Maltodextrin & Caffeine

WHAT IS MALTODEXTRIN?Maltodextrin is a form of sugar. It is a actually a hydrolysate of starch, generally from potato starch, and is used in many energy boosting products, meal replacements, weight gainers and often as a type of filler in liquid sports drinks. Being a man made, altered form of sugar, it is actually quite a complex molecule, unlike simple sugars such as dextrose. Rated against the glycemic index maltodextrin shows a much slower release than typical sugar into the blood stream as glucose and so makes it a perfect choice for sustained liquid energy. In simple terms, all ingested carbohydrate enters our blood stream as glucose, where it is either used for energy, stored as glycogen in muscle cells or converted into triglycerides and stored as body fat. (this is why when people consume too many sugars especially high fructose corn syrup, along with a lot of juices & sweet foods, your body cannot use up all of those sugars for energy at one time so they're then converted into glycogen and converted into fat for storage)

Only so much energy can be used up in a certain unit of time and only so much glucose can be stored within muscle cells until they are full. And so if a carbohydrate enters our system very fast and in a large quantity, our bodies release insulin to deposit the excess energy as stored fat to be used at a later time. If we can slow the release of the carbohydrate down this makes it much easier for the body to deal with, having small regular releases of copable amounts of glucose entering the system over a period of time. This stabilizes our energy levels, blood sugar levels and lowers the risk of gaining body fat. Typically a slow releasing carbohydrate such as maltodextrin can sustain energy release for a number of hours, fueling good workouts and feelings of fullness and good positive energy.

This is why maltodextrin, being liquid, is clearly a better choice for the majority of good sports supplements rather than fast releasing high glycemic carbohydrates often found in cheap weight gainers or poorly processed proteins. The exception to this is often in good creatine transport systems where the main ingredient is dextose a fast release carbohydrate, however the reason for this is to force creatine into the muscle cell as fast as possible. Of course these type of drinks should generally be avoided if the goal is to reduce bodyfat levels.

HOW MUCH SHOULD I USE AND WHEN?Maltodextrin is used in varying amounts depending upon the goal wishing to be achieved. Often from as little as 10g in some meal replacements, which is less than a small apple, to 100g in some weight gainers. Regarding the release speed of carbohydrates, many companies now add fiber and a little essential fatty acids to the formula, both adding to the slowing of stomach digestion of the carbohydrate.
Maltodextrin tends to be the main constituent of most energy drinks and rehydration sports drinks. Usually finding a dose of between 50 - 100g a serving cited to be used before, during and after training. Of course this dosing schedule is individualised depending upon the result required. These formulas often contain small amounts of dextrose for a fast release of energy, a little fructose to resupply liver glycogen fast and often mineral salts such as sodium and potassium to aid the body to rehydrate - very important factor in most sports especially those cardiovascular based.

Maltodextrin can be bought at GNC/Vitamin World in supplements, but personally, I receive my maltodextrin from Monster energy drinks and AMP energy drinks. I sip on these before I work out and during my workout. For me, I train at the gym 2hours at a time so my body needs those sugars(carbs) for energy to burn during my workouts. And caffeine helps lower my RPE(rate of percieved exertion), basically increasing my tolerance for pain and exertion while I'm working out. This means that I can push myself harder during my training than normal. In my fundamentals of exercise training class a couple years ago, I read many articles from sports physiologists and studies showing that caffeine before workouts/exercise do help in mental alertness but also lower the RPE for a given person.

*1.4 - 2.3 g of caffeine per lb of body weight is recommended based on these studies*

Don't eat McDonald's!!

Life is good and everything is fine. Having more good times than bad, better days than boring days. Everyday since graduation has been a progressive or fun day for me. I am single, no debt, saving up for santa barbara in 2 weeks, possible san diego trip in July again, and then SEOUL!!! I can't wait to go up there and be with my Capoeira CDO (cordao de ouro) FAM BAM! I can't wait to experience the korean culture out there! Xango, Berinjela, Prea e possibly Sapo and I will be getting into a lot of trouble out there! I have to get my passport ready! Anyways, I've been too busy to blog anything lately. Haven't really watched TV at all for the past 3 months because of school, capoeira, babysitting, hangin out with the homies..and working 5 nights a week. haha. I've been teaching myself portuguese for 2 weeks now at barnes & Noble just sitting there for a few hours 4-5x a week. Last week I went to San Diego for the Capoeira Mandinga event so this weekend I'm getting right back into things. haha. Time for capoeira class in Vallejo!

-TCHAU!

deserve

When life has situations that aren't pleasant, you must appreciate what's already in front of you and progress with your intended goals. I've always been one to focus on happiness, self-realization, and reaching a physical potential with myself. But at the same time, I'm pretty stubborn when it comes to certain things, and maybe that has acted against via karma with my unfortunate disappointments in the past which has delayed my college graduation.

But I'm through it and will always persevere through the hard times. The beginning of this semester and year was really hard for me and honestly don't know where the last 4 months of my life have taken me but I'm glad it happened. This last semester of school I've really became closer to some fellow kinesiology classmates that are for sure my brodies for life..haha. (FYI : bro + buddy = brody) . I finally found more time for myself to train, exercise, and be there a little bit more for my family. Being an older brother and uncle has always humbled me to being a mentor and positive role model for my younger sibling, and even older siblings- I'm the first person in my family to finish college and it feels great! Even though it took me a long time, the fact still remains: I DID IT! Bachelor of Science Degree - Exercise Science Concentration (aka Pre-Physical Therapy)

Now I can't wait for the summer. I feel like so much weight is finally off my shoulders and I can just focus on me. This summer all I have planned really is teaching myself portuguese through books and CD's. Although I will be partying up like a beast this weekend, monday I'm going straight to Barnes & Noble 4-5 days a week after I hit up the gym from capoeira or mma training and learn as much portuguese as much and as fast as I can.

