RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
If a busy schedule is eating away at your fitness motivation, a hefty hit of comfort food will reboot both mind and muscle
Spike your mental and physical abilities with a one-two combo of comfort food
Having extracted yourself from a barrage of emails to squeeze in a midday session at the squat rack, getting your head in the game is no mean feat. But on those days when even a playlist full of power tracks won’t help you, maintaining your fitness needn’t be a simple case of mind over uncooperative muscle. In fact, success could very well rest on tonight’s dinner.
The nutrient alpha- GPC – found at high doses in calf’s liver and best known for its cognitive-enhancing abilities – can also reignite your motivation with the promise of more muscle. In a study published by the International Society of Sports Nutrition, young, gym-going men who took alpha- GPC increased their power output by 14% in subsequent sessions. It also bumped up their levels of human growth hormone, the elixir of increased muscle mass, while further research by scientists in Louisiana found the nutrient improved athletes’ isometric strength after just six days. They speculate this is because alpha- GPC helps to build neurotransmitters – the brain chemicals that facilitate communication between mind and body. Which is some achievement after a morning full of meetings.
While many protein sources will help to bump up your levels, liver has been shown to provide the heftiest dose. Serve it with bacon, onion and mash, according to our recipe. Tomorrow’s training session will be anything but offal.
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