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Inside The Mind
By Milos “The Mind” Sarcev
Presented by JYM Supplement Science
Legendary coach and bodybuilder Milos Sarcev is known not only for his unique training methods, but also for his knowledge in the arena of bodybuilding nutrition. Milos recently partnered with JYM Supplement Science and this month, MD is pleased to introduce a new column from Milos to give readers his exclusive perspective on subjects such as meal frequency, protein requirements and especially the area he pioneered for all of us decades ago: intra-workout nutrition.
Fuel Your Muscles With Nutrients
Q: I’m interested in the idea of intra-workout nutrition, but can you tell me why it’s important when I eat five to six meals a day anyway and have a shake after I train?
A: The only time you ever have 60 to 70 percent of your total blood supply in any given muscle is when you are training it intensely. You should not miss this opportunity. The average male has about 6 liters of blood that’s normally evenly distributed throughout our bodies. Intense training creates a need for blood supply, so the body will send more blood to the working muscle to fuel contractions. Drinking a shake with all the proper nutrients means they will be absorbed instantly into the muscle. Training a muscle opens up the muscle cells and makes them ready for uptake of these nutrients.
I need to clear one thing up also. Many people are afraid of carbohydrates and believe carbs and insulin are their enemies. Some will insist we don’t need them at all. During training, carbs and insulin are your best friends. Carbs are essential during hard training! They are the muscle’s preferred fuel source. What about the carbs I have eaten in meals leading up to the workout, you ask? They won’t have the same insulin response as faster-digesting carb sources ingested while you train. Normally, you don’t want large amounts of insulin released as it’s a storage hormone, and at all other times of the day it’s not selective. During training, it will transport everything into the working muscle. That means not only carbohydrates, but also EEAs, creatine, L-glutamine, citrulline, etc.
WATCH THE SEASON PREMIERE OF "INSIDE THE MIND" WITH MILOS SARCEV & RON HARRIS!
Maximize Your Results
Q: I read that you trained twice a day, six days a week throughout your entire pro career. Was that when you started incorporating intra-workout nutrition, as a tool to help you recover from so much training?
A: Yes, that’s when I pioneered it due to the Hyperemia Advantage theory that my father, a physician, helped me develop. It worked so well for me that I had to try and spread the message to as many other bodybuilders as I could. Training without taking in nutrients is like sending an empty jet plane across the Atlantic. My first intra-workout shake was simply EAAs, available from the local pharmacy in Serbia for renal patients, and dextrose, or table sugar. The gains I made over the next couple months had people accusing me of using steroids, which at the time I didn’t even know about much less take. Now I feel that the decision whether to use an intra shake comes down to whether you want to maximize your results or compromise them.
Should You Do Cardio?
Q: You always stayed lean during the off-season in your competitive years. I wonder if you had to do a lot of cardio to keep your body fat down, or did your high-volume and high-frequency style of weight training burn enough calories?
A: I always felt everything needed a purpose in life, even cardio. If you are already at a low body fat percentage, why would you need to do any cardio, aside from the benefits to your heart and lungs? Some, like Dorian Yates, have described my giant-set style of training as being a form of cardio. The respiratory exchange ratio is what determines which substrate your body uses as its fuel source, either carbs/glucose, or fat. An RER of 1 uses pure glucose. An RER of 0.7 is pure fat. My type of training burns both. I hardly did any cardio when I was training twice a day. The late John Meadows hardly did any cardio either. But forget about me. Should you do cardio? What would be the purpose?
If you need to lose body fat, then of course you should. Aerobic activity uses fatty acids for fuel if done at the right time with no glucose available. But this is only if you have excess body fat to lose. I never believed in bulking up and gaining a bunch of fat in the first place. I never ate junk food. What would be the purpose of that? People try to justify cheat meals and claim their body needs it. That’s just an excuse to eat something that tastes really good but that is terrible for your body.
I have detailed training and nutrition journals from my competitive days, and maybe twice a year I would eat something I wasn’t supposed to. Keep in mind that this was the 1990s, and I was competing against men like Shawn, Kevin, Dorian, Nasser, Flex, Chris Cormier and Vince Taylor. I always knew I had to come in at 100 percent condition to have a chance of beating any of those guys. I have no problem admitting they were all better bodybuilders than I was. I managed to qualify for the Mr. Olympia 10 times in that decade, every year from 1991, my rookie year, to 2000. I didn’t eat anything I wasn’t supposed to. I also competed very often.
At my first show, the 1991 San Jose Pro, I placed third and qualified for the Mr. Olympia. Right there and then, I changed my mind about having months and months of off-season where I would gain a lot of bodyweight, including fat. I decided to stay fairly lean and still make gains, using the approach of taking in nutrients while I trained. I stayed within 10 to 15 pounds of contest condition, yet still grew progressively bigger throughout the decade.
People make excuses for their weaknesses and mediocrity. Many bodybuilders use the idea of an off-season to eat a lot of the wrong foods and get out of shape. It takes a lot more discipline and willpower to eat clean year-round and keep your body fat down. And if you can do that, you would never need to do hours and hours of cardio.
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WATCH THE SEASON PREMIERE OF "INSIDE THE MIND" WITH MILOS SARCEV & RON HARRIS!
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