Darksoul9000’s BodyBlog

Nitric oxide or Nitrogen monoxide is a chemical compound with chemical formula NO. This gas is an important signaling molecule in the body of mammals, including humans, and is an extremely important intermediate in the chemical industry. (This includes the supplements NO explode for example). NO is involve in Biology and Chemistry, but I’m only going to talk about the biology part of what NO does in this area.

How does NO benefit us human being is:

1.) it helps smooth muscles to relax   thus resulting in vasodilation and increasing blood flow (especially after a workout).

2.) It helps people to avoid hypoxia while in high altitudes.

3.) Modulates hair cycle and penile erections in males.

4.) It helps the immune system in humans as it is produce by macrophages and neutrophils and it toxic to bacteria and other pathogens.

The down side to NO:

1.) NO is a free radical, which is the molecule responsible for DNA damage in humans and causes bad things like aging. Make sure when taking supplements like NO explode, not to take too much in one day.

2.) If you have reperfusion injury, which is damage tissus as a result of restriction in blood supply. NO can help contribute to this type of injury as it produces the free radical peroxynitrate. Of course if you have this type of injury, I would stay away from anything that is NO.

Someone asks: "What is Fat calories, and what does it do (to the body)?"

Before I answer this let me tell everyone the definition of what is a calorie and fat first.

A calorie is a unit of energy, mostly heat that is found in food. A small calorie is the amount of heat (energy) required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by 1 °C.

Fat is any various soft, solid or semisolid organic compound constituting the esters of glycerol and fatty acid and their associated organic groups (sorry if you guys are not understand this clearly *L*). Fat is a lipid. It can be either liquid (unsaturated fat) or solid (saturated fat) in room temperature.  Fat is important for certain living organism, including us human beings as it is a energy storage and when the energy is ready for use fat is converted into glucose by the liver.

Anyway back to the question that I’m trying to answer.

How many calories are in a food = how much energy the food will give you. However, the TYPE of the calories you eat is much more important than the actual amount. One gram of fat has seven calories in it, more than any other type. Therefore, they give you the most energy.
Don’t think that I’m saying that it’s okay to eat only fat though. Fat calories stores energy for later which is why it sticks to your body. Carbs is energy for right now. While doing cardio exercises when one burns the calories from carbs, the body then burns the calorie energy from fat and therefore fat is burned off. That is how one lose weight.

I’m also not saying to not eat carbs at all so your body will go right to burning fat off. This kind of behavior traumatizes the body, leading to many different health problems. Again I say that Fat stores energy for later. The energy is there just incase of an emergency. Think of fat as something similar to a back up generator for a building just incase the the power goes out because of a problem with the power lines or the power company.

Another ask: "How many calories should I eat?"

I’ll be honest about this (not that I was dishonest with everyone in the first place), I don’t pay too much attention to how much fat calories that I consume. But I do try to consume in allot though for health and exercise purpose. But I have heard that it’s recommended that especially when one is bulking, one should eat 75 grams of fat which equals to about 675 calories. I guess it depends on one goals as far as exercise and nutrition.

What are weight gainer supplements?: Weight gainer supplements are supplements that are loaded with carbs and fat (unsaturated of course, not saturated) in order to help many people gain weight by adding many calories.

In my personal (and not necessarily professional) opinion on these so-called weight gainer supplements, I don’t think that anyone, including those that are call "hard-gainers" (meaning those that have trouble gaining weight because of a fast metabolism), need this type of supplements.

I have nothing against certain types of supplements period. I know why they exist. To make certain things like intake of nutrition a little easier for certain people that have trouble gaining nutrition from regular food, like skipping meals. For example, whey protein is created so protein can get to a person’s muscles faster, especially when trying to recover the muscles from exercise as oppose to getting protein from regular foods like steak, fish, and eggs and waiting a while for the stomach to break those foods down and grabbing the nutrients from it. Creatine is created to also help the muscles recover it’s energy after it’s been depleted from exercising at the gym. These type of supplements I don’t mind supporting and I do take these supplements.

However, some supplements I have a problem with, regardless of whether they work or not. I have tried weight gainers in the past like GNC Pro Performance Weight Gainer 2200 Gold when I started going to the gym for the first time way back in May of 2001. I took about 2 cups of this everyday along with the foods that I ate and I ate at least 3 big meals of foods that were high in nutritional content back then. Within a month, I have gained no weight, and I also have gain a little fat from it as well. Maybe there was something that I didn’t do right like I was suppose to do cardio to burn all the fat and carbs from that supplement. All I know is that I didn’t have a good experience with it at all.  However, even if I does work like i have heard many friends of mine at the gym have claimed as they have used the stuff, I still think it’s a waste of time and money.

There is this thing call "bulking" where if someone wants to gain a bit of weight, all they have to do is eat about 5 to 7 meals a day and limit the cardio like jogging to only a day or two. There are 2 types of bulking. A clean bulk is where one eats foods that are high in protein, vitamins and minerals and low in saturated fat and carbs (unless you need the energy for cardio exercises). If a person want to get lean muscles, then this is the bulking process I recommended. There is another bulking process call "dirty bulk" where one can pretty much anything without worrying about fat, carbs, or anything else. I personally don’t recommend this to anyone because for example if a person consumes too much fat (especially saturated and trans fat) then that person could give him or herself many health problems before they end the bulking cycle and begin to cut by doing many cardio exercises.

Anyway, the point that I’m making is if someone do any one of the bulking process for a certain time frame like a month, then there is no need to waste money at a nutritional store buying weight gainer supplements. Even if the someone do use the weight gainer supplements the person will still have to eat a certain number of meals as the shakes by themselves will not help one gain weight.

to sum everything that I said up in this blog, I do think that some supplements are worth the money and time to use, I also think that there are supplements that are also a waste of money and time, regardless of whether they work or not, and weight gainer supplements are one of them.

Thanks.

What is creatine?: Creatine is a compound that helps supply energy to the muscles and nerves in the form of ATP (Adenosine triphosphate). Creatine is made in the human body naturally from  L-arginine, L-glycine and L-methionine, and amino acids. It is found in the pancreas, kidneys, and the liver organs. Most of the creatine ends going up in the skeletal muscles. The scientific name for creatine is methyl guanidine-acetic acid. Creatine is also found is certain foods that are rich in protein like steak and beef, but it is destroyed when cooked. Creatine is not a steroid, hormone, vitamin, or mineral. The molecular formula of Creatine is C4 H9 N3 O2 (Carbon with 4 electrons, Hydrogen with 9, Nitrogen with 3, and Oxygen with 2).

Why do we need creatine supplements?: When exercising at the gym or performing in sports, your muscles uses ATP as energy to for movement. As your muscle is using ATP, it is broken down to ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate and inorganic phosphate which is not good for the muscles. It takes a while for the body to produce more creatine. The muscle have only about 10 to 15 seconds of maximum extertion. This is where the creatine supplements come into play. As I stated above, creatine helps supply muscles and nerves energy in the form of ATP and that is what many creatine supplements do so a person can train longer, more frequently, and at a higher intensity. Creatine also helps draw water into the muscles, keeping them super-saturated with water, or volumizing the muscle keeping them out of a catabolic state and increasing lean muscle mass.

What is the best time to take creatine?: The best time to take creatine is immediate after a person is done exercising in the gym so the muscles can recover faster. It is also recommended that a person mix creatine with a drink loaded in carbs as well like sport drinks or apple juice as carbs which is also energy helps the creatine get into the muscles faster. It is recommended that one takes at least 20 to 30 grams of creatine daily.

Are there any side effects to creatine?: If creatine is use by a person incorrectly, it will cause dehydration. The reason is because of it causing water retention in the muscles. It is recommended that a person should drink at least a gallon of water after drinking creatine.

Is creatine is used only for bodybuilding?: No. some athletes of other sports like track and field, baseball, have claimed an increase in their performance when using creatine. It is use by bodybuilders and athletes of other sports as well.

Are there any forms of creatine that are offered in nutrition stores?: There are 3 forms of creatine. Pills, powders, and serum (liquid creatine). Creatine in a form of a pill is okay but it’s more expensive. My favorite type of creatine, the powdered version is highly insoluble, resulting in athletes having to take high doses(10-20 grams a day) in order for it to reach their muscles. The serum version which is like the creatine that is already made in a bottle standing in a shelf in nutrition stores is also like this. However, it is not recommended by many nutritionist because it is proven that creatine becomes unstable after 20 minutes. Who knows how long the serum creatine have been on the shelf of a nutrition store and unless you need some good tasting pancake syrup it it is obviously a waste of money.

More info on creatine check out these sites that explain what creatine is all about better than I can.

Creatine. It’s All About Absorption
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drryan16.htm

Creatine from About.com
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/creatine/a/creatine.htm

Creatine from Wikipedia.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine

Facts about Creatine.
http://www.creatine-facts.com/

Creatine from GB Fitness
http://www.gbfitness.com/mediaarticles/creatine

Welcome to the Bodybuilding.com BodyBlogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!