[quote]
Brill JB, Keane MW.
Associates for Professional Counseling, Coral Springs, FL 33065.
This study described the prevalence of supplement use by 309 male and female competitive bodybuilders. Participants completed a comprehensive survey detailing their supplementation patterns with respect to frequency of product use, spending characteristics, and reasons for use. Supplement use varied with training phase. Protein powder was more popular in the bulking phase, amino acids and fat burners in the cutting phase. Fifty-nine percent of respondents spent $25-100 per month; 4.9% spent over $150. The most popular reason for supplement use was “to meet extra demands of heavy training.” In the bulking phase, both weight gain and anabolic supplements were reportedly consumed more frequently by men than women. In the cutting phase, “fat burners” were reportedly consumed by a greater percentage of females than males. The information provided by this study can help sport nutritionists identify supplements most often consumed by bodybuilders and can aid counselors as they guide bodybuilders towards more healthful nutrition practices. [/quote]
Was looking in pub med for something else and i read this.
Apparently we eat unhealthily ^^
Everyone start eating more Mc Donals please.
I think that the article was more targeted towards the dependency that many bodybuilder’s have on additional supplements beyond food. It never really said that they eat unhealthy, it is just trying to make a claim that the additional use of supplements is a somewhat unhealthy nutrition practice.
This was most likely written by somebody who does not understand not only the demands of bodybuilding, but the goals as well. My dad is a doctor and he always asks why I take certain supplements, citing to me the different studies that say they have no shown advatnages. Well, if you look at many medical publications (I have been bored in his office more than once), there are similar claims made that steroids have shown no advantage to help grow muscle! All I can say is that you have to try things for yourself and see how you react to them.
Oh yeah, the only way I can see supplement use as unhealthy is if it becomes the kind of use where you become mentally dependent on the supplement to perform. I have met so many people in my gym who say things like, “I just can’t do it today, I ran out of my (supplement).” I respond to people by challenging themselves to try and go a few months without said supplement and see how they feel.
It can’t be denied that bodybuilders sometimes overdo their supplementation. However, I don’t think health should be measured in what supplements they take and how much. Give them physical tests, I say. Let them run a mile and monitor their vitals. Make them do strongman stuff. You get the drift.
I expect the advice would be to drink more milk instead of protein shakes, because it’s gotta be more healthful and will help recovery & muscle growth more efficiently. Errr, no.
Brill JB, Keane MW.
Associates for Professional Counseling, Coral Springs, FL 33065.
This study described the prevalence of supplement use by 309 male and female competitive bodybuilders. Participants completed a comprehensive survey detailing their supplementation patterns with respect to frequency of product use, spending characteristics, and reasons for use. Supplement use varied with training phase. Protein powder was more popular in the bulking phase, amino acids and fat burners in the cutting phase. Fifty-nine percent of respondents spent $25-100 per month; 4.9% spent over $150. The most popular reason for supplement use was “to meet extra demands of heavy training.” In the bulking phase, both weight gain and anabolic supplements were reportedly consumed more frequently by men than women. In the cutting phase, “fat burners” were reportedly consumed by a greater percentage of females than males. The information provided by this study can help sport nutritionists identify supplements most often consumed by bodybuilders and can aid counselors as they guide bodybuilders towards more healthful nutrition practices.
Was looking in pub med for something else and i read this.
Apparently we eat unhealthily ^^
Everyone start eating more Mc Donals please.
[/quote]
This study doesn’t directly claim that bodybuilders eat unhealthily. It claims that competitive bodybuilders use supplements and a survey conducted shows which they use more as if this will aid “counselors” in their guidance. Either way, this study, like many others is a waste of time and money.
Competitive bodybuilders obviously take this more seriously than some weekend warrior and someone carrying much more muscle than average is probably going to need some supplemental help to get what they require especially when preparing for a competition.
The average nutritionist seems to believe any more protein than maybe 10% of total intake is too much and will kill you. Most competitive bodybuilders would avoid someone like that like the plague.
The goal in competitive bodybuilding isn’t to be the most healthy person on stage. That is the goal of granola eating health freaks who think they can extend their lives by only eating lettuce.
it’s about time these people stopped worrying about the fit active people who spend their lives dedicated to making themselves better people through hard training and dedication. their cannot be a better informed, more nutrionaly sound and body aware community than the bodybuilders.
wouldn’t these people who conduct these studies do more good by investing their time and money into finding ways of improving the nutritional habits of the average couch potato and stop attacking the people who probably represent a good section of the more healthy part of the population?
I would say some bodybuilders don’t hav the best choices but I eat like a horse. It’s all opinion, there’s so much shit out there about nutrition someone can say anything and at least one person would believe them.
