Experts at The University of Nottingham are to investigate the effect of nutrients on muscle maintenance in the hope of determining better ways of keeping up our strength as we get old.

The researchers, based at the School of Graduate Entry Medicine and Health in Derby, want to know what sort of exercise we can take and what food we should eat to slow down the natural loss of skeletal muscle with ageing.

The team from the Department of Clinical Physiology, which has over 20 years experience in carrying out this type of metabolic study, need to recruit 16 healthy male volunteers in two specific age groups to help in it’s research.

Skeletal muscles make up about half of our body weight and are responsible for controlling movement and maintaining posture. However, at around 50 years of age our muscles begin to waste at approximately 0.5 per cent to one per cent a year. It means that an 80 year old may only have 70 per cent of the muscle of a 50 year old.

Since the strength of skeletal muscle is proportional to muscle size, such wasting makes it harder to carry out daily activities requiring strength, such as climbing stairs and leads to a loss of independence and an increased risk of falls and fractures.

In order for skeletal muscles to maintain their size, the large reservoirs of muscle protein require constant replenishment in the way of amino acids from protein contained within the food we eat. In fact, amino acids from our food act not only as the building blocks of muscle proteins but also actually ‘tell’ our muscle cells to build proteins.

Recent research from the clinical physiology team has shown that the cause of muscle wasting with ageing appears to be an attenuation of muscle building in response to protein feeding. In other words, as we age we lose the ability to covert the protein in the food we eat in to muscle tissue. The proposed research will investigate the mechanisms responsible for this deficit.

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Article adapted by MD Sports from original press release.
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Contact: Lindsay Brooke
University of Nottingham

If you decide to make the choice to begin bodybuilding, it is good to keep in mind not to become too overzealous and burn itself out too quickly, or even worse, injure yourself. Someone beginning bodybuilding should take it as a gradual process that will eventually lead to more experienced exercise routines.

Below are some suggestions and tip’s for bodybuilding beginners if that is what you choose to pursue.

Diet And Bodybuilding

One of the most important aspects for beginning bodybuilders is diet. If you keep eating fast food or other kinds of junk food you cannot have any expectations to be successful at this sport. When it comes to sculpting your body discipline is one of the main necessities. That is why it is recommended by trainers that you start to consume primarily meat, nuts, fish, grain and milk. Foods such as these are low in fat, as well as high in protein that will assist in helping build muscle as well as increase your metabolism.

Your Workout Routine

Concerning your workout regimen, starting off slowly is important for beginners in this sport. Beginners in this activity in the beginning come to the realization that even though they really want to look as if they have the same physique as bodybuilders on the cover of magazines, or on TV, it is a work in progress. Bodybuilding beginners should start with two sets of repetitions with roughly a minute of rest in between.

They should do this for roughly 45 minutes, 4 days a week. After four weeks have passed, after allowing a body and a time to build itself up, at that point the bodybuilder can start to move gradually up to 60 minutes of a workout while doing three sets of repetitions with roughly a minute of rest in between. At approximately this point, their body should slowly start to change, muscle should be gained and fat should be lost.

Along with exercise and diet, rest is equally important with bodybuilding beginners. This is vitally important, as the individuals muscles need to grow during this period. At a minimum six to eight hours of sleep is recommended per night.

Whatever Your Desires and Goals Are

Whether you want to get into bodybuilding for competitive reasons or for your own personal achievement, it is essential for beginners in this sport to be on a gradual process. Making sure that proper rest, diet and exercise are accomplished is important to physical success. At first do not concern yourself about looking like a bodybuilder immediately; focus on a workout plan that will work for your specific body type as well as your specific goals.

Article Republished From: Liberated Press Releases a web site that DOESN’T use Google Adsense text links in or around articles.

Author Resource:- Listen to Corbin Newlyn as he shares his insights as an expert author and an avid writer in the field of bodybuilding. If you would like to learn more go to Bodybuilding Advice and at Female Bodybuilding tips.

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Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), commonly know as anabolic steroids, are manufactured substances related to male sex hormones (e.g., testosterone). “Anabolic” refers to muscle-building and “androgenic” refers to increased male sexual characteristics. “Steroids” refers to the class of drugs. These drugs can be legally prescribed to treat conditions resulting from steroid hormone deficiency, such as delayed puberty, but also body wasting in patients with AIDS and other diseases that result in loss of lean muscle mass.

How are AAS Abused?

