Vitamin shop magazin 022014 ir

PHOEBE MCVEYINTERVIEW

DIETA SPORTSPERSON’S

LIFESTYLE

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The black MULTIPACK SPORT NIGHT FORMULA capsule is intended for taking before sleep – it pro-vides the most important mineral ingredients in eas-ily accessible chemical forms. Their supply is very im-portant for maintaining high physical condition and full metabolic balance. Deficiencies of these ingredi-ents may have very serious consequences, leading to a deterioration in the mental and physical condition of the entire organism. An athlete’s body is particularly exposed to their loss. Intense metabolic transforma-tions that cover the demand for energy all day long, lead to depriving the body of such important mineral elements as magnesium, zinc, iron or chromium. That is why it is so important to replenish them. The ma-jority of scientific tests have confirmed that the peri-od before regeneration at night is he best to supple-

ment mineral ingredients. Magnesium in the product has a beneficial influence on the nervous system func-tions, reducing the sense of fatigue. The product pro-vides an optimum portion of zinc, which is important for men, as it helps maintain the correct level of testo-sterone in the blood and sexual performance. More-over, MULTIPACK SPORT NIGHT FORMULA con-tains ingredients that have a positive impact on the DNA synthesis and metabolism of proteins, carbohy-drates and lipids. The night formula of the preparation was completed with natural precursors of serotonin – a hormone whose high level helps the body enter a deep and relaxing sleep, as well as gamma-aminobu-tyric acid (GABA) – a neurotransmitter demonstrating an impeding action in the nervous system, limiting its excess stimulation.

The night is the time to regenerate your body. Only then can the body devote the whole energy to biological renewal of all cells. Not only our mood but also the speed of building the physical condition depends on the quality of sleep.

The white MULTIPACK SPORT DAY FORMULA cap-sule is intended for use during the day and it contains all the necessary vitamins and stimulating concen-trated plant extracts. An athlete’s body’s demand for the important regulatory ingredients tend to exceed several times the standards established for non-train-ing persons. An increased supply of the essential vi-tamins has a fundamental significance for maintaining full capacity of the body. Deficiencies of the impor-tant ingredients may lead to weakening of the body and fatigue, resulting in over-training, whose effects are very dangerous. That is why the vitamin formula of the product is based on the latest scientific research concerning nutrition of active people. It contains in-creased doses of group B vitamins, indispensable

for efficient production of energy, absorption of nu-trient macro ingredients (proteins, carbohydrates, lip-ids) and complete mobilisation of the nervous system. MULTIPACK SPORT DAY FORMULA also provides anti-oxidising ingredients – vitamin C, vitamin E and citric bioflavonoids that protect the cells against oxi-dation stress and support the functions of the immune system during intense physical exercises. The formula is enriched with Q10 co-enzyme – a compound par-ticipating in energy production on the cellular level. This is an essential link of the respiratory chain that si-multaneously makes side metabolites harmless. The preparation additionally contains Guarana as well as Korean and American ginseng extracts to strengthen its energising action.

The day is the time of being active. Our body produces large

quantities of energy to meet the requirements we make it face.

The efficiency of that process determines the level of vital forces

but also the rate of adaptation to training loads.

THE WORLD AIN’T ALL SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS. IT IS A VERY MEAN AND NASTY PLACE. IT WILL BEAT YOU TO YOUR KNEES AND KEEP YOU THERE PERMANENTLY IF YOU LET IT. YOU, ME OR NOBODY IS GOING TO HIT AS HARD AS LIFE. BUT IT AIN’T ABOUT HOW HARD YOU HIT, IT IS ABOUT HOW HARD YOU CAN GET HIT AND KEEP MOVING FORWARD, HOW MUCH CAN YOU TAKE AND KEEP MOVING FORWARD. THAT’S HOW WINNING IS DONE!”ROCKY BALBOA, ROCKY VI

BELIEVE8

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02/2014

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Over one year ago the quote from Rocky was one of many you can fi nd in the motivators (motivating videos on Youtube). But in mid-August last

year, life exposed me to a test that made me demonstrate my faith in myself and test my involvement as well as strive for reach-ing the goal at any cost. During one of my classes with students I was showing a sim-ple exercise – pulling up on a bar, when I felt my biceps tendons literally tear apart while changing the grip from over-hold into under-hold. I broke the attachments in both biceps just within a few seconds. Today I am not able to explain rationally how it could hap-pen; browsing several hundreds of websites I have not managed to fi nd a single case like mine, so you can imagine how unlucky I was! It was a hard moment for me and although I am an incurable optimist by nature, the fol-lowing thought crossed my mind: “what if it

means bodybuilding is over for me?” Both biceps broken – could anything worse

have happened to me?

I got over such thinking really quick-ly, however, and focused on what I could do. I found the best clinic in Poland, Medical Magnus in Łódź, where even Olympic sportspeo-ple were operated on, and with-out hesitation, I fl ew to Poland. The surgery did not bring any prob-lems, but the real diffi culty started

during rehabilitation. The pain was unbelievable but I had only one goal

in my mind – to come back to the stage and to prove to those who left me to my fate, that I would manage, that what doesn’t kill

you, makes you stronger. I particularly want-ed to prove it to the head of the ward from Medical Magnus. He must have been in a bad mood during the ward round one day after my operation and “encouraged me” – his pa-tient – saying that I could forget bodybuild-ing and play golf with my friends.

Well, only 8 months later I was back in shape and took part in the Loaded Cup competi-tion in Denmark. I almost made it to the fi nal and took the seventh place in the category up to 90 kg, weighing 83 kg. The competition in Denmark was held two weeks ago and I still feel the adrenalin rush! The Danish really know how to organise world competitions and the spectators are amazing! The popu-larity of the competition all over Europe is confi rmed by the fact that all tickets for the Saturday fi nal were sold out several weeks before the event. The only Polish PRO con-testant, Robert Piotrkowicz, took part in the 2007 competition before he turned profes-sional. Naturally, he won the OPEN category.

I have participated in a number of interna-tional events, e.g. Arnold Classic Europe or European Championships, and taken part in pro competitions, but nowhere have I seen such an event preparation! Most important-ly, contestants matter most to the organisers and one can feel it all the time. You really feel like participating in this competition! The be-ginning of the competition was very good for me – I got the fi rst call out with three other contestants, which usually means you are short-listed to the fi nal six, or fi nal four in this case. The fi rst call out gave me wings and self-confi dence, I felt amazing and was full of energy despite the following 3 call outs, as I knew I was doing really well. Unfortunately,

after the qualifi cations it turned out I did not make it to the fi nal six and was ranked 7th, just outside the fi nal six. Nevertheless, I have very good memories of the Loaded Cup and I will surely come back there even better pre-pared next year.The reviews I obtained after the competi-tion from my fellow contestants and referees made me feel more self-confi dent before the forthcoming European Championships. It will be my target competition this season. I will compete in my category – up to 85 kg – and I am sure my form will be even better than it was in Denmark. After all I’ve been through for the last several months, I can say I feel fulfi lled to some extent, mainly be-cause I have proven to myself that I can and am able to get over after such a serious injury. Moreover, I was able to develop my top form and improve the weaker muscles not using too much load, as I was not allowed to do it for the fi rst few months of the rehabilitation. Afterwards, I had to be really cautious, too.

