SolOrwell.com

Buzz word galore. I kept hearing (and even reading) about hormones like leptin and insulin, but I never really understood them. As I was sick last week, I finally took the time to read up on them. My notes are as follows (if anything is wrong, let me know).

Leptin

• Leptin equates to a level of “available energy” for your body
• Secreted by your fat cells
• In rats, obese rats had no leptin. Inject with leptin, fat loss incurred quickly
• Rage over leptin as the miracle weightloss
• Contrary to rats, overweight human beings had high leptin levels
  • Overweight people had developed resistance to leptin (similar to insulin resistance)
  • Essentially the signal from leptin to brain was broken somewhere
• Injecting overweight humans with leptin provided no real weight loss
• Leptin scales with subcutaneous fat (higher in woman) [Inversely, insulin scales with visceral fat, higher in men]
• Estrogen seems to increase response of leptin
• Leptin levels do not change quickly (can take hours)
• Males below 10% bodyfat have almost no leptin in their bloodstream
  • Women have 2-3x leptin compared to men with equal BF%
• Leptin seems to respond directly with carbohydrate metabolism in fat cells
  • Responds to both over and under-feeding
• After a week of dieting, leptin drops 30-50%
• Short-term carb overfeeding can bring leptin levels up (faster than fat is gained)
  • Only responds to carb-intake. Overfeeding on fat does not produce a similar response
  • Refeeds are used for both leptin and insulin
• Leptin basically tells your body:
  1. How much fat you are carrying
  2. How much you are eating
• Leptin is involved in a lot of stuff, including:
  • Fat oxidation
  • Liver metabolism
  • Immune system
  • Hunger regulation
  • Libido
    • Too much body fat also impacts libido negatively due to insulin resistance
  • Possibly more
• Levels are critical for puberty and fertility
  • Need a minimum level of fat for puberty. Childhood obesity -> higher leptin levels -> earlier puberty
  • Without enough leptin (“energy”), body decides reproduction not as important, shuts down reproductive system
  • Raising leptin brings back reproductive function without weight gain
• Leptin is basically a safeguard from starving. With not enough “energy” body slows itself down
• Lower levels of leptin could also impact dopamine signalling (aka increased resistance)
• Existing fat levels matter. Losing 5% of BF at 30% BF does not trigger the same response as losing 5% of BF at 10% BF
• Low leptin levels also make it hard to feel satiated
  • Conversely, in the short term, leptin tells your body it is full
• As a supplement, leptin has to be injected. Pretty much impossible to get and *very* expensive
• Best way to raise leptin is a high carb/high calorie refeed of at least two meals (eg lunch + snack).
  • Need multiple meals as leptin does not change quickly like insulin
  • The leaner you are, the more refeeds are important in restoring leptin levels
• Zinc and Vitamin E *may* have an impact on leptin production
• Exercise and fish oil also *may* improve leptin transport (aka sensitivity)
• Blood triglycerides seem to be cause of resistance (lower in high fat diets)
• Insulin (not excessive amounts) and epinephrine increase leptin transport
  • Insulin stimulates leptin release
• Inflammation (omega 6/3 ratio) also increases leptin resistance
• Refeeds should be high carb, moderate protein, low fat
  • Post workout is optimal time
  • Eg, Mark Sisson recommends 250-300g. Martin Berkhan targets 100-150g.
• Short term cortisol increase can help leptin levels
• Intermittant fasting (IF) is possibly positive – during fasting it falls, but breaking fast/refeed elevates it
  • In one study, mean leptin levels are increased. In a Ramadan study, the mean was the same
• High amounts of fructose increases leptin resistance

Cortisol

• Aka the stress hormone
• Good in short-term, bad long-term
• Used in:
  • Blood pressure
  • Regulates immune system
  • Metabolism
• Normally peak in the morning, dips in the evening
  • Slugishness in the morning is due to low cortisol levels
  • Lack of adquate sleep decreased peak and increased dip
• Short term elevation can:
  • Elevate mood
  • Increase leptin levels
  • Improve insulin resistance
• Chronically elevated provides the opposite of short-term:
  • Depression
  • Reduces leptin levels
  • Water retention (diuretic)
  • Decreased testosterone
  • Indirectly promotes storage of fat
  • Muscle breakdown
  • Conversion of protein to glucose in liver
  • … and more
• Ways to control (decreased ‘body stress’):
  • Adequate sleep
  • Exercise
  • Fasting can bring it down
  • Don’t go into too much caloric deficit
  • Do not overtrain (eg excessive cardio)
  • Antioxidants and healthy fats could also help regulate
  • Omega 3/6 balance (keep body away from inflammation)
  • Research by Bulgarians showed that workouts > 45 minutes increased cortisol
  • Bulgarians did multiple 45 minutes sessions in a day
  • Over-feeds can also decrease (by decreasing stress on body)
• NOTE: Your body DOES need it. Just not elevated periods all the time. Only in short term peaks

Insulin

• Used in regulation of carb/fat metabolism
  • Used to stimulate glycogen storage in liver
    • Thus lowers blood glucose level
  • Decreases protein breakdown
    • Drives amino acids into muscle
  • Directly inhibits fat mobilization from fat cells
    • Even in a fasted state insulin blocks lipolysis
• Fear of insulin is a bit excessive
  • Needed to keep leptin levels high
• Is raise by consumption of carbohydrates OR protein
  • Protein does not cause increase as much as carbs
    • Proten does release glucagon (carbs do not)
      • Glucagon increases blood glucose level
      • Glucagon is kind of ying/yang to insulin
  • Raises more when both consumed
  • Basically spikes when food is being absorbed and dips when none left to absorb
• Genetics can greatly affect insulin sensitivity (upto 10x)
  • Thus while a low-carb diet may work for Person X, for Person Y a high-carb diet would be more apt
• Working out with higher sensitivity leads to more GLUT4 activation and thus better workouts
• Increase sensitivity with:
  • Exercise (glycogen depletion)
  • Fish Oil (EPA)
  • Fasting (glycogen depletion)
  • Thus more sensitive at breakfast
  • Cinnamon
  • Moderate alcohol
    • Even for people with type 2 diabetes
• Insulin scales with visceral fat (higher in men) [Inversely, leptin scales with subcutaneous fat, higher in women]
• Levels can change in minutes
• High resistance issues:
  • Harder to build muscle
  • Libido decreases
  • Increase in blood sugar
  • Promotes fat storage
  • Fatigue
  • Increase in triglycerides
  • Increased hunger (unable to satiate properly)
  • Can cause diabetes
    • Diabetes is due to either not enough insulin (type 1) or body does not respond to insulin produced (aka resistance)
    • Over 40% of Americanos have some form of pre-diabetes suggestive of insulin resistance
  • Plaque build up in arteries
    • Causes heart disease
  • Thyroid problems (due to inablity of liver to convert thyroid hormone T4 into T3)
• High resistance can be caused by:
  • Overeating
  • Excessive fructose/sugar (high blood sugar)
  • Glucosamine (taken for joint health) *may* also cause insulin resistance
  • Overweight (high BF%)
    • High levels of insulin do not directly cause obesity

Testosterone

• Useful for:
  • Libido for both men and women
  • Muscular growth
  • Bone densification
  • Hair growth
  • Estrogen production (via estradiol)
• Men have 10x compared to women
  • Women are far more sensitive
• Mostly made in testes / ovaries
• Decreased by:
  • Increased cortisol
  • Excessive cardio
  • Alcohol binging (10+ beers)
  • Low leptin levels (dieting)
• Increased by:
  • Fasting
  • Exercise
    • Lifting heavy things
      • Pause at least 90s between exercises. Shorter pauses promote growth hormone more
    • Sprinting
  • Sufficient Vitamin D
  • Sufficient Zinc
  • Clean meat
    • Bull meat has roughly 35x testosterone levels compared to steer meat
  • Saturated and monounsaturated fats
  • Cholesterol
  • Limited blood sugar spikes (less than 75g of glucose)
  • Refeeds/overfeeds
• Not affected by short-term fasting (eg leangains)
• Moderate doses of soy do not impact testosterone levels

Triglycerides

• Roughly 90% of the fat we consume (cholesterol is the other 10%)
  • The main component of vegetable oil and animal fat
  • Energy source and transporter of dietary fat
• Molecularly looks *nothing* like cholesterol
• Trans fat, monounsaturated fat, saturated fat, and polyunsaturated fat are all triglycerides
  • Trans fat – comes in refined foods
  • Monounsaturated fats: found in most food that have dietary fat (eg eggs and beef).
  • Saturated fat: found mostly in animal products
  • Polyunsaturated: liquid at room temperature, generally have a higher omega 6 to 3 ratio
• Trans fat is not really good for you
  • The other three have both benefits and drawbacks
• Stored and released by fat cells
• High levels correlates with insulin resistance
• Increased by:
  • Refined carbohydrates
    • Excess fructose (> 50g)
  • Obesity (fat storage)
• Decrease by:
  • Moderate alcohol
  • Higher fat in diet
  • Increase insulin sensitivity
  • Exercise
  • Fish oil / omega 3
  • Vinegar
• Excessive amounts leads to:
  • Atherosclerosis / heart disease / stroke
  • Lowered leptin transport

Sources include Examine.com, Lyle McDonald, Martin Berkhan, Mark Sisson, Stephan Guyenet, Ryan Koch, Don Matesz, Chris Masterjohn, Wikipedia, and more.

Broscience was ignored, citation was required.

Tim Ferris has recently released his 4 Hour Body book. As is typical of me, I read it through for any cutting edge info I may be able to extract (and that could be backed up by some real science).

Overall the book read very much like a bunch of random blog posts jammed together. Eg in one chapter he would tell you not to eat before going to sleep, and then in another he would tell you that having some sugar before going to sleep led to better sleep.

I’ve written up notes that summarizes the book:

GROUND ZERO

Elusive Body Fat

• Body fat: DEXA, then BodPod

SUