Creatine Fuel Stack, made by TwinLab, isn’t your daddy’s creatine powder.  Now with creatine monohydrate, glutamine and taurine, you’re sure to feel the burn.  Be sure to check this out before you Buy Creatine Online.

You’ve probably heard it before, creatine is one of the core, and first choice, supplements for most serious bodybuilders. So…  

Why not start out with one of the most loved brands out there? 

Creatine in its basic form is actually quite common, and if you’ve been hitting the bench for any length of time then you have likely heard it mentioned before.  

Whether you opt for the Fuel Stack label,  or another brand, this could be just what you’re looking for to boost muscle mass.  

While you should always consult your doctor before taking any kind of dietary supplements, creatine  is a good option for boosting your maximum potential.

There are many reasons why creatine is such a buzz word among lifting enthusiasts.   

Before making any changes to your healthcare dietary regiment, however, you may want to educate yourself on what creatine is and how it affects your body–in addition to informing your doctor, of course.

Creatine (stored in the body as “creatine phosphate”) is a substance that cells use to refuel ATP, or adenosine triphosphate.

This compound gives energy for muscle contractions, but it only lasts for a short time.  

According to Marie Spano on BodyBuilding.com…

“To replenish ATP quickly, muscle cells rely on creatine phosphate.

This system rapidly replenishes ATP to fuel working muscle but only lasts about 10 seconds.

And, it is dependent on the amount of phosphocreatine stored in muscle.

As phosphocreatine stores are used, ATP cannot be resynthesized at the rate required and maximum physical effort declines.” 

The solution?  

Give your body more creatine to replenish itself.  

The reason we can only exert maximum output of energy for a limited time (i.e. sprinting, heavy lifting) is that after a short period of time the muscle cells cannot refuel themselves fast enough to keep up.

While the body produces a little bit of its own creatine, in addition to what we take in from foods like meat and fish, it may not enough for all your heavy weight training.

By adding creatine supplements to you diet — and thus building up a greater store of those precious creatine monohydrates — the results can be more fruitful workouts and leaner muscle growth over the long run. 

While results may vary from person to person, plenty of studies show that creatine supplements taken within reasonable limits are a safe and effective way to boost your performance.  

There is the need to be realistic, however.

The fact is that not everyone reacts to creatine supplements in the same way, sometimes varying even from brand to brand; not much of a surprise, since “supplements aren’t held to the same standards by the FDA as medications, which means you can’t always know exactly what’s in your supplement, or in what amounts,” according to WebMD.  

While this isn’t to say that creatine is a complete hit or miss approach to upping your game, side effects may occur.

As time goes on, there is more and more research supporting the effectiveness and safeness of taking creatine alongside a healthy workout regiment.

 And if you’re still on a quest to figure out the best plain creatine and…  

If you still have any questions, do some looking around yourself!

Surely, whether you opt for the Creatine Fuel Stack brand or not, you will to reap the benefits when you add a healthy dose of creatine to your workout sessions.

Mark Martinez,

HyperGain creatine, an eye-opening report

Procedures of PNF

The procedures (or techniques) used in PNF include:

1. Use of specific manual contacts with the body to facilitate and guide movement
2. Application of maximal tolerated resistance
3. The use of oral commands and non-verbal cues to facilitate correct movement
4. Eliciting of maximal stretch reflex in the lengthened muscle range (Starling’s Law)
5. Use of appropriate timing and sequencing of all actions
6. Application of traction or approximation (compression) to stimulate joint receptors
7. Inclusion of recuperative motion to reduce or avoid fatigue produced by resisted activity
8. Use of Specific Activation Techniques to develop full range of voluntary movement
9. The use of Specific Relaxation Techniques.

The Specific Activation Techniques (of 8 above) need to be elaborated upon, as follows:

• Repeated Contractions (RC)
Repetition of muscle contraction is necessary for motor learning and the development of strength, muscle endurance and flexibility. PNF uses precise sequences or patterns of isometric, concentric and eccentric contraction, sometimes augmented by eliciting various neuromuscular reflexes (i.e. methods which may be similar to some types of plyometrics).

• Rhythmic Initiation (RI)
This technique employs phases of voluntary relaxation, passive movement and repeated dynamic contractions of the major muscle groups involved in the agonistic pattern of movement. It can be valuable with subjects who struggle to initiate activity because of rigidity or spasticity.

• Reversal of Antagonists (RA)
This action occurs naturally in numerous activities such as walking, running and sawing wood. If the antagonists do not reverse competently in terms of strength, speed and coordination, motor efficiency is impaired. PNF uses three methods of reversal: slow reversal, slow-reversal-hold and rhythmic stabilisation.

Slow reversal (SR) involves dynamic contraction of the antagonist slowly followed by dynamic contraction of the agonist. Slow reversal-hold (SRH) employs dynamic contraction followed by isometric contraction of the antagonist, finally followed by the same contraction sequence for the agonist. Rhythmic stabilisation (RS) involves isometric contraction of the antagonist, followed by isometric contraction of the agonist, thereby producing co-contraction of the antagonists.

The Specific Relaxation Techniques (of 9 above) similarly need to be expanded upon, since they include the socalled PNF stretching techniques popularly used in athletic conditioning.

• Contract-Relax (CR), which involves a dynamic contraction of the antagonist against maximal resistance, followed by a phase of relaxation. This technique is repeated several times beginning and continuing from a point where the limb concerned is moved to its limit of pain-free action. The practitioner resists the contraction as strongly as possible and then instructs the client to relax before decreasing the force and waiting for the relaxation to occur. The limb is moved passively to its new limit of extension and the process is continued gently for a few repetitions.

• Hold-Relax (HR) is similar to contract-relax except that isometric rather than dynamic contraction against maximal resistance is applied at the limit of the client’s movement before relaxation is commanded.

• Slow-Reversal-Hold-Relax (SRHR) comprises four stages: dynamic contraction of the antagonists involved, isometric contraction of the antagonists, brief voluntary relaxation, and finally, dynamic contraction of the agonists. These stages are applied to the muscles in the specific pattern needed to relax the group of muscles concerned, using several repetitions to enhance functional flexibility.

To order a copy of Supertraining (and everyone involved in physical preparation should have one) click here.

Supertraining 6th Edition by Dr Mel Siff

Supertraining by Dr Mel Siff

www.supertrainingonline.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

Strength is an essential component of all human performance and its formal devel­opment can no longer be neglected in the preparation of any athlete.  Successful strength conditioning de­pends on a thorough understanding of all processes underlying the production of strength by the body.  Therefore, it is appropriate that Supertraining commences with an outline of the struc­ture and function of the more important systems involved in producing all types of strength.

Strength is the product of muscular action initiated and orchestrated by electrical processes in the nervous system of the body.  Classically, strength is defined as the abil­ity of a given muscle or group of muscles to generate muscular force under specific conditions.  Thus, maximal strength is the ability of a particular group of muscles to produce a maximal volun­tary contraction in response to optimal motivation against an external load. This strength is usually produced in competition and may also be referred to as the competitive maximum strength, CFmax.  It is not the same as absolute strength, which Zatsiorsky (1995) calls Fmm, the maximum of all  maxima, and which usually is associated with the greatest force which can be produced by a given muscle group under involuntary muscle stimulation by, for example, electrical stimulation of the nerves supplying the muscles or recruitment of a powerful stretch reflex by sudden loading.

For certain practical purposes, absolute strength may be regarded as roughly equivalent to maximal eccentric strength, which is difficult or impractical to measure, because a maximum by definition refers to the limit point preceding structural and functional failure of the system. Thus, it is apparent that specific neural feedback mechanisms, like governors in a mechanical engine, exist to prevent a muscle from continuing to produce force to the point of mechanical failure.   This is why it probably would be more practical to use the maximum explosive isometric strength (produced under so-called maximum plyometric conditions or explosive thrust against a dynamometer) as a working approximation to absolute strength (or Fmm).  To prevent confusion, it also should be noted that the term ‘absolute strength’ sometimes is used to define the maximum strength which can be produced by an athlete irrespective of  bodymass.

It is vital to recognise a training maximum TFmax or training 1RM (single repetition maximum), which is always less than the competition maximum CFmax in experienced athletes, because optimal motivation invariably occurs under competitive conditions (Fig 1.1). Zatsiorsky states that the training maximum is the heaviest load which one can lift without substantial emotional excitement, as indicated by a very significant rise in heart rate before the lift (Medvedev, 1986).  It is noteworthy that, in the untrained person, involuntary or hypnotic conditions can increase strength output by up to 35%, but by less than 10% in the trained athlete.  The mean difference between TFmax and CFmax is approximately 12.5  2.5% in experienced weightlifters, with a larger difference being exhibited by lifters in heavier weight classes (Zatsiorsky, 1995).

The merit of identifying the different types of strength or performance maximum lies in enabling one to prescribe training intensity more efficiently.  Intensity is usually defined as a certain percentage of one’s maximum and it is most practical to choose this on the basis of the competitive maximum, which remains approximately constant for a fairly prolonged period.  The training maximum can vary daily, so, while it may be of value in prescribing training for less qualified athletes, it is of limited value for the elite competitor.

See Part II of ‘What is Strength’ for more!

To order a copy of Supertraining (and everyone involved in physical preparation should have one) click here.

Supertraining 6th Edition by Dr Mel Siff

Supertraining by Dr Mel Siff

www.supertrainingonline.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1