Branch-Chain Amino Acids speed up recovery…Deltoid dilemma…George Jetson
Vic,How are you doing? Long time reader – first time writer – big time fan. I’m an advanced trainer who bounces back and forth between competitive powerlifting and competitive bodybuilding. I’m a drug-free guy who turned 35 last month. I’m a 15-year Parrillo follower who benches 400 at 181 (no bench shirt) and has placed in the top ten nationally in drug-free bodybuilding competitions. I have noticed that this past year I
Parrillo Hi-Protein
cannot seem to get recovered in time to hit my second weekly workout for the same body part. Now that I’m in my mid-thirties, I’m having a hell of a time recovering from one workout to the next. Any hints or tips that will help me speed up the recovery process? Is difficult recovery just a reality of aging? I’ve always hit each muscle group twice a week – but I am getting to a point where if I blast legs or back hard on Monday I’m not recovered enough to hit the legs or back again hard on Thursday – I’m Branch-Chain Amino Acids speed up recovery…Deltoid dilemma…George Jetsonweak as a kitten in the second weekly workout and cannot come within 20% of the poundage I use on the week’s 1st workout…that or I’ll lose 2-3 reps…what gives? Should I just resign myself to getting older?
Muddy, Clarksburg
This is a common and frequent complaint amongst older advanced trainees. It is a predictable phenom-enon: when individuals advance in age they lose some vital capacity. It is commonsense that a man has better endurance and recuperative ability at 20 than at 40. That’s the bad news: the good news is that a mature knowledgeable bodybuilder can improve into their mid-forties. Bodybuilding, unlike sports that require foot or hand speed, allows a person to improve late into life. Men like Pearl, Zane, Coe, Corney, Beckles, Ferrigno, Draper, Robbie, Sergio and Reg Park are a few outstanding examples of men who stayed at the top of their game way into their forties and on into their fifties. Here’s an Iron Truism: a beginner recovers faster than an advanced trainee when both men are subjected to workouts of relatively similar intensity. Bigger more muscular lifters take longer to recover than small, young men handling dinky (relatively speaking) poundage.
The larger a muscle is the more food and nutrients are needed to complete the repair and growth cycle and it takes longer to evacuate workout-generated toxins and waste products. Age matters: be aware that you’ll recover a lot quicker at age 35 than you will at age 55. Psychologically an advanced trainee is able to “will” themselves to lift more poundage or squeeze out more reps than the beginner. After a man gets 10, 15 or 20 years of weight training under their belt, they develop a deep mental focus. Training too heavy too often wreaks havoc on the central nervous system (CNS) and makes muscle recovery problematic. The strong-willed bodybuilder need learn how to take an extra day (or two) of rest when needed, when the body is battered. Here are three intelligent choices and potential solutions to the recovery problem: • Consume more quality calories.
• Take an additional recovery day or two when needed
• Supplement with branch-chain amino acids
• Consume more quality calories
Since you’ve been a long-time Parrillo follower we’ll assume you eat big and eat clean. Always and forever the first choice of a Parrillo trainee having recovery problems is to consume more regenerative nutrients – are you eating enough quality calories on a consistent basis? John subscribes to the adage that “there is no such thing as over-training only under-eating.” 90% of beginners baby themselves and refuse to eat enough: they’ll quit a set at the slightest hint of discomfort and ascribe the mildest soreness to “over-training.” In fact they are sissies needing a swift kick in the butt. 90% of the problems associated with over-training can be eliminated by eating additional quality calories.
Muscle is built when intense training is underpinned with lots and lots of “clean” (low fat, low sugar, no refined carbs) calories. These calories provide amino acids needed to create muscle growth. Here’s a trick-of-trade elite bodybuilders and strength athletes use to speed up recovery: with every meal gobble down 2-3 Parrillo Muscle Amino Formula™ (branch-chain amino acid) capsules. Valine, Leucine and Isoleucine have a unique molecular structure that scientists long ago discovered prevents muscle-wasting. So effective are BCAA’s in preventing muscle tissue degradation that branch-chain supplementation has been standard practice for treating cancer for decades. Studies have shown that not all amino acids are created equal, with branch-chain amino acids being the best when it comes to stimulating post-workout recovery. In the first three hours following the ingestion of protein, 90% of the amino acids broken down and released into the bloodstream are branch-chain amino acids. In addition to being preferentially broken down, muscles use available BCAA’s to assist in rebuilding tissue traumatized by an intense workout. BCAA’s have an anabolic effect: leucine has been shown to stimulate the production of insulin and in the post-workout metabolic environment this causes regenerative aminos to be transported into muscle cells. The branch-chain amino acids are optimally taken in a 56%-22%-22% balance betweenleucine/isoleucine/valine. This optimal balance is used in Muscle Amino Formula™.
Branch- chain amino acids need to be consumed with a meal in order to utilize the metabolic transport system: take BCAA’s with food. John Parrillo has long advocated BCAA usage and suggests trying to consume 10-20 grams per day. Muscle Amino Formula™ is a proprietary blending of research-grade branch-chain amino acids and John suggests taking two capsules with each of the 5-7 bodybuilder-style meals or feedings. After an intense workout be sure and consume 3-4 capsules and wash them down with a serving of 50/50 Plus™. The maltodextrin carbohydrate in 50/50 Plus™ acts as a cellular transport system, ensuring that the raw materials needed to build and rebuild shattered muscle tissue reach the ultimate destination as fast as possible. As John says, “BCAA’s specifically target the metabolic problem at hand: when supplemental branch-chains are supplied to the body less muscle tissue is catabolized during exercise. Branch-chain amino acid supplementation helps maintain positive nitrogen balance resulting in a net gain of muscle tissue.” If you are “recovery-challenged” try heavy supplementation with Muscle Amino Formulation: the more advanced a trainee you are the more critical and effective BCAA’s can be towards speeding up a sluggish recovery cycle.
Iron Vic,I need a good deltoid routine. My cannonball delts are more like golf ball delts and they’re smooth as a baby’s bottom to boot – a great combination! Under-sized and smooth! I train shoulders once a week on leg day. Usually I will do 3-4 sets of press-behind-the-neck, followed by 2-3 sets of lateral raises. I have pretty good trap development and big traps and no deltoids make me look like a Silver Back Gorilla, all slope-shouldered and bent over. Some melon delts would make a world of difference. Any ideas?
Jack, Detroit
Smooth delts are a result of having a lot of body fat. Regardless of how small a muscle is if the person carries a low body fat percentile then the muscle will appear defined and delineated. With low body fat muscle fiber will dance as the body part is moved. You have two separate and distinct problems: first, we need to strip off excess lard so the delts (smallish, they may be) will become distinct. There are three deltoid heads: the front sliver, the side delt and the rear delts. The first order of business is to clean up the food selections; toss the pizza, beer, candy, sweets and fried food. With the money you save, purchase a pile of Parrillo Supplements. I would strongly suggest you purchase a bottle of CapTri® and start using it liberally. I would also purchase a tub of Optimized Whey Protein™ and a box of Parrillo bars. I might suggest the Hi-Protein Parrillo Bars™.
Peanut Butter flavor tickles my taste buds. How about a canister of 50/50 Plus™? Consuming a serving (or two) after a workout actually amplifies the results of the workout. Speaking of workouts…the amount of deltoid work you currently perform should be considered a maintenance workout in my book: 5 to 7 shoulder sets per WEEK? Any wonder why you have delt-envy? Did you really think that performing 6 sets a week for a muscle is going to build your shoulders like Dorian Yates? Let’s get serious: if you want to build big, bulbous, defined delts then eat big, eat quality foods, and start training like a man on a mission instead of a man asleep on the sofa. Hit the shoulders twice a week and hit them 1st. Move them to the front of the exercise lineup.
Perform four or five sets of each exercise. In weeks 1 & 2 utilize 15-rep sets across the board; in weeks 3 & 4 lower all reps to 10. In weeks 5 & 6 drop the reps to 8-rep sets. Figure on spending a full hour on each shoulder session. This is a deltoid specialization program designed to run for six full weeks. Eat right, train hard and train long; do so and real results occur in no time. Poor eating and under-training has gotten you where you’re at currently – nowhere! Let’s get serious about the amount of shoulder work you perform! Shredded shoulders require disciplined eating!
Vic,What’s your opinion of the new Parrillo supplement ALL-PROTEIN™? The nutritional statistics are fantastic – have you tried it yet?
Jen, Altoona
I could write a book about how incredible this newest addition to the Parrillo nutritional fleet is. Check out the statistics: no fat, no sugar, no carbs and 30-grams of protein in each serving. Mixed properly All-Protein™ tastes exactly like milk and I love milk. Milk and power training was the Old School ticket for
Parrillo BCAA
serious muscle growth. The fat and sugar in milk made it unacceptable as we learned more about nutrition. John has invented a product that tastes exactly like milk but with none of the fat or sugar – truly amazing! Remember the old time cartoon show, The Jetsons?
When it was time for the futuristic family to eat dinner they’d consume a single pill. I wondered back then, “will anyone ever make a pure protein pill?” Now in the year 2006 John Parrillo has invented the Jetson Protein Pill – only it’s a great tasting shake that mixes with water and goes from inert to atomic inside 5-seconds. We’ve come a long way over the years and John Parrillo has refurbished and updated a lot of really effective Old School ideas. Combining All-Protein™ (instead of milk) with power training in order to maximize muscle growth is the modern version of Old School classical training at its very finest! In my not-so-humble opinion it should be mandatory to provide a canister of Milk Flavor All-Protein™ with every barbell set sold in America!
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