Blogs — muscle building

Building an aesthetic, healthy and strong body is at the forefront of most gym goers goals. It is no secret that gaining significant amounts of muscle takes consistent hard work. However, this process is often over-complicated, with many people 'spinning their wheels' and making no progress. Here is some quick and straightforward tips to ensure you are making as much progress as possible! 1. Progressive Overload - This term is commonly cited within the gym community, but what does it actually mean? PO simply means to progressively make what you are doing in the gym harder. Whilst this can be achieved through...

Whey concentrates, isolates, hydrolysates, pea proteins, beef isolates, casein, milk protein, soy protein...the list goes on. Todays supplement market is saturated with various protein powders, but which one is the 'best'? To dissect this common question, we will need to take a look at some of the scientific literature. But first, it is important to explain the concept of Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS). In short, MPS is the process of building new muscle proteins. This is an ongoing process, which is upregulated shortly after eating protein rich foods/supplements and resistance training. MPS works in synergy with protein breakdown to complete a...

Cream of Rice – What’s the hype about? Over the last 5 years cream of rice has infiltrated the fitness industry by storm, with nearly every mainstream brand now supplying their own product. But what’s all the fuss about, isn’t it just powdered rice? In essence, yes. Cream of rice products are powdered rice. However, many companies add extra ingredients, such as digestive enzymes and multivitamin complexes which add to the nutritional value of rice. The main selling points for cream of rice products are that they are flavoured and provide a simplistic, tasty method of getting easily digested carbohydrates...

BCAAs - who (if at all) should take them?  In recent times, dozens of conflicting opinions could be heard about BCAA supplementation. These concern mainly the time of the day when the supplements should be taken as an optimum, the training macrocycle and the sports disciplines where BCAA supplementation produces the best results.  What makes branched-chain amino-acids perfect for all sports disciplines is their anabolic activity in protein synthesis on the one hand, and the anti-catabolic activity pre- and post-workout on the other. High blood BCAA concentrations indicate glycogen depletion as an energy booster which may lead to muscle catabolism....