Written by Jim Stoppani, PhD
Wake up and smell the hypertrophy with this supercharged
supplement stack.
Your mother may have said,
"Breakfast is the most important meal of the
day." If you're a bodybuilder, that advice is
pretty close but not exactly right. When it
comes to gaining muscle mass, the most critical
"meal" is actually the supplement stack
you down within seconds of waking. That's
because you don't want to lose precious minutes
preparing eggs or oatmeal, much less the
time it takes to digest those whole foods. By
then, because of the fast you endured while
sleeping, you've already lost lean tissue to
catabolism. Instead, you need nutrition that
can quickly get in your stomach and to your
muscles. You also want to take advantage of
your naturally high testosterone levels in the
morning by supplementing with
something that can help put that T to
work, driving more gains. Using the
Morning Muscle Stack as soon as you
wake up will help you accomplish all
that, without a lick of cooking.
WHEY
When you wake up, your body is
essentially coming off a 7 to 9-hour fast,
and it's breaking down muscle protein
to convert it into fuel. The best way to
halt this process is to take about 40
grams of whey protein.
Whey is the fastest-acting protein
you can consume, especially if you
choose a whey protein isolate or, even
faster, a whey protein powder with
whey hydrolysates (whey proteins
broken down into smaller fragments
for speedier entry into your bloodstream).
The amino acids from whey
rapidly enter your blood to be used for
fuel, instead of muscle proteins. Those
aminos not used for fuel will go to your
muscles to rebuild them.
Whey protein also contains peptides
that enhance blood vessel dilation,
which means you'll have greater blood
flow to your muscles to enhance the
delivery of not only the aminos in the
whey but also more testosterone. This
is important when you wake up, since
that's when your T levels are highest.
DOSE:40 grams of whey protein in a shake.
HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT CARBS
During the night, your liver uses its
glycogen (the storage form of carbs) to
fuel your body. Once these glycogen
stores reach a critically low level, the
liver signals the body to attack muscle
protein for fuel. So in the morning you
want to drink the fastest-digesting
carb you can get your hands on—what's known technically as high molecular-
weight carbs. They'll get to
your liver even faster than Gatorade
and will restock your liver glycogen
levels so your liver turns off the signal
to the body to use muscle protein for
fuel. That will switch you from being
in a catabolic phase to an anabolic
phase. All that whey plus high T levels
equals muscle growth.
Molecular weight is a term that
refers to the mass of one molecule of
a substance. HMCs, then, are made up
of very large molecules that are very
heavy compared to other molecules.
HMCs such as Vitargo are typically
made from waxy maize starch—yes,
corn. They pass rapidly through the
stomach to the intestines where they're
absorbed, enter the bloodstream and
travel to the liver. This also helps blunt
levels of cortisol (the catabolic hormone
that competes with testosterone's
anabolic actions and encourages
muscle breakdown), which are high
when you wake.
DOSE: Mix 40 to 60 grams of HMCs into
your whey protein shake.
CARNITINE
This amino acid-like supplement is
mostly known for its ability to help
transport fat into the mitochondria of
cells, where it's burned for fuel. Now
science tells us that carnitine can also
increase the amount of androgen
receptors in your muscles, to which
testosterone binds to instigate growth.
Having more of these receptors means
more T can do its thing.
Since T levels are at their peak when
you roll out of bed, taking carnitine
can help get a higher amount of that
T working to boost muscle growth.
Research also shows that carnitine can
enhance blood flow to muscles, which
further guides the testosterone to
where it needs to be. Taking carnitine
with your whey-and-carb shake is
smart because the insulin spike caused
by the carbs and protein will help shuttle
more carnitine into your muscles.
DOSE: 1 to 3 grams as L-carnitine, acetyl-Lcarnitine
or L-carnitine L-tartrate. M&F