In the Fall I will turn in my packet for the Army to become a Field Medical Assistant/Platoon Leader.

And after this week I will see how soon I will be going to Korea! I want to go to Seoul to hang out with my bredren Zumbi! He's awesome and is one of my highly respected Cordao De Ouro Capoeira brother. He told me before that all I need to do is find a flight out to see him and he'll take care of the rest. Well, I'm going to find out what dates are best suiting for me and I will be taking a week vacation from everything and go up to Korea for a week. I just have to get my plans straight Zumba! But don't trip, Logan's comin up and we're gonna tear up those reggae clubs! haha

For now.. I'm going to enjoy this week with a big ass smile on my face because Saturday morning at 8:30am my commencement starts!

PEACE

Logan C.D.O.

you'll only pay attention to 150 people if they're worth it...

The Magic of 150
Your brain is hard wired to pay attention to about 150 people. Try to have a relationship with any more than that, and your life will turn to pure crap. Just ask the Military, Gore-Tex, or Krippendorf's tribe. They'll all tell you the same thing. One fifty is the way to go. They've known for hundreds of years that people work best in groups of 150 or less. Now it's your turn.
The human cortex, responsible for complex thought and reasoning, is overgrown in humans when compared to other mammals. Scientists have argued for years about why this is the case.
One theory holds that our brains evolved because our primate ancestors began to gather food in more complex ways. They began eating fruit instead of grasses and leaves. This involved traveling long distances to find food, and required each species to maintain a complex mental map in order to keep track of fruit trees. More brainpower might have been needed to determine if a fruit was ripe, or to discern proper methods for peeling fruit or cracking nuts.

The problem with this theory is that if one tries to match brain size with the eating habits of primates, it doesn't work. Some small-brained monkeys are eating fruit and maintaining complex maps and some larger brained primates are eating leaves. What does work, apparently, is group size. If one examines any species of primate, the larger their neocortex, the larger the average size of the group they live with.
Anthropologist Robin Dunbar has done some of the most interesting research in this area. Dunbar's argument is that as brains evolve, they become larger in order to handle the unique complexities of larger social groups. Humans socialize the largest social groups because we have the largest cortex. Dunbar has developed an equation, which works for most primates, in which he plugs in what he calls the neocortex ratio of a particular species - the size of the neocortex relative to the size of the brain - and the equation gives us the maximum expected group size for each species. For humans, the max group size is 147.8, or about 150. This figure seems to represent the maximum amount of people that we can have a real social relationship with - knowing who another human is and how they relate to us.

Dunbar has gone through anthropological literature and found that the number 150 pops up over and over again. For example, he looked at 21 different hunger-gatherer societies around the world and found that the average number of people in each village was 148.4.
The same pattern holds true for military organization. Over the years, through trial and error, military planners have arrived at a rule of thumb for the size of a functional fighting unit - 200 men. They have realized that it is quite difficult to make any larger a group than this to function as a unit without complicated hierarchies and rules and regulations and formal measures to insure loyalty and unity within the group. With a group of 150 or so, formalities are not necessary. Behavior can be controlled on the basis of personal loyalties and direct man-to-man contacts. With larger groups, this seems impossible.

Further is the religious group known as the Hutterites, who for hundreds of years, through trial and error, have realized that the maximum size for a colony should be, low and behold, 150 people. They've been following this rule for centuries. Every time a colony approaches this number, the colony is divided into two separate colonies. They have found that once a group becomes larger than that, "people become strangers to one another." At 150, the Hutterites believe, something happens that somehow changes the community seemingly overnight. At 150 the colony with spontaneously begin dividing into smaller "clans." When this happens a new colony is formed.
Another good example of our hard wired social limits is Gore Associates, a privately held multimillion-dollar company responsible for creating Gore-Tex fabric and all sorts of other high tech computer cables, filter bags, semiconductors, pharmaceutical, and medical products. What is most unique about this company is that each company plant is no larger than 150.

When constructing a plant, they put 150 spaces in the parking lot, and when people start parking on the grass, they know it's time for another plant. Each plant works as a group. There are no bosses. No titles. Salaries are determined collectively. No organization charts, no budgets, no elaborate strategic plans. Wilbert Gore - the late founder of the company, found through trial and error that 150 employees per plant was most ideal. "We found again and again that things get clumsy at a hundred and fifty," he told an interviewer some years ago.

Take a lesson from this. If you are engaged in a large enterprise or are planning to work for one, realize that large groups rapidly reduce the efficiency of an operation. If each department is separated, especially if there are hundreds or thousands of people involved, complex systems of organizations will be required to keep everyone in check. Peer pressure is much more powerful than the somehow vague concept of a boss or punishment. People will work only hard enough not to get fired in a very large group, but will live up to the expectations of their peers in smaller groups where they have a personal relationship with each of their co-workers. Of course, a small group size is not by any means a guarantee of success. Small enterprises fail all the time. It's just a concept -- an idea to keep in the back of your mind as you vegetate in that basement cubicle.

R.I.M Dunbar, "Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates," Journal of Human Evolution (1992), vol. 20, pp. 469-493.