Health and Exercise

What's your motivation?

2011-11-10T07:59:00.001-08:00

If you're worried about being cute while you're working out, you have to question your motives for going to the gym.

Program Design 101

2007-06-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

Reps
Maximum Strength 1-3 Reps
Strength, Speed, or Power 2-6 Reps
Functional Hypertrophy 4-8 Reps
Structural Hypertrophy 8-12 Reps
Endurance 12 + Reps

Sets
1-3 Reps = 6-12 Sets
3-6 Reps = 5-10 Sets
6-9 Reps = 4-8 Sets
9-12 Reps = 3-6 Sets
12 + Reps = 2-4 Sets

Time Under Tension
Goal Tempo Time Under Tension per Rep
Speed, Power, or Max Strength- 1-0-X 1-5 Seconds
Max Strength or Functional Hypertrophy- 2-0-1 3 Seconds
Structural Hypertrophy- 3-1-3 7 Seconds
Stability and Control- 8-0-4 12 Seconds
(Goal is 35-55 Seconds per set)
(X = explode out of bottom of movement with maximum force with no pause)

Rest Periods
Max Strength- Complete Neural Recovery- 5-10 Minutes
Strength, Speed, or Power- Near Complete Neural Recovery- 3-5 Minutes
Functional Hypertrophy- Near Complete Metabolic Recovery- 2-3 Minutes
Structural Hypertrophy- 90% Metabolic Recovery- 30 Sec-2 Minutes
Endurance- 50% Metabolic Recovery- 0- 30 Seconds

Training Session Duration
Testosterone levels peak between twenty and fifty minutes after the initiation of exercise. Following the sixty minute mark testosterone levels drop and cortisol levels rise.

Exercise Selection
Always utilize phase training techniques as well as the rotation for recuperation principal.

Order of Exercises
1. Technique Work
2. Speed/ Ballistic Work
3. Primary/ Core Lifts
4. Supplemental/Accessory Lifts

Volume/ Intensity
Max Strength 1 Rep Max
Functional Hypertrophy 90% 1RM
Structural Hypertrophy
Speed
Power
Endurance
Stability 10% 1RM
Motor Control 20 Rep Max

Periodization
Linear
Weeks Sets/ Workout Reps/ Set
1-3 20-25 12-15
4-6 15-20 10-12
7-9 10-15 6-8
10-12 5-10 4-6

Alternating
Weeks Sets/ Workout Reps/ Set
1-3 20-25 12-15
4-6 10-15 6-8
7-9 15-20 10-12
10-12 5-10 4-6

Positions Of Flexion Basics

2007-06-05T22:18:00.000-07:00

POF Basics
by Steve Holman

Positions of Flexion can be a giant step in helping you reach your muscular potential as quickly as possible. It’s a powerful muscle-building protocol that’s packed as much as 20 pounds of muscle onto bodybuilders’ frames in as little as 10 weeks. POF is a very logical and straightforward way to train, one that’s based on muscle function rather than convention, and it’s done near miraculous things for bodybuilders throughout the world. True, as the creator of POF, I’m biased, but I’ve seen it work and I believe it can make your dreams of a more muscular, shredded physique a reality without wasted time and effort, which is why I continue to sing its praises and explain its basic concepts.
POF’s mass-building power is a direct result of its basic premise: You should choose exercises that train each muscle through its entire range of motion to trigger maximum fiber recruitment, as well as other anabolic mechanisms, at every workout. That means faster, more complete development from fewer sets. Once you grasp its concepts, POF will change the way you train and gain forever.
Complete Stimulation, Full-Blown Pump

When the POF concepts and routines were first introduced in IRONMAN magazine, many bodybuilders were taken by surprise when they put them to the test, commenting that they thought their skin might tear because the influx of blood was so extreme. That’s a direct result of the inordinate muscle fiber recruitment that occurs when you train a target muscle through a full range of motion with specific exercises. POF protocol dictates that you use specific exercises to train the entire length of the muscle from full stretch to complete contraction. Before you can give it a test drive and send your own gains skyward, however, you need to grasp POF’s underlying concepts and principles—and that understanding starts with uncovering the roots of POF.
Jousting With Genetics: The Origins of POF

POF was a direct result of a number of trainees’ frustrations in the gym coupled with independent research at the University of Texas at Austin. That research was fueled by the ultimate goal of remedying some of the rampant in-the-gym frustration so many trainees were experiencing. I, for one, was obsessed with research because I wasn’t prepared to give up my bodybuilding dreams—lowly genetics or not, even though mine were at the bottom of the hardgainer barrel.
When I first started training, I weighed less than 120 pounds. Bad genetics? You bet. In fact, when my parents married in their early 20s, my mother weighed 95 pounds and my father weighed 115. Even with my genetically challenged predisposition, however, I never lost sight of the dream of stepping on a posing platform. I was obsessed and determined to find a muscle-building solution.
At the huge state university research materials available were plentiful, to say the least, and I was able to find some applicable physiological truths that helped my progress— but only slightly. I was determined to find a better way, so I continued to plow through books, abstracts and studies on anything even remotely related to muscle hypertrophy. My obsession fueled a relentless pursuit—and it did eventually pay off. After pouring over hundreds of physiology and biomechanics texts and abstracts, I came across a physiological phenomenon that occurs when a muscle is stretched and then forced to contract soon thereafter. That discovery had me incorporating exercises with a high-stretch component for every bodypart, and I made some decent gains as a direct result. Nevertheless, there was still something missing, and I didn’t start packing on real size until after I put the other parts of the puzzle into practice—properly combining stretch exercises with those that involve synergy, or muscle team work, and peak contraction. That combination constituted full-range-of-motion training that could be applied to every muscle group.
As I browsed through a muscle magazine, I noticed that Arnold used a similar approach for his biceps routine: dumbbell curls for synergy, incline curls for stretch and concentration curls for peak contraction. After I tried his program—with less sets, of course, because of my drug-free status—I realized that there was something almost magical about it. After I used his routine for a month, my gym buddies suddenly started asking me to hit arm shots every time I trained because my bi’s got more peaked each week. Then once they started using the routine, they got similar results, so I knew it wasn’t a fluke. There was something very powerful about that particular exercise combination.
With the help of some physiologists at the university, I eventually put together a complete training regimen for each bodypart, and with a prototype version of a POF-based routine my bodyweight shot up to 200 pounds—an 80-pound gain from my starting weight; damn good for a drug-free hardgainer—and I soon entered and won my first bodybuilding contest.
You may be wondering if you can make similar, or perhaps even better, gains. Absolutely, and the first thing you can do is make sure you’re using a stretch-position movement for each muscle group, such as stiff-legged deadlifts for your hamstrings, donkey calf raises for your calves, pullovers for your lats and overhead extensions for your triceps. [Note: A complete list of stretch-position exercises appears in the “Stretch” section of this feature.]
Ah, but if you’re a serious, impatient, muscle-hungry bodybuilder, you probably want the full-blown power of the POF method, not just one little piece, right? Let’s analyze each position so you can put all of the pieces into place and start building new muscle size with POF immediately.

Dissecting POF With the Austrian Oak

POF is a multi-angular bodybuilding protocol that trains a muscle in the three positions that constitute full range of motion (ROM). Understand that it’s not simply doing an exercise through its complete stroke, although that’s important too. It takes two to three exercises to work a muscle through its complete arc of flexion, or range of motion, which consists of three positions: midrange, stretch and contracted.
Arnold’s favorite biceps routine is a specific example of standard POF. He often did dumbbell curls, incline dumbbell curls and concentration curls, in that order, a routine that hits his biceps from the three key positions, or angles, for complete ROM:
•Biceps midrange: upper arms in front of the torso. Dumbbell curls hit the midrange position and train the biceps with synergy, or muscle teamwork, from the front delts. When muscles work together, the overload and fiber activation is much greater in most cases.
•Stretch: arms behind the torso. Incline dumbbell curls hit the stretch position and activate the myotatic reflex due to inordinate biceps elongation, and the muscle’s fiber stimulation is heightened.
•Contracted: arms up and away from the torso. Concentration curls hit the contracted position with resistance at the point of maximum contraction. Continuous tension in the fully contracted position provides a potent fiber jolt after the heightened fiber activation created by the previous stretch-position movement.
You can see why POF works, and why it creates a skin-stretching pump in only a few sets. You totally stimulate the muscle fibers by triggering the stretch reflex as part of a routine that trains each bodypart through its complete range of motion, or arc of flexion. Muscle physiology dictates that full ROM and the myotatic reflex will combine to ignite an extreme hypertrophic adaptation, especially after a compound, or midrange, exercise that overloads the target muscle due to synergy, or help from other muscle groups. Let’s start from the top, with the midrange position.

Midrange Position: Training the Mass of the Muscle Structures

The first exercise in a standard POF approach is a midrange movement. These exercises are known as the mass-builders because they train the majority of the target-muscle fibers with heavy weight, so it makes sense to give them priority most of the time. Midrange movements involve synergy, or muscle team work, which means that a number of muscle structures work together, with the target muscle as the prime mover. For example, the squat is a midrange exercise for the quads, and the glutes, hamstrings, lower back and even calves get in on the action to help the quads elevate heavy iron.
You can see why these exercises are at the core of every POF bodypart routine—they build mass, plain and simple.
Here’s a list of some of the best midrange movements for each bodypart:

Quads: squats
Hamstrings: stiff-legged deadlifts (also a stretch movement)
Lats: wide-grip chins to the front
Midback: behind-the-neck pulldowns
Delts: dumbbell presses
Chest: bench presses
Biceps: barbell curls or close-grip undergrip pulldowns
Triceps: lying extensions or close-grip bench presses
Abdominals: kneeups
Synergy allows you to cultivate tremendous power because muscles work most efficiently as part of a team. POF midrange movements all have synergy, and using those exercises alone for each bodypart can build phenomenal muscle size and strength. You can get even better results, though, when you follow your midrange exercises with movements for the other two target-muscle positions, stretch and contracted.

Stretch: Emergency Response to Revive Comatose Fibers

Stretch-position movements, the second exercise in standard POF protocol, activate the myotatic reflex. Training the target bodypart at its maximal point of elongation, for example incline curls for the biceps or overhead extensions for the triceps, can force an emergency response from the muscle and bring new muscle fibers into play. Here is how the phenomenon is defined in the book Explosive Power by Health For Life:
The stretch reflex originates deep inside each muscle fiber with a structure called the muscle spindle. The muscle spindle is a complex construction of muscle protein, fluid and nervous system receptors. Within this structure is a special type of muscle fiber that does not have the contractile qualities normally associated with muscle. These special fibers, called intrafusal fibers, are wrapped with nerve cells that relay information from muscle to the central nervous system. When a muscle is stretched quickly, the tension in the intrafusal fibers stimulates these nerve cells, sending messages out to the central nervous system at great speed. In response, the central nervous system triggers a muscle reflex that generates a fast and powerful contraction. This myotatic, or stretch, reflex is a protective mechanism that provides an extra burst of strength to resist force encountered suddenly. When the reflex is triggered, a very large proportion of the muscle’s fibers suddenly contract.
When you use a stretch-position exercise, such as flyes for the chest or pullovers for the lats, the target muscle reacts with an emergency response, which can trigger more muscle fibers to fire. The reason an emergency reaction occurs is that you’re training the muscle in a somewhat vulnerable position—at a point of full elongation.
By activating more fast-twitch fibers in the target muscle, you stimulate faster development. Stretch-position exercises may also enlarge the fascia, or fiber encasements, so that fiber growth isn’t constricted and they also may trigger more anabolic hormone release. Stretch-position exercises are very important for optimal hypertrophic stimulation.
Here’s a list of stretch-position exercises for each muscle group:

Quads: sissy squats
Hamstrings: stiff-legged deadlifts
Calves: donkey calf raises
Abs: cable crunches with low-back support
Chest: dumbbell flyes
Lats: pullovers
Midback: close-grip cable rows
Delts: incline one-arm laterals
Biceps: incline curls
Triceps: overhead extensions
You’ll really feel these exercises in the target muscle, especially when you do them after a big midrange movement. The pump and burn will be unreal—and in some cases almost unbearable—but you’re not done yet. To finish off the target muscle and complete the full-ROM chain, you follow the stretch-position exercise with a contracted-position movement for that final growth jolt.
Contracted: Peak Contraction for a Searing Growth Reaction

The last exercise in any standard POF bodypart routine is the contracted-position movement, which trains the target bodypart at the point of complete contraction with resistance—for example, leg extensions for the front thighs. An exercise with resistance in the completely contracted position is the best way to finish off a target muscle after as many fibers as possible have been activated with the midrange- and stretch-position movements.
Here’s a list of contracted-position exercises for each muscle group:

Quads: leg extensions
Hamstrings: leg curls
Calves: standing calf raises
Abs: full-range crunches
Chest: cable flyes or pec deck flyes
Lats: stiff-arm pulldowns or pullover machine
Midback: bent-arm bent-over rows
Delts: lateral raises
Biceps: concentration curls or double-biceps cable curls
Triceps: one-arm pushdowns or kickbacks
Okay, let’s put it all together so you can start using POF programs at your very next workout.
POF: Total Target-Muscle Stimulation for Extraordinary Mass Gains

The underlying concept of POF is simple: If you hit a muscle from a number of angles, you stimulate more fibers, and if you use a stretch-position exercise correctly as part of the full-ROM approach, you bring even more of the muscle into play; however, if you understand POF, you know the angles shouldn’t be random—they should complement one another so together they complete the full-ROM chain.

For example, you saw that Arnold’s biceps routine trains the target muscle as follows:

•upper arms slightly in front of the torso, with dumbbell curls (midrange)

•upper arms back behind the torso, with incline curls (stretch)

•upper arm up and away from the torso with concentration curls (contracted)
Each position can involve different fibers and different recruitment patterns, which produce fuller development. It’s why advanced bodybuilders do more than one exercise per bodypart—to develop as many fibers as possible to extreme degrees. Keep in mind, however, that a lot of advanced bodybuilders use the shotgun approach when it comes to multiangular training, with no rhyme or reason to exercise selection, which can lead to overlap, wasted effort and overtraining. POF’s logical structure can help you avoid that pitfal. Top Full-range-of-motion POF training works because it produces almost complete target-muscle stimulation with the minimal amount of work necessary for the exercises that complete the full-ROM chain. If you’re still not convinced multiangular training is necessary, consider the following quote from Jaci VanHeest, renowned exercise physiologist at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado:
Muscles contract when tiny levers on myosin, a muscle protein, fit into grooves on actin, another protein, and push it forward exactly like a ratchet wrench. But myosin can latch onto actin in any of several positions, not all of them ideal. Only when the myosin heads are in the right register can the muscle have the optimal tension. But optimizing every actin-myosin pairing is less an achievable goal than a Platonic ideal. (Newsweek, July 22, 1996: “How High? How Fast?”)
You need more than one exercise to optimize as many actin-myosin pairings in the target muscle as possible, and full ROM training like POF is the logical answer to that optimization. Here is another example, with triceps as the target:

Midrange
Close-grip bench presses or lying extensions 2 x 7-10
Stretch
Overhead extensions 2 x 7-10
Contracted
One-arm pushdowns or kickbacks 2 x 7-10
You first work the midrange position with close-grip bench presses. Remember, midrange equals synergy, in this case teamwork from your front delts, pecs and lats. Next is the stretch position, which you train with overhead extensions. That exercise forces maximum elongation and triggers the myotatic reflex. You use kickbacks, a contracted-position exercise, last in order to work the triceps at the point of complete contraction with resistance. Note that it only takes one to two sets of each exercise—four to six total sets per bodypart—to train the target muscle completely and thoroughly. The low per-bodypart set total means that more of your recovery ability is available for ramping up recuperation and anabolic acceleration after your workout, while overtraining is kept at bay.
If you want to give your delts the full-ROM treatment with POF, try the following:

Midrange
Behind-the-neck presses 2 x 7-10
Stretch
Incline one-arm laterals 2 x 7-10
Contracted
Seated laterals 2 x 7-10
Notice that you train the lateral heads with synergy during behind-the-neck presses—your delts work in conjunction with triceps and traps to push the bar overhead—you work the medial head in the stretch position with incline one-arm laterals—your arm moves down and across your body—and you train the side head in its peak-contracted position against resistance with lateral raises. Your delts have no choice but to grow rounder and fuller with this type of multi-angular full-ROM approach. With the above suggestions, you should be able to grow faster and with fewer sets than with any training protocol you’ve ever tried.
The chest is somewhat more complicated. Due to its fan shape you divide it into two sections, upper and lower/middle; however, you can train two positions with one exercise.
For lower/middle chest flat bench presses train the target muscle with other muscle groups (synergy in the midrange position). Cable crossovers (or Nautilus flyes) train the pecs from full stretch to complete contraction, with resistance in the contracted position. Notice that the lower/middle chest takes only two precise exercises to hit the full arc of flexion. You can get the same two-for-one effect when you train the upper portion: Use incline presses for the midrange position and incline cable flyes for the stretch and contracted positions. Now you have a tremendously effective POF pec-building routine.

Middle/lower-pec section
Midrange
Bench presses 2 x 7-10
Stretch and contracted
Cable crossovers 2 x 7-10

Upper-pec section
Midrange
Incline bench presses 2 x 7-10
Stretch and contracted
Incline cable flyes 2 x 7-10
You have to realize that you need more than one exercise to optimize as many actin-myosin pairings in the target muscle as possible, and you want to choose the movements that together take the target muscle through its full range of motion. That means working from full stretch to complete contraction, plus training the muscle with synergy. To accomplish that it may take two or three movements, depending on the exercises you choose. Let’s look at one last example. Here are POF quad and hamstring routines with a bit more explanation than the other programs, just in case you haven’t quite got the full-POF picture yet:

Midrange position
Squats (synergy from glutes and lower back)
Do 2 light warmup sets first), then 2-3 x 8-12

Stretch position
Sissy squats or Feet-forward Smith machine squats
Quick twitch out of the bottom, when hamstrings touch your calves 2 x 10

Contracted position
Leg extensions
Hold for a count at the top to emphasize peak contraction 1-2 x 8-12

Hamstrings, on the other hand, only require two exercises for full-range training to fully optimize the actin-myosin pairings and stimulate inordinate growth. As you saw with chest, sometimes one exercise will cover two of the Positions of Flexion. In the following program, it’s the stiff-legged deadlift:

Midrange and stretch positions
Stiff-legged deadlifts (synergy from glutes and lower back, plus full stretch at the bottom of each rep)
Do 2 light warmup sets, then 2-3 x 8-10

Contracted position
Leg curls
Hold for a count at the top to emphasize peak contraction 2 x 8-12
You can develop your own POF routines for other bodyparts by taking an exercise from each of the lists in the sections above and doing one to three sets of each.
Positions of Flexion is undoubtedly one of the most logical, efficient muscle-building methods out there. It’s helped a multitude of bodybuilders push beyond their so-called genetic limitations, and it can do the same for you. Try it in its standard forms or one of its many hybrid protocols, such as Hypercontraction training or Compound Aftershock. If you’ve never tried POF, be prepared for some unusual soreness—and some exciting new muscle growth. You’ll soon see why it’s becoming an integral part of so many successful bodybuilders’ training arsenals the world over.
Editor’s note: Positions of Flexion was recently introduced to European bodybuilders via Steve Homan’s features and columns in Italy’s Olympians News magazine. Because of the overwhelming response many of Holman’s books have been translated and printed in other languages so bodybuilders all over the world can reap the mass-building benefits of POF. If you’re interested in the definitive Positions-of-Flexion training manual, get a copy of Critical Mass. It contains an analysis of each bodypart with routines, as well as a number of complete POF programs, from the Hardgainer POF Program to the POF Power Pyramid. It’s $19.95 plus $4.90 shipping and handling. To order with a credit card, call 1-800-447-0008, or go to our online store. For more books containing information on POF, see the end of the next section, POF Overview.
Look Bigger, Broader and Leaner Instantly

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POF OVERVIEW

Positions of Flexion (POF) is a mass-training protocol based on maximum fiber activation through synergy, the myotatic reflex, peak contraction and full range of motion. It's designed to train each muscle thoroughly and completely for total development in the shortest time possible. Once you understand the POF protocol, your training—and the gains you get from it—will change forever.
Key POF Terms

Midrange position = Synergy. Training the target muscle as part of a team of muscle structures. For example, you train your chest with synergy from your shoulders and triceps when you do bench presses; you train your quads with help from your glutes and lower back when you squat. Synergy allows you to cultivate tremendous power because muscles work most efficiently as part of a team. POF midrange movements all have synergy.
Examples of midrange-position exercises include: squats (quads), stiff-legged deadlifts (hamstrings: also a stretch movement), front pulldowns (lats), behind-the-neck pulldowns (midback), dumbbell presses (delts), bench presses (chest), barbell curls or close-grip undergrip pulldowns (biceps), lying extensions or close-grip bench presses (triceps), kneeups (abdominals).
Stretch position = Myotatic Reflex. Training the target bodypart at its maximal point of elongation, for example overhead extensions for the triceps, can force what's known as the myotatic reflex. Here is how this phenomenon is defined in the book Explosive Power by Health For Life:
"The stretch reflex originates deep inside each muscle fiber with a structure called the muscle spindle. The muscle spindle is a complex construction of muscle protein, fluid and nervous system receptors. Within this structure is a special type of muscle fiber that does not have the contractile qualities normally associated with muscle. These special fibers, called intrafusal fibers, are wrapped with nerve cells that relay information from muscle to the central nervous system. When a muscle is stretched quickly, the tension in the intrafusal fibers stimulates these nerve cells, sending messages out to the central nervous system at great speed. In response, the central nervous system triggers a muscle reflex that generates a fast and powerful contraction. This myotatic, or stretch, reflex is a protective mechanism that provides an extra burst of strength to resist force encountered suddenly. When the reflex is triggered, a very large proportion of the muscle's fibers suddenly contract."
If stretch-position exercises are performed correctly, they have the potential to activate more fibers in the target muscle, which can translate into faster development. They can also stretch the fascia, or fiber encasements, so that fiber growth isn't constricted, which can speed hypertrophy and trigger anabolic-hormone production and receptor activity.
Examples of stretch-position exercises include sissy squats (quads), stiff-legged deadlifts (hamstrings; also a midrange movement), donkey calf raises (calves), pullovers (lats), close-grip cable rows (midback), incline one-arm lateral raises (delts), dumbbell flyes (chest), incline dumbbell curls (biceps), overhead extensions (triceps), full-range crunches (abdominals; also contracted exercise).
Contracted position = Peak Contraction. Training the target bodypart at the point of complete contraction with resistance. Example: leg extensions for the frontal thighs. This is the best way to finish off a target muscle after as many fibers as possible have been activated with the midrange- and stretch-position movements.
Examples of contracted-position exercises include: leg extensions (quads), leg curls (hamstrings), standing calf raises (calves), stiff-arm pulldowns or pullover machine (lats), Bent-arm bent-over rows (midback), lateral raises (delts), cable flyes or pec deck (chest), concentration curls or double-biceps cable curls (biceps), one-arm pushdowns or kickbacks (triceps), full-range crunches (abdominals).
Example POF Programs

For example, overhead extensions train triceps in the full-stretch position. Kickbacks work the triceps at complete contraction. All that's left is the midrange position, which you train with close-grip bench presses and synergy from your front delts. Standard POF order would be close-grip bench presses, two to three sets, overhead extensions, two to three sets, and kickbacks, two to three sets. That's a very effective POF triceps routine that hits the target through its full range of motion.
Take the chest as another example. Cable crossovers (or Nautilus flyes) train the pecs' from full stretch to complete contraction, with resistance in the contracted position. Begin your chest workout with flat bench presses to train the pecs with other muscle groups (synergy in the midrange position), follow bench presses with sets of cable crossovers and you have a great POF pec-building routine.
To understand why this multi-exercise, full-range-of-motion focus produces almost complete target-muscle stimulation, you must first understand how muscles contract.Here's a quote from Jaci VanHeest, renowned exercise physiologist at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado that helps explain this phenomenon:
"Muscles contract when tiny levers on myosin, a muscle protein, fit into grooves on actin, another protein, and push it forward exactly like a ratchet wrench. But myosin can latch onto actin in any of several positions, not all of them ideal. Only when the myosin heads are in the right register can the muscle have the optimal tension. But optimizing every actin-myosin pairing is less an achievable goal than a Platonic ideal." (Newsweek, July 22, 1996: "How High? How Fast?")
Obviously, you need more than one exercise to optimize as many actin-myosin pairings in the target muscle as possible, and full ROM training like POF is the logical answer to this optimization.
Standard POF and Its Variations

There is a logical exercise order that you should use when training with POF. During a standard POF routine you first train the target muscle with the help of other muscle groups in the midrange position. This muscle teamwork allows you to get the majority of the muscle fibers. Next you train the target at its full-stretch position to activate the myotatic reflex and reserve muscle fibers. Last, you train the target in the contracted position to finish it off with peak contraction to squeeze the last bit of effort from the fibers. This complete range-of-motion-training approach allows you to get the fullest development possible.
Variations include Compound Aftershock, which is using the stretch position movement as the first exercise in a superset with a midrange movement. For example, pullovers prior to pulldowns. This has the potential to pre-exhaust the muscle and may activate reserve fibers prior to the big midrange, or teamwork, movement. Isolation Aftershock is using the stretch-position movement as part of a superset with the contracted-position exercise to get a similar fiber-activation effect. For example, doing overhead triceps extensions supersetted with kickbacks. Supersetting is an important step up the ladder of intensity. In fact, new research states the muscle burn lowers the pH of the blood, which in turn stimulates more growth hormone release, and supersets are key for achieving muscle burn. Hypercontraction Training is an advanced POF method that places the stretch-position movement first in a bodypart routine, to not only warm up the target muscle, but also to put it in a state of emergency from the very first rep, and that means heightened fiber activation.

POF Fundamentals and More Routines

The fundamental concept of POF is correct exercise choice. You want to choose the movements that together take the target muscle through its full range of motion-from full stretch to complete contraction, plus you want to work the muscle with synergy. That may take two or three movements, depending on the exercises you choose. Here's a sample quad routine:

Midrange position: squats (synergy from glutes and lower back; do 2 light warmup sets first), 2-3 x 7-9
Stretch position: sissy squats (quick twitch out of the bottom, but no bouncing), 2 x 10
Contracted position: leg extensions (hold for a count at the top to emphasize peak contraction), 1-2 x 7-9

Hamstrings, on the other hand, only require two exercises for full-range training to take place:

Midrange and stretch position: stiff-legged deadlifts
(synergy from glutes and lower back; do 2 light warmup sets first), 2-3 x 7-9
Contracted position: leg curls (hold for a count at the top to emphasize peak contraction), 1-2 x 7-9

You can develop your own POF routines for other bodyparts by taking an exercise from each of the example sections above and doing the same set-rep scheme as the quad routine. For complete POF routines and variations, as well as more complete descriptions on how and why this mass-building protocol is so effective, see the following books and videos (Click on the title for a review):
Train, Eat, Grow: POF Manual: Complete POF bodybuilding manual with four four-week training phases centered around the amazing Positions-of-Flexion muscle-training approach. ($19.95)

Home Gym Handbook: Has a chapter on POF training in a home gym setting with a complete routine ($9.95)

Mass-Training Tactics: 2 Standard POF routines; 2 POF Pre-exhaustion routines plus 16 other complete programs (Free as a download to subscribers.)

Compound Aftershock (new revised and updated edition): More advanced variations of POF, including Compound Aftershock, Isolation Aftershock and Double-Impact training, plus nutrition and supplementation info and schedules (Free as a download to subscribers.)

10-Week Size Surge: step-by-step two-phase training approach, POF in the second phase, with complete diet, training tips and explanations. A weight-gain manual. ($9.95)

Fat to Muscle 2: routine is a five-day POF routine, training each bodypart directly once per week and indirectly once per week. Diets included along with fat-burning tips. ($9.95)

Hypercontraction Training video: advanced stretch-position-first POF protocol; includes Double-Impact training. One hour. ($24.95)

Critical Mass video series: "Critical Arms," "Critical Chest & Delts" and "Critical Legs & Back." Basic POF bodypart routines with live-action demos and explanations.

Granite Abs video: The POF approach to a ripped, etched midsection. Five POF programs designed around the science of abdominal-muscle function, plus diet tips and schedules. ($19.95)

Underground Mass-Boosting Methods: Unique and controversial ways to trigger new gains, including Negative Overload, Double Impact, Power Partials and R-P-M Training. These are advanced techniques applied to the POF protocol, so trainees need a bit more experience under their belts before they dive in. There are a lot of great plateau-busting tactics here. (Free as a download to subscribers.)
POF Training Tips

Use standard POF-exercise order most of the time. The standard order for the three positions is midrange, stretch and contracted. The midrange-position movement works the bulk of the target muscle with the help of synergist, or helping, muscles and warms up the target area for the more concentrated work to come in the next two positions. After the midrange exercise comes the stretch position, where you take advantage of the prestretch phenomenon. With a slight twitch at the bottom of any stretch-position exercise you can involve more muscle fibers and cause a more powerful contraction in the target muscle. Last is the contracted position, where the target muscle is flexed with opposing resistance—in other words, resistance doesn’t fall off at the top of the movement. These exercises give the target muscle an intense peak contraction after you’ve sufficiently warmed it up and worked it in the other two positions.

Do at least one light warmup set with 50 percent of your work weight for every midrange movement. Doing a second set with 75 percent may be even more beneficial for some exercises. Fight the urge to add sets. If you’re training to at least positive failure, two sets is plenty of work for any position, or angle, in most cases. A good rule of thumb is to never do more than 25 sets at any one workout—and less is preferable. Keep your form strict—two seconds up and two seconds down, the goal being to keep tension on the target muscle for 30 to 60 seconds—and rest one to 1 1/2 minutes between sets. You can rest slightly longer between sets of exercises that put a higher demand on your cardiovascular system, such as squats and rows. Always use a phase-training approach: four to six weeks of taking all sets other than warmups to at least positive failure, followed by two weeks of lower-intensity work, in which you stop all sets two reps short of failure. (See IRONMAN’s Home Gym Handbook for a complete discussion of phase training.) You can order any of the above books or videos online at www.home-gym.com.

-Training Nutrition-

2007-06-05T22:17:00.001-07:00

-Pre and Post Workout Nutrition Strategies-

Table of Contents

Weight Lifting and Post Exercise Muscle Recovery
By John Berardi

Muscle Masochism
By Lonnie Lowery

The Importance of Post Workout Nutrition
By John Berardi

The Science of Nutrient Timing
By John Berardi

Recovery
By John Berardi

Solving the Post Workout Puzzle
By John Berardi

Precision Nutrition for 2002 and Beyond
By John Berardi

The Post Workout Resurgence
By John Berardi

Weight Lifting and Post Exercise Muscle Recovery
By John M Berardi

Did you ever wonder what's really happening to your muscles during and after exercise? Sure, there's no doubt that something's going on down in those contractile fibers, something strong enough to make you walk like Frankenstein for a couple of days after your leg workout. But what exactly happens to make you unable to negotiate curbs and doorsteps? Well, since science can provide a little glimpse into the phenomenon of post-exercise muscle recovery, in this article I'll address muscle recovery from a scientific perspective. Therefore whether you're man, woman or child, you'll be able to explain your pain.

Conventional weight lifting consists of two distinct phases of movement. The concentric phase is the positive portion of the lift (i.e. the upward push on the bar during a bench press) while the eccentric phase is the negative portion of the lift (i.e. the downward lowering of the bar during a bench press). Each portion of the lift can contribute to the muscle damage seen during weight lifting as follows.

1) The eccentric portion of the lift is, by definition, a form of forced lengthening of the muscle. Forced lengthening with high weight loads causes microscopic tears in the small fibers that make up the muscle and the connective tissues. Since eccentric contractions tend to involve fewer muscle fibers than other contractions, each individual fiber that's recruited takes a large beating. Therefore during exercise, the muscle is physically damaged.

2) The concentric portion of the lift, while the force is dispersed over more fibers, tends to require much more metabolic activity. This metabolic activity leads to depletion of muscle energy stores such as ATP and muscle glycogen (carbohydrate). This depletion, while exercising, may lead to greater susceptibility to the damage seen above.

3) Both the physical damage caused as well as the metabolic depletion can lead to altered cellular calcium balance during and after the exercise. With this, the amount of calcium in the cell increases. This excess of calcium can activate enzymes that break down cellular proteins including contractile protein. In addition, calcium can build up in the mitochondrion of the cells, thereby decreasing cellular energy production.

4) As a result of all of this disruption, the body signals for help. After all, there is dysfunctional muscle debris that needs to be cleaned up. So after exercise, fluid begins to build up in the damaged cells in order to bring immune cells such as neutrophils and macrophages to the site of injury. While these cells end up clearing away damaged tissue, their activity leads to the build up of pesky free radicals (these are why we think antioxidants are so important). Free radicals may cause further muscle damage, prolonging recovery time.

5) While this cycle of destruction and healing persists, normal muscle function, such as the ability to take up and store carbohydrates is compromised. This leads to a prolonged recovery of muscle energy, further delaying full healing.

While it's nice to know what's going on at the microscopic level of skeletal muscle after exercise, it's important to realize that these microscopic changes lead to some profound functional changes.

1) During conventional weight lifting, muscle force production (strength) is diminished for at least 1 to 3 days after the damage has occurred. This loss of strength, which may take 7-14 days to recover, is most likely due to several factors including the disruption of muscle calcium balance and energy production, the poor recovery of muscle energy during this period, and the decrease in muscle protein content. In addition, this loss of strength can cause you to feel like a 90-lb weakling for several days after exercise. Stay away from the beach for 7-14 days.

2) Muscle swelling, as a result of fluid accumulation and immune cell delivery, occurs almost immediately after exercise. This swelling typically lasts 3-4 days but may take as many as 7 to subside. This swelling is associated with muscle stiffness, decreased range of motion, and an inability to comb your hair after arm day. This means bad hair days for 3-7 days.

3) Everyone's favorite, delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), typically lasts from 2-4 days after exercise and is mostly gone within 5 days. This soreness may come as a result of both swelling and stiffness but some scientists now think that biochemical changes in the muscle may increase nerve sensitivity, leading to muscle pain. Sensitivity is one thing but crying is not allowed; in 5 days it will all be over.

4) As discussed above, while the muscle is healing, its ability to "refuel" with carbohydrate is decreased because of disruption of the muscle glucose transport mechanisms. This means that no matter how many carbohydrates you eat, you simply can't get your muscle energy back up to normal for at least 48 hours after exercise. So don't convince yourself that pigging out on pizza and beer will help you recover more quickly from your sore muscles.

So this is a pretty scary picture, huh? Well, although it looks nasty, ultimately (about a 7 -14 days later) the muscle damage stops, the immune system does it's job, muscle energy is replenished, and the muscle fibers are built back up bigger and stronger than before.

I hope you now realize that the only way to get improve your muscle size and muscle strength is to allow adequate recovery time between performing exercises with the same muscle groups. Without adequate recovery of calcium balance, muscle energy, and muscle protein content, your muscle force will be lower with each subsequent workout, thereby reducing the quality of the workout in terms of the weight lifted. This is certainly not the way to get stronger. In addition, unless you wait until full structural recovery occurs, you will simply be destroying the new muscle tissue being formed to replace the damaged tissue.

And this is no way to get bigger.

So how long should one wait between weight lifting bouts using the same body part? Well, based on the recovery data discussed above as well as the detraining data discussed in sidebar #1, it appears that when doing intense weight lifting workouts and letting nature take it's course, a period of 7 or more days may be a good starting point. However each individual may be different. In addition, as discussed in sidebar #2, certain recovery techniques may speed up healing.

A few individualized methods for knowing whether it's time to destroy the legs again are as follows.

Be sure that muscle soreness is completely gone.
2) Be sure that your range of motion has returned.
3) Be sure that your muscle strength is better than it was during the previous workout.
4) For those of you who like to quantify things, you can measure your relaxed muscle circumference before
your training session and wait until the swelling has gone down.
Although I don't think that understanding why you can't get out of bed in the morning after a rough workout makes it any easier to do so, at least you'll now be able to better plan your workouts. This way you will be able to fully recover and your pain will not be in vain.

Detraining (Sidebar #1)

It's no surprise to anyone that a consistent weight-training program produces gains in muscle strength and muscle size. Initially, the strength changes occur as a result of increased neural efficiency. Long term increases in strength are a result of increased muscle mass. These gains in muscle mass occur as a result of changes in muscle protein status. As mentioned, allowing the muscle to fully recover from muscle damage can maximize these adaptations. Although it's difficult to determine exactly how long a muscle needs to fully recover, it is not a good idea to simply wait two weeks before training again. Therefore a fine balance must be reached between waiting until the muscle has recovered and not waiting so long that the muscle becomes detrained.

Detraining is defined as a prolonged period of reduced exercise volume or muscle inactivity. Interestingly, although frequent and intense exercise is needed to yield gains in muscle strength and size, detraining studies have demonstrated that muscle strength and power can be maintained with intense workouts separated by as much as 10-14 days. Other data show that muscle strength actually increases with 8 days of low volume exercise recovery and may even increase during 2- 8 days of complete detraining. In the detraining group, strength was lost only after 8 days of detraining .

It is clear that muscle force production improves with adequate recovery and this may come as a result of full repair of muscle damage and full muscle energy replenishment. This information, coupled with the recovery data discussed earlier, provides more evidence for the idea that approximately 7 days but no more than 10 days should separate intense weight-training workouts for a specific body part.

Recovery Techniques (Sidebar #2)

The normal recovery from weight training induced muscle damage brings with it a host of symptoms including decreased range of motion, increased muscle soreness, muscle stiffness, muscle swelling, and decreased muscle force production. In order to accelerate muscle recovery several recovery techniques have been suggested. These techniques include the following.

1) Light Exercise During Recovery - Research has shown that performing a few sets of light exercise with the sore and damaged muscles may decrease muscle soreness and increase force recovery . Both studies used approximately 50 easily performed submaximal contractions in order to promote this effect.

2) Massage - Research has suggested that muscle soreness can be improved with regular massage therapy, however this modality does not appear to increase blood flow or force recovery.

3) Underwater Warm Jet Massage - One study showed that 20 minutes of underwater jet massage therapy 3x per week might help maintain performance capacity during intense training.

4) Muscle Compression - In one recent study, a few days of continual compression of damaged muscle tissue decreased markers of muscle damage and increased force recovery.

5) Cold Water Immersion - Although few studies have been done with cold water immersion, athletes have reported good results with immersion in cold water for 20 minutes during the recovery period.

Muscle Masochism!, Part 1
by Dr. Lonnie Lowery

Heavy weights. Forced reps. Negatives. They freakin’ hurt. There’s just no denying it. And yet we punish ourselves with these techniques like a bad boy at Mistress Cruella’s House of Pain. Is it because we dig the abuse? Well, maybe. But for most of us, it’s because we know these techniques induce serious growth.

If we all agree that techniques like eccentric contractions ("negatives") induce monster growth, we should, at least, give some thought as to when this growth (or, "anabolism") takes place. Let me ask you straight: do you know how long it takes to rebuild and fully recover from a brutal bout of weight lifting? Or, how long should YOU wait before hitting the iron again? These are fundamental questions, my fellow masochists, which demand attention. They dictate (or at least influence) what and when you eat, how you schedule your weekly training, and even which supplements you might need.

I’m going to clear-up some important issues in this 2-part article by using science, not just personal beliefs. I’ve spent the last three years of my life tucked-away in a lab, looking closely at all manner of biological damage from a bodybuilder’s perspective. (Yeah, I’m that geeky.) As I grew paler and my eyes enlarged from lack of sunlight and I began to look increasingly like a lemur, I’ve found some pretty cool things that are specific to bodybuilding recovery. In particular, markers of muscle damage and physical stress have revealed a pretty clear picture of how — and how long — our bodies recover from lifting. These include hormonal, immune, metabolic, and performance markers that we’ll look at in detail (and yes, John Berardi, with my usual nifty graphs!).

You may not realize the magnitude of the physiologic events that your training buddy sets in motion as he barks "two more reps!" at you. As you lower the bar (perhaps with him bearing down on it for added resistance), you’re not growing, my friends, you’re laying waste to your muscles. Some of the damage is immediate and some your body actually self-inflicts a while later. By 24 to 48 hours post-workout, your muscle tissue looks like Hiroshima (under a microscope) — and irony or ironies, you dropped the bomb on yourself!

You probably already understand much of the hormonal situation surrounding stress. Cortisol is the evil king and you’re his peasant. He’ll use unfair laws like hypermetabolism and muscle catabolizing enzymes to decree that smallness shall reign throughout your kingdom — unless you organize a nutritional coup to take down the bastard. How do you do it? Well, for starters you’ll need to get some carbs in you, both during AND after training. I’ll address these in turn, below.

During your bout with the iron, you’ll need to maintain the right hormonal state for anabolism — let’s say 50 g of carbs sipped from a sports drink or diluted juice 30 minutes into a workout (maybe with 5 g creatine mixed-in). Why wait 30 minutes? Because drinking them earlier in a training session will blunt the exercise-induced GH response. We don’t want that.

Drinking carbs during training won’t help you get leaner, but if size is your goal, it should help keep cortisol and interleukin-6 (IL-6, see below) concentrations down.1,7,8,9,13 Both are catabolic and both can be brought down with the right nutrition. Most lifters think only supplements like phosphatidyl serine (PS) can help reduce cortisol, but now you know that macronutrients alone can help. This is a lesseon well-learned from clinical settings where it’s well known that carbs are "protein sparing" for the body.

After lifting, you’ll need perhaps 50-100 g of high-glycemic-index carbs eaten (or drank) throughout the post-exercise "nutrient window." This phenomenon is well-documented and lasts for about two hours after you leave the gym. Muscle enzymes like glycogen synthase and glucose transporters (primarily the GLUT-4 type) are READY at this time. USE THEM!

This window of opportunity used to be called the "carb window" by many, but recent data show that co-consumption of protein is advantageous, too.11 Here’s your shot at the holy grail of hypertrophy; don’t miss it. If you do, the next few days will be harder on you physically. You’ll likely be more fatigued and recovery will be mediocre.

And before you think I’m obsessed with carbohydrates like most of my fellow exercise physiology and nutrition colleagues, let me re-state that consuming a similar amount of protein with the carbs is also critical to recovery. In the case of protein, however, we’re talking about the provision of muscle "building blocks" but not so much cortisol or IL-6 suppression, so let’s stay on track. Remember, we’re trying to avoid excessive punishment from our training.

My longstanding approach to post-workout recovery meals has included a meal replacement pack with frozen berries blended in. This gets me carbs, 50 g protein, and an antioxidant "berry bonus" with tons of flavor. Of course, when my Surge arrives from Tim or TC (hint hint), I may be altering my post-workout strategy a bit. I have to admit the specific nutrient profile in it intrigues me.

Okay, that’s enough for now on catabolic hormones and donning our nutritional "armor." It’s time to get back into the physiology of muscle growth. Next on our list of catabolic markers is immune function. This is where our self-induced "world of hurt" becomes literal. Usually athletes are surprised when I start talking about how white blood cells are responsible for literally chewing-up muscle. Everyone fixates on cortisol. However, there’s a clear elevation in circulating neutrophils and monocytes as soon as you start hoisting the iron. And it can’t be explained away as a simple function of cardiac output flushing them out of your lungs’ vasculature 10,12 (not that most of you were thinking that!).

Why does this matter? Because, my catabolic compatriots, these little soldiers are drawn to sites of muscular damage like bodybuilders are drawn to the smell of a cooking steak. It’s a process called chemotaxis. Eccentric exercise appears particularly good at calling them hither.10,12 Those exercise-damaged muscle fibers tear and the resulting fragments need to be engulfed just as if they were any other antigen (e.g. bacteria, viruses).

Take a close look at the muscle fibers in the microscope pic I’ve provided. That’s really what happens. They’re toast! Once the neutrophils and monocytes arrive, it’s a buffet of human tissue — but relax, it’s part of the repair process. We can’t construct a bigger building without clearing away rubble from the site first, can we? The problem is that these white blood cells, having infiltrated the muscle, tend to over-clean, engulfing ("phagocytizing") protein fragments and secreting oxidants and other catabolic compounds including interleukin-1, interleukin-6, and even bleach!2,5,12 Remember they’re soldiers, baby, and ready for war. Unfortunately this may be a case of "friendly fire" — when all we need is a janitor and not an immune system version of John Rambo.

As I mentioned, there are two primary types of white cells that are part of the damage-and-repair process in muscle. Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell, or "leukocyte" that arrive on the scene first. Check out the figure that shows a prominent increase in white cells within two hours after eccentric, damaging exercise. About 60% of these bad boys are neutrophils. They’re showing up in the blood samples I collected in part because they’re on their way to the battlefield. They’re the alpha team and they’re about to secure the beach for some heavy hitters. Not until about five days after a brutal bout with the iron — at a time when your soreness has subsided — do the monocytes really appear. I’ve observed their delayed journey toward the muscles with repeated blood sampling over five-day recovery periods.5 (See figure.) Others have seen them leave the blood vessels at this same time and show up among the still recovering muscle fibers.2

After entering the tissues many transform into "macrophages." They’re the biggest eaters of human flesh in a healthy body and they can hang around for months. But are they there just to punish you? Well, their role is still being investigated ‘cause it makes little sense that our bodies would still be cleaning up mucle fragment mess so far into the recovery period. Can you imagine scheduling your training around such a time frame? Pecs every 10-30 days? Legs once per month? Not realistic. The only solid conclusion that I can make at this point is simply to respect their catabolic capacity and try to reduce any overzealous munching.

What exactly, then, can we do to ease the aggression of these white cells? I mean, didn’t Yoda teach that aggression and hatred will suck us toward the Dark Side or something? As in the case with cortisol and IL-6, there are a few things that can be done nutritionally. Shying away from omega-6 fatty acids (like linoleic acid in corn, sunflower, "vegetable", and even soybean oil) can help reduce the inflammation and perhaps interleukin response.3, 4, 5, 6 Go for omega-3s and monounsaturates whenever possible. I can’t overstate how important a switch toward more fish oil, flax and olive oil really is. (See Fat Roundtable by John Berardi).

And we’ll also need to get our share of antioxidants from fruits and veggies. Mom was right. Foods really are often better sources because the phytochemicals work together in as yet unknown ratios and combinations. Still, a 400 IU vitamin E, a 250 mg vitamin C, and some beta carotene or herbal antioxidants may help too. In essence, these nutrients could reduce the caliber of white cell’s ammo from "cannon ball" to "tennis ball"; remember, a primary weapon of white cells is secretion of oxidants.

(If you’re interested, I wrote a book chapter on the subject with John Berardi and Tim Ziegenfuss. It’s in the upcoming text, Sports Supplements from Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins (Antonio and Stout Eds.). Even though I will financially make "double goose eggs" from the sale of the book, it still deserves a plug. The authors are practically a "who’s who" of modern bodybuilding supplement authorities. Contact me for more einformation if you’re into it.)

Let’s wrap up this white cell thing. Admittedly, I’ve been less than straight with you up to this point. It’s time to disclose. Luckily, after a period of a few days, these white blood cell soldiers become medics, secreting growth factors that help rebuild the damaged area bigger than ever before.2,5 This could be a reason for the delayed onset of monocyte infiltration. Maybe they’re more medic than monster after all. It’s also interesting that the lingering presence of neutrophils and monocytes among muscle fibers may prepare them for your next punishing workout. Remember, growth factors don’t just come from a needle! I’ve spent extra time on this immune function thing to make a point. With all the obsession over androgen pharmacology, you may never have heard of exercise immunology and the ways you can manipulate it to GROW. Well now you have.

And so ends part one of our odyssey into muscle recovery. We’ve seen masochists, evil kings, and psychotic soldiers. Ahh, physiology is a messy, painful and beautiful thing. In summary (and being just a tad more literal), we’ve covered a five-day recovery phase (often called the "acute phase response"), focusing on catabolic hormones and immunology. And, just so we’re not simply left feeling the sting of the physiologic cat-o-nine tails, we’ve also discussed nutritional strategies to hasten recovery. It’s critical, for example, to eat as soon as you get home from the gym.

But there’s more to learn. There are other markers of catabolism that bodybuilders experience which show rather clearly that we are voluntary whipping boys. We’ve only scratched the surface, especially regarding things that you, the reader, can measure for yourself! Tune in to Part Two of Muscle Masochism to find out.

Muscle Masochism!, Part 2
by Dr. Lonnie Lowery

Part 1 of Dr. Lowery’s article addressed muscle damage from a microscopic perspective, looking at the physiological and immunological after effects of busting your butt in the gym. It also gave some nutritional remedies to cure the effects of all that ass busting.

Part 2 continues to look at muscle catabolism, in addition to giving you methods by which to conduct fiendish laboratory-like experiments on yourself! Most importantly, though, the article gives you information that you can apply to your training, and how often do you get that from a science article?

Ever been so ROCKED from squatting that it was hard to make it up the stairs — even with the handrail? How about so torched through your pecs and shoulders that you could barely put on your headphones? If so, this article is for masochists like you.

After a punishing workout, catabolic substances in your body like interleukin-6 (IL-6), cortisol and white cell-created oxidants (O) need to be brought down with specifically-timed nutrition. If you can make it through to the second phase of recovery, growth factors (GF) start to kick in and work alongside anabolic hormones to induce new growth. Let’s review with a graph, shall we?

But there are other markers of catabolism that bodybuilders experience that show rather clearly that we are, in effect, voluntary whipping boys. Some are laboratory-only measures and others you can measure yourself! Let’s begin with a curious lab phenomenon.

On one of those late nights sifting through data in the lab (and daydreaming again about those pics of Amy Fadhli that TC occasionally posts with his editorials), I noticed that the metabolic rate of injury and trauma patients was severely elevated. Injury? Trauma? I’d been seeing this in my bodybuilding subjects — were they hypermetabolic, too? If so, the current popular calorie recommendations would be sub-par for stimulating muscle growth.

I rounded up some subjects, got them running downhill on a treadmill (a weird but brutally effective way of inducing eccentric muscle damage), and hooked them up to a metabolic cart every morning for five days thereafter. Despite wicked muscle enzyme release (indicative of trauma) and soreness off the charts, I saw no significant hypermetabolism.(6) Maybe the exercise wasn’t severe enough to mimic clinical trauma, ‘cause others have indeed found this.(2) I believe that if the trauma is severe enough, hypermetabolism during recovery can sap calories needed for growth. If you punish yourself in an effort to gain weight, it’s all the more reason to get aggressive at the dinner table.

Here’s a time-honored trick: try taking your pulse first thing in the morning before your coffee or even sitting up in bed. Elevated heart rate is generally related to elevated metabolism.

High basal levels of stress hormones and physical injury may raise resting heart rate. It’s hardly a thoroughly validated and accurate assessment tool but few "field measures" are. It’s just one more piece of information.

Body temperature has also been used to assess metabolic rate at home, but tympanic (ear) thermometers are sucky indicators of elevated core temperature. And since you’re not about to jam a rectal probe up your backside like they do in the lab, let’s just assume that humans are "homeotherms" and usually adjust to hold that nice 37-degree C body temperature.

Yet another measurement on our list of at-home assessments of muscle damage is swelling. How the heck does one measure that? How ‘bout with a simple tape measure. It’s well established in the scientific literature that limb girth is a reasonably sensitive way to assess swelling and "edema" (fluid accumulation). Just wait a day or two after lifting; measure too soon and your "pump" will invalidate this measure. The principle is pretty basic: the more damage, the greater the arm or leg girth.

To do this properly, you’ll need to know the "anatomical landmarks" so you can measure a limb in exactly the same place pre- and post-exercise. For the arm, it’s the midpoint between the acromio-clavicular joint (trap-deltoid area) and the olecranon (tip) of the elbow. Find your "A-C joint" by palpating (feeling around) for the notch where your humerus (upper arm bone) meets your clavicle (bone connecting your neck with your shoulder). If you’re huge, this might be tough. It’s at the very top of your deltoid. Mark it with a pen. Then hold your arm at a 90o angle to find the bony tip of your elbow. Have a buddy connect the two anatomical landmarks with a tape measure and, looking from the side, mark the half-way point in centimeters. This is where he’ll wrap the tape measure horizontally (parallel with the floor) for the reading.

You must let the arm hang relaxed, unbent and un-flexed, at your side while he reads it. Measuring your (relaxed) thigh is similar, just use the mid point between your proximal patella (upper knee cap) and inguinal crease (where your thigh meets your body) and measure the mid-point from the front rather than side of the body. C’mon, you know you’ve done something similar to this to show everyone how huge you are. (You freaking "tape worm"!) This is just done for a different reason.

Okay, back to the lab. Although my specific protocol didn’t induce injury-like hypermetabolism, it did cause something strange: A steady shift in metabolic fuel mix towards carb use. This rise in respiratory exchange ratio (RER) came out of nowhere and I still welcome any explanations that T-mag readers might have.

I thought it might be cortisol elevation (it’s a glucocorticoid that increases glycogen use) but I wasn’t able to detect a significant rise in this hormone. Maybe it was due to those multiplying pesky white cells (monocytes). Take a closer look at the monocyte figure in Part I of this article. See how similar the line is to the one on the graph (above)? Both rise steadily and peak on Day 5 after exercise. Could it be that these almost identical time courses have a causal relationship? What in Joe Weider’s name could those monocytes be doing to waste-away your precious carb reserves?

Whatever the reason for the shift toward carb reliance, it seems doubly punishing. Monocytes are going nuts, potentially chewing up your muscles at a time when these very fibers are also being depleted to sustain metabolism. Think about it. An athlete with chronically damaged muscle fibers can’t take up blood glucose and pack it away as glycogen very well. (3,7) At the same time, you’re using-up your "warehouse" (muscle carb stores) AND getting assaulted by monocytes. Can anyone say FLAT? Just at a time when our muscles can’t replenish their carb stores, they’re rifling through what little they have!

Tell me that you’ve never felt fuller and more vascular after taking a week off from your usual punishing routine. These observations lead me to believe that there are specific times when carbs must be eaten and others when they should be reduced. The same goes for other nutrients; but that’s mostly another story….

Now let’s discuss performance variables. Who knows what happens to strength after hitting a few sets of heavy negatives… Bueller? ….Bueller? It plummets, doesn’t it? Look at the figure from a study I performed last year. It shows a significant strength drop of 10-14% after negative training:

To illustrate the performance decrement from your masochism in the gym, consider this: a drop of just 10% would be 30 pounds off your max 300 pound bench press! An acquaintance of mine, Marty Gibala (a prof up in Toronto now), has corroborated this data, showing more microtrauma and longer recovery periods from eccentric training.(5)

Why the hell would anyone step back into the gym when I’m showing you right freaking here that you probably won’t be ready to handle max poundage? You can measure this yourself if you keep a training log. Observe and record, baby — that’s what science is. Be a scientist and you’ll be able to correct and adjust to reach your genetic potential. Do you require a full seven days off before you’re pushing big weights again? So be it. Tell your overzealous training buddy to stick it! You won’t de-train within a week. Otherwise keep spinning your (overtrained, over-sore) wheels and barely gain a pound.

I personally train a muscle group every five to seven days. Any sooner means I’ll be handling sub-par poundage. Not an option. Besides, training a specific muscle group sooner than this just places additional stress on your body when it’s struggling to replenish muscle fullness (glycogen stores) and is still feeling the pinch of "monocytosis".

And yet the gyms are full of tough guys benching Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Ask your self this: are you a "hard gainer" or simply a masochist who can’t stay away from the House of Pain?

Okay, last up: muscle soreness. You pain-lovers are intimately connected to it. It’s the theme of this article. You welcome it as a sign of growth and progress. Me too. But can it be used as a physique assessment tool like the other things we’ve covered? Stick with me, baby, and we’ll be using these "tools" like Tim Taylor on ephedrine!

Check out the graph on perceived soreness after eccentric exercise. I’ve been using different scales with various kinds of punishing exercises but this is a good example.

We can quantify soreness two ways. One is to use "operational definitions." You know, assigning descriptors to explain increasing scores on a scale. For example, a scale based on data from Abraham (1977) is: 0 = no soreness, 1 = barely perceivable soreness, 2 = extreme soreness, 3 = soreness so intense as to interfere with daily activities. But there are also more arbitrary 1-10 scales that have their advantages. Most everyone can make judgments that their legs are "a nine on a 10 scale" or their chest is "90% as sore as the worst ever."

Why bother attaching numbers to soreness? Because we can then get averages, peaks and "valleys" across the course of a week or during a new training regime — or when we review the causes of recent weight gain. You may find that months when soreness is high (and you’re recovering adequately), you gain the most weight. This self-assessment works even better if you perform girth measures (above) along with it. More damage equals more subsequent growth, if you wait long enough between training sessions.

Admittedly there’s some debate over what "optimum" soreness is. My colleague Tim Z thinks I go too far in the weight room (weight-wise) and that pulling back on the reins should result in better recovery. I just can’t train that way, though. I tend to think it’s best to go ballistic, then rest adequately. It probably depends on one’s body type. My whole family consists of short, "fireplug" type people; one sister was a gymnast, one (the surgeon) is a bodybuilder, my bother (the "Yeti") and I gravitated toward the iron and power sports, too. Perhaps thinner dudes like "Z" couldn’t recover from such abuse… not that his multiple sets of 10-12 reps with 275 in the squat are a joke. From a glycogen depletion and energy-expenditure viewpoint, his lighter, more voluminous approach is even more taxing than my negatives in the 90-120% of max range. I wonder, people, how do you train?

Anyhow, by assigning numbers to my soreness each day and doing a little analysis, I can figure things out systematically. In the lab, for example, I know that by 24 hours into recovery, there’s already significant soreness that correlates with poor dietary carb use.(7) Outside the lab it can be used by those patient enough to include it in their training logs. It’s how you can assess when you’re ready to go train a body part again.

If you’re not into numbers, simply wait one to two days AFTER your soreness is gone. Although debated by some, it’s a reasonable tool for creating training regimes. Of course, adding numbers (making the information "quantitative") is best; it’s what takes the guesswork out of your lifting.

The take-home message is this: If you punish yourself under the iron, now you have a few ways to actually measure the magnitude and duration of your trauma. I’ve shared some things that I’ve done in the lab because they have "real world" applicability. Go beyond the scale and take control of your progress! The period of greatest "trauma" seems to be 24-72 hours (1-3 days) post-exercise, if you use negatives as part of your torture sessions.

See if measurements ("variables") like resting heart rate, limb girth (swelling), fatigue and strength tests are improved by eating ASAP after your training sessions. Of course, there are no guarantees that these methods will steer you toward new growth (nothing is 100% certain in science), but the data don’t lie. These measurement tools offer that little bit of extra information that could help you. Hey, my motto is "An informed decision is always better than an ignorant one." But then again, you could always go back to your "tough guy" Monday, Wednesday, Friday benching routine and wonder why you never get any bigger.

We’ve also reviewed certain lab techniques using repeated blood sampling and metabolic charts to shed some light on the mechanisms behind your painful recovery. If that sounds like something from a car wreck victim’s medical charts, you’re right. The very same "acute phase reactions" take place. I’ve seen it repeatedly. They’re less severe in magnitude, of course, but they are there. Bet you never thought you were THAT brutal on yourself. Do yourself a favor and give your struggling body a chance to heal with the carefully timed nutrition and recovery time frames we’ve discussed. Remember, the battle is raging long after you’ve left the gym.

The Importance of Post Workout Nutrition
By John M Berardi

Invest Your Time Wisely
You don't need to be a resource management specialist to know that time is the most valuable finite resource that you have. And as you well know, there's a very limited amount of it to go around. So if you're smart, you'll figure out ways to get the greatest return on the investment of your time.

While this may be well recognized and applied in many aspects of modern life, it confuses me as to why people seem to ignore this when it comes to their exercise training. From what I see on a daily basis, it's clear to me that most people in the gym are wasting their time investment. They're spending precious hours engaged in strength or endurance training programs that yield little or no results? Need proof? When was the last time someone in your gym made any noticeable physical progress? In fact, when was the last time that you made any significant physical progress? Exercise training has the potential to yield huge returns on any given time investment. Isn't it a shame that most people don't ever see this magnitude of return?

Despite this disappointing reality, I'm here to tell you that hope is not lost. In fact, there's a very easy way to capitalize on your investment. You see, in most cases the exercise is not the problem. The problem is that people fail to invest in the other important commodity that, in combination with exercise, yields the biggest returns. They're buying the cart without the horse, the lemonade stand without the lemonade. They're spending their time focused on only the exercise program while ignoring the importance of a sound nutritional program.

Now I could write a dozen articles focused on straightening out the nutritional problems of the world. But those articles are for another day. In this article today, I intend to focus on what is, in my opinion, the most important aspect of exercise nutrition - eating during the post-workout period. The knowledge of how to eat during this time will maximize your efforts in the gym and yield the biggest returns on your time investment.

Remodeling and The Post-Workout Period
Exercise, both strength and endurance training, is responsible for countless health and aesthetic benefits. However the exercise itself is a significant physiological stressor. Perceived symptoms of this "stress" are often mild and include muscle soreness, the need for extra sleep, and an increased appetite. These symptoms let us know that the exercise has depleted the muscle's fuel resources, caused some minor damage, and that the muscle is in need of replenishment and repair. While the words depletion and damage may sound like negative things, they're not if they only stick around for a short period of time. You see, these changes allow the muscle to adapt by getting better at the exercise demands placed on it. Therefore if you're doing endurance exercise, the muscle will become depleted and damaged in the short run, but in the long run it will super compensate, building itself up to be a better aerobic machine. And if strength training is your thing, you'll tear down you're weaker muscle fibers in favor of building up bigger, stronger ones. In all cases, exercise essentially tears down old, less adapted muscle in order to rebuild more functional muscle. This phenomenon is called remodeling.

While the remodeling process is much more complex than I can describe here, it's important for me to emphasize that this remodeling only takes place if the muscle is provided the right raw materials. If I plan on remodeling my home I can hire a guy to tear down a couple of walls, a guy to clean up the mess, and a guy to come in and rebuild better walls than the ones that came down. But if I don't give that guy any bricks, how's he going to get anything done? If I don't give him the bricks, all I'll have in the end is a much smaller, unfinished house.

The same holds true with exercise remodeling. In particular, during the exercise bout and immediately following it, exercise breaks down our muscle carbohydrate stores and our muscle protein structures. Then, the immune system comes in to clean up the mess. And finally, signals are generated to tell the body to rebuild. However, as I hope you can now see, without the proper protein and carbohydrate raw materials, this building can't take place. You'll be left with muscles that never reach their potential.

So with this analogy, I hope it's obvious that this post-exercise period is not a time to take lightly. Remember, you spent a significant amount of time in the gym breaking down the muscle for a good reason. You want it to be better adapted to future demands. So to realize full return on your time investment, you need to give the body the raw materials it needs, namely protein and carbohydrates.

Feeding Hungry Muscles
As I mentioned earlier, all trainees (male or female), regardless of their chosen mode of exercise, must take their post-exercise nutrition seriously in order to provide the muscle with the raw materials it needs. As all types of exercise use carbohydrates for energy, muscle carbohydrate depletion is inevitable. Therefore a post-workout meal high in carbohydrates is required to refill muscle carbohydrate/energy stores. However any ol' amount of carbohydrates will not do. You need to consume enough carbohydrates to promote a substantial insulin release. Insulin is the hormone responsible for shuttling carbohydrates and amino acids into the muscle. In doing this, carbohydrate resynthesis is accelerated and protein balance becomes positive, leading to rapid repair of the muscle tissue. Therefore, by consuming a large amount of carbohydrates, you will promote a large insulin release, increase glycogen storage, and increase protein repair. Research has shown that a carbohydrate intake of 0.8 to 1.2 grams per 1 kilogram of body weight maximizes glycogen synthesis and accelerates protein repair. However, unless you've had a very long, intense workout, 1.2g/kg may be a bit excessive as excess carbohydrate can be converted to bodyfat. Therefore I recommend 0.8g of carbohydrate per 1 kilogram of body weight for speeding up muscle carbohydrate replenishment while preventing excess fat gain (van Loon et al 2000a).

In addition, since muscle protein is degraded during exercise, the addition of a relatively large amount of protein to your post exercise meal is necessary to help rebuild the structural aspects of the muscle. After exercise, the body decreases its rate of protein synthesis and increases its rate of protein breakdown. However, the provision of protein and amino acid solutions has been shown to reverse this trend, increasing protein synthesis and decreasing protein breakdown. Researchers have used anywhere from 0.2g - 0.4g of protein per 1 kilogram of body weight to demonstrate the effectiveness of adding protein to a post-workout carbohydrate drink (van Loon et al 2000b, Roy et al 1998). As an increased consumption of the essential amino acids may lead to a more positive protein balance, 0.4g/kg may be better than 0.2g/kg.

While your post-workout feeding should be rich protein and carbohydrate, this meal should be fat free. The consumption of essential fats is one of the most overlooked areas of daily nutritional intake but during the post workout period, eating fat can actually decrease the effectiveness of your post-workout beverage. Since fat slows down transit through the stomach, eating fat during the post workout period may slow the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates and proteins. As your post workout feeding should be designed to promote the most rapid delivery of carbohydrates and protein to your depleted muscles, fats should be avoided during this time.

Finally, another important factor to consider is the timing of this meal. It is absolutely crucial that you consume your post-workout meal immediately after exercise. As indicated above, after exercise, the muscles are depleted and require an abundance of protein and carbohydrate. In addition, during this time, the muscles are biochemically "primed" for nutrient uptake. This phenomenon is commonly known as the "window of opportunity". Over the course of the recovery period, this window gradually closes and by failing to eat immediately after exercise, you diminish your chances of promoting full recovery. To illustrate how quickly this window closes, research has shown that consuming a post-exercise meal immediately after working out is superior to consuming one only 1 hour later. In addition, consuming one 1 hour later is superior to consuming one 3 hours later (Tipton et al 2001, Levenhagen et al 2001). If you wait too long, glycogen replenishment and protein repair will be compromised.

In conclusion, when you decided to start exercising you decided to give up a specific amount of time per week in the interest of getting better, physically. However, if you haven't spent the necessary time thinking about post-exercise nutrition, you're missing much of the benefit that comes with exercising. I assure you that once you start paying attention to this variable in the recovery equation, your time in the gym will be much better invested.

Whole Food vs. Nutritional Supplementation
Anchored firmly atop their calorie-counting soapbox, nutritionists have traditionally asserted that whole food always trumps supplemental nutrition. For them I have only one sentiment:

Always…it is a meaningless word. -Oscar Wilde

While I wholeheartedly believe that complete, unbleached, untreated, and unprocessed whole food should form the basis of any sound nutritional regimen, there are some instances in which supplements can actually be superior to whole food. In the case of post-exercise nutrition, I believe that liquid supplemental nutrition is far superior to whole food for the following reasons.

Liquid meals are palatable and digestible
Typically, after intense exercise, most people complain that eating a big meal is difficult. This is understandable as the exercise stress creates a situation where the hunger centers are all but shut down. However, as you now know, it's absolutely critical that you eat if you want to remodel the muscle, enlarge the muscle, or recover from the exercise. Fortunately liquid supplemental formulas are palatable, easy to consume, and can be quite nutrient dense, providing all the nutrition you need at this time. In addition, since these formulas are structurally simple (I'll save the biochemistry for another article), the gastrointestinal tract has no difficulty processing them. Your stomach will thank you for this.

Liquid meals have a fast absorption profile, whole food is just too slow
The latest research has demonstrated that liquid supplemental formulas containing fast digesting protein (whey hydrolysates and isolates) and carbohydrates (dextrose and maltodextrin) are absorbed more quickly than whole food meals. To put this into perspective, a liquid post-exercise formula may be fully absorbed within 30 to 60 minutes, providing much needed muscle nourishment by this time. However, a slower digesting solid food meal may take 2 to 3 hours to fully reach the muscle.

Liquid meals take advantage of the "window of opportunity", whole foods may miss it

The faster the protein and carbohydrates get to the muscle, the better your chances for muscle building and recovery. Current research has demonstrated that subjects receiving nutrients within one hour after exercise recover more quickly than subjects receiving nutrients three hours after exercise. Liquid nutrition is making more sense, isn't it?

Liquid meals are better for nutrient targeting
During the post exercise period, specific nutrients maximize your recovery. These include an abundance of water, high glycemic index carbohydrates, and certain amino acids (in specific ratios). It's also best to avoid fat during this time. So the only way to ensure that these nutrients are present in the right amounts is to formulate a specific liquid blend. Whole foods may miss the mark.

Post-Exercise Choices
So your workout is over and it's time to reach for your post workout meal. What do you reach for? Here are a few examples of good post-workout choices in order of effectiveness.

1) A specifically formulated recovery drink

1 serving Biotest Surge - (305 calories) - 25g Protein, 50g Carbohydrate, 0.5g Fat

2) A homemade recovery drink

1 serving whey protein + 2 servings Gatorade - (369 calories) - 25g protein, 66g Carbohydrate, 0.5g Fat

3) A whole food recovery meal

12 oz of skim milk + 1 serving Vector - (358 calories) - 18g protein, 65g Carbohydrate, 2.8g Fat

The Science of Nutrient Timing — Part 1
by John M Berardi

James T. Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise believed that space was the "final frontier," an undiscovered territory full of strange new worlds, new life, and new civilizations. So they set out to "boldly go where no man has gone before."

Following the lead of Kirk and his crew, a new crop of nutrition and exercise scientists has begun an exploration of their own, set against the backdrop of human physiology. Here on earth, nutrition and exercise scientists have suggested that the "final frontier" of the muscle-building realm is "nutrient timing." And while the science of "nutrient timing" is nowhere near as exciting as beaming Mudd’s women aboard your vessel, put it to good use and your physique might just land you a few sultry females from this galaxy.

What Is Nutrient Timing?

With respect to manipulating body composition and athletic performance, traditional nutritionists have spent much of their time figuring out how much to eat and to a smaller extent, what to eat. Of course, both of these approaches have immense value. Although a myriad of factors affect energy balance (more than can be understood by a simple appraisal of how much you eat and how much you exercise; see Hungry, Hungry Hormones Part I for a more complete picture), the laws or thermodynamics are the most important determinants of weight gain and weight loss. Therefore, how much we eat is critical in altering our body composition (and, indirectly, our performance).

But conventional thermodynamic approaches tell just a portion of the story. After all, very few people would benefit from focusing exclusively on weight gain or weight loss. Rather, the focus should be on the composition of the gain or loss. If you’re losing equal amounts of fat and muscle when in "negative energy balance" or gaining equal amounts of fat and muscle when in "positive energy balance," you’re probably not taking advantage of the full spectrum of nutrition and exercise information available.

Although this might be a bit of an oversimplification of a very complex topic, in some ways the thermodynamic approach of measuring calories in vs. calories out may simply maintain the body shape status quo. If you’ve got the right genetics, the calorie in vs. calorie out approach will probably be all you need to look good nekid at any body size (bigger or smaller). But, if not, simply counting calories will probably just make you a bigger or smaller version of your former self (and if you’re unhappy with that shape, you wont necessarily like it at a bigger or smaller size).

To address some of these limitations of the thermodynamic or "calorie balance" approaches, scientists recognized the value of studying the effects of food selection on body composition changes (for more on this concept, see Lean Eatin’ 1 and Lean Eatin’ 2). While this line of investigation is in its relative infancy, it’s becoming clear that there’s something to this whole food-type thing. Despite what naysayers claim, once energy balance is accounted for, some carbohydrates are better than others. Likewise, some proteins are better than others and some fats better than others. Therefore, by choosing your food wisely, even if you’re eating the same number of calories each day, you can upregulate your metabolism, shift your hormonal profile, and alter the composition of your weight gain and weight loss (not to mention reap the health benefits of a better diet composition).

As you can see, the science of what to eat has added to the how much to eat picture and advanced our understanding of body composition manipulation. By recognizing the laws of thermodynamics and eating accordingly we can set the stage for weight loss or weight gain. And by choosing our foods wisely, we wield the power to take control of what types of gains and losses we’ll see. In some respects, the science of what to eat has given us the power to transcend some of our genetic "inclinations" (i.e. overall body shape).

While the how much to eat and what to eat approaches offer a ton of great nutrition information, one newly emerging area of research, "nutrient timing," has begun to demonstrate that manipulating the time dimension can further assist in taking control of our body composition and athletic performance. In this way, nutrient timing, or the science of when to eat, is becoming an important part of nutritional planning.

What’s So Special About When We Eat?

To the average person who’s not exercising, the principles of nutrient timing aren’t very important. Sure, glucose tolerance/insulin sensitivity is altered during the course of a day but these changes probably aren’t critical to determining one’s dietary needs. For these individuals, what and how much they eat is the most important thing. While nutrient timing isn’t critical to the average person, its importance must not be underestimated in the athlete (including team sport athletes, endurance athletes, and weight trainers).

In the book, "Nutrient Timing" (a book I also contributed to), Drs. John Ivy and Robert Portman make a great comment about the current state of sports nutrition practice. In this book they highlight the fact that as scientists began to learn about the nutritional needs of athletes/weightlifters (i.e. higher energy needs and the benefits of additional protein ingestion), a "bulk nutrition" concept was adopted in which athletes began to believe things like "if protein is good, then more protein must be better." (You don’t know anyone like that, do you?) In other words, when many athletes find out that something is "good," they try to get lots of it. And when many athletes find out that something is "bad," they try to avoid it at all costs.

Unfortunately this is nothing more than a combination of the how much to eat and what to eat approaches discussed above. Combine that with a very naive good vs. bad approach to food and you’ve got a recipe for sub-optimal nutritional intake. After all, very few foods are always good or always bad (well, I can think of a few…). This is certainly unfortunate for two reasons. First, much of the current science is pointing to the fact that if you train regularly, the body is primed for fat gain or fat loss just as it’s primed for muscle gain or muscle loss during specific times of the day. Add in the wrong foods at the wrong times and you’re sabotaging your efforts in the gym. Add the right foods and your efforts are given a giant boost. Secondly, although some foods are not optimal during certain times of the day (i.e. sugar), some of these same foods can actually be very beneficial during other times of the day (such as the post workout period).

Throwing aside the oversimplification inherent in the bulk nutrition concept, let’s now get down to the nuts and bolts of optimal nutrient timing. Since I was a consultant in the development of the book, I’m going to go ahead and take the liberty of borrowing from some of Drs. Ivy and Portman’s nomenclature. In the book, the authors refer to three critical times of the day in which nutrient timing takes on a greater importance. These times are known as the Energy Phase, The Anabolic Phase, and The Growth Phase. Since I like these distinctions, I’ll use them here. However, I’ll add another phase that I call, somewhat in jest, The Rest of

The Day Phase
Nutrient Timing — The Energy Phase

The Energy Phase is called this because this phase occurs during the workout when energy demands are highest. As you probably know, the energy used by skeletal muscle is ATP. This ATP is formed and resynthesized by macronutrients from the diet so carbs, proteins, and fats contribute indirectly to the energy of muscle contraction. Therefore, the high rates of energy demand during exercise are met by ingested nutrients and/or stored nutrients (the ratio depends on your feeding schedule). This breakdown of nutrients, while completely necessary, is, by definition, catabolic. As such, the workout period, as I’ve addressed in the past (see Precision Nutrition), is marked by a number of anabolic and catabolic effects.

Anabolic Effects Of Acute Exercise

Catabolic Effects Of Acute Exercise

Increased Skeletal Muscle Blood Flow

Glycogen Depletion

Increased Anabolic Hormone Release

(GH, Testosterone, IGF-1)

Decreased Net Protein Balance

Acute Phase Response Resolution

Increased Cortisol Concentrations

Decreased Insulin Concentrations

Acute Phase Response Breakdown

Increased Metabolic Rate

Dehydration (Endurance or Intermittent Exercise in Heat)

While these phenomena are nothing new and have been shown to occur during most types of exercise/training, what is new is the idea that targeted nutritional intake can actually shift the anabolic/catabolic balance during exercise, enhancing some of the anabolic effects while minimizing some of the catabolic effects (1; 4; 10; 11; 17).

To give you an example, a protein/carbohydrate supplement (like Biotest’s Surge) ingested immediately prior to exercise (or sipped during exercise) can actually increase skeletal muscle blood flow. Since this drink not only enhances blood flow but stocks that blood up with amino acids and glucose, the protein balance of the muscle will be shifted toward the positive and glycogen depletion will be significantly reduced. In addition, those amino acids and glucose units, independent of their effects on muscle protein and glycogen status, can also lead to a decrease in cortisol concentrations and improve the overall immune response (part of the acute phase response listed above and described in detail in the Precision Nutrition article).

Of course, if the aforementioned supplement is in a liquid form and is sipped during the exercise bout (as recommended), dehydration, a potent performance killer in both strength and endurance athletes, can be staved off as well. That’s not too shabby for a little ol’ protein/carbohydrate drink, eh?

The When, What and How Much of the Energy Phase

When examining the science of nutrient timing in detail, it becomes clear that one of the key "when to eat" times of the day is during the Energy Phase or during the workout. Of course, in focusing on when to eat, I’m in no way suggesting we should neglect considering what and how much to eat. In fact, they’re probably your next two questions so let’s get to them right away.

As indicated above, during the Energy Phase it’s important to ingest some protein and carbohydrate. In my experience the easiest way to do this is to drink an easily digested liquid carbohydrate and protein drink. This drink should probably consist of a well-diluted (a 6-10% solution — meaning 60-100g of powder for every 1L of water) combination of glucose, maltodextrin, and whey protein/hydrolyzed whey protein. Dilution is important, especially if you are an endurance athlete or if you’re training in a hot environment. If you don’t dilute your drink appropriately, you may not replenish your body’s water stores at an optimal rate (9; 12).

Now that we know when to eat and what to eat, let’s figure out how much. Unfortunately this isn’t as easy to answer. How much to eat really has a lot to do with how much energy you’re expending during the exercise bout, how much you’re eating the rest of the day, whether your primary interest is gaining muscle mass or losing fat mass, and a number of other factors. For a simple answer, however, I suggest starting out by sipping 0.8g of carbohydrate/kg and 0.4g of protein/kg diluted in somewhere around 1L of water (5; 17-20). For you 220lb guys, that means 80g of carbohydrate and 40g of protein during training. This, of course, is the nutrient make-up of Surge.

Nutrient Timing - The Anabolic Phase

The Anabolic Phase occurs immediately after the workout and lasts about an hour or two. This phase is titled "anabolic" because it’s during this time that the muscle cells are primed for muscle building. Interestingly, although the cells are primed for muscle building, in the absence of a good nutritional strategy, this phase can remain catabolic.

Without adequate nutrition, the period immediately after strength and endurance training is marked by a net muscle catabolism; that’s right, after exercise muscles continue to break down. Now, if you’re asking yourself how this can be, you’re asking the right question. After all, training (especially weight training) makes you bigger, not smaller. And even if you’re an endurance athlete, your muscles don’t exactly break down either. So how can exercise be so catabolic?

Well, for starters, as I’ve written before, while the few hours after exercise induce a net catabolic state (although protein synthesis does increase after exercise, so does breakdown), it’s later in the recovery cycle that the body begins to shift toward anabolism (8; 14). So we typically break down for some time after the workout and then start to build back up later (whether that "build up" is in muscle size or in muscle quality).

However, with this said, there are new data showing that with the right nutritional intervention (protein and carbohydrate supplementation), we can actually repair and improve muscle size or quality during and immediately after exercise (16; 17). And the best part is that if we do the nutrition thing right, not only do we start repairing muscle during and after exercise, we continue to alter muscle size and/or quality later on as well (16). For more on what happens during the postexercise period, check out my articles Solving the Post-Workout Puzzle 1 and Solving the Post Workout Puzzle 2.

The When, What and How Much of the Anabolic Phase

From now on, when planning your nutritional intake, you’d better consider both the Energy and Anabolic phases as two of the key "whens" of nutrient timing. Therefore, to maximize your muscle gain and recovery, you’ll be feeding both during and immediately after exercise. Again we come to what and how much.

As indicated above, during the Anabolic Phase it’s important to ingest some protein and carbohydrate. Just like with the Energy Phase, in my experience the easiest way to do this is to drink an easily digested liquid carbohydrate and protein drink. This drink should probably consist of a well-diluted (a 6-10% solution — meaning 60-100g of powder for every 1L of water) combination of glucose, maltodextrin, and whey protein/hydrolyzed whey protein.

While dilution, in this case, isn’t as important for rehydration because you’ve stopped exercising and presumably, sweating, you’re now diluting to prevent gastrointestinal distress. I won’t go to far into detail here — just take my word for it. You must dilute.

Now that we know when to eat and what to eat, let’s figure out how much. Just like with the Energy Phase, how much to eat really has a lot to do with how much energy you’re expending during the exercise bout, how much you’re eating the rest of the day, whether your primary interest is gaining muscle mass or losing fat mass, and a number of other factors. However, just like with the Energy Phase, a simple suggestion is to start out by sipping another serving of 0.8g of carbohydrate/kg and 0.4g of protein/kg diluted in somewhere around 1L of water (5; 17-20).

If you add up the basic suggestions from the Energy Phase and the Anabolic Phase, you’ll find that I’ve recommended about 1.6g of carbohydrate/kg and 0.8g of protein/kg in total. For a 220lb guy, that’s a total of 160g carbohydrate and 80g of protein during and immediately after training. Based on your preconceived notions of what constitutes "a lot" of carbs, this may seem like a lot or not much at all.

Regardless, it’s important to understand that during and after training, insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance is very good (2; 3; 13; 15; 21). Even if you’ve self-diagnosed poor carbohydrate tolerance (which too many people do unnecessarily) during and after the postexercise period, your carbohydrate tolerance will be much better.

And if you consider that most carbohydrate ingested during and immediately after exercise will either be oxidized for fuel or sent to the muscle and liver for glycogen resynthesis and that even in the presence of increased insulin concentrations, the postexercise period is marked by a dramatic increase in fat metabolism (6; 7), it should be clear that even a whopping carbohydrate and protein drink will not directly lead to fat gain. Just be sure to account for this increase in carbohydrate intake by decreasing your carbohydrate intake during other times of the day when carbohydrate resynthesis isn’t so efficient and booming insulin isn’t so benign.

From this discussion it should be clear that, using the principles of nutrient timing, one can load up on carbs during and after the workout while reducing them for the remainder of the day. In using this strategy, carbs are fed when they’ll best be converted into muscle glycogen and when they’ll best stimulate muscle growth and/or repair. If muscle gain is your goal, you’ll get more muscle per gram of carbohydrate ingested. If fat loss is your goal, you’ll get more muscle glycogen and a pronounced muscle sparing effect with fewer daily carbs ingested. And if athletic performance/recovery is your goal, your recovery will improve dramatically.

So before we move on, it’s important to understand that the 960kcal I recommended (for 220lb men) would be better utilized during and after the workout than during any other time of the day and herein lies the gist of nutrient timing. Nutrients ingested during the Energy and Anabolic Phases can better contribute to muscle gain, repair, and recovery when compared to the same nutrients ingested during other times of the day.

Now that I’ve covered what to eat during the Energy and Anabolic Phases, I’ll be back next week with some recommendations for what to eat during the final two phases of the nutrient timing cycle.

John Berardi is the president of Science Link, Inc., a human performance and nutrition consultation group dedicated to translating scientific research into measurable body composition and performance results. John currently lives in Toronto, Ontario where he spends his time writing, consulting with athletes, and giving nutrition and training seminars. For more about John, his team, and their products and services, check out www.johnberardi.com.

© 1998 — 2004 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The Science of Nutrient Timing — Part 2
by John M Berardi

In part 1 of this article, I outlined the concept of nutrient timing and discussed two of the key phases of nutrient timing: the Energy Phase and the Anabolic Phase. This week I’ll address the two other key phases of nutrient timing: the Growth Phase and the "Rest of The Day" Phase.

Nutrient Timing - The Growth Phase

After protein and carbohydrate have been provided during the Energy and Anabolic Phases, the net protein balance of the body shifted toward the positive; muscle glycogen restored, catabolism blunted and anabolism increased, it’s time to consider how to keep the growth process moving forward. After all, the damage has been done, the acute phase response is now activated to clean up the mess (see Lonnie Lowery’s Muscle Masochism for more on this process), and your metabolism is going to be racing until tomorrow. It’s definitely time to feed!

However, even though the body is under construction, it’s moving quickly back toward normal physiological functioning during this Growth Phase. In other words, the growth window is closing and this means bye-bye to improved insulin sensitivity. You can also sit back and watch your Testosterone and growth hormone concentrations fall. And muscle protein turnover is slowing down, reaching a rate just above normal.

With this slow return to "normalcy", it’s important to ditch the high glycemic carbohydrates and rapidly digested proteins. That’s right, while these foods were the anabolic superstars of the Energy and Anabolic phases, you’ll have to thank them and send them on their merry way during the Growth Phase and the "Rest of the Day" Phase. Kickin’ insulin is great during and after exercise, but elevate the insulin all day and your reward will be chub.

The When, What and How Much of the Growth Phase

While the exact when of the Growth Phase is a bit ambiguous, studies from my laboratory at the University of Western Ontario have recently demonstrated that unless muscle glycogen concentrations are severely reduced (greater than 70% depletion), carbohydrate and protein meals can help restore much of the depleted muscle glycogen in less than 6 hours. So, for simplicity sake, I consider the Growth Phase to last 6 hours after training.

During the Growth Phase, it’s important to continue to feed some carbohydrate and protein but definitely begin to reduce the total amount of carbohydrates ingested per meal while increasing the amount of protein ingested per meal. While a 2: 1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein was suggested for the Energy and Anabolic Phases, a ratio closer to 1: 1 might be optimal now.

Also, you’re going to start chewing real food rather than slurping down drinks. If we assume you’ll be drinking a postexercise drink immediately after training and you train in the morning or early evening, you’ll have time for about two food meals consisting of slower digesting proteins (meats, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc) and low glycemic carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, beans, ancient grains like quinoa, etc). If you train late in the evening, you’re screwed — just kidding. Actually, if you train late in the evening you can simply ingest one meal as specified and either have a midnight shake (a Grow! and some oatmeal might make a good choice) or simply skip the second Growth Phase meal.

Again, how much to eat depends on your goals. Once you’ve calculated your daily energy needs (you can do this by visiting the Massive Eating calculator), simply factor these meals into your total daily energy intake such that they are contributing toward your total intake. Remember, the Growth Phase, like the Energy and Anabolic Phases, is still marked by increased fat oxidation (even in the presence of some dietary carbohydrate) and increased glycogen synthesis (especially in the presence of some dietary carbohydrate). So take advantage of this by ingesting most of your daily carbs during these three phases.

Nutrient Timing - The Rest of The Day Phase

For those of you keeping score, the Energy, Anabolic, and Growth Phases cover about 7 or 8 hours of your training day. During these 7 — 8 hours, you’ll be ingesting about 4 total meals. Assuming you sleep about 8 hours per day, that leaves 8 — 9 hours and 3 meals to go. It’s these 8 — 9 hours and 3 meals that I consider "the rest of the day."

Since the Rest of the Day is marked by normal physiology, the food you eat during this phase should be adapted to what you know about your tolerance to carbohydrates and fats in the diet. For example, some of you may have relatively poor carbohydrate tolerance and insulin sensitivity. As a result, you should be eating mostly protein and a blend of fats during Rest of the Day. Others of you might do better on a higher carbohydrate diet. As a result, you should be eating more protein and carbohydrates during the Rest of the Day (as long as you don’t neglect getting your dietary fat, especially your essential fats).

In my experience, most trainees interested in carrying a low body fat percentage will benefit from simply eating protein and fats (with veggies) during the 3 Rest of the Day meals; carbohydrates and protein in a 2: 1 ratio during the 2 Energy and Anabolic meals; and carbohydrates and protein in a 1:1 ratio (some healthy fats can even be thrown in there) during the 2 Growth meals.

The When, What and How Much of the Rest of the Day Phase

As discussed, the Rest of the Day Phase is what’s left after your exercise and the 6 hours postexercise. During this time, it’s important to use what you know about your body to determine what to eat and your goals to determine how much to eat. Some of you can get away with a few carbohydrate and protein meals with some good fats thrown in. Others will have to go protein and fat meals with some veggies thrown it.

However, either way, you can rest assured that muscle glycogen concentrations have been maximized during your Energy, Anabolic and Growth Phases and that you’ve done everything in your power to stimulate the growth and recovery process.

One interesting way of looking at your food consumption during a "nutrient timing day" is that you’re eating like Atkins Diet proponents might recommend during 3 of your meals (Rest of the Day Phase); like Zone Diet proponents might recommend during 2 of your meals (Growth Phase); and like the American Dietetics Association might recommend during 2 more of your meals (Energy and Anabolic Phases).

Of course, this system wasn’t designed solely to reconcile the three big dietary movements but rather to use what we currently know about exercise metabolism to meet your daily energy needs in order to optimize growth, adaptation, performance and body composition. However, it’s certainly interesting to consider that the most effective nutritional strategy for athletes (nutrient timing) actually takes the best from each of the three most popular nutritional movements and finds a happy medium among them.

With the science of nutrient timing gradually producing more and more practical information, isn’t it about time you started using this information to support your training? If maximal muscularity, improved athletic performance, positive shifts in body composition, and marked improvements in recovery are your goal (uh, did I miss anyone), I encourage you to give the principles of nutrient timing a try. These principles form the foundation of my 7 Habits and Massive Eating Reloaded plans and will influence the field of sports nutrition for years to come.

Recovery
By John M Berardi

My elite athletes have branded me "the recovery specialist" since my main focus lies in helping athletes perform the maximum amount of training with the minimum amount of rest while avoiding or minimizing over training.

I've been fascinated with recovery for the last few years. However, recently I have spent considerable time designing detailed research protocols to answer some relevant questions dealing with CNS recovery, recovery of protein balance, recovery of muscle glycogen and recovery of the ATP-PC system. My focus in these areas has been the interaction between the exercise and nutrition/supplementation. In fact the dissertation project that is going to earn me a PhD has been designed to examine the recovery of skeletal muscle biochemical parameters (ATP, Creatine Phosphate, Free Creatine, Fiber Type, PH, etc.) after very intense weight lifting. And as a follow-up I will be testing several old and several new supplements for their impact on recovery of the ATP-PC system after a single exercise bout and after chronic exercise training. It's exciting stuff that can be applied to all sorts of trainees at every level.

Below I will discuss some "secrets" that I use with my athletes. Remember, however, although there are nutritional and supplemental strategies listed here, there is no substitute for a comprehensive nutritional program in terms of promoting progress and recovery.

When talking about recovery from training and competition, there are basically 5 areas to focus on.

1) Replenishment of muscle glycogen stores

After many types of training, muscle glycogen levels are depleted. Rapid replenishement of muscle glycogen stores has a favorable impact on the prevention of muscle protein catabolism, on cellular rehydration, and on subsequent exercise performances within the same day or on subsequent days. Basically, if you don't replenish glycogen rapidly, your performance will suffer next time you train and you may even lose some muscle along the way. Achieving the most rapid replenishment of muscle glycogen stores is especially important to my endurance athletes because they often train several times per day. However this can also help those training for bodybuilding as bodybuilding training (9-12 reps) often can deplete muscle glycogen.

In terms of glycogen replacement, the main difference between the two types of athletes is that endurance athletes usually need more glycogen replacement than do weight trainees. With endurance exercise the athlete should consume more carbs over the 4-6 hour period after the workout than the weight lifter. In endurance athletes, I usually recommend consuming a liquid meal immediately after training that contains 0.4g protein and 0.8g of carbs per kg of body mass. Then I instruct them to consume food meals in similar proportions every 2 hours for 3 subsequent meals. This means that there will be 4 total meals in the 6 hours following training that conform to the 0.4g protein and 0.8g fat recommendations. Some fat may be included in these latter meals but since carb intake will be high, fat intake should be modest. In weight lifters, I recommend the consumption of an identical meal after training however there should only be 1 follow up meal (about 60-90 minutes later) that consists of the same macronutrient profile. Then the next meal beyond that should conform to the lifter's particular meal plan and should be eaten somewhere around 3 hours later.

So why protein and carbs in these meals to promote glycogen storage? Well there is some literature to suggest that the synergistic insulin response promoted by carbs and protein will enhance muscle glycogen storage. While some studies have disputed these findings, I continue to recommend the inclusion of protein in these meals due to the second area of recovery...protein balance

2) Recovery of protein balance

Protein balance is calculated as the difference between protein synthesis (protein anabolism) and protein breakdown (protein catabolism). As I've written before in my Solving the Post-Workout Puzzle articles (which can be found at www.t-mag.com), after training, protein synthesis tends to go down in endurance trainees while it may stay the same or minimially increase in weight trainees. However in both types of athletes, protein breakdown goes way up, thus creating a negative protein balance and a good potential for muscle loss. Although this eventually rebounds and the body goes into an anabolic state, in the time immediately following training, muscle can be lost. Since no athlete can afford muscle loss, this is an important focus for recovery and subsequent muscle gain. While weight trainers jump for joy at even the slightest prospect of a weight gain, endurance athletes aren't so excited about the possibility of any weight gain. However, the endurance athletes have nothing to fear. Since endurance athletes have a predomination of slow twitch fibers, the recovery of protein balance in these athletes is designed to prevent muscle loss as a result of intense training.

These types of fibers just don't grow very well so there is no big danger of packing on the pounds. But in bodybuilders, the fast twitch fibers respond quite differently than the slow twitch fibers. You will grow when a positive protein balance is initiated with nutrition and supplementation. And this means you get big.

So how does one initiate the recovery of protein balance after training?

Conveniently, the best way to do so is to consume the nutrient recommendations from the last section (glycogen replenishment). By consuming the mentioned ratios (with the addition of some individual amino acids like glutamine, bcaas, and phenylalanine in the first post-workout drink) you will quickly create the optimal anabolic environment by minimizing protein breakdown and increasing protein synthesis.

3) Recovery of the CNS (neurotransmitter balance)

Neurotransmitters are responsible for many functions in cell signaling and play a big role in the communication between different brain areas and between the brain and the rest of the body. Research on these regulatory chemicals and their effects in exercise training has just recently begun to get the attention it deserves. But this field is still in its infancy due to the fact that it's difficult to study the brain and central nervous system.

Some evidence exists showing that when neurotransmitters like acetylcholine, dopamine, and norepinephrine get depleted, physical and cognitive performance suffers. Since these neurotransmitters can be depleted from intense repeated bouts of strenuous exercise, this is bad news. I believe that certain types of fatigue with endurance training as well as many of the symptoms of over training (altered appetite, inability to sleep, etc.) are a result of this type of depletion of neurotransmitters. In addition to this evidence, there is research showing that even the ratio of tryptophan to BCAA in the blood can increase 5-HT (serotonin) levels in the brain. This is due to increased tryptophan uptake in the brain. Tryptophan is a precursor for the fatigue promoting neurotransmitter, serotonin.

Since neurotransmitters can be depleted during exercise and this depletion can cause fatigue and over training, nutritional strategies may offer some support. Supplementation with 1-2 g of phosphatidylcholine (lecithin) per day may prevent the depletion of acetylcholine seen with training. Since acetylcholine is active in promoting muscular force, memory, and awareness, this would offer both cognitive and performance benefits. In addition, 6-8 g of tyrosine supplementation per day may help with dopamine and noradrenaline depletion. Depletion of these neurotransmitters may lead to CNS fatigue, reduced motivation, poor memory, loss of motor control, and poor mood. Finally, supplementation with 5g of BCAA during training may prevent serotonin increases during and after training due to the fact that BCAA compete with tryptophan for uptake into the brain, thus reducing the precursors for serotonin production.

Since the research in this area is so new, I recommend that most endurance athletes try the supplements I mentioned to see if they impacts performance. If not, we simply eliminate them from the program. There is simply not enough evidence to know if the neurotransmitter alterations seen in training have that much of an impact on performance and whether or not supplements can help in this regard.

4) Maximizing the anabolic to catabolic hormone ratio

In very intensely trained athletes, the anabolic hormones (testosterone) tend to decrease while the catabolic hormones (cortisol) tend to increase. This phenomenon is present in most endurance athletes and can manifest in weight trainers who do a high volume of exercise. This imbalance can lead to muscle loss, performance decrements, depression, and fat gain.

Several supplement strategies can be employed in an attempt to correct this. In a study done by Steve McGregor, Tribex supplementation increased the free testosterone to cortisol ratio in elite cyclists. This indicates it may be useful in balancing the anabolic and catabolic hormones. In addition, supplements like vitamin C, phosphatidylserine, and plant sterols may help prevent exercise induced increases in cortisol levels.

5) Recovery of the ATP-PC system

The ATP-PC system is responsible for repeated muscular contractions at the start of all exercise. It is also extremely important for brief, all-out bursts of maximal effort. ATP (the best energy source for muscular contraction) is broken down during such efforts and PC comes to the rescue to resynthesize the ATP that was broken down. This system is usually very efficient. However when you really challenge the system with high intensity muscle-damaging contractions, the ATP is broken down faster than it can be resynthesized and some of its degradation products are lost from the muscle. This means that for each ATP that is lost, that's one less ATP to be resynthesized for further work.

Over the next few days following an exercise bout, ATP levels can be lowered by about 20% due to this. Sure, a few days later it will be back to normal. But most athletes don't train once every 3 days or so but every day. So they need more rapid recovery of ATP.

Creatine supplementation and ribose supplementation may come in handy here. High starting levels of muscle creatine before the exercise bout may be beneficial in preventing the overwhelming of the system and therefore the ATP loss. In addition, ribose supplementation has been shown (in vitro) to increase the rate of ATP resynthesis after exercise-induced depletion. So the creatine-ribose combination may be beneficial in partially preventing ATP depletion with exercise and may help lead to more rapid recovery of ATP to previous levels.

With the knowledge of these 5 areas essential to recovery after training, athletes can target their weakest areas. Proper identification of what system may not be recovering will help to target nutritional strategies for maximizing performance and minimizing symptoms of over training.

Solving the Post Workout Puzzle - Part I
By John M Berardi
First published at www.t-mag.com, Jan 26 2001.

The Unlikely Scientist
When I first began pushing iron, I knew very little about the science of weight training and nutrition. And to be honest, I really didn't care much about the science part. You see, I was 18 years old. At that age, all I personally cared about was being big, strong, and intimidating. Oh, and I'd better not forget to mention that I also cared a lot about sex. Somehow I figured that the pursuit of raw, intimidating "manliness" would ultimately equate to getting chicks. So most of my mental reserves were directed at getting really big and kicking everyone's ass both in and out of the gym.

Since my brain was pretty much occupied with all those deep philosophical musings, you can probably imagine that there wasn't much room in my melon for scientific thought. That was compounded with the fact that my predominant science experiences had been with Mr. Richard Wack, the very nerdy, defeated high-school chemistry teacher that had us mixing oil and water to illustrate chemical bonding or lack thereof (I swear that was his name!).

At the time, as ignorant as I was to science, there were a few scientifically validated nuggets of wisdom floating around the local gym. Sure, if I'd have known they were "science," I probably would have ignored them entirely. But since these pieces of science were cleverly disguised and because all the big guys were talking about them, I tried to use this information to it's fullest.

We discussed the merits of statements like "eating a lot of extra protein will make you grow" and "sleeping 8 hours a night will help you recover." These statements seemed to be entirely true and backed up by countless gym experiences. Today, they also happen to be backed up by well-controlled, university studies.

One statement that I was always quite fond of was the one that told me that there was a 90-minute "window of opportunity" after training in which I could eat tons of protein and carbohydrates. Since I love eating protein and carbs, I loved that particular gym "fact." And not only was it cool that it allowed me to pig out on protein and carbs after my workouts, it was equally exciting that in doing so, I would be recovering from my workout and packing on muscle mass at an alarming rate. "Who needs science?" I'd ask, "I'm gonna go eat!"

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, this crucial piece of post-workout wisdom has been lost. As a result, few modern trainees have even heard of the "window of opportunity" concept. Some guys today just think that eating "a little something" is enough. To go even further, some even have the audacity to fast for hours after workouts in order to "burn more fat" or to "enhance their GH response." It frightens me that these new practices are almost becoming as popular as the old window I was so fond of taking full advantage of. But I'm here to do something about it!

Despite the anti-science beginnings I discussed earlier, you may be amazed to know my current profession involves scientific research. In fact, I sit here typing this article surrounded by nothing other than science textbooks and journals. It constitutes some of the literature that I've read along the way to a PhD program in exercise and nutritional biochemistry. Who would of thunk it? Armed with all this science, my plan is to unscramble the post-workout puzzle that has lead so many trainees astray.

Post-Workout 101
Over the last few years, I've spent quite a bit of time trying to unscramble the post-workout puzzle in my own mind. And as a result of my research, I've discovered that immediately after a single bout of exercise, three main physiological events must be manipulated for enhanced recovery. These changes can only be described as "destructive" in terms of both training performance and muscle protein balance.

Before I go on, I want you to keep in mind that by exercise I mean either strength and power training or endurance training. Unfortunately, no trainee is immune to the three post-exercise phenomena. These three factors are as follows:

1. Glycogen Stores are low
2. Protein Breakdown is increased
3. Muscle Protein Balance is negative

It should be noted here that in addition to the above that Protein Synthesis also goes down after an endurance training session. And Protein Synthesis either goes up or remains unchanged after a strength training session. But either way, Protein Breakdown still predominates.

For those not well versed in physiological jargon, here's a little explanation of each:

Glycogen is muscle energy. Low glycogen stores mean that there's less cellular energy for daily life and certainly less energy for subsequent workouts. In this situation, training and performance suffer.
Protein Breakdown indicates that body tissues (which are made of protein) are being degraded. Increases in protein breakdown can lead to losses of muscle mass.

Muscle Protein Balance is regulated by the balance between Protein Synthesis and Protein Breakdown in the following way:

Muscle Protein Balance = Protein Synthesis - Protein Breakdown

Immediately after an endurance workout, protein synthesis (building) goes down and protein breakdown goes up. This leads to a negative Muscle Protein Balance and a loss of muscle.

And immediately after a strength workout, protein building either stays the same or slightly goes up but protein breakdown goes way up. This also leads to a negative Muscle Protein Balance and a loss of muscle.

As a result of these three post workout phenomena, a failure to rapidly bring the body back into recovery mode (i.e., to increase glycogen stores, to increase protein synthesis, and to prevent protein breakdown), has severeal potential consequences:

1. Prolonged muscle soreness and fatigue.
2. Poor subsequent performances on the track, field, and/or in the gym.
3. Symptoms of and or full-flegged staleness and overtraining.
4. Minimal gains in muscle mass despite a well-designed training program.
5. Losses of muscle mass and a secondary lowering of metabolic rate can occur if volume and intensity get high enough

"But wait just a minute!" you shout. "I thought exercise was supposed to increase performance, metabolic rate, and muscle mass! Now you're telling me that it could do just the opposite." Slow down, tiger. Let me explain.

It's interesting and very telling to look at the time course of changes in protein and glycogen balance after a workout. Back in 1995, researchers showed that immediately after strength training, protein balance is negative (indicating muscle loss) due to the big increase in protein breakdown and the marginal increase in protein synthesis (1).

Furthermore, this situation seemed to persist for a few hours after the workout. But a few hours later, an interesting switch occurred. Protein synthesis started to climb and breakdown started to fall (although it was still elevated).

This ultimately (about 24 hours later) can lead to a muscle protein balance where synthesis is equal to breakdown (no gain or loss in mass), or a positive protein balance where synthesis is greater than protein breakdown (voila, muscle gains).

So, even if you do everything wrong after hitting the iron, it's only the first few hours after the workout that are extremely catabolic. Twenty-four hours later, though, the body has normalized itself and is either neutral or slightly anabolic. So it appears that under normal circumstances, we've got to lose a little muscle to gain a little muscle.

I'm here to tell you, however, that if you manage the post-workout period correctly, you don't have to lose any muscle. And not only that, if you know how, you can actually achieve and maintain a positive protein balance throughout the entire recovery process. We'll talk more about this later on.

Unfortunately for our endurance friends, the prognosis isn't as good as it is for the muscle bound. Immediately after an endurance-training bout, muscle protein balance is very negative because there's both a big increase in protein breakdown and a big decrease in protein synthesis.

This situation, however, isn't as quickly reversible as it is in our muscle heads. In these athletes there remains a large negative protein balance for 8 hours or more after endurance exercise (2). Uh, say goodbye to the muscle!

Please keep in mind that these exercise studies were done with a day of rest following the training and measurement period. And most importantly, they were done without proper post-workout nutrition!

So, what about the athletes who are training every day (and up to two times or more per day) and then screw up on the post-workout nutrition? One can only speculate that they'll suffer from a big negative muscle protein balance. Since they're training time and time again before protein balance has been brought back to normal, they'll nearly always be in a state of protein breakdown. Bye-bye muscle, metabolism, and training intensity!

With this explained, I'd like to get back to the original objection. I believe that since the average trainee isn't training with the high frequency and intensity that could lead to large and persistent losses in muscle mass and metabolic rate, he or she has very little to worry about in terms of losses of muscle mass and metabolic rate.

With that said, however, the first four problems listed above (soreness, poor performance, overtraining, and stagnation) are often very much a reality for the average athlete and their valiant gym efforts could become frustrating and seem fruitless. Optimal post-workout nutrition can play heavily into the avoidance of the problems discussed above.

Competitive athletes, on the other hand, are particularly vulnerable to all of the above scenarios (including losses in mass and metabolic rate). Due to their training frequency, lack of time off, and intense work rates, most athletes are walking a fine line between their optimal training zone and overtraining. This is one of the reasons why they're subject to all types of ailments during their seasons.

The competitive athlete frequently has to suffer through excessive fatigue yet an inability to sleep at night, chronic muscle soreness, gastrointestinal and appetite alterations, irritability, loss of sex drive, and frequent infections and flu-like symptoms, just to name a few.

While overtraining in these athletes is brought on by a complex interaction between many factors, nutrition is one factor that is so easy to manage. Any competitive athlete would be foolish to ignore it as they wage war against the dreaded adversary - overtraining.

Back to Recovery Mode
At this point, if I've accomplished my mission, you should be pretty terrified by the negative effects of the unmanaged post-workout period. But now that you're afraid, I'm going to tell you exactly how you can best avoid the aforementioned problems.

In October of 2000, I was sitting in a conference center in Canmore, Alberta. There I was, listening to a presentation by one of the world's experts on post-workout and recovery nutrition (2). Up until this point, I thought I had a pretty good idea of how to eat during the post-workout period in order to maximize recovery. But after this presentation I realized that I had been missing one essential piece of the post-workout puzzle. In this article, grasshopper, I'm going to share the secrets with you.

For rapid recovery from exercise, immediately after a workout (strength or endurance), we must:

1. Rapidly replenish the low glycogen stores in our muscles
2. Rapidly decrease the muscle protein breakdown that occurs with exercise
3. Rapidly force further increases in muscle protein synthesis in weight trainers and/or restore muscle-protein synthesis in endurance athletes

In looking over this list, there are several things to keep in mind. First, remember that glycogen replenishment is important for several things. It's necessary for maintaining peak performance in both resistance and endurance training (3,4,5). In addition, if glycogen stores remain low, muscle protein breakdown can result and lead to loss of muscle mass (6). Finally, since glycogen attracts water to the muscle, the cellular hydration that results may stimulate new growth.

Another thing to consider is the protein balance factor. By rapidly increasing protein synthesis while simultaneously decreasing protein breakdown, you can shift to a positive muscle protein balance within 1 hour after the workout (7). Did you get that? You can recover within 1 hour!

Remember I said earlier that typically a trainee has to wait 24 hours for a positive muscle protein balance (1)? Unfortunately, even after this 24-hour period, recovery only means that there's at best only a neutral muscle protein balance (there's no longer breakdown, but building isn't occurring either). Using recovery nutrition, you can recovery nearly a day earlier that you otherwise would have!

And protein balance isn't just about muscle. If the body remains in a negative protein balance for too long, every cellular function can be affected. Hormones and hormonal precursors may be deficient. Neurotransmitters could be altered. And even the enzymes that are necessary for everything from cellular metabolism to digestion could be depleted. Not a pretty picture.

"Why are you putting so much priority on the post-workout period?" you might be asking. Well, it's because there are many parallels between the physiological effects of intense training and those seen in several illnesses. What happens during illness? Well, illness can lead to the degradation of many vital physiological processes. This degradation leads to stress on the body that can lead to further deterioration of the patient's condition.

In such situations, protein breakdown increases dramatically, creating the same negative protein balance as seen after a workout. Get it? Clinicians recognize the fact that the net negative protein balance seen in illness is a downward spiral that has to be stopped. So with proper nutrition and supplementation, they manage it. And that's exactly what athletes and weight trainers need to do.

So with the three important post-workout goals of increasing glycogen storage, increasing protein synthesis, and preventing protein breakdown in mind; I've devised a killer plan for attacking all three to promote optimal recovery after exercise. But I want to keep you in suspense for one more week before I tell you all the details. I know you'll spend the week in anxious anticipation but trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Solving the Post Workout Puzzle - Part II
By John M Berardi

It's been a week since I laid out the main repercussions of training and how they manifest themselves during the post-workout period. So now that you've had a chance to think about that, I'm ready to drop the recovery plan. Are you excited? I hope so. I also hope the build-up has been pretty dramatic. You have to realize, I've had to wait years for this information.

With the publication of each new study, I could see that we were getting closer to understanding the post-workout puzzle. But, as Tom Petty once said, "the waiting is the hardest part". Finally, this year, with the culmination of a number of research projects, it's pretty clear what type of nutrition we need for optimal post-workout recovery.

Maximize Post-Workout Glycogen Synthesis

There are two key factors to rapidly increasing post-workout glycogen synthesis :

1. Adequate carbohydrate availability (to convert to muscle glycogen)
2. High insulin levels (to stimulate glycogen storage and shuttle carbs into the muscle)

Endurance athletes have traditionally been encouraged to consume 1.2 g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight immediately after training/competition. In addition, they are encouraged to continue this supplementation every 2 hours up until 6 hours after their exercise bout. Recent evidence, however, indicates that the addition of protein to a carb drink can actually increase insulin levels higher than carbs alone. There seems to be a synergistic insulin release with protein plus carbs.

The current recommendations for endurance athletes have therefore changed to include protein. Eating every 2 hours is still recommended, but now endurance athletes are encouraged to consume 0.8 g of carbs per kg of bodyweight in combination with 0.4 g of protein / kg of bodyweight. This means that a 154 lb endurance athlete should be consuming 56 g of carbs and 28 g of protein at each meal: right after training, and 2, 4, and 6 hours after training.

Since most of the research on this topic has been done in endurance athletes, we have to speculate about what strength athletes would need in this regard. From the research, it's clear that strength athletes actually have higher glycogen synthesis rates after exercise than endurance athletes so they can more rapidly refill their glycogen stores.

But since strength athletes don't deplete their glycogen stores as badly as endurance athletes, they would need fewer total calories. With this said, I believe it's reasonable to suggest that a strength athlete consume one meal of 0.8g of carbohydrate and 0.4 g of protein / kg of body weight immediately after training.

This means that the 154 lb weight lifter would need 56 g of carbs and 28 g of protein while the 220 lb weight lifter would need about 80 g of carbs and 40 g of protein after a weight-training workout. Since glycogen synthesis rates are so high in strength athletes, they would only need to consume this type of meal immediately after the workout and then resume normal eating about 2-3 hours later.

If the strength athlete is in a bulking cycle, the post-workout recommendations would include 2 servings of recommended formula, one immediately after training and one 30-60 minutes later. Normal eating could be resumed 2-3 hours later.

A couple of final factors need to be discussed. First, the research is very clear that if you wait to consume your post-workout nutrition, you lose (14). One study showed that if the post-workout beverage was consumed immediately after training, glycogen synthesis was three times higher than if the beverage was consumed just two hours later. So the sooner you drink the drink, the better the recovery rate.

Secondly, with respect to the types of carbohydrate and protein to consume, it's clear that immediately after training, liquid nutrition is best tolerated. Since liquid nutrition is more rapidly digested and absorbed, nutrients are more rapidly delivered to the muscle. In addition, according to the literature, the optimal carbohydrates to consume are glucose and glucose polymers, like maltodextrin.

As far as the best protein to consume, you want to choose a protein that is absorbed as rapidly as the ingested carbs so that the synergistic insulin response can be maximized. Now that's hard to find. Most intact proteins (yes, even in powdered form) take several hours to be fully absorbed. We need protein that can get absorbed within minutes, just like the carbs do. Without this simultaneous absorption of both, the insulin response will be disappointing. So what to do? Well, since one of the most quickly digested proteins is whey hydrolysate, it's the protein of choice for our purposes here.

Stop Protein Breakdown Dead in its Tracks

The scientific literature is pretty clear in terms of how to prevent post-workout protein breakdown. And it can be summarized in one word... Insulin.

In previous years, scientists knew that the hormone insulin had a big impact on muscle-protein balance, but they just couldn't figure out if it impacted the synthesis or breakdown. Several studies within the last few years, however, have indicated that insulin is the main regulator of post-workout protein breakdown.

In one very detailed study published in May of 1999, it was clearly demonstrated that at rest, high blood levels of insulin increased protein synthesis by about 67% while not changing protein breakdown. However, during the post-workout period, insulin infusion decreased protein breakdown by about 30% without impacting protein synthesis.

The authors of this study concluded that at rest, insulin was anabolic, while after exercise insulin was anti-catabolic. These results have been validated by other studies showing that high blood levels of insulin considerably diminish post-workout protein breakdown without impacting protein synthesis during the post-workout period.

So the bottom line is that insulin is not anabolic after workouts, but it sure is anti-catabolic. And that's great because insulin is easily controlled. Also, since protein breakdown predominates during the post-workout period, getting the insulin up allows muscle breakdown to diminish so that synthesis can dominate and we can quickly get back to building muscle!

And don't forget that insulin causes vasodilation. This means the vessels "open up" and transport more blood (and nutrients) to the cells. Can you say "feed the muscle!"? And yes, that extra blood flow is full of the protein, amino acids, and carbs that you'll be ingesting immediately after the training session.

So how do we get insulin up after a workout? Well, you could always become a human pin cushion and inject your insulin right into the subcutaneous area of your abdomen. But I think there are better and certainly safer ways.

First, as mentioned earlier, by eating protein with carbs, insulin levels are higher than with carbs alone. In the aforementioned studies the insulin response to 0.8 g of carbs/kg (in the form of glucose and maltodextrin) plus 0.4 g of protein/kg (in the form of protein hydrolysate) was 103% higher (double) than the insulin response to an equal amount of calories coming from carbs alone (1.2 carbs /kg). So the very same carb/protein beverage that we're relying on for maximizing glycogen storage is also preventing protein breakdown. Sweet!

Secondly, certain amino acids can increase the insulin response to meals. By adding certain amino acids to the carb/protein beverage in the above study, the insulin responses were considerably higher than the carb/protein beverage alone. In addition, research in the 60s shows that specific amino-acid combinations were more effective than others at increasing insulin release. So it looks like carbs + protein + amino acids is the way to go.

Complete Your Recovery by Jacking Up the Protein Synthesis...

The final piece of the post-workout puzzle is the management of protein synthesis. And although this area is a little more complex than managing protein breakdown, there are three key ingredients to increasing protein synthesis immediately after workouts:

1. A proper ratio of BCAAs
2. High blood levels of essential amino acids
3. High blood levels of insulin

In the past, a high protein intake was recommended after workouts in order to increase protein synthesis. Actually, in the Protein Roundtable I even recommended a really big protein intake immediately after the workout in order to increase protein synthesis. Well, I'm here to say that I may have been a bit off base. Yeah, yeah, I'm admitting I may have been wrong, so cherish the moment and feel free to poke fun at me the next time you see me.

Based on the research, it appears that the amount of protein intake has very little to do with pushing protein synthesis up after workouts. And in fact, too much could be counter productive (more on this later). More important to increasing protein synthesis after workouts is the ability to rapidly deliver the right type of protein or, more correctly, the right type of amino acids. In a paper published last February, researchers discussed rates of protein synthesis during several conditions:

1. At rest with increased insulin levels, protein synthesis increased by about 50% when compared to normal insulin levels.
2. At rest with high amino acids in the blood, protein synthesis increased by about 150% when compared to normal blood levels of amino acids.
3. After weight training, protein synthesis increased by about 100% vs. pre-training values.
4. After weight training with high amino acids in the blood, protein synthesis increased by 200% vs. after weight training with normal blood amino acids.
5. After weight training with high amino acids in the blood and high insulin in the blood, protein synthesis increase by over 400% vs. normal post-workout amino acid and insulin levels.

The most interesting thing was that in the last condition, the post-workout beverage only contained 6 g of protein and 36 g of carbohydrate. As long as insulin was high and correct amounts of essential amino acids and BCAAs were present, protein synthesis got jacked after the workout.

Several other studies have shown that either infused or orally administered post-workout amino acids are able to rapidly increase protein synthesis as well as rapidly create a positive muscle protein balance after training.

Interestingly, it seems that non-essential amino acids are not required for this process and that if only essential amino acids are supplied, there's no difference in the increases in protein synthesis. Either way, the key seems to be this "infusion" concept where amino acids are very rapidly delivered to the blood. Again, whey hydrolysate is the quickest orally available protein for the blood unless you want to go ahead and hook up to the amino-acid IV drip.

You may be asking yourself why too much protein could be counterproductive. Well, a very high protein meal can actually cause a release of glucagon. Glucagon is a hormone that antagonizes insulin release. So if you eat some protein with carbs, insulin shoots up. If you eat too much protein with carbs, the insulin release may actually be lower. And if this weren't bad enough, glucagon also has another function that we want to avoid. The darn stuff causes the body to convert amino acids into glucose (a process called gluconeogenesis). So take in too much protein and say goodbye to that special amino acid ratio. Instead those aminos become carbs!

Let's get back to the amino acids. In addition to the requirement for rapidly delivered essential amino acids, BCAAs seem to play a big role in the recovery and increase of protein synthesis after a workout. Unpublished data presented at the 2000 Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology Meeting shed light on the importance of BCAAs in recovery. In endurance athletes, post workout protein synthesis rates will drop by about 30% for up to 6 hours after a training bout. Providing carbohydrates to these athletes, while favorable for increasing muscle glycogen stores, has no ability to increase protein synthesis.

However, a drink providing only the BCAA leucine was able to promote full recovery of post-workout protein synthesis levels to pre-training values. In addition, by adding carbohydrate to the beverage, protein synthesis was higher after the workout than before the workout. Since this beverage increased blood insulin levels, the author of the study concluded that insulin indeed had a synergistic effect with leucine on protein synthesis.

The results of this study and others have lead researchers to believe that within the muscle cell, there's one particular regulatory pathway for protein synthesis that's stimulated by insulin, but dependent on leucine. If insulin is present and leucine isn't, then protein synthesis can't maximally be stimulated. If leucine is present and insulin isn't, protein synthesis can't be maximally stimulated. But give 'em both and look out!

Since leucine has this great impact on muscle protein synthesis and since levels of leucine, much like glutamine, decline during exercise, it only makes sense to supplement with leucine after workouts. In the end, it appears that leucine, along with protein and carbs, will lead to the greatest increases in protein synthesis.

So what's the best way to rapidly increase protein synthesis after a workout? It seems that the 0.4g/kg of protein hydrolysate plus 0.8g/kg of glucose/glucose polymer plus insulin-stimulating amino acids takes care of the insulin angle. But remember, insulin isn't enough. Providing BCAAs in an ideal ratio is the second part in rapidly stimulating protein synthesis.

The Grand Finale

That's it. The ideal post workout combo that maximizes your growth and recovery potential. Whew, that's a lot of science! I hope I didn't lose you along the way because I honestly believe that this article is the most important I've ever written for T-mag.

Compiling years of good post-workout science has enabled me to devise a plan of attack for optimal post-workout nutrition. And this plan of attack is designed with only one goal in mind... optimizing recovery for every human being that works out, regardless of the type of exercise they do.
Remember, to be effective, post-workout nutrition has to...

Increase glycogen stores

Increase protein synthesis

Decrease protein breakdown

Interestingly, several nutrients such as glucose and glucose polymers, protein hydrolysates, and amino acids can all work together with overlapping functions in order to accomplish all three goals. No drugs necessary!

At this point, before the jaded cynics write in shouting about how this article is probably nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt at introducing a new Biotest supplement, I'm gonna' head them off at the pass. This isn't a thinly veiled attempt at introducing a new supplement. It is a full fledged, in your face, introduction to a new Biotest supplement .

This supplement uses every glorious piece of available nutritional science to support its claims. Because about 95% of the idea behind the formula is founded on nothing but hard data, very little of this article is theoretical. If you don't believe me, go look up the references yourself.

If that's not enough, the very formula that Biotest plans to launch is currently being evaluated in my lab. Unlike other companies, Biotest will actually have supporting data before the product is launched. Rest assured, T-mag readers will be the first to read about the results (which will be posted on this very site within the next few weeks).

The better part of the last year has been spent putting together the ideal post-workout protein formula that can maximally stimulate glycogen and protein synthesis while decreasing protein breakdown in all types of athletes. Since the formula is based only on nutrients that occur naturally in food, it has no banned or potentially harmful substances. It's therefore useful for all athletes from triathletes to power lifters and from those in high school to those competing in the professional ranks. Each and every trainee who wants a better physique and each and every athlete who wants to improve their training and their performances has something to gain by taking it.

Stay tuned because over the next few weeks we will be discussing the data collected in the lab (complete with charts and graphs). In addition, T-mag will be doing a series of Q&A articles about the new formula. T-mag has been getting quite a bit of excited feedback and many questions, so I'll be answering them in these articles.

The topics for some of the upcoming articles include questions of post-workout nutrition including issues about GH release, questions on fat burning, and questions about post-exercise caloric expenditure.

Precision Nutrition for 2002 and Beyond
By John M Berardi

Post-workout nutrition. Pre-workout nutrition. Mid-workout nutrition. Over the last year, you've heard a whole lot about these topics and for good reason. Whether you're a strength or endurance athlete, the correct nutrients before, during, and after exercise can dramatically impact your muscle mass and recovery.

A few weeks ago at the annual Society for Weight Training Injuries Specialists (SWIS) symposium, I gave a 90-minute presentation detailing how skeletal muscle adapts to resistance exercise training. In addition, I discussed how general nutrition as well as pre- and post-workout nutrition could maximize this adaptation. The following article is adapted from that presentation and it's probably the most advanced, comprehensive article T-mag has ever published on the topic.

Put your thinking caps on and let's delve into the details of why you'd better be paying close attention to what you consume around training time.

Skeletal Muscle Adaptation to Resistance Exercise and the Effects of Nutrition - How You Get Hyoooge!

The purpose of this article is to present a case for the importance of nutrition in terms of the adaptation to resistance exercise. My argument, while hopefully light and free of the burdens of complex and intimidating research jargon, is founded on dozens of research studies. Here's what's on the menu:

Muscle Protein Composition
Effects of a Single Bout of Resistance Exercise
Effects of Long-Term Resistance Training
Muscle Signaling and Protein Turnover
Interactions Between Training and Nutrition
Let's dig in.

Muscle Protein Composition
When most weightlifters think of muscle protein, protein synthesis, and protein breakdown, they undoubtedly think only of contractile protein. In the world of muscle physiology we call this portion of muscle the myofibrillar protein. However, this preferential focus on contractile protein is a big mistake since muscle protein synthesis and degradation processes are constantly occurring with respect to the other muscle proteins as well. The other muscle proteins include sarcoplasmic protein and mitochondrial protein.

Sarcoplasmic proteins are located in the free fluid portion of the cell and include proteins like the anaerobic enzymes, some structural support units, RNA, receptors, etc. Mitochondrial proteins are located in the mitochondrion - the cell's metabolic machine - and these proteins include the aerobic enzymes, the structural proteins making up the mitochondrion, RNA, and receptors. Each of these proteins are important in the response to exercise and therefore should be recognized.

Effects of A Single Bout of Resistance Exercise

A single bout of resistance exercise is both a catabolic and an anabolic event. The stress on the body is serious, but the mechanism by which the body recovers leads to growth. I want to focus first on the catabolic events induced by exercise, then we'll look closer at the anabolic events.

The Catabolic Events (The Bad Part)

In response to a single bout of resistance exercise, the following catabolic events occur:

Glycogen Depletion - Studies have shown that performing 10-rep sets of biceps curls and leg extensions leads to a significant depletion of stored muscle carbohydrates. One set of biceps curls leads to 12% depletion while three sets of biceps curls leads to 25% depletion. Three sets of leg extensions lead to 35% depletion, while six sets of leg extensions lead to over 40% depletion. A typical bodybuilding workout may consist of many more sets per muscle group and this may lead to even further depletion of muscle glycogen.

Decreased Net Protein Balance - (Protein Breakdown > Protein Synthesis) In a fasted state, muscle protein status is negative. This means that more protein is broken down than is synthesized and that leads to muscle protein loss. Now, when resistance exercise (both moderate and intense) is performed in a fasted state (after an overnight fast or several hours after a meal), protein status drops even more during the few hours following the exercise bout. This means that you're losing even more muscle protein. Although this protein loss isn't all contractile protein, all of the degraded protein must be replenished via protein synthesis when recovery needs to take place.

The question you should be asking yourself at this point is: "If protein status is negative after training, why don't people get smaller and waste away with resistance exercise?" Well, the answer is simple. Although protein status is negative during the first few hours following resistance exercise, this catabolism shifts toward anabolism later on. The body begins to build muscle after a certain point and this protein anabolism seems to peak at 24 hours after the training bout.

Increased Resting Metabolic Rate - After intense resistance exercise, the body's resting metabolic rate increases by about 12 to 24%. Interestingly, the bigger you are, the more muscle you'll damage in training and the more your metabolism may increase.

Increased Blood Cortisol Concentrations - Studies aren't totally conclusive on this point due to the daily variability of the measure (cortisol concentrations fluctuate widely based on the time of day). I believe that the evidence is fairly convincing that intense exercise leads to an increase in this catabolic hormone. Some studies have shown a doubling in cortisol concentrations after resistance exercise.

Acute-Phase Response - The Acute-Phase Response is an immune and inflammatory response that's triggered when muscle is damaged. This process leads to further tissue injury and destruction as well as the production of free radicals.

The Anabolic Events (The Good Part)

In response to a single bout of resistance exercise, the following anabolic events occur:

Increased skeletal muscle blood flow - During exercise, blood is shunted to the working muscle. This is often called "the pump." This blood delivers nutrients to fuel the muscular work.

Increased anabolic hormones - There are short-lived increases in the anabolic hormones GH, Testosterone, and IGF-1 both during and after exercise. However, people have definitely overestimated the significance of these transient increases in hormone concentrations. I hate to commit a mortal sin here, but the endocrine response to exercise probably has little to do with increasing muscle mass. The small, short lived increases in these hormones are far too brief to really affect muscle mass.

Acute-Phase Response - Wait a minute, didn't I include this in the catabolic section? Yes, I did. You see, while the beginning of the acute-phase response is catabolic, later on the response becomes anabolic.

The Acute-Phase Response

After each resistance exercise bout (assuming you've trained like a T-man), you're going to be sporting some muscle damage. This damage is most likely due to the eccentric (negative) component of the exercise and may manifest as large areas of dead or dying tissue. Once this damage occurs, an immune response is launched and this immune response is put in place to try to destroy and dispose of the dead tissue. So far, so good.

However, the immune cells (leukocytes, macrophages, etc) often don't know where to stop and continue to destroy and dispose of undamaged tissue. This is where the catabolism comes in. Now, not only are we missing contractile proteins as a result of the exercise bout (original damage), but we're missing protein that was undamaged during the exercise but destroyed by the immune response (chemical mediated damage).

Thank goodness the destruction stops here. The immune response, after its nasty destructive binge, leads to the activation of satellite cells. Basically, satellite cells are immature nuclei (nuclei contain the cell's DNA) that hang out on the periphery of the muscle cell. When the immune system kicks up, the satellite cells are stimulated to proliferate and move to the site of the injury.

Simultaneously, growth factors from a place outside the cell called the extracellular matrix are brought into the cell. These two things lead to muscle repair. The satellite cells create new proteins to replace the destroyed contractile proteins. In fact, they do such a nice job that the muscles end up bigger and stronger than they were before the bout.

Effects of Long Term Resistance Exercise Training

It's no secret that resistance training leads to increases in muscle size (hypertrophy) and muscle strength. Next, let's discuss how the muscle adapts to this type of training.

There's an increase in the size, number, and strength of myofibrils (contractile/structural protein). As muscle damage is repaired and protein synthesis elevated, a few things occur. First, the old myofibrils (not the muscle fiber itself) split in two, and when they're repaired there are two new contractile units available for growth.

Second, brand new myofibrils are added to the periphery of the muscle cell, leading to a larger muscle cell. Third, the new myofibrils added will be better suited to the demands of the activity. Powerlifting training will lead the fibers to behave more like the fast twitch Type II-B fibers (fastest available) while bodybuilding training will lead fibers to behave more like the fast twitch Type II-A fibers (still fast twitch, but slower).

There's an increase in the size and strength of connective tissue. Myofibrils are contained within muscle fibers and muscle fibers are grouped together to form muscle fiber bundles. A connective tissue sheath surrounds each bundle of muscle fibers within the whole muscle. This connective tissue adapts to resistance training by showing increases in size and strength parallel to the fiber itself.

There's an increase in stored substrate. As a result of training, there's more glycogen (carbohydrate) and triglyceride (fat) storage within the muscle. This makes more fuel readily available for exercise.

There's an increase in muscle-water content. Due to the increased carbohydrate storage (carbohydrates hold about four times their weight in water) and larger fiber size, more water is present in a trained muscle.
There's an increase in muscle enzyme content and activity. As a result of resistance training, there's an increase in the content of the enzymes of the ATP/PC system and glycolytic system.

There's an increase in nervous system efficiency. As a result of resistance training, the nervous system becomes more coordinated and efficient in terms of muscle recruitment/activation and firing frequency.

I hope it's clear that the genetically driven program of adaptation is a sound one. Adaptations occur to make the body more efficient at doing what it habitually does.

Protein Turnover and Muscle Signaling

At this point, I'd like to address a theory I have regarding physiological adaptation. This theory is based on the concept of tissue turnover. As I've discussed before, all tissues of the body go through a regular program of turnover. Most often people talk about skin turnover. We all know that old skin is degraded and dies off while new skin is synthesized to take its place. This occurs more rapidly when we experience some type of tissue injury (like a sunburn). Well, the same holds true for all tissues of the body. The only thing that's different is the rate at which this occurs.

Muscle protein is no exception to this rule. It's constantly being turned over. And turnover is the balance between protein breakdown and protein synthesis. The rate at which this turnover occurs is dependent on your nutritional intake, exercise habits (the damage caused), and genetic programming.

Understand here that this protein tissue turnover is what allows the muscle to adapt. Therefore, the goal should be to dramatically increase your protein turnover rates. Yes, that's right, I want you to increase your protein turnover and this includes protein breakdown! The funny thing is that everyone wants to decrease their protein breakdown with "anti-catabolic supplements," but that's a bad thing. Let me show you why.

When you first begin a training program, your goal is to lift heavy weights and have big slabs of beef hanging from your skeleton. However, at the start, your muscles are certainly weak and small compared to what they will be. So when faced with what you want them to do, they can't do it; they're dysfunctional.

So how do you make a muscle more functional? You destroy it! And that's what training does for you. When you go to the gym, your muscle is inadequate so you lift weights to make it stronger. This process destroys the dysfunctional muscle and signals the cell to synthesize a new protein to take its place. This protein will certainly not be the same as the previous protein. It'll be bigger and stronger, better suited to what it thinks it'll have to do in the future.

But what happens if another bout of exercise doesn't come after that? Well, as the natural tissue turnover process occurs, that strong muscle will be destroyed and replaced by a weaker one. See how it works? The body is constantly re-creating itself by breakdown and subsequent resynthesis based on what you ask it to do. It really is a beautiful system. Let's look at this process in a little more detail.

As I stated, breakdown is always occurring and is necessary for tissue remodeling. This breakdown, in conjunction with extra cellular amino acids (primarily from the diet), helps to expand the intracellular amino acid pool. When the nucleus is stimulated, the DNA contained within undergoes a process called transcription. Transcription is the process by which a specific group of RNA molecules are formed (mRNA, rRNA, tRNA). These RNA molecules are specific for the signal that interacted with the nucleus.

In the second phase of protein making, the RNA units are stimulated by a process called translation. This signal is responsible for the ultimate protein. The mRNA and rRNA units are the "template" or "blueprint" for protein formation. The tRNA units are responsible for picking up the amino acids and laying them down on this template to form the protein. The two phases of protein formation are regulated independently and I want to briefly discuss this.

New data in the research world is beginning to explain how muscles respond to the exercise signal. This is one proposed model. Basically, when eccentric exercise leads to mechanical stress on the membrane (pulls it apart), a series of chemical events occur within the cell. These chemical events form a messenger system that ultimately stimulates the nucleus. This stimulation leads to the formation of specific RNA molecules (transcription) that may, if all the other cellular conditions are right, lead to more muscle protein and a larger muscle. Remember, transcription is only part of the equation. Translation is also required.

Another major signaling pathway in the muscle is the insulin-signaling pathway. This pathway is elegant because once the insulin molecule binds to the cell membrane, it sets in motion two different chemical messenger systems that accomplish three goals. This system increases transcription (DNA formation), increases glucose uptake into the cell, and increases the translation of the cellular DNA into protein. Although there are other pathways that stimulate translation, the insulin pathway is the most important nutritional one.

The insulin-signaling pathway is dependent on nutrients to run properly. Carbohydrates are necessary for insulin release. The amino acid leucine is necessary to run one part of the pathway that stimulates translation, and the essential amino acids are necessary to lay down on the template to form the protein. Ahh, things are all coming together now.

To better remodel your muscle, you need to destroy the dysfunctional protein (keep tissue turnover rates high) and you need to exercise to stimulate the nucleus. This stimulation will lead to transcription or the creation of a specific blueprint for a better muscle. The insulin signaling pathway completes the protein making process by stimulating the translation of the blueprint into a protein. When all this comes together you end up with a muscle more suited to your activity pattern.

The next question most people ask me is, "Do high rates of muscle protein turnover, when synthesis is greater than breakdown, always lead to huge muscles?" The answer is no! What happens to the muscle is dependent on the signal that stimulates the nucleus. If the signal is a weight-training signal, the RNA as well as the ultimate protein formed will lead to big muscles. In this situation, increasing the size and the strength of the myofibrils is the priority.

However, if the signal is an endurance training signal, the RNA formed as well as the ultimate protein formed will lead to more metabolic muscles. In this situation, the priority is an increase in oxygen delivery and consumption. Because it's the exercise signal and not the nutritional signal that determines the adaptation, weightlifters and endurance athletes should have a common goal of increased protein breakdown (destruction of the old protein) coupled with an even higher increase in protein synthesis (formation of a better protein). In my opinion, nutritional needs of the two types of athletes are strikingly similar.

So, I hope I've convinced you that high rates of tissue turnover are important regardless of which type of athlete you are. But knowledge without action is powerless. Next, I want to show you how to do it.

Interactions Between Resistance Exercise and Nutrition - What to Consume to get Hyoooge!

What's the most important nutritional consideration for maximizing the adaptive potential of muscle? The answer: Total daily energy intake.

There are a few requirements for high rates of tissue turnover and they're all dependent on a high energy input. High rates of tissue turnover are very energy expensive so extra calories are needed to run this circuit. You see, your time in the gym is also very energy expensive and so is the hypermetabolism and muscle repair that follows your workout. If the body doesn't get adequate energy supplies (in the form of calories), it obviously can't optimally perform all the functions of exercise, repair, and tissue turnover.

The first system to suffer in this equation will be your tissue turnover rates. If you don't eat enough daily calories, this system will slow down so that less energy is needed and the energy to fuel the workout and recovery is provided by the destruction of tissues. But in this case, remodeling suffers.

Interestingly, this has implications for your body composition/body fat as well as muscle function. The loss of weight isn't always an indicator of inadequate calorie intake. As described above, the body will slow down tissue turnover in response to under eating. Since tissue turnover is expensive, your energy needs decrease and you remain weight stable. However, as mentioned, your tissue remodeling will suffer.

When you increase calories, the first thing to occur will be the increase in tissue turnover rates. This will dramatically raise calorie needs. Depending on your calorie intake, you may end up either losing weight (turnover increases more than calories), remaining weight stable (turnover matches calorie intake), or increasing muscle weight (turnover is less than intake). But the benefit here is that when tissue cycling rates are high, even if you're losing weight or remaining weight stable, the body is being remodeled in a positive and functional way. Again, the key is a high calorie intake.

Recovery Nutrition

The next important nutritional issue to address is recovery nutrition. Here I'll address how the provision of liquid nutrients in and around the workout can lead to positive changes in the catabolic and anabolic events associated with a bout of resistance exercise. In addition, I'll make specific recommendations about what to take during and around the workout to maximize recovery and the adaptation to the exercise.

The provision of liquid nutrients during and after exercise is important for several reasons. First, an anabolic environment is created, as the exercise and insulin signals are both stimulating cellular activity. Second, such nutrition can shift the net protein status in a positive direction so that muscle protein is being built in and around the workout. Third, muscle recovery is superior due to replenishment of muscle substrates. And fourth, nutrients are rapidly delivered for energy provision when it's most needed.
Below I'll list the ideal beverage composition for both workout and post-workout drinks. After, I'll discuss the literature that supports these recommendations.

Sip immediately before and during exercise:

Carbohydrates (0.4 to 0.8g/kg) - The carbohydrate content of your drink should contain high GI carbohydrates that are easily digested. I recommend a 50/50 blend of glucose and maltodextrin.

Protein (0.2 to 0.4g.kg) - The protein content of your drink should contain easily digested and assimilated proteins like hydrolyzed whey.

Amino Acids (3-5g of each) - The BCAA (Branched Chain Amino Acids) may be important as they're the main amino acids oxidized during exercise. The provision of BCAA during exercise decreases net cellular protein breakdown. In addition, glutamine may spare muscle glutamine concentrations and maintain immune homeostasis during training and recovery.

Creatine (3-5g) - Creatine intake increases work capabilities during exercise, increases recovery of ATP-PC homeostasis, and may increase muscle mass directly/indirectly.

Water (2 L) - The amount of water you consume with such a beverage is crucial since digestion will suffer if you have a beverage that's too concentrated. A solution of 4 to 8% is ideal for proper digestion and hydration during exercise. Any more concentrated and many of those nutrients will be completely wasted. To calculate concentration, remember 10g of total powder in 1L is a 1% solution while 100g of total powder in 1L is a 10% solution.

Editor's Note: Based on these recommendations, John formulated Biotest Surge as the perfect pre- and post-workout drink. (Biotest did not include creatine, however, because some people just don't want it or respond to it. Adding creatine would have also driven up the price, but you can certainly add creatine to your Surge drink if you like.)

After exercise:

Repeat the above beverage but add 500mg of vitamin C and 400IU of vitamin E.

Here's a sample calculation of what a 220lb (100kg) person would need:

Pre/During Exercise

40g-80g of carbohydrate (50% glucose - 50% maltodextrin)
20g-40g of hydrolyzed protein
3-5g each of creatine, glutamine, BCAA
2L water (80g CHO + 40g PRO + 5g Creatine +5g Glutamine +5g BCAA = 135g of nutrients. In 1L of water this would be a 13.5% solution and too concentrated. In 2L of water this is about 6.75% and the concentration is just right).

Post Exercise

40g-80g of carbohydrate (50%glucose-50%maltodextrin)
20g-40g of hydrolyzed protein
3-5g creatine each of glutamine, BCAA
1L - 2L water
500mg vitamin C, 400IU vitamin E

Support for these recommendations

Pre and Mid-Workout Benefits

The benefits of such a beverage during exercise include:

Rapid provision of fuel - Supplementation can provide fuel when it's needed most. Liquid, easily digestible nutrients can be digested, absorbed and delivered in a matter of minutes while whole food meals can take hours to reach the muscle.

Maintenance of blood glucose - Blood glucose can decrease during exercise, leading to local muscular as well as central fatigue. Supplementation can maintain blood glucose concentrations and delay fatigue.

Maintenance of muscle glycogen - As shown earlier, six sets of leg extensions can deplete thigh glycogen by over 40%. Supplementation with liquid carbohydrate during repeated sets of leg extensions can help prevent such a large decrease in muscle glycogen. Compared with the normal 40% decline in muscle glycogen, subjects supplemented with carbohydrate only experienced a 20% reduction of muscle glycogen.

Increased muscle blood flow - While some theorize that the digestion of this drink will draw blood away from the muscle and toward the gastrointestinal tract, this couldn't be further from the truth. Since the recommended drink is so easily digested and the stimulus to send blood to the muscle is so strong, blood flow to the muscle will actually increase with such a drink.

At rest, blood flow to the muscle is quite low. However, during exercise muscle blood flow increases by almost 150%. When a carbohydrate and amino acid drink is taken pre/during the workout, the blood flow during the workout increases by about 350%. This is a very powerful effect since there's significantly more blood going to the muscle and this blood is packed with anabolic nutrients!

Increased insulin concentrations - By increasing insulin concentrations and delivering more of this insulin to the muscle, the extra glucose, amino acids, and creatine that are in the blood will be more readily taken up into the muscle. Studies have shown that the more insulin available in the blood, the more prominent the tissue building effect. The highest insulin response noted (over 1000% increase) was induced by a carbohydrate, protein, and amino acid beverage with the same proportions of nutrients as recommended above.

More positive protein balance (see "positive protein status" below)

Post-Workout Benefits

Rapid fuel provision for recovery needs (same as above)

Decreased post-exercise cortisol concentrations - After exercise, cortisol concentrations can increase to concentrations 80% higher than resting values. The provision of a carbohydrate supplement can lower the cortisol response to exercise by about half. This means that post exercise cortisol concentrations with supplementation will only be about 40% higher when compared to resting concentrations.

Increased insulin concentrations - By increasing insulin concentrations, the extra glucose, amino acids, and creatine in the blood will be more readily taken up into the muscle.

Rapid glycogen replenishment - After exercise, if nutrients aren't provided, glycogen replenishment won't occur. In one study, a resistance exercise protocol depleted muscle glycogen by 33%. If no meal was consumed and muscle glycogen was measured four hours later, muscle glycogen remained depleted. If a 230-calorie beverage was consumed (either carbohydrate alone, or a macronutrient blend) immediately after exercise, glycogen was fully restored in the four hours.

Stimulation of protein synthetic pathway - Below, I've listed values for protein synthesis under different treatment conditions. Each percent increase is relative to fasting baseline values.

Insulin Treatment - 50% higher
Amino Acid Infusion - 150% higher
24 Hours Post-Exercise - 100% higher
Amino Acids Immediately Post-Exercise - 200% higher
Amino Acids and Carbohydrate Immediately Post-Exercise - 350% higher
Amino Acids and Carbohydrate Given Immediately Pre-Exercise - 400% higher

It should be obvious that pre- and post-workout drinks dramatically stimulate protein synthesis.

Positive protein status - When fasted, during exercise and immediately post exercise, protein status is negative (more protein is being lost than is being retained). With feeding, protein status increases so that more protein is retained than lost. If liquid nutrients are given after exercise, the protein status becomes positive very quickly with the highest increase in the group that gets carbohydrate and amino acids immediately before exercise.

In all post-exercise situations where nutrients are provided, protein breakdown is accelerated (as we'd expect and as I recommend), but the increases in protein synthesis outweigh the increases in breakdown and lead to large increases in protein retention.

Anabolic hormone changes seen with exercise are relatively unaffected - Testosterone decreases slightly after exercise when any type of food is consumed but the change is small and won't impact muscle mass. In addition, while GH declines with carbohydrate intake at rest, after exercise the signal to release GH is very strong and is unaffected by nutritional supplementation. Therefore a drink given post exercise won't diminish any small effects that the anabolic hormones may have on the body.

Prevention of free radical damage - The vitamin C and E recommendations are in place to help prevent excess free radical induced cellular damage. The exercise itself as well as the acute phase response leads to free radical production. The antioxidants may save the cell from free radical damage.

Rapid ATP/PC recovery - Intense resistance exercise leads to the loss of substrate from the ATP/PC system. Creatine supplementation can help the body more rapidly resynthesize these substrates.

Conclusion

At this point I must be completely frank by acknowledging potential critics. Some may argue that the data supporting these recommendations are incomplete. They may argue that there are no studies showing that using a Biotest Surge type of beverage will improve athletic performance or increase muscle mass. They will argue that there are no proven benefits to such a blend.

In response I must concede that they're correct, at least partially. There are no such long-term studies at the present time. However, in our laboratory and others, research is currently being conducted to address these concerns. But, as we all know, research takes time. So what does one do until the debate is settled?

You could certainly stay on the fence and wait until the data are in. However, in the mean time, I believe that the evidence and real world feedback weighs in strongly that such a beverage will offer significant benefits. And as Arnold Schwarzenegger said in the movie Pumping Iron, "All these things are available to me. And if they are available to me, I might as well use them."

I'll go one step further in saying that you should use them.

The Post-Workout Resurgence
An interview with John M. Berardi
by Chris Shugart

Once upon a time, athletes and bodybuilders didn't think too much about post-workout nutrition. Gradually, some began to notice that what they consumed after training made a big difference in their performance and their physique. In the 90's, science taught us that quickly ingesting a liquid meal of protein and carbs made a huge impact on recovery, repair, and, consequently, muscle growth.

So, most of us at that time started drinking a meal replacement shake right after we got back from the gym. It worked pretty well. This was certainly an improvement over the old off-season Arnold standby — consuming a whole chicken and a pitcher of beer after training!

Later we learned that ingesting an even greater amount of "simple" carbs after a workout was especially beneficial. We tried our best to concoct our own fast acting protein and carb drinks. Again, the results were okay, definitely better than nothing.

Finally, a bunch of labcoat types nailed the exact post-workout formula that could really help us take our physiques to the next level. One of those cats was T-mag contributor John M. Berardi, who formulated the hands-down best post-training drink on the market.

That's been a couple of years, so we thought we'd sit down and chat with John about what's new in this vital area of nutrition.

Chris Shugart: John, I understand you have some new info regarding post-workout nutrition, but before we get into that, let's review what we know so far. Give us the Cliff's Notes version of why a properly formulated post-workout drink is so important for looking good naked.

John M. Berardi: Cliff’s Notes (or Cole’s Notes for you Canadians)! Ahh, now you’re bringing back memories, Shugs. I barely graduated high school and without Cliff, I might have had to do grade twelve over again. So, you want Cliff’s Notes for my post workout strategies? Well, basically, here’s the deal.

Every minute of every day is spent either building protein or breaking protein down. This process of protein turnover is one I’ve discussed before in my articles, Precision Nutrition and The Protein Prejudice. If, at the end of each day, there's more protein built than is broken down, the body will have improved.

If you’re a strength athlete, it means you’ve probably built more muscle and improved your contractile machinery. If you’re an endurance athlete, it means you’ve probably built more aerobic enzymes and improved the quality of your aerobic machinery. And if you’re simply interested in improving your body composition, assuming you’re eating well and exercising, it means you’ve probably lost some fat and built some muscle.

CS: So shifting the protein status of the body toward the positive side is always beneficial.

JMB: You got it. This is where post-workout nutrition is critical. For a number of years, physiologists have known that during all forms of exercise, and even in the few hours after exercise, the protein status shifts toward the negative end — where protein breakdown predominates.

This post-workout period represents an ideal target point for improving anabolism. As a result, exercise and nutrition researchers have discovered that the provision of carbohydrates and protein/amino acids during the potentially catabolic exercise and post exercise periods can not only reverse this negative shift in protein status, but can actually shift the body toward a very positive protein status, much more positive than any other time of the day.

In fact, new research shows that if you take a protein/amino acid and carbohydrate drink after exercise, the boost you get for the first few post-exercise hours adds to the eventual gains in protein mass associated with weight training. What this means is that the combination of proper post-workout nutrition taken immediately after exercise and the normal anabolic response to exercise will lead to unparalleled protein turnover, recovery, and anabolism.

That's the grossly simplified answer. For a more detailed, fully referenced discussion of this phenomenon, I encourage readers to check out my "Solving The Post-Workout Puzzle" Part I and Part II articles.

CS: What about pre-workout? I know a lot of people take half their "post" workout drinks before training and half after. Why?

JMB: I’ve actually written about this very topic before in a previous Appetite for Construction column. In that article, I discussed a study showing that a pre-workout drink containing protein/amino acids and carbohydrates can actually promote a greater anabolic response than what can be accomplished during the post-workout period. I also suggested either slugging down some Biotest Surge before and after exercise or sipping the Surge during the exercise bout and then having some more after the bout.

CS: So what’s up there?

JMB: Well, it appears that consuming such a beverage immediately before or during exercise can increase blood flow to the exercising muscles. In addition, since this extra blood will be jam-packed with protein building amino acids and energy supplying carbohydrates, the body can actually maintain an anabolic state during exercise.

Before this study, a hypothesis stating this was possible would've been laughed at, but it turns out that a pre/during workout drink can actually shift the body into a muscle building state even during the most intense exercise.

From this information it’s not too far fetched to suggest that a pre/during workout drink containing protein/amino acids and carbohydrates would nicely add to the effects of one’s post-workout drink by tackling the exercise period. The post-workout drink tackles the post-exercise period.

One thing I’ve learned, however, is that it’s best to avoid drinking the Surge before exercise and instead sip it during the exercise. By consuming it before, some athletes have been prone to rebound hypoglycemia during their training while others have simply felt too full with all that fluid slogging around in their guts.

CS: Okay, so for those that use Surge pre-workout, it's usually best to sip it throughout the workout instead, then take the other half after training. Gotcha.

You know, there's been a huge "Surge resurgence" recently. I guess word is getting around because even though we haven't talked about it much lately here at the mag, sales of Surge are going through the roof.

JMB: To be quite honest, I’m surprised it’s taken this long for people to start getting the message; the post-workout nutrition studies have been appearing since the mid-90's. But I guess people’s reluctance has been due to the fact that exotic supplements containing micro and milligram quantities of weird, untested herbs have been all the rage lately, taking people’s focus off the most important nutritional manipulations of all—manipulations of the macronutrients. As you well know, it’s not all that exotic or sexy to recommend simple products containing basic ingredients like proteins, carbohydrates, and amino acids.

CS: Now that Surge has been out for a while, what observations have you made? What are users experiencing?

JMB: Surge users have been reporting a host of benefits. Weight trainers have reported the following:

One, an increase in muscle mass over time. Those last few words are very important. While it’s not uncommon to see 400% increases in protein synthesis when using protein/amino acids and carbohydrates immediately after training, even this huge increase only translates into a few grams of muscle mass gained per workout. Since there are 1000 grams in a kilogram, it takes quite a few workouts to gain a measurable amount of muscle mass with this single nutritional manipulation alone. But, of course, every little bit helps and it all adds up to make a visual difference!

Two, users are noticing a large reduction in delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS. This reduction in muscle soreness may be due to the increased blood flow to the muscle during exercise when using Surge. It may also be due to the increased rates of protein turnover seen with the use of good post-workout nutrition. Regardless, double blind pilot work at the University of Western Ontario has shown reduced muscle soreness 24 and 48 hours after a bout of strength exercise when using hydrolyzed whey protein and carbohydrates vs. carbohydrate and placebo beverages.

CS: Very cool. What else are people experiencing?

JMB: A large improvement in recovery times! Whether recovery is measured by muscle soreness, mood (parameters like fatigue, vigor, etc), or force recovery (the ability to duplicate pre-workout strength tasks), Surge can contribute to enhanced recovery times, allowing for increased workout frequency without overtraining.

CS: I agree. I've noticed all those things, not to mention just overall improved and more productive workouts. Simply put, I can hit it really freaking hard in the gym without worrying too much about excess soreness or overtraining. You know, it's kinda weird when you think about it, but what you do nutrition-wise after Monday's workout really makes a difference in the quality of Tuesday's workout! I hear endurance athletes are really benefiting from post-training drinks as well.

JMB: Not only do endurance athletes benefit from the use of Surge, they actually respond better than weight trainers! If there’s one market I’d love to see embrace the use of Surge, it’s the endurance crowd.

Now before my weight training brethren crucify me for consorting with the endurance folk, let me explain my affiliation. Originally my doctoral dissertation was designed to examine the effects of a drink very similar in composition to Surge on a number of parameters related to performance and body composition. While the data collection was going well, it was quite difficult to find reproducible measures to quantify how much benefit the Surge-like drink was providing to weight trainers. As a result, I decided to do a little pilot project examining the effects of the drink on cycling recovery. Since the cycling bout we chose was very reproducible, it seemed like a good idea.

Although we didn’t expect much, after the first few subjects had been completed, my labmates and I were blown away by what we were seeing. We then turned the pilot project into a full-blown investigation. When all the results were analyzed, what we saw was nothing short of astounding.

CS: My inner geek is intrigued. Dish, man, dish!

JMB: Well, after providing subjects with a standardized breakfast, we had them come in to ride a very intense sixty-minute laboratory cycling course for distance. Then, after a six-hour break (in which we provided different recovery drinks), we brought subjects back in to ride again. We then compared the A.M. performance to the P.M. performance. Of course, after a hard sixty-minute ride in the morning, no cyclist would be able to duplicate his/her performance. However, the goal of this investigation was to minimize the performance drop-off from A.M. to P.M.

When comparing the distance traveled in the A.M. vs. the distance traveled in the P.M., the Surge-like drink outperformed the other groups by a whopping 250% (these results are statistically significant) as seen below. As you can see, the Surge-like group (P+C) had less of a performance drop than the isoenergetic carbohydrate group (C) and the isoenergetic placebo group (Pb). This group got no liquid nutrition but did get one big meal throughout the recovery period that was equal in calories to the other two conditions.

CS: You know, Berardi, I'm always kinda freaked out when you just pull charts and graphs out of your pocket like that. You've got this weird scientist-magician vibe going. Anyway, go ahead please.

JMB: Since the performance data were collected, we’ve measured all sorts of interesting things including muscle glycogen use, synthesis, and resynthesis; heart rate, power production, and oxygen consumption during the exercise bouts; blood Testosterone, growth hormone, cortisol, insulin, glucose, lactic acid, and a whole host of other markers of muscle damage and hematological parameters before, during, and after the exercise bouts. What we’re now trying to do is find a few answers as to why this beverage seems so darned effective in promoting performance recovery in endurance athletes.

These data should be analyzed over the next few months, earning me my Ph.D. as well as providing a number of research papers that I’ll probably submit for publication in 2004. Hopefully the endurance athletes out there will catch wind of this ultra-effective recovery protocol and start using a higher ratio of protein to carbs (a 1:2 ratio) during recovery. In addition, perhaps they'll embrace higher protein intakes. In this study, the P+C group got nearly 120 grams of protein during the six hour recovery period while the C group got 45 grams and the Pb group got about 70.

At least in my elite cyclists, gone are the days of carb-only recovery drinks and numerous post-workout bowls of cereal.

CS: Cool. Have you discovered any new info about post-workout drinks you didn't know before?

JMB: Yep, I have. Laboratory data seems to suggest that Surge users get more babes. While I don’t have the data analyzed yet, it seems that when given Surge vs. a placebo drink, men drinking Surge get more phone numbers and less rejections than those drinking placebo.

CS: Really?

JMB: No, but I had you going for a second there, didn't I?

CS: Punk.

JMB: Okay, seriously, Surge promotes a much more powerful insulin response than I ever expected it would. Laboratory data on fasted subjects reveals a 1000% increase in blood insulin at peak concentrations, thirty minutes after Surge ingestion. This increase is similar to what one might see with an insulin injection.

In addition, the blood glucose response to Surge is also quite surprising. Due to the huge insulin surge, blood glucose only rises by about 15% at peak and then drops precipitously down to about 40% of fasted baseline. This means that Surge is rapidly taken up into the blood and is delivered to the target tissues within 15 to 30 minutes of ingestion. That’s really quick! When using conventional glycemic index numbers, it appears that Surge actually has a negative glycemic index. But this is simply due to the fact that blood glucose clearance is so rapid there’s not much time to catch it in the blood.

For you non-science types, this simply means that Surge is so powerful that it hits the muscle almost immediately after ingestion, making it more like an infusion rather than simple ingestion.

And for you science types, it’s important to recognize that while blood glucose fell in the experiment above, if these measurements were taken during exercise, the fall wouldn't be so precipitous since exercise induced rises in catecholamines would prevent any hypoglycemic effect.

CS: Wow! Very interesting! Okay, now let's clear up a few frequently asked questions. Should a person use Surge if he's on a low carb diet?

JMB: In my opinion, if you follow the approach I’m about to suggest, you can have your Surge and your fat loss, too.

First, follow your ketogenic diet for about two weeks in order to adapt to the high fat, low carbohydrate approach. The evidence is clear that it takes this long for the central and peripheral metabolic responses to ketogenic dieting to occur. So hang in there during the first, most difficult two weeks.

Second, during the third week, you can begin using Surge as follows: sip one serving during your weight training workout, finishing it toward the end of your training. Then do your cardio after the weights. Next, have an additional serving of Surge immediately after your cardio.

CS: Will that kick you out of ketosis?

JMB: Yes. The generation of ketone bodies will be inhibited while blood carbohydrate and insulin are higher. However, it’s well known in the research that even a weekend of high carbohydrate feedings (as discussed with the cyclic ketogenic diets) doesn’t undo the metabolic adaptations associated with ketogenic dieting. So being kicked out of ketosis for a short period doesn’t really matter all that much. Remember, being "out of ketosis" doesn’t mean that fat loss has stopped.

Here's another reason why it’s okay to take Surge in the manner suggested. Since the time courses of the increases in blood glucose and blood insulin are brief (as demonstrated above), you’ll be back in ketosis very shortly after your workout and post-workout drink.

It’s my opinion that if you wait until you've adapted to your ketogenic diet, drinking a recovery drink like Surge during and after your workouts will probably not undo the adaptations you’ve earned during your first two weeks. In addition, drinking such a drink will surely kick you out of ketosis but only for a very brief period of time. Just because you’re "out of ketosis," you definitely won’t stop losing fat during this time. Besides, the enhanced muscle growth and recovery you’ll get will far toutweigh that small reduction in the rate of fat loss.

CS: I've noticed that myself. While I don't use very low carb diets anymore, I've found that Surge doesn't slow fat loss at all when I'm eating about 100 grams of carbs per day (which is as low as I go these days). In fact, it seems to speed fat loss up, probably because my workouts continue to be energetic and productive instead of flat and somnambulant.

Anyway, what are the most common mistakes Surge users are making?

JMB: There are three common mistakes I’ve recognized. First, not using enough water to dilute the Surge. With Surge it’s important to use enough water to dilute the ingredients, especially when sipping the drink during workouts.

Ideally a 5-10% concentration is desired. Therefore, if one were to use half a serving of Surge (about 45g), between 450 and 900 ml of water would be desired to dilute the powder to a 10% and 5% concentration respectively. The realities of concentration gradients and osmolality exist whether or not you recognize and respect them. If you don’t dilute your supplement drinks properly, you’ll be "pressure washing" the porcelain while jettisoning your post-workout nutrition.

Another mistake is drinking a big serving of Surge immediately prior to working out. As I demonstrated earlier, Surge has a powerful hypoglycemic effect in the non-exercise state. Therefore, if one were to drink Surge about 15 to 20 minutes prior to exercise, they'd probably have a blood sugar crash.

However, since the hormonal effects of exercise preserve blood glucose concentrations, sipping the drink throughout the exercise bout won't present a problem. Secondarily, a practical problem arises with drinking Surge prior to exercise. Working out with a liter of water sloshing around in your gut is uncomfortable.

The last mistake I've noticed people making is not eating a meal within 60 to 90 minutes after consuming their post-workout Surge. While you’re safe from hypoglycemia during the workout, low blood sugar can come back with a vengeance during the post-workout period. Therefore, it’s necessary to consume a meal 60 to 90 minutes after the post-workout drink. If not, you’ll probably experience the same sensations Tim Patterson describes back in issue #142 in his "Behind the Scenes" column. While Tim gets off on that sort of stuff, most normal individuals consider the "pre-blackout stage" that comes with low blood sugar a bit scary.

CS: Are you kidding? Watching Tim blackout and fall down the stairs is the highlight of our day around here! Okay, another common question: Can I add anything to Surge?

JMB: Originally I strongly cautioned users against adding anything to Surge. The rationale for this was the fact that I didn’t want them messing with the formula, adding all sorts of wacky insulin mimickers and secretagogues that would drop blood sugar so low that they’d be reduced to nothing but quivering masses of muscle heaped on the gym floor. To this end, I'd avoid adding any insulin mimickers, insulin secretagogues, or supplements that improve glucose tolerance. Nor did I want them adding other ingredients that might slow digestion or absorption. To this end, I suggest avoid adding fats and extra protein. Other ingredients, such as carbohydrates or creatine are okay as long as extra water is added to maintain the required 5 to 10% dilution.

CS: I've seen cheaper post-workout products on the market (although their taste is gagging, while Surge tastes like angel food cake). Why is Surge so pricey?

JMB: It’s that damn Tim Patterson! He’s your typical corporate executive: lavish parties, corporate jets, Cuban cigars, high priced madams—you know the type. In order to afford his hedonistic indulgences, he jacks up the price of all the Biotest products.

Okay, not really. Anyone who knows Tim will know how laughable that is. Look, Surge isn’t all that expensive. It's only about $2.30 per full serving if you can find a good deal. And remember, you only take it on training days. To me, that doesn’t seem so expensive.

But even if Surge is a bit pricey, it’s important to realize that each serving contains 25 grams of hydrolyzed whey protein, 50 grams of a carbohydrate blend, and 11.25 grams of supplemental, free form amino acids. While the carb sources (glucose and maltodextrin) are relatively cheap, the hydrolyzed whey and the amino acids cost a pretty penny.

In addition, since Biotest does a great job of seeking out the highest quality ingredients, it’s understandable that the cost of such a product will be a bit more than the cost of its knock-off competitors. But rather than simply deferring to the arbitrary "high quality ingredients" argument that most companies use, let me explain what I mean by high quality, especially with respect to protein.

CS: Go for it.

JMB: Most are probably aware that many of the proteins currently available are processed using different methods of separation and filtration. These processes start with something like liquid milk and end up with whey and casein powders. Based on the method of processing employed, you get things like whey concentrates, whey isolates, milk protein isolates, etc.

In the past, the isolation process wasn't as streamlined and efficient as it is today. This meant a high lactose and fat content in these original whey protein concentrates. In addition, these methods utilized high temperatures or large changes in acidity in order to concentrate either the whey or the casein. Due to these extreme treatments, whey protein products contained only 30 to 40% protein and high amounts of lactose, fat, and denatured proteins. This means the whey structure was destroyed and many of the most potent peptides in whey and casein were eliminated. Today, however, more advanced methods of isolation have been developed, yet there are still differences in protein quality.

While most protein supplements on the market use intact proteins, Surge uses protein hydrolysates. You see, whey or casein protein can be hydrolyzed (broken into smaller pieces) by enzymes that produce small chains of amino acids called peptides. This process mimics our own digestive actions. This makes hydrolysis an ideal way to process protein as long as manufacturers are careful not to denature it. Once hydrolyzed, these undenatured peptides have many benefits over and above whole protein sources.

Since the GI prefers peptides to whole proteins or amino acids, hydrolyzed proteins are more easily broken down and absorbed into the blood stream than whole protein sources. In fact, hydrolyzed proteins may be absorbed in about half the time it takes free form amino acids or whole proteins. This can lead to a more rapid delivery into the body, especially when it's needed most like after weight training workouts.

Also, hydrolyzed whey protein concentrates have a higher BV score than whey protein concentrates or other milk protein preparations. Higher BV scores translate to better processing and utilization of protein in the body. In addition, this increase in BV may increase the release of IGF-1, which can stimulate muscle growth.

CS: Weren't there some studies concerning catabolism (muscle-wasting) in this regard?

JMB: Yes, these studies have shown that hydrolysates don't stimulate the release of the catabolic hormone cortisol whereas whole intact proteins do stimulate this catabolic hormone. Finally, hydrolyzed proteins are less likely to produce allergenic effects, even in those with severe milk allergy.

Although protein hydrolysates seem to offer some nice advantages when compared to intact proteins, a word of caution is again necessary. Different hydrolysis techniques have been used to break protein down into small peptides. These techniques have had various degrees of success. Older methods of acid-based hydrolysis often led to a substantial destruction of the proteins and peptides. Also, older enzymatic methods often produced incompletely hydrolyzed products that were very bitter tasting and that also lost their functionality (YH Lee et al 1992). Fortunately, new methods of mild enzymatic hydrolysis have been developed to hydrolyze whey or casein proteins.

Obviously, with the great taste of Surge, we’ve chosen to use a very high quality enzymatic hydrolysis. This helps prevent the nasty taste that most other hydrolyzed proteins have and helps to preserve the peptide and amino acid structures. So that’s what I’m talking about when I say "high quality ingredients."

CS: Great info, John. Let me sum up some of the new info presented here before we close:

• Those who choose to ignore proper post-workout nutrition are kicking their own asses when it comes to recovery, muscle growth, and improved performance.

• Instead of using a pre-workout drink, it's better to sip it during the workout and have another serving after the workout.

• Endurance athletes would substantially improve their performance if they used post-workout drinks and upped their protein intake.

• You want a powerful insulin response after a workout. The response provided by Surge is as powerful as the insulin injections pro-bodybuilders give themselves to get the same benefit.

• You can lose fat rapidly while using Surge, even if you're on a low carb diet. The best way to reap the benefits is to keto diet for two weeks, then add Surge in the third week — half sipped during training, half consumed after. The enhanced muscle growth and recovery you’ll get will far outweigh the small reduction in the rate of fat loss and getting temporarily kicked out of ketosis.

• John Berardi gets more ass than a toilet seat. This may be related to his Surge usage, or it could be because he hangs around me and catches my abundant babe overflow.

I think that about sums it up! Thanks, John!

JMB: "Babe overflow"?

CS: Just nod your head like you're agreeing with me and I'll give you twenty bucks.

JMB: Whatever. Thanks for the interview, Chris!

-Hormones and Training-

2007-06-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

-Strategies for manipulating hormones-

Table of Contents

The Steroid Manifesto
By John Berardi

Cortisol – The Stress Hormone
Author Unknown

Muscle Breakdown- Cortisol and Catabolism
By Rehan Jalali

The Big T
By John Berardi

Elevating Free Testosterone
By Thomas Incledon

Estrogen
By TC

The War on Estrogen
By Cy Willson

The Anabolic Power of Insulin
By John Berardi

The Fountain of GH
By John Berardi

T2 - The Fat Terminator?
By John Berardi

Hungry, Hungry Hormones
By John Berardi

Steroid Manifesto, Part 1
What Your Doctor, Your Friends, Your Mamma,
and Maybe Even You Don't Know About Steroids
by John M Berardi and Kris Aiken

As you might imagine, almost every secret, or even not-so-secret club, gang, pack, or gaggle has a manifesto, a document detailing all the important information that every devotee should possess. The Christian club has the Bible, the US gang has got the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and even that Bill Phillips, Body For Life pack has a glossy, estrogen-soaked manual that describes how to place your lips directly onto Bill Phillips' butt while sliding your hard-earned dollars into the front pockets of his freshly pressed chinos.

This makes me wonder what the world would be like if there were a Book of T, The Word of Testosterone, if you will? Perhaps a book like this might, in some small way, negate the damage caused by years of indelibly stamped images of Richard Simmons's flabby thighs in spandex. Perhaps it might also help erase years of erroneous fitness mythology from the memory centers of fitness trainers and exercisers alike.

If such a book were to be written, I might expect that every full-fledged, card-carrying member of T-Nation would have a copy and this holy book would provide information essential to all T-Nation members. Hence this hypothetical introductory chapter, my vision of what the members of Testosterone Nation should know about their namesake.

A Steroid By Any Other Name

What do you get when you put dianabol, stanzolol, Testosterone propionate, Testosterone enanthate, etc. together in a room? Well, besides one big mofo, you get the terms steroids, androgens, androgenic steroids, anabolic steroids, anabolic-androgenic steroids, or one or another in a laundry list of names — depending on which expert you speak to.

Unfortunately, all the aliases serve only to confuse the general public as well as our weight-lifting brethren. So, in an attempt to use a single name for "that group of testosterone-like compounds that make 'ya huge," I reduced the list down to two names: steroids and hormonal bigness. Although I prefer the latter, from here on out, we will, quite simplistically, refer to this class of hormones as steroids simply for brevity and simplicity.

Steroids can be Testosterone itself or one of the naturally produced or artificially produced derivatives of this sex hormone. When we say "derivative," we mean compounds with a relatively similar chemical structure that possess only a few structural modifications. Take the Testosterone ring structure seen below and add a carbon here, take one away there, add an alcohol here, take one away there, and you're forming all sorts of different steroids.

Figure 1: Unaltered Testosterone

If this chemical modification occurs in the body, then we say that the steroid is naturally produced. The natural production of steroids occur through what we call endogenous (made within the body) Testosterone metabolism. In this pathway, cholesterol goes through a series of metabolic steps to form all of the sex hormones. The eventual pathway to Testosterone includes intermediates such as DHEA and androstenedione (seen below).

DHEA Androstenedione Testosterone
Figure 2: Endogenous Steroids Leading Up To Testosterone

On the other hand, the artificial production of steroids, or the production of exogenous (meaning made outside the body) steroids, can occur in a research laboratory, a manufacturing facility, or some black market drug dealer's leaky bathtub.

Oxandrolone Testosterone Cypionate
Figure 3: Two Exogenous Steroids

Below is a list of some of the endogenous steroids as well as some of the exogenous steroids. The endogenous steroids are mostly produced in men by the testis and in women by the adrenal glands. These steroids are responsible for the masculinization (androgenic) and the tissue building (anabolic) effects seen during adolescence and adulthood.

Endogenous Steroids Exogenous Steroids
DHEA
Androstenedione

Androstenediol

Testosterone

DHT
Testosterone Cypionate (ester)
Testosterone Enanthate (ester)

Testosterone Propionate (ester)

Dianabol

Oxandrolone

Oxymetholone

Stanozolol

Nandrolone

While adequate production of the endogenous (made by the body) steroids is critical for normal homeostatic function, exogenous (made outside the body) steroids can be used to increase lean body mass, decrease fat mass, increase nitrogen retention, restore sexual function, alleviate depression, and promote a host of other effects, especially in those who suffer from hypogonadism (low endogenous manufacture of testosterone).

With the aforementioned health, sport, and functional links clear, there are several groups of individuals who use steroids, including athletes interested in performance improvement or body composition changes, non-athletes interested in body composition changes or "cosmetic enhancement," and clinical patients. The latter group is, of course, the only group that can obtain a prescription for legal steroid use. Illegal use of steroids, however, is widespread.

Bodybuilders obviously use them to increase lean body mass while decreasing fat mass.
Similarly, competitive weight lifters use them to increase muscle strength and nervous system activation, thereby increasing the amount of weight they can lift as well as their explosiveness.
Since anaerobic sport athletes benefit from increased muscle mass, decreased fat mass, increased muscle strength, and increased explosiveness; they also use steroids for performance enhancement and recovery.
Even endurance athletes frequently use steroids to combat the decline in endogenous steroid production seen with high volume training, along with wanting to provide some anti-catabolic protection, and to boost blood volume.
However, of course, the biggest population of steroid users is not made up of elite athletes. Instead, recreational athletes and weight lifters tend to make up the largest population of steroid users, their goals being to improve body composition in order to look better clothed or naked. Some people have called this cosmetic enhancement.
Since Joe Weider Invented Bodybuilding, Did He Invent Steroids Too?

I hate to break it to ya but Joe Weider didn't invent bodybuilding nor did he invent steroids. Steroids were "discovered" back in the 1920's. At this time, male urinary extracts were shown to increase the skeletal growth and reproductive development of experimental dogs and roosters.

After some tinkering around with the extracts, the scientists discovered a purified lipid soluble chemical that was derived from cholesterol. This compound was called Testosterone (as it was produced in the male testis).

After more tinkering, it was found that Testosterone wasn't the only substance that would induce growth and development. Other naturally produced compounds could also do the same, including DHEA. These experiments and others also demonstrated that small chemical modifications could enhance the effectiveness of Testosterone when extracted and given to other organisms.

Oral studies demonstrated that the addition of a functional group to the 17th carbon made Testosterone orally active. Without this addition, Testosterone seemed to have no effect. In addition, fatty-acid additions (etherification) increased the biological activity and half-life (i.e. the time that the stuff sticks around in the body) of Testosterone. Again, without these additions, Testosterone would be much less effective, either never making it to the target cells or only sticking around for a few minutes if they did. These new preparations, made way back in the 30's, were the precursors to today's popular Tstosterone esters (again, basic Testosterone with functional groups attached to prolong life) including propionate, cypionate, and enanthate.

The medical community was then made aware of the effects of steroids in the 30's. Of course, shortly thereafter, it was rumored that athletes were getting "the juice" from their doctors. In particular, it's been discussed that German athletes had been given steroid preparations by their team doctors in preparation for the 1936 Berlin Olympic games. Throughout the next decade or two, as doctors and athletes gained more experience with steroid use, the performance and "anti-aging" benefits were becoming evident. As was bound to happen, by the 1950s, a significant number of bodybuilders and Olympic athletes around the world had been reporting dramatic gains with steroid use.

While, back then, steroid use was only associated with a small percentage of the world's athletic population, presently an estimated 3 million male and female athletes in the United States alone have used steroids. Interestingly, despite nearly 70 years of positive feedback on the performance benefits of steroids, it wasn't until recently (within the last five or six years) that steroids were convincingly proven (via well controlled experimental studies) to increase lean mass and strength.

Of course it seems somewhat of a puzzle that so many experts, for so long, insisted that didn't work. The reason could very well be that they were simply trying to dissuade people from using them. After all, why would someone want to use steroids if they didn't work?

In addition, the early research didn't demonstrate the effectiveness of steroids. These studies, many of which demonstrated that anabolic steroids offered no athletic benefit whatsoever, had several design flaws. Many were neither blinded nor randomized, nutritional intake was usually not controlled, and the exercise stimulus wasn't controlled. Moreover, the biggest problem was probably that many of the studies used only small doses (replacement doses or less), unlike the supraphysiological doses (above the normal physiological range) that are necessary to promote positive effects. Regardless of the medical community's lack of support, athletes have known for decades that steroids undoubtedly improve body composition and performance.

The medical community has finally caught up with what the athletes have known all along.

Wanna' know how steroids work and what, exactly, they do? Check back next week for part II. At this point, now that we've introduced some definitions, structures, and a brief history of their discovery and use in sport, we'll give you a week to process this information. Next week we'll talk about how steroids are used, how they work, and we'll discuss the side effects (both positive and negative).

Steroid Manifesto, Part 2
What Your Doctor, Your Friends, Your Mamma,
and Maybe Even You Don't Know About Steroids
By John M Berardi and Kris Aiken

As you might imagine, almost every secret, or even not-so-secret club, gang, pack, or gaggle has a manifesto, a document detailing all the important information that every devotee should possess. The Christian club has the Bible, the US gang has got the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and even that Bill Phillips, Body For Life pack has a glossy, estrogen- soaked manual that describes how to place your lips directly onto Bill Phillips' butt while sliding your hard earned dollars into the front pockets of his freshly pressed chinos.

This makes me wonder what the world would be like if there were a Book of T, The Word of Testosterone, if you will? Perhaps a book like this might, in some small way, negate the damage caused by years of indelibly stamped images of Richard Simmons's flabby thighs in spandex. Perhaps it might also help erase years of erroneous fitness mythology from the memory centers of fitness trainers and exercisers alike.

If such a book were to be written, I might expect that every full-fledged, card-carrying member of T-Nation would have a copy and this holy book would provide information essential to all T-Nation members. Hence this hypothetical introductory chapter, my vision of what the members of Testosterone Nation should know about their namesake.

Part 1 of this three-part series discussed steroid fundamentals. This week's installment talks about how steroids are used, how they work, and what their side effects — both positive and negative — are.

Getting The Steroid In Ya'

Before you need to worry about the side effects of steroid use, first, you gotta' get the steroids in ya'. Most people employ one of the two most common forms of delivery for steroids — oral administration and intramuscular injection. Of course, nowadays there are patches, transdermal creams, and implant pellets but the two biggies remain.

Regardless of which method one chooses, as discussed above, unaltered Testosterone tends to be of no use to anyone when taken either orally or by intramuscular injection. This is due to the fact that it's susceptible to relatively rapid breakdown by the liver.

In order to overcome this obvious problem some modifications are made to Testosterone's chemical structure. Most commonly, Testosterone is alkylated at the 17-alpha position (an alkyl group is added to the 17th carbon in the steroid ring structure) to form an orally available steroid. The addition of this alkyl group allows the steroid to survive its first pass through the liver, a trip that would normally lead to complete degradation. As you'll see later, this alkylation, in addition to preventing degradation, also has been linked to some liver problems.

To form an effective injectable steroid, the steroid is usually esterified at the 17-beta position (as discussed earlier) and then suspended in oil. This prolongs the life of the steroid, giving it more time to produce a biological effect.

Once the steroids are swallowed or injected and progress into general circulation, they are free to promote their anabolic (tissue building) and androgenic (masculinizing) actions. Unfortunately, most steroids promote both the anabolic and androgenic effects. This is unfortunate because in most clinical situations, one or the other is desired. Anabolic benefits are desirable in individuals prone to losses in lean-body mass with disease, aging, or surgery. Androgenic benefits are desirable in situations of inadequate sexual development, infertility, and impotence. Bodybuilders have discovered that a combination of both anabolic and androgenic effects tends to offer the biggest gains in muscle strength and size. Often, though, more anabolic effects alone are desired.

As a result of these clinical needs, much work has been done in an attempt to separate the androgenic and the anabolic effects of steroids. Since the androgenic effects of steroids are more likely to promote undesirable side effects in those needing only enhanced tissue building, creating a purely anabolic steroid has been of particular interest. In addition, creating a completely anabolic steroid is desirable in order to prevent the development of the male characteristics in women, children, and individuals with protein irregularities who could likely receive anabolic androgenic hormone therapy.

Nandrolone decanoate, oxandrolone, and stanzolol are just a few of the steroids that were synthesized as a result, and displayed greater anabolic activity than androgenic activity. To this end, studies have shown that compounds with a lower affinity for the steroid receptor tend to have a greater anabolic effect relative to the androgenic effect. But this means that these compounds would need to be taken in much higher doses since more drug would be needed to accomplish the same level of receptor binding. Regardless, a purely anabolic steroid without any androgenic properties has yet to be discovered (the reasons for this go beyond the scope of this article and frankly, you probably don't give a damn).

So How Do These Anabolic and Androgenic Things Work?

There have been many recent studies that demonstrate the fact that steroids produce muscle hypertrophy by increasing muscle-protein synthesis and reducing muscle-protein breakdown. However, the molecular basis of this anabolic effect is not totally understood. But scientists do have some clues.

It's believed that the steroid initially diffuses into the cellular cytosol (the liquid portion of the cells), where it combines with the cell's androgen receptor like a lock (receptor) and key (steroid). Together, the receptor-steroid complex then migrates into the cell nucleus where it interacts with the DNA and initiates transcription to RNA. This new RNA is then translated into new protein. When this occurs in muscle tissue, the new protein equals muscle growth. If this process is Greek to you, we can summarize it simply. The steroid is shuttled to the genetic material where it tells the cell to get bigger.

When a hormone has this type of effect we say that this is a direct effect. To this end, direct steroid actions promote a positive nitrogen status in that they can shift a neutral or negative status into the positive range. This means that a larger quantity of nitrogen is retained than is eliminated. And a positive nitrogen status indicates that muscle tissue is being deposited.

While most scientists agree on the direct, receptor-dependent effects of steroids, there is some debate as to whether steroids have indirect, receptor independent effects. Interestingly, in the absence of viable steroid receptors, steroids have been shown to exert androgen specific or anabolic effects in various tissues of the body. This means that some steroid may act as above (via the receptor) while others may act independent of the receptor by binding directly to DNA, by influencing the binding of other hormones/compounds to certain receptors, or by increasing the production of certain hormones.

If there is no receptor, then how might the steroid work? Well, no one knows just yet but some receptor-independent effects may include:

Displacing glucocorticoids (cortisol, etc) from their receptor and prevent them from interacting with genetic components of the cell and inducing catabolism.
Increasing liver produced and locally produced IGF-1 [insulin-like growth factor] mRNA and IGF-1 protein as well as decreasing IGFBP (the binding protein that sequesters IGF).
Relating this information back to bodybuilding, many steroid theorists have suggested that the use of a combination of receptor-dependent steroids and receptor independent steroids might offer the best results. And of course, for years, athletes knew that "stacking" steroids (concurrently taking several different steroids) might offer unique benefits. These two types of effects might just explain why stacking works.
Big, Strong, What Else?

Still, to this day, there is a ridiculous stigma attached to steroids and their use. When most people hear "steroid," they think "bad." Fortunately. this is slowly changing. Not everyone, though, has gotten the message.

Logically speaking, despite the negative connotations still associated with steroid use, there must be certain positive attributes or positive "side effects" associated with their use. And these positive side effects must, in some way, supercede the negative side effects for some individuals. Either that or individuals are simply exchanging short-term benefits for long-term problems. In addition, if steroids were universally evil, why would scientists spend countless hours and millions of dollars researching them? Therefore, lets take a look at some of the positive side effects associated with steroid use.

The Clinical Stuff

When men age, endogenous Testosterone concentrations diminish. Some have adopted the term "andropause" to describe this natural hormonal decline. While the name seems cute as we now have the male equivalent of menopause, the effects of andropause are not cute at all.

Associated with "andropause" and this decrease in endogenous Testosterone are:

Increased cardiovascular risk (via increased triglyceride concentrations and decreased HDL cholesterol concentrations).
Increased fat mass.
Decreased lean mass (water, bone, and — gasp!- muscle).
Decreased sex drive and performance.
Decreased mood scores / increased incidence of depression.
Clinically, these changes are all improved with low dose steroid use (a couple hundred milligrams per week). Both experimental and clinical studies have demonstrated these benefits of low dose Testosterone administration on body composition, showing increased muscle mass, bone mass, and body water. In addition, fat mass is consistently diminished with Testosterone use, especially concerning that health bandit, abdominal adiposity.

In addition to favorable body composition changes, Testosterone replacement in middle-aged men with visceral obesity improves insulin sensitivity and decreases blood glucose and blood pressure, clearly improving health. This, in addition to observed decreases in LDL, total cholesterol, and increased HDL, links overall health with normal blood levels of Testosterone.

Oh yeah, and don't forget about improvements in sex drive and erectile function. So, with more muscle mass, less fat mass, improved overall health, and the ability to shag the misses on a regular basis, shouldn't these guys be improving in their mood scores? Well, they are, regardless of whether it's a direct or an indirect effect (it tends to be direct, but who cares?!?). So on the basis of it's direct and positive clinical effects, why on earth would we want to demonize the stuff?