At this point, I would like to thank my trainer, World Bodybuilding Champion Billy Bourne, , with whom I have been working for sever-al months already. However, I have to admit that my mental approach played the key role, alongside with my faith that nothing is im-possible and that you can achieve whatever you want, if you really believe it ... Simply “Be-lieve and Achieve”.

DAWID GELER

9www.vitaminshop.ie

02/2014

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ROAD TOARNOLD CLASSIC14

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02/201414

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02/2014

I do not pray for an easy life, I prayed for the strength to endure a diffi cult one. Believe and achieve.I am living in Dublin 3 months now trying to prepare for the Arnold clas-sic Europe 2014. Moving to Dublin was such a big step for me and a lit-tle of a risk, because back in Mayo I

had a good job, I was making enough money to support myself but chasing my dream and pursuing my passion had forced me to move to Dublin. ‘’Your dream are always going to be the most important to you than they will be to anybody else, so keep dreaming, keep believ-ing and keep pressing forward.’’(Kai Greene). So here I am, believing, pressing forward and hopping to achieve.

At this very moment, things are very hard for me, as I am trying to settle down, trying to get a job and I have 4 months left to prepare for the biggest and toughest competition in Eu-rope (Arnold classic). Oh boy.

Before I go any further I must give a big shout out to Noel McPartlin for the big support he gave me, without him giving me a place to stay for my fi rst 2 months in Dublin, I would not be where here right now. Thank you noel and I really appreciate all the support. Also big thanks to all the VITAMIN-SHOP® team and TREC NUTRITION for supporting me; hope I can do you all proud one day.

Right now even though things are not going too good for me, I am still very happy and feel like I am where I need to be. I am weight train-ing twice a day and cardio 3 times a week, fi rst session in the morning after 2 big meals of very high protein and high carbs, second ses-sion in the evening. I have been training twice a day for over a year now and I love it.

Twice a day training A.KA double your gains al-lows me to push my muscles to the limit and speed up both recovery and growth. Many people would criticise this type of training, believing it is too much but as long as you are able to recovered quick enough it’s not too much. Twice a day training was popularized by Arnold when he won his fi rst Mr. Universe.

I fi rmly believe in frequency, the more often you train a body part, the faster you can deliv-er growth stimulus and the sooner your mus-cles will respond. Training your back so hard that its takes the whole week to recover before you can hit it again isn’t as eff ective as hitting it light fi rst day and then hard three days later. That’s two back workouts in one week so you essentially doubled your gains.

Twice a day training will allow you to eat more, sleep better and also allows you to focus more on each muscle group therefor you can de-velop a well-balanced physique. I train twice a day each body part twice a week.

MONDAY1. Legs: quads & gluts

2. Legs: hamstrings & calves

TUESDAY1. Chest

2. Shoulders

WEDNESDAY1. Full back and traps

2. Biceps & triceps

THURSDAY1. Chest

2. Shoulders

FRIDAY1. Legs: quads & gluts

2. Legs: hamstrings & calves

SATURDAYBack and arms Sunday: Rest

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02/2014

ROAD TOARNOLD CLASSIC

FOTO Paul Cullen

PAPAJ’S TRAINING SCHOOL

Below I describe a good training plan you can set up based on the presented exercises. If your goal, similarly to mine, is to develop symmetrical shoulders with a great emphasis on the development of the posterior part of the deltoid muscles, you should start your training with this part. Below you can fi nd a

plan of the shoulder training that I do now. As you can see, it brings very good results. 1 Bent-over lateral dumbbell raise on incline bench 5 series x 12-15 repeats.

2 Seated dumbbell press 5 sets x 10–12 repetitions3 Seated lateral dumbbell raise 5 sets x 10–12 repetitions

4 Wide-grip barbell raise along the trunk 5 sets x 8–10 repetitions

My shouldertraining plan

Those with greatly developed deltoid muscles or those whose shoulders are much narrower? Everybody would like to have beautiful, round, bulbous shoulders but not everybody has. Some people are not so endowed with good genes, while others are not so diligent when training. They make lots of exercising mistakes or neglect some muscle parts considering them as not so im-portant. I used to be one of such persons. I focused very much on various kinds of presses and lateral raises, neglecting the posterior deltoids that stood out from the other muscles after some time. Fortunately, I came back to my senses and at the

beginning of my adventure with bodybuilding, I decided to focus very much on the posterior part of my shoulders. The majority of training people do posterior deltoid muscle exercises fi rst, while I started training it at the very beginning, since the posterior part was my priority. After some time I noticed signifi cant changes in the build of my muscles – they became more complete. The referees are very vigilant and notice all silhouette drawbacks, while I cannot aff ord to fail at a competition due to my training negligence. Now I suppose that my deltoid muscles are quite good. Below you can fi nd some tips on how I worked on them.

Please note: Make sure to warm up properly before every training of your shoul-ders. Shoulder joints are very often subject to injuries that can prevent us from training in a gym even for several months!

BY TOMASZ PAPAJ LECH

DELTOID MUSCLES ARE A PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF OUR SILHOUETTE, SINCE THEY PROVIDE IT WITH SIGNIFICANT WIDTH. IMAGINE YOU ARE AT A BODYBUILDING COMPETITION, WHERE 15 CONTESTANTS COME TO THE STAGE. WHO DO YOU THINK WILL ATTRACT YOUR ATTENTION FIRST?

symmetricalshoulders

symmetrical

symmetrical


02/2014

Correct technique Sit on a bench with backrest position at right angle. Lift the dumbbells, keep-ing the elbows aside. Press the dumbbells up but do not lock the arms in the elbow joints, then slowly start lowering the weights to the initial position. The dumbbells have an advantage over a barbell since they provide a greater scope of movements and hence better isolated deltoid muscles.

Mistakes elbow locking in elbow joints the movement is too short the load is too heavy lack of control over the weights in the eccentric phase (return movement)

Muscles involved in the exerciseanterior and lateral deltoid muscle

1Dumbbell bench press

symmetricalshoulders


02/2014

Correct technique Raise the dumbbells laterally when standing. In the initial position the dumbbells are on the sides of the thigh muscles. Perform the movement upwards using only the deltoid muscles, to the height of the top line of the shoulder girdle muscles.

Mistakes barbell raising above the shoulder line causes unnecessary in-volvement of the trapezius muscles incorrect position of the palms – if the thumb is higher than the little fi nger when raising the dumbbells, the work of the anterior part of the deltoid muscles increases, while lateral heads of the shoulders are involved less “swinging” the body when lifting the weight reduces the work of deltoid muscles and increases involvement of auxiliary muscles

Muscles involved in the exerciselateral and anterior part of deltoid muscles

Correct techniqueStand with your legs slightly apart, one leg positioned a bit forward to maintain better balance. Grip the barbell at the width of your shoulders or a bit more. Try to press the barbell only using your shoulders and arms, not involving the legs, which is a common mistake in this exercise.

