Natural Bodybuilding

by T.S. ESCHHOLZ, Jr, President of Fitness Crafters located in Rockville,MD

In response to the query about natural body building and Shaklee products, I will provide some of my own insight and recommend that you also contact Bobby Brandenburg in Fayetteville, NC. He was a NPC drug free Atlantic Coast bodybuilding champion.

To give you some background, I am a Shaklee Senior Supervisor and a certified strength and conditioning specialist. At this point, I will not accept anyone for training unless they use Shaklee products. I can say without reservation, those people that I have trained over the years who have used Shaklee products are more consistent in their gains, suffer fewer injuries, and recuperate more rapidly than the people who do not use Shaklee products as the base of their dietary/nutrition program.

If I am training someone and that person is not in, or striving to obtain optimal health, that person can never attain the true peak performance of which he/she is capable. If a person is not on a strong Shaklee nutrition program, he/she is not coming close to optimizing his/her health. Consequently, that person is not optimizing his/her athletic performance.

My own introduction to Shaklee was a consequence of meeting Dr. Gary Mendelson through the vehicle of the martial arts. It was 1990, Gary as a 2d Dan was an instructor and he and I began a discussion about nutrition. At the time, I had been involved in investigating and using nutrition products/ supplements since 1973 with the focus of improving sports and combat performance. When Gary mentioned Shaklee, I told him that I had never heard of the company but because I respected him I would play his silly game.

I started with Instant Protein, Vita Lea, Physique, Herb-Lax, and Performance. Four weeks later my bench press was up 40 pounds for a personal best, my squat was up 60 pounds for a personal best, I was doing straight leg dead lifts on a bench with 80 pound dumbbells and in the down position my wrists were on line with the bottom of my feet (another personal best), my body fat dropped from 11% to 9%, my energy level increased, and I was not hungry all the time.

Instant Protein has a ratio of 2 grams protein to 1 gram carbohydrate. There is no other protein source which is better assimilated by the body. Back to the basic health issue (anticancer, cholesterol lowering, etc), everyone should have a minimum of 30 grams (3 of our clear plastic scoops, item code 50251) daily and preferably 60 grams of soy protein daily. An excellent article by Derek Cornelius, owner of Syntrax Innovations Inc, in the Dec 98 IronMan magazine pointed out the advantages of Soy proteins vs Whey.

Some excerpts from that article ... "every 100 grams of whey protein provides 20.1 grams of branch-chain amino acids (BCAA) and 4.9 grams of glutamine ---the amino acid bodybuilders can't seem to get enough of.

For every 100 grams of soy protein you get 18.1 grams of BCAAs -- only two grams less than whey – but you get a whopping 10.5 grams of glutamine, more than double what you get with whey. Glutamine aids in muscle protein synthesis, and because it exits the muscle after intense training, body builders need as much glutamine as they can get. Soy is definitely glutamine-rich, which makes it a bodybuilding super supplement.

Soy also has a number of other hard-to-beat benefits for hard training bodybuilders as well as health conscious people in the general population:

1) It's very inexpensive (my comment -- you cannot get a better value than Shaklee Instant Protein)

2) It has the highest Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS), which is quickly taking over from biological value (BV) as the most accurate measure of protein quality.

3) It's very soluble if processed correctly (my comment – No problem there)

4) It's bland, which is a good thing because it doesn't take much flavoring to make it palatable.

5) It improves kidney function.

6) It's anti-carcinogenic.

7) It's anti-estrogenic, which may help prevent the aromatization of pro-hormones.

8) It lowers low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the bad cholesterol, and raises the high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the good cholesterol.

9) It improves thyroid function.

10) It's not an animal protein, so vegetarians can use it to augment their nutrition. Soy definitely has some outstanding and unique advantages over whey, especially in the muscle building department.

Moving on to Physique. Physique is an amazing product and the research is often quoted in muscle mags without crediting the source while others promote their products on the back of Shaklee research.

Your body builders likely do not realize the importance of the insulin response post training; however, they should be well impressed by the percent BCAA content of Physique.

Based on my reading, I currently use the following formula to determine the optimal post work amount of Physique to use after heavy training. Lean Body Mass (LBM) in lbs divided by 2.2 = LBM in kilograms(Kg); LBM in Kg = carbs required; carbs required divided by 9.5 = scoops (item # 50251) of Physique. 

Physique is optimally taken within five minutes post workout. Taken more than 30 minutes post workout, Physique will not provide the anabolic response. Timeliness with regard to Physique usage is critical. Physique works for both the strength/bodybuilding athlete as well as the endurance athlete.

See if your natural bodybuilders will use Performance for several workouts and get their feedback. I have yet to have anyone not get improved workouts. Optimally, it is used starting 15-30 minutes before starting the work out. Understand that they will likely want to cut back as they approach competition. 

Bobby Brandenburg could likely give you more refined information on that end of things. Performance's blend of electrolytes will help prevent water retention and alfalfa, DTX, and Herb-lax will also facilitate in that area.

T.S. ESCHHOLZ, Jr, President of Fitness Crafters located in Rockville, MD

*For more information on health and wellness as well as our full line of Sports Nutrition products including Performance – a great hydration sports drink, check out our website To Be Healthy – Sports Nutrition.

This information is not intended to replace medical care. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure.