Saez

About 14 adults came out this Sunday morning for a 3-hour Volleyball training session at GLC. I had the pleasure to design and coach this routine based on several principles that have helped my athletic ability and improved my overall game.

The focus is on agility, conditioning, ball control and coordination during high muscle strain. I’m confident that stretching beyond confort should have sustained benefits. This routine assumes intermediate level of volleyball ability as well as decent core athletic ability. Here’s the routine with all the details (runtime: 90 minutes):

Warm-up

• Run (straight, side step, cross leg)
• Lunges in passing position (two court lengths)
• Squats

Stretch

• Quadriceps
• Glut
• Wide leg hanging down
• One leg hamstring stretch (standing)
• Side Lunge
• Runner’s stretch
• Plank to downward dog (calf stretch)
• Head roll
• Tapas (on squat position, extended arms sideways with palms up)
• Shoulders (circles)
• Hip side yoga
• One arm across shoulder and triceps combo

Conditioning & Skill Development

• On the line runs
• Plyometrics (blocking) - lunge jump, squat jump, knee tug, frog jump
• Off the floor passing
• Scatterball
• 2-person pepper
• 4-person pepper
• Blind passing
• Hitting drills (target aim deep - line and cross court)
• off the floor doubles
• Suicide hitting (men pushups, laddies run to back line)
• Progressive or king of the court doubles

As summer is coming to and end, you guys are ready to take the game to the next level. Wow! I was glad and inspired to see your dedication and intensity. Now, I hope that you can survive the next two days of potential soreness. Nice job!

written by osaez \\ tags: conditioning, drills, training, volleyball

A while ago I started the quest to find the best muscle recovery and energy supplement in the market. This was not meant as a broad scientific experiment, after all it’s my body! I trusted the recommendation from several closed friends on this subject and wrote about it in a previous post. My goal was to improve my overall strength and endurance during sports conditioning training. After a lot of reading, I came to understand (and agreed) that the best way to improve strength and endurance was to accelerate the body recovery after workouts. This is, focus on natural antioxidants and amino chain supplements only. While this is still heavily debated, I feel that this approach is the most effective and natural, instead of going down a performance enhancing supplement route.

The basis for my experiment was to use each product for a period of 2-3 weeks and pay attention to my body reaction and results. I tried to followed the recommended usage on each case. The sample set included three different formulations:

1. Endurox
2. MaxGXL
3. Cocktail of L-Glutamine, BCAA and One-a-Day vitamin

Observations

I took MaxGXL during my 3-month P90X workout. I noticed improved recovery, more energy and mental alertness. Take one 3-pill packet to take once a day. If you know me, I’m pretty hyper and always active just with water. However, I did notice that my energy level increased during the day. I was also able to increase the intensity of my workouts and pump a few more reps consistently.

Then, I took Endurox during my VBall pre-season training. Endurox R4 comes in powder form. You mix with water and take as an after workout recovery drink. Good taste, somewhat heavy but not chalky. I did notice much quicker recovery time and felt less sore the next morning. Again, this help me felt more eager to want my next workout. Not sure that my intensity during workout changed much though. During volleyball tournament, where you play the whole day, I took Endurox midday and felt that it digested very quickly and it pushed me for a strong 2nd wind.

Lately, I’ve been trying a cocktail of 3-5 grams of L-Glutamine with 1gram of BCAA. I like the Optimum brand. Good reputation and support through positive feedback and a wide array of products and sizes. I take BCAA and Glutamine (3-4 pills alltogether, once a day). Again, I notice good recovery and feel less sore after workouts. During workout, I feel comfortable increasing the intensity in early reps and feel more durable over time.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Since my training and activity level changed during my test over several months, I’m unable to isolate the results and declare a clear winner.

All formulations yielded positive results. I suggest any option to anyone thinking seriously about increasing their strength and endurance.

Endurox was great not only for after-workout recovery but also as a food suplement during long-day tournaments.

MaxGXL seems to have more of an edge on sustained energy during the day.

For 7 months, I haven’t had any cold, serious headache or muscle aches. I feel these do enhanced immune function by increasing the body glutathione levels. All good!