Mistakes throwing using your legs – by cheating you unnecessarily involve leg muscles, which leads to the deltoid muscles working less in the exercise the load is too heavy – an overly heavy barbell may cause loss of stability and conse-quently injury of shoulder joints or spine

Muscles involved in the exerciselateral and anterior part of deltoid muscles

3

Stand with your legs slightly apart, one leg positioned a bit forward to maintain better balance. Grip the barbell at the width of your shoulders or a bit more. Try to press the barbell only using your shoulders and arms, not involving the legs, which is a common

throwing using your legs – by cheating you unnecessarily involve leg muscles, which leads to the deltoid muscles working less in the exercise

the load is too heavy – an overly heavy barbell may cause loss of stability and conse-

2 Standing front barbell press

Standinglateral raise


02/2014

Correct techniqueAnother very popular exercise that I do for my del-toid muscles is raising a barbell with a wide grip along the trunk. Stand with your trunk leaning slightly forward, hands with the barbell lowered to the maximum but not touching the thighs. From this initial po-sition, start the movement upwards, which is performed only with the shoulder joint and deltoid muscles. When the barbell is in the concentric phase, hold the weight for a fraction of a second and then lower it, trying to maintain control over it.

Mistakes the load is too heavy which makes it impossible to control the barbell pushing the load from the legs – deltoid muscles are less involved the grip on the barbell is too narrow – trapezius muscles are involved too much while deltoid muscles are involved too little

Muscles involved in the exerciselateral part of deltoid muscles

Correct techniqueLie down on an incline bench, on your stom-

ach, hands hanging freely with the dumbbells, elbows slightly bent. Start raising the dumbbells,

keeping the arms aligned with the shoulders. Hold the weights for a while in the top phase of the movement, try-ing to keep slight resistance. The load we use in the exer-cise should not be too heavy.

Mistakes the load is too heavy, involving other muscles e.g. back failure to lead the dumbbells along the shoulder line, with the movement directed more towards the hips – back muscles are more involved

Muscles involved in the exercise posterior part of deltoid muscles

4

55

Correct techniqueAnother very popular exercise that I do for my del-toid muscles is raising a barbell with a wide grip along the trunk. Stand with your trunk leaning slightly forward, hands with the barbell lowered to the maximum but not touching the thighs. From this initial po-sition, start the movement upwards, which is performed only with the shoulder joint and deltoid muscles. When the barbell is in the concentric phase, hold the weight for a fraction of a second and then lower it, trying to maintain control over it.

Mistakesthe load is too heavy which makes it impossible to control

the barbellpushing the load from the legs – deltoid muscles are less

involvedthe grip on the barbell is too narrow – trapezius muscles are

involved too much while deltoid muscles are involved too littleinvolved too much while deltoid muscles are involved too little

Muscles involved in the exerciseMuscles involved in the exerciselateral part of deltoid muscleslateral part of deltoid muscles

4 Wide-grip barbell raise along the trunk

Bent-over lateral dumbbell raise on incline bench


02/2014


02/2014

CRAIG First off , congratulations on the win at the Spring Classic. It was well deserved. It must be exciting times ahead, but fi rst, can you take us back to how it all started?PHOEBE I am absolutely thrilled. I’ve really worked

so hard and to win and get an overall really makes all the hard work worth it. Well, I got into this sport last year after going to the Spring Classic as a spectator and since then. I’ve been hooked. I wish I had started years ago.

CRAIG So you have a kickboxing background. Do you think that helped you when it came to the way you train now?PHOEBE Yes, it defi nitely helped. I’ve always been a

sporty person and before I started bodybuilding I had been doing Kickboxing and Muay-Thai for 3 years, so I had already a good bit of muscle built. I miss it a lot and I’ll defi nitely incorporate it into my next prep as its great for cardio.

CRAIG With your boyfriend Gerard, not com-peting this time around, it must have been a little easier or was it not? And how did it go with two of you prepping last year at the same time?PHOEBE It was very, very hard. I’m not going to lie.

We absolutely killed each other but, I think, it really made us stronger as a couple. We both work and have a 19-month old son so it never gets easier. We just have to be always prepared and have a good routine but it does get overwhelming at times. I try so much to be a superwoman but it’s not possible. I just have to take one day at a time and focus on my goals.

CRAIG You, guys, have a beautiful little boy. How old is he now? And can you tell us about some of the diffi culties, if any, in prepping with a little one around the house?PHOEBE We have a little boy called Kai and he is 19

months. When I started my prep last session he was only 6 months and I thought this time it would be easier but I was wrong. Ha, ha. He is way more ener-getic and active but I wouldn’t have it another way.

He’s a happy healthy little boy and I’m so proud of him.

CRAIG Can you give us some insight into your pre-contest diet and training etc.?PHOEBE I’ve been prepping for about 12

weeks and it has been a hard prep because I had a surgery in December. I put on a bit too much body fat and with Christmas I was in-dulging too much. But I’ve my off -season all planned this time round, so I know, I won’t be making the same mistake. When I’m in prep I train 6 days a week and cardio twice a day, 4 to 5 times a week. My diet is strict but this prep I’ve been giving myself a re-feed day once a week and its worked really well for me. It’s good to shock the metabolism. It keeps you sane when your diet so strict.

CRAIG So you are currently the number one bikini body in the country which, obviously, takes some hours in the gym to sculpt. I run my own gym and see many women want a bikini body but, believe me, they never had to lift any weight. Can you shed some light on this subject for us? Do you train heavy, hard, intense?PHOEBE I hear this everyday from clients, as

I’m a hairdresser and work with women all day, they just can’t seem to get their head around lifting weights. They just think they will turn into a man, but when it’s explained to them, they seem to understand it more. It’s that just Ireland is so far behind with body-building but we’re catching up quick and it’s growing so much. It’s great to see more women getting into the sport.

CRAIG Would you do cardio through-out the year or just during prep?PHOEBE I think it’s good to keep doing car-

dio but just reduce the amount. Everybody is

diff erent and some people get away with little or no cardio, but unfortunately, I’m not one of those people. I have to do cardio.

CRAIG Getting back to the stage. The Bikini Class is out-growing every other class in the bodybuilding show. Why do you think that is?PHOEBE With the Bikini Class being so

new worldwide, I think, some women are still only fi nding out about it. Internationally, it only started 5 years ago so it’s still so new and great that so many women are getting into it There will defi nitely have to be a two day show here in Ireland someday. Not just because of the bikini category but because bodybuilding is getting so big here. More and more young people are getting into weights and the healthy lifestyle. It’s so good to see it.

CRAIG With the Europeans up next, you must be excited about the future?PHOEBE Oh, I’m so excited. I’m also very

nervous as the standards are so high at the Europeans. I’m still not 100% happy with how I’m looking. I’m very critical with myself, but I know, I still have two weeks of training to kill before the big day. I never thought that I would have got this far so quick, and I’m hop-ing, I’ve a long successful future ahead of me.

