Fit With Nick

I read an interesting article on Yahoo today:

Sports Supplement Linked to Cardiac Issues, Death

On the one hand, I can see this being another case that is blown way out of proportion by the media that is constantly bashing the sports supplement industry. However, having tried this stuff before, I can say that the energy boost that it gives is no joke. I would be interested in finding out if the two cited cases had previous undiagnosed heart conditions. It would not surprise me if DMAA was shown to exacerbate such issues.

For a little background on DMAA, we will consult a few peer-reviewed studies thanks to Google Scholar. Dimethylamylamine, or geranamine, is a stimulant product commonly used pre-exercise as a lift, sometimes in combination with caffeine. It is sometimes labelled as naturally occuring from geranium oil, but a 2012 study proved this to be false. This was backed up by a later study in the same year. Bloomer et. al. examined the acute effects of supplementing with DMAA, and found that systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and rate pressure product all showed a statistically significant increase following DMAA consumption. Each of these showed an even greater increased when DMAA was paired with caffeine. The authors also found that heart rate was unaffected by DMAA use. Perhaps worst of all, a September 2011 study indicated that exercise performance as measured by run time was not affected by supplementation of DMAA or a combination of DMAA and caffeine.

None of this proves one way or the other whether DMAA played a significant role in the tragic deaths of the two soldiers. It is a reminder though to always research what you are putting in your body. Information is too readily available nowadays to not take a few seconds to Google any unknown supplement ingredients. Otherwise, the freedom that the dietary supplement industry currently enjoys could disappear.

For more reading about the DMAA incidents, see:

Stars and Stripes

Allow me to preface this post by saying that anything that gets people active has its positive aspects. That being said, many folks need to temper their expectations when it comes to fitness results. Too often people get discouraged when they do not see the kind of weight loss that they expected within the first few weeks. News flash – a vast majority of new exercisers will not experience immediate weight loss. There are several reason for this: water retention, poorly regulated diet, significantly overestimating calories burned through exercise, exaggerating exercise frequency and so on.

A major culprit in this culture of increasingly unrealistic expectations and the collective propensity to bounce around between exercise programs (though never truly sticking with one) is the NBC program “The Biggest Loser.” As I mentioned before, anything that will get people active is not all bad. The ensuing overenthusiasm, however, often leads to burnout and disappointment. I liken it to the time my buddy and I were playing Wii bowling. We were so pumped with our 200+ scores that we decided to go out and test our skills at a real alley. Suffice it to say we were not impressed with our 75s.

I often have to remind clients that the contestants on the show are monitored 24/7, have a full medical team on site, and get to spend hours a day with their trainers. The peer pressure from fellow contestants is another driving force allowing these individuals to stay motivated. Not to mention a $250,000 incentive. It has been well documented that contestants rarely maintain their finale weight, sometimes due to dangerous practices such as self induced dehydration. It should be abundantly clear that results on “The Biggest Loser” are not a good barometer by which to measure results at the beginning of a new exercise program for a normal individual.