Many of us have been striving, regardless of current circumstances, to maintain our commitment to training and attention to nutrition, so as not to lose sight of our goals. And what better way to stay on top of the issue than with the latest news from the world of sports science and nutrition?
This week, we’ll see how a protein can help “cleanse” muscles in the post-workout and whether proximity to fast food restaurants can affect our weight.
Let’s do this …
The protein that helps us build muscle
First of all, you may be thinking to yourself: “for a moment, isn’t it true that all proteins in general help muscle development?”. Although this is a fact, researchers in the field have found that a particular protein acts on worn-out muscle tissue, so that it can be replaced with new tissue.
It is known that exercise helps the growth of muscles, but this modest protein, called ubiquitin, revealed a part of how this actually happens. This new study demonstrated that, during intense physical exercise, there is a significant increase in ubiquitin activity.
The latter is used by the body to mark old and worn out muscle proteins, binding to the lysine amino acid of these proteins. This leads to the protein being transported and broken down into amino acids, so that it can be reused to make new proteins (and new muscle).
Until this study, there was not much that was known about these proteins, which essentially fulfill the function of “cleaning” the oldest and most worn muscle proteins. Now, we know a little more about the processes that produce muscle mass gains through exercise.
There is still much to discover, as this experience focused only on intense exercise on a bicycle. How does ubiquitin production vary for different exercise regimes, for a larger sample of participants or for different genders? We will have to wait for more data to find out.
Does living near a gym make you more fit?
Obviously, it is necessary to go to the gym to be able to observe any difference, but it is more likely that we will keep in shape or, on the other hand, that we neglect a good diet when we live next to a gym, in compared to living near a fast food restaurant?
According to a new study, you can reassure yourself about the future move to the shopping center, because there was no relationship between our weight and how close we live to a fast food restaurant or a gym.
It is known that multiple factors can affect our health and level of fit, from socio-economic differences to employment, so it should not surprise us that it is often hypothesized that our local environment may also have effects on our health. .
This study carried out in Sweden, involving 1.5 million adults, however, did not find any statistically significant relationship between the proximity of a gym or a fast food restaurant and the our weight. This may be due to cultural issues: it is possible that Swedes have more self-control than people from other nations when they smell the inviting takeaway . It is an interesting question to consider.
The most important question, however, remains the opposite: what really increases the likelihood that we will choose the gym over the takeaway ?
Final Message
We hope you have learned something new about the way muscles are built – we certainly have.
We are curious to see more comprehensive studies on this topic. With so many gyms and restaurants closed at the moment, you might find yourself calling the nearest takeaway more often than usual, and who can you criticize? It is good to know, in any case, that you have science on your side.