You owe it to yourself to know what you are putting into your body. Provided
here is information concerning performance carbohydrate and protein drinks,
including the differences between American Body Building drinks and others.
Every day, millions of athletes participate in their respective sports. Many
of them depend on Nutritional Supplementation to achieve their performance
goals. One of the most popular supplements is the sports training drink.
It comes in a tremendous variety of sizes, colors, flavors and promises.
It can become a difficult task determining the drink that best serves your
needs. Which ones will fulfill for you the promise of enhanced performance
or growth? Which are not what they seem to be?
The first step in determining the right drink for you is to understand the
background and makeup of sports training drinks. We will break them up into
categories and explain them one at a time.
High Carbohydrate Performance Drinks
These were some of the first sports training drinks to gain popularity.
Carbo Force by American Body Building Products was the first created as a
prepared drink. Prior to that time, various powders were mixed with water
by the athlete at their time of use. Stacks of independent research, done
throughout the world, support the concept of preworkout carbohydrate loading,
along with the ingestion of carbohydrates during exercise, to best maintain
energy levels.
What you first need to understand is that the body uses glucose like an
automobile uses gasoline for fuel. When starving a car of fuel, it runs slowly
or poorly. As it is fed more fuel, it accelerates to the limit that it can
burn gasoline. Your body works the same with glucose.
A major problem today for many informed athletes is that the outrageous claims
and nutritional hype has turned them off to supplementation. It has at least
made them disbelieving the claims of many manufacturers of those types
of product make.
Performance drinks work and they work well. But they will never be claimed by us
to be some nonsensical steroid replacement, with unbelievable claims of overnight growth.
It is a fact: Glucose and glucose polymers fed before and during
exercise, significantly delay the onset of fatigue and increase performance.
Hundreds of experiments and published independent studies too numerous to
is the only real secret to spectacular results. That intensity can be
enhanced by delaying fatigue through the maintenance of high blood glucose.
levels. This is achieved most easily through the correct use of a quality
training drink.
If you purchase a drink every day, you should have a basic understanding
of how and why they work. During exercise, uptake of carbohydrates (blood
glucose) by skeletal muscle has been shown to be as much as 20 times the rate
of a muscle at rest. As this happens, the body begins to produce carbohydrate
from storage (fats and other sources), to meet the demand created by exercise.
As exercise intensifies, the body becomes unable to keep up with the demand
for fuel. As the supply of carbs (glucose) produced by the body falls behind,
consumption fatigue sets in. However, with the ingestion of staggered doses of
glucose or glucose polymers, you can delay fatigue. The body uses the rapidly
absorbed and utilize dextrose, glucose polymers and soluble starches (in the
case of Carbo Force) as an outside energy source. The recommended method
to achieve the greatest workout intensity is to ingest carbohydrates before
and during your workout. American Body Building Products recommends 1/3 of
a bottle 20 minutes before, 1/3 of a bottle sipped intermittently during
your workout, and 1/3 of a bottle following your workout (speeds recuperation).
Very large men or individuals with super intense workouts, should break up
two bottles of Carbo Force during a workout as described above, or take
try the Pro Carbo Force (a 24 oz size drink).
Crystalline Fructose vs. Dextrose
What about Crystalline Fructose? This is a question we hear frequently. In
our opinion, only small amounts, if any fructose belong in this type of
performance drink. These are a number of reasons. First, there are many people
with fructose intolerance and others for whom fructose causes stomach upset.
Some individuals even experience abdominal pain upon rapid ingestion of
a fructose solution. On a performance level, fructose is metabolized very
slowly primarily by the liver, but also in the kidneys, small intestine and
fat tissue; it therefore doesn't supply energy very quickly. Fructose increases
blood glucose levels only 20 to 30 percents, and it does that slowly.
Conversely, dextrose increases blood glucose levels 60 to 80 percent providing
a much greater fuel level to support a high intensity workout. Some
commercially available drinks are a combination of fructose and glucose
polymers. The glucose polymers are from maltodextrin which has a bland flavor.
The drinks depend solely upon the fructose for sweetness and to bring out
the fruit flavors, which obviously translates into significant quantities
of slowly metabolized crystalline fructose in a supposedly high performance
drink.
In contrast, Carbo Force uses mostly dextrose as its source of sweetener
and fuel for the body, which is the most rapidly utilized form of glucose.
The fructose in Carbo Force is used to buffer the possible insulin effect,
which many people think of as a sugar crash, due to the rapid blood glucose
increases created by the glucose polymers, dextrose and soluble starches.
It allows for a slower return to resting blood glucose levels. It is also a
good source for muscle glycogen replacement during recovery. Vitamin and
health food manufacturers probably made fructose based sports drinks so that
they can sell them through health food stores, who historically as a group,
have believed it better than other sweeteners. Rightfully so for jams,
candy or other foods. But not for a high performance sports training drink.
We also believe that in the future all sports drinks will have to duplicate
the Carbohydrate Stacking Principle, based on dextrose, glucose
polymers and/or soluble starch, possibly with small amounts of fructose.
The differences are just too positively dramatic to an athlete when using
a stacked carbohydrate product as compared to a fructose based product.
Basically, fructose does not belong as the primary sweetener in a performance
drink.
We have previously mentioned soluble starch. It has been one of our
ingredients for a number of years. As this time we feel the need to reveal it.
It comes from corn and has been blended with our other corn products and is
listed as corn on our label. It has been shown to considerably outperform
glucose polymers, as far as blood glucose levels are concerned. The
Carbohydrate Stack, which we created. truly has four levels, not three.
It is one of the many reasons Carbo Force works so well and why many people
call so often to tell us of their successes while on the product. Our products
that include the Carbohydrate Stack include Carbo Force, Pro Carbo Force,
Super Tea, Carbo Light, Bulk Force, Amino Force, and Critical Mass, our
revolutionary post workout drink.
Protein / Amino Acid Drinks
This category contains drinks that have been designed to supply protein or a
combination of protein and carbohydrates.
Amino Acids are like building blocks that make up a wall. The wall is called
protein. The Amino Acid makeup of any particular protein is what determines the
protein's quality. Too much of one and not enough of another can reduce the
body's ability to utilize the protein. This proportion of especially the
8 essential Amino Acids determines a protein's Protein Efficiency Ration
(P.E.R.), the U.S. Government's method of measuring a protein's quality
and its ability to be utilized by the body.
We use lactose free whey protein concentrate, not dairy whey, which is low protein
and high lactose. The Amino Acid profile of this protein mimics the profile
of human milk more closely than any other we are aware of, and is higher in most
of the Amino Acids than human milk, except for two. It other words, it is the
highest quality, highest utilization protein Amino Acid source we could locate.
It has a P.E.R. of 3.2, and is extremely expensive to manufacture. American
Body Building Products is one of the few manufacturers to list the PER on the
label.
Hydrolyzed Gelatin Protein vs. High Quality Whey Protein
Unfortunately, not every manufacturer uses high quality protein. Some are
perpetrating the 'big ripoff' to unknowing customers who are purchasing
supposed protein / amino drinks that actually contain hydrolyzed gelatin
protein (other names include hydrolyzed collagen protein, animal connective
tissue protein, other animal proteins, etc.) Hydrolyzed gelatin is made
mostly from frozen and fresh pork skins as well as cattle bones and hides.
These inedible connective tissues and bones are then run through a series
of caustic baths, intermittently with hot and cold soakings to separate
out the collagen. This is what you are putting into your body when you drink
a protein drink which has hydrolyzed gelatin on the label.
Hydrolyzed is the basis for gelatin dessert, and although it might be a fun food,
it was not designed to build muscle mass and it won't. This protein has a
PER of almost 0. It contains little or no tryptophane, one of the essential
Amino Acids necessary for the formation and utilization of all the other
Amino Acids. It is a lot cheaper for a manufacturer to purchase hydrolyzed
gelatin than the special whey American Body Building uses, which is a
natural milk protein naturally extracted during the processing of cheese,
after which the lactose, a milk sugar, is removed.
When using hydrolyzed gelatin, the nutritional information panel on the
label is supposed to make the statement "Not a significant source of Protein"
next to the word protein. But they usually and conveniently forger to include
it. Have you been using a product like this and not gained the mass you
thought you should on a high protein supplement? Well, you're not getting
any protein for it. Whenever you see hydrolyzed gelatin anywhere on the label,
even if the label says the product contains whey, check your rear view mirror.