Some people, both athletes and non-athletes, abuse AAS in an attempt to enhance performance and/or improve physical appearance. AAS are taken orally or injected, typically in cycles of weeks or months interrupted by shorter resting periods (this is referred to as “cycling”). In addition, users often combine several different types of steroids, a practice referred to as “stacking.”

How Do AAS Affect the Brain?

The immediate effects of AAS in the brain are mediated by their binding to androgen and estrogen receptors, which can then shuttle into the cell nucleus to influence patterns of gene expression. Because of this, the acute effects of AAS in the brain are substantially different from those of other drugs of abuse. The most important difference is that AAS are not euphorigenic, meaning that they do not trigger rapid increases in the neurotransmitter dopamine, which are responsible for the “high” that often drives substance abuse behaviors. However, long-term use of AAS can eventually have an impact on some of the same brain pathways and chemicals—such as dopamine, serotonin, and opioid systems—that are affected by drugs of abuse. Considering the combined effect of their complex direct and indirect actions, it is not surprising that AAS can affect mood and behavior in significant ways.

AAS and mental health
Taken together, the preclinical, clinical, and anecdotal reports suggest that steroids may contribute to psychiatric dysfunction. Research shows that abuse of anabolic steroids may lead to aggression and other adverse effects.¹ For example, many users report feeling good about themselves while on anabolic steroids, but extreme mood swings can also occur, including manic-like symptoms that could lead to violence.² Researchers have also observed that users may suffer from paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability, delusions, and impaired judgment stemming from feelings of invincibility.

Addictive potential
Animal studies have shown that AAS are reinforcing; that is, animals will self-administer AAS when given the opportunity, just as they do with other addictive drugs.³ This property is more difficult to demonstrate in humans, but the potential for AAS abusers to become addicted is consistent with their continued abuse despite physical problems and negative effects on social relations.⁴ Also, steroid abusers typically spend large amounts of time and money obtaining the drugs, which is another indication of addiction. Individuals who abuse steroids can experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking AAS, such as mood swings, fatigue, restlessness, loss of appetite, insomnia, reduced sex drive, and steroid cravings, all of which may contribute to the need for continued abuse. One of the most dangerous withdrawal symptoms is depression, because, when persistent, it can sometimes lead to suicide attempts.

Research also indicates that some users might turn to other drugs to alleviate some of the negative effects of AAS. For example, a study of 227 men admitted in 1999 to a private treatment center for dependence on heroin or other opioids found that 9.3 percent had abused AAS before trying any other illicit drug. Of these, 86 percent first used opioids to counteract insomnia and irritability resulting from the steroids.⁵

What Other Adverse Effects do AAS Have on Health?

Steroid abuse can lead to serious, even irreversible health problems. Some of the most dangerous among them include liver damage, jaundice (yellowish pigmentation of skin, tissues, and body fluids), fluid retention, high blood pressure, increases in LDL (bad cholesterol), and decreases in HDL (good cholesterol). Other reported effects include renal failure, severe acne, and trembling. In addition, there are some gender- and age-specific adverse effects:

• For men—shrinking of the testicles, reduced sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts, increased risk for prostate cancer
• For women—growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness, changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle, enlargement of the clitoris, deepened voice
• For adolescents—stunted growth due to premature skeletal maturation and accelerated puberty changes; adolescents risk not reaching their expected height if they take AAS before the typical adolescent growth spurt

In addition, people who inject AAS run the added risk of contracting or transmitting HIV/AIDS or hepatitis, which causes serious damage to the liver.

What Treatment Options Exist?

There has been very little research on treatment for AAS abuse. Current knowledge derives largely from the experiences of a small number of physicians who have worked with patients undergoing steroid withdrawal. They have learned that, in general, supportive therapy combined with education about possible withdrawal symptoms is sufficient in some cases. Sometimes, medications can be used to restore the balance of the hormonal system after its disruption by steroid abuse. If symptoms are severe or prolonged, symptomatic medications or hospitalization may be needed.

How Widespread is AAS Abuse?

Monitoring the Future*
Monitoring the Future is an annual survey used to assesses drug use among the Nation’s 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students. Steroid use among all three grades remained unchanged from 2006 to 2007, for both boys and girls, although significant reductions were noted since 2001 for lifetime and past-year use among all grades, and for past-month use among 8th and 10th graders. Among seniors in 2007, past-year steroid use was reported by 2.3 percent of boys versus 0.6 percent of girls.

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Article adapted by Sandco.net Weblog from NIDA.
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