  Recuperate Faster, Grow Faster! |  |
by Lee Labrada w/ Jeff Everson of Planet Muscle Magazine Powerful new enzyme combinations, decrease muscle inflammation & soreness, and restore post-exercise muscle power, MUCH quicker than ever before!!
Please don't take this as sounding cocky, but I honestly believe that I know more about training and nutrition, than just about ANY bodybuilder, who came before me! This includes greats such as Steve Reeves, Sergio Oliva, and even the Austrian Oak himself. Now, how can I make such a bold claim?
Well, I was certainly NOT born to be big or strong. Arnold is 6-7" taller than me, and in his prime, 45-pounds heavier. Steve Reeves, probably the best-known champion up to 1965, had 19.75" calves, before steroids had even arrived on the scene, and his clavicle width was about the same length as my whole body is turned sideways. Sergio, in his 1969 prime, clobbered Arnold in the Mr. Olympia. The Myth had a God-given 28" waist. Not big-boned, for most of my physique years, I was a light-heavyweight (180- 195lbs.). Because I was smaller, I had to push with enormous ferocity, but I also used my engineering-prone thought processes, to read, study, experiment and once more, learn, learn and learn some more! After my 1985 NPC Nationals win as a 176-lber, I soon took the IFBB Mr. Universe, and put on 15 pounds more muscle mass. Over the ensuing years, I placed in the top 4 in the Mr. Olympia finals, 7 years in a row. The only guy I did not defeat was perhaps, the greatest champion ever, Lee Haney. (No one else could beat Lee either. He was much bigger that I was naturally, and once more, an explosive, powerful athlete with lots of fast-twitch muscle fibers!) Today, I am a member of the elite IFBB Bodybuilding Hall of Fame. To get where I did, I simply left no stone, no pebble, indeed, no grain of sand, unturned. If something was going to help my muscles grow, I knew about it. So, where do I think the next quantum leap in super-human muscular size and strength is going to come from? My answer may surprise you -- not drugs, not training, not multiple food meal planning, not even gene splicing and cloning, or Alien invasion, but from new chemical combinations of enzyme protein catalysts. What if you could train your arms super hard every day? What if you didn't get sore because your body recovered faster? What if you did squats today and were able to do them again tomorrow, with even more weight? Imagine your gains in size and strength. All that said . . . what's the biggest and most common mistake that bodybuilders make? Yes, I agree very much with Planet Muscle and that by far, almost all bodybuilders are radically over trained, but they are also radically "under-recuperated!" Disregarding any ethical or health issues, it's a known fact that anabolic steroids work, enhancing performance and muscle because they enhance recovery, allowing you to train with greater intensity and volume more often. Anabolic steroids are anti-catabolic ( prevent muscle breakdown) and make recovery better and faster.
MUSCLE SIZE FROM MUSCLE DAMAGE
 Exercise stimulates muscle to adapt, by increasing protein uptake and becoming bigger and stronger. Heavy exercise causes "damage" and it's this damage that leads to compensatory repair and growth! There are two phases to muscle damage from exercise. The first phase is immediate mechanical damage. Muscle cells or fibers get ‘injured' from the stretch and strain that training loads inflict. This is called micro-trauma because it occurs at a cellular level. The second phase of muscle injury is associated with changes in the biochemical processes within muscle tissue, following intense exercise. These changes include inflammation and immune system suppression. Some inflammation is necessary for healing/growth, but too much inflammation actually destroys healthy muscle. Delayed onset muscle soreness (D.O.M.S) results from damage to heavily-loaded muscle fibers and connective tissues. Only a relatively small amount of inflammation mediates adaptive muscle response. Too much inflammation is counter-productive. In theory, if you could decrease muscle inflammation without drugs, your muscles would grow bigger, faster and do so safely!
ENZYMES: RADICAL NEW RESEARCH FOR MORE MUSCLE!
Enzymes are high molecular weight proteins made up principally of chains of amino acids, all linked together by peptide bonds. They catalyze (speed up), almost every body metabolic reaction. As our enzymes degrade with age, so does our overall body efficiency and we get more age-related illness and disease. All of our estimated trillions of cells are linked to at least 4000 different enzymes! Inflammation is our major body response to injury, infection, or illness. Any damaged cell causes a release of powerful chemicals, leading to varying levels of swelling and pain.
Enzymes affect the cascade of inflammatory events. Various proteolytic enzymes fight inflammation, including pancreatin, or its primary proteases, trypsin and chymotrypsin; plant-derived bromelain or papain; amylase; lipase and possibly, plant-derived flavonoids. Proteolytic or protein-splitting enzymes (also known as proteases), help control inflammatory response. Pancreatic enzymes, (pancreatin, trypsin and chymotrypsin) are often used medically, as a natural treatment for systemic inflammation. Proteolytic enzymes, (like bromelain from pineapple and papain from papaya), influence inflammation. They have equality of efficacy to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, without the possible undesirable side effects. Once more, there are definite powerful synergies, when varying enzymes are combined. Many Naturopathic Physicians use digestive enzymes to enhance absorption, but as of yet, not for decreasing soreness or enhancing muscle recovery. Digestive enzymes can have systemic effects, and we know they go way beyond simple digestion. Enzymes must be extracted properly and delivered in the right combinations that are proven to influence muscle recovery. But -- does such a perfect combination of enzymes exist? YES! Protease enzymes can shorten your recovery time, by controlling the intensity and duration of the inflammatory response. Okay-- but what does research say about muscle tissue injury from intense, bodybuilding-loading? A groundbreaking study by Miller et al (2004), examined a multi-enzyme formula on muscle function and damage after high-intensity downhill running. Muscular contractions during downhill running, are largely eccentric (we call them "negative," not positive), contractions. While tension in the muscle increases, the muscle lengthens, not shortens. This high stress causes more micro trauma per contraction than a typical concentric (shortening) contraction. "Negatives" cause a lot of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS.)
