultaneous absorption of both, the insulin
response will be disappointing. So what to do? Well,
since one of the most quickly digested proteins is whey
hydrolysate, it's the protein of choice for our purposes
here
Stop Protein Breakdown Dead in its Tracks
The scientific literature is pretty clear in terms of
how to prevent post-workout protein breakdown. And it
can be summarized in one word? Insulin.
In previous years, scientists knew that the hormone
insulin had a big impact on muscle-protein balance, but
they just couldn't figure out if it impacted the
synthesis or breakdown. Several studies within the last
few years, however, have indicated that insulin is the
main regulator of post-workout protein breakdown.
So the bottom line is that insulin is not anabolic
after workouts, but it sure is anti-catabolic. And
that's great because insulin is easily controlled. Also,
since protein breakdown predominates during the
post-workout period, getting the insulin up allows
muscle breakdown to diminish so that synthesis can
dominate and we can quickly get back to building muscle!
And don't forget that insulin causes vasodilation.
This means the vessels "open up" and transport more
blood (and nutrients) to the cells. Can you say "feed
the muscle!"? And yes, that extra blood flow is full of
the protein, amino acids, and carbs that you'll be
ingesting immediately after the training session.
So how do we get insulin up after a workout? Well,
you could always become a human pin cushion and inject
your insulin right into the subcutaneous area of your
abdomen. But I think there are better and certainly
safer ways.
First, as mentioned earlier, by eating protein with
carbs, insulin levels are higher than with carbs alone
(10, 11). In the aforementioned studies the insulin
response to 0.8 g of carbs/kg (in the form of glucose
and maltodextrin) plus 0.4 g of protein/kg (in the form
of protein hydrolysate) was 103% higher (double) than
the insulin response to an equal amount of calories
coming from carbs alone (1.2 carbs /kg). So the very
same carb/protein beverage that we're relying on for
maximizing glycogen storage is also preventing protein
breakdown (10, 11). Sweet!
Secondly, certain amino acids can increase the
insulin response to meals. By adding certain amino acids
to the carb/protein beverage in the above study, the
insulin responses were considerably higher than the carb/protein
beverage alone (10, 11). In addition, research in the
60s shows that specific amino-acid combinations were
more effective than others at increasing insulin release
(18). So it looks like carbs + protein + amino acids is
the way to go.
Complete Your Recovery by Jacking
Up the Protein Synthesis?
The final piece of the post-workout puzzle is the
management of protein synthesis. And although this area
is a little more complex than managing protein
breakdown, there are three key ingredients to increasing
protein synthesis immediately after workouts:
1. A proper ratio of BCAAs
2. High blood levels of essential amino acids
3. High blood levels of insulin
So what's the best way to rapidly increase protein
synthesis after a workout? It seems that the 0.4g/kg of
protein hydrolysate plus 0.8g/kg of glucose/glucose
polymer plus insulin-stimulating amino acids takes care
of the insulin angle. But remember, insulin isn't
enough. Providing BCAAs in an ideal ratio is the second
part in rapidly stimulating protein synthesis.
The Grand Finale
That's it. The ideal post workout combo that
maximizes your growth and recovery potential.
Remember, to be effective, post-workout nutrition has
to?
? Increase glycogen stores
? Increase protein synthesis
? Decrease protein breakdown
Interestingly, several nutrients such as glucose and
glucose polymers, protein hydrolysates, and amino acids
can all work together with overlapping functions in
order to accomplish all three goals. No drugs necessary!
Biotest Surge
Biotest Surge
First of all, it tastes great, which is no easy feat to accomplish, considering the ingredients. Without a major mojo job on the flavoring, the mixture —
primarily whey-protein hydrolysate and BCCAs — is so bitter and nasty you'd swear it was something intended for cleaning the bathroom. Yuck!
However, the great taste isn't the big payoff. Far more important is the hormonal (primarily insulin) surge you get right after you drink the
formula. As a result of this surge, high concentrations of certain nutrients, supplied by the drink, are driven deep into the muscle cell right when it's
absolutely most important — post workout. And if you're successful at achieving this cascade effect, you'll quash catabolism and stimulate anabolism, big
time! In fact, we believe you'll speed up your body's ability to recover and build muscle by a minimum of one full day, which can make the difference between
being the typical hard-gainer and at least a good-gainer.
In reality, there're probably very few true hard-gainers running around. In fact, if you took everyone
who's having a hard time making progress and just got them to consume ample amounts of the right mix of nutrients post workout, the vast majority would make
consistent, continual muscle-mass gains. Really, it's that simple — and that hard. The hard part of effective post-workout nutrition is determining the
right blend of nutrients in the ideal ratios. Well, we've done the research and testing, taking the guesswork out of the equation.
Yes, we've talked at length about
most of the ingredients that comprise our post-workout formula, but we've never revealed the exact ratios between the compounds and which ones were the real keys to
making the drink effective. Well, we're not stupid (most of the time, anyway). This formula may be one of the most powerful supplements to ever hit the market.
Remember, to be effective, post-workout nutrition has to? ? Increase glycogen
stores ? Increase protein synthesis ? Decrease protein breakdown Interestingly,
several nutrients such as glucose and glucose polymers, protein hydrolysates,
and amino acids can all work together with overlapping functions in order to
accomplish all three goals. No drugs necessary!
We know that, and our competitors know it. Accordingly, we want to protect our investment in the formula, plus we need to be compensated for our efforts.
After all, fair is fair. We paid the R-and-D price, and we had the ingenuity and know-how to successfully accomplish the goal. It wasn't easy, either. If simply
throwing some glucose, maltodextrin, whey-protein hydrolysate, and BCCAs into a few ounces of water was effective, we wouldn't have made the formula.
But that wasn't the case at all. To make the drink produce the anabolic/anti-catabolic effects we were after, we had to spend a lot of time in the lab testing
our theories. And I'm here to tell you it's tough to make this stuff and get everything right.
Anyway, Biotest Surge is one of those supplements that actually works a whole bunch better than you could ever hope for.
The people who've tried our formula have
all had the same experiences. More specifically, they saw dramatic increases in recovery ability, which translated into newfound muscle-mass gains.
In essence, you could say that Biotest Surge turns on the muscle gaining, hyper-drive switch.
Surge is for people who are serious about making positive muscle & strength
gains from their workouts. I have been taking Surge since it came out in 2001
and it is without a doubt my number 1 supplement on the market. I put 110% into
my workouts and I want the best possible chance of recovery and post workout
nutrition is one of the biggest factors in muscle recovery.
The insulin response that Surge provides is the ultimate opportunity to load
Creatine into the muscle. Adding plain
Micronized Creatine to
your Surge will ensure that the Creatine gets loaded into the muscles. Creatine
uptake into the muscles is severely limited if insulin levels are not elevated
enough to deliver it to the muscles.
Surge Recommendations
Maximum Muscle
Recovery and Growth
3 scoops Surge W/16 oz water + Ice~Drink 1/2 BEFORE
Workout add some more water and ice, then sip through
entire workout, make sure it lasts the entire workout.
After the workout 3 scoops but ADD 5 GRMS
Micronized Creatine
Wait exactly 1 hour after Drink then have a
Protein{50-75grms} + Carb{100-150grms} preferably a FOOD
meal, it is highly advisable to not wait more than 1
hour for this meal or the high release of insulin will
cause a very low blood sugar crash.
Maintenance
3 scoops Surge W/16 oz water + Ice~Drink 1/2 BEFORE
Workout add some more water and ice, then sip through
entire workout, make sure it lasts the entire workout.
After the workout 3 scoops but ADD 5 GRMS
Micronized Creatine
Wait exactly 1 hour after Drink then have a
Protein{40-60grms} + Carb{75-100grms} preferably a FOOD
meal, it is highly advisable to not wait more than 1
hour for this meal or the high release of insulin will
cause a very low blood sugar crash.
Maximum Fat Loss
3 scoops Surge W/16 oz water + 5 GRMS
Micronized Creatine ~Drink After Workout
Wait exactly 1 hour after Drink then have a
Protein{40-60grms} + Fat{10-15grms} preferably a FOOD
meal, it is highly advisable to not wait more than 1
hour for this meal or the high release of insulin will
cause a very low blood sugar crash.
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