So sport nutrition is a required class for the exercise science major at my school. I’m not complaining as I am no expert, but a few of the thinks my teacher has told us seem to conflict with the info that I’ve learned here. A quick example being you only need about 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight. I know a lot of guys around here including myself have a lot more than that in a day.
He has also gone on to say that supplements like BCAA’s and L-glutamine are a waste because by taking them other amino acids might not be absorbed. He went on to say something like there are channels in you intestines which absorb the different amino acids, and if you single out one of them (ie leucine) then the absorption of others might not happen.
This guy has his masters in Kinesiology/Clinical Exercise Physiology and his PhD in Kinesiology/Exercise Physiology. I’m not knocking this guy, I’m just questioning the info, he’s a really nice guy, but like I said, the info kind of conflicts. But maybe I’m wrong, and its not conflicting and I’m just not getting it.
By the way this is a Sport Nutrition class, not some basic nutrition class focusing on the the average population.
yea man u will see this alot in these type of classes… the answer simply being this is what they learned and thats what they will teach.
try talking to him about the things he says in class. do not argue with him! that will just make your life a living hell in that class. instead bring in articles to back your claims and (most likely) he will respect what you have to say.
some people confuse a lot of issues and cannot see clearly. other problems are that it is hard to actually get people to do something consistently while you are trying to study them so researchers will often ignore the human factor and a lot of poor studies are done.
lets say two people come back after a month of BCAA use and neither got any extra benefit over baseline. further analysis will show that one subject ate so poorly that he cannot be a reasonable data point for anything, and the second subject was consuming 3.5-4g protein/kg LBM. problem is this further analysis is never done. both subjects will be part of the no results group, even though the data should not be valid.
in more controlled settings like working with groups of athletes whose diets and training you control and they have a 90% compliance rate, results are more cut and dry since we have better data to work with, even if it is a smaller set. i can tell you for a fact that when we have subjects who are very much in control of their diets, and they add BCAA, usually they see quite a benefit unless they are already consuming large amounts of protein.
the doses commonly used are not high enough to seriously alter uptake, and in fact certain concoctions like Surge actually are designed for rapid uptake. anyone worried about a few grams of BCAAs seriously impairing uptake of other amino acids is barking up the wrong tree, medical conditions excepted - but that doesn’t apply to healthy people.
the truth is no one strategy will work for everyone and even an expert like myself or someone at the top like JB will still require some time to really get someone tweaked as we learn what that one individual responds to.
many times i have seen individuals in this field deny something works for no better reason than they really aren’t up to speed and haven’t really studied all the available literature. then again, still not a magic bullet.
Play the roll. On your exams give the answer they are looking for, but know in the back of your mind what the truth is. I had the same problem when I got my Exer Physio degree. The profs taught stuff that conflicted and they looked like crap to boot. Then you look at someone like Dr. John Berardi who walks the walk and you know who and what to believe. But JB isnt handing out degrees, so just feed them what they want to hear and apply what you know to be true. I know plenty of physio and nutrition profs would benefit greatly from this website, but their ego would prevent that.
I get what you guys are all saying. I’m not really worried about how I’m going to do in class, because I know what the professor wants so I’ll still do well.
I was just concerned about how and why the info is different. It’s starting to make sense.
It’s rarely worth dissenting with a professor during a lecture. If you’re right, it will embarrass him in front of the entire class. If you’re wrong, you’re potentially the object of derision for the remainder of the term.
Most professors have a passion for their work, and delight when their students show that same passion. Do your due diligence in preparation, then go to office hours with QUESTIONS. Show that you were paying attention in class and that his concepts inspired you to do further research. Point out any incongruities between his lecture and your extra research, then ask for his help in getting to understand the material better.
If you approach it that way, you’ll have a better opportunity to learn, a foot in the door for a possible internship, and you won’t hurt your grade in the class.