CHAPTER 97

The Key to Anabolic Growth

“By cycling your training you alter the stress loads on your body, preventing the exhaustion of the body’s stress-activated chemicals.”

– Greg Zulak, regular MuscleMag International contributor, offering advice on how to minimize catabolic reactions in the human body.

Many novice bodybuilders view building muscle as some mysterous adventure that can be achieved only by following the advice of pro bodybuilders. They think there is a dirty little secret that, once discovered, will lead them to the Holy Grail of freaky muscularity and maximum muscle size; that there is one best training routine or diet that will stimulate their anabolic growth potential and turn their average-looking bodies into pillars of muscle and power. I hate to break it to you if you fall victim to such beliefs, but there is no magic pill to pack pounds of striated muscle mass on your frame, and no secret potion to push you into the heavyweight class. Trust me, if there was, everybody would already be using it and gyms would be filled with 250-pounders repping with 500 pounds on the bench press.

The real key to gaining maximum muscle size is to create what’s called an anabolic environment in your body. Without the internal environment necessary to stimulate growth, it doesn’t matter what crazy training routine you follow, the music you listen to or the time of day you train.

ANABOLIC VS. CATABOLIC

Biochemists can be a funny lot. They love inventing new vocabulary – especially words that have little use in other areas. Let’s take the word “metabolism” for example. Instead of just saying all the chemical reactions that take place in your body, they had to coin the word “metabolic.” And guess what – it doesn’t end there. Nope, metabolic itself can be subdivided into two more words: anabolic and catabolic. Now you’ve probably heard of anabolic before, since it applies to “anabolic steroids.” The word itself means chemical reactions where small molecules are combined to create larger molecules. The best example of this occurs when amino acids are combined to form polypeptide chains, which in turn are combined to form protein strands and ultimately muscle tissue. The name “anabolic steroid” means exactly that – a steroid molecule that stimulates anabolic reactions in the body.

Some compounds do just the opposite. They break down large molecules into smaller molecules. Such compounds are called catabolic steroids, and the best example is the hormone cortisol. During times of stress, the body releases large amounts of cortisol. On one hand cortisol will help you survive the stressful event, but on the other hand it causes the body to break muscle tissue down as an energy source. Not exactly what a hard-training bodybuilder wants.

“Cortisol’s major catabolic effect involves facilitating the conversion of protein in muscles and connective tissue into glucose and glycogen. Known as gluconeogenesis, this process involves both catabolizing protein already formed and discouraging the synthesis of new protein. Bottom line: Your growth potential is somewhere bound and gagged in the twilight zone.”

– Dr. George Redmon, MuscleMag International contributor

ANABOLIC REACTIONS – A BODYBUILDER’S BEST FRIEND

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that bodybuilders should be striving to create anabolic reactions in their bodies. The last thing you want is to be in a catabolic state. Unless your body is continously in a state of anabolism, you’re virtually wasting your time in the gym. Muscle growth won’t be taking place. In fact you could be experiencing just the opposite – suffering catabolism and losing muscle tissue. What’s the use of busting your ass in the gym for hours every day only to be losing muscle and not gaining it?

PREVENTION IS THE KEY

Hopefully you’re just a little bit concerned about whether your environment is catabolic. There’s an old saying in the medical field that it’s easier to prevent diseases than treat them. The same applies to reducing catabolic situations. Prevention is by far the best cure, and as a bodybuilder you can’t leave anything to chance that might stop you from making gains, or even take away the gains you’ve already made.

The human body is either in an anabolic state, a catabolic state or a neutral state somewhere between the two extremes. As we saw earlier, an anabolic state is the ideal condition for your body, because this is where you’ll make your best gains in muscle size and strength. The end result of anabolism is the synthesis of new cellular material, especially muscle proteins, cells, membranes and tissues. In short, we’re talking about maximum muscle size.

Catabolism, meanwhile, is the process whereby large, complex molecules are broken down into simpler ones, especially for energy production. It’s very easy for a bodybuilder to slip into a catabolic state. Ironically, the all-out high-intensity training we often subject ourselves to is treated as a form of stress by the body, and one of its responses is to release the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is often called a stress hormone because the body manufactures and releases it in high concentrations during such stressful situations as disease, injury, and yes, even intense exercise. The reason cortisol is so detrimental to bodybuilding is that it increases the mobilization of amino acids from muscles and increases protein breakdown. As more and more protein is broken down, you start losing valuable muscle tissue.

If you’re wondering how such things evolved, just blame your ancestors. Unlike most of us, who live relatively safe lives, our ancestors never had it easy. Whether going weeks without solid food or being chased by a sabre-tooth cat or cave bear, things were often stressful for our cave-dwelling ancestors. To increase their chances of survival, their bodies evolved and passed to us a number of preventative mechanisms – one of which is stress hormones. And while we rarely have to worry about being some animal’s lunch these days, we still have these survival mechanisms that will fight us as we try to put on muscle mass.

So what can you do to maximize anabolic reactions and minimize catabolic reactions? How can you make sure that your body is always primed and ready to build new muscle tissue? What can you do to keep those dreaded catabolic reactions at bay? The fact is, you can do quite a lot. Let’s take a look.

TRAINING

Even though I just said that intense training would cause the body to release cortisol and other stress hormones, weight training also stimulates the body to release such anabolic hormones as testosterone and human growth hormone (HGH). Testosterone, as most readers are aware, is the primary male sex hormone. Human growth hormone is also highly anabolic and can make huge differences in strength and size. These hormones are so effective at building muscle that during puberty a four-foot boy can add two feet to his height and gain 50 pounds or more. Now I’m not going to proclaim that every time you train you’ll gain the equivalent of going through puberty. But intense training does cause the body to increase the production and release of these two hormones. The key is the type of training. It seems that short (45- to 60-minute) sessions of high-intensity training will cause the maximum amount of testosterone and HGH release, while at the same time produce the least amount of cortisol production. In other words, short to medium-length training sessions keep the anabolic/catabolic ratio heavily weighted toward the anabolic side of the equation. Conversely, training sessions of two hours or more seem to have little impact on testosterone and HGH production but maximize cortisol production. This is the worst situation for developing freaky muscularity and maximum muscle size.

Train intensely for short periods of time to optimize your balance of natural testosterone and growth hormone.
Photo of Joel Stubbs by Robert Reiff

ENERGY, FATIGUE AND SLEEP

Most people require an average of eight to nine hours of sleep a night, but it varies from person to person. If you’re only getting four you are denying your body the sleep it needs to function properly. As a result, your natural immune system may become weaker, making you more susceptible to disease or infection, or you may not be able to concentrate as well. Muscle building is a growth process and most growth occurs during sleep. Many trainers take a nap during the day and find that to be a great way to restore energy.

REST

With all the information floating around, it’s amazing that some bodybuilders still think muscle growth takes place while training. Afraid not. You stimulate the muscle in the gym but actual recovery and growth take place while you rest. So if you want to maximize your muscle and strength gains you must get adequate rest. If you’re the late-night party type, routinely strolling in at 4 or 5 a.m., then you’re not going to achieve the success you want. Sleep is the most anabolic time for the human body. In fact, both testosterone and GH levels reach their peak during sleep. Almost all growth and repair take place during sleep. By interfering with sleep you’re decreasing the body’s ability to maximize its anabolic state. The end result is less muscle growth.

NUTRITION

The greatest bodybuilding routine in the world is virtually useless if you don’t consume the right nutrients in the right amounts.

Intensive exercise is clearly a vital part of the whole muscle-building process, but achieving optimum muscle mass depends on consuming the raw building materials the body converts into muscle. Proper nutrition depends on numerous factors and while there are others, the following are the most important:

Protein

When it comes to priming the anabolic environment and building freaky muscularity and maximum muscle size, nothing plays as important a role as protein. You can think of protein creating muscle as bricks creating a wall. Protein supplies all the amino acids the body uses to repair and build muscle tissue following an intensive training session.

If you fail to consume enough protein you risk letting the body slip into a state of negative nitrogen balance. Biochemists predict protein synthesis and muscle growth by measuring the amount of nitrogen present. Nitrogen is one of the key ingredients in amino acid synthesis, and the more of it present the greater the rate of synthesis. When levels are high it’s called positive nitrogen balance and when levels are low the term is negative nitrogen balance. Positive nitrogen balance, anabolism and muscle growth are all interlinked. If developing maximum muscle size is your goal then you should try to eat 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight each day from such high-protein food sources as beef, fish, poultry, eggs and low-fat dairy products. Try to spread the protein over at least five or six meals to derive the optimum benefits.

Carbohydrates

Think of your body as a high-performance racing car. It needs energy to operate. In the case of your body the energy comes in the form of carbohydrates (carbs). Carbohydrates come in two forms: simple and complex. Simple carbs (sugar, white bread, fruit juice, some fruits, etc.) should be limited, as they tend to get stored as fat if not burned right away. Complex carbs (whole wheat pastas, many fruits, whole wheat breads, rice) are released much more slowly over time and less likely to be stored as fat. In order to maintain peak energy levels during your workouts carbohydrates should make up at least 50 percent of your total calories throughout most of the year. In the pre-contest diet you’ll have to cut that proportion down.

