FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bodybuilding.com Announces Official 2009 Supplement Awards Winners

Meridian, ID – October 1, 2009 – Bodybuilding.com, the world leader in sports nutrition, announced the 5th Annual 2009 Bodybuilding.com Supplement Awards winners live at The Olympia in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday. The Bodybuilding.com Supplement Awards are the industry standard for recognition of the best products and brands in the fitness and supplement industry.

All nominations were based on sales, and since customers’ opinions are what truly count, Bodybuilding.com lets the general public provide 100% of the final vote. Due to the growth of the supplement industry, four new categories were added this year: Energy Drink of the Year, Pre-Workout Supplement of the Year, Intra-Workout Supplement of the Year and Recovery Supplement of the Year. With over 365,000 votes pouring in, the results are finally here!

The 2009 Bodybuilding.com Supplement Awards winners are:

• Brand of the Year – BSN (4th year in a row!)
• Supplement of the Year – Optimum 100% Whey Protein (5th year in a row!)
• Breakout Brand (most improved) of the Year – Gaspari
• New Supplement of the Year – MRI Black Powder
• New Brand of the Year – MusclePharm
• Muscle Builder of the Year – BSN NO-Xplode (5th year in a row!)
• Pre-Workout Supplement of the Year – BSN NO-Xplode
• Intra-Workout Supplement of the Year – MuscleTech IntraVol
• Recovery Supplement of the Year – Scivation Xtend
• Protein Powder of the Year – Optimum 100% Whey Protein (5th year in a row!)
• Protein Bar of the Year – Supreme Carb Conscious Bar
• Energy Supplement of the Year – VPX Meltdown
• Energy Drink of the Year – VPX RedLine RTD
• Fat Loss Supplement of the Year – Nutrex Lipo 6x
• Weight Gainer of the Year – BSN True Mass (3rd year in a row!)
• Nitric Oxide Supplement of the Year – BSN NO-Xplode (5th year in a row!)
• Creatine Supplement of the Year – BSN CellMass (5th year in a row!)
• Glutamine Supplement of the Year – MHP Glutamine-SR
• Multivitamin of the Year – Universal Nutrition Animal Pak (5th year in a row!)
• Joint Health Supplement of the Year – Universal Nutrition Animal Flex (4th year in a row!)
• RTD of the Year – CytoSport Muscle Milk RTD (2nd year in a row!)
• Tanning Product of the Year – Dream Tan’s Dream Tan
• Labels of the Year – BSN
• Ad Campaign of the Year – BSN

The Bodybuilding.com Supplement Awards provide an innovative way to help customers find truly exceptional products and brands, while helping to recognize the efforts of the many great companies that make up the industry.

For more information visit: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2009supplementawardwinners.htm

Bodybuilding.com offers more than 10,000 health and fitness supplements & accessories to help people achieve their fitness goals. They offer more than 25,000 pages of FREE bodybuilding & fitness information, including more than 12,000 articles (written by 525+ writers), video & audio segments, and new content added daily.

In case you haven’t heard the news, I’ll try to catch you up to what’s going on.

The Claims

So what did they find wrong with Hydroxycut? Well, it has been recalled because it has been linked to liver damage, kidney failure, rhabdomyolysis and death. Other health problems reported include seizures and cardiovascular disorders.

Products Recalled

Here is a list of all of the Hydroxycut brand that has been recalled. The FDA has encouraged everyone to stop taking any of these:

• Hydroxycut Regular Rapid Release Caplets
• Hydroxycut Caffeine-Free Rapid Release Caplets
• Hydroxycut Hardcore Liquid Capsules
• Hydroxycut Max Liquid Capsules
• Hydroxycut Regular Drink Packets
• Hydroxycut Caffeine-Free Drink Packets
• Hydroxycut Hardcore Drink Packets (Ignition Stix)
• Hydroxycut Max Drink Packets
• Hydroxycut Liquid Shots
• Hydroxycut Hardcore RTDs (Ready-to-Drink)
• Hydroxycut Max Aqua Shed
• Hydroxycut 24
• Hydroxycut Carb Control
• Hydroxycut Natural

What We Learn From This

For the last couple of years there has been talk that lawmakers were going to start requiring more testing and restriction on sport and health supplements. In some regards this could probably be a good thing as it could help to prevent problems like what has happened with Hydroxycut.

At the same time, make sure that you don’t just take a supplement blindly. While supplements don’t have drugs in them, they still cause physiological effects. Never take more than the recommended dose of any body building supplement, and never assume that the recommended dose is the perfect dose for you. Pay very close attention to how your body reacts to certain supplements.

Our prayers go out to those that have been affected by taking Hydroxycut.

Here are some other articles to read about the recall:

• Muscletech’s Hydroxycut removed from market after reports of consumer death
• Important Information Regarding The Recent FDA Consumer Advisory

Toronto, Ontario – ALLMAX Nutrition just released the newest addition to their ‘Femme’ line; CLA80 FEMME™. This is an exciting addition to the FEMME line as numerous Gold Standard scientific studies confirm that CLA is effective for improving body composition and safe to use as a natural weight loss aid. Not to mention, CLA was recently approved by the FDA as a food product and regarded as safe for use in foods. CLA has been found to provide many health benefits; it plays a vital role in body fat reduction, is a potential anti-carcinogenic, aids in anti-aging and has been found to exhibit anti-diabetic effects.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), an Omega-6 fatty acid, is naturally found in red meat and dairy products such as cheese and yoghurt. It is a naturally occurring ingredient that can safely be used for numerous health-promoting benefits. Recent research found that those who supplemented with 1,000 milligrams of CLA 3 times daily experienced a greater increase in lean muscle mass and greater fat loss reduction than the placebo group.

CLA has long been found to be helpful for weight loss and is the perfect complement for those looking to lose weight and reduce inches overall. The researchers at ALLMAX decided to create CLA80 FEMME exclusively for women to cater to the female population who need that extra edge in their weight loss quest.

“Any woman who wants to lose weight should try CLA80 FEMME. Its non-stimulating formula is excellent for all women and is particularly beneficial for women looking to lose weight around their abdomen,” explains Kristine Hughes, Online Marketing Manager and avid user of CLA.

CLA80 FEMME™ uses premium grade 80% Pure Conjugated Linoleic Acid. Naturally derived from safflower oil, CLA80 FEMME provides 80% of the key isomers scientifically proven to improve body composition, decrease body fat and improve body shape. CLA80 FEMME is the proven addition to a lean, healthy lifestyle.

According to Jason Bell, the director of marketing at ALLMAX Nutrition, what really sets CLA80 FEMME apart from many of the CLA brands on the market is that it is derived from safflower oil and not sunflower oil.

Jason says “Many other supplements may use sunflower oil as it a cheaper way to derive CLA. However, sunflower oil does not produce as much active CLA. Safflower oil contains 80% CLA while sunflower oil only provides 40% of active CLA. CLA80 FEMME contains 100% safflower oil and provides 80% of the key CLA isomers.”

Why CLA80 FEMME?

CLA80 FEMME is a safe, natural and effective way to maintain a healthy body weight while following a healthy lifestyle. This effective, healthy and non-stimulating fat loss solution can promote the body’s natural fat metabolism making it easier to get in shape.

CLA80 FEMME can also be found online at ALLMAXNutrition.com. It retails for approximately $13.99 for 60 rapid release liquid capsules. CLA80 FEMME is backed by ALLMAX Nutrition’s 100% Money back-guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with this product you can return it for a full money-back guarantee within 30 days.

Why to Cycle Your Supplements

So if using body building supplements can help you get a better physique, why should you cycle them? Well, if you’ve been using creatine supplements or NO2 supplements for a long period of time you may have noticed that they tend to have less effect as more time goes by.

You can limit this effect by cycling. By cycling your supplement intake you can keep your body from building up a tolerance and reliance on the supplement. In other words, you’ll get more benefit from the supplement for a longer period and you won’t become fully dependent on the supplement to maintain your physique. Sounds great right!

Supplements that Don’t Need Cycling

Before we talk about ideas on cycling, let’s talk a little bit about the supplements that you don’t need to cycle. These would include multivitamins, antioxidants, fish oils, and protein. Glutamine is another supplement that falls into this category. So don’t worry about cycling these, just take them consistently for their benefits.

Supplements You Should Cycle

As a general rule of thumb, you should consider cycling anything that really does make a difference in your physique. This would include creatine supplements, NO2, and fat burners. There are others I could add to this list as well, but these are the main ones that people use.

Here are some ideas for cycling creatine:

1. The standard loading phase followed by a maintenance phase. Then go off completely after 6-8 weeks, then start the cycle again
2. Take 10g per day for 6 weeks, then take 2 weeks off
3. Load for 3 days, don’t take any for 3 days, repeat

Do some experimenting and see what works for you.

Cycling NO2

As I’ve been searching around for a technique to cycle NO2 I haven’t found any great advice on it. It seems that some people (and apparently books) suggest that you don’t have to cycle it at all, but you’ll also find that a lot of people have found the effect wearing off over prolonged use.

I have seen a few suggestions to use NO2 for no more than a month, and this makes sense to me. Use it for a month, then go off for 2-4 weeks. This will keep your body from relying on the NO2 supplement for the nutrients it contains.

Cycling Fat Burners

You really shouldn’t take fat burners or other thermogenic products for a long period of time. It would be a good idea to follow a similar routine of one month on and then a few weeks off on this one as well.

Conclusion

To get the most out of some body building supplements for a longer period of time you really should cycle them in one way or another. You’ll find that there are a lot of different ways that people do this and so the best thing you can do is to try different cycling techniques to see what your body reacts to the most. Do this effectively and you’ll continue to reap the benefits of your favorite supplements!

Using Muscle Building Supplements

Before you start buying muscle building supplements you need to make sure that you have the other areas of your program in place. If you aren’t consistently working out or eating right, don’t be surprised if you don’t get any results from using these supplements. Body building supplements are meant to be used alongside a good program, not in place of it. So with that said, let’s get to the supplements!

Creatine Supplements

Creatine is by far the most popular muscle building supplement that you can by. And for good reason: it’s also one of the most tested and has been proven to be effective! Creatine naturally occurs in the body and is used to increase ATP production. This means that it gives you more energy to use in the gym!

Creatine supplements have also been shown to enhance muscle size. This is done by helping the muscles to take on more water and become fuller. For this reason you need to be sure to stay well hydrated when using creatine!

You’ll notice that there are a lot of different types of creatine supplements on the market as well. You’ll see things like creatine with transport systems, creatine ethyl ester (CEE), micronized, and others. In the end, the best form of creatine is creatine monohydrate. You can also get micronized creatine monohydrate which a lot of people find works a little better.

Nitric Oxide (NO2) Supplements

This one is more of a new-comer in the body building supplement world, but it is always growing in popularity for it’s ability to give a user a better ‘pump’ after working out. There are other benefits of using this supplement as well.

Nitric oxide is a free form gas that occurs in the body and is used by the body to help the circulation of blood and it is also used in transmitting messages between nerve cells. So by using NO2 supplements you can help to increase blood flow to the muscles. This is where the pump comes from. Also, pushing more blood to the muscles you are helping your muscles to get more nutrients which helps them to grow faster.

When taking NO2 you should start with small doses and increase watching for any possible side effects. This is one of those body building supplements that will cause a different reaction in different people. Overdosing with NO2 can lead to diarrhea, weakness, and nausea. If you feel these side effects you probably need to back off on your dosage amount.

Whey Protein Supplements

It has long been known that protein is the building block of muscles. So if you are looking for the granddaddy of muscle building supplements, this is it. Whey protein supplements have been so popular because it is quickly absorbed by the body. This means more protein to your muscles faster!

The other great thing about whey is that you can get it in so many flavors to mix with other ingredients to make some rather tasty protein shakes. Experiment and find your favorites!

Introducing MUSCLEPRIME Pre-Workout Intensity Amplifier!
January 2009

Big news! We just launched our brand new cutting-edge pre-workout formula MUSCLEPRIME™. MUSCLEPRIME™ is the world’s first and most powerful pre-workout Anabolic Response Activator™; uniquely designed to amplify training intensity while providing key nutrients to get optimal results from every workout.

MUSCLEPRIME bolsters mental focus and intensity, providing the exact blend of ingredients needed to improve the quality of every workout, including all 8 essential amino acids and 3 branched chain amino acids, as well as ARGININE and the nutritional superstar Beta-Alanine. If that wasn’t enough, MUSCLEPRIME also provides a protective antioxidant complex to defend your cells from hard training sessions.

Find out more about MUSCLEPRIME!

Theory 1 – Water Retention Problems

One theory out there is that creatine can help the body to retain more water, but caffeine acts as a diuretic. So really the effects could cancel each other out.

This makes sense when you think about it, but according to CreatineMonohydrate.net this isn’t the real reason why you shouldn’t mix the two.

Theory 2 – Muscle Contractions and Relaxation

Let me quote from the article to explain another theory of why caffeine and creatine supplements don’t mix:

Making this mental link is erroneous and assumes that water retention by skeletal muscle, otherwise known as muscle volumizing, is the source of creatine’s physical benefit. Although increasing the girth of our muscles, muscle volumizing has no proven effect on strength. In other words, size alone isn’t the basis for strength, rather augmented energy stores (ATP and PCr) and increased contractile proteins (increased protein synthesis) are the true source of strength. Our muscles get bigger when we train because the amount of proteins they contain increases. Blood flow to our muscle also increases causing them to swell. With reference to training, therefore, size and strength do go hand in hand. On the other hand, inflating our muscles with water without the benefit of these other biochemical processes accomplishes very little, athletically speaking.

A more feasible explanation is that caffeine interferes with the contractile properties of muscle.

Would it surprise you that relaxation and power are one in the same? In truth, strength is the outcome of the coordinated interplay between muscle contraction and relaxation. For example, when performing a biceps curl the triceps must relax at the same time as the biceps contract for the bar to rise. If both muscle groups remain contracted (or relaxed) the bar goes absolutely nowhere! In other words, without the coordinated relaxation of antagonistic muscle groups there is no power. On a mechanistic level it is the presence of calcium that triggers contraction. Calcium must therefore be stingily hidden away into special storage compartments when muscle relaxation is required and only released from these intramuscular storage sites when contraction is desired.

It is thus relevant that one of PCr’s primary roles in muscle is to provide the energy to return calcium into these reservoirs. In this manner creatine (PCr) assists in muscle relaxation and enhances our athletic performance. Interestingly, caffeine has the opposite effect of allowing calcium to escape from these intracellular calcium storage sites. Caffeine would thus hamper muscle relaxation. In agreement with these findings a recent study has shown that caffeine interferes with creatine’s ability to facilitate muscle relaxation, especially during moments of fatigue (ref. 2). Caffeine might thusly confound the ability of PCr to store away calcium and in doing so nullify part of creatine’s benefit.

So to summarize, it’s not just about water retention but the ability of the muscles to contract in order to grow. According to this article, caffeine interferes with what creatine does when it comes to letting the muscles relax!

The On-Going Debate

While the guys at CreatineMonohydrate.net make a very good argument, there is still a lot of discussion out there about whether or not you should mix creatine and caffeine.

John Berardi from PrecisionNutrition.com had a different viewpoint in an article published at Bodybuilding.com.

Berardi’s argument is that the study that everyone bases the ‘not creatine caffeine mix’ on had some major flaws in it’s design. There have been other studies done since then that have shown that caffeine really didn’t have a negative effect on creatine.

So is it an Evil Combination?

So what should you do? If you’re taking creatine should you completely cut out the caffeine? This may not be the best answer, but you’ll have to do some testing and see what works for you.

You see, people react differently to creatine and almost any other supplement. So if you are taking creatine and also drinking a lot of caffeine, maybe try going off the caffeine for a few weeks and see if you notice a diffference. If you do, then there’s your answer!

Here’s a quote from John Berardi talking about this:

Another issue with creatine supplementation is the fact that some individuals respond very well while others do not. This may have something to do with initial creatine levels when starting a creatine cycle or it may have to do with enhanced or impaired creatine uptake in certain individuals. So what if there was a way to increase creatine uptake into the muscle to potentially enhance uptake in both responders and non-responders? Again, a creatine combination may take care of this as well.

So now the question is what are some other possible combinations that could be more effective? In the quoted article Berardi gives a few suggestions, each of which are based on decreasing discomfort caused by creatine and increasing its uptake:

• Dissolve your creatine in a warm beverage. By doing so, due to the laws of thermodynamics, the creatine is solubilized.
• Use liquid creatine products that contain some type of glycerin or carbohydrate-like substance to solubilize the creatine. Although there is no good data to suggest that these products are better than regular creatine, theoretically they could help absorption. Although theoretically this does make sense, creatine tends to be unstable in liquid if suspended for too long.
• Take creatine with a meal that includes carbs and protein to create an insulin spike which has been shown to increase creatine uptake.

Conclusion

No matter what supplement you’re looking at, you’re going to get different viewpoints on the best ways to use it, what not to use it with, etc. I recommend that you read the material you find, but also remember that in the end all that matters is how your body reacts to it. Do a little safe testing and see what works for you in the end.

References:

http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net/creatine_newsletter_19.html
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/berardi5.htm

Creatine Loading

If you’ve ever used creatine before then you’ve probably gone through a loading phase. The standard loading phase would usually be to take up to 20g of creatine a day for 5 days, then back off to a maintenance dose of 5g a day. The idea here was to saturate your muscles with a bunch of extra creatine and then try to maintain that saturation with the rest of the cycle.

Supplement companies love this idea I’m sure, because by the time you’re done with your loading phase you’ve pretty much gone through your first bottle of creatine! But is it really necessary?

A lot of people will tell you that it really isn’t necessary. I’ve read articles before (I’d source them here, but I can’t remember where I read them!) that suggest that if you use creatine long term you will get the same benefit as loading. A lot of users have also found that it probably isn’t necessary either.

I found another interesting twist on the creatine loading cycle idea from MuscleHack.com. He suggests loading for 3 days, abstaining for 3 days, and repeating that cycle over and over again. The idea being that if you cycle in this way you will maintain a higher level of creatine concentration in the muscles over time.

In the end, I don’t really know which way is best. This is one area where you should experiment and see which method reacts the best with your body.

When to Take It

Another area of concern is when creatine should be taken. This was a big question that I had when I very first started taking creatine. The standard suggestion has often been to take creatine soon after your workout (unless you are doing a standard loading phase, then you would take it throughout the day). Here is an article by Shannon Clark that suggests the same thing: Getting the Facts Straight on Creatine.

But there are variations to this standard approach as well. For example, if you’re going with the 3 days on 3 days off approach suggested by MuscleHack Mark McManus, you would take creatine before your workout, after your workout, and then at least 2 other times throughout the day.

Once again, it would seem that you will need to experiment and see what works best for you and your body.

Conclusion

My intent in writing this article was not to come out with some kind of decisive solution as to what is the best way to get all the benefits out of using creatine. As you can see, there are several differnt approaches that different people have found to work. In the end you really do have to test and see how your body reacts to the different approaches.

Check out our creatine supplement section to find the best prices on creatine supplements!

Sources:
http://www.musclehack.com/the-best-way-to-take-creatine-monohydrate/
http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/creatine/loading-creatine-use.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/creatine_supplement_facts.htm

Essential Amino Acids

Essential amino acids are the type of amino acid that your body cannot produce on it’s own. So the only way to get these into your body it so eat them, whether that be through regular food or supplements.

Here is a list of the 9 essential amino acids: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, and valine.

Non-Essential Amino Acids

Non-essential amino acids are the amino acids that your body can produce on its own. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t essential to your body, it just means that you don’t have to get them from other places. They are still very essential for different body functions.

Here is the list of the 13 non-essential amino acids: alanine, arginine, aspartic acid, cysteine, cystine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, hydroxyproline, proline, serine, & tyrosine.

BCAAs

Branched chain amino acids, or BCAAs, are the amino acids that have a specific structure, the branched chain. These amino acids are different from others in several ways, one being that they are metabolized in the muscles rather than in the liver. These amino acids are the ones that are included in BCAA supplements and used by athletes and body builders. In fact, BCAAs are one of the most effective body building supplements according to many and are also one of the oldest.

Sources:
http://bodybuilding.com/store/bcaa.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branched_chain_amino_acids

Flavor Mixability

Sometimes you may want to mix your whey protein with something else, such as milk or perhaps a sports drink if you’re making a home-made workout drink. How well does your flavor mix with the flavors of Gatorade or Powerade that you might be using? How well does it taste with milk? Or does it just taste good by itself with water?

Another thought on this is how does it taste with regular food? Is the flavor universal enough that it goes good with anything, or should it only be taken with dessert?

Aftertaste

Nobody likes a flavor with a bad aftertaste. And honestly, there are some strange flavors in some of the different brands of whey protein out there! Try a few and see what flavors like to stick around the most.

Allow for Variety

This point sort of goes back to the flavor mixability idea, but some flavors are really only used well with a small amount of other items. For example. there are only so many thing that you can mix a cookies n’ creme protein powder with. Vanilla on the other hand can be so much more versatile. Here are in my opinion the top 3 when it comes to usability:

• Vanilla
• Chocolate
• Strawberry

Most of the other unique flavors are just too unique to be mixed with a lot of other things, so if you’re buying your whey protein with the intention of using it multiple ways, you should stick with one of the 3 listed above.

On the other hand, if you’re buying your protein just because you love the flavor, go for it! I had a container of Dymatize Elite Pina Colada once, and I drank it just for the flavor. The only down side to this was that after going through all 5 lbs of it I was a little tired of the flavor.

So what are your favorite flavors? Do you prefer the kind that mix well with other things or the unique flavors? Share your opinion in the comments section below!