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October 8, 2013 By Greg Nuckols

How hydration affects performance AND muscle, the many benefits of garlic, and two popular supplements that may counteract each other

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Sorry for the delay between posts.  I’m currently in the middle of a *huge* project.  I can’t give details about it right now, but I’m halfway through the first of two major phases.  It’s probably eating 4ish hours a day right now, so in addition to training, school (midterm week), time with Lyndsey, and admiring my beard every time I walk past a reflective surface, I haven’t had time to write as much as I’d like to.  Hopefully that’ll change soon, but I really do appreciate everyone who reads my blog, so I wanted to give you guys a heads up as to what’s been going on.  Sorry I neglected to do so on the front end.

Now that that’s out of the way, I have three pretty exciting nutrition topics to touch on today.  I’d guess all three of them affect most of you on a daily basis.

Hydration

A recent study questions the importance of hydration for performance.  Old research suggested that even minor dehydration could have a major negative impact on performance.  However, the researchers in this new study suggested that the old research had some flaws:  it was performed indoors without any breeze (which would aid in thermoregulation), and the participants weren’t blinded to their hydration status (the ones who were dehydrated knew they were dehydrated and would therefore expect to perform poorly).  They corrected for these methodological errors by using IVs to control hydration, and by having some air blowing over the participants to mimic a breeze.

The result:  mild dehydration had no effect on performance.

So, this means that we can all just forget about hydration now, right?  Not at all!  If you’re worried about long-term performance and not just short-term performance, you still definitely need to consume your liquids.  When I asked Adel Moussa, the guy who runs the Suppversity blog, about this recent study, he sent back two other studies showing how hydration and Angiotensin II (a hormone your body produces to maintain blood volume and blood pressure when you’re dehydrated) can affect protein metabolism.  The less hydrated your cells are and the more Angiotensin II you produce (which inhibits IGF-1, the hormone that mediates most of Growth Hormone’s effects), the less protein you synthesize and the more you break down.

I won’t wade into the mechanisms (I think I understand them, but I’m a coach, not an microbiologist or an endocrinologist – not my area of expertise), but the verdict seems to be that a little dehydration may not screw you too badly in the short term, but keeping well-hydrated is necessary for long-term optimization of health, protein synthesis, and muscle growth.

This bro obviously just gets dehydrated during races. If he drank more water, he’d still be swole. lol jk.

Garlic

If you haven’t checked out Examine.com‘s page on garlic, you need to do so.  Not only is it my favorite seasoning to add to food, it also improves your cholesterol profile, increases nitric oxide production, and (eat your heart out, Vitamin C) decreases how often you get the common cold by 60-70%.  Some anecdotes suggest it also protects against vampires, although research is currently inconclusive about that claim.  Go get some, consume it daily, learn to love it, and always keep breath mints on hand.

You CAN actually overdose on garlic. What a delicious mistake.

Caffeine and Creatine

After protein, I’d wager the most popular supplements in the strength world are creatine and caffeine (either in preworkouts or energy drinks).  However, most people don’t know that caffeine may actually counteract the effects of creatine on force of muscle contraction.  In one study, creatine outperformed placebo, but creatine+caffeine did not.

However, creatine and caffeine combined may be synergistic for high intensity (125% VO2max) running, with caffiene+creatine outperforming placebo and creatine alone.

So, whether caffeine lessens the effects of creatine, it’s hard to say for sure.  Just something to keep in the back of your mind, though.

Related

Filed Under: Articles, Nutrition, Recovery and Mindset

About Greg Nuckols

Greg Nuckols has over a decade of experience under the bar, a BS in Exercise and Sports Science, and a Master's in Exercise Physiology. He’s held 3 all-time world records in powerlifting in the 220 and 242 classes.
 
He’s trained hundreds of athletes and regular folks, both online and in-person. He’s written for many of the major magazines and websites in the fitness industry, including Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Bodybuilding.com, T-Nation, and Schwarzenegger.com. Furthermore, he’s had the opportunity to work with and learn from numerous record holders, champion athletes, and collegiate and professional strength and conditioning coaches through his previous job as Chief Content Director for Juggernaut Training Systems and current full-time work here on Stronger By Science.
 
His passions are making complex information easily understandable for athletes, coaches, and fitness enthusiasts, helping people reach their strength and fitness goals, and drinking great beer.
 
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ryan S says

    October 9, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    I’ve been drinking coffee before my workouts for a while. Just recently started taking creatine. About two weeks now, 5 grams pre workout and 5 grams post workout. I’ve noticed a huge difference. I’ve taken creatine before in the past but never noticed results like I’m getting now. Maybe other factors involved, better diet maybe. All I know is I’ve been smashing PRs like crazy the last couple weeks. Caffeine and creatine are definitely a good combo for me. I’m 36 and I am the strongest I’ve ever been in my life except my shitty deadlift. I feel like I’m recovering the best I have since high school. Anyways, interesting post. Anxious to see what your huge project is. Also, I liked your post on juggernaut the other day.

    Reply
    • Greg Nuckols says

      October 9, 2013 at 2:43 pm

      Thanks Ryan! The difference *seems* to be maximum force output vs. extended output. i.e. it may shave a tiny bit off your max, but improve your training as a whole. However, honestly, it’s an interaction that hasn’t been studied enough to say anything conclusive about.

      I’ll be honest, I typically drink an amp while I’m training. I just figured out those suckers only have 31g of sugar as opposed to 50-70 like most energy drinks, and 20-40g of carbohydrate during training has a pretty substantial effect on decreasing cortisol release.

      It also keeps me from losing my appetite after I train. If I don’t have some carbs during my workout, I typically don’t eat until 3-4 hours post-workout. If I have some carbs during training, I can usually go home and I’ll be hungry by the time I’m done cooking (45 minutes or so).

      Reply
  2. Ryan S says

    October 9, 2013 at 3:50 pm

    Just set another PR on squats about ten minutes ago. That’s right Greg. I read your blog between sets. Anyway, yeah I just started eating carbs during my workouts recently as well. I never ate anything during my workouts before. Can’t believe the difference it makes in my performance and hunger like you described. I’m sure you read the PR smashing nutrition article on juggernaut. I’ve been following that eating plan since the day after they posted it. But I’m eating like 90-100 grams of carbs during my workout and I weigh like 100 pounds less than you. Am I eating too many? I feel great.

    Reply
    • Greg Nuckols says

      October 9, 2013 at 11:05 pm

      i always eat a peanut butter and banana sandwich before I train, so I’m probably over 100g between pre and intra workout.

      Whatcha squat?

      Reply
  3. Ryan S says

    October 10, 2013 at 1:17 am

    My pre workout meal is four eggs and some coffee. And then creatine and BCAAs right before my workout. I stay away from carbs preworkout and then start eating them right after I’m done warming up and continue to eat them throughout my workout. I squatted 375 for five reps today. Previous best at that weight was 3 reps. I also set a PR on shoulder presses today. That’s three straight workouts with at least one PR. Pretty happy with where I’m at right now in my squats. Still got about three months til my competition.

    Reply
    • Greg Nuckols says

      October 10, 2013 at 1:30 am

      You said you weigh 100 pounds less than me. 375×5 at 135? That’s freaking ridiculous. Congrats man.

      Reply
  4. Jeff says

    October 10, 2013 at 10:46 am

    Actually there have been studies about garlic and vampires, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7825135

    Reply
    • Greg Nuckols says

      October 10, 2013 at 1:04 pm

      Sweet jesus. That’s gold.

      Reply
  5. Ryan S says

    October 10, 2013 at 11:51 am

    I weighed in at 169 this morning. I thought you were bigger. But anyways, I think carbs affect different people differently. I’ve experimented alot with my carb timing. I feel much better with no carbs pre workout. And then alot of carbs during my workout. My girlfriend/training partner tried eating carbs during the workout and it doesn’t go well with her at all. And she tried all kinds of different carbs sources. Carbs, in general, don’t go well with her. So she follows a high fat , low carb diet, and does a carb refeed once a week. That’s been working well for her.

    Reply
    • Greg Nuckols says

      October 10, 2013 at 1:07 pm

      That’s still a solid squat at 169! And I wish I were bigger, but nay. I still haven’t fully outgrown the 220 class.

      People definitely handle carbs differently. My default tends to be lower carbs, as well. When I start eating more, I really have to make sure the rest of my diet is dialed in much tighter. However, I’d question how necessary truly “low” carb intake is. I think most people can handle 150-200g no problem, provided the rest of their diet isn’t horrible.

      Reply
  6. Ryan S says

    October 10, 2013 at 3:03 pm

    I guess I’m low carb as well. I wasn’t sure what you meant by low carb. I eat about 200 grams on training days but go lower usually on off days. I work out in the morning so on off days, I eat all my carbs in the evening if I’m training the next day. I don’t count veggies so my carbs are actually a little bit higher than that. My girlfriend doesn’t eat any carbs except for veggies for six days and then does a refeed on Sundays. Carbs of any kind in pretty much any amount make her bloated. But she knows she can’t cut them out completely so she figures its better to be bloated one evening a week than every day. Like she gets seriously bloated. She looks like she’s pregnant after her refeed but then she’s fine the next day. So when’s your next competition? Are you gonna compete at 242 or cut down to 220?

    Reply
    • Greg Nuckols says

      October 10, 2013 at 5:14 pm

      I probably won’t compete until next summer sometime. As for weight class, I’d *like* to take a crack at the all-time untested record at 220 (2080) but do it drug-free. It’ll just depend on where my weight is at the time though.

      Reply
  7. Ryan S says

    October 10, 2013 at 5:18 pm

    That would be awesome if you could break that. As long as you stay healthy, I’m sure you will. If not next year, then later on considering you’re so young.

    Reply
    • Greg Nuckols says

      October 10, 2013 at 5:22 pm

      We’ll just see what happens 🙂

      Reply
  8. David Rivas says

    May 14, 2015 at 2:33 pm

    Hi, Greg really enjoying all of your posts. and i wanted to add a comment to the Creatine+Caffeine affect: i read recently that ingestion of creatine prior to caffeine can actually keep the effects of both the supplements intact i guess i could say. But i wanted to know if you are now aware of those findings.

    Reply
    • Greg Nuckols says

      May 14, 2015 at 2:36 pm

      Nope. If you could send them my way, that would be awesome.

      Reply

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  1. My peri-workout routine | Real Strength says:
    October 10, 2013 at 5:09 pm

    […] in light of my last post about hydration. I will say that neglecting fluid intake doesn’t tend to affect my strength or ability to […]

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