Besides energy, carbs are also vital to the muscle-building process. Carbohydrates stimulate the release of insulin, which forces more amino acids into muscle cells to begin the process of growth and repair. However, if your carb levels are so low that your body does not have enough to fuel its daily activities, then your body will start cannibalizing its own muscle to convert into glycogen in order to meet its energy requirements. In simple terms, failure to eat enough quality carbs can put the body into a catabolic state.

INCREASE YOUR CALORIES

Unless you’re carrying excess weight or gain fat very easily you need a positive caloric balance if you want to build new muscle tissue. Try to ensure that your daily caloric intake is about 10 percent higher than your daily energy expenditure for maintenance.

Photo of Lind Walter by Irvin Gelb

Eat Fat

One of the biggest changes in nutrition circles over the past 10 to 20 years is the viewpoint regarding fats. There was a time when all fats were lumped together and considered evil, but no longer. It’s now known that fats are definitely either good or bad for you. Fats can be subdivided into two types: saturated and unsaturated. Saturated fats, including the evil trans fats, are killers. They tend to be solid at room temperature. These fats deserve their bad reputation. Over time they build up on arterial walls, causing heart disease and stroke. For optimum health your goal is to try and eliminate all saturated and trans fat from your diet. Unsaturated fat, including EFAs, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, are considered “good” fats and are vital to life. They tend to be liquid at room temperature. These fats do everything from lubricating the joints to protecting cellular walls to promoting protein synthesis by increasing the production of hormones, including testosterone. It’s this last point that has led some nutritionists and bodybuilding experts to label unsaturated fats “anabolic” compounds. The best sources of unsaturated fats are fish and vegetable oils.

WATER WORKS

The human body is approximately 70 percent water by volume. While our ancestors left the seas hundreds of millions of years ago, we are still dependent on this simple but vital life-giving liquid. Failure to drink adequate quantities of water will lead to dehydration and will adversely affect your muscle mass. Even though there are many myths about water and nutrition floating around, one common saying that you’ve no doubt heard is true – you should drink at least eight glasses of water per day. And this is not counting the extra water you should be drinking on workout days. Water is cheap or free, depending on the source, and vital for life. Since all the chemical reactions in the human body are directly or indirectly dependent on water you should make consumption a priority.

SUPPLEMENTATION

Like fats, the role of supplementation in maximizing bodybuilding success has evolved over the decades. From simple protein powders and multivitamins to creatine, CLA and glutamine, the area of supplementation has been radically transformed. While some mainstream nutritionists may question the value of supplementation, it’s pretty much accepted by most bodybuilding experts (and bodybuilders themselves) that supplementing makes a huge difference when it comes to building maximum-sized muscles.

Supplements can be divided into two categories: nutrients and performance enhancers. As the name suggests, nutrient supplements are just extra amounts of common nutrients such as protein, vitamins and minerals, and EFAs. While it is possible to receive adequate amounts through the diet, they will make a big difference if levels are low to begin with, and taking a little extra ensures you will always have enough. It only makes sense to supplement with protein or EFAs to ensure the raw materials are available for synthesizing new muscle tissue.

Although the quality of nutrient supplements has improved over the years, it’s within the area of performance enhancement that the biggest advances have been made. Such state-of-the-art supplements as creatine, glutamine and nitric oxide are being used by millions of bodybuilders to bring their muscularity to new levels.

What separates these supplements from the nutrients is their ability to boost strength and size gains beyond what normal nutrition can provide. Creatine has a proven track record in helping bodybuilders build bigger muscles. Likewise, glutamine can help combat the stress of high-intensity workouts and keep the body in that all-important anabolic state of positive nitrogen balance. Nitric oxide has the ability to increase the transport of other nutrients into and from cells, as well as reduce joint and soft-tissue inflammation.

ZINC AND TESTOSTERONE PRODUCTION

Among its many functions, the evidence suggests that zinc plays a major role in testosterone production. Despite the fact that it’s a trace element, zinc is involved in virtually hundreds of metabolic actions.

Approximately two to three grams of zinc in the body is found within the bones. The rest of the mineral is found mostly in the skin, nails and hair. To give you an idea of zinc’s importance, most of the body’s hormones, such as insulin, estrogen, testosterone and growth hormone, are dependent on zinc. This has been confirmed in studies, which suggest that hard-training athletes are often deficient in zinc.

Zinc will not boost testosterone levels above normal. But if your zinc levels are low from training hard, then supplementing helps to ensure optimum hormone production. Unless you consume megadoses (500 to 1,000 milligrams per day), adverse reactions to zinc are rare. Excessive zinc can interact with other minerals like copper and iron, but this occurs only in extreme cases. Taking 15 to 30 milligrams per day as a supplement is perfectly safe for healthy individuals. For hard-training athletes the optimal dosage is 30 milligrams per day.