CRAIG No doubt there will be budding bikini athletes reading this. Can you give them some advice on how to be the next bikini champion?PHOEBE I have lots of girls mailing me, ask-

ing me questions and for tips. I’m only de-lighted to help. The two things, I can’t stress enough, are: practice posing and your stage presence. It’s so important. So many girls go on stage and then freeze. I know it from my

PHOEBE MCVEY

PHOTO Michał DzikowskiKamil Kosakowski 21

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02/2014

own experience. I was so nervous at my fi rst show but I didn’t practice posing or my T-walk at all. This time round, I tried to practice as much as I could. I’m trying to do it every day now as it still needs a lot of work and, of course, hair, make up and tan. Always do a trial run before you compete. There’s nothing worse than a bad tan.

Craig Finally thanks for giving us your time for this interview. Is there anyone you would like to thank before we sign off ?PHOEBE I would like to say a huge thank you to my

coach Dawid Geler. He’s seen me in the gym one day and said I had great potential and that fuelled me to compete. Without his help and guidance, I wouldn’t have had any of this. I’m so grateful for everything he has done and I also need to say a huge thank you to my boyfriend Gerard, who really is a wonderful man, for putting up with me. I can get a little crazy on my diet and he is always there to calm me down and keep me focused. For all his p.t sessions he’s done with me, even though, I was cursing him through them all. Ha, ha. Thank you to my amazing sponsors: Titan Nutrition for supporting me through my whole prep and fueling my muscles and to all the staff and gym buddies in the Galway city gym. Without that place I would have never even started lifting weights. So, thanks for being such an awesome place to train. Last, but not least, I’d like to thank all my amazing fam-ily and friends and my little boy Kai for all being so supportive and understanding through this whole thing. Without family and friends you have nothing, so I am truly blessed.

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PHOTO CREDIT: MUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT


02/2014

a sportsperson’s lifestyleMany people treat a diet as an unpleasant necessity.

We nd it hard to implement motivating slogans such as “eat clean, train dirty” into our lives. In the case

of extreme reduction we tend to complain about the yo-yo e� ect, which actually never occurs when using properly balanced alimentary systems. What is a diet

then? Simply speaking, it is a nutrition procedure that is supposed to help us reach the established goals.

Finally, diet means controlling the quantity and qual-ity of the consumed food and not a punishment you

have to su� er to later come back to your old eating sins. If you treat a diet as a 30-day programme, you

can be sure to come back to the previous size within several weeks and you will not t into most of your

clothes. The diet makes a sportsperson’s lifestyle and the secret is to suit it well to the individual needs.


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a while – this must be a person who follows a very rigorous diet, does a lot of aerobic exercise and does not lose weight. They have reduced their metabolism so much that they have to literally starve to slim down. Therefore, I would defi ne a metabolic breakdown as a situation when one is not able to burn fat following a diet with a sensibly reduced number of calories. According to the rule “better prevent than cure” it is naturally better to observe some elementa-ry principles intended to prevent us from falling into a metabolic breakdown.

It is usually caused by several factors, with main-taining a very low-calorie diet for a long time being probably the most important one. It re-duces the metabolic rate, in particular when combined with low-intensity aerobic training. Research revealed that a sudden reduction in the number of consumed calories combined with such exercise reduces the metabolic rate, even if dry muscle mass is maintained. The fol-lowing question arises then: how many fi tness club clients made an overnight decision to re-duce their fatty tissue? How many more persons are there who on Thursday feed their body at the calorie level of 3600 kcal to reduce it to only 1800 kcal on Friday? You will easily point out at least ten such examples in your training room.

Another common mistake is increasing calo-rie supply too fast after a reducing diet, which does not let the body restore the appropriate metabolic rate and results in a sudden increase in the fatty tissue volume in the body. It is noth-ing else than a typical yo-yo eff ect, caused by periods of alternately too low and too high quantity of supplied calories. As a result, many people have to stop eating completely to burn further fat deposits. The body simply does not take the signal as a recovery of the meta-bolic level where it could use excess calories as means for anabolic processes within the mus-cle tissue. Quite to the contrary, it regards it as a nutritive super bonus that should be quickly deposited as reserve material – fatty tissue. The situation can be compared to extremely dry, cracked soil (body supplied with low-calorie food) being poured with water. The water in-stantly penetrates into the deeper layers (fatty tissue), still leaving the surface cracked (un-changed and still reduced metabolic level).

What is the message of this paragraph, then? A sportsperson does not have to run with a cal-culator, scales and boxes with rice and boiled chicken – common sense and following prov-en rules are usually enough.

LONGLASTING DIETMany popular diets are based on assumptions not confi rmed by scientifi c research and in-volve quitting some types of food or limiting the consumption of carbohydrates. They can help reduce weight for a short time but they are impossible to follow for a long period. Most people do not feel like giving up on their fa-

vourite food, no matter whether it is chocolate, bread or cheese, so no diet drastically reduc-ing their consumption will work for a long time. Sooner or later everybody will be tempted to taste the forbidden foodstuff s, will quit the diet and come back to the previous weight follow-ing a wrong diet. Regardless of the sport we do, the established goal and food preferences, we have to make several simple steps. Long-term weight control has to involve implementing simple but permanent modifi cations of our diet and introducing physical activity to our everyday routine. The dietary programme has to contain all kinds of food, in particular foods that:

satisfy the appetiteare rich in complex car-bohydrates with a low glycaemic index

contain moderate quantities of protein are rich in fi bre and contain a lot of water

The secret factor determining the success of the diet is the sense of satiation and satisfac-tion with the consumed meal. It seems trivial but the cause of failure in many diets is the fact that they are too strict, do not satisfy hun-ger and have very poor taste due to almost a complete lack of carriers of taste, such as salty, sweet, greasy and their combination, e.g. salty and greasy ribs. No matter whether you want to lose weight, improve your performance or build muscle mass, you have to choose food that is not only nutritive and tasty but also satisfi es hunger. A diet that is too restrictive and deprived of carbohydrates to the maxi-mum is to blame for failure and snacking, as the body wants to replenish the level of sug-ar in the blood. If you are hungry after a meal, you are more likely to eat a snack or eat more than you should next time. On the other hand, choosing more stomach-fi lling food, i.e. food that is nutritious and better satisfi es hunger, you will discover that you are able to fi ll your stomach consuming the appropriate number of calories and maintaining the required pro-portions of nutritive macro-ingredients, such as proteins, carbohydrates and fats. The sense of satiation and satisfaction resulting from eating tasty meals will make following a diet much easier.