Gelatin can cost 75% less than soluble whey, and whey is much more difficult
to process. Given these facts, how much quality protein do you believe they
are actually giving you in their products when gelatin is listed on the label.
THINK ABOUT IT! For these and other reasons of increased processing costs,
some manufacturers opt to go the easy way, and put low quality, low biological
utilization proteins in their products.
The American Way
American Body Building has the knowledge and production facilities,
and has developed the technology necessary to properly use and flavor
high quality whey. Other manufacturers don't. We will never sacrifice our
commitment to quality, for any reason.
Even more upsetting are an increasing number of copy cat products claiming
whey on their label as the protein source, when actually the protein comes
from 100% hydrolyzed gelatin. These unconscionable, deliberate and
misleading practices have not gone unnoticed by legitimate manufacturers.
You can feel secure when purchasing American Body Building Products because
of our guaranteed quality and performance. We are dedicated more than ever
to the belief that the educated athlete is our best customer.
Many of the professionals in the industry are unaware of the practices
of unscrupulous companies. The vast majority of the gym owners, once
enlightened will only carry products that they know to be legitimate. Many
gym owners are involved and believe in the sport. Most of them really want
to do the right thing. When you, the customer, purchase a weight gain or
amino drink containing gelatin everyday, all you're getting is a large
sugary drink; you won't see any results. As a matter of fact, you might feel
worse and/or retard your results because of all the sugar and no quality
protein. Gym owners should demand the best from their suppliers and you
should demand the best from the fitness professionals you depend on. By
using a quality training drink, you both know you can achieve the results
you expect.
Research has shown that athletes involved in intense workout regimens need
2 - 3 times the protein that a sedentary person requires. Try a Bulk Force,
XXL, or an Amino Force once a day for a couple of weeks and see the difference
a high quality protein Amino Acid source can make. Blue Thunder power activator,
besides its many other ingredients, contain 32 grams of high quality whey protein.
And High Voltage, our newest drink, contain 40 grams of the most technologically
advanced protein; cross flow microfiltration.
We take pride in the fact that we are #1 today and we know what we have to do
to stay there. We just completed a brand new high tech manufacturing facility
designed specifically for the production of these products. Unlike most of
our competitors, we manufacture our drinks. They are not made at some
soda or juice factory. We understand that being #1 means that our products
will always be copied. We want you to know that as long as you see the name
American Body Building Products, you can be assured of getting the original
highest quality products manufactured today. We spend the time and the money
necessary to make the finest products anywhere in the world.
Take for example artificial colors. We have never been crazy about putting them
in our products, but many people will not purchase a product that is not eye
appealing. So, we colored our bottles. It is a bit more costly, but now we can
manufacture most of our products without artificial color, which we're sure
you rally don't want or need. Conversely, we have seen products in clear glass
bottles that are bright green or some other artificial color without color
even listed on the label! (Remember, always read your labels.) Some people
have asked us about using glass. The problem is, glass bottles really don't
belong out on a gym floor, or in the middle of other athletic events. Besides
safety, which is#1, it creates a liability risk for ourselves, the gym owners,
and you.
Many products have been designed to look like ours. Read the labels carefully
and understand what you are purchasing. If you drink a performance beverage
everyday, you owe it to yourself to know what you're putting in your body.
Add up how much money you're spending every year and you'll be surprised.
Make sure your investment in yourself is paying off. We want you as our
customer. We hope to earn your business through the world of mouth success
stories from amateur and professional athletes worldwide using American
Body Building Products. Many from the first day they began training.
As you learn more about what you are buying, other companies will be under
pressure to manufacture a better product. We think you should keep in mind,
however, that we don't cut corners. We use only the highest quality ingredients,
because it is who we are. We don't need to 'be caught' to change. Think about
that in your future purchases.
We have earned the business of many athletes over the last decade and
we intend to keep it by continuing to make every product the way it is
supposed to be made. The right way. We will continue to set the standard,
and manufacture the highest quality high tech sports training drinks in
the world today. We thank all of you, our customers, for your continued
support.
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