Strength Conditioning and Nutrition 101

Megavitamins 

Everybody knows about multivitamins and more than likely have helped make them into the number 1 supplement. Multivitamins are the largest supplement in the supplement industry. With the huge demand for them, every supplement company is competing in producing thousands of gimmicks to make them stand above the rest.

These supplement companies are praying on the consumers who have heard from the TV doctors that multivitamins are great. Many TV doctors and famous health books have put multivitamins as one of their top 5 supplements everyone should take. However, they haven’t provided us with much information on what constitutes a good multi vitamin.
Today I write in order to educate and protect you from the supplement companies propaganda and the health risks associated.
Yes multivitamins are perfectly fine for you and can be beneficial for the majority of North America but only when multivitamins do not exceed 100% of the RDA value.
I know that the majority of multivitamins on the market have 800% of this, 1600% of that, and so on. This comes with an awesome tag line/gimmick “multivitamins that meet the athletes needs” or bodybuilder or weight lifter and so on.
Unfortunately, this is completely bogus and puts you at incredible health risks. Once your enzyme system becomes saturated the vitamins taken in “megadose” begin to act as chemicals (drugs) in the body.

This probably doesn't mean much to you so let us look at a couple of examples.

Written By Assistant Professor Andrew Heming

Unfortunately, the people who are most interested in strength training are the ones who need it the least. Gyms have tons of young people slaving away to attain their beach body or improve sport performance reasons. However, there are often a smaller handful of wise 50+’ers who realize they need resistance training  more than ever!

Everyone needs a great breakfast to start off the day! So I am going to show you guys my favorite breakfast to kick start the day. This breakfast is loaded with nutrients: low GI carbs, healthy fats, protein, and minerals. This breakfast is a great choice for everyone and especially those who are living an active lifestyle.

Another Study came out demonstrating the incredible effect that High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) can have on your overall health. As you all know, I have become an increasingly strong supporter of HIIT training over the course of the blog. The research has been speaking for itself, stronger than ever, as it continues to come out in support for HIIT training. However, a river of research has been coming out to show the negatives of long distance running (cardio).

So to begin my return to the blog, I want to begin by providing an explanation for why I have not written in a long time. This summer I went up to northern Saskatchewan which is approximately a 10 hour drive north from Saskatoon. For those who do not where I’m talking about, search in Google maps Points North, Saskatchewan, Canada and you will have an idea of where I was. Over the course of the summer, I had little to no internet access and was working for a Uranium Exploration company 7 days a week. On top of all this, I was planning my wedding with what little internet I did have.
The second half is the plan for the upcoming year

Pre Competition Carbohydrate Consumption
Being a former boxer, I knew I needed to eat carbs and lots of them prior to competition. But, how much and when? I could not find the answer by looking through forums and such. I just kept coming across guidelines for aerobic athletes (cyclists and marathon runners). So, today I write with the intention of helping you avoid going through the same issues as I did.

• Eat 3-4 hours before the competition
• 1-2 g/kg body mass or 200-300g of carbohydrates be consumed during this meal
• Of low glycemic carbs (this could be detrimental if you use high glycemic)

This eating will have little to no effect on your muscle glycogen stores (energy stored in your muscles). However, it does have a large effect on your blood sugar levels. It will help prevent the feelings of hunger and help maintain energy level. If you feel hungry between this time and your competition, which I suspect you will, you will want to snack on low GI foods.

During competition
During your exercise you want to have those super high GI carbs you love so much. So many studies have shown that this will help maintain blood glucose levels and improve your exercise performance. I suggest that you do this through your water in-between each round. Make your drink about a 6-8% solution of the delicious sugars (I suggest dextrose; you can get this at any store that has a beer making section) in 8-16 ounces of water. Make sure your trainer knows you have sugar in it so he doesn’t splash you with it and make you all sticky.


Post competition
After that brutal fight, you are exhausted and completely drained of energy. It’s hard to even lift your arms up; only the adrenaline left over from the fight is keeping you going. Your body has used up all its glycogen stores and now it needs your help desperately to refuel it. Here we are going to continue to drink those delicious high GI foods. This will result in the highest amount of muscle glycogen replenishment possible. Not doing this immediately after training will result in a reduced muscle glycogen resynthesis by more than 50% (This means you may take 18-24 hours longer to recover).

• During this phase you should double the concentration of carbs so approx 12-16% solution in 8-16 ounces of water 

During and Post competition carbs are super important if you are in a tournament with multiple matches during the day

Fast absorption of amino acids is incredibly important after training. I have discussed in great detail the importance of having carbs and protein that can be digested and absorbed at incredibly fast rates during and after exercise.

To me, it has always made sense that ingesting essential amino acids as a supplement would provide the fastest possible way in getting them into your blood. However, I had assumed that I must be wrong since I had not found this mentioned in common research literature. With all the focus on protein and branch chain amino acids, I figured I would forget about my hypothesis.