In the Miller study, 10 pairs of volunteers ran at a 110% grade for 30 minutes. The participants either took two enzyme formula tablets or placebo, four times a day beginning for 4 days. They were then evaluated for perceived muscle soreness and then tested in leg extensions and leg curls for torque and power. This was to determine, following damaging exercise, how much time it took for full recovery in muscle power, and how long before soreness dissipated.
"The group taking protease supplements had a MUCH SHORTER recovery time for muscle force and power, and much less delayed onset soreness!"
Indeed, those taking the enzymes had:
- 4 X LESS LOSS IN FORCE PRODUCTION
- A HIGHER RATE OF RECOVERY OF FORCE PRODUCTION
- 63% LESS PERCEIVED MUSCLE SORNESS
- LOWER INCIDENCE OF INJURY
- AN INCREASED IMMUNE SYSTEM FUNCTION
Protease enzyme supplementation accelerates recovery and adaptive responses, for faster return to FULL-STRENGTH. You can train more intensely more often, leading to greater muscular gains! Currently, there is really only one dietary supplement with enough clinical evidence to even compare it to enzymes, plant sterol lipids. Plant sterols can have important effects on your immune system. Beta-sitosterol and its associated glucosides, can really enhance the powerful effects of enzymes. A supplement that combines both enzymes and plant sterols can really help your recovery from immune system suppression caused by intense training and can mitigate excess inflammation from muscle damage! Beta-sitosterols decrease elevated cholesterol and stress cortisol levels too. BUT - intense exercise increases the loss of beta-sitosterols from your body! Ugh. So, beta-sitosterols are very important.
SORENZYMETM: FOR BODYBUILDERS
 This new enzyme research is exciting and is already incorporated into a revolutionary systemic enzyme that aids muscle recovery. It is called SORENZYME. I have found that that by using SORENZYME religiously, I could be back at full strength in 1 - 2 days, after a brutal workout, and with only half the muscle pain I usually have.
SORENZYME decreases muscle damage and muscle soreness from excessive exercise-induced inflammation. But even though Sorenzyme is super-strong, your body must fully absorb it for it do any good. The absorption of all enzymes and nutrients are dependant upon bioavailability into blood. When a medication is administered intravenously, its bioavailability is 100%. However, taken orally, your gut acidity (pH), metabolism by your liver, and the amount or fatty food and water in your gut, affect bioavailability. Enteric coating is used to shield enzymes from low stomach pH. However, a protective enteric coating delays digestion to the small intestine and the meds may then be absorbed in an area of the small intestine that is inappropriate.
Medicine may add nutrients to aid a drug's (or other nutrient) absorption. For example, "piperine," a major component of black pepper can inhibit two proteins controlling gut transport. One of these two active proteins, (P-glyco-proteins or PGP's), helps control absorption and transport of nutrients through your gut. Another active protein, affecting nutrient transport, is CYP3A4. When both are inhibited, the blood levels of any circulating ingredients are increased. In fact, if you inhibit or block the actions of PGP and CYP3A4, you get MUCH MORE nutrients into blood and muscle, by a MASSIVE amount! Piperine can increase the absorption of a nutrient by 60%, compared to a placebo! So . . . Labrada Nutrition has critically added piperine to SORENZYME! Once more, our research suggests that for better recovery and performance, the timing and cycling of Sorenzyme, are critical. You should take 4 capsules of Sorenzyme, with 8 oz water on an empty stomach, after training. Wait 30 minutes before eating a post-workout meal. (You may take a second dose again 4-6 hours later.) For your post-workout meal, you should have a protein/carbohydrate shake, preferably, our Lean Body Meal Replacement or our Ready-to-Drink Shake. These replenish muscle glycogen and provide anabolic support to muscle growth. Sorenzyme can also be taken first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, 30 minutes before breakfast. The high blood circulating enzyme levels will just add to your daily "recovery" potential. Cycling (on and off time), is effective because long term, continual use may decrease natural absorption (just like long term continuous creatine supplementation may decrease creatine transport activity) or production of enzymes in our bodies. However, a 1998 study revealed that there were no changes in human pancreatic enzyme secretion, after 4 wks of oral pancreatic enzyme therapy. Nonetheless, we suggest that you cycle Sorenzyme for 6-8 weeks on, followed by 7-10 days off, to ensure each cycle is maximally effective. At Labrada Nutrition, we feel that these new systemic enzymes offer bodybuilders a REAL QUANTUM leap for greater muscular development. They reduce inflammation and soreness after training and they increase your recovery, so that you can grow muscle faster and bigger! |