And not only does Testosterone offer these benefits to aging men using "replacement doses," "medicinal doses" can assist in the achievement of many of these endpoints in patients subjected to muscle wasting due to cancer, AIDS, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), injury/disease recovery, bed rest, and low endogenous production of Testosterone. While these individuals don't always have low Testosterone per se, they do receive benefit from steroid use.

Beyond "replacement therapy," the use of "medicinal" Testosterone to induce male contraception has been investigated by the World Health Organization. A multicenter study was done in 7 countries on 271 healthy fertile men. Each subject received 200 mg of testosterone enanthate weekly by intramuscular injection for approximately one year. Subjects experienced azoospermia (low sperm production) and an increase in body weight. The study concluded that Testosterone enanthate could provide highly effective, sustained, and reversible male contraception (i.e. fertility would be restored with the removal of steroid treatment) with minimal side effects. Of course, this points out one of the negative side effects of steroid use — infertility. As indicated, this is reversible with cessation of use.

While the aforementioned benefits of steroids are mostly associated with low ("replacement" or "medicinal") doses in order to normalize health and function, athletes, on the other hand, have not been interested in how steroids could bring their body to "normal" functioning, but have used them in order to promote super functionality. Athletes know that the use of steroids by physically developed people enhances certain physiologic functions, including an increase in lean body mass, strength, and aggressiveness and a reduction in recovery time between workouts. Both strength and power are two aspects of athletics that athletes are constantly seeking to improve.

The Athletic Stuff

Increased Muscle Size, Strength and Power: Bhasin et al and Friedl et al have both conclusively demonstrated Testosterone's effects on strength and power. This research has shown that in healthy men receiving doses of 300-600 mg of testosterone enanthate intramuscularly weekly, muscle strength (50 lb increase in bench press in experienced lifters over 12 weeks), power, and muscle size (13 lb weight gain) have shown dramatic improvements. Other studies have shown that methandienone (Dianabol), oxandrolone (Anavar), and stanzolol (Winstrol) also produce improvements in strength and/or size. Strength gains tend to be due to increased muscle size and neuromuscular improvements. Mass gains tend to be due to increased water weight, increased protein mass, increased bone mineral mass, increased non-bone mineral mass, and glycogen content.
Hypertrophy and Hyperplasia: In addition, Kadi et al demonstrated that steroids, combined with strength training, induce an increase in muscle size by enlarging the fibers themselves (hypertrophy) and by increasing the number of new fibers (hyperplasia). This means bigger fibers and more fibers.
Improved Neuromuscular Transmission: Work by Blanco et al at the UCLA School of Medicine has linked steroid use with improvements in neuromuscular transmission; specifically steroids decrease skeletal muscle fatigue by minimizing the contribution of neuromuscular transmission failure to peripheral muscular fatigue. In more comprehensible terms, muscle fatigue may be diminished with steroid use. This is thought to occur in the nerve fibers that innervate fast twitch muscle fibers by, among other things, increasing acetylcholine (the neurotransmitter responsible for nerve transmission) synthesis.
Improved endurance performance: Steroids may increase maximal oxygen uptake, red blood cell production, hemoglobin synthesis, and muscle glycogen concentrations, in addition to preventing the catabolic effects of glucocorticoids and preventing declining blood Testosterone concentrations. This last effect improves the anabolic to catabolic hormonal balance.
Improved training tolerance and injury repair: Intense strength and/or endurance training programs may shift the anabolic to catabolic hormonal balance in a negative direction. Steroid use may counter these shifts (as indicated above). In addition, Testosterone may stimulate bone healing, therefore accelerating the recovery from sports related injuries.
Wow, that's a lot of benefits for athletes as well as clinical patients! No wonder a lot of athletes and those interested in the cosmetic benefits of steroids are willing to break the law (more on this later) to use them.

Yeah, Steroids Do Some Cool Things, But Won't They Kill Me?

The use of steroids is commonly believed to cause numerous adverse and even fatal effects. We've seen a lot of posters and presentations over the years and we can't recall a single one saying anything positive about steroids. They did, however, discuss a laundry list of ridiculous negative side effects.

Despite this, the incidence of serious effects thus far reported has been extremely low per reported user, far lower than those associated with most prescription drugs currently on the market and even lower than some over-the-counter drugs, including aspirin. That's right, aspirin may cause more serious side effects in a larger percentage of the population than steroids.

I don't want to get off on a rant here but what's interesting to me is that with respect to the steroid literature, authors tend to snoop through every obscure medical reference for wimpy case studies that document the rare health problems experienced by steroid users. If you think this is an exaggeration, you might change your mind when you consider that in one report someone actually thought it provocative to mention that a steroid user had contracted chickenpox pneumonitis during his use.

Rather than interpret this seek and destroy phenomenon as the medical equivalent of planting a bag of uppers on a suspect you want to get down to the station, I'll simply say this. Since most of the reported side effects of steroid use have been derived from these single-subject case reports rather than well-controlled scientific studies, I think it prudent to exercise caution when interpreting these reports. After all, with case reports we have no idea as to any of the background factors that could have contributed to these effects. But slow down, tiger. I want to make it clear that my comments above are anything but an attempt to offer my blanket approval for the use of steroids.

In addition, before you get your panties in a twist about conspiracies and violations of personal freedom, hold on one second. There are a number of studies linking steroid use to some serious side effects, especially when the doses used are those that actually promote athletic benefits; doses in excess of what is used in hypogonadal individuals. And while the rigor with which some authors will scour the case study literature may be inappropriate, it's important to discuss their findings. If enough of these case studies contain similar effects, the implications should be considered.

Therefore, a decision to take steroids represents a balance between your need to take them (for clinical or athletic reasons) and your willingness to suffer the documented negative side effects listed below. This is where it's important to realize that the difference between high dose steroid use and low dose steroid use is paramount to the side effects, positive or negative.

Since steroid receptors are ubiquitous (simultaneously present in most cells of the body), it stands to reason that steroids can affect all these tissues in both positive and negative ways. Of biggest concern, however, are the effects of steroids on height in adolescents, liver damage, serum lipid changes, reproductive dysfunction, psychological abnormalities, and prostate damage.

Clinically, high-dose steroid treatment has been used during puberty to reduce the predicted height of excessively tall boys due to the fact that steroids lead to premature physeal closure in teenagers. This use may seem a bit ridiculous and, in fact, highlights one side effect of steroid use — a decrease in attainable height in adolescents.

One of the areas of greatest concern when taking anabolic steroids is the effect on the liver. Unfortunately, much of the data linking steroid use to compromised liver function used nonspecific liver function tests, tests that are affected by intense training alone in the absence of steroid use. Interestingly, many "steroid-friendly" doctors that I've spoken to do suggest that these markers can tend to be further elevated with combined steroid use and weight training.

What this means is unclear since they are, in fact, nonspecific. Regardless, these elevated measures do return to normal after the cessation of use. Therefore, although there isn't a clear link between liver function measures and steroid use, this effect is worth mentioning (whether or not it's something to be concerned about).

However, aside from the unclear data regarding non-specific markers of liver function, there is cause for concern when taking the orally active (17 alpha alkylated) steroids over long periods of time. Liver problems such as peliosis hepatis (blood filled liver cysts), hepatomas (liver cancer), and hepatic cholestasis (a cessation of bile flow) have been well documented with the chronic use of oral steroids.* Of these three, only the last one is reversible but that's only the case if the cholestasis hasn't progressed to cholestatic jaundice and end organ liver failure (resulting in death if untreated). Last time I checked, death was irreversible.

Again, as indicated, the other problems may cause permanent hepatic damage or death. And, just to be clear, these effects are only associated with the long-term use of oral steroids and not short-term use of oral steroids or the use of injectable steroids. However, even when using injectables, some specific markers of liver function should probably be monitored.

*Why anyone would play around with long-term oral steroid use is beyond me. Exploding blood filled cysts in my liver tend to prevent me from using them. How 'bout you?

Other research has suggested that excessive (high dose and/or long term) steroid use can severely lower HDL and increase LDL concentrations in the blood, leading to unaltered total cholesterol concentrations. Again, these effects tend to be associated with oral steroid use rather than injectable use but injectable steroids may still induce this effect to some extent.

Interestingly, while the effects on LDL and total cholesterol have been challenged, the effects on the reduction in HDL have been unanimous (especially with respect to orals*), presenting an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Again, though, these effects are completely reversible after cessation of use.

*Yet another reason to keep orals off your Christmas wish list. In addition, if you've got a family history of peripheral vascular disease or congenital heart defects, you should probably never consider taking any steroids. If you still wish to tempt the fates, get a regular cardiovascular profile done including blood pressure, blood lipids, and an EKG.

Other effects on the cardiovascular system, including increased risk for thrombosis (blood clots leading to blood vessel blockage), myocardial infarction, elevated blood pressure, and left ventricular hypertrophy have been reported in case studies but not in well controlled clinical trials. These case studies have been reported without any information as to type of steroid used, pattern of use or abuse, or predisposing factors. For all we know, these individuals could have had family histories of heart disease and have been overweight and over fat. As indicated above, while these reports can help us identify potential problems, no well-controlled scientific studies have proven the validity of these concerns.

In all, with respect to cardiovascular risk, there have been no studies done in the Western literature to show a true increase in peripheral vascular disease rates in athletes who have used steroids. But remember, the literature is limited so that doesn't mean increased vascular disease rates aren't possible.

Another area of the body in which it is hypothesized that steroids may cause harm is in the prostate. The prostate is a target tissue for steroids and both prostate cancer and BPH (benign prostate hyperplasia) seem to be steroid sensitive. In fact, reduction or complete blocking of endogenous steroids (Testosterone and DHT) generally treats prostate cancer and prostate cancer is usually worsened with exogenous steroid administration. However, just because Testosterone can aggravate prostate cancer, doesn't mean that high levels of Testosterone can cause prostate cancer. In fact, there's no evidence to suggest that Testosterone can cause the onset of cancer in a healthy prostate.

To the contrary, several studies have shown the serum concentrations of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) (a marker for prostate risk) do not change during steroid use. In addition, steroid studies examining the prostate directly have indicated that no abnormalities were detected in the prostate on digital rectal examination.* With respect to prostate cancer's benign cousin (BPH), every study to date is in agreement that the concentration of Testosterone in the prostate of males suffering from prostate hyperplasia is low or normal. In fact, estrogen may be more strongly implicated in prostate risk than Testosterone.

*If your prostate is swollen up like a honeydew, avoid using all steroids. In addition, if you decide to use them, get your PSA concentrations checked out, just in case.

So what about steroids and muscle injury? While there have been a number of case reports (great, more of these damn reports) where bodybuilders and power lifters who have suffered musculotendinous injury while taking anabolic steroids, there can be no assurance of causality. Weightlifters suffer more of these types of injuries due to the high stress placed on the musculoskeletal system, regardless of whether they're using steroids or not.*

*There's probably no increased risk of injury with steroid use while training hard when compared to just training hard without steroids.

And "roid rage"? While reports of abnormal aggression, anger, intensity, and irrational behavior have long been associated with steroid use, it's difficult to associate this directly with a particular drug treatment or dosing. Contrary to these reports of "roid rage," physiologic replacement doses of Testosterone have been shown to improve mood and increase energy levels, along with prompting good feelings and friendliness in hypogonadal men.

Again, this is where the high dose-low dose paradox might come into play. Steroids may normalize mood when blood Testosterone is low and return it to normal but steroids may actually increase aggressiveness and anger when blood doses exceed normal. Unfortunately, there is a real void in the literature with respect to this topic.

In the few well-controlled studies using Testosterone alone, mood and aggression seemed unchanged. However, in self-reported studies examining steroid users, a high percentage of them admit increased irritability and aggression. Some have argued that steroid users may be inherently high-risk individuals and therefore more prone to these effects.* However, many individuals suffering from "roid rage" have no past psychiatric history. On the other hand, the fact that many users often use several drugs and high doses may play into this phenomenon.

*High dose and athletic doses of steroids may lower your threshold for irritants and anger. In addition, the new size and strength you possess while on steroids may be enough to turn you into an aggressive, bloated, ball of machismo. Be cautious and if you must use steroids, be sure to find appropriate channels for outlet (like taking it out on the weights and not on your girlfriend), and be sure not to act like a big, dumb muscle head. You'll give us all a bad name.

In the end, serious negative side effects with low and moderate dose steroid use are extremely rare and only found when doing some medical super sleuthing, dredging up presumably every case of medical treatment in which there was concurrent steroid use, regardless if there was any relationship between the two.

While oral steroids tend to be more closely linked to health problems and increased risk, intermittent use of them has not conclusively been shown to cause long-term concern. With this said, it is important to note that clear, well-controlled investigation into this topic is still in its infancy. More studies may very well be published in the future implicating steroids in a host of other maladies. But, for the time being, we don't have enough information to suggest that this will be the case. It is theoretically reasonable though, to suggest that high dose steroid use or long-term use without cessation (i.e. abuse) might promote more serious side effects. With any drug, seriously exceeding physiological doses may lead to some severe problems.

Therefore, using the available scientific information, it appears that steroids are certainly not the harmful drugs many would have you believe. If used with a prescription for legitimate medical conditions, they are probably safer than most prescription medications. If used responsibly in moderate quantities for performance enhancement or improved body composition, they carry a relatively balanced cost to benefit ratio with respect to physical and mental health (unfortunately responsible, moderate use is hard to define). And if abused, health problems are inevitable.

While, we believe, the health issues are reasonably clear, and the information contained in this article will provide a good basis for rational decision making, there are other concerns with respect to steroid use. These concerns, legality and fair play, will be discussed next week in part III.
Steroid Manifesto, Part 3
What Your Doctor, Your Friends, Your Mamma, and Maybe Even You Don't Know About Steroids
By John M Berardi and Kris Aiken

As you might imagine, almost every secret, or even not-so-secret club, gang, pack, or gaggle has a manifesto, a document detailing all the important information that every devotee should possess. The Christian club has the Bible, the US gang has got the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and even that Bill Phillips, Body For Life pack has a glossy, estrogen- soaked manual that describes how to place your lips directly onto Bill Phillips' butt while sliding your hard earned dollars into the front pockets of his freshly pressed chinos.

This makes me wonder what the world would be like if there were a Book of T, The Word of Testosterone, if you will? Perhaps a book like this might, in some small way, negate the damage caused by years of indelibly stamped images of Richard Simmons's flabby thighs in spandex. Perhaps it might also help erase years of erroneous fitness mythology from the memory centers of fitness trainers and exercisers alike.

If such a book were to be written, I might expect that every full-fledged, card-carrying member of T-Nation would have a copy and this holy book would provide information essential to all T-Nation members. Hence this hypothetical introductory chapter, my vision of what the members of Testosterone Nation should know about their namesake.

Part 1 of this three-part series discussed steroid fundamentals, while part 2 discussed how they're used. This final installment addresses the legal concerns.

Legal, Illegal, Am I Going To Jail?

Since steroids are often sold in locker rooms around the country without a second thought and since the status of steroids has changed over the years, many individuals have no idea as to the true legal status of the drugs or the implications of being caught dispensing or possessing them. If you're gonna play the game, at least know the rules.

Before 1988, steroids were classified as mere prescription drugs by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). The job of the FDA is to determine which drugs will be classisified as over-the-counter and which will be available only through prescription. In addition, during this time, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, an act designed to restrict the access of certain drugs to those with "legitimate" medical uses (i.e. with a prescription) by categorizing drugs, determined that steroids could only be distributed with a prescription.

Importantly though, at this time, steroids were not classified as "controlled substances" by the Controlled Substances Act. "Controlled substances" are substances that are more tightly regulated than "uncontrolled" prescription drugs. With tighter control comes a longer paper trail, more intense scrutiny of doctors prescribing these drugs, and more severe penalties associated with illegal dispensation and use.

By the early 80's, due to more frequent reports of steroid use in athletes, especially young athletes, policy makers began to discuss elevating steroids to "controlled" status. Finally, in 1988, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act was passed, putting steroids in a special prescription category, one that carried severe legal penalties for illegal sale or possession with intent to distribute. Remember, before 1988 steroids had always been illegal to sell or possess without a prescription. This new act simply added a very real threat of serious legal penalty (making it a felony, in fact).

Contrary to their attempts to reduce steroid use via legislation, steroid use only accelerated in years following the passage of this act. In response, Congress decided to go ahead and add steroids to the Controlled Substances Act as an amendment (Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990), making steroid possession, possession with intent to distribute, and distribution serious offences with penalties similar to those associated with morphine and other scheduled substances.

Interestingly, the transcripts from the Congressional hearings were clear in indicating that health concerns were not the main reason for making steroids controlled substances despite the fact that nearly every other controlled drug was on that list because of associated (and sometimes severe) health risks and dependency. Instead, Congress decided to control these drugs in response to the cries of athletic organizations and in response to a desire to limit adolescent use. Sure, the health risks were considered. But they were not the main motive or force for scheduling these drugs as "controlled." While there are several categories of controlled substances ("schedules"), steroids are placed in Schedule III, along with amphetamines, methamphetamines, opium, and morphine. Buying, possessing, and selling steroids, nowadays, is legally equivalent to buying opium and morphine.

Confused yet? If so, let me break it down. In 1990 steroids were vaulted to an extreme category of highly specialized prescription drugs, drugs that are more difficult to prescribe or obtain, drugs that carry severe penalties for their illegal possession, use, and distribution. This, of course, occurred on a federal level. To add more confusion to the issue, state laws vary with respect to steroid classification and the severity of penalties. All of this legislation, interestingly, occurred without the support of the American Medical Association, the FDA, the DEA, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse! All of these expert agencies actually testified, sometimes vehemently, against the federal and state legislation.

In direct response to the changes in steroid law, many individuals, from big-time black market steroid traffickers to small-time steroid users, have served significant prison sentences for their unlawfulness. Nevertheless, it's clear that these laws have not reduced steroid use in the general public or in athletics, which was their original intent. In addition, with respect to health issues, many believe that the Anabolic Steroid Control Act, rather than protecting the public, created the two biggest health problems associated with steroid use: counterfeit drugs and improper medical supervision.

Understand that regardless of whether on not drug laws are right or wrong, they are still on the books and we are all subject to them. If you choose to use steroids without a prescription, you are choosing to defy the law. In choosing to defy the law, you're accepting the risk of getting caught, serving time in prison, and/or paying some hefty fines and lawyer fees.

I'm An Athlete — What Do I Have To Know?

Whether this is an appropriate view or not, athletics have historically been seen as an endeavor that promotes health and well-being as well as the idea of fair play. Therefore, an embarrassing hypocrisy is present when drug use is rampant at the highest levels of athletics (pro and Olympic level sport).

In an effort to prevent the "tarnishing" of a long-standing athletic ideology, sport-governing bodies, historically, have attempted a two-tiered approach: lobby Congress for more severe drug regulations, and implement mandatory drug testing of athletes. Arguably, neither has produced the desired effect. At the same time though, abandonment of these policies would be an admission of defeat; indirectly condone drug use; and allow athletes who are more pharmaceutically daring to gain a competitive edge over those more conservative athletes. Therefore, governing bodies have remained steadfast in their commitment to their testing programs.

Drug testing in sport began in the late 1950's. However, the first testing for steroids was implemented during the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games after the creation of specific screening procedures (RIA — radioimmunoassay, and GCMS — gas chromatography — mass spectrometry). At this time, the testing consisted of analyzing urine samples (the only permitted testing fluid) using RIA for exogenous steroids. If they were found in urine, GCMS was used to confirm the results. Since this type of testing lacked specificity and since this method could not distinguish between endogenous and exogenous Testosterone, new methods were required.

Later, in 1984, GCMS was used as the main method of analysis. This method could test for more specific steroid metabolites as well as testing the Testosterone to epitestosterone ratio (T/E). This latter method could distinguish whether a person was on Testosterone because endogenous Testosterone is produced in the testis in a 1:1 ratio with epitestosterone. Therefore, if someone were on exogenous Testosterone, this ratio would be out of balance. Due to some natural variations in this ratio it was established that a 6:1 ratio of T/E determined suspicion while a 10:1 ratio established guilt.

This method of testing, however, could be overcome by a variety of methods:

— Simply co-administering a cocktail of Testosterone and epitestosterone to maintain the appropriate ratio. This cocktail would also contain other appropriate endogenous steroids since the administration of only T and e would inappropriately elevate these two hormones relative to the other endogenous steroids, thereby raising caution flags. On the other hand, the co-administration of Testosterone and epitestosterone alone, if done in smaller doses, might not be cause for suspicion.

— The use of Testosterone patches or gels. These drugs have a slower release and deliver steroids in such a way as to lower peak blood concentration, perhaps allowing athletes to still pass using the 6:1 ratio as the standard. However this use, due to 5 alpha reductase activity in the skin, can lead to elevated blood DHT and the DHT may be detected in the urine.

— Having a good lawyer. The T/E ratio is flawed due to the fact that very little is known about individual variation based on diet, gender, training, etc. In addition, there are several scenarios that will raise the T/E ratio without the accused actually taking Tstosterone. As a result, several cases have been thrown out due to inconclusive evidence that drugs were used.

Since there are serious problems with the T/E ratio for detecting steroid use (the current method), a new technique is being proposed for use. This technique uses IRMS (isotope ratio mass spectrometry) to distinguish exogenous Testosterone from endogenous Testosterone. Since Testosterone is made up of carbon atoms and different carbon atoms have different weights, IRMS can figure out how many of the lighter carbons (C12) and how many of the heavy carbons (C13) are around.

Endogenous Testosterone (naturally produced) is made up of 98.9% C12 and 1.1% C13. If any Testosterone shows up in the urine that doesn't contain these percentages, it's suspected that the person is using exogenous Testosterone.

In addition, Testosterone and other steroids can be used without penalty by:

— The use of masking agents (drugs designed to mask the metabolites of certain steroids) and/or specially formulated drugs that are not currently detectable.

— Monitoring by, what some call, "rogue labs." Many athletes will have their blood and urine monitored regularly in order to ensure that the drugs they are using are not detectible.

As you can see, the drug testing procedures are becoming increasingly more complex in an attempt to keep pace with new drugs and new techniques designed to beat the current tests. Unfortunately, with this complexity comes exponential growth in the expenses associated with testing. Off-season testing can cost up to $1000 per sample. In addition, in competition testing can cost upwards of several million dollars for an event like the Olympic games. Finally, it costs millions of dollars to fund research to keep ahead of drug users. As a result, some experts believe that testing methods are destined to fail.

However, regardless of the outcome, athletes are faced with the choice of avoiding steroids and risking victory or using steroids and risking detection. To the average athlete without advanced drug use and masking techniques, there's a good chance of getting caught.

Of course, the intensity of these efforts is directed at Olympic and international level athletes. Professional sport tends to treat drug use much differently and therefore avoids much of the controversy associated with Olympic sport.

Summing It All Up

This three-part introduction to steroids has attempted to provide an overview of the T-Nation's namesake by discussing steroid definitions, chemical structures, a brief history of steroids, an overview of how steroids were introduced to sport (part I). In addition, we've provided a brief introduction to modes of steroid delivery, how steroids work, and side effects (both good and bad) (part II). Finally, we've provided some information about legal issues and testing in sport (part III).

Cortisol: The "Stress Hormone"

This critical hormone is released in response to stress.

The hormone cortisol, which is released in the body during stressed or agitated states, has gained widespread attention as the so-called "stress hormone." But this hormone is more than a simple marker of stress levels- it is necessary for the functioning of almost every part of the body. Excesses or deficiencies of this crucial hormone are also lead to various physical symptoms and disease states.

Background
Cortisol is a steroid hormone made in the adrenal glands, which are small glands adjacent to the kidneys. Among its important functions in the body include roles in the regulation of blood pressure and cardiovascular function as well as regulation of the body's use of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.

Cortisol secretion increases in response to any stress in the body, whether physical (such as illness, trauma, surgery, or temperature extremes) or psychological. When cortisol is secreted, it causes a breakdown of muscle protein, leading to release of amino acids (the "building blocks" of protein) into the bloodstream. These amino acids are then used by the liver to synthesize glucose for energy, in a process called gluconeogenesis. This process raises the blood sugar level so the brain will have more glucose for energy. At the same time the other tissues of the body decrease their use of glucose as fuel. Cortisol also leads to the release of so-called fatty acids, an energy source from fat cells, for use by the muscles. Taken together, these energy-directing processes prepare the individual to deal with stressors and ensure that the brain receives adequate energy sources.

The body possesses an elaborate feedback system for controlling cortisol secretion and regulating the amount of cortisol in the bloodstream. The pituitary gland, a small gland at the base of the brain, makes and secretes a hormone known as adrenocorticotrophin, or ACTH. Secretion of ACTH signals the adrenal glands to increase cortisol production and secretion. The pituitary, in turn, receives signals from the hypothalamus of the brain in the form of the hormone CRH, or corticotropin-releasing hormone, which signals the pituitary to release ACTH. Almost immediately after a stressful event, the levels of the regulatory hormones ACTH and CRH increase, causing an immediate rise in cortisol levels. When cortisol is present in adequate (or excess) amounts, a negative feedback system operates on the pituitary gland and hypothalamus which alerts these areas to reduce the output of ACTH and CRH, respectively, in order to reduce cortisol secretion when adequate levels are present.

Measurement of Cortisol Levels

The body's level of cortisol in the bloodstream displays what is known as a diurnal variation - that is, normal concentrations of cortisol vary throughout a 24-hour period. Cortisol levels in normal individuals are highest in the early morning at around 6-8 am and are lowest around midnight.

Normal levels of cortisol in the bloodstream range from 6-23 mcg/dl (micrograms per deciliter).

In addition to early morning, cortisol levels may be somewhat higher after meals. While the most common test is measurement of the cortisol level in the blood, some doctors measure cortisol through a saliva sample, as salivary cortisol levels have been shown to be an index of blood cortisol levels. Sometimes by-products of cortisol metabolism are also measured, such as 17-hydroxycorticosteroids, which are inactive products of cortisol breakdown in the liver. In some cases measurement of urinary cortisol levels is of value. For this test, urine is collected over a 24-hour period and analyzed.

Normal 24-hour urinary cortisol levels range from 10-100 micrograms/ 24 hours.

Abnormal Cortisol Levels
Certain drugs can lead to increased cortisol levels. Examples include the diuretic spironolactone and estrogen hormone therapy. Low cortisol levels can be due to drug therapy with androgens or the anti-seizure medication phenytoin. Highly-trained athletes can have higher-than-average cortisol levels, and women in the last trimester of pregnancy also generally have elevated cortisol levels. Recent research has even shown that drinking 2-3 cups of coffee per day can elevate cortisol levels. Likely due to the increased physical and psychological stresses associated with these conditions, persons suffering from depression, anxiety, panic disorder, malnutrition and alcohol abuse also often have elevated cortisol values. Rare tumors of the adrenal glands or pituitary gland can also lead to abnormally high levels of cortisol.

Cushing's Syndrome
Persons exposed to abnormally high levels of cortisol over time develop a syndrome known as Cushing's Syndrome.

This condition generally affects adults, and approximately 10-15 per million persons will develop this condition each year. Signs and symptoms of Cushing's Syndrome include elevated blood pressure, development of diabetes, pink-to-purple stretch marks on the abdominal skin, fatigue, depression, moodiness, and accentuated fatty tissue on the face and upper back. Women with Cushing's Syndrome often have irregular menstrual periods and develop new facial hair growth. Men may show a decrease in sex drive. Treatment options are varied and depend on the cause of the excess cortisol.

Addison's Disease
Primary problems with the adrenal glands or with the pituitary gland can lead to a condition known as Addison's Disease, in which the adrenal glands fail to produce adequate amounts of cortisol. This condition occurs in persons of all ages and affects approximately one in 100,000 people per year. Symptoms are fatigue, low blood pressure, weight loss, weakness, loss of appetite, moodiness, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The production of other hormones by the adrenal is also often affected, with reduced levels of the hormone aldosterone, which is important for body salt and water balance, often accompanying the reduction in cortisol. This condition can be treated by the administration of synthetic steroid hormone preparations.

Cortisol, Stress, and Weight Gain
Role of the "Stress Hormone" in Weight Control

Eating when under stress isn't just about filling an emotional need. Your body has a system of hormonal checks and balances that actually promote weight gain when you're stressed out.

The so-called "stress hormone" cortisol is released in the body during times of stress along with the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine that constitute the "fight or flight" response to a perceived threat. Following the stressful or threatening event, epinephrine and norepinephrine levels return to normal while cortisol levels can remain elevated over a longer time period. In fact, cortisol levels can remain persistently elevated in the body when a person is subjected to chronic stress.

How does cortisol influence weight gain? Cortisol has many actions in the body, and one ultimate goal of cortisol secretion is the provision of energy for the body.

Cortisol stimulates fat and carbohydrate metabolism for fast energy, and stimulates insulin release and maintenance of blood sugar levels. The end result of these actions is an increase in appetite. Thus chronic stress, or poorly-managed stress, may lead to cortisol levels that stimulate your appetite, with the end result being weight gain or difficulty losing unwanted pounds.

Cortisol not only promotes weight gain, but it can also affect where you put on the weight. Doctors have shown that stress and elevated cortisol tend to cause fat deposition in the abdominal area rather than in the hips. This fat deposition has been referred to as "toxic fat" since abdominal fat deposition is strongly correlated with the development of cadiovascular disease including heart attacks and strokes.

Whether or not your stress levels will result in high cortisol levels and weight gain is not readily predictable. The amount of cortisol secreted in response to stress can vary among individuals, with some persons being innately more "reactive" to stressful events. Studies of women who tended to react to stress with high levels of cortisol secretion showed that these women also tended to eat more when under stress than women who secreted less cortisol. Another study confirmed that women who stored their excess fat in the abdominal area had higher cortisol levels and reported more lifestyle stress than women who stored fat primarily in the hips.

What does this mean for weight control?
Experts agree that stress management is a critical part of weight loss regimens, particularly in those who have elevated cortisol levels. Exercise is the best and fastest method for weight loss in this case, since exercise leads to the release of endorphins, which have natural stress-fighting properties and can lower cortisol levels. Activities such as yoga and meditation can also help lower your stress hormone levels. To effectively reduce elevated cortisol due to stress, lifestyle changes are essential.

Muscle Breakdown: Is Cortisol Leading You Down the Catabolic Pathway?
By Rehan Jalali

Walk into any so-called "hardcore" gym these days, and you’ll likely see ‘em by the dozens. They’re easy to spot… they’re the guys who spend hours on end pushing up plates, searching for supreme physical perfection, yet rarely finding it. They are the hopelessly overtrained, and they’re afflicted with that old Protestant work ethic: a little training is good, so a whole lot must be better.

The very idea of producing a peak physique leads to a perverse temptation among these fellows to do all but pitch tent in the weight room and camp out there 24/7. "There’s no such thing as overtraining," they declare. Indeed, they know a lot of clichés and can spout them off with machine-gun repetition—No Pain, No Gain… If the Bar Ain’t a Bendin’, You’re Just Pretendin’… Go Heavy or Go Home. But ask them anything specific about exercise physiology or the dynamics of muscle-fiber hypertrophy and repair, and they’re as quiet as Tori Spelling playing Trivial Pursuit.

The bottom line is, if you’re among the band of hard-and-heavy lifters, cortisol may be literally eating away at your muscle-building potential. Weight training enthusiasts must declare all-out war on this catabolic hormone if they have any aspirations of building muscle. But before we attack all of your cortisol problems, some background on this intriguing subject is in order. After all, understanding leads to solutions (or was it madness?). Anyways, here goes….

Cortisol is the primary glucocorticoid. It is a natural hormone of the adrenal glands. Although cortisol's precise actions are not completely understood, we know that it is essential for life. Cortisol is necessary to maintain important processes in times of prolonged stress. Most of its effects are not directly responsible for the initiation of metabolic or circulatory processes, but it is necessary for their full response.

Cortisol Synthesis: Cholesterol--> Pregnenolone--> Progesterone -->

17-Hydroxyprogesterone-->11-Deoxycortisol --> Cortisol.

Cortisol can exert its effects on peripheral tissue. Once in circulation, cortisol is typically bound to a specific glucocorticoid-binding alpha2-globulin called transcortin. About 75% of cortisol is bound to transcortin, 15% to 20% bound less tightly to albumin, and 5% of circulating cortisol is unbound (1). This is an important factor to take into consideration when measuring cortisol levels. The 24-hour urinary excretion of unmetabolized cortisol is one of the best ways to accurately gauge cortisol levels. This helps take into account bound and free cortisol. Exogenous cortisol has a half-life of about 70 to 90 minutes. Cortisol can be converted to its 11-keto analogue cortisone (you know, the stuff you take when you have some bad swelling or inflammation).

The major catabolic effects of cortisol involve its facilitating the conversion of protein in muscles and connective tissue into glucose and glycogen (cortisol may increase liver glycogen). Gluconeogenesis involves both the increased degradation of protein already formed and the decreased synthesis of new protein. Cortisol can also decrease the utilization of glucose by cells by directly inhibiting glucose transport into the cells (1). A cortisol excess can also lead to a decrease in insulin sensitivity. Cortisol also reduces the utilization of amino acids for protein formation in muscle cells. A cortisol excess can lead to a progressive loss of protein, muscle weakness and atrophy, and loss of bone mass through increased calcium excretion and less calcium absorption. That is one of the reasons long-distance runners tend to have skinny physiques. With the amount of stress that runners place on their bodies, they have high levels of free radicals as well as cortisol. Excess cortisol can also adversely affect tendon health. Cortisol causes a redistribution of bodyfat to occur through an unknown mechanism. Basically, the extremities lose fat and muscle while the trunk and face become fatter. Some of the signs of overtraining include higher cortisol levels, which may cause depression-type effects.

Cortisol excess can also lead to hypertension because it causes sodium retention (which can make you appear bloated) and potassium excretion. In other words, excessively high cortisol levels may turn you into a girly man! So the real challenge becomes how can cortisol levels be controlled but not inhibited completely because of cortisol's necessary anti-inflammatory effects?

One way is to take anti-cortisol supplements in the morning upon rising and then before bedtime, as these are two times that cortisol levels seem to be raised. Timed release would not be an option here because this may suppress cortisol levels over too long of an extended period. The key is to suppress elevated levels of cortisol, not decrease normal physiological levels of this hormone because as I mentioned earlier, a small amount is needed for it's anti-inflammatory and other effects.

Another one of cortisol's undesirable effects for athletes is it causes insulin resistance by decreasing the rate at which insulin activates the glucose uptake system, likely because of a post-insulin receptor block (2). Any type of stress that occurs to the body signals the nervous system to relay this to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus then responds by initiating the stress-hormone cascade starting with CRF (corticotrophin releasing hormone) followed by ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) release, and finally glucocorticoid production (pretty intense, huh?). Stress to the human body can include trauma, anxiety, infections, surgery, and even resistance training and aerobics. Recent research has shown that increased cortisol levels also increased protein breakdown by 5% to 20%. (3) Even mild elevations in serum cortisol can increase plasma glucose concentration and protein catabolism within a few hours in healthy individuals. (4) Cortisol increases with increasing time of intense exercise. In overtrained individuals, cortisol levels increase while testosterone levels decrease. That is why one measure of overtraining is the testosterone: cortisol ratio. By the way, overtraining is defined as an increase in training volume and/or intensity of exercise leading to a decrease in performance. Cortisol can increase bodyfat levels especially when it’s increased dramatically in the body. Increased cortisol levels have an adverse effect on testosterone levels. In fact, one of the primary anti-catabolic effects of testosterone and anabolic steroids is it's decreasing muscle cortisol metabolism. (5) That is one reason why many athletes can completely overtrain when taking anabolic steroids and still increase lean body mass and strength.

Some research indicates that cortisol response to resistance training normalizes after about five weeks and that the testosterone: cortisol ratio is not adversely affected after long periods of resistance training. (6) This suggests that the body has an adaptive response.

Cortisol can inhibit growth-hormone levels by stimulating the release of somatostatin (a growth-hormone antagonist). It may also reduce IGF-1 expression (IGF-1 is one of the most anabolic agents in the body and is the substance that is responsible for most of growth hormone’s positive effects because GH converts into IGF-1 in the liver).

Cortisol has other hormone-modifying effects. Cortisol can directly inhibit pituitary gonadotropin and TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). (7) By doing so, it can make the target tissues of sex steroids and growth factors resistant to these substances. It may also suppress an enyme known as 5' deiodinase, which converts the relatively inactive thyroid hormone T4 to the active one known as T3 or triiodothyronine. This can decrease metabolic rate and make it harder to lose bodyfat (it's already hard enough for people and anything making it harder definitely needs to be kicked to the curb).

There are different stages in sleep and during one stage, cortisol levels are elevated because protein is being re-cycled. This is one reason that cortisol-suppressing supplements should be taken before bedtime to help minimize excess cortisol production during sleep.

Cortisol also seems to play a role in various disease states. It is found in higher-than-normal levels in diseases ranging from AIDS and multiple sclerosis to Alzheimer's. Prolonged high levels of cortisol can throw the immune system into chaos and ravage the human body. A growing number of researchers believe that many of the worst, and least-understood, diseases will soon be identified as caused by high cortisol, and subsequently treated with cortisol- reducing drugs or supplements.

There was an anti-cortisol conference (the second one ever conducted) held in Las Vegas in 1997 and headed up by Steroidogenesis Inhibitors Inc. and Dr. Alfred T. Sapse. This conference had many researchers involved in anti-cortisol research. Abstracts were presented on various supplemental and drug therapies for decreasing cortisol levels, especially in excessive cortisol-production disorders. In particular, there was an abstract presented by Dr. Sapse that mentioned some nutritional supplements to lower cortisol levels in the body. These included gingko biloba, Vitamin A, Zinc, and acetyl l-carnitine (8). Other abstracts presented there discussed the role of DHEA and its metabolites in helping to decrease cortisol levels. (9) Some abstracts presented looked at the progression of cortisol-induced diseases. Overall, the conference was very informative and helped researchers answer many questions on cortisol and anti-cortisol therapies as well as opened the door for further anti-cortisol research.

Cortisol suppression may be an essential part in the recovery process for athletes involved in a rigorous training program. In fact, one of the signs of overtraining syndrome is high cortisol levels. Moderating (not completely diminishing) cortisol levels is an essential factor in allowing weight-training individuals to completely recover from their exercise session and maximize results (something we would all like to do).

It may be a very good idea to get cortisol levels tested by a qualified physician (when I say qualified, I mean one who has done this sort of thing before and has been to medical school) on a regular basis. One of the best times to test cortisol levels is first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. This reference value or proper range for cortisol first thing in the morning should be between 4 mcg/dl and 19 mcg/dl with the sample being taken from blood. The normal range for free cortisol levels measured from urine is between 10 pg/ml and 110 pg/ml. There is also another way to measure cortisol through a salivary cortisol screening.

The normal range for cortisol with this test first thing in the morning is between 100nmol/L and 300nmol/L. These tests may not have the final say in determining high cortisol levels but, it will certainly give you an idea about where your cortisol levels stand.

Controlling Cortisol Levels

Here are some solid tips to help control cortisol levels:

1) Diet: Make sure you are supplying your body with all the essential nutrients you need to prevent deficiencies and for optimal function. This includes plenty of high-quality protein, complex carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, and vitamins and minerals. Try not to restrict calories continuously as some research suggests that restricting normal caloric intake by 50% can lead to a subsequent increase in cortisol levels by 38%. (10)

2) Do not overtrain: Try not to work out three or more days in a row without taking a day off. Keep workouts to under an hour at the most and train efficiently and intensely. I know this phrase has been beaten to death but LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!

Take enough rest days between workouts - If you are really sore, then wait an extra day to train until your body fully recovers from your previous workout. Remember, less may be more in this case.

4) Relax and try not to get stressed out easily: Take an evening walk with a loved one or take a nap when you get a chance.

5) Try to get at least eight hours of sleep per night: Sleep is crucial to the recovery and recuperation process.

6) Spike Insulin levels after a workout: Insulin actually interferes with cortisol and may enhance cortisol clearance from the body. Spiking insulin levels after a workout (by consuming a high-glycemic index carbohydrate) may help minimize excessive cortisol levels since cortisol levels are elevated significantly post resistance training.

Supplements that may help control increased cortisol levels secondary to intense exercise

Phosphatidylserine (PS):This phospholipid, which has been known mainly for its cognitive effects, seems to have cortisol-suppressive properties. Recent research shows that 800 mg Phosphatidylserine given in two divided oral doses helps suppress cortisol secondary to intense weight training. (11) In fact, in this same study, the individuals using PS experienced less muscle soreness as well. Earlier research by Monteleone confirms these results. By decreasing cortisol levels, the testosterone: cortisol ratio can increase possibly relating to anabolic effects. PS seems to only decrease cortisol levels when they are elevated and does not seem to decrease cortisol levels below normal. Decreasing cortisol levels or suppression of cortisol production is not desired in many instances as it may cause adverse effects such as a decrease in reaction time to wounds and healing mechanisms in the body. There are two forms of PS available: a brain cortex derivative and a soy lecithin derivative. The brain cortex PS has been used in most of the studies and shown to be effective.

Acetyl-L-carnitine: This is basically the acetylated ester of L-carnitine. This supplement may help prevent the decline in testosterone that occurs during and after an intense resistance training session. It seems to lessen the response to stress.

L-Glutamine: This is the most abundant free amino acid in muscle tissue. (12) It seems to play a very important role in protein synthesis and is very important to weight-training athletes. Some research suggests that glutamine levels may be a good indicator of overtraining or overreaching. (12) In other words, athletes who were overtrained generally had low levels of glutamine along with high levels of cortisol. One study actually showed that glutamine directly prevents the cortisol-induced degradation of muscle contractile proteins.(13) Some of its positive effects include enhancing protein synthesis; increasing GH levels, which can counteract some of the catabolic effects of cortisol; potent cell-volumizing effects, which can create an anabolic environment in muscle cells; and partially determining the rate of protein turnover in the muscle. An oral glutamine supplement can help athletes prevent some of the symptoms of overtraining. It may also enhance glycogen synthesis through an unknown mechanism. It also helps provide a source of fuel for the small intestine and may enhance anti-inflammatory function. It has been shown to boost immune function. I hope you get the point -Glutamine is a vital nutrient for weight-training athletes.

Vitamin C: This vitamin, mainly known for it's anti-oxidant properties, may also have some anti-cortisol effects. A study done by Stone entitled "Effects of Vitamin C on Cortisol and the Testosterone: Cortisol Ratio" showed a decrease in cortisol levels in 17 junior elite weight lifters. This study also showed that the individuals taking Vitamin C (an extra gram a day) improved their testosterone:cortisol ratio by over 20%. This type of decrease in cortisol can lead to increased muscle and connective-tissue hypertrophy and enhanced recovery from training. Since Vitamin C also decreases your chances of suffering from a cold or flu infection by 30% (14) and may aid in collagen synthesis, it would be wise to take some extra vitamin C when involved in an intense weight-training program.

Zinc: A mineral that is an essential cofactor in over 300 enzymatic reactions in the body including testosterone synthesis and steroid hormone production. Getting enough zinc may make the difference between making great gains and only making average gains in a weight training program.

Vitamin A: This vitamin, which is often times used for healthy skin function, may also minimize cortisol levels according to Dr. Sapse. He suggested this in an abstract he presented at the 1997 conference on cortisol and anti-cortisols. (8)

Gingko Biloba: This herb is mainly used for its excellent cognitive effects by increasing blood flow and oxygen to the brain, which can lead to greater mental focus and concentration. It may also have additional benefits of decreasing cortisol levels according to an abstract presented at the 1997 conference on cortisol and anti-cortisols. (15) The anti-stress and neuroprotective effects of ginkgo biloba in this study were due to its effect on glucocorticoid biosynthesis. The EGb 761 standardized gingko biloba extract was used in this study and many of the studies showing that it enhances cognition.

DHEA: This natural hormone of the adrenal glands that declines after the age of 30 seems to have some powerful anti-cortisol effects. Many abstracts presented at the 1997 conference on cortisol and anti-cortisols discussed DHEA's role in decreasing cortisol levels. DHEA is fat soluble so it can cross the blood-brain barrier and have some effects on cognition as well.

Androstenedione: This prohormone is a direct precursor to testosterone, which may explain its anti-cortisol effects since increases in testosterone can blunt elevated cortisol levels secondary to intense weight training. Different metabolites of androstenedione and testosterone, such as 4-androstenediol, 5-androstendiol, and nornadrostenediol, may also exert some anti-cortisol effects. However, more research needs to be done in this area to make this clear!

Androstenetriol: This steroid metabolite, which is chemically known as Delta 5-androstene-3b,7b,17b,triol, was shown in an abstract presented at the 1997 conference on cortisol and anti-cortisols to counteract the immunological effects of glucocorticoids. (16) This is an interesting compound that definitely needs to be looked at further.

Conclusion

This is a subject that will be studied thoroughly in the future. Studies investigating supplemental strategies against cortisol may help weight trainers get the most out of their workouts and help enhance the recovery and recuperation process. Now before you think suppressing cortisol levels can make you Hercules, remember, cortisol levels are one piece to a large and complex puzzle. It takes a combination of proper training, nutrition, and supplementation to achieve your true muscle-building potential. However, getting cortisol levels checked by your doctor and implementing strategies against cortisol may be a good idea, especially during a calorie-restrictive dieting phase. So, the next time you feel tired, sluggish, or sore for an abnormally long time in your weight-training program, and you don't know why, look into cortisol levels, and you might find the answer.
The Big T
How your lifestyle influences
your Testosterone levels ? Part 1
by John M. Berardi

Like it or not (and I'm sure T-mag readers really like it), Testosterone is the hormone of the decade. The granddaddy of the male hormones has gotten more media attention over the last few years than any other hormone around. Heck, I even heard a rumor that some crazy bodybuilding media guys were thinking of naming a magazine after it. Can you imagine that?

While Testosterone (the hormone, of course) has been the target of much bad press, I think that if you asked this big dog of hormones what he thought of all of this, he would bark out something to the effect of "What of it? I must be doing something right if they keep talking about me! Now can't you see I'm trying to work this shaved little poodle over here?"

Although the popular media has made Testosterone out to be a destructive bad guy, researchers have been slowly but surely embracing its use. Clinical trials have been conducted in diverse groups of individuals from HIV wasting patients and burn victims to people with compromised immunity, along with older men whose "Testosterone" hasn't been up in years. There have even been a number of recent trials investigating the use of Testosterone in healthy weight trained men. So where do I sign up?

The results of these investigations have shown that Testosterone is not the demon the medical community once thought it to be and that it actually can be of great benefit to certain individuals and, in certain patients, possesses very few risks.

I'm pretty positive though, that the use of Testosterone will never be condoned for use in healthy weight trained males. To this end, us law abiding citizens have to do the best we can with what we've got to work with. So let's talk about how our own body provides us with the big T and what we can do, both naturally and with dietary supplements, to maximize our T levels.

When most people think of steroids, they tend only to think of Testosterone. This, my friends, is yet another fact which tends to make me believe that T is the hormone of the decade. Testosterone, however, is only one member of the steroid family. Some of the other steroids in this family include cholesterol, progesterone, the estrogens, cortisol, and aldosterone.

Although these molecules are part of the same family and have strikingly similar structures, their functions differ like night and day. This is important to recognize because although the steroids tend to act very differently, they are subject to similar rules with respect to biochemistry and metabolism.

For a simplified view of steroid metabolism in the body, you can assume that all steroid hormones begin with cholesterol. From cholesterol, steroid metabolites are formed in various tissues of the body. For example, enzymes in the adrenal glands are responsible for converting cholesterol into cortisol, while enzymes in the gonads are responsible for converting cholesterol to Testosterone.

With this simplified view, it's easy to make the mistake of thinking that by simply providing the body with more cholesterol (make that two large fries, please), we can make more Testosterone. This is a mistake because the body has regulatory mechanisms that control hormone production. These regulatory mechanisms, not your bedtime prayers to the iron gods, are what determine which steroid metabolites will ultimately be formed.

So the next important questions are, what magic does it take to make Testosterone out of cholesterol (now don't get too excited, you can't do this in your bath tub), what regulates this conversion, and ultimately, what regulates Testosterone production? In order to get the gonads to produce T, the body has a chain of command that must be dealt with just like any smooth running business.

In business, the action plan comes down from the CEO to upper management, the plan is solidified and delegated to the production team, and the production team gets the job done. Well, in the body, a portion of the brain called the hypothalamus is the CEO, the pituitary gland is the upper management, and the testes are the production team members.

As in business, the buck stops with the CEO/hypothalamus, which is known as a "pulse generator," because during the day it sends out pulses of hormones that are designed to stimulate other organs. With respect to T, the hypothalamus sends out numerous daily pulses of GNRH (gonadotropin releasing hormone) through the blood stream. These pulses are designed to stimulate the pituitary gland to get to work.

The pituitary gland then senses the pulses of GNRH and sends out a work order of its own, consisting of LH (leutinizing hormone) pulses. The LH message travels down to the leydig cells of the testis to stimulate the enzymatic conversion of cholesterol to Testosterone.

Cholesterol conversion to T is no easy process and I'm not going to go into all of the details (partly because no one really knows them all). One fact that you should understand, though, is that there's a high level of complexity to this pathway and that there are many enzymes and intermediates that cholesterol has to encounter before forming T.

Some of these intermediates include pregnenolone, DHEA, androstenedione, and other well-known androgens. So, although the hypothalamus might be functioning well, the pituitary might be doing the right thing, and the testis are getting the "ball" in motion, ultimately the enzymes in the leydig cells determine whether you're pumping out loads of muscle building T or simply forming other intermediates at the expense of the top dog.

As a result of the process I mentioned above, T levels fluctuate wildly. If you were to measure your Testosterone levels throughout the day, you'd likely be amazed. One minute you have the hormonal profile of a hyper-muscular bull ready to "fertilize" an entire herd of cattle?the next minute your blood profile is that of a fully menstruating Martha Stewart intent on color coordinating your powder room.

These odd fluctuations occur as a result of the pulsatile nature of hormone secretion. Again, this begins with the hypothalamic pulse generator's release of GNRH. Incidentally, researchers now believe that it is this physiologic pulsatility of Testosterone that makes it anabolic. So if you can mimic this pattern of hormone release, you can stimulate muscle growth.

With this hormonal cascade in mind, it's important to realize that each step in the pathway has a regulation point designed to either stimulate or inhibit pulse release. In this respect, the body is a bit of a control freak as it tends to like many control points rather than just one.

In this particular case there are three main control points; the hypothalamus, the pituitary, and the testis. With this type of control, the body can maintain the Testosterone homeostasis (a sort of hormonal status quo) and prevent us from any abnormal changes in muscle development and strength. For example, if our Testosterone levels go way up, the body senses this and the hypothalamus and the pituitary produce less GNRH and LH in order to slow down T production. This, of course, is the famous negative feedback. Damn that homeostasis!

Now that I'm certain you're all experts in Testosterone production (and there will be a test at the end ? I'm serious!), I'd like to address one more important issue that will come up later in the article with regard to Testosterone in the body. When Testosterone is converted from cholesterol in the leydig cells of the testis, it's released into the blood stream where it embarks on an anabolic adventure.

However, when in the blood, 60% of the big T released from the boys down below is bound up by a protein known as SHBG, or sex-hormone binding globulin. SHBG is produced and released by the liver. The important point is that the Testosterone bound to SHBG is biologically inactive and this is why there's an important distinction between total T and bioavailable T.

Total T represents all the Testosterone in the blood, while bioavailable T represents the non SHBG bound Testosterone. There are other proteins in the blood that bind Testosterone, too, but their binding is rather weak, so this T is bioavailable and these proteins can still enter the cells to produce and effect all the things we're interested in.

As I said, bioavailable T represents the Testosterone that is not SHBG bound, while free T represents the Testosterone that's not bound to any blood proteins at all. It's tricky, I know, but I hope that it's now evident that although only about 2% of the T in blood is technically considered free T, there is a larger percentage of T (about 40% or so) that is bioavailable because it's only weakly bound to non SHBG blood proteins.

I'm taking you through this complex path for good reason. When trying to increase T levels in the body, one must attempt to not only increase total T. More importantly, one must attempt to increase bioavailable T. If you increase total T, but you increase SHBG to a larger extent, they you will actually have less bioavailable T for muscle building purposes!

A great example of this is the use of both thyroid drugs and tamoxifen (nolvadex). Both may increase total T levels in the body, but both also increase SHBG to a large extent. Although you may get a bit of a T surge with each (hurray!), the increase in SHBG may bind up any extra, and actually decrease your bioavailable T (boo!).

Well, now that the class is up to speed with our physiology and endocrinology (will someone please wake up Mr. Luoma! ? he's always falling asleep during my physiology lectures), we can dive, full force, into how lifestyle factors including things like diet, training, recreational drugs, over the counter medications, altitude, and how psychological mood states influence T levels. There's an abundance of Testosterone literature out there and some of it is applicable for us while some is not, but to a science geek like me who both likes facts and likes being big and lean, it's all interesting nevertheless.

Oh wait, I almost forgot! Before we go on, I promised a test didn't I? Settle down! Although there are no actual grades on this test, I hope that you take away a few fundamental things from this article. If you can answer these questions, you're ready to take on next week's article in which I'll review a number of environmental and lifestyle factors that can influence your levels of free T, total T, and bioavailable T.

Rest easy, next week's article ties in all that you learned this week and makes some recommendations about how to up the T levels. And next week there won't be a test!

Question #1 ? True or False
John Berardi is the most intelligent man on the face of the earth.

(I thought I'd start off with an easy one ? And the answer of course is "True")

Question #2 ? Short Answer
What are the three main organs/glands that regulate T production and what are the big three hormones they release?

Question #3 ? True or False
Testosterone is synthesized directly from cholesterol.

Question #4 ? Short answer
What are the cells that actually produce T and where are they located?

Question #5 ? Short answer
All the Testosterone in the body, bound and unbound is referred to as what?

Question #6 ? Short answer
All the Testosterone that is not bound to SHBG is referred to as what?

Question #7 ? Short answer
All the Testosterone not bound to any blood protein is known as what?

Question #8 ? True or False
If you are interested in the anabolic effects of Testosterone, the optimal situation is to increase total T levels and decrease SHBG?

This concludes Part 1 of "The Big T". Next week, John will conclude the article with a review of both interesting and applicable Testosterone research.

Elevating Free Testosterone
By Thomas Incledon

Tom Incledon is an author, lecturer, clinician, and nutritional consultant. He's also a first-rate powerlifter, bodybuilder, and strength coach. And, unlike most authors in this field, Tom's actually gone to school! Got himself a mess o' degrees, too. We think he's even one of those doctors?not a real doctor, mind you, but one of those book-learnin' doctors.

As such, he's uniquely qualified to talk about areas that most writers fear treading (or, at least, ought to fear treading). We're proud to present his first contribution to Testosterone magazine.

Recently, I was asked by the guys at T-mag to help co-develop a product that could elevate levels of free testosterone (T). While I think that it's theoretically possible, I know that we'll have some work to do. Throwing a bunch of ingredients in a pill or capsule?like most companies have done?isn't the answer. Each ingredient has to be tested for its effects on the body's endocrine responses to verify that it'll do what it's supposed to do. Then they have to be tested collectively to determine what interactions may or may not take place. As you can see, it's a tough nut to crack.

The first article of this series describes how the body controls T synthesis and release and explains why formulating a product to elevate free T is so difficult. Future articles will review various supplements, extracts, diets, and dietary food components to see if they influence this process.

An overview

Our bodies produce T as part of the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular (HPT) axis. In the brain, the hypothalamus produces gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) which is also referred to as luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH). GnRH stimulates the anterior pituitary to produce and release luteinizing hormone (LH). LH then stimulates the testes to produce T. Once produced and secreted into the blood, T can exert its biological actions on skeletal muscle. This very basic overview can be seen in the chart below:

Starting from the top

GnRH is an important hormone because it starts the whole cascade of events that eventually leads to T production. In order to understand how to maximize T production, it becomes crucial to learn more about GnRH.

Looking at the chart, it seems that, by increasing GnRH release, LH would increase and then T would increase. However, constant infusion of GnRH into someone doesn't elevate T levels; it actually suppresses them.1 It seems somewhat confusing that the same hormone can both stimulate and inhibit T. The confusion is cleared up when the pattern of GnRH release is studied. The cells that produce this hormone don't do it in a steady, continuous fashion; rather, they produce and release the hormone in spurts or pulses.2 This pulsatile release of GnRH from these cells inspired researchers to coin the phrase "GnRH pulse generator" or "LHRH pulse generator," and that's exactly what happens in the body?it produces GnRH in a series of pulses throughout the day.

The pulse generator is influenced by signals from the eyes and nose, the pineal gland, and even from stress.3 These signals are converted into neural signals which then serve to stimulate or inhibit the release of GnRH. The links that communicate the information from the nerve cells to the GnRH-secreting cells are small molecules collectively referred to as neurotransmitters. Factors that fall into this category include bioamines, neuropeptides, excitatory amino acids, and gaseous neurotransmitters. Examples of some excitatory factors are norepinephrine (acting through beta-1 receptors), neuropeptide Y, galanin, nitric oxide (NO), substance P, transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Under the right conditions, any of these factors can stimulate GnRH. However, blocking the release of one or more of these factors can decrease or prevent the release of GnRH. In addition, research on the endocrine effects of fasting indicates that a lack of calories and/or nutrients decreases GnRH release dramatically.4 After refeeding, the hormonal pattern should return to normal.

I've tried to simplify the process so that it's easy to follow. Note that, in doing so, some of the technical accuracy is lost. For example, some factors may inhibit and stimulate GnRH, depending on the other factors present.5 Rather than bore you with the details, it's better to understand the whole picture. Future articles will discuss this area in depth because I think that the "upstream" stimulation of T may hold some promise.

Many factors influence the amount and pattern of GnRH release. By setting up a scenario in which the pattern of GnRH release is unchanged, yet the amount of GnRH released with each pulse is maximized, you could theoretically maximize T levels. However, at this point, the quest is just getting started.

Journeying downward

After the hypothalamus has done its job of releasing GnRH (or LHRH), the baton is passed to the anterior pituitary. While this organ has the responsibility of synthesizing many different hormones (FSH, GH, TSH, ACTH, etc.), our focus is on the synthesis and release of LH. The pulsatile secretion of the pulse generator causes a similar secretion pattern in LH.6 The secretory pulses in adult men vary in frequency (from 8-14 pulses per 24 hours) and in magnitude.7 LH levels range in men from 1.3-13 IU/L (international units per liter) and, as you might guess, a lot of things can influence just how much is released.

Some of the factors that can influence LH secretion (assuming that GnRH is being produced in a normal, pulsatile fashion) include androgens that have not been aromatized to estrogens, estrogens, and opiate blockers.3 Current thinking, however, is that estrogens inhibit LH release not by acting on the pituitary, but by acting on components of neurons that lie outside the hypothalamus.

A whole slew of supplement companies have tried to come out with estrogen inhibitors reasoning that, by inhibiting estrogen production in men, there would be less of an inhibitory effect on T production. Later, we'll see while this may work in the very short run but how, over time, the body will figure out how to tone down the biological actions of T.

Arriving at the source

After LH receives the baton from T, it travels to the testes, attaches to receptors on Leydig cells, and stimulates the synthesis of T via activation of a rate-limiting enzyme.3 T levels don't just increase indefinitely, though. As T levels increase, more of it is available to inhibit its own production. As T levels increase, T travels in the blood, crosses the blood-brain barrier, and makes its way into the brain where it can directly8,9 or indirectly10-12 inhibit GnRH and LH levels. This process whereby T keeps itself in check is called negative feedback inhibition. It's really kind of elegant. There's even sufficient evidence at this time showing that T (or one of its metabolites) can inhibit its production directly on the testes and indirectly on the hypothalamus or pituitary.

So let's say that we get T up to a level that it deems abnormal. How long will it last before the body says that it's time to go back down? Most likely, the negative feedback effects of T will occur in only a few days.

Obstacles from afar

As T is produced and released, it can travel in the blood attached to a protein or travel in a "free" state. About 54% of T is bound to albumin and other proteins; 44% is bound irreversibly to SHBG (sex hormone-binding globulin, also called TeBG testosterone-binding globulin); and the remaining 2% is free or unattached to any proteins.13 T can be removed from the other proteins, but not from SHBG.14,15 This is another way the body regulates androgen action. By increasing and/or decreasing SHBG levels (a protein produced by the liver), the fraction of T that can be taken up by tissues may be controlled.

The testes also release small amounts of dihydrotestosterone (DHT)16 and estradiol (E2).17 T can be reduced to DHT by the enzyme 5-alpha reductase or aromatized to E2 by the enzyme aromatase. In humans, there are two versions or isozymes of the reductase enzyme18 while only one version of the aromatase enzyme has been identified.19 Since there are two isozymes for reductase, an agent that binds an isozyme of reductase in one tissue may not bind the other version of the enzyme in another tissue.

Another thing to think about is that many supplement companies have made the claim of having a product that could inhibit the conversion of T to E2. The premise of these products is that, to increase T levels, the only thing you need to do is to suppress brain aromatase levels. As pointed out earlier, while this may decrease the inhibitory effects on the hypothalamus, it won't do much for the inhibitory effects of androgens on the anterior pituitary, nor will it address the issue of increased liver production of SHBG.

The problem continues

Let's take another look at that basic model, but this time we'll add in the additional information. Let's say that you want to take a supplement to increase your testosterone levels. We'll assume that you are also a normal, healthy male and that all of the organs in your HPT axis are intact and functioning. The type of supplement is immaterial, at this point. From above, we see that if the supplement increases T levels, the body can respond by increasing the conversion of T to DHT and/or E2. In turn, T, DHT, and E2 can all inhibit future production of T. So elevating T by itself doesn't work well in the long run because the body can compensate for this elevation. That's why any legitimate company would insist, at least, that you cycle their product.

Suppose that you decide to take a dual anti-reductase agent and anti-aromatase agent in the hopes of reducing the conversion of T to DHT and E2. Several things have to happen. In order to decrease the release of DHT and E2 from the testes, the agent must somehow get from your gut, survive digestion intact (assuming that this is an oral agent), and enter the blood. From there, it must travel in the blood to your testes and then somehow bind to the reductase and aromatase enzymes with a high affinity. This might allow more T to be released from the testes and less DHT and/or E2. Now, the question you should have at this point is, "What happens when more T is released from the testes?"

Earlier, it was mentioned that the liver produces SHBG, and this is one way that the body can regulate T bioactivity in the body. So if total T levels increase, more SHBG will be produced. Then while total T may be elevated, the percentage of free T will be decreased because more T will be bound by SHBG. But the body doesn't stop there?most of the controls for T production are in the hypothalamus and pituitary. So if an agent can influence T production from the testes directly, the body can still modulate production higher up. For an agent to have an effect in the brain, it must be able to cross the blood-brain barrier, and this isn't an easy task.

Now you have an idea of why this whole thing is so tough?the body always strives to maintain a "normal" environment. When you look at all of those products on the shelf of your local food supplement store, keep some of these things in mind. It's very difficult to elevate T levels enough to put on muscle without the body somehow decreasing T production or its biological activity. The challenge that we have before us is to develop a product that can increase the free fraction of T without the body rebounding and increasing SHBG levels or decreasing T production. While this is no easy task, I've always enjoyed a good challenge, and this one won't fail to disappoint me. Stay tuned to T-mag and be the first to find out about some T-support supplements that take all of the factors into consideration.

Estrogen’s Dirty Little Secret
by TC

As it stands now, sooner or later, your prostate will start to swell up like the dinner rolls momma’s baking in the oven. At best, this unwanted hypertrophy will just obstruct urine flow. At worst, it’ll develop into cancer.

In North America at least, benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) is pretty much inevitable, just like death, taxes, or the birth of some new nauseating boy band. Hell, if a pathologist autopsies just about anybody over the age of 50 — who died of something unrelated to prostate cancer — he’ll most likely find BPH or prostate cancer.

Maybe they’ll be able to treat yours, and maybe they won’t. Either way, the options aren’t pretty. Maybe you’ll be able to just take drugs that make urination easier. Of course, if there’s cancer, you may have surgery and that surgery may leave you impotent. Or, maybe your choice of treatment will just be chemical castration.

Given the prevalence of steroid use and androgen manipulation in general, however, BPH is becoming an issue even with some 25 to 30-year olds.

The medical community is understandably upset, and that’s why they’ve declared war on Testosterone and his pesky little brother, DHT. The latter has been directly implicated in BPH, and that’s one of the reasons the medical community doesn’t like steroids, prohormones, Tribex 500, and even Testosterone itself.

Their reasoning is that you’re better off being a eunuch than a stud who has to get up to pee every half-hour.

The trouble is, I think they’re wrong. I think they’re pointing the finger at the wrong culprit. I think it’s Testosterone’s wicked sister, estrogen, that’s setting up Testosterone to take the fall.

First, a Few Words about One of Our Favorite Glands
The prostate is about the size of a chestnut — not all that big for such a potentially troublesome gland. One end is located just below the neck of the bladder and it kind of wraps around the beginning of the urethra (that’s why any enlargement impedes urine flow). The other end rests on the rectum, which is why the doctor sticks his finger up your ass during your annual physical.

A healthy prostate has an androgen-sensitive epithelium that wraps around a core of fibrous tissue, or stroma. Sex hormones typically traverse this epithelium and bind to receptor sites. Regulator genes are then activated and transcription factors turn on, causing the formation of new proteins (growth).

However, some of these genes might be proto-oncogenes (genes that code for cancer) and they can be transformed into cancer-initiating oncogenes.

The normal human male usually experiences two distinct peaks of prostate growth. The first occurs at puberty — right around the same time that the Testosterone starts flowing. The second occurs at about the age of 50 when there’s an increase in the ratio of estrogen to androgen.

Some Compelling Evidence

While it’s true that Testosterone and DHT definitely play a part in prostate growth, there’s more to the picture than meets the eye.

One of the largest studies ever done on men and BPH shows a strong association between BPH and serum estradiol levels.(5) Furthermore, the study reveals that the risk is confined to men who have low levels of Testosterone!

In fact, every study to date is in agreement that the concentration of Testosterone (the precursor of DHT) in the prostate of males suffering from BPH is low or normal.(1,10,11)

And, as shown in a study reported here in Testosterone a few months back, subjecting hypogonadal BPH patients to Testosterone replacement therapy resulted in prostate shrinkage!

What’s going on here?

Some Explanations

Estrogen

Don’t get me wrong, estrogen is vital to the male, but once levels skyrocket through over-exposure to the real stuff, or constant exposure to phytoestrogens (plant chemicals that resemble human estrogen) or xenoestrogens (environmental chemicals that resemble estrogen), things go awry. The result can be gynecomastia (excess male breast tissue), additional fat storage, decrease in libido, uncontrollable weeping whenever Beaches is on, or, as this article purports, prostate enlargement.

About 75-90% of estrogen in young men occurs in fatty tissue.(4) Testosterone is "aromatized" to estrogen and androstenedione is aromatized to estrone. Only between 10 and 25% is made directly in the testes.

Ah, if only it stayed that way! Trouble is, as we get older, the E/A ratio increases, presumably due to greater estrogen production, unchanged or decreased androgen production, or an increase in the amount of enzyme that changes Testosterone to Estrogen.

This ratio also increases sometimes when we start to manipulate our Testosterone levels, either through T replacement or the use of certain aromatizeable steroids. And, we can’t forget the estrogen mimickers in the environment, either.

The prostate itself obtains estrogens, through aromatase activity within its own tissues, and through outside sources. When levels get too high, though, BPH happens. Nodules start to occur in the periurethral transition zone (which signals the onset of BPH), which is the most estrogen-responsive part of the prostate. And, this proliferation of nodules and increased tissue growth is strongly associated with higher plasma estrogen (E2) and higher urinary estrogen secretion, but it’s not associated with T levels.(9)

SHBG

Sex hormone binding globulin is regarded as one of man’s big bugaboos.

Here’s why: In normal men, only about 2% of our Testosterone is "free," or unbound to carrier proteins. That means that presumably, only 2% is free to be ferried into cells to make muscle grow (among other things). About 54% is bound to albumin and other proteins, and 44% is bound to Sex Hormone Binding Globulin, or SHBG, which is synthesized by the liver.

For years, strength athletes have been trying to figure out how to reduce the amount of SHBG so that more free Testosterone was available for all the good stuff, like muscle growth.

However, as studies that have been largely ignored by the strength community have revealed, it seems that we might all be full of hooey.

For one thing, it now seems that red blood cells function as carriers of sex hormones in the blood stream, and in fact may be responsible for as much as 15% of sex hormone delivery to target tissues.(7) What happens is that dissociation of this protein-bound hormone can occur within a capillary bed, meaning that it’s not just the "free stuff" that’s working.

The amount of hormone that can be carried depends on capillary transit time, half time of dissociation, amount of hormone bound to various carrier proteins, and permeability of cell membrane.

That means that these binding proteins in circulation act as kind of a steroid bank. In fact, it’s a lot like how hemoglobin regulates the amount of oxygen in each tissue.

(This may be why the free T levels of strength athletes always seem to come up quite low on blood tests. Obviously, they’re functioning just fine, but judging by their levels of free T, you’d think they were Girl Scouts.)

How does this tie with estrogen and prostate cancer? I’m glad you asked, Bunky. SHBG synthesis (as well as albumin) is regulated by estrogen/androgen balance, and SHBG has been shown to exist in a number of human tissues, including the testis and epididymis. One of SHBG’s traits is that it can increase the ease with which steroids penetrate the cell. It also facilitates steroid binding to the cell. In short, SHBG acts as an additional androgen receptor.(3)

Here’s the hypothesis formulated by Wells Farnsworth, one of the world’s leading prostate researchers:

"With advancing age, there is a decline in androgen secretion and a rise in circulating estrogen. This results in an increase in SHBG to bind to receptors in the prostatic stroma. Then, steroid (Estrogen, androgen) is bound to the SHBG receptor complex. If the steroid so bound is estradiol or an aromatizable precursor thereof, both stromal proliferation, exhibited as BPH, and the synthesis of IGF-1 will occur.

In sum, it may be that estrogen, mediated by SHBG, sets the pace for prostatic growth and function."

Prolactin

Prolactin is a hormone most commonly associated with the production of mother’s milk and possibly breast growth, while its role in males has been considered to be hazy at best. However, recent research reveals that prolactin is a heavy-duty hormone, possibly affecting more physiological processes than all other pituitary hormones combined.(2) And it’s now known to be produced at many sites outside the pituitary, including the prostate.

As far as the prostate is concerned, prolactin greatly increases the sensitivity of prostate tissue to androgen. Furthermore, it enhances the permeability of the prostate to Testosterone.

And guess what stimulates prolactin secretion? Estrogen.

A Few Words about DHT

While DHT is definitely involved in prostate growth, its role may be overstated. A researcher named Krieg found that the DHT level of subjects with normal prostates was much higher in prostatic epithelium than it was in prostatic stroma (the fibrous tissue inside the prostate). In fact, the amount of DHT in the epithelium of these healthy patients was much higher than it was in either the epithelium or stroma of patients between 50 and 95 years of age who suffered from BPH.(8)

In addition, the amount of epithelial DHT in both normal patients and those with BPH decreased significantly with age!

However, estrogen (E1 and E2) levels in both normal and BPH patients went up significantly with age.

What might be happening is that the amount of androgen receptors (DHT or otherwise) in the human prostate is increased by exposure to estrogen and that taking an anti-estrogen might keep the number of receptors in the prostate low, thus preventing androgen binding, transcription, and the resultant growth.

Let’s Wrap it Up

To summarize, estrogen levels, or the estrogen/androgen ratio rises with age, either because of an increase in the amount of estrogen itself; an increase in the production of the enzyme that turns T into E; or decreased production of Testosterone.

This ratio may also change from the use of certain steroids or pro-hormone supplements (thus leading to an increase in estrogen) and exposure to environmental estrogens.

Estrogen itself helps mediate prostate growth, but it’s also responsible for increasing levels of prolactin, which allows estrogen to get into the prostate more easily.

Estrogen also helps regulate the production of SHBG and albumin, which acts as carrier proteins for E on its journey to the prostate. Furthermore, these same binding proteins might also serve as additional estrogen receptor sites — or estrogen parking spaces — in the prostate.

Given this evidence, it seems that every living male might at some point wish to plan his prostate-protection strategy. Since I dabble in manipulating my own Testosterone levels, estrogen’s effects on the prostate are definitely a concern.

I’ve been taking 1 mg of the DHT-blocker finasteride every day for the last 7 years, but I might have been better off taking an anti-estrogen, had one been available to me. (Of course, finasteride still seems to be an effective drug in preventing hair loss, and I’ll continue to take it for that reason, at least until the new drug, dutasteride, is approved.)

Currently, the drugs of choice for blocking estrogen are probably Arimidex or clomiphene, both prescription drugs, but doctors are wary about prescribing them to otherwise-healthy individuals. As such, I have very high hopes for the new estrogen blocker we’re working on and plan on making it part of my daily pro-health cornucopia of pills.

I, for one, am going to take my dinner roll out of the oven before it starts to spill over the pan, if you catch my drift.

What About Saw Palmetto?

For years, most of us in either the life extensionist camp or the physique enhancement camp have touted saw palmetto extract as a weapon against prostate growth. Saw palmetto either blocked DHT from binding to receptor sites, or it somehow limited 5-alpha-reductase (the enzyme responsible for turning T into E) activity.

Trouble is, the largest review of the subject ever undertaken found that neither of the mechanisms "has ever been demonstrated convincingly to be operative in vivo at therapeutic doses."(6)

What they did find, however, was that the substance had some value in treating patients with lower urinary tract symptoms that suggested prostatic obstruction. That means that saw palmetto might just allow men with BPH to pee easier, while not directly affecting the prostate’s size in any way.

Even if saw palmetto is, at some point, vindicated, it doesn’t address what may turn out to be the true problem — estrogen.

The War on Estrogen
A battle plan
by Cy Willson

Know Thy Enemy
Estrogen. It's definitely not a hormone we bodybuilders want circulating in our bodies. If it were up to us, there wouldn't be a damn drop of that stuff around. I mean, after all, it's to blame for everything wrong with a man's world. Lost your big promotion after grabbing the receptionist's ass? It was estrogen. Couldn't convince that drunk girl to come over last night? Estrogen was behind it! Did your favorite football team get spanked Monday night? Yep, someone must've spiked their Gatorade with estrogen!

Okay, okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating just a little. And sure, we need just a smidgen of that crap in order to function properly. Still, with all of estrogen's negative effects ? lowering of GnRH, LH and Testosterone; decreasing lean body mass; increasing fat mass; Richard Simmons, etc. ? it's no wonder why we hate the stuff so much.

The increasing fat mass, in turn increases aromatase activity, which in turn causes further depression of Testosterone levels and a preferential storage of abdominal fat, eventually leading to a state of hypogonadism. Yikes! Even worse, estrogen has recently been implicated in both benign prostate hypertrophy and prostate cancer! It's possible that the correlation between increased Testosterone and prostate cancer occurs because of the simple fact that more T is being aromatized to estrogen, not because of Testosterone itself.

Speaking of aromatase, this should be a very real worry to you. Why? Well, as you age, levels of this particular enzyme can start to increase and cause a general decrease in both free and total Testosterone. Not only this, but you become less responsive to the effects of LH. These particular changes cause the usual decrease in lean body mass and increase in fat mass (stemming from a decrease in oxidation of fat) that you see with older guys, despite their efforts in the gym. These guys may also complain of sagging libido, loss of energy, decreased cognitive function and strength, and can just plain turn into grumpy bastards!

Hence, the idea of Testosterone replacement. It works to reverse these problems, but the solution is only temporary and you must be administered Testosterone for the rest of your life. I could handle that, but some guys find it rather troublesome and expensive. So what to do? Well, I'll give you the answer in a little bit, but first, I have to get the younger guys a reason to be interested, as well as give the older guys even more of a reason to worry about their estrogen and Testosterone levels. Warning: This next part could be frightening!

Xeno: The Warrior Princess

What's the big commotion about? What's the cause of all this stress? They're called xenoestrogens. Think of them as an ex-girlfriend who goes around telling everyone that you have a tiny penis after a bad breakup. These Sci-fi Channel-sounding substances are actually hormone-like chemicals found throughout the environment. They can mimic the effects of estrogen in your body and antagonize the effects of Testosterone and other hormones. They can also disrupt the synthesis and metabolism of hormones. This can lead to an increase in estrogen levels in men and a decrease in T levels. In fact, it has!

This suppression of Testosterone can have detrimental effects such as decreased strength, decreased muscle mass, and increased fat tissue, even in young men. The effects are even worse for older men, as they have to deal with their already decreasing T levels. Xenoestrogens have even been implicated in certain cancers, including prostate and testicular cancer, as well as benign prostate hypertrophy.

In short, xenoestrogens can have the same negative effects as estrogen. The only difference is that they can be easily absorbed into your body. Unlike natural estrogens, these suckers aren't easily broken down, remain intact in the environment for years, and can accumulate in the fat tissue of humans.

The Enemy is Everywhere!
The biggest problem, besides their effects, is that these chemicals are lurking throughout your environment. We get them through the food we eat, household products, lubricants, pesticides, plastics, detergents, and many other sources. Some of these chemicals have been banned, yet are still readily found in the environment, even after 20 years of discontinued usage! A few examples are pesticides, like DDT, endosulfan, methoxychlor, kepone, and toxafene.

Bisphenol A is used worldwide in the manufacturing of polycarbonate plastics found in storage containers and baby bottles. It also happens to be a very potent estrogen agonist. Even pharmaceuticals like cimetidine and birth control pills may play a role in terms of estrogen mimicking. Ordinary household products like detergents, surfactants, and paints have breakdown products called nonylphenol and octylphenol that have estrogenic effects. The spermicide and lubricant called nonoxynol may be metabolized into nonylphenol. However, before you throw out your Trojans, nonylphenol is an extremely rare exception, as it may act as a slight androgen agonist. Still, be careful.

Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCB's, stem from adhesives, fire retardants, and certain waxes. These are also very potent estrogen agonists. A lot of these chemicals find their way into our bodies by ingestion of food, drinking water, or simple inhalation. In terms of inhalation, chemicals like Benzo[a]pyrene and 3,9-dihydroxy-dmba are both resultants of fossil fuel combustion.

What's even worse is the fact that these chemicals are agonists at the alpha receptor subtype. These xenos may even act synergistically with one another.

Oh yeah, and for you "herb" lovers out there, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, is also estrogenic. Damn! There goes my lunch break with the guy in the mailroom who likes to listen to the Grateful Dead!

Oh, and although, this doesn't technically fit under the xenoestrogen category, guard your balls with your life! There's some evidence that testicular trauma may increase estradiol levels. So, wear a nut cup the next time you decide to use your classic pick up line of, "Hey, baby, it's cold in here. Can I use your thighs as earmuffs?"

Breaking Out the Artillery!

Now that we know what the enemy is and what it's capable of doing, it's time to arrange a strike force of our own. We must either prepare to do battle or live the rest of our lives locked in a protective bubble (not a plastic one, of course!). So what can we do to minimize the effects of these chemicals? I know a lot of people would suggest using something like tamoxifen or clomiphene, since they're considered to be estrogen antagonists. Well, in terms of preventing estrogen itself from binding to certain alpha receptor sites in areas like the breast, this is great! However, what people need to understand is that these two ? tamoxifen more so ? are also estrogen agonists in certain tissues as well.

Tamoxifen can even activate the alpha receptor in specific tissues. Now, I don't know anyone who's gained fat just from using tamoxifen, but then again, rarely is anyone using tamoxifen by itself. Don't get me wrong, though, it's a great help in preventing gyno as well as increasing LH (as is clomiphene) in order to get your testes functioning again.

So, clomiphene and tamoxifen won't be of much benefit since they both increase estrogen levels significantly and don't have an effect on aromatase levels. If the goal is to simply increase endogenous LH and Testosterone, then I'm all for them. However, in aging guys, these two compounds won't do as much. In fact, they don't respond to the Testosterone boosting effects of clomiphene to the same degree as younger guys do.

When young men were given clomiphene, their total and free Testosterone increased by 100% and 304% on average. Yet the older men only had an increase of 32% and 8% of total and free T. The antagonism of estrogen still doesn't help in young men exposed to estrogen increasing xenos either.

So what's the solution? Well, it would seem that the solution would be to decrease estrogen itself. The way to accomplish this would be to use some sort of aromatase inhibitor. Cytadren, or aminoglutethimide, used to be the choice drug because of its ability to inhibit the production of estrogen. Unfortunately, it also suppressed the production of corticosteroids as well; thus, it's also referred to as a non-selective aromatase inhibitor. Good for a little while, but when the person stops taking in the drug, cortisol levels would rebound quickly and lead to an accumulation of fat and a general "puffy" look.

Formestane was found to be more potent in terms of decreasing estrogen levels and, unlike aminoglutethimide, it was selective. The only problem is that you have to inject around 250 mg every two weeks just to get a reduction of around 60-70% of estrogen. It has a short duration of action and has now been surpassed by what is the current "big dawg" in aromatase inhibitors. The best drug is Arimidex (anastrozole). This newer, selective aromatase inhibitor has been found to decrease estrogen by as much as 21% more than formestane and only has to be taken one time per day in a little 1-mg tablet. It has a long half life of around 50 hours.

Don't try the "more is better" thing either, as there was no significant difference shown between 1 mg and 10 mg of Arimidex in terms of estrogen suppression. (Also note that food may interfere with its absorption to a slight extent.) It's also been shown to significantly increase Testosterone and LH as a result of the estrogen suppression. Not only that, but it could reduce prostate size. It's also possible that it'll reduce fat mass in areas where estrogen would bind.

So, Arimidex seems to have all of the benefits that we're looking for. We may not be able to stop the xenos themselves, but we can sure as hell negate their effects on our bodies!

To help give you an idea of their potency, note the following comparison of the ability of the various aromatase inhibitors to inhibit the aromatase enzyme in vitro.

Aminoglutethimide (Cytadren)?>

Formestane?P>

Exemestane?P>

Anastrozole (Arimidex)?/P>

Letrozole?/P>

Vorozole?

So, for instance, Arimidex is 200 times more potent than Cytadren in terms of aromatase inhibition. I should note, however, that in vivo, the triazole compounds haven't shown much of a difference in terms of estrogen suppression. So, even though vorozole may appear to be the most potent, it hasn't been shown to surpass the effects of Arimidex. At least, I haven't seen any evidence that points to that, anyway.

Both anastrozole and vorozole have been shown to lower estrogen levels to the point where estrogen can barely be detected, if at all. If vorozole were shown to be more potent than anastrozole, it would be overkill anyhow. Vorozole also has a very short half-life of around 8 hours.

What might work even better would be a combination of clomiphene and anastrozole. This could be a great combo for those with problems in terms of higher estrogen and lower Testosterone levels. This wouldn't be very cheap by any means, however. Over a period of 12 to 16 weeks, the increased T and decreased estrogen levels could produce a rather noticeable increase in muscle size and strength. You could also see other mood boosting and cognitive enhancing effects of increased T, as well as a decrease in fat mass.

Conclusion
Well, hopefully I've convinced you to never wear rubbers, stay in a non-plastic bubble, and hold your breath when you're forced to come out to use the bathroom. Oh, and don't forget, never use any air freshening agents, plastic food containers or detergents. Nah, just joking!

Seriously though, if you can, try to minimize your exposure to these agents and perhaps give Arimidex a try if lab tests indicate that your estrogen levels are the cause of your diminishing progress in the gym. Try that along with the other possible Testosterone enhancing actions, like eating a good amount of monounsaturated fats, getting plenty of protein and fiber, and minimizing your consumption of alcohol. Ditch that lunch break date with Mary Jane, too.

Don't forget, you could also combine clomiphene and/or Tribex-500 with Arimidex. Anything to get that precious T up and beat down that bitch estrogen! Be careful, it's a war out there!

John K
01/30/05
04:22 AM
British Columbia, CAN

I just finished reading the book "Our Stolen Future" and many sections from the similarly themed "Hormone Deception". These are two books that detail the vast number of estrogen imposters that we are exposed to throughout our lives and that have accumulated in our environment, our homes, and within our own bodies.

It really is amazing how many chemicals we have developed in the past century that either mimic hormones or block hormone receptors. As mentioned in this article, everything from certain plastics, to industrial products such as coolants and insulators, to pesticides, fertilizers, and on and on.

This article shares some strategies for protecting yourself, but there are numerous other steps you can take to keep the estrogens and other hormone mimics from reaching you to begin with -- from minimizing household dust (which is composed of a ridiculous array of nasty things), keeping plastic the hell out of the microwave, avoiding the use of pesticides, washing your hands frequently, keeping a window open when running the shower or washing machine or dishwasher (!), to being aware of which foods tend to carry the highest levels of endocrine disruptor residue and reproductive toxins from pesticides, such as strawberries, spinach, and cabbage, and perhaps favoring organic for these particular purchases. These books state that endorcine disruptors tend to be amplified as you move up the food chain, and also tend to be stored in fat, so that animal fats such as butter can wind up carrying a disproportionate dose (again, the recommendation is to go organic for butter.)

The various studies that show how an extra dose of an estrogen during pregnancy can have all sorts of nasty effects on the development of the fetus are quite eye opening as well. The most famous case of this are the infamous DES children, whose mothers were given DES during pregnancy and then the children experienced all sorts of health problems later in life.

Anyway, I just wrote this to bump this article because after reading these two books, it has reinforced the idea environmental estrogens are messing with us in all kinds of nasty ways, and we should probably all be aware of steps we can take to deal with our exposure, minimize our exposure, and ideally to make changes that limit and prevent future generations from being exposed at all.

The Anabolic Power of Insulin
An Interview with John Berardi
by Rob Wilkins

Testosterone readers were orginally introduced to John Berardi last year and since then, he's keystroked several groundbreaking articles. He's also been instrumental in designing Biotest's new postworkout recovery drink, Biotest Surge. Within a week or two, we'll even be introducing John's new nutrition column. (We haven't decided on a title yet, but we've narrowed it down to two choices; either "An Appetite for Construction," or, "Eat Me, I'm a Tuber!")

Given his involvement with Testosterone and Biotest, it seems somehow unnatural to present an interview with him as interviews are usually done to either introduce someone to the audience, or to pick the brain of an outsider who's not associated with the staff. However, since this interview with John was free-lanced and ended up covering topics that were so dang interesting, we thought we'd just break tradition and run it. Hence this exchange between John Berardi and Rob Wilkins, a Technical Sergeant in the US Air Force stationed at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida.

Recently, Biotest and Testosterone magazine held their very first "No Holds Barred" bodybuilding workshop in Orlando, Florida. During the workshop, members of the Testosterone science team provided the audience with the latest and greatest information related to training, supplements, and nutrition to help them take their training to the next level.

One of the speakers was John Berardi, who presented a fascinating presentation on insulin and the insulin index. Insulin is a hormone that regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and starches in the body, and it promotes muscle uptake of amino acids for making proteins.

Berardi is a scientist and PhD candidate in the area of Exercise and Nutritional Biochemistry at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. As an athlete, he's been a successful powerlifter, former NABBA Jr. Mr. USA bodybuilding champion, and a member of nationally ranked rugby and track and field teams.

John is highly regarded for his expertise in hormonal regulation of muscle mass and body composition; the interactions between exercise, diet, and nutritional supplementation; methods of strength training and conditioning; and the testing and design of nutritional supplements.

He's currently conducting exercise and nutritional supplement research with renowned exercise and nutrition researcher Dr. Peter Lemon, one of the world's leading experts on protein. John's also famous for conducting experiments on himself and his friends to put his theories to use. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they go terribly awry, as former friend, Larry "Two Headed Freak" Dumbrowski can attest.

RW ? Thanks for your time John. First off, can you give us a brief background on yourself and what stimulated your interest in exercise and supplementation?

JB ? Well Rob, I think the introduction you gave was pretty comprehensive. As you said, I'm currently a researcher but have an extensive background in competitive athletics. And that's what holds my passion. I love training and consulting with elite athletes in order to apply my university and real-world training in order to take their games to superior levels. And with each new athlete that becomes part of my clientele, I get supercharged about the new challenges that await us! And that's where the research ties in. Every research project I've conducted and every nutritional supplement I've designed has been done with one goal in mind ? to figure out how to make better, stronger, leaner and meaner athletes.

Lately I've been branded by some of my athletes as "the recovery specialist." This is due to my research that's been focusing on the recovery of ATP, glycogen, and protein balance, and the prevention of overtraining. In addition, I've been working on some nutritional programs and supplements that manage the hormone insulin.

RW ? So let's talk about insulin. What is insulin and why should athletes and those involved in health and fitness care about it?

JB - The current rage in health and fitness is to manage the hormone insulin. But few people really understand this temperamental hormone. You see, insulin is an anabolic giant. It's the most anabolic hormone because it stuffs nutrients like amino acids and carbs into muscle cells to promote growth. But, while it sounds great, getting aggressive with it can lead to serious fat gain. For instance, here are some basics:

Insulin is a hormone released into the blood by an internal organ called the pancreas. Insulin functions in many ways as an anabolic or a storage hormone; in fact it's been called the most anabolic hormone. When insulin is released into the bloodstream, it acts to shuttle glucose [carbohydrates], amino acids, and blood fats into the cells of the body. "Which cells?" you ask. Well, fat and muscle cells are the important ones in terms of quantity. Now, if these nutrients go predominantly into muscles, then the muscles grow and body fat is managed. If these nutrients go predominantly into fat, then muscle mass is unaffected and body fat is increased.

So obviously if there were a way to send nutrients preferentially into muscle rather than fat, trainees would have more muscle mass and less fat mass. That's the goal of my recommended training and eating programs ? to increase the muscle uptake of nutrients preferentially. Isn't that the goal of every trainee whether they know it or not?

RW ? So how can one manage this hormone to promote muscle gains and fat losses?

JB ? Well, this is where things get tricky. Because insulin is a storage hormone, most people think that since insulin stores nutrients, it should be avoided because it has the potential to store fat. This is a mistake for several reasons. First, there's no way to avoid insulin in the blood. Whenever you eat food, insulin is released.

Secondly, if you theoretically could eliminate insulin, you would abolish all of its anabolic effects and its ability to store energy in the muscle. In fact, type 1 diabetics don't produce insulin and as a result, if left untreated, they die.

But don't go the opposite route, either. If blood levels of insulin are always highly elevated, trouble results. Chronic elevation of insulin leads to large amounts of fat gain, risk for cardiovascular disease, and ultimately to type 2 diabetes. This second type of diabetes is characterized by obesity, cardiovascular disease, and the poor ability of the muscle to store nutrients, which leads to muscle wasting and tons of fat storage. This is called insulin resistance.

So my point is that you need insulin, but you must learn how to balance the anabolic effects against the fat storage effects; to trick it into making you muscular while making you lean at the same time. And this is done two major ways; first by increasing insulin sensitivity in the muscle while decreasing insulin sensitivity in the fat cells and, second, by controlling the insulin released during specific times of the day.

RW ? Please explain the difference between insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity?

JB ? Simply put, insulin resistance is bad. If you're insulin resistant, your cells ? especially the muscle cells ? don't respond to the anabolic effects of normal levels of insulin, i.e. they resist insulin's effects. If this is the case, the body then releases massive amounts of insulin to promote nutrient storage in the resistant cells. Remember, though, that chronic high levels of insulin in the blood are very bad and can cause type 2 diabetes.

Insulin sensitivity is therefore very good. In this case, your cells ? especially the muscle cells ? respond very well to small levels of insulin. Therefore, they need very little insulin stimulation to get into an anabolic state. So high insulin sensitivity at the muscle level is very desirable.

One way to remember the difference is as follows. If you're dating someone who responds or reacts to any affection you show them, then he or she is sensitive. So they're a good model for insulin sensitivity. It only takes a little affection to get a big response. On the other hand, if the person you're dating is resistant to your affection, then it takes a lot to get them going. Therefore, they're a good model for insulin resistance. It takes a lot of affection to get even the smallest response.

RW ? Does insulin sensitivity vary or change?

JB ? Insulin sensitivity is unique to each individual but the cool thing is that it can be manipulated by exercise, diet, and supplementation. And that's what I do with my clients to dramatically change their body composition.

Both aerobic and resistance training greatly increase insulin sensitivity through some different and some similar mechanisms. In addition, supplements like omega 3 fatty acids, fish oils, alpha-lipoic acid, and chromium can increase insulin sensitivity. Finally, moderate carbohydrate diets that are rich in fiber can increase insulin sensitivity.

On the flip side, the low-carb, high-fat diets that have become popular can decrease insulin sensitivity. That's why none of my trainees go on no-carb diets, unless they're dieting down for a show and then they'll do occasional no carb diets every few months for a maximum of 3 weeks at a time.

RW ? So what are some practical ways to manipulate insulin sensitivity?

JB ? Well, typically I've seen tremendous increases in insulin sensitivity with 3-4 intense weight training sessions per week, lasting 1 hour per session. These sessions should be coupled with at least 3-4 aerobic sessions lasting 30 minutes per week. To really target insulin sensitivity, you would perform these sessions separately.

After exercise, the next step would be to supplement with 600 mg of alpha-lipoic acid and concentrated fish oils containing a total of 6-10 grams of DHA and EPA, which are the most active omega 3 fats in fish oils.

Finally, your diet can make a big difference. I recommend moderate quantities ? 40-50% of the diet ? of fibrous carbohydrates like oatmeal, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. I also recommend eating moderate quantities (30-40% of the diet) of high-quality proteins like casein, whey, chicken, beef, fish, dairy and eggs. And finally, I recommend eating low quantities (20% of the diet) of fats from olive oil, flax oil, fish oil, and nut oils.

All of these strategies can be combined to make the muscles more responsive to insulin while simultaneously decreasing the fat's responsiveness to insulin. This means more muscle mass with less fat gain?eternal quest of the bodybuilder!

RW ? How important is the insulin sensitivity to my progress as a "natural" bodybuilder?

JB ? I think that insulin sensitivity dictates your muscle-to-fat ratio, especially when trying to gain or lose weight. If you're more insulin sensitive during a weight-gain program, you'll gain more muscle relative to the fat that you gain. For example, with normal insulin sensitivity, you might gain 1 lb of muscle for every 2 lbs of fat for a 1:2 ratio. With increased insulin sensitivity, you might gain 1 lb of muscle for every 1lb of fat or even better, 2 lbs of muscle for every 1 lb of fat.

And if you're dieting, you will lose more fat relative to your muscle loss if your insulin sensitivity is high.

Are these things important to bodybuilders? You bet they are! And especially to natural ones. Drug-assisted bodybuilders have super insulin sensitivity. In addition, the drugs enhance their muscle-to-fat-gain ratios. If you're clean, you need to use every natural means at your disposal to alter these ratios as well.

RW ? So what about the other step in balancing insulin? Controlling insulin release during specific times during the day, right?

JB ? That's right. Remember, insulin is anabolic so we want bursts of it every day without chronic elevation. An effective way to do this would be to plan insulin bursts after training. In addition, I recommend jacking up insulin at least twice per day, but no more than 3 times. So planning at least 2 high-insulin meals per day is the way to grow and stay lean.

To do this we need to first pay attention to something called theinsulin index of foods. If you think I've made a mistake and that what I really mean is the glycemic index, you're wrong. I mean the insulin index. Never heard of it? You're not alone. Although insulin indices are not new, they've been ignored in health and fitness for far too long.

RW ? What's the difference between the well known glycemic index (GI) and this insulin index (II) you're referring to?

JB ? The popular glycemic index is a measure of the speed at which carbohydrates enter the blood after a meal. A high-glycemic index means that blood sugar rises rapidly in response to a meal while a low-glycemic index means that blood sugar rises very slowly. Traditionally, nutritionists thought that the faster the carbs got into the blood, the bigger the insulin response. So in an attempt to manage insulin, they recommended always eating low-glycemic foods.

However, several studies since have shown that some low glycemic index foods have huge insulin responses! So the correlation between glycemic index and insulin response breaks down with some foods. For example, milk products have a very low glycemic index. But they promote insulin responses parallel to the highest glycemic foods. What's the deal? Well, it appears that there are several other factors that determine insulin release besides carb content and the rate of carb absorption.

This is why the insulin index was generated. This index actually measures insulin response to a food. So rather than assuming insulin response is correlated with carb absorption, these researchers decided to go ahead and measure it. And their results were eye opening!

RW ? If a natural bodybuilder is planning their nutrient intake around the insulin index, what foods would they eat and what foods would they avoid?

JB ? One thing to keep in mind is that there is no such thing as a bad food. Well, almost no such thing. I don't think anyone can make a case for powdered, cream-filled doughnuts, besides the fact that they taste damn good! But I hope you see my point. Since I said earlier that sometimes you want an insulin surge ? especially after workouts ? and sometimes you don't ? especially at night before bedtime ? we have to realize that we use the insulin index not to condemn foods but to decide when to eat them.

The point I want to stress is that the insulin index helps us add information to the glycemic index to make better food choices. So using both indices is the way to go. Since milk products have a low GI but a high II, these foods aren't optimal when you want to keep insulin low. Other example foods or meal combinations for this situation are baked beans in sauce, meals with refined sugars and fats, and meals that are protein and carbohydrate rich. Each of these foods/combos have low GI scores but high II scores, none of which are optimal for low insulin times. But remember, some times you want high insulin so don't relegate these foods/combos to a dark corner of your nutritional closet.

Conversely, unprocessed fibrous grains and cereals as well as fruits and veggies are great on both scales. In addition, most low-fat protein sources are also great on both scales.

RW ? So what times of the day should you increase insulin levels and what times should you concentrate on decreasing them?

JB ? Again, I like to spike insulin 2-3 times per day. Remember, though, that my clients are super insulin sensitive due to the training, diet, and supplementation programs I have them following. So they can handle the insulin surges and can actually grow and get lean at the same time. With this said, natural insulin sensitivity declines at night time so perhaps at night, low insulin choices are best. After training however, the goal should be to send insulin through the roof. A sensible plan is to eat 3 high-insulin meals as your first 3 of the day, and 3 low insulin meals to finish the day. This can be accomplished as follows:

1st 3 meals:

Protein plus carbs with no fat

2nd 3 meals:

Protein plus fat with no carbs

[Editor's note: for more information on John Berardi's eating recommendations, check out "Massive Eating, Part 1", and "Massive Eating, Part 2".]

Post-workout meals:

Hydrolyzed protein, simple carbs, BCAA, free form amino acids

RW ? Are there any supplements that affect the release of insulin and if so, how are they beneficial?

JB ? There certainly are! In fact I'm currently designing a post-workout formula with this goal (as well as a few others) in mind. You see, as I said earlier, I'm sort of a "recovery specialist." I'm hired to consult with many athletes from serious endurance marathoners and triathletes to strength and power athletes like bodybuilders and sprinters. Although I design training and nutritional programs for them, one of my special strengths of focus is how to help those who are "midgets of recovery" (the athletes who are especially prone to over training).

One of the main factors in recovery from training is to increase glycogen in the muscle, increase protein synthesis, and decrease protein breakdown. And the way to do this is to get insulin high right after training. I recently did a series on this in Testosterone [Solving The Post-Workout Puzzle ? Part 1: What Happens After The Workout? and Solving the Post-Workout Puzzle ? Part 2: The Recovery Plan].

The current recovery drink I'm working on is a special blend of glucose and glucose polymers, whey protein hydrolysates, BCAA, glutamine, and some other free form amino acids. This combo of ingredients (in specific ratios) is highly insulin releasing as well as very specific to the recovery of glycogen balance and protein balance.

The best thing about this formula is that every person who works out, no matter the sport, can use it. It has only nutritive ingredients and no mysterious herbs or other compound. And it and targets physiological processes common to all activities.

[Editor's note: Biotest is now accepting pre-order's for John's post-workout recovery formula, Biotest Surge]

RW ? Thanks so much for this informative interview John. Is there anything you would like to leave the readers with?

JB ? Remember, insulin sensitivity is a huge factor in maximizing recovery and making dramatic changes in body composition. Use the insulin index, glycemic index, and smart nutritional advice to take your physique and training to a higher level.

In the end, however, although we really focused in on the insulin index and insulin sensitivity with this interview, I want readers to understand that in athletics and training, there are so many other factors that contribute to gains in performance on improved body comp. As my colleague Tom Incledon says, "The cells of the body are like a space ship being bombarded by meteors (hormones and nutrients)."

The point is that no hormone or cellular system is independent. When we try to focus on any one thing, it's easy to lose sight of other important factors. So remember, after defining your goals, you need to come up with a plan of attack based only on your personal path. Don't follow someone else's plan to the letter or a generic plan that you read in a magazine. Individualize!

RW ? Thanks for your time, John.

The Fountain of GH
By John M Berardi

The year was 1513.

Don Juan Ponce de Leon, better known as "Pump" in transcontinental travel circles, was on a seemingly hopeless mission. Pump de Leon, after numerous world travels, many bodybuilding titles, and huge prize monies, had set out to find the fountain of GH.

It had been rumored for centuries that in the midst of the islands of the Pituitary there was an amazing fountain. This fountain apparently possessed incredible powers of age restoration. In addition it had such a dramatic impact on fat loss and increased muscle mass that no man who walked away from its waters would ever hit a training plateau again. Being as hardcore as they come, Pump de Leon was possessed to find this fountain of GH, even if it cost him all the gold he had won throughout his competitive years.

Meanwhile, back in Spain, Ferdinand Patterson, Pancho de Luoma and Juan Jose Berardi were determined to get Pump de Leon's story first hand (and to get some of that damn GH!). Casting off on the rickety fishing vessel known as "The Male Hormone," Ferdinand, Pancho, and Juan set sail across the Atlantic in search of Pump de Leon and the Pituitary Islands.

After the treacherous journey, they found Pump alone on his own "muscle beach" doing heavy tree trunk squats. After months on the Atlantic with minimal training and poor nutrition, the sailors of "The Male Hormone" were dying for a workout and some good muscle foods. So they began lifting the logs and boulders strewn about in Pump's makeshift gym. Later, over post-workout coconut shakes, Pump shared with his fellow Spaniards the fact that he had not yet found the fountain of GH, but was glad to have three more bodybuilders to help in his quest.

Sadly, Pump, Ferdinand, Pancho, and Juan Jose never made it back to Spain. Nor did they find the fountain of GH.

Now, about 500 years later, the fountain of GH has been found. But not in the area our ancestors sought. It has been found through recombinant technology. And although GH is now available for all, whether it really has the amazing powers that senors de Leon, Patterson, de Luoma, and Berardi sought is another story; one that I plan to tell today.

GH - The Hormone
Growth hormone (GH) is a 191-amino acid protein or peptide that's naturally released from the pituitary gland. GH, much like Testosterone, is released in a pulsatile or episodic manner. The GH pulse occurs every 2-3 hours so each and every day we get about 8-12 big doses of all-natural growth hormone (Hartman et al 1991). The sum of these GH peaks amounts to about 0.5 mg of GH produced per day. The following is an example of what normal 24 hr GH production might look like, with the highest peaks occurring during the first few hours of sleep:

According to the research review published in a new textbook entitled "Growth Hormone in Adults," the release of GH from the pituitary is governed by a balancing act between 2 hormones; GHRH (growth hormone releasing hormone) and somatostatin. GHRH is responsible for stimulating both the synthesis and the release of GH from the pituitary. Essentially, GHRH initiates the strength of the GH pulse.

GHRH's arch rival, somatostatin, counters these effects, however, by inhibiting GH release. Therefore, somatostatin prevents the GH pulse. In the end, GH release occurs when GHRH is at its peak in stimulating the pituitary, while somatostatin is at its low in inhibiting the pituitary. The result of this high GHRH and low somatostatin period is a big spike in blood levels of GH (Juul, 2000).

The following is a chart adapted from Basic and Clinical Endocrinology, 5th Edition depicting other factors influencing the GH secretion spike:

Factors Increasing
GH Secretion Factors Decreasing
GH Secretion
Physiological: Physiological:
Sleep Hyperglycemia
Fasting Elevated Blood Free
Fatty Acids
Exercise Obesity
High Amino Acids
in the Blood Hyper or
Hypothyroidism
Low Blood Sugar
Pharmacologic Pharmacologic
Any hypoglycemic agent GH itself
Estrogens Somatostatin
Alpha-agonists Alpha antagonists
(yohimbine)
Beta antagonists Beta agonists
(ephedrine, clenbuterol)
Serotonin Serotonin antagonists
Dopamine Dopamine antagonists
GABA

Once the GH pulse occurs, blood GH is free to affect target tissues. Some of the well-documented actions of GH are increases in longitudinal bone growth (longer bones), increased bone mineralization (thicker, stronger bones), anabolism (protein building), lipolysis (fat loss), and anti-diuretic actions (Bengtsson, 1999). GH treatment is common in congenital syndromes of GH deficiency and in cases of hypothalamic or pituitary damage.

In addition, it's been recognized that around the age of 30, there's a progressive decline in GH secretion from the pituitary, so much so that by the age of 60, GH production can drop as much as 60%! This means that an aging pituitary that once produced 0.5 mg of GH per day would now produce only 0.2 mg per day, and this is definitely physiologically relevant. In fact, these production levels are often equivalent to those of GH deficient young adults. This age-related GH decline has been termed somatopause by some researchers and treatment requires GH replacement therapy.

GH Deficiencies

GH deficiencies in different populations can occur as a result of impaired GHRH activity or increased somatostatin activity, impaired GH production and release within the pituitary, and/or impaired GH interactions with GH receptors on target tissues (Bengtsson, 1999). Basically GH either isn't produced or the GH is knockin' but it can't come in. Regardless of the mechanism behind GH deficiencies, these conditions can lead to a whole host of physiological abnormalities.

In children, GH deficiency leads to a reduced growth rate. This can occur due to the lack of GH specific effects on bone and connective tissue growth. In addition, skeletal muscle growth can be retarded due to other metabolic abnormalities associated with GH deficiency (decreased protein anabolism).

In adults, there are a number of abnormalities associated with GH deficiency. First, GH deficient adults tend to suffer from a host of psychological symptoms. These symptoms include reduced energy levels, reduced vitality, increased anxiety, reduced emotional reaction, depression, hampered learning capacity, and social isolation (Bjorck, 1989).

Secondly, GH-deficient adults suffer from negative changes in body composition such as increased fat mass, especially in the abdominal area (called android fat distribution), decreased lean body mass and muscle volume, and reduced bone mineral content (Binnerts 1992, Bengtsson 1993, Rosen 993). As a result of these negative changes in body composition, decreased muscular strength, poor exercise capacity, and poor power output are a result (Cuneo 1990, 1991).

Finally, GH deficiency can lead to other symptoms such as dehydration, reduced heart size, reduced cardiac performance (measured by cardiac contractility and output), hypertension, and hypothyroidism (due to low T4 to T3 conversion) (Henneman 1960, Shahi 1992, Jogensen 1989).

The bottom line is that if you can't get GH to do its job in the body, your psychological state, body composition, muscular performance, and cardiac performance will suffer. So you'd better get some GH.

Hey Doc, How's My GH?

So how do you know if you need GH treatment? That's a good question that scientists are still trying to answer. And you can bet that if they're having a hard time with this question, most physicians are quite a bit behind them. Since the symptoms of GH deficiency in adulthood (increased adiposity, decreased muscle mass, reduced strength and exercise capacity, and psychological disturbances) are non-specific, a deficency based on clinical symptoms is difficult to diagnose. Therefore, biochemical markers must be used.

Random sampling of plasma GH isn't a sufficient measure due to the unpredictable pulsatile nature of GH secretion shown in the graph above. If you pull a sample at the peak of a GH burst, it looks like you're fine, but if you pull one at the "trough"; it looks like you need some GH. Normal fasted levels of GH are less than 5 ng/ml, but again, the utility of random sampling is limited. By taking a 24-hour integrated measure, you could get a good approximation of total GH secretion, but who wants to sit in the doctor's office for 24 hours and have 24 blood samples taken; one every hour? Not me!

Therefore, the best clinical test for GH secretory deficiency is an ITT or insulin tolerance test. With this test, a single dose of insulin is administered to promote hypoglycemia. If you check your chart above, you'll notice that hypoglycemia is a good GH secretory stimulant. So, as insulin goes up and blood glucose goes down, GH secretion should go up. Since this test only measures GH secretion and not GH action at the receptor level, other tests are required to determine GH deficiency.

Serum measures of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 are two markers of GH activity but their utility has been questioned (more on these later). Since daily IGF-1 levels tend to be stable, in the clinical setting, low IGF-1 levels can indicate the need for further assessment of GH secretion and function. Normal IGF-1 levels are 90-318 micrograms/l while IGFBP-3 levels are 2.0-4.9 milligrams/l.

Effects of GH Replacement

Since GH deficiency leads to the aforementioned frightening list of psychological and physiological abnormalities, the treatment of GH deficiency has received much attention within the medical community.

In clinical trials, most of which were referenced above in the "deficiency" section, GH replacement has been shown to remedy most of the physiological abnormalities. The major benefits of GH therapy include positive protein balance (synthesis exceeds breakdown), increased lean body mass, decreased fat mass, increased insulin sensitivity, normalized body water, increased bone remodeling, and increased T4 to T3 conversion.

What about side effects? In GH deficient patients, replacement therapy is usually associated with minimal side effects. The most common side effects typically occur with the onset of therapy but often tend to normalize within a few months' time. These negative side effects include include fluid retention, carpal tunnel syndrome, myalgia (muscle pain), and arthralgia (joint pain). In addition, fasted and post-prandial (post-meal) blood glucose levels tend to be higher in GH replacement as a result of the mild insulin insensitivity that can occur with doses in excess of the exact requirement. Finally, it's been suggested, but not verified, that GH replacement may lead to a risk of malignancy and some cancers.

Although there are a few risks with GH replacement, the risk to benefit ratio of GH therapy in grossly deficient humans remains positive. Since GH can be relatively safe in replacement situations, as well as the fact that GH treatment can greatly impact body composition, researchers and clinicians have begun to explore the use of GH in treating the negative physiological conditions caused by HIV or age-related muscle wasting, obesity, severe physiological stressors (surgery or burn injuries), nutrient restriction, glucocorticoid therapy, and impaired immunity. Unfortunately, the data are mixed in regard to GH therapy in these populations with some studies showing positive results in muscle mass and fat loss and others showing nothing but side effects.

One reason for this may be the fact that in some studies, GH treatment has been given alone while in others, GH treatment was given with several other hormones that may have acted synergistically with the GH to promote the positive changes. One thing is clear though; there is no clarity! At the doses given in research studies, there is no clear consensus on whether GH therapy is warranted in any population other than those with GH deficiency. More research is needed to make this determination.

How GH Works - The GH/IGF-1 AXIS

Due to the rise in recombinant GH availability, the research has been abundant and a clearer picture is emerging of GH action. But make no mistake, the picture isn't all that clear. It may be more like one of those computer-generated 3D pictures that you have to look at in just the right way for just the right amount of time to make any sense of it at all. And no one has yet to look long enough at this particular picture.

With all of this GH floating around, the black market supply of GH has also been on the rise. So after we talk GH action, let's talk bodybuilding. If GH can potentially get bodybuilders big and ripped, then to some, it's a drug worth exploring. So for you die-hard muscle heads, here's a little GH primer with special focus on the pursuit of lean mass.

Circulating GH is thought to act through two distinct but interrelated mechanisms. The first is direct. GH can act directly on many cells in the body via the GH receptor. Once released into the blood from the pituitary, GH either circulates as free GH or circulates bound to GHBP for transport (GH Binding Protein). Free GH is available to interact with cellular receptors to create a response.

Once free GH has interacted with the cellular receptors, it's thought that more GHBPs are formed. With this increased GHBP, some researchers believe that more GH is rendered temporarily unavailable. But at the same time, it stays in the system for a longer amount of time. So although GHBP-bound GH has a much longer half-life, it cannot interact with cellular receptors while bound.

Unfortunately, there's no clear consensus as to whether it's more important to cellular GH action to prolong the half-life of GH (to allow for higher levels to circulate for longer), or to decrease GHBP to allow for higher levels of free GH. And this debate holds true for not only GH, but for other hormones like Testosterone as well. Although the researchers tend to contradict each other and sometimes even themselves on this point, the bottom line is that the effectiveness of GH (and other hormones) is tied up in this balance between bound and unbound GH and the presence of binding proteins.

Binding proteins aside, once free GH does reach the cells, its direct actions include the promotion of lipolytic and hyperglycemic effects. GH can decrease glucose utilization in favor of fat release and oxidation (lipolysis). Unfortunately, because of this shift from carb to fat use, GH also increases insulin resistance. Hyperglycemia is a result of this insulin insensitivity. So although GH itself can make you lean due to lipolysis, this might come at the expense of insulin resistance and might ultimately lead to a diabetic state. As a result, you'll be a lean diabetic rather than a chubby normal guy. I guess it's a trade-off.

The second mechanism by which GH exerts its effects is indirectly through IGF-1. In the liver, circulating GH is converted into IGF-1 and 2 which can travel through the blood to promote their effects. IGF is also bound to one of 6 plasma proteins (IGFBP's 1-6). About 1-5% of IGF-1 is free while 95-99% is bound. Again, this balance is important for hormone action. This systemic IGF is also free to interact with cellular receptors.

In addition to the systemic effects of liver IGF-1, IGF can act locally. Let me explain. GH binding to cells can lead to what is called peripheral conversion of IGF-1. At this specific location (skeletal muscle for example), IGF-1 acts in an autocrine or paracrine fashion to promote its effects. This means that unlike GH, which has endocrine function (it is produced in the pituitary and travels elsewhere to do its work), IGF-1 can both be produced in, and promote changes in, the same tissue or those immediately adjacent to it.

Perhaps the most relevant effect of IGF-1 to this discussion is the ability of IGF-1 to increase protein synthesis by increasing cellular mRNA formation (mRNA makes protein) as well as increasing uptake of amino acids. This effect on protein synthesis can lead to increased lean mass. The research indicates that this effect is dependent on GH presence as well. So IGF-1 alone does not promote such effects. Nor does GH. It appears the combination of the two most consistently lead to increased protein synthesis.

In addition, IGF-1 can also counteract the hyperglycemic effects of GH via insulin-like actions on glucose uptake. Since IGF-1 is typically elevated to a small extent with GH elevations, IGF action is not sufficient to neutralize the hyperglycemic effects of GH, but perhaps it minimizes extreme insulin insensitivity.

The bottom line is that GH and IGF-1 seem to be necessary bedmates. Although each may act most strongly in different tissue types, they are thought to work together to promote anabolism and stimulate lipolysis (Ney 1999, Yarasheski 1994). But all this synergy comes at a price. Both hormones negatively feed back on the pituitary to slow GH production. And this impacts normal GH secretion as well as GH treatment.

When plasma GH levels and IGF-1 levels are elevated with GH treatment, this elevation is non-physiologic. What this means is that after a GH injection, GH levels are elevated for some time and then come crashing down to normal, often being suppressed for hours thereafter. So the pattern seen in the graph above is not the one seen when using exogenous GH. This is probably due to the fact that both GH and IGF-1 are negative regulators of GH release so an increase in either (from a GH injection) reduces the secretion of GH.

So when examining the GH/IGF-1 axis, a few things should be considered. With strong feedback mechanisms in place, it's difficult to maintain consistently high levels of GH without constant exogenous dosing. And that's a hassle. In addition, just like with insulin, there may be something known as GH insensitivity (Grinspoon 1998). It appears that with chronically high levels of GH, liver and peripheral conversions of GH to IGF-1 are decreased. So even with the constant use of exogenous GH, the body may simply try to regulate itself and the actions of GH by preventing the availability of what is thought to be GH's partner, IGF-1.

It seems like a no-win situation. And perhaps this is best. The body has feedback mechanisms for a reason... protection. If GH action isn't kept in check, the medical condition known as acromegaly can result. Acromegaly is characterized by abnormal skeletal growth characterized by enlarged jaw and hands. Individuals suffering from this have abnormally high levels of GH, IGF-1, and IGFBPs. It's apparent, then, that the feedback mechanisms of these individuals aren't working all that well.

Often times, GH users smugly tell me that acromegaly is BS because they've been using GH for X amount of time and they didn't get it. Well guys, guess what? Normal individuals probably won't get it because of the feedback mechanisms described above. You know what else? You're probably not getting muscle building results either.

The Perfect Physique?
GH, Muscle Function, and Body Composition Research

Since most of the benefits of GH were originally thought to impact muscle mass, scores of rodent studies were conducted to examine the effect of GH on muscle mass and contractile ability. The findings did indicate a small increase in muscle mass but no increase in contractile strength. One study looked at rat quads (no they didn't squat) and they did get bigger (quads), but not stronger (Bigland, 1953). In addition, in other rat studies, although there were small increases in body mass, there were absolutely no increases in strength. How could this be? More muscle equals more strength, right? Well, researchers concluded that the increase in quad mass was not contractile protein. The mass could have been fluid or connective tissue.

Since animals did benefit from increased muscle mass, the next step was to take these findings to humans. In cases of GH deficiency, small increases were found in muscle volume (~6-8%) and lean body mass (~11%). Exercise capacity was elevated in such patients (~12%), but strength was either not changed or mildly increased by about 8% (Jorgensen 1989, Salomon 1989). As stated earlier, most of the observed benefits of GH have been seen in GH deficient animals and humans.

Also, as mentioned earlier, there's certainly not much to get excited about in other populations. When GH is administered alone, very few studies have shown any increase in size or strength. In two recent HIV studies, patients given huge doses of up to 27 IU per day (9 milligrams) had no gains in muscle mass. But remember, according to what I said earlier, IGF-1 was the protein anabolic agent. And GH has its biggest effect on lipolysis. And the combination of the two may lead to the greatest results.

So in examining the research, it's been speculated that the levels of IGF-1 adminstered weren't great enough (in conjunction with GH) to make an impact, or that the individuals became GH resistant. Also, since IGF-1 would lower GH secretion, it doesn't make much sense to give it alone. Remember, GH and IGF-1 often work together to change body composition. Newer studies have shown that when adding IGF-1 to the mix, it appears that there's a definite increase in protein synthesis and muscle mass as well as some increase in strength.

So perhaps GH alone is useless at increasing muscle mass while a combination of GH and IGF-1 may be effective if protein anabolism and increased contractile protein is the goal (Kupfer 1993, Snyder 1988). But even the increases seen in these studies were moderate and a cost/benefit analysis is warranted since this combination might also lead to severe side effects.

So what about GH and fat mass? Most studies have shown modest decreases in body fat and skinfold measures with GH treatment (Jorgensen 1989, Salomon F, Tagliaferri 1998). Decreases in fat mass of about 16% and decreases in thigh adipose mass of about 7% have been reported. But remember, a 16% fat decrease doesn't mean they went from 20% to 4% body fat. It more likely means that a 200 lb person with 20% bodyfat or 40 lbs of fat would have their fat mass decreased to about 35.5 lbs. This would put them at about 193.5 lbs and 18% fat.

In another study, obese women on GH lost 2 more lbs than placebo group in a one-month period. So although it does appear that GH can decrease fat mass in clinical populations, when looking at the actual fat loss numbers, it appears that the good old ECA stack or MD6 would be more effective than GH.

GH and The Athlete

I've never been sure why the use of GH has become popular in athletes and bodybuilders. Perhaps it's the name... Growth Hormone. Sounds like it'll make me big. Or perhaps it's the legend of Pump de Leon. Either way, the research on GH use in bodybuilders and men on resistance training programs has shown it to be all but useless. And this is probably due to the feedback mechanisms like the negative feedback on the pituitary and the GH resistance discussed earlier.

In two landmark GH studies conducted at the Washington University School of Medicine, a world-renowned GH researcher named Kevin Yarasheski studied the effects of GH in combination with weight training (Yarasheski 1992, 1993).

In the first study, 18 untrained men were given either GH and exercise or placebo and exercise for 12 weeks. GH subjects were given 40 micrograms/kg of recombinant GH and all subjects were evaluated before and after treatment for fat mass, fat free mass, total body water, whole body protein synthesis, insulin sensitivity, muscle size and muscle strength. Due to the development of carpal tunnel syndrome, 2 subjects were forced to withdraw from the study.

When comparing the GH+exercise group with the placebo+exercise group, the data showed that there was no fat loss, no change in insulin sensitivity, no increase in muscle size, and no increase in strength! Whole body protein synthesis was increased in the GH group relative to the placebo, but muscle protein synthesis wasn't. In addition, lean body mass was increased, but again, this wasn't muscle mass, but probably a combination of water retention, organ mass, and connective tissue instead. The researchers, who seemed quite objective in their conclusions, decided that non-muscle proteins were being formed instead of muscle contractile protein.

In the follow-up study, Dr. Yarasheski pursued the effects of GH on experienced weight-lifters. Since the GH didn't positively impact strength or body comp in the untrained guys, Dr. Yarasheski wondered if well-trained athletes might be different. So another study was conducted to examine protein synthetic rates in GH-treated athletes. After 2 weeks of GH treatment (40micrograms/kg), the data were clear that short term GH had no effect on whole body protein synthesis or breakdown. The reason they chose 2 weeks was that in a number of previous studies on clinical populations, any increases in protein synthesis had only lasted for about a month and then ceased due to some type of down-regulation (Perhaps GH insensitivity?). In this population, however, GH didn't even promote protein synthesis within this time frame.

With all this negative data, it should be mentioned that one study showed something positive happening, but again, it wasn't all that exciting (Crist 1988). This particular study showed a small 4% gain in lean body mass and a modest 12% loss in body fat with GH doses of 8IU per day (2.6 milligrams). Muscle mass wasn't measured, so there was no way to determine the make-up of the increased LMB (lean body mass).

So it's pretty apparent that in weight trained men, GH alone doesn't increase muscle mass. Resulting lean mass gains from GH treatment are probably a combo of water, connective tissue, or organ mass. I say probably because organ mass and connective tissue mass are hard to measure. The indirect evidence is pretty strong, though.

Since non-muscle protein gains and the development of carpal tunnel syndrome (due to growth in the connective tissue sheath in the wrist) were apparent in these studies, connective tissue gain is a reasonable speculation. In addition, acromegaly patients have increased organ mass as a result of the high responsiveness to GH, so it would stand to reason that this could have occurred in these studies, too.

The next logical question is this: Since a lot of guys are still using GH, what are the implications of increased organ mass and connective tissue? Well, to be honest, we don't know.

Acromegaly patients do not have high rates of organ malfunction or pathophysiology, so although growing large organs isn't ideal, the current literature doesn't indicate that the problem is immediately life-threatening. But, acromegaly patients do die prematurely, so if they were to live longer, perhaps these organ changes could have long-term impact.

As far as the issue of increases in connective tissue, the increases themselves may not be too terrible, as long as they don't become pathophysiological. Of course, developing carpel tunnel syndrom is no picnic. On the other hand, if the strength of connective tissue increases with connective tissue growth, athletes could become more injury-resistant. Connective tissue growth will not lead to strength increases in well-trained guys if contractile protein mass doesn't go up, but these connective tissue increases may allow individuals to train with heavier weights with less risk of injury. This, however, merely results from me taking off the "science hat" and speculating a bit.

Let's Get Ready to Rumble
GH vs Testosterone and Beta-Agonists

With all this data flying, I think it's important to put things into perspective. Currently, far and away, the most popular bodybuilding drug for building muscle mass is Testosterone, while the most popular fat-loss drugs are the beta agonists clenbuterol and ephedrine. So if GH is to have any relevance to bodybuilders and athletes, it has to show itself to be superior to these drugs in terms of effectiveness, safety, or price. Since we all know that the price of GH is astronomical (it can run $1000 ++ for a month's supply), the price situation is a losing one on the GH front. What about the other two factors?

As stated in the above sections, fat loss with GH is moderate and GH can probably be outperformed with a simple ECA stack. In addition, it appears that even Testosterone, while not known for its fat-burning abilities, does a nice job of its own. In two studies, Testosterone was shown to decrease fat mass by 5% and 6% (Anawalt 1999, Blackman 1999). In one of the same studies, GH was also administered and decreased fat mass by 12%. So although doubly effective when compared to test, I think that GH would be bested by ECA in a fat-loss contest.

As far as muscle mass, do we even need to waste our time on this discussion? Testosterone is clearly the winner of the muscle building battle, hands down. No data necessary.

And what about safety profiles? Well, it's not all that safe for healthy individuals to mess with endocrine profiles in the first place. But since both Testosterone and GH clearly have their risks, it appears to me that when comparing the doses needed for a positive effect, Testosterone is much less likely to cause any serious harm. So, in the end, when looking at the total cost to benefit profile, it is clear that GH loses the battle with both Testosterone and even with the over-the-counter ECA stack. Sorry GH.
Here's a little chart that's adapted from the June 3, 1999 New England Journal of Medicine comparing the costs of different drug therapies if you were to obtain them legitimately with a prescription. I've also added the cost of MD-6 for a little comparison:

Treatment Dose Annual Cost
Testosterone Analogs (IM) 500mg/week $1,250
Testosterone Transdermal 5mg/day $1,300
Oxandrolone (oral) 20mg/day $10,949
Nandrolone (IM) 250mg/week $1,000
Recombinant GH 6mg/day (18IU/day) $36,000
MD-6 2 servings/day $480

So Long GH
New Options in GH Manipulation

Over the last few years, GH has been a relative disappointment in terms of treating catabolic/wasting disorders. And it has obviously been a disappointment for athletes and bodybuilders. So the pharmacologists got to work and built a better mouse trap. It has been proposed that GH has been disappointing because of the feedback mechanisms described earlier as well as the non-physiologic nature of GH treatment. What this means is that since GH is normally pulsatile, the body may be best adapted to this situation. Perhaps it likes to see frequent short bursts of GH rather than huge single increases followed by hours of suppression.

Since GH treatment results in these non-physiologic GH responses, pharmacologists have speculated that an oral GH secretagogue that could increase the burst frequency and burst amplitude (height) might offer the distinct advantages of less negative feedback, less GH resistance, a better risk profile, and a better mode of delivery (oral).

Lo and behold, such secretagogues, called Growth Hormone Releasing Peptides have been found. Growth hormone releasing peptide 6 (GHRP 6), Hexarelin, and MK-0677 are available and fit the bill. Whereas a GH injection might cause a large spike in GH and the suppress GH for hours thereafter, these drugs, increase GH frequency and amplitude in a more physiological manner as shown below:

As shown, the GH secretagogues offer a pulsatile GH release that is more physiologic than the GH burst that a GH injection gives. Of additional interest is the fact that the inclusion of GHRH injection with GHRP (not shown) can lead to this same profile with huge, rapid peaks in GH release.

With an understanding of natural GH release it is clear that these new types of GH therapy may offer future treatment options for GH deficiency. In the absence of good safety or body compostion data, it is uncertain as to how they will be used or what populations will benefit the most from their use. If these drugs do become more popular treatment options, I would expect that bodybuilders will be testing them out as well and will provide feedback on their efficacy.

If you'll permit me to speculate about potential body comp implications, since GH has shown to be a more effective fat loss agent than anabolic agent, these secretagogues may offer a new and better fat loss approach. Since even just a physiological burst of GH increases lipolysis (Gravholt 1999), especially in the abdominal area, the very large bursts seen with GH injections may not be necessary. They may not lead to increased lipolysis above normal or mildly supraphysiological pulses. And since GH secretagogues mildly increase frequency and amplitude of GH secretion, this increased GH activity may be even more effective at promoting fat loss than GH alone. So if some supplement company comes out with a real-deal, honest-to-goodness, GH secretagogue that really works, it may be a great supplement to promote lipolysis. But for now, the only effective secretagogues I know of are the ones discussed in this article.

GH Plus

Within the last few years, the bodybuilding community has taken drug use to a new high. Being extremists by nature, bodybuilders are always looking for the next drug or combination of drugs to take their muscle mass to the next level. To this end, the new generation of bodybuilders have sworn by a combination of Testosterone, GH, IGF-1, Insulin, and Thyroid drugs. A discussion of these combinations is beyond the scope of this article and beyond the scientific literature at the current time. There is quite a bit of indirect evidence suggesting that, in theory, there may be a synergistic response to a polypharmacy of this type, but there have been very few trials looking directly at such combinations (Mani Maran 2000, Painson 2000, Demling 1999, Grinspoon 1998 and 1999, Juul 1998, Keenan 1996).

The body of anecdotal evidence is greater and I've talked to tons of guys who have used GH, T, Insulin, Thyroid, etc. Many feel that the addition of GH to a drug stack results in some pretty good gains while some say that they don't think the GH helps them at all. But who really knows how much each drug contributes? Since each person is different, uses different doses, and may or may not have real drugs, comparisons are difficult. At a price tag of $1000+ per month for the GH alone, I just don't think that the gains would be worth it either way.

My personal feeling is that when drug use gets to this extreme level where it is "necessary" to take 5 or 6 dramatically powerful, incompletely understood, and potentially dangerous hormones to compete, I think it has gone way too far. Although it's pretty interesting to think that we could control our body compositions by taking the endocrine system off auto pilot and controlling it manually for a while, we may get more than we bargained for.

Auto pilot may never work again and you'll be trying to figure out how you're gonna pay the hormone replacement bills for the rest of your lives. I just don't want to be 65 years old and still giving myself a dozen injections per day because I turned my pituitary into a shriveled, dangling waste of endocrine tissue hanging from my atrophied brain mass.
T2 - The Fat Terminator?
By John M Berardi

Fat Termination
It's no secret that summer is right around the corner. Over the last week or so the weather has decided to show a few glimpses of what's to come, namely warm sun streaming down upon exposed arms, legs, chests, and other miscellaneous body parts that have been cloaked all winter long. You've gotta love this time of year, if for nothing more that the virtual "orgiastic feast for the senses" (as Cosmo Kramer would put it).

But as always, with the good comes the bad. And in most cases, that layer of body fat that has infiltrated the lean physiques most possessed last summer represents the bad. So as summer approaches thousands everywhere are looking for a quick and easy solution to dropping the fat and, as some of my students would say, "get their rip on". They want to quickly and efficiently terminate the fat.

Obviously exercise and nutritional intake are the major determinants of fat loss but few will argue that nutritional supplements can help in the termination of high levels of body fat by either increasing metabolic rate or maintaining metabolic rate while dieting, preserving lean tissue during dieting, and suppressing food intake. When we think of legal, over the counter fat loss supplements, obviously supplements like the ECA stack come to mind. However, many individuals have even tried to shed fat using several prescription medications like the thyroid hormones T3 and T4. For you chem. buffs, T3 is the compound 3,5,3'-triiodo-l-thyronine or just triiodothyronine while T4 is 3,5,3',5' Tetraiodothyronine or just thyroxine.

Thyroid Hormones
Although thyroid hormones are necessary for promoting normal developmental growth, don't confuse this with the muscle growth that occurs with resistance exercise. In addition thyroid hormones are involved in dozens of biological processes including:

- Increased oxygen consumption (metabolic rate)
- Increased thermogenesis (heat production)
- Increased number of beta adrenergic receptors in the heart, skeletal
muscle, adipose tissues, and lymphocytes (these receptors bind fat
mobilizing hormones)
- Increased sensitivity to catecholamines (fat mobilizing, fight or
flight hormones)
- Increased number of red blood cells and increased oxygen delivery
- Increased lypolysis
- Increased liver glycogen breakdown
- Increased liver glucose production
- Increased intestinal glucose absorption
- Increased protein turnover
- Decreased cholesterol levels

From looking over this list, it appears that thyroid hormones do some pretty exciting things in the body, all of which can be beneficial to weight trainers. But before I move on, I want to talk about some of the other effects of thyroid hormones that may not be so ideal for weight trainers.

- Increased heart rate and heart contractility
- Increased free radical production (due to decreased Superoxide
Dismutase concentrations)
- Increased GI motility
- Increased bone turnover (and potentially bone loss or high levels of
calcium in the blood)
- Increased cortisol levels
- Increased sex hormone binding globulin

How's The Thyroid Working?
Now that you've seen what thyroid hormones can do, let's talk about thyroid function. Much like any other hormone system there are tight controls regulating thyroid function. So under most normal circumstances, if thyroid concentrations are low in the blood then the thyroid is stimulated to produce more hormone. And if they are high in the blood, the thyroid will be inhibited and less will be produced. Of course there are a few exceptions to these rules. Disease states, prescription medication use, and interestingly, dieting can throw off this equilibrium. While most people don't have thyroid disorders or use meds that can alter thyroid function, most people do diet at some point in their lives. And during dieting, natural thyroid production is usually suppressed and this can eventually harm fat loss efforts.

Enter thyroid drugs. Some people, in an attempt to harness the fat burning powers of thyroid hormones, are taking T3 or T4 with or without dieting in order to either maintain normal thyroid hormone levels or in order to simply burn more fat than they would have been burning otherwise. However this use comes at a price. You see, too much thyroid hormone in the body can lead to a thyrotoxic state. Side effects of thyrotoxicosis include heart palpitations, nervousness, easy fatiguability, diarrhea, excessive sweating, heat intolerance, and tachycardia. Small to moderate doses of thyroid hormones, however will probably not lead to thyrotoxicosis.

In addition to the risk of thyrotoxicosis, both hormones are very suppressive of thyroid function and it appears that with extended use of these compounds, the thyroid is sluggish in restarting natural production (Vagenakis, et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 293(14): 681-684, 1975). In fact, in this study population, it took between 5-9 weeks for thyroid production to return to normal after suppression therapy. This has pretty dramatic consequences since during this period of thyroid suppression, metabolic rate will be much lower and there is good potential for fat gain.

So with the prescription drugs T3 or T4, the potential benefits of their use must be weighed against the after effects during the thyroid-suppressed period.

Over-The Counter Thyroid Hormone?
Recently, Biotest Laboratories has released a very interesting product that they are calling T2 (otherwise known as 3,5-diiodo-l-thyronine or just diiodothyronine). T2 is definitely a legitimate thyroid hormone, structurally very like T3 or T4. However this product is allowed to be sold as an over the counter dietary supplement due to the fact that is present in meat.

In the past, T2 was thought to be inactive, but many recent papers have shown T2 to have some pretty dramatic effects on metabolic processes. One issue of concern in the interpretation of this data is the fact most of these studies used hypothyroid rats that are producing very little thyroid hormone on their own. Therefore since these studies did not examine the effects of adding T2 into a normal thyroidal environment, they may not be totally applicable to individuals with normal thyroid functioning. In any case, the studies are certainly worth mentioning.

- Significant increases in mitochondrial respiration and cytochrome
oxidase activity were found both in vitro and in vivo (1). These
increases lead to an increase in metabolic rate. Interestingly, these
effects are different from those of T3 and T4 due to the fact that T2
acts directly on the mitochondrial respiration while T3 and T4 must
first increase oxidative enzyme levels. This means that T2 has a much
more rapid stimulation of metabolic rate (1 hour for T2 vs 24 hours
for T3). Some authors have concluded that T2 may be beneficial in
rapid energy requiring situations like cold exposure or overfeeding
(2).

- Significant increases in resting metabolic rate (33%) were found
(1,3). Both T2 and T3 were able to stimulate the recovery of
metabolic rate to normal, euthyroid levels.

- Significant increases in the oxidative capacity of skeletal muscle,
brown adipose tissue, liver, and the heart were found (1,4). Both T2
and T3 promoted full recovery of oxidative capacity but T2 was most
active in the liver and the muscle while T3 was most active in the
liver.

- Significant increases in the liver activities of glucose-6-phosphate
dehydrogenase and malic enzyme were found (5,6). These enzymes are
necessary for fat metabolism.

- Significant increases in GH release were found. Both T2 and T3
increased GH release 5-fold (7).

- In the one human study I found, T2 Significantly increased oxygen
consumption in blood cells in vitro (8).

In most of the studies listed above, the doses of T2 required for physiological and biochemical effects to manifest were larger than the doses of T3 required. This is due to the fact that T2 has a lower receptor affinity for most thyroid hormone receptors than does T3.

So from these data, if the dose is right, T2 supplementation may offer most of the same benefits as T3 but might even be superior in rapidly stimulating metabolic rate. This could come in handy before a big Easter dinner or your weekly dietary cheat day.

The next question then is to ask whether or not T2 can suppress natural thyroid hormone (as measured by TSH concentrations) production like T3 can. This is where things get a little sketchy. In hypothyroid rats, T3 seems to have a much larger suppressive effect than does T2.

- Moreno et al found that it took 5x as much T2 to suppress TSH when
compared to T3 (7).
- Cimmino et al found that it took 25x as much T2 to suppress TSH when
compared to T3 (3).
- Ball et al found that 100x the dose of T2 lead to 5x less suppression
of TSH when compared to T3 (6).
- In vitro data by Everts et al showed that T2 was 100x less
suppressive than T3 (9).
- Finally, Horst et al showed that in euthyroid rats, while it took
over 100x as much T2 to suppress TSH compared with T3, even at these
doses, there were no major changes in body weight with T2
supplementation (10).

So from these data it is pretty clear that it takes a much large dose of T2 to suppress natural thyroid hormone production than T3.

Summary
Hopefully at this point you have a better understanding of how thyroid hormones work and why one would want to supplement with them. In addition, I hope you have a better understanding of T2. The other day a lady-friend of mine came up to me and asked me to give her my opinion as to whether on not she should take T2. And she asked me to tell her in layman's terms. So here's basically what I told her (unfortunately, the following is as "layman" as I get when talking about nutritional supplements); "From the data I've seen, it initially looks like T2 may really help to shed fat. However I have a few concerns. Since T2 is less active and has a lower affinity for the thyroid receptors in the cell than T3, larger doses of T2 are required to get the same fat-burning effects as you would get with T3. And although T2 is less suppressive than T3, the doses required to get full effectiveness may be enough to suppress natural thyroid production anyway. However I don't know the answers to this for sure and I'm fairly confident that no one does. I speculate, however, that the recommended dose of T2 is probably not going to cause much suppression of thyroid function. In addition this dose may have some effects on cellular metabolism but whether this dose dramatically increases fat loss, I can't be
certain."

"So in the end I can see one of four scenarios happening. First, the ideal scenario is that the doses of T2 recommended are effective and will not suppress thyroid function. This means lots of fat will be lost and there will be no rebound with cessation of use. Second, the does of T2 used are not very effective in fat loss and there will be little or no fat loss but at least there will be no suppression of thyroid function. So you wont get much leaner but you won't have any problems either. These are the two most likely scenarios. I sure hope the first one is the case but I can't be sure. There is just not enough data just yet."

"The third scenario is that people may take larger doses of T2 than recommended and lots of fat will be lost but there will also be thyroid suppression. This means that they must be prepared for the dreaded rebound and lower metabolic rate for a few weeks after going off the supplement. And the fourth scenario is that with higher than recommended doses, the thyroid will be suppressed and while some efficacy is evidenced, there will be a metabolic compromise. In response to suppression of the thyroid, T3 levels will go down. Since T3 which is responsible for several functions in the body that T2 isn't known to be active in, while you are on T2 you might not be getting all the benefits that T3 will promote. And again, when you go off, you will have a short rebound period of suppressed thyroid function."

So in the end, the question of whether T2 is a legitimate fat terminator is a tough one to answer. From the available data, there isn't a clear picture that I can present. However, I think that T2 is ultimately pretty safe at the recommended doses. Whether it works as well as some think is another question. Fortunately Biotest has asked me to investigate this very question in the lab so that we can have some real answers in the near future. Stay tuned for updates as to my progress.

Hungry, Hungry Hormones — Part I
by John M Berardi

We here at T-Nation just love them-there hormones. And if you didn't figure that out from the very name of our little publication, you might have figured it out from the dozens of hormone-related articles we've published over the years. Yep, we here at T-mag headquarters love our Testosterone, our Growth Hormone, our Insulin, and our Glucagon. In fact, the last Friday of each month is devoted to the anabolic hormones. "Hormone Friday, as it's called, is a day in which each T-mag staff member dons his or her favorite anabolic hormonal attire. You shoulda' seen JB last month. Hell, with that sterane ring wrapped around what he called his "Testosterone factory," he was a shoe-in for top costume honors.

As a result of his creative costume ideas and his needle-point prowess, JB not only got TC's Real Doll,"Jenny," for the weekend, but he also earned the right to review a relatively new hormone that's lately been the source of much discussion and confusion. JB's already covered the biggies: Testosterone (The Big T, Parts I and II, The Steroid Manifesto, Parts 1, 2, and 3), Growth Hormone (The Fountain of GH), and Insulin (The Anabolic Power of Insulin). Now, it's time for JB to tackle that pesky new guy on the block — the hormone Leptin.

Is It Really That Simple?

I wish someone would hand me a shiny US nickel every time I heard some personal trainer or some gym guru respond to an exercise or nutrition related question with "Well, it's simple really…"

Why am I always doing 3 sets of 10 reps?

Well, it's simple really…

Why should I eat more protein?

Well, it's simple really…

Why do I always seem to plateau after a few weeks of dieting?

Well, it's simple really…

Why won't the fitness model with the lacy thong respond to my loud grunts and pawing hands?

Well, it's simple really…

Whenever I see the "Well, it's simple really…" clowns in action, I wonder how rich I would be if I actually did get those nickels. Next I wonder if anything is really as simple as they make it out to be. Finally I wonder if anyone would miss them if they were buried somewhere in upstate New York.

After all, it seems to me that most exercise and nutrition questions, especially those related to our physiological responses to certain manipulations, are quite complex. Rather than "Well, it's simple really…" I tend to think that the answer to almost every question relating to exercise and nutrition should start off with "Well, it depends on..."

Feeding and Metabolic Regulation

One of the nutrition answers that has recently gained "Well, it's simple really…" status is the idea that eating less tends to decrease your metabolic rate while eating more tends to increase your metabolic rate. While most nutrition faithfuls discuss this idea ad nauseum, I wonder if any of them actually understand this phenomenon.

Just how does the body know we're eating less?

Likewise, how does it know we're eating more?

Furthermore, how can it adapt the overall metabolic rate to accommodate this knowledge of what's happening with energy intake?

These are just a few of the questions that need answering if we're to aspire to better body composition manipulation. After all, if our energy expenditure is intimately linked to our energy intake (see my visual depiction of this below), we need to figure out where the communication is taking place.

By understanding this communication and the integration of intake and expenditure, we can hopefully find ways to dissociate the relationship. For example, if expenditure wasn't so dependent on intake, we could more easily manipulate our body composition by avoiding that nasty metabolic shutdown that accompanies dieting. Conversely, if expenditure didn't send such strong signals that impact our urge to eat, many of you miserable dieters wouldn't feel so hungry when trying to get lean. Of course, with this latter point, we can always just refuse the signals, eating in a way that supports our goals. But that doesn't make us any friendlier while dieting, now does it?

So Where's The Communication?

If you're going around asserting that one's metabolism increases or decreases based on whether they're on a hypercaloric or a hypocaloric diet, you'd better hope that there's some evidence for this hypothesis. You see, if there's any truth to the theory that the body can "sense" energy intake and respond metabolically, scientists would have to find a metabolic pathway that's sensitive to changes in some energy metabolite. If they can't find this, no matter how self-evident they think this idea seems, the "Well, it's simple really" camp is just vehemently defending an unproven hypothesis.

Fortunately for the "Well, it's simple" folks, there seems to be a candidate pathway that can explain the fact that our bodies seem to rapidly respond to changes in energy intake. In other words, a pathway has been discovered that can explain how the body knows whether we're feasting of we're fasting. This pathway is known as the HBP, or Hexosamine Biosynthetic Pathway.

As many of you know, cells of the body are always metabolizing carbohydrates for energy. This metabolism is accomplished by sending glucose through the anaerobic glycolytic pathway (see below). The metabolites of this pathway usually end up fluxing through the Kreb's cycle, providing substrates to resynthesize ATP (the cell's energy currency).

During this normal carbohydrate metabolism, a small amount of the glucose flux (1-3%) is sent through our new friend, the little discussed HBP. This pathway accepts either glucosamine (which is phosphorylated directly) or fructose 6 phosphate (which is phosphorylated by GFAT / glutamine: fructose 6 phosphate amidotransferase) to form glucosamine 6 phosphate. This glucosamine 6 phosphate is then converted to UDP-N-acetylglucosamine and acts as a glycosylation substrate. A glycosylation substrate is one that binds proteins to alter their stability in the cell. This alteration, among other things, influences how the protein interacts with the genetic material. For those "visual learners," a visual depiction of these pathways is provided below.

The important point here is that when you eat more, more glucose is available and there will be more flux through the HBP. Conversely, if you eat less, less glucose is available for flux through the HBP. This means that the HBP can directly "sense" what's happening with the energy in side of the energy balance equation.

At this point, if you're wondering why this matters, I'd like to draw your attention to the effects of increased flux through the HBP (or, a habitual increase in energy intake):

• Decreased glucose uptake

• Reduced insulin sensitivity

• Increased insulin secretion

• Increased fatty acid synthesis in the liver

Now, obviously reduced insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake aren't what weight trainers are striving for. But keep in mind that these reductions occur relative to what's happening on a lower calorie diet. Therefore, these changes would be expected. If you're overfeeding, the cells will be stuffed full of carbohydrate and will obviously have to work harder to get any new carbohydrates in. But keep in mind that if you have excellent insulin sensitivity, overfeeding may reduce this sensitivity (as shown above) a bit. That certainly doesn't mean, though, that you need to immediately get on diabetic meds.

What it does mean is that we now have a candidate mechanism by which acute and chronic food intake can be "sensed" by the body (i.e. through glucose flux). In addition, we also have a mechanism by which the "sensing" can cause a cellular response (glycosylation of proteins by UDP N-acetyl glucosamine).

For you budding physiologists out there, you may be wondering what happens when proteins are glycosylated by UDP N-acetyl glucosamine. Well, scientists aren't completely clear on that one just yet. However, what scientists have done is link HBP flux with the expression of the OB (obesity) gene. And this, my friends, is the hormonal segway you've been looking for. By altering expression of the OB gene, the HPB is directly linked to the expression of the hungry, hungry hormone — Leptin.

As alluded to, Leptin (a term derived from the Greek leptos - meaning slim) is a 16-Kd (this indicates it's size) hormone produced in the translation of the genetic information contained on the Ob (obesity gene). Upon stimulation of the Ob gene, cellular translation initiates the formation of a leptin precursor protein (Leptin mRNA). This Leptin mRNA is then transcribed into the hormone leptin without any significant post-transcriptional regulation (i.e. most all of the Leptin mRNA ends up becoming Leptin).

At this point, I'm gonna give you a week to think about what you've learned with respect to how the body senses energy intake. Now that you have this background, next week we can dive right into Leptin, covering how this hormone helps to regulate feeding, energy balance, and body composition.
Hungry, Hungry Hormones — Part 2
by John M Berard

We here at T-Nation just love them-there hormones. And if you didn't figure that out from the very name of our little publication, you might have figured it out from the dozens of hormone-related articles we've published over the years. Yep, we here at T-mag headquarters love our Testosterone, our Growth Hormone, our Insulin, and our Glucagon. In fact, the last Friday of each month is devoted to the anabolic hormones. "Hormone Friday, as it's called, is a day in which each T-mag staff member dons his or her favorite anabolic hormonal attire. You shoulda' seen JB last month. Hell, with that sterane ring wrapped around what he called his "Testosterone factory," he was a shoe-in for top costume honors.

As a result of his creative costume ideas and his needle-point prowess, JB not only got TC's Real Doll, "Jenny," for the weekend, but he also earned the right to review a relatively new hormone that's lately been the source of much discussion and confusion. JB's already covered the biggies: Testosterone (The Big T, Parts I and II, The Steroid Manifesto, Parts 1, 2, and 3), Growth Hormone (The Fountain of GH), and Insulin (The Anabolic Power of Insulin). Now, it's time for JB to tackle that pesky new guy on the block — the hormone Leptin.

Express Yourself

As discussed last week, Leptin is a hormone produced when the OB (obesity) gene is expressed. While I've already discussed one mechanism to induce OB gene expression and Leptin production, the three main cellular signals involved are:

• Increased energy/carbohydrate flux through the HBP.

• Increased triacylglycerol (triglyceride) metabolites. These include diacylglycerols and/or free fatty acids.

• Increased tension in adipose tissue due to cellular stretching (increases in adipose size).

As you can see, these three phenomena provide response mechanisms whereby both acute and chronic overfeeding or underfeeding will influence OB gene expression and Leptin production. If overfeeding, more carbohydrates will flux through HBP, more triglycerides will be metabolized, and adipose tissue sizes will increase. This leads to more Leptin production. Conversely, if underfeeding, carbohydrate and triglyceride availability will be decreased, as will adipose tissue size. Of course, this means less Leptin.

Since we now know why Leptin is formed, how about discussing where it's formed? In adult humans, most of the body's leptin is formed in white adipose tissue. This should be self-evident from the signals discussed above. However, Leptin has also been found in the following tissues, making it relatively ubiquitous.

• Brown adipose tissue

• Gastric epithelium

• Placenta

• Skeletal muscle

• Mammary glands

Of Rat and Fat

When Leptin was originally discovered, scientists found that rats that had mutations in the OB gene (and couldn't produce Leptin) became insanely obese. Now when I say obese, I'm not talking a little overweight here. I'm talking so obese that members of NAAFA actually pointed and laughed. In the obese rats, the extreme obesity was caused by mutations in the Ob gene. In these animals, there was simply too little Leptin. Interestingly, when administered Leptin, these tubby rats saw big increases in metabolic rate and lost massive amounts of body fat.

As a result of these findings, researchers speculated that Leptin might be a magical fat loss hormone. Unfortunately for the pharmaceutical companies who immediately jumped all over the rights to sell recombinant Leptin, this hypothesis didn't pan out. You see, another model of rat was discovered, a model that was as obese as the Leptin deficient rats but had adequate Leptin concentrations in the blood. These rats, instead of a Leptin deficiency, had problems with their Leptin receptor. Therefore the Leptin that was present couldn't do its job.

In addition to this new rodent data, thwarting the potential billions to be gained from Leptin sales, new human data also showed that Leptin was unlikely to help the obese drop those few hundred unwanted pounds. Research had clearly demonstrated that:

a) Very few obese humans actually suffer from Ob gene mutations

b) Very few obese humans actually suffer from Leptin receptor mutations

c) Obese humans often have very high concentrations of leptin in the plasma

Since obese humans often have so much Leptin, research has been directed toward how these individuals can have so much Leptin, yet fail to respond with a reduction in body weight, as did our furry rodent friends. One hypothesis that has gained popularity suggests that a Leptin resistance causes human obesity. In other words, the very obese got this way because they were somehow intolerant to rising Leptin. As one researcher put it, "Leptin resistance is not well defined, however this term is usually used to mean that leptin does not perform its central and peripheral functions."

At this point, there is some evidence for the Leptin resistance hypothesis. Since Leptin seems to have central effects, the saturable blood brain barrier transport system for leptin may be linked to obesity. Since obese humans have a CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) to plasma ratio that is much lower than normal-sized humans, it appears that only so much Leptin can get across the BBB into the brain. In addition, in rats, dietary induced obesity (DIO) is accompanied by high plasma leptin concentrations. This leptin doesn't seem to prevent the obesity. However, when administered intracerebroventricular leptin (leptin into the brain), they lose weight, indicating a potential BBB transport limit.

Although these data offer support to the idea that there is a limit to amount of leptin allowed into the brain and therefore a type of Leptin "resistance" exists at the higher levels of Leptin production, some authors believe that leptin resistance is actually a misnomer. These researchers are of the opinion that since leptin may not be designed to function in such high concentrations as seen in obesity, Leptin may be more important in its absence than its presence (i.e. may be more important in calorie restriction and not in calorie excess, as is often seen with obesity). In other words, it's not that the obese are "improperly" responding to their leptin. Instead, these authors are suggesting that the obese aren't "supposed" to have so much leptin and therefore don't respond to it's elevation above a certain point.

What's Leptin Do?

The hormone Leptin seems to affect nearly every system of the body. Since there are Leptin receptors in the brain and throughout the body, we can discuss the effects of Leptin as central or peripheral.

Since Leptin is released (mostly) by adipose tissues, adipose tissue seems to be a peripheral static indicator of the chronic energy balance of the body. Once released into the blood, under normal conditions, Leptin travels across the blood brain barrier and is sensed by the Leptin receptors in the hypothalamus. Since these receptors have some idea of what's a "normal" Leptin signal, changes in Leptin binding initiates the release of a series of anabolic (orexigenic or meal stimulating) and catabolic (anorexigenic or meal preventing) hormones/neurotransmitters. An increase in leptin leads to the expression of several anorexigenic (catabolic) hormones and neurotransmitters including áMSH and CART. These chemicals decrease hunger and meal size.

Conversely, a decrease in leptin leads to the expression of several orexigenic (anabolic) hormones and neurotransmitters including NPY and AgRP. These compounds increase hunger and meal size. This is a rather nice way for the body to deal with energy surplus or energy deficit. If there's a surplus, Leptin increases, signaling the hypothalamus to tell the body to stop eating. Conversely, if there's a deficit, Leptin decreases, signaling the hypothalamus to make us really hungry. For you visual learners, here's a visual depiction of what happens when Leptin concentrations increase in the hypothalamus.

Although I only mentioned a couple key orexigenic and anorexigenic hormones/neurotransmitters, there are many others that can interact with Leptin or the same signaling systems as Leptin. These are listed below:

Orexigenic (stimulate food intake) —

May act in the lateral hypothalamic neurons

Anorexigenic (reduce food intake) —

May act on the ventral & dorsal medial hypothalamus

Neuropeptide Y (NPY)— is the most potent orexiant known; may respond to aberrant leptin signaling; antagonism may reduce hunger and fat mass

Agouti Related Peptide (AgRP) — potent orexiant; may respond to absent leptin; antagonism may reduce hunger and fat mass

Melanin Concentrating Hormone (MCH) — receives signals from NPY to increase food intake

Orexin — increases arousal and food intake

Ghrelin — a potent GH releasing hormone released from the stomach, pituitary, and hypothalamus; increases food intake and body weight; may compete with leptin

Pro-Opiomelanocortin (POMC) — precursor to áMSH

Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone (áMSH) — decreases food intake; may respond to increased leptin; antagonism increases appetite and food

Melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) — áMSH receptor; binding of agonist reduces food intake

Cocaine Amphetamine Related Transcript (CART) — decreases food intake; may respond to increased leptin

CCK — gastric released peptide; increases satiety; reduces food intake (single feeding and meal frequency)

Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) — regulates adrenal hormones and ACTH; decreases food intake, increases energy expenditure

Insulin — increasing concentrations of insulin decrease appetite

While these energy regulating hormones and neurotransmitters may be relatively new to you, the important message here is that they are responsible for sensing a starvation response (with decreased Leptin). In response to these decreases in Leptin concentrations, these chemicals are responsible for promoting the following effects:

a. Increased food intake

b. Decreased skeletal muscle growth

c. Decreased energy expenditure

d. Decreased body temperature

e. Decreased reproductive function

f. Increased adrenal production of stress hormones

g. Increased parasympathetic tone

Conversely, these energy regulating hormones and neurotransmitters are responsible for sensing an energy surplus (with increased Leptin). Therefore, when Leptin concentrations increase, the following effects are promoted:

a. Decreased food intake

b. Increased energy expenditure

c. Increased sympathetic tone

Again, for you visual kids, here's a schematic. Remember, Leptin is regulated in response to acute feeding as well as chronic energy balance (as measured by adipose mass). Therefore, while you'll see weight gain and weight loss as regulators below, you could replace these terms with underfeeding and overfeeding.

Notice that the main discussion today has centered on the central effects of Leptin (in the hypothalamus). However, Leptin, as discussed earlier, also has a number of peripheral effects. The peripheral effects include the following.

In skeletal muscle, leptin increases fat oxidation and insulin sensitivity, explaining part of its effect on weight reduction.
Leptin may act in concert with the immune system since leptin deficient animals have reduced immunity. This may explain part of the effect of dieting on weakened immune function.
Leptin may play a permissive role in female menarche since there is an inverse relationship between Leptin concentrations and age of first menstruation. This means girls with more body fat (and higher Leptin concentrations) may have first menstruation sooner than leaner girls.
Leptin concentrations and Testosterone concentrations are inversely proportional through the normal range of Testosterone. This means that as Leptin goes up, Testosterone down. Conversely, as Leptin goes down, Testosterone goes up. This should be no surprise as very overweight men are often hypogonadal. However, you should wonder why those who are extremely lean are often hypogonadal as well.
The paradox of this relationship is that leptin is partly responsible for increasing GnRH secretion as well as LH, FSH, and Testosterone secretion. Therefore, at very low concentrations there would be an occurrence of hypogonadism. But very high concentrations, Leptin directly inhibits Testosterone release (leptin decreases T secretion from testis, even in spite of increased GnRH activity), again causing hypogonadism. Therefore the best Leptin concentrations would be at the low normal range. Not coincidentally, this usually occurs in those lean individuals who are well fed.
In addition to these peripheral effects, Leptin has shown the following interactions with other hormones:
Leptin increases GnRH at hypothalamus
Leptin decreases Testosterone at testis
Glucocorticoids increase plasma leptin
SNS activity (epinephrine) decreases plasma leptin
Testosterone decreases plasma leptin
Insulin acts with leptin by stimulating the same neuronal populations
Insulin increases Ob gene expression
Ghrelin competes with leptin centrally, with opposite actions as leptin
Leptin and insulin sensitize the hindbrain to the anorexigenic hormone CCK
The following adipocytokines (hormones released from adipose) may also interact with leptin:
Resistin — adipocytokine that may regulate insulin sensitivity

Adiponectin — enhances insulin function - increases with insulin and decreases with obesity — increases UCP2 in muscle — increases fatty acid transporter protein — increases acyl CoA oxidase — decreases triglyceride content in liver and muscle

Adipsin — is found in proportion to adiposity — is required for the synthesis of ASP (acylation stimulating protein — is involved in the uptake and esterification of TAG and FA) — stimulates TAG synthesis more than insulin

What's that sound? Oh, that's the bell! Quickly I'd like to recap this week's lesson. First of all, Leptin is released from many peripheral tissues but the biggest player is white adipose. Once released, Leptin has all kinds of divergent effects on the peripheral systems of the body, many of which are just coming to light. These peripheral effects include interactions with many hormones of the body as well as interactions with the skeletal muscle, the immune system, and the reproductive system. Also, Leptin acts centrally in order to stir up a neurotransmitter soup of meal stimulating and meal reducing chemicals. These central and peripheral effects are important to understand as they are ultimately responsible for metabolic changes with feeding as well as weight gain and loss.

So class is now dismissed for this week. But don't miss out on next week's lecture. I'll be reviewing some of the important feeding studies and discussing some recent data showing how recombinant Leptin injections may actually help prevent the metabolic decline associated with dieting.

Hungry, Hungry Hormones — Part 3
by John M Berardi

We here at T-nation just love them-there hormones. And if you didn’t figure that out from the very name of our little publication, you might have figured it out from the dozens of hormone-related articles we’ve published over the years. Yep, we here at T-mag headquarters love our Testosterone, our Growth Hormone, our Insulin, and our Glucagon. In fact, the last Friday of each month is devoted to the anabolic hormones. "Hormone Friday, as it’s called, is a day in which each T-mag staff member dons his or her favorite anabolic hormonal attire. You shoulda' seen JB last month. Hell, with that sterane ring wrapped around what he called his "Testosterone factory," he was a shoe-in for top costume honors.

As a result of his creative costume ideas and his needle-point prowess, JB not only got TC’s Real Doll,"Jenny," for the weekend, but he also earned the right to review a relatively new hormone that’s lately been the source of much discussion and confusion. JB's already covered the biggies: Testosterone (The Big T, Parts I and II, The Steroid Manifesto, Parts 1, 2, and 3), Growth Hormone (The Fountain of GH), and Insulin (The Anabolic Power of Insulin). Now, it’s time for JB to tackle that pesky new guy on the block — the hormone Leptin.

Fasted and Fed — Why Leptin Matters

As discussed in part 2 earlier, Leptin concentrations are very closely correlated with body fat mass. The fatter you are, the more Leptin you make. This relationship highlights the role of Leptin as a static indicator of chronic energy balance in the body. If you lose fat, Leptin goes down. If you gain fat, Leptin goes up.

To complicate the matter, however, it’s important to note that Leptin concentrations also reflect acute energy status and change very rapidly in response to feeding and fasting, as demonstrated below.

In the scenario graphically illustrated above, when fasting, the decline in Leptin concentrations would be associated with a ravenous hunger, a reduction in metabolic rate, and a decrease in voluntary activity. Since Leptin concentrations play an integral role in these changes at the muscle, fat, and hypothalamic tissues, a critical body composition target would be the maintenance of Leptin concentrations while dieting. At this point, let’s review some feeding research to highlight what exactly happens when dieting (and overfeeding).

Study #1 - (Coleman et al, Diabetologia 42: 636-646, 1999)

During a 52-96 hour fast, subjects experienced a 4% loss in body mass, accompanied by a 54-72% decline in Leptin concentrations.

In some subjects, once Leptin declined, the authors administered a glucose infusion (5% solution totaling 338 kcal/day), causing Leptin to increase by 80%, relative to that large depression. This demonstrates that a small carbohydrate load can almost normalize depressed Leptin concentrations. It's important to note that this small addition of carbohydrate is only associated with an increase in Leptin concentrations during a fast. During a normal diet phase, I doubt a small carb increase will increase Leptin concentrations.

In other subjects, after the 4-day fast, only 12 hours of "refeeding" returned Leptin to baseline, demonstrating that acute feeding is an important regulator of Leptin concentrations.

Study #2 - (Kolaczynski et al Diabetes 45: 1511-1515, 1996)

During the first part of this study, researchers found that after 36h of fasting, Leptin decreased by 77% while after 60h of fasting, Leptin decreased by 82%.

During the second part of the study (the data plotted above), authors found that Leptin decreased by 20% after 12h and 65% after 36h of fasting. However after 12 h of refeeding, Leptin increased to 62% of normal and after 24h refeeding, leptin increased to 100% of normal. These data indicate that 12h fasting is sufficient to reduce serum leptin dramatically — this is concomitant with decreased insulin and increased glucagon, cortisol, catecholamines, and GH. They also indicate that a normal single meal has negligible impact on leptin — it takes prolonged feedings to impact Leptin concentrations.

Finally, in this study the authors demonstrated that after an overnight fast with a small amount of glucose infusion, Leptin doesn’t drop at all.

Study #3 - (Kolaczynski et al J Clin Endocrinol Metab 81 4162-4165, 1996)

In Part 1, subjects were ridiculously overfed as follows: over 12 hours, subjects ate 120kcal/kg (about 12000kcal for a 100kg individual).

During the 5th to 10th hour of overfeeding, there was a 40% increase in Leptin that persisted through the morning and continued beyond. Unfortunately, the researchers only measured out Leptin levels until the morning. We don’t know how long the Leptin remained elevated. These data indicate that with very big, "Victor Richards type" overfeedings, elevations in Leptin concentrations may persist even after an overnight fast.

In Part 2, subjects ate 25kcal/kg (2500kcal for a 100kg individual) above normal intake until they gained an additional 10% body mass. During this study, fasting Leptin tripled in response to weight gain (there was a varied response, though: in subjects that gained the most fat, Leptin increased the most).

Study #4 - (Dallongeville et al Int J Obesity 22, 728-733, 1998)

Leptin increased by 27% over an 8h post meal period while it decreased by 29% during a similar fasted period (these results were obtained during daytime feeding/fasting). These data weren’t simply circadian due to the fact that similar changes were seen during nighttime feeding/fasting where Leptin increased by 37% over 8h when fed, and decreased by 27% over 8h when fasting. These data indicate that meal feeding during a normal circadian cycle increases Leptin concentrations while fasting decreases them.

Studies #5 - #7 - (Evans et al Clin Sci London 100(5) 493-498, 2001; Coppack et al Proc Nutr Soc 57 461-470; Dirlewanger et al Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 11 1413-1418, 2000)

These studies show that CHO are necessary to induce postprandial Leptin increases, as fat alone doesn’t increase Leptin after meals. They also demonstrate that mixed meals are sufficient to induce Leptin increases. Fat doesn’t have to be avoided.

From Research to Hypotheses
From these data, a number of individuals, including fellow T-mag contributor Joel Marion, have speculated that prolonged (8-12 hour) carbohydrate refeeds can help a struggling dieter’s metabolism. His argument is that while dieting, Leptin declines to a modest extent and, as a result, the metabolism slows, cravings increase, progress slows, and the diet begins to seem futile. He reasons that if carb feeding increases Leptin concentrations (which it will), the metabolic rate will kick up again and fat burning will resume.

While I applaud these speculations of my colleagues, I can’t totally agree with this hypothesis. As the research above has illustrated, Leptin kicks up and down very rapidly as energy intake fluctuates. Therefore, while Leptin may kick up with a 10-hour carbohydrate reefed, it’s likely to drop back down just as rapidly after the reefed is over and another 10 hours of dieting are accomplished. Therefore, a dieter may just end up with a bigger positive energy balance during those 24hours of refeeding and subsequent return to dieting.

Since there is no data, one way or the other, illustrating what happens in dieting weight lifters when refeeding, there's only speculation. Of course, Leptin itself aside, if there were some prolonged increase in Leptin, we should be able to measure the effects of this Leptin increase by observing increases in metabolic rate the day after the refeed. Unfortunately, metabolic increases as a result of acute overfeeding aren’t observed a day after the overfeed (or refeed). But no matter, I don’t want to make a big deal about either of these points.

As I’ve indicated in previous columns, I do see other good reasons (i.e. a psychological break from dieting, increased adherence, better glycogen status, more intense workouts) for refeeding besides the Leptin issue.

Another interesting hypothesis is that fish oil can positively impact Leptin concentrations and Leptin action. While all of the current data is in rats, it appears that dietary fish oil can acutely increase plasma Leptin concentrations, increasing metabolic rate and decreasing hunger. If this were to occur during dieting, it would be beneficial in preventing metabolic decline. However, due to the fact that fish oil feeding prevents fat gain or reduces body fat in rats after a high saturated fat diet, chronic Leptin concentrations should be reduced (as Leptin is correlated with body fat stores). Regardless of what the rat data say, currently I know a grad student who is measuring the effects of fish oil supplementation of plasma Leptin concentrations. Once these data are collected I’ll be sharing them here.

Leptin Injections While Dieting?

Theoretical issues shelved, the last study I want to address today is one demonstrating just what does happen when Leptin is "replaced" (exogenously) during a dieting situation.

Study #8 - (Rosenbaum et al J Clin Endo Metab 87(5) 2391-2394 , 2002)

In this study, subjects were fed a diet until they became weight stable for 2 weeks. Then subjects were fed a diet designed to help them lose 10% of their body mass. After this was achieved, calories were then adjusted up to achieve weight stability for 2 weeks.

At this reduced weight, Leptin was decreased (30%), as was T3 (9%), T4 (13%), total mass (10% or 8.6kg), lean mass (5% or 2.5kg) and fat mass (18% or 6.2kg), and total daily energy expenditure.

At this point, Leptin injections were then given to the subjects for 5 weeks as they consumed the amount of calories required to keep weight stable. The amount of Leptin given was just enough to return Leptin back to their baseline (pre-diet concentrations).

The 5 weeks of Leptin administration led to normalizations in Leptin concentrations, T3, T4, and total daily energy expenditure while leading to further losses in body mass (an extra 1.5kg), fat mass (an extra 1kg), and a small loss of lean mass (an extra 0.6kg)

This study demonstrates that Leptin replacement during a maintenance diet (with a depressed metabolism due to prior dieting) can facilitate a greater rate of fat loss due to the effects of Leptin on normalizing the thermogenic environment of the body.

Body Weight Regulation

As this article has repeatedly stressed, body weight is regulated by short term and long-term signals. The short-term signals include altered meal patterns and individual meal consumption. The long-term signals include the balance of energy expenditure with energy intake.

While, for disciplined dieters, the meal consumption factor is held constant (despite an ever increasing appetite), another problem arises. Dieting efforts can be foiled by metabolic and hormonal adaptations such as decreased metabolic rate, decreased voluntary energy expenditure (exercise), reduced immune function, decreased reproductive function, and decreased anabolic hormonal output (GhRH and GH, GRH and Testosterone, TSH and Thyroid hormones), all the while increasing CRH and adrenal hormones. It appears that Leptin is a big player in these adaptations.

While I don’t have any easy answers as to how we can recruit Leptin to fight the good fight — to help out with our fat loss efforts—Leptin research is coming at us at an alarming rate. As a result, I have no doubt that in the near future, in response to questions about how Leptin operates, some trainer or nutritionist will be starting their answer off with "Well, it’s simple really…"

Intensity Techniques

2007-06-05T21:45:00.001-07:00

Shocking your System into Awesome Muscular Growth!

Introduction

Due to the adaptiveness of the human body, certain exercises and routines will elicit a smaller and smaller effect on the body (expressed in terms of muscular development) as they become more familiarized in your training. Several methods to “shock” the body into new growth include the following:

(1) Train with more weight than usual.

(2) Do more reps or sets.

(3) Speeding up your training.

(4) Cutting down rest time between sets.

(5) Doing unfamiliar exercises.

(6) Changing the order of your exercises.

Change in itself will shock the body into new growth more than intensity. One good method of shocking is to take one day out of the month and train with many more sets, or with very high reps.

The Cheating Method

The cheating method is the one exception to maintaining strict form in all bodybuilding movements. It is a method in which you deliberately use other muscle groups in order to aid one primary movement. An example of the cheating method in use would be individuals who arch their back slightly to do one or more additional repetitions of standing barbell curls. It is recommended that you keep cheating movements to the last set of an exercise, and not to go beyond a total of three additional repetitions with this method.

Continuous Tension Principle

If you do your exercises in a slow, controlled manner, you will maintain optimal muscular tension and this will result in new growth for your muscles. Always complete every bodybuilding motion with emphasis on strict form throughout the entire range of motion.

Cycle Training Principle

Do one workout for size, mass, and strength, then lower the weight and increase the number of repetitions in the following workout for greater quality. This way, you subject your muscles to maximum output every workout, and reduce your chances of overtraining and injury.

Double Split Principle

If you are looking to maximize energy reserves, you can take your daily training activities, and split them into two training sessions, one AM training, and one PM training. For example, if you are planning to train chest / biceps one day, you can train your chest in the morning, and your biceps in the afternoon or evening.

Eclectic Training Principle

Combine both mass building and shape building exercises in all of your bodybuilding exercises to ensure total development. If you pay attention to both mass and shape, you will develop a symmetrical physique much more easily. For example, dumbbell curls are considered a very important exercise to develop your biceps peak, where standing barbell curls are considered a very important mass builder. By incorporating both mass and shape building exercises into your workouts you will develop the mass you want as well as a shape you will appreciate.

Flushing Principle

To add extra intensity to your workouts, you can exercise your muscles in a continuous way using a steady pace. This will keep the blood flow to your muscles steady and help you to keep yourself “pumped” throughout the entire workout. To completely focus on the exercise, you can train different aspects of the same body part on different days. For example, you can train your quadriceps on day one, and then your hamstrings on day three. This will help you to develop a complete and balanced physique and your overall symmetry will benefit.

Forced Reps

“Forced Reps” is the term given to the idea of forcing yourself to do additional reps beyond the point of muscular failure. This can be achieved in numerous ways. One way is to let your training partner give you a spot on one or more final reps in a given lift. Another good method is to complete your set, wait a few seconds, and try to pump off a few more repetitions, shortly after muscular failure has occurred.

Instinctive Principle

The instinctive principle is exactly what you may be thinking it is. It is the technique where you base your exercises on what muscles you feel should be worked that day, and you perform the exercises in the order you feel they will benefit you. This may mean you will perform the same workouts from week to week and only vary the order in which you perform the exercises, or it may mean that you workout your biceps three times in the week, while in the same period of time, take a rest period of 10 days before performing an exercise for your back. The instinctive principle is based on working the muscles which you feel are the freshest and basing your workouts entirely on how you think and feel. The instinctive principle may be a welcome change from performing your workouts in a specific way, almost as though you have two drill sergeants telling you what to do.

Intensity Levels

Generally speaking, intensity of training effort falls into the following categories listed and described below:

(1) Positive or concentric full - rep momentary failure.

(2) Positive or concentric full - and partial - rep momentary failure.

(3) Positive or concentric full - rep momentary failure plus additional negative or eccentric - only reps.

These are listed in order of increasing intensity or stress. As intensity levels increase, the ability for the body to recover is more difficult; therefore you may require additional recovery days if you are employing intensity principles into your training. However, these extra days will be well worth the extra mass you gain.

Iso-Tension Principle

By flexing your worked muscles between sets and after the workout, you will be able to better control them, and bring out separation and striations. This isometric flexing helps give your body sharpness. As an example, you may want to flex your quadriceps.

Isolation Principle

Use exercises which isolate different parts of the muscle you want to develop. This will allow you to develop that muscle in a more complete and balanced way. This will help you with your overall symmetry. If you would like to achieve a balanced upper arm, work both your biceps and your triceps with a number of different workouts to ensure you make it grow in a complete way.

Isolation Training

“Isolation” training refers to isolating a specific muscle or muscle group, or even a certain detailing aspect of an individual muscle. Some movements develop, or require the use of, a number of individual muscles. An example of this would be a compound movement such as the squat. In order to develop a complete and balanced physique, it might be necessary to include isolation training as part of your regiment in order to bring out your proportion and symmetry and achieve a look which could be likened to a Greek sculpture.

Manipulation of Growth

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) is the defense response of the body or mind to injury or prolonged stress. It consists of the following three stages as listed and described below:

(1) An initial shock reaction.

(2) An increasing resistance or adaptation, using various defense mechanisms of the body or mind.

(3) Final stage of either adjustment and healing or exhaustion and disintegration.

Bodybuilding is first physical stress, and second, mental and emotional stress. It is the delicate balance between GAS from your body and the continued onslaught of training that yields pounds of hard - won muscle. Train less, eat and sleep more is the generalized prescription for taking advantage of your body’s GAS. Remember that steroids only speed the recovery side of GAS. They do not specifically produce new muscle growth. There must always be the initial source of stress - training.

Muscle Confusion Training Principle

One of the most basic, and most important of the training principles, is the muscle confusion training principle. This principle is all about ensuring you have a variety in your workouts. This will be a variety of sets, reps, exercises, rest periods, etc. It is also important to train the muscle from the most efficient position, in which it has the greatest mechanical advantage / stress. It remains critically important to supplement those exercises with others utilizing various angles for certain exercises. Muscles should never be allowed to accommodate to an exercise to the point where the exercise is ineffective and doesn’t result in hypertrophy or the goal you were looking for. This variety will improve your motivation, keep you mentally fresh, and keep your muscles growing.

Negative Repetitions

The negative (or concentric) part of any movement, is the lowering phase during the range of motion. For example, in the bench press, the negative motion would be the process of lowering the weight from the starting position to your chest (or immediately above). The negative portion of any movement is said to be the largest factor for hypertrophy (muscular growth). Some methods to succeed at negative reps would be to lower the weight slowly and under control, and bring it up, with force and power, or have your training partner do the positive part of the motion for you. Keep in mind you are capable of performing negative repetitions with more weight than you would normally use for the full movement. If your one rep maximum (1RM) for bench press is 200 pounds, you should have no problem doing negative repetitions (at least a few) with that weight and the aid of a training partner, as safety should be your number one priority.

Overload Principle

To shock your muscles into growth, you can overload with progressively heavier poundage. For example, if you can bench press 150 pounds for a total of 10 repetitions, you may want to increase this number weekly by upping the poundage by a certain percentage each week. Another overload method is to decrease the amount of rest time between sets. Once again, if you can bench press 150 pounds for a total of 10 repetitions, you may want to decrease the rest interval between each set, from two minutes to one minute and a half.

Partial Reps

After achieving initial muscular failure, it is possible to continue your sets by performing repetitions which do not go through the entire range of motion. An example of this would be doing a bench press exercise where you perform half repetitions in the upper third range of motion. This can bring your muscles past the temporary point of failure and up to complete muscle exhaustion, or very close to it.

Peak Contraction Principle

Keep continuous tension on the fully contracted muscle. By squeezing and contracting the pectorals during the exercise, you can use peak contractions to stimulate and striate your muscle fibers. An example of the peak contraction principle would be feeling your chest squeeze through the entire range of motion when performing pec deck flies, or squeezing your biceps through the entire range of motion of a dumbbell curl.

Pre-Exhaust Principle

In certain exercises, many different muscles are stimulated in one lift. However, some of those muscles used reach temporary muscular failure before others. For example, when you perform the bench press exercise, you are using your pectorals, as well as your triceps and front deltoids. Since your triceps and front deltoids are smaller muscles, they will likely reach muscular failure before your pectorals. To compensate for this, you can perform dumbbell flies first, which will isolate and exhaust the pectorals. Afterwards, when you perform the bench press exercise, the pectorals, which are already tired, will go to a fatigue at the same time as the other muscles.

Priority Principle

The priority principle is one technique used to develop a complete and balanced physique. It allows you to work on weak areas, while also developing a full physique while training your strong areas as well. Regardless of genetic predisposition, everyone has certain areas which are lagging in comparison to the others, or even certain aspects of individual muscles which are not as complete in proportion to the muscle as a whole (ie, many individuals who are a lagging upper or outer chest, but a full, and balanced lower chest). Some tips on using the priority principle in your training are listed below:

(1) You can train a certain body part immediately after rest day so that it is fresh, recuperated and strong.

(2) You can train a certain body part at the beginning of your training to ensure quality repetitions are achieved rather than after when the muscles become more fatigued. An example of this would be the pairing of back and biceps in a total body split. If biceps are trained immediately after back, the biceps will be pre fatigued to a certain degree as a result, and the training focus may not be as intense as it could have been. Although it is not the weight you lift, but the form, many would argue that this does not matter, but to really isolate a certain muscle, it is helpful to train it at the beginning of the workout when glycogen stores and motivation are at there peaks.

(3) Be specific with your exercises and ensure that they will help you achieve the goal you have in mind. If your goal is a defined look, you will want to perform high rep range, in the range of 12 - 20 repetitions for example, where, if your goal is to develop mass, you will want to keep your repetitions in the 6 - 12 rep range.

(4) Use training intensity techniques specifically on lagging muscles or muscle groups to bring them up to the standard you would like.

(5) Remember to use perfect form in all your exercises to blast and bomb your muscles in various ways to create the mass and definition you are looking to achieve.

Progression Principle

Bodybuilding involves progressive resistance training, always using a low percentage of your one rep maximum (1RM). Usually this percentage is around 75% - 85%. You need to gradually increase the weight you use, keeping within a rep range. This way, you will continue to challenge your muscles as they get stronger. By continually testing and training using your one rep maximums, you will be training for power, which will sculpt your body in another way, generally making the muscles thicker and more dense, but doing less for mass gains than recreational bodybuilding. The goal in either case, is to push the body far enough so it adapts and makes new gains, but not far enough that it causes an injury. If you are looking to bench press or squat with three plates a side, that is an excellent goal, however, you need to be sure to work up to it gradually, and have safety as your number one priority, and only perform these types of lifts with a spotter by your side.

Psycho Sets

The Psycho Set shocking method is similar ascending or descending sets but where you surprise your muscles by frequently changing the weight / number of reps.

Pyramid Principle

You can pyramid the weight to ensure proper muscle warm - up. This may take the place of stretching or other conventional warm ups, because by pyramiding you prepare your muscles for the lifts ahead, and reduce your chances of injury. For example, you can start with 60% of your maximum lifting weight, and gradually increase the poundage during each subsequent set.

Quality Training Principle

A type of workout used just prior to a competition in which the lengths of rest intervals between sets are progressively reduced to increase overall training intensity and to help further define the physique. You can incorporate this training principle in your workouts to help you develop mass and muscle symmetry.

Rest-Pause Principle

Rather than ending your set after taking a heavy weight to failure, rest for 10-15 seconds and then bang out another rep or two. It is also possible to go on to alternate work with rest until the muscles you are using are completely fatigued. Rest-pause should never be done without a spotter present.

Riot Bombing Principle

Riot bombing works two opposing muscle groups in superset fashion. Riot bombing incorporates several sets while doing so.

Set System Training Principle

If you perform many sets per workout, as many as three to four per exercise, you will completely exhaust each muscle group and stimulate maximum muscle hypertrophy. Remember, this extra intensity works effectively to pack on mass, but should only be done once every month or so to shock the system into new growth.

Split System Training Principle

To increase the overall intensity of training, hit no more than two bodyparts during a single workout. This not only allows you to perform more exercises and sets for a particular bodypart, but also gives each bodypart more time to rest and recuperate between workouts.

Staggered Sets

Staggered sets involve doing a number of sets of a body part you want to train with increased intensity in between other exercises throughout your workout. For example, when doing barbell curls, you can rest during a period when you perform leg presses, and then continue on with barbell curls, followed by a set of squats. By the end of your workout you will have completed primarily barbell curls, while also working your legs, and do another biceps workout several days later to really spawn muscular growth.

Stripping Method

The stripping method involves reducing the weight you use as you begin to fail at the end of a set, so that you can continue to do more repetitions. When you come to an end of an exercise of a given set with a certain weight, you may or may not be surprised to know that performing additional sets immediately following the initial set is feasible if you reduce the weight. The main benefit of this, is that each time you take a plate off and reduce the poundage to perform additional sets, the muscle(s) which you are working are forced to recruit additional muscle fibers. Similarly to the cheat rep method, the stripping method is best performed at the end of a workout, during your last set. At this time, muscle fiber recruitment will be at its peak. An example of this can be seen with individuals who start a dumbbell curl exercise, and perform it until they have reached temporary muscular failure, they then take another weight off the rack, which they feel they can handle for a few more quality repetitions, and recruit new muscle fibers to achieve temporary muscular failure once again. This is a very effective shocking method.

Supersets

Supersets are two exercises being performed in a row. It is also possible to perform three exercises in a row in the same manner. Not everyone will have the endurance necessary to do supersets, but the skill will develop quickly with hard work and proper training. Below are the two methods of supersetting:

(1) Performing two slightly different movements for the same muscle group back to back

(2) Performing two movements for different muscle groups back to back

It is amazing that right after a set of bench press, for example, the body has the ability to perform a full set of an exercise using the same muscle group, only performed slightly differently (such as dumbbell flies, or cable crossovers). You can use the priority principle to help any lagging muscle or muscle group, such as the thickness of your upper back, or the fullness of your chest, or the peak of your biceps. Many people have improved their physiques and developed the look they were aiming for through the use of this principle.

WEIDER PRIORITY TRAINING PRINCIPLE - CHEST

2007-06-05T21:42:00.001-07:00

In attempting to achieve something as major as adding 10% to your bench press in 10 weeks, you must make chest the main focus of your training. This is done by implementing the Weider Priority Training Principle, wherein you prioritize your chest training and put other bodyparts on the back burner for the required 10-week period. This is done in two ways. First, train chest alone in one session, without the energy-sapping accompaniment of working other bodyparts. Second, scale down the volume of work on other bodyparts to maintenance level, leaving the full blood-and-thunder exploits for your chest workouts. You cannot continue to go all out on all other bodyparts while turning up the heat on your pec work, or you'll overwork your recuperation system. The workloads allocated to chest and other bodyparts will be covered in detail in step six.