Amino Acid Formulas > why you need them
I have been an avid supporter ofamino acid supplementation forover twenty years. The reasonsare pretty
Parrillo BCAA
straightforward and easyto understand; protein is the singlemost important nutrient for a body-builder seeking to add mass. Proteinconsumption is equally critical for thebodybuilder seeking to get shreddedand ripped prior to a competition asprotein has a “muscle sparing” effectand allows the athlete to hang ontomuscle mass even while reducingoverall caloric intake. Even if youdon’t consider yourself a bodybuilder,adequate protein consumption is criti-cal for obtaining any worthwhile fit-ness goals. At the most basic level weall want the same thing: add muscleand lose body fat. Without adequateprotein this is impossible. I will takemy protein advocacy one step furtherand point out that if you train reallyhard, hard enough to trigger musclegrowth and hard enough to burn offbody fat and don’t consume adequateamounts of protein, the body will teardown existing muscle tissue to feeditself. Brutally hard work, the kind Irecommend, requires a massive dailyinfusion of protein to preserve whatmuscle we’ve constructed. Protein isrequired for existing “muscle mainte-nance” and protein is needed to con-struct new muscle tissue. What ismuscle tissue, exactly?
Amino acidsare the building blocks of protein andorganic compounds that have both anamino (NH2) and carboxyl (COOH)radical in their molecular structure.Amino acids found in protein are di-vided into two groups, essential andnonessential.In order to construct new muscle 22amino acids are required. The bodycan construct twelve amino acids butthe other ten, the essential amino ac-ids, must be obtained from outsidesources. The amino acids the body isincapable of manufacturing, the es-sential amino acids, have to be obtainedfrom food or supplementation. Thehuman body cannot manufacturemuscle tissue unless all the requiredamino acids are present and accountedfor. If only some amino acids arepresent, the body cannot constructnew muscle and those amino acidspresent will be stored by the liver, degraded or used for energy. Manyamino acids are vitamin and mineraldependant and the protein synthesisprocess (building new muscle tissue)will be impaired if a particular vitaminor mineral is absent or not present insufficient amounts. For example themethionine amino cycle needs vitaminB-6 and magnesium. At Parrillo Per-formance we take all this into accountwhen we construct our supplementalamino acid formulations.
The questionbecomes – how much protein is opti-mal? Do athletes need more protein?The answer is yes; definitely, athletesneed significantly more protein thansedentary people do. Any controversyis over on this matter. Nowadays evenold school nutritionists agree. Do body-builders need more protein so theyhave more substrate to build newmuscle tissue? No – they need moreprotein because they excrete morenitrogen during exercise. Very littleadditional protein is needed to con-struct new muscle tissue but a lot ofextra protein is needed to make up forwhat is burned as fuel during exer-cise.What this means in practical terms ishard training, training that triggersgains, requires lots of protein each andevery day. Amino acids are the sub-components of protein and when thevarious amino acids are combined andgrouped strategically they promotemuscle gain and accelerate fat loss.
Different amino acids have differentphysiological effects. A serious body-builder or fitness devotee following theParrillo approach trains hard – other-wise they can’t be called serious. Ifyou train with weights as hard as in-tense and as often as I advise (5-6times a week for 60 to 90 minutes persession) and if you perform aerobicsas often and intense as I recommend,(up to an hour at a time first thing inthe morning) the demands on the bodyare dramatic and traumatic. Not trau-matic in an injurious way but in a de-manding and depleting way. You can-not train as hard and often as I sug-gest and not eat a lot of food. Calo-ries are king when it comes to musclerecovery and unless you consume tonsof calories the body cannot sustain theintense cardio and weight training re-quired to make serious gains. Theproblem is that if you eat sufficientcalories necessary to support the in-tense training required but obtain thecalories indiscriminately muscle gainswill marbled with body fat; you’ll endup adding body fat. A “clean calorie” contains no saturated fat or sugar. Aclean calorie cannot be derived froma refined manmade carbohydrate orfrom processed foods loaded with pre-servatives and chemicals. This makesit tough to obtain the right type of calo-ries and this is where nutritional supple-mentation is so valuable.Powerlifters lift huge weights and de-velop incredible muscle mass. Theyhave discovered that hard heavy train-ing combined with lots of caloriesequates to increased muscle mass.
However most powerlifters are indis-criminate about where they obtain theircalories and as a result, though they are massive and powerful, most carrylots of body fat. Their loose diet hab-its and indiscriminate calorie selectionprevents them from developing theripped, muscular physique bodybuild-ers seek. The solution is to consumelots of calories…calories derived fromlean protein (protein low in saturatedfat) and calories derived from naturalfibrous and starchy carbohydrates.Parrillo supplements are designed tohelp a serious bodybuilder consumeenough calories to grow mass withoutgetting fat. The Parrillo nutritional planis centered on eating multiple, bal-anced meals, five to six meals a day.Each meal is comprised of a portion of fiber, a portion of starch and a por-tion of protein. It is difficult to con-sume enough calories to support in-tense training solely from food and thisis where supplementation comes intothe picture. Every Parrillo supplementarose out of a need. CapTri® ’s uniquemolecular structure allows you to addclean calories (113-calories per table-spoon) that won’t end up as body fat.Pro Carb™ adds clean calories andprovides energy required for training.Optimized Whey™ and Hi-Protein™helps the athlete obtain the 1- 1.5 ormore grams of protein per pound ofbodyweight deemed optimal for some-one really doing it right in the gym. Idevised an entire line of amino acidformulations to enhance and amplifygains. Differing results can be obtainedby isolating and realigning amino ac-ids. Here is a handy reference guideto the complete arsenal of Parrilloamino acid formulations.
Muscle Amino Formula™: Wereyou aware that 35% of muscle tissueis made up of three amino acids: leu-cine, isoleucine and valine? Groupedtogether these amino acids are knownas the branch-chain amino acids.These three essebtial amino acids needbe present for muscle growth to oc-cur; if any of the three are absent, ex-isting muscle tissue will degrade andnew muscle tissue growth is impossible. Science has shown that consum-ing branch-chain amino acids after anintense workout accelerates musclehealing and recovery. I suggest takingtwo capsules with each meal and twoto three after an intense workout, op-timally with a 50-50 Plus™ shake.Take branched chain amion acids witha supplement drink or food as theyrequire insulin to work properly.
Ultimate Amino Formula™: No lessthan seventeen free-form amino ac-ids are gathered and combined to pro-vide an amino “shotgun” effect. WhenUltimate Amino formulation capsulesare taken with a meal, they are effi-ciently absorbed. Branch-chain aminoacids and the free-form amino profilecontained in Ultimate Amino Formularequire insulin for cellular absorptionand therefore need to be taken withfood. I suggest two capsules with each meal.
Max Endurance Formula™: Inosineis combined with feruic acid, DL-Phenylaianine and magnesium and po-tassium asparate to accelerate thedetoxification of waste products as-sociated with protein catabolism. MaxEndurance Formula™ improves oxy-gen retention during aerobic activity. Isuggest taking five capsules of MaxEndurance Formula™ thirty minutesprior to weight training or cardio.
Advanced Lipotropic Formula™:This grouping of inositol, L-methion-ine, L-Caritine, chromium, betanine,pancreatin, vitamin B-6 and B-12, bi-otin, and choline are essential in fatloss. The rationale is
Meral Ertunc
simple: by con-suming one capsule with each meal,glucose tolerance is increased and thebody’s reaction to glucose is stabilized.These are the key ingredient your bodyuses to break down fat. Take one cap-sule with each meal.
Enhanced GH Formula™: Arginineand lysine have been shown to natu-rally elevate the body’s level of en-dogenous growth hormone particularlywhen consumed in the evening beforeretiring. Growth hormone is a power-ful muscle growth stimulator. I sug-gest 2-3 capsules on arising, beforetraining and before retiring.
Liver Amino Formula™: Heme ironis critical for combating iron-defi-ciency anemia and female athletes andbodybuilders are particularly suscep-tible to this energy draining condition.I recommend that bodybuilders con-sume 5-8 liver tablets with each mealand just before retiring for bed. Livertablets™ consumed before sleep dis-solves deep into the sleep cycle andforestalls catabolism. The Mac Daddypre-sleep supplement stack? Take 5-8 liver amino tablets along with 2-4Advanced GH™ capsules and washthem down with a Parrillo Hi-Proteinshake™ – caseinate protein powderreleases slower than whey and is idealfor a slow release of its amino content.
Parrillo Performance
(800) 344-3404
Recent Entries
- Good Fats for Good Health
- The Glycemic Index and Bodybuilding
- Oblique Training-The Full-Contact Twist
- Bodybuilding after Y2K
- Vitamins and Minerals Part II
- Shape Up in Eight Weeks The Easy Way
- Kelly Greene
- Parrillo Bars for Every Fitness Need
- Regaining Your Weight Loss “Oomph”
- Jennifer Hendershott > USA Fitness Champion