DIETARY KNOWHOWWe are not all equivalents of Jamie Oliver in sports. The knowledge of how to prepare de-licious meals and to properly balance a sport-sperson’s diet is a great skill. How should we select food to compose healthy, tasty and in-teresting meals? Many people will claim that it is completely contrary to the term of “dietetic food”. Specialised magazines and posts pub-lished in social media by bodybuilders give us the impression that a dietetic meal means a bland breast of chicken boiled in unsalted wa-ter, served with al dente brown rice and fresh vegetables sprinkled with olive oil. You can’t be more wrong! There are several rules of design-ing a healthy and tasty diet:

BY JAKUB MAURICZ, mauricz.com

Many of us associate a diet with a peri-odical procedure and meticulous calculation of eve-ry gramme of nu-tritional macro-in-gredients. It is not

only about the weight-losing time and sculpting of the muscles. We implement extreme feeding solutions to gain mass and strength, and to lose weight. We eat loads of protein, calculate doses of fatty acids and carbohydrates and then forget it and go into extremes – from an obsessive nu-tritive approach involving quick building of the mass or draconian reduction of the fatty tissue to a complete lack of control over the food con-sumed and devouring anything you can fi nd around. However, it is enough to maintain com-mon sense and follow only several rules of good nutrition. There are two groups to be blamed for the poor state of aff airs: people who mis-understand certain aspects of a good diet and those who develop new diets and consciously or subconsciously contribute to the phenom-enon. You can fi nd the following statement in the book by Michel Montignac – the author of the glycaemic diet: “Montignac’s method is not a diet in the traditional sense. Following a diet, we eat a reduced number of products, that is why the diet duration has to be limited” – such a comparison of a nutritive system based mainly on eating food with a low glycaemic index is un-favourable for the very defi nition of a diet, and the only kind of a diet that has to be followed for a specifi c (and short) period of time, is a hypoca-loric diet, providing less energy than necessary to maintain a healthy and slim fi gure, with no risk to suff er from metabolic complications.

CONSEQUENCES OF A WRONG DIETA metabolic breakdown makes one of the most common side eff ects of following extreme and short-term nutritional solutions. What is it? Let me explain it. One can say that fat burning is quite an easy thing, isn’t it? According to the common dietary knowledge, it is enough to eat appropriate quantities of protein, fats and carbohydrates and exercise to burn more calo-ries than you consume. Unfortunately it tends to happen that the metabolism is disturbed so much that it is impossible to burn any fat without starving and doing aerobic exercise for hours. The human body does not like rapid changes applying to many aspects of its func-tioning and when we get below a certain calo-rie level or quantity of fatty tissue, the body will defend itself to prevent their further loss. Some of the results of the battle include alternate in-crease and decrease of appetite, reduction of li-bido, level of energy and metabolism rate – it all makes fat burning more diffi cult.

Most probably you also know someone who suff ers from a metabolic breakdown. Think for


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BASE YOUR DIET ONLOWPROCESSED FOOD The less processed and richer in fi bre the car-bohydrates are, the more stable the rate of energy release and sense of satiation. When making a selection, pay attention to the kind of cereal – it is best to eliminate wheat products and replace them with amaranth and rye. Wheat grains contain lots of gluten, which may lead to a development of celiac disease, a troublesome intestinal disorder. Wholemeal rye fl our and bread and pas-ta made from this kind of fl our, oat and rye fl akes, buckwheat groats, brown rice, Basmati and parboiled rice, sweet potatoes, fruit and vegetables make the basic sources of car-bohydrates to be found in a balanced diet. Consumption of food from this group will provide us with carbohydrates with a com-plex index that we can use along the day – a mixture of the simple and complex ones (e.g. porridge with fruit) in the morning, fruit as the source of sugar to replenish glycogen after training, and complex carbohydrates (cereals) during the day to maintain constant level of glycaemia. When selecting fats, let us focus on non-refi ned lipids such as butter, avocado, egg yolks, nuts and seeds as well as virgin plant oils. Such a combination of food will ensure a proper ratio of saturated fatty acids to single unsaturated fatty acids, will help control infl ammations and will not con-tain trans fats, whose consumption has been linked to the metabolic syndrome – a disease leading to type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiac disease, and consequently to death. Such fats can be found in many processed products such as hard margarines, yoghurt fi llers, puff pastry, crumble etc. In the case of protein-rich food it is best to select lean sources, which will help you better control the consumption of fat all day long. It is also good to provide protein of plant origin, con-taining valuable nutraceuticals, anti-oxidants and fi bre that animal products do not con-tain. The main cause of resigning from eating these products is that they contain saturated fats, technological fi llers of dubious origin and salt whose amount in a single portion can make for as much as 75% of our daily de-mand for sodium

CARE FOR THE TASTE OF YOUR FOOD Low-processed foodstuff s mentioned in item 1 are defi nitely healthy and nutritive, but their taste requires improvement. It does not always entail supplying extra calories such as sugar or fat. There are many combinations that can render excellent taste sensations and fully preserve the nutritive value. A sample combination covers the fatty and sweet taste of smoked salmon and fresh pineapple snacks. Skewers of prawns and avocado will provide a fatty aftertaste that will satisfy our taste buds. Adding a pinch of cinnamon or cardamom and dried fruit to pancakes and cereals with whey protein makes a perfect example of how you can make your meal more varied. Natural taste enhancers also in-clude: xylitol (birch sugar, a polyol recommended to people with insulin resistance), car-ob (molasses and breadfruit powder), lovage (making the salty taste stronger), spices and herbs (cinnamon, cardamom, rosemary, caraway and herbes de Provence) and aromatic plants such as garlic, onion, pepper, courgette etc.

MAKE YOUR MEALS WELLBALANCEDBoth the pre- and post-training meals should contain large quantities of carbohy-drates and proteins in the case of sports with sprinter adaptation, such as weight-training, MMA, BJJ, running and swimming sprints. The main focus of endurance adaptation is on the supply of carbohydrates whose share in he diet may be up to 70% of the daily amount of calories. Endurance athletes have such a high demand for carbohydrates, that they should be present in every meal, together with polyun-saturated fatty acids (plant oils, nuts, fatty fi sh). Endurance athletes should consume ca 1.2 g of protein per kilogramme of the proper body weight, so a bar being an equivalent of a meal – BOOSTER from TREC – served with a breast of chicken and several eggs should cover the entire daily demand for building material in the form of protein. The most important rule for balancing a sportsperson’s meals is to com-pensate for energy losses caused by training and constant regeneration. It is neces-sary to calculate the TM (total metabolism), using the following formula:

TM = BM x PAIBM = basic metabolism, correct body weight x 24 for men and muscular women, x 22 for slim womenPAI = physical activity index, amounting to 1.5 – 2.4 for the majority of active people However, the calculation does not release us from the obligation to listen to our body. If you lack motivation for physical exercise and feel tired quickly, try increas-ing the quantity of carbohydrates in your diet, even taking supplements, if you can-not eat more cereals and fruit.


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TAKE SUPPLEMENTS Sometimes it is hard to eat out or eat the food you prepared at home. You can then use hydro-gels containing carbohydrate mixtures – CARBO FULL GEL from TREC – or carbohydrate supplements packed as single portions, e.g. MAX CARB or VI-TARGO ELECTRO-ENERGY. Snack bars substituting a meal – BOOSTER – or carbo-hydrate-protein supplements are also useful. The complete range of TREC products includes handy bottles with a single portion of HARD MASS or sachets with MAG-NUM 8000. You can always have them on you and eat in emergency situations to avoid starving the body. Amino acid complexes such as AMINO 4500 also make a good solution, as they can be used as a perfect supplementation of less valuable meals.