I think in general, the use of “suuplements”, in any regard is fine, but in the little world of bodybuilding, they become looked at as staples that you cannot make any progress without.
Especially among newbs, and younger males. You would not believe the crap I hear (and see) among the high school kids working out at my gym. THese guys have made no gains in the short time they’ve been training, yet they still couldn’t train at all without the latet supplements ending in a ‘tech’. I see these two totally pudgy (well, one is just ‘fat’) kids who train together, I have never seen either one come in without some sort of sugared up, caffeine, preworkout, Nitric Oxide drink in their hands. They then proceed to waste their time on a few machines, keep rolling up (flexing in the mirror -lol), and rolling back down their shirt sleeves, and leave after doing nothing that could have remotely stimulated any muscle growth.
Do I use supplemets? Sure, prot poweder, Fish Oils, and sometimes a half does of creatine because I think it aids recovery. People need to remember that you don’t need this stuff, but as I tell many people who ask when I take a protein bar out of my pocket… “I’d much rather be eating a steak every 2-3 hours, but it’s just not feasible, besides, it’d make a mess at work”
I didn’t see the word “unhealthy” anywhere in the article.
The very last sentence talked about sports nutritionists developing more healthful diets for bodybuilders, and I think what it meant was that now nutritionists have a better idea of what bodybuilders use and can work with that info.
If that doesn’t say you or i eat unhealthily then maybe im misunderstanding american english or something …
“guide you towards MORE healthfull nutrition”
So for Flameout drink more olive oil :o
For protein drink LOTS of milk
etc etc
[quote]Corkonian wrote:
The information provided by this study can help sport nutritionists identify supplements most often consumed by bodybuilders and can aid counselors as they guide bodybuilders towards more healthful nutrition practices.
If that doesn’t say you or i eat unhealthily then maybe im misunderstanding american english or something …
“guide you towards MORE healthfull nutrition”
So for Flameout drink more olive oil :o
For protein drink LOTS of milk
etc etc
[/quote]
There is a bit of ambiguity there. It’s not clear whether they mean healthier nutritional practices with or without supplements.
Well, in all honesty bodybuilding isn’t the most “healthy” activity.
Sure it’s better than sitting on your ass watching TV and eating fries, but weighing 250 etc isn’t exactly “healthy.”
Also, remember that a lot of bodybuilders totally rely on supplements and the same small range of foods. If you are eating eggs, milk, protein powder, oats and chicken/beef every day that’s not exactly healthy either. Variety is what you need for a healthy diet and it’s no secret that lots of bodybuilders (or just gym rats) will eat the same thing every day to reach their goals. I know I have certainly fallen into that pattern.
Of course there are lots of benefits to weight-bearing exercise but like anything it can be taken to an extreme.
Bear in mind that most medical definitions of healthy revolve around weighing 140lbs, doing cardio and eating lots of fruit and veg.
[quote]IBMS wrote:
Well, in all honesty bodybuilding isn’t the most “healthy” activity.
Sure it’s better than sitting on your ass watching TV and eating fries, but weighing 250 etc isn’t exactly “healthy.”
…
Bear in mind that most medical definitions of healthy revolve around weighing 140lbs, doing cardio and eating lots of fruit and veg.[/quote]
Had amedical once and the doc was happy for me to weigh ~230lb, said it was fine if “it” carried me around (muscle) but not if I had to carry “it” (i.e. fat) that was about 25 years ago.
Well the goal of bodybuilding is to gain muscle and to get lean. Many bodybuilders put those goals ahead of being healthy. This isnt just isolated to bodybuilding though. Other sports have a much higher incidence of traumatic injury they would not have if they werent playing that sport, but there is risks associated with anything.
Also, that “study” was written in 1994, when the state of supplementation in bodybuilding left a lot to be desired.
Another thought: The study group was “competitive bodybuilders”. I have this hilarious picture in my head of Dorian Yates calling up a nutritionist and asking for advice on diet and supplementation.
everything you do will have a “healthy” and “unhealthy” side. even eating potato chips and watching tv can be more healthy in certain ways than being strong and lifting heavy stuff.
in the end it doesnt matter, unhealthy will always exist. its part of the world. just live your life according to what you want, not what will make you live 100 years. after all, personally i dont want to live so long that ill need a nurse to change my diaper and smell like food with mold
Brill JB, Keane MW.
Associates for Professional Counseling, Coral Springs, FL 33065.
… guide bodybuilders towards more healthful nutrition practices.
[/quote]
WTF? I have never understood why some people and every single nutritionist and dietitian are against all supplements. What’s the deal with that? Why would they be inculcated like that in school? Whose interest is it in? Why do they give a shit that I like to pound fish oil, creatine and protein powder, but they don’t care that some fat chick somewhere is pounding down mini-muffins and lattes like they’re going out of style?