Rating: 
Summary: Legitimate Science, Simple Guidelines
Review: If you're serious about gaining strength and lean muscle mass and improving your body composition, you should get this book. Written by two respected sports nutrition researchers, it presents a novel supplementation program for bodybuilders and strength athletes that is vastly different from what most gym rats are now doing yet is fully supported by the best and latest research.The book's "bombshell" contention is that timed carbohydrate intake is more important than protein when it comes to building muscle. Nutrient Timing takes direct aim at what the authors call the "bulk nutrition" mentality: if protein is good, then more protein must be better. "Unfortunately," they say, "you can consume the protein of an entire cow, but if your muscles are not receptive at that particular time, the protein will be wasted." Ivy and Portman cite two conditions that make the muscles receptive to protein. The first is training. By disrupting muscle tissue, high-intensity lifting creates a short-term demand for protein in the muscles. The second key is insulin. Studies show that insulin increases net protein balance in three ways: 1) it increases amino acid transport into the muscle, 2) it stimulates the enzymes that make protein from amino acids, and 3) it reduces the breakdown of protein. To get the full anabolic benefits of insulin requires that you maximize its release after your workouts. Protein is a weak stimulator of insulin. Carbohydrate is a much stronger stimulator of insulin. When carbohydrate and protein are taken together after a workout, insulin release is much greater than when protein is taken alone and it acts as a kind of fuel injector that drives protein synthesis. According to Ivy and Portman, the ideal post-workout supplement will have three to four times as much carbohydrate as protein, and they've got the science to prove it. For example, in one study they cite, a carbohydrate-protein supplement taken after a workout resulted in 38% more protein synthesis than a regular protein shake of the kind that most gym rats use. Nutrient Timing slays many sacred cows of muscle-building nutrition, but in the end it is thoroughly convincing. It is also very practical, explaining exactly what to take and when. The only thing left for you to do is work out!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Scientifically backed-up, 100% capable of applying it in practice, will educate re sports nutrition anyone from the professional to the know-all gym rat. A truly excellent book one rarely finds, makes you realize you can buy a lot with just USD 12!
Negative critics above either: (a) have not read the book cover to cover (admittedly it is not an easy read), and/or (b) think they know everything. Reading the book - even the educated and experinced weightlifter - makes one realize how much valuable and time-saving information a small book like this can contain.
Rating: 
Summary: Great information that needs a more user-friendly format
Review: The authors of this book are prestigious scientists who convincingly make their core point that it is crucial to carefully time the intake of particular types of sports drinks during and after exercise in order to build muscles. The book has a table of contents, extensive bibliography, index, and provides charts for determining one's daily calorie needs as well as sample meal plans for the recommended diet. After carefully studying the book, I wanted to instantly put the authors' ideas into action. Unfortunately, that was very hard to do because the book is not particularly user-friendly: (1) Because the book is aimed at weight lifters, one has to read the authors' other book, The Performance Zone, to find out that their sport-drink recommendations apply to all types of exercise. (2) The book is written like a college textbook rather than a how-to for the general public. (3) The authors don't provide either a list of sources for their sports drinks or do-it-yourself recipes. (4) The math is confusing in the important charts on pages 96-104. They give 3 examples, a 200-lb male who works out an unspecified amount of time once/day who needs 3800 calories/day; a 200-lb male who works out an unspecified amount twice/day who needs 4200 calories/day; a 130-lb-female who works out an unspecified amount once/day who needs 2340 calories/day. All 3 are instructed to drink the same amount of the 3 sports drinks, regardless of muscle mass or length of workout, and only the first male is instructed to take the muscle-growth drink before bed. I believe a 130-lb woman would, logically, require only about HALF of the drinks the 200-lb guys would need, and I can't figure out why everyone wouldn't need the bedtime protein drink. For more detailed info on titrating your dosage, you'll need to go to the authors' other book.
Based on the information in the book, I laboriously created recipes for the drinks and am offering them here to save others the trouble. Note that the authors believe any simple sugar works well for the drink =except= fructose (fruit juice) because it can cause stomach upset in some people. Since I don't have this problem, I use fruit juice in my recipes but have provided the sugar equivalent for those who do. If you use sugar, I recommend that, to improve the taste, you flavor the drink with 1 tablespoon (T) lemon juice, which has only 1 gram (G) carbohydrate (C) per T. The drinks are made in a blender or shaker.
Energy Drink (6P, 24C): Combine fruit juice with water for a total of 16 oz (juice options: 7 oz pear juice OR 7 oz orange juice OR 6 oz pineapple juice). If sugar is preferred, instead of juice use: 2T sugar & 1T lemon juice in 16 oz water. Add 5 teaspoon (t) whey protein powder (calculated using Designer Whey Protein natural flavor, 19P, 2C per 1/3 cup). Add a few grains of potassium chloride (e.g. Nu-Salt salt substitute) & a few grains of table salt. Add 1/8t of Vitamin C crystals, a few drops of Vitamin E oil, 1G leucine powder, and the contents of a broken-open, gelatin capsule of magnesium powder (all from healthfood store). Blend well. Note: add enough water to this mixture so that you can drink 2 oz 10 minutes before you begin and every 20 minutes thereafter, ending with the final dose 20 minutes before you finish the workout--for a 2-hr workout, that would be 6 2-oz doses, or at least 12 ounces. The book recommends drinking plenty of water, as well.
Anabolic Drink (15P, 45C): 16 oz water plus juice (e.g., 13 oz orange juice OR 13 oz pear juice OR 11 oz pineapple juice). Sugar alternative: 4 T sugar & 1 T lemon juice in 16 oz water. Add 4 T whey protein powder, 2G leucine powder, 2G glutamine powder (healthfood store), pinch Vit. C crystals, few drops Vit. E oil. Drink the whole thing right after your workout--or within 45 minutes at the latest.
Growth Drink (20P, 4C): 2/3 cup water, 1/3 cup fat-free milk (provides 4C & 3P--2G of the P is casein & 1G whey), 3G leucine powder, 1G glutamine powder, 13G whey protein powder (3T & scant 4th T), 1/4t sugar. Note: some may be horrified that I provide the 2G of casein required for this drink from plain, nonfat milk instead of fancy casein protein powder. By all means use that if you have it on hand, simply substituting 2G of casein powder for the milk and adding a tad more whey protein and water to your batch. Drink the whole thing 2-4 hours after the workout and make another batch to drink at bedtime.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific
Review: This book is incredible. If you are well versed in recent sports nutrition research you are probably already familiar with a lot of what is presented here, however, this is definitely the best presentation of this information I have come across yet. The only other book I know of to discuss many of the topics presented here is "Optimal Muscle Performance and Recovery", by the late Edmund Burke, which was my favorite before "Nutrient Timing". As strength athletes, however, our specifics are usually relegated to a single chapter in a book focusing primarily on nutrition for endurance athletes. From there we are usually left to interpolate information not necessarily targeted to us. No more is this the case. We now have a book based entirely on recent research tailored specifically to our needs. This is a very quick and easy read and is the best presentation of nutrition for strength athletes I have yet to encounter. Keep in mind, it does assume a previous understanding of basic nutrition principles. Money spent on this book is money well spent... terrific.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent -- if a little difficult -- read.
Review: Well, the Bad News, first: Let' be honest - this is not easy reading. It's not like one of "Men's Health" articles that say, "Eat this -- not that," with pictures. I've read it through a dozen times now. The Good News? EXCELLENT INFORMATION. It has given me amazing results and gotten me off my plateau. It has really changed the way I work out, for the better. Thank you Ivy and Portman!
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