DO NOT BECOME OBSESSED WITH YOUR DIET, GIVE YOURSELF SOME REST Sometimes our appearance deteriorates as a result of overtraining. In such cases tightening the screw of training even harder and following a more restrictive diet makes the fi nal nail in the coffi n. Sometimes it is better to quit a diet for a week or two, eat our favourite food and have more mental relax. The same applies to eating out. Don’t bite your nails if you are not able to fi nd dietetic food on the menu. Ask the waiter whether they can serve you grilled meat instead of meat in breadcrumbs and substitute potato chips or potato rounds with rice or grouts. Planning your shopping and trips in advance is one of the ways to stay healthy and fi t all year round. Then you have full control over the contents of your fridge and you can prepare the food to take with you when travelling or staying in another place. I keep my diet healthy by always taking with me some raisins, oat fl akes, cinnamon, almonds and whey protein – ULTIMATE PROTEIN from TREC, whenever I travel. You will easily fi nd milk or water everywhere and preparing such cereals you will give your body everything it needs.

DO NOT QUIT EATING YOUR FAVOURITE FOOD Including moderate quantities of your favourite food or snack in your diet will make it easier to follow the selected dietary regime. When you are aware that every day you can eat a small portion of your favourite dish, you will no longer think about the forbidden products and will avoid temptations. That is why you should include your favourite chocolate or ice-cream in your diet, remembering that you can only eat them in very small quantities, preferably with the morning or post-training meal, when the metabolism and absorption of nutritive macro-ingredients are the highest.

SUMMARYRegardless of the sports discipline, a human body needs carbohydrates and some pro-teins. The greater the muscle workload for strengthening and building their mass, the more proteins the body needs. Appropriate quantities of carbohydrates make the com-mon denominator for all sports. By effi cient balancing of meals and following the above-mentioned rules, you can stay in a good shape all year round, make training progress and enjoy tasty food. The conviction that be-ing on a diet means sacrifi ces of eating taste-less meals is a thing of the past. If you are not able to eat a healthy meal, use diet supple-ments. Many supplements – despite their bodybuilding-related names – can well sub-stitute meals for all sportspeople, including runners, basketball players, fi tness instructors and fans of outdoor sports. Healthy nutrition is essential in all sports.

Sometimes our appearance deteriorates as a result of overtraining. In such cases tightening the screw of training even harder and following a more restrictive diet makes the fi nal nail in the coffi n. Sometimes it is better to quit a diet for a week or two, eat our favourite food and have more mental relax. The same applies to eating out. Don’t bite your nails if you are not able to fi nd dietetic food on the menu. Ask the waiter whether they can serve you grilled meat instead of meat in breadcrumbs and substitute potato chips or potato rounds with rice or grouts. Planning your shopping and trips in advance is one of the ways to stay healthy and fi t all year round. Then you have full control over the contents of your fridge and you can prepare the food to take with you when travelling or staying in another place. I keep my diet healthy by always taking with me some raisins, oat fl akes, cinnamon, almonds and

from TREC, whenever I travel. You will easily fi nd milk or water everywhere and preparing such cereals you will give your body everything it needs.


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PREWORKOUTW

e sometimes have bad days when we lack motivation and energy, which hin-ders our training a c h i e v e m e n t s . There are a number of ingredients that

can impede fatigue of the central nervous system or increase the level of glycaemia, but it is not commonly known how to com-bine them and at what doses to achieve the right eff ect – fi rst of all an increase in exercise intensity. Some of you might be shocked to learn that not everybody needs a pre-train-ing supplement with a complex composi-tion. It happens that all you need is a certain amount of caff eine, tyrosine and quickly as-similated carbohydrates in a form of a sup-plement, which guarantees an almost instant transport of the components to the blood circulation. ADRENALINE GEL from TREC makes a perfect example. The most impor-tant aspects to be considered while selecting the right pre-training preparation include: training experience and the goal – develop-ing strength and weight, concentration and

endurance. Most teenagers fascinated with supplements intentionally choose too strong formulas. They think that the stronger the ‘kick’, the better the training. Unfortunately, it tends to be quite the opposite. Accumula-tion of substances that stimulate the nervous system very strongly leads to a kind of burn-ing of the synapses. Naturally, we feel excel-lent while doing physical exercise, we do not experience fatigue but rather a sense of eu-phoria similar to an adrenalin rush, and the training is really pleasant. Problems come lat-er, when the body has to cope with the up-set balance caused by training several times more intensely than usually. Then, we expe-rience side eff ects similar to those of people getting over an amphetamine bender – per-manent fatigue, lack of strength to do even the simplest activities and other negative ef-fects related to a signifi cantly increased lev-el of cortisol in the blood. Additionally, there are infl ammations that affl ict the body due to muscle injuries and they actually can hardly be called micro-injuries. That is why training experience is so important, as it takes years for a sportsperson to learn their regenera-tion capacity – what exercise intensity and

volume increases stimulation of anabolism to the highest extent, and what leads to over-training. Intuition and experience tell one what pre-training product they should use in the regeneration or preparation for train-ing and what to take during intensifi cation or a microcycle requiring an increased supply of energy to perform more demanding exercise than normally. Beginners generally need only a small dose of stimulants, e.g. a combina-tion of caff eine with tyrosine, as well as BCAA eliminating fatigue of the central nervous sys-tem (CAFFEINE 200 PLUS + BCAA X-TANK from TREC). A beginner’s body will react very well even to a low dose, providing appropri-ate training stimulation that the organism will be able to cope with during regeneration.

The training goal makes another aspect, which is equally or even more important than expe-rience. Let me explain it using a simple exam-ple: in the lead I asked the following question – is a supplement that strongly stimulates the brain function better than one that does not cause the euphoric eff ect? Let us now consider whether a sportsperson training for a half-mar-athon needs more of a “drug-induced high”


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„When you feel that you would rather have a nap that train hard, you need something that will make you right as rain – pre-training preparation!” These are typical advertising slogans of pre-training supplements that owe their popularity to e� cient action and instant stimulation. Is a pre-training product that gives you a „kick” always better than one whose action is not so evident before training? This class of supplements makes a tough nut to crack for many sportspeople. The majority of them misclassi� es the quality of this kind of stacks only for the achieved pseudo-narcotic condition. Are they right, though?


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and muscle pump, or a stable sugar level in the blood, impeding fatigue of the central nervous system and blocking the increasing acidifi ca-tion. I suppose most of you have bet on the latter. Every sports discipline, training micro-cycle and kind of adaptation we are subject to during physical exercise have a signifi cant impact on the demand of our body. Although such guidelines as building muscle mass and strength as well as improved concentration have a common denominator being a com-bination of methylxanthines (caff eine, theo-bromine and theophylline) as nitrogen oxide boosters (L-arginine, citrulline and their salts, ViNitrox® or inorganic nitrates) to stimulate the training intensity and pump, in the case of mar-tial arts, endurance or team sports the situation is completely diff erent. The results we want to achieve have confusingly similar names but the kind and dose of the ingredients vary signifi -cantly. We want to achieve the following goals training the abovementioned groups:

STIMULATION OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM – by us-ing L-tyrosine, caff eine, taurine, synephrine

and ginseng you will develop training mo-tivation and improve coordination, which matters particularly when training in the morning,

DELAYED FATIGUE – quickly assimi-lated carbohydrates such as glucose, isomal-tulose, maltodextrin or Vitargo® will delay the rate of muscle glycogen consumption and will help you train longer and more intensely,

OPTIMISATION OF METABOLIC PROCESSES AND INCREASING THE LEVEL OF STRENGTH AND ENERGY – it is possible due to creatine, citrulline malate, inosine and group B vita-mins,

IMPEDING OF MUSCLE ACIDIFICATION – owing to a combination of hy-drochloride and ethyl ester of creatine, beta-alanine or carnosine.

