Pre-Exercise Supplementation > what you need
Pre-Exercise Supplementation
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If your training, whether it is aerobic, strength, or both, is destined for super-intensity, then you’ve got to 
pay attention to your pre-exercise nutrition, particularly supplements. In case you don’t know it, there is an exact science to pre-exercise supplementation, and I’m going to cover it for you here and specify what you need to take and when you need to take. If you are going to get serious about your training, you must get serious about pre-exercise supplementation.
Three to Four Hours Prior to Training
A carbohydrate-rich meal eaten approximately four hours prior to exercise significantly pumps up muscle and liver glycogen content for better intensity for workouts, according to research. You can increase the carbohydrate content of your meal by including Parrillo ProCarb Formula, Parrillo Energy Bar, or one of our new Parrillo puddings as part of that meal.
Incidentally, any interval greater than four hours just won’t cut it. In a University of North Carolina study, women who ate a moderately high carbohydrate, low fat meal three hours prior to aerobic exercise performed with more energy and less fatigue than a group who ate their meal six hours prior to exercise.(1)
Exactly how much carbohydrate should you consume in this critical pre-exercise period? An Ohio State University study determined that eating 200 to 350 grams of carbohydrate improves performance substantially.(2)
30 Minutes Prior to Training
Also, I recommend that you take Parrillo Max Endurance Formula 30 minutes to an hour before training. This supplement contains the following endurance-enhancing nutrients: inosine; a nutrient that improves oxygen utilization for better stamina, possibly by forcing additional production of energy-producing ATP; l-phenylalanine, an essential amino acid that acts as a potent mental stimulant for improved concentration during workouts; d-phenylalanine, an amino acid that promotes a higher pain threshold; and ferulic acid (FRAC), a nutrient stimulates the endocrine system to aid recovery and boost workout capacity.
This supplement also contains magnesium and potassium aspartates, which help filter waste products from the system, giving you extra stamina and extending endurance.
Immediately Prior to Training
Supplementing with a dose of creatine monohydrate right before your workout provides energy-giving benefits too. Among other effects, creatine increases levels of a high-energy compound called creatine phosphate, which also allows more rapid production of ATP. The more ATP that is available to muscle cells, the longer, harder, and more powerfully you can work out.
By supplementing with Parrillo Creatine Monohydrate right before your workout, you can load it into your muscles at just the right time to maximizing muscular reserves and restocking ATP.
To use creatine in your supplement program, there is a specific dosage program to follow. I recommend taking four 5-gram doses a day for five days. (Take one of these doses prior to your workout, as noted above.) This is known as the “loading phase.” From there, two to 5 grams once a day - about half a teaspoon - will keep your muscles saturated with enough extra creatine. This period is called the “maintenance phase.”
Another strategy is to combine CapTri®, our medium chain triglyceride oil (MCT oil), with a carbohydrate supplement such as ProCarb. For background, CapTri® provides twice the energy of protein and carbohydrate (8.3 calories per gram versus 4 calories per gram for carbohydrates and protein) and is absorbed into the bloodstream as rapidly as glucose or blood sugar, the cellular fuel made available from the breakdown of carbohydrates.
Second, CapTri®, is preferentially used as fuel for energy, instead of being stored by the body. Medium chain fatty acid fragments can diffuse into the cell very quickly, where they are burned immediately for energy - at the same time as glucose. The ability of MCTs to enter the cells in this manner has a glucose-sparing effect, meaning that glucose and its stored counterpart, muscle glycogen, last longer without being depleted. The longer glycogen reserves last, the more energy you have for activities and fat-burning exercise.
So to boost your endurance during exercise, take CapTri® with a carbohydrate-based beverage (again, ProCarb is a good choice). A similar combo has been tested scientifically. At the University of Cape Town Medical School in South Africa, researchers mixed 86 grams of MCT oil (nearly 3 tablespoons) with two liters of10 percent glucose drink to see what effect it would have on the performance of six endurance-trained cyclists. The cyclists were fed a drink consisting of glucose alone, glucose plus MCT oil, or MCT oil alone. In the laboratory, they pedaled at moderate intensity for about two hours and then completed a higher-intensity time trial. They performed this cycling bout on three separate occasions so that each cyclist used each type of drink once. The cyclists sipped the drink every ten minutes. Performance improved the most when the cyclists supplemented with the MCT/glucose mixture. The researchers did some further biochemical tests on the cyclists and confirmed that the combination spared glycogen while making fat more accessible for fuel.
When you supplement with CapTri® by itself, start with 1/2 tablespoon at every meal. After a few days, increase to one tablespoon with each meal. During hard training, many athletes go as high as two to three tablespoons per meal - a level they have found to be beneficial.
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REFERENCES
Maffuci, D.M., et al. 2000. Towards optimizing the timing of the pre-exercise meal. International Journal of Sport Nutrition, and Exercise Metabolism 10: 103-113.
Coggan, A.R., et al. 1992. Nutritional Manipulations before and during endurance exercise: effects on performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 24: S331-335.
Lambert, E.V., et al. Nutritional strategies for promoting fat utilization and delaying the onset of fatigue during prolonged exercise. Journal of Sports Science 15: 315-324.
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