The Importance of Chemistry in Body Building Supplements

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While its tempting to buy the hottest body building supplements on the market, its important to realize the underlying chemistry of these supplements and how that chemistry affects the body. While attempting to increase muscle size, these supplements might have surprising and unwanted side affects.

Water and creatine are excellent examples of why people need to pay attention to the chemical make-up of anything they might purchase First, consider the water molecule. Water is a truly amazing substance. Water can dissolve just about anything. Thats why living things require it in order to get the most out of their nutrition and biology. Water is able to dissolve things because it binds with other chemicals. Water starts by breaking the molecular structure of compounds into ions or parts of a molecule. The ions, depending on their charges, will bind with either the oxygen or hydrogen in water. This changes the way water functions because the addition of other compounds can either help or hinder how water is absorbed in the body.

Creatine is another substance that bonds with just about anything. Creatine is composed of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. All of these elements are found in water, the body, and any nutrients that the body uses. While this can be helpful for providing increased energy and nutrition to muscles, it also will magnify the affect of anything lying around. In other words, if theres excess water in the system, the creatine can bring the water through the body in such a way as to cause bloating and other digestive discomfort.

If other supplements are in use such as steroids, hormones, proteins, and vitamins, creatine will magnify both the positive and negative affects of these substances. Therefore, its absolutely important to know the chemicals present in the supplements being used, but its also of equal importance to know what affects these supplements produce while in the body.

There are loads of supplements that will certainly increase muscle size. Two of the most dangerous supplements are steroids and hormones. Steroids are used to increase the growth of muscle.

These should be taken under the close supervision of a doctor, and theyre not recommended for recreational use. Steroids are best used for people with asthma and persons recovering from surgery and illness. Taken as a fitness supplement, steroids will yield bigger muscles. But theyll also yield changes in mood and temperament. As they bond with other substances, their affects may be seriously magnified or modified. This is also true for hormones.

Testosterone is most commonly associated with muscle growth. Its best not to take testosterone unless of a hormonal condition. Otherwise, testosterone will produce side affects such as changing vocal range, extra body hair, and uterine cancer in women.
In men, the bonding of testosterone to other compounds can create feminine hormones that will change the nature of the male reproductive system. Therefore, its important to be aware of the way in which these and other supplements affect the body.

Chemistry might bore most people to tears. But on the topic of body building supplements, its absolutely important to know the basic chemistry of these compounds and how theyll positively and negatively affect the body.

Preventing Common Bodybuilding Injuries

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Bodybuilders, as other athletes, must be prepared for injury when participating in their sport. To ignore the possibility of injury is to invite disaster that can interfere with your routine, cause you to miss training or even end a career.

What can you do to avoid injury? How should you handle occasional injuries so that you can get back in top form as soon as possible? Here are some points for beginners AND experienced bodybuilders to keep in mind.

PREVENTION COMES FIRST

Any bodybuilder, whether training daily or occasionally, is likely to experience injury from their training. However, there are important steps you should take to prevent injury and reduce the occurrence of strains, sprains and more severe injuries.

WARMING UP AND STRETCHING

Every session, every time. No matter what routine or exercise you are about to engage in, your muscles need to be prepped beforehand.

Warming up by using a bike, treadmill or quick repetitions with a light weight, will get blood circulating in the muscles and make them more pliable. Stretching them to their fullest degree and holding for 30 seconds will also encourage flexibility. Flexibility and pliability are very important in preventing muscle injury and improving the muscle's ability to respond to the exercise.

Stretching after your routine will also improve recovery time, thus reducing soreness after a session.

PROPER TECHNIQUE

Proper technique is crucial when bodybuilding. Physical laws (including the law of gravity) limit what your body is capable of lifting and the range of motion any muscle can reach. Bouncing or jerking motions and improper grip can cause the weight to pull your muscles and overextend their range, resulting in injuries. Injury can range from minor strains to more severe sprains or ripping that can prevent you from training for an extended time.

Having a trainer show you proper technique is important, as is knowing your boundaries for the amount of weight you can safely work with. You may decide to use wraps on your joints or back to help distribute the weight more evenly, which will also reduce the chance of injury.

If you are training with very heavy weights there are some exercises that should only be performed with reliable spotters on hand. Whether you are spotting for a friend or asking for their assistance to spot you, be sure that the spotter is focused and quick to help or you could face extreme injuries.

PAY ATTENTION AND BE READY

Distraction and fatigue can quickly ruin your progress and put you out of commission (and away from the gym) by causing an accident.

Lifting heavy weights requires concentration and attention to your performance. Chatting with friends or watching other people is distracting and can cause you to lose form and drop weights, pulling and tearing muscles. A dropped weight may also fall on you or a neighbor, causing serious, long term injury.

Over training when your body is not in optimum condition can also cause you to lose grip or push your body beyond its ability to handle the weight. Not eating, lack of sleep, training too often, using too much weight or training without proper preparation or safety can ruin all your hard work, so always train prepared and in good condition for the best results.

If you do experience injury, treat it right away. Minor injuries may just need a day of rest, compression and ice to reduce swelling. Severe injuries should be checked by a doctor as soon as possible or healing time will be longer. Take care of injuries properly to avoid more damage and to start training again as soon as possible.