In terms of cost per day, Endurox is the most expensive followed by MaxGXL and the cheapest being the BCAA/Glutamine/Vitamin cocktail.

BCAA contributes to protein absorbption which has an edge on lean muscle development if used in combination with Whey protein.

I notice no negative side effects.

Final Thoughts

Although my tests are not conclusive, I really like the Endurox as a recovery drink after heavy workouts and all-day tournaments. I will likely continue to combine the Endurox with either MaxGXL or my cotcktail. I feel my cocktail could be more effective as I can tune the amount of Glutamine and BCAA whereas the MaxGXL is a fixed amount. I like the MaxGXL since I felt more alert and a bit more energy during the day. Although there are many other environment factors and I’m unable to stock to this claim for good. Bottom line, pick one or the other here. it works!

Please feel free to share your thoughts here.

written by osaez \\ tags: body building, glutamine, health, nutrition, supplements

Swimming legend Dara Torres makes history at the age of 41 by becoming the oldest member of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Team. My P90X training taught me the importance of stretching and joga. One of Dara  secrets to success is resistance streching. This is an inspiring story and her techniques are definetely worth reviewing. I’ll be cheering for her all the way later this year at the Olympics.

written by osaez \\ tags: dara torres, inspiring, stretching, workout

I’ve been taking one Whey protein shake after workouts. This is about twice or three times a week. I read that this improves muscle recovery, especially when you are working out later in the day. I also read about BCAA and two months ago started taking two pills with my shake. BCAA focuses on a chain of non-essential (not naturally occurring in the body) amino-acid credited to be important for recovery and muscle growth.

The results? Unknown and probably not worth it. The original intent was to speed the recovery from P90X which I consider a catabolic AND anabolic workout. I have not noticed any gains in muscle or weight and I’m unclear as to whether this has helped my recovery. After reading further, I’m convinced that I should drop BCAA. I’ll keep doing the shake from time to time, but I’m on the hunt for a good alternative recovery product. Continuing with the P90X workouts while doing tournaments this summer will not be easy without some help.

The basic and most popular compound related to muscle recovery is L-glutamine which is contained in many foods and is a non-essential (naturally produced by the body) amino acid. The body may loose up to 50% of its l-glutamine during workout. Hence, people believe that boosting its intake is the best approach. L-glutamine has a bigger following and for good reasons - read more about l-glutamine benefits here.

So here’s my dilemma, two friends have suggested two different products that I’m now considering.

Friend #1 says to take Max GXL

The research behind glutathione as a powerful antioxidant is clear. However, I found some references suggesting that while glutathione is marketed as a nutritional supplement, it does not appear that it actually hits the blood stream or is effective as it dilutes in the digestive track. Other more effective deliver mechanisms include IV. Clearly, I’m not into this! Further, glutathione is widely available in common foods and supplements including vitamin C, whey protein and alpha-lipoic acid which to help restore intracellular levels of glutathione. So is Max GXL effective? Not sure. I’m a big fan of Acai, pomegranate and mango as high source of antioxidants. On the other hand, L-glutamine promotes the body’s natural production of glutathione, although it puts some strain in the liver and gut. So all things considered, is MaxGXL a better product than just taking l-glutamine? Taking glutamine is much cheaper given the abundance of supplements in the market vs. glutathione.

Friend #2 says to take Endurox

Based on a research of 4:1 ratio (4 carbs for every 1 protein), the company claims to be the best muscle recovery formulation. Again, there is quite a bit more information on this topic, here’s a good article. Many of my volleyball friends take this and so there is more consensus on Endurox as a strong recovery after workout. Here too, you’ll find 450 mg. per service of l-glutamine.

When you are in your 40s and want to stay active, you tend to look for good helpers. Recovery becomes an important factor in the equation of being competitive at this stage. Max GXL and glutathione make claims on several areas of latic acid prevention, muscle ‘cool-down’ for sustain recovery, joints… which sounds a bit like a kitchen sink to get you hook. Endurox is more focused on after workout muscle recovery containing the more populate l-glutamine form.

Who should I listed too? I’ll try these out and come back with a full report later on. If you have any experience with any of these, let’s hear it!

written by osaez \\ tags: bcaa, glutamine, glutathione, health, recovery, supplements