SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

Parr et al. suggest that ecdysterone should be added to the WADA list . Actually, I didn't plan to write a SuppVersity  article about an agent of which everybody says that it's a waste of money, but I have to admit that the conclusion that "ecdysterone exhibited a strong hypertrophic effect on the fiber size of rat soleus muscle that was found even stronger compared to the test compounds metandienone (dianabol), estradienedione (trenbolox), and SARM S 1, all administered in the same dose (5 mg/kg body weight, for 21 days)" (Parr. 2015) in the abstract of a recent non-sponsored  (no conflict of interest, either) study from the Freie Universität Berlin intrigued me. In the corresponding study, Parr and colleagues had tested the effects of ecdysterones on the fiber sizes of the soleus muscle (that's mainly slow twitch muscle fibers) of rodents in vivo and in vitro. If you want to build muscle forget T-booster and optimize your  protein intake   Protein ...

Does this look as if sprinting would impair muscular development of arms or any other muscle? I mean, come on - look at the average sprinter: Many gymrats dream of the arms and overall muscular physique they have; no wonder that the data from the full-text shows a different picture than the abstract would suggest. I have repeatedly written about combining strength and classic endurance training. With endurance first, endurance last and even endurance in-between the studies yielded often very different results in terms of what would be the optimal way to combine both. With a few exceptions in which resistance training was combined with crazy endurance training sessions, however, I've yet never written about nor seen compelling evidence for the often-heard claim that "cardio ruins your gains". For HIIT, i.e. high-intensity interval training, a recent study from the  Nippon Sport Science University does now claim, though, that my that combining HIIT and weight traini...

Your BMI or rather the associated level of inflammation and bodyfatness determines your D3 requirements. I know that I have previously written about estimated vitamin D requirements, but in contrast to previous articles that were based only on 1-3 studies, today's article about the purported vitamin D requirements of the average Westerner, however, is based on the same previous 108 published estimates and new calculations based on the vitamin D status of 13,987 individuals in various studies Veugelers, Pham and Ekwaru used as the observational database for what is a of now probably the most tangible vitamin D recommendation in their recently published study in Nutrients  (Veugelers. 2015). There are many ways to get your vitamin D learn more the SuppVersity How Much To Take? Leucine, Insulin & Vitamin D Vit. D Speeds Up Recovery Overlooked D-Sources Vitamin D For Athletes! Vitamin D Helps Store Fat Now, as the headline already tells you, their anal...

Studies in men suggest no effect of the hormonal response on training outcome - What about women? A news study provides insights that may be relevant for both female and male gymrats. It has been a few years that I last wrote about the "hormonal ghost". Back in the day, Stuart M. Phillips published an excellent paper that debunked the myth of a mechanistic link of post-exercise increases in testosterone, growth hormone, IGF-1 and co., on the one hand, and exercise-induced strength and size gains, on the other hand. And for those for whom Phillip's review of the literature was not convincing enough, Daniel WD West's 2012, which showed none of the expected associations between exercise-induced hormone profiles (first and foremost higher post-workout testosterone levels) and the rate or significance of muscle strength and size gains in a large cohort of young men after weight training, should have been evidence enough to stop believing in "hormonal ghosts",...

Looking for a new routine for your new-years gym resolution? This SuppVersity article offers suggestions that will pay off in form of strength gains.  For the rookie, everything works. If you have more than five years of series training experience under your belt, however, you will be progressing much slower - often frustratingly slow(er)... This is why the results of a a soon-to-be-published study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research  are particularly interesting. In contrast to your average resistance training study, the subjects of this study belonged to previously described group of experienced trainees. With a mean training experience of more than 5 years, the initially more than 300 volunteers were thus significantly more representative of the average SuppVersity  reader than the "recreationally trained" subject who goes for a jog once a month. The method used int he study is an alternative to classic periodization schemes. 30% More o...