Supplements — Training

  What are BCAAs? BCAA stands for branched-chain amino acid. The name comes from the fact that the amino acid ‘side chain’ is structurally forked or branched, which is part of the reason for their unique function amongst amino acids. There are three amino acids that comprise the BCAAs: leucine, isoleucine, and valine and all 3 are considered ‘essential’ since the body cannot synthesize them on its own, and therefore they need to be obtained from the diet via food or supplementation. The BCAAs are found in protein-rich foods, with the highest concentrations in chicken, beef, fish, eggs, and whey protein. Our bodies digest these...

Muscle power and muscle strength are often used as interchangeable terms. However, power actually refers to the ability to generate force quickly; think of the clean and jerk action, a baseball swing or the explosion of a vertical jump as examples that would measure muscle power output. Muscular strength on the other hand is the generation of muscle force without reference of time or speed – things like one-rep max bench or deadlift are pure strength movements. For the athlete of course, the ability to maximize muscular force with speed makes for an incredible combination that can ultimately mean the difference...

  Train Harder. Recover Faster. In life, you typically get out what you put in – Hard work pays off! But we’re all limited by the same number of hours the day, so what separates those that rise up and succeed from those that waddle in mediocrity? The answer is simple, the most successful people leverage their time and maximize efficiency. They achieve in 30 or 60 minutes what others may drag out over a full afternoon. Whether it is your studies, your business, or more specifically in this case, your athletic performance – if you can make optimal use of...

  So what is Trimethylglycine? Trimethylglycine or TMG is also more commonly referred to as betaine (BEET-ah-een). For the chemists, as the name implies it is a trimethyl derivative of the common amino acid glycine. TMG is commonly found in our diet in beets (that’s where the name betaine came from), whole grains, spinach and shellfish. TMG can also be made in the body naturally via oxidation of choline-containing compounds. One of its primary functions in the body is to act as an ‘osmolyte’ and increase water retention of cells. It migrates in and out of cells to preserve cellular...