I suppose that reading this section you have understood why pre-training supplements have become so popular over the years

and why their composition has developed. Once, diet supplements used to be associ-ated with strength sports such as bodybuild-ing. Although many bodybuilders used pre-training products, they were not normally considered to help you move mountains. Nowadays the awareness of the need to sup-plement your body when doing any sports has helped develop formulas that do not stimulate the central nervous system to burn the synapses, but result in products which impede fatigue, improve endurance and optimise metabolic processes to achieve in-creased capacity. Advanced technologies have contributed to the development of new forms of supplements, e.g. liquid, con-centrated shots or innovative hydrogels that are easy to use and guarantee quick absorp-tion since they do not crystallise in the stom-ach and are quickly transported from the in-testines to the blood circulation. I defi nitely recommend to you the latest ACTION LINE from TREC, which contains supplements in a form of hydrogels, shots and liquid concen-trates, off ering a wide range of products to select from according to individual needs.

JAKUB MAURICZ mauricz.com


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PRODUCT


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GUIDE on ingredients of pre-training preparationsLARGININE – I particularly recommend it in a form of alpha-ketoglutarate, malate or hy-drochloride as these ingredients make the most common components of pre-training prepara-tions being nitrogen oxide boosters. Why? They simply do their job and when based on the high-est quality material they ensure the maximum blood fl ow to the muscles that receive the nec-essary nutrients and the muscle fi bres are fi lled with oxygen to the maximum. Increased sup-plies of oxygen to the muscles have a positive impact on the production of red blood cells and help strengthen the walls of the fi bres, which leads to the body looking solid and with visible veins, which is desired at bodybuilding compe-titions.

AAKG LARGININE ALPHAKETOGLUTARATE – it is a salt composed of L-arginine amino acid and alpha-ketoglutaric acid. Products containing AAKG eff ectively in-crease the level of anabolic hormones and me-tabolites of amino acids, including insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). Moreover, AAKG has an an-ti-catabolic action and assists in protein synthe-sis, which results in muscle growth.

Test results also indicate that L-arginine taken to-gether with carbohydrates may help start regen-eration. During one of the tests, the training par-ticipants were administered a carbohydrate or carbohydrate-arginine product 1, 2 and 3 hours after the training. The supplements contained 1 g of carbohydrates per kilogram of the exer-cising person’s body weight. The observed lev-el of glycogen increase in the muscles during a four-hour regeneration period after training was much faster in the sportspeople who had taken the carbohydrate-arginine mixture. The research-ers attributed the results to the arginine capacity to increase bioavailability of glucose, resulting in its greater amounts being transformed into gly-cogen and stored in the muscles. With regard to the above, I recommend using NO boosters with carbohydrates both before training to strengthen the muscle pump and directly after training to in-crease bioavailability of glucose.

In some persons iNOS enzymes are very active and after a short period of taking supplements containing L-arginine they become resistant to it. The phenomenon is fairly rare. The action of iNOS limits nitrogen oxide synthesis by increas-ing production of ADMA (asymmetric dimethy-larginine). However, modern preparations (not the ones based only on standard L-arginine) con-tain ingredients combating ADMA. They include citrulline, L-norvalin, agmatine as well ketoisoc-aproic salts of arginine and citrulline. By imped-ing the process, L-arginine degradation and pro-duction of nitrogen oxide are not reduced even when used for a long time. Pre-training prepa-

rations based on arginine are mainly dedicated for bodybuilders but considering that arginine impacts glycogen resynthesis, they can be used as post-training supplementation by sportsper-sons struggling with endurance adaptation. I particularly recommend NITROBOLON and NI-TROBOLON II in this category of supplements.

BETAALANINE – assists in increasing the level of carnosine in the muscles, which reduces their fatigue after training. Research has demon-strated that it can improve the body perform-ance by blocking muscle acidifi cation that in-creases under a physical eff ort as a result of ATP hydrolysis and by increasing dry body weight. Scientifi c evidence indicates that beta-alanine and various forms of creatine have a synergic action and maintain the maximum power of the muscles. It has also been proven that beta-alanine increases the explosive strength, dry muscle mass and increases the level of anaero-bic and aerobic endurance. BETA-ALANINE 700 from TREC is a supplement containing beta-alanine of pharmaceutical quality. That is why I recommend the product to anybody doing sports from typical sprint disciplines, through to mixed and endurance sports. CARNOTRIX with its carefully composed formula will also be per-fect, as it is a combination of beta-alanine pow-er with the best nitrogen oxide boosters – L-ar-ginine malate and citrulline malate.

GLYCEROL MONOSTEARATE – it oc-curs naturally in the body as a side product of lip-id decomposition. When it makes an ingredient of a pre-training product, it is absorbed and in-creases the concentration of liquids in the blood and tissues. The body maintains the concentra-tion at a constant level, so water absorbed by glycerol is not removed until additional glycerol is not excreted by the kidneys or decomposed. Taking it in a form of a supplement instantly in-creases hydration of the body and improves as-similation of simultaneously taken supplements. As a result, nutritive substances are absorbed faster when you need them most. Pre-training supplementation with glycerol monostearate results in extreme muscle charge due to strong retention of water. It can also be used in martial arts between weighing and fi ghting, when a pe-riod of a few to more than ten hours can help regain the body weight lost due to earlier dehy-dration. The content of beta-alanine and glycer-ol monostearate makes CARNOTRIX from TREC a perfect combination to charge your body with energy before a fi ght. Naturally, you have to re-member to drink suffi cient quantities of liquids.

CREATINE – the proven and well-known cre-atine is one of the most important supplements available on the market. Taking it, most of us may hope for measurable benefi ts. It has been


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GUIDE on ingredients of pre-training preparationsproven that it increases the power and size of muscles in sportspeople, it helps reduce muscle catabolism and buff ers acidifi cation of the body by “devouring” hydronium ions (H+) formed as a result of ATP hydrolysis. It acts in synergy with beta-alanine. In the case of endurance sports and martial arts we have to focus on the forms of creatine that minimise water retention – crea-tine hydrochloride, creatine ethyl ester and crea-tine malate. These creatine forms help maintain a high level of energy with potential weight con-trol before a competition. I defi nitely recom-mend CREA9 XTREME and CM3 from TREC.

BCAA – branched-chain amino acids: L-va-line, L-leucine and L-isoleucine. Reducing the number of consumed calories has a catabolic impact on the muscle tissue due to many rea-sons. The more slender you become, the great-er the chance to lose the muscle mass since the body will try to maintain homeostasis by retain-ing the remaining fat deposits. In order to make up for the energy defi cit caused by a reducing diet, the body will start to use the muscle mass. At the cellular level it involves intensifi cation of protein synthesis to release amino acids from the muscles to use them as a fuel and to reduce protein synthesis so as not to lose energy. Taking BCAA may increase dry muscle mass, improve strength, performance and reduce damage to the muscle cells. Positive results of supplemen-tation with this substance in the case of protein decomposition and synthesis are not the only advantages of taking it during a reducing diet. It can also improve the training intensity, eliminate fatigue and sense of apathy. BCAA competes with L-tryptophan (a proteinogenic amino acid) to enter the brain. L-tryptophan can be trans-formed in the brain into a neurotransmitter – se-rotonin. The level of serotonin increases during

physical exercise, which can increase the sense of fatigue and simultaneously reduce intensity of the training. BCAA supplementation can reduce the level of L-tryptophan getting into the brain and decrease the level of the produced serot-onin, which will help you work harder and long-er. Only a few grams of the substance before and during training, as well as between meals on non-training days, may optimise anabolism of muscle proteins. Since it is necessary to take BCAA during training, I defi nitely recommend BCAA TURBO JET, characterised by excellent solubility and quick action, and for persons re-quiring greater stimulation – BCAA X-TANK. I recommend smaller tablets – ANABOLIC BCAA SYSTEM or SUPER BCAA SYSTEM capsules to beginners and sportspeople who do not need such high doses as bodybuilders, as they do oth-er sports disciplines. Both preparations addition-ally contain taurine and vitamin B6.

When selecting active substances you have to remember that a combination of several ingredi-ents tends to have a stronger action than when they are used separately. It is a synergy eff ect. Ready-made stacks have an advantage over the individually made ones in that their composition is much more complex and their formulas are reserved, which guarantees the desired eff ect. Naturally, there are dodgy companies that devel-op the formulas intuitively and the ratios of the substances are not tested or supported by scien-tifi c evidence. Moreover, many formulas contain large quantities of stimulants, such as geranium extract (DMAA) banned in the European Union. It causes an extreme exhaustion of the nerv-ous system and the commonly known sense of a “come-down” after training. Additionally, as a result of combining many supplement com-ponents we can experience an action antago-

nistic to the intended one, as it happens when taking too high a dose of caff eine not correlat-ed with nitrogen oxide boosters. S.A.W. makes an example of a perfectly optimised formula. It is a number 1 pre-training stack based only on safe, tested and approved ingredients. It comes in several forms – powder to make a drink, con-centrated shot, capsule and now it is also avail-able as gel made in the HYDRO GEL technology. In it, you will not fi nd any illegal boosters, drugs or substances listed in the register of WADA dop-ing substances, as happens in the case of many products from overseas available on the Polish market. S.A.W. is a concentrated stack without unnecessary fi llers with a very strong stimulating action, whose action can be adapted to the indi-vidual needs of the body and training character-istics, starting with the basic 5 g portion (45 ml of liquid shot, 4 capsules or 45 g of gel) and in-creasing it gradually. 10 g of the product is usu-ally optimum for sportspeople with several years of training experience (equivalent of 90 ml of the drink, 8 capsules or 90 g of gel). Most important-ly, S.A.W. does not only mean stimulation and a strong muscle pump. The product contains a high dose of beta-alanine and a large portion of creatine, which is often missing in many prepara-tions. That is how the muscles get all they need for intense work. Moreover, the product not only helps increase the intensity of training but it also reinforces the eff ects, leading to a sustainable development of the muscle mass and strength. NITROBOLON makes another family of prod-ucts worth recommending. They are multi-pur-pose pre-training stacks intended for amateur and professional sportspeople. They have been tested by thousands of enthusiasts of strength sports and fi tness, and have already become iconic. You can choose either NITROBOLON capsules or NITROBOLON II with quickly ab-


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GUIDE on ingredients of pre-training preparations

DIY pre-training supplementsAmong the consumers of pre-training supplements there are persons with an investigative ap-proach to the biochemistry of alimentation and prefer to pick and mix the ingredients themselves. That is how they are able to strictly control the quantities of individual components and avoid the ones that are ineffi cient for them as a result of individual reaction of the body. A combination of the right supplements, e.g.AAKG MEGA HARDCORE + CM3 + BETA-ALANINE 700 + TYROSINE 600++ CAFFEINE 200 + BCAA X-TANK + TAURINE 900 from TREC means components of excellent quality and the set is very economical – it will suffi ce for 2–3 months of training. Taking single supplements makes a perfect solution to replenish the neces-sary ingredients in the diet and to stimulate and increase other training parameters, depending on the needs – you can either add or reduce the amount of the ingredient without changing the ratio of other components, as it normally happens when you take a ready-made formula in a form of a powder or capsules.

SummaryUsing pre-training supplements may help achieve the assumed training goals, in particular when we have to help our body to replenish the fuel in a form of carbohydrates, to boost it to work or simply to motivate it during intense work and sleepless nights. Remember that by taking appropri-ate blends suited to your individual needs you can improve your performance and mask any draw-backs of your diet. According to the proverb “all that glitters is not gold” one can say that not every pre-training supplement is supposed to cause a pseudo-narcotic euphoria – remember that before buying a product.

Pre-training preparationsnot only for bodybuildersIn the previous part of the article I have mentioned the role of individual ingredients but examples of stacks dedicated to various sports can still be a mystery. Below, you will fi nd a short manual on supplementation. See how easily you can modify the action of various products combining them in diff erent ways, depending on the sport you do and the result you want to achieve.

BODYBUILDINGCREA9 XTREME + S.A.W. + BETA-ALANINE 700 + BCAA X-TANKENDURANCE SPORTS CARNOTRIX + VITARGO ACTIVE FIRE + EXTREME LONG ENERGY GEL + BETA-ALANINE 700MARTIAL ARTSS.A.W. + BCAA TURBO JET or CARNOTRIX + BCAA X-TANK

Naturally, you have to select the portion size according to the training and weight needs, remember-ing the growing synergy eff ect when taking several products. You can freely modify the doses, e.g. most fi ghters recommend the combination of 5 g of S.A.W. with 3 CARNOTRIX tablets. It provides them with the necessary strength and endurance but not the muscle pump.

sorbed maltodextrins in a form of a powder with extended formula. They are typical creatine stacks that do not contain caff eine, and that is why they can be used even in late afternoon – not eve-rybody trains in the morning. NITROBOLON ENERGIZER is a bit stronger and it gives you a real energy “kick”, which is important before harder training sessions. It contains special stimulating in-gredients, pure isomaltulose (quickly absorbed disaccharide) and anti-catabolic compounds. TREC also off ers a prefect product for endurance sportspeople and endurance and strength athletes – VITARGO ACTIVE FIRE combining the best carbohydrates in the world and creatine malate, L-thyrosin, taurin, caff eine, BCAA amino acids, group B vitamins and plant NO boosters. The perfect pre-training formula not only helps increase muscle strength at training but also their resistance to long-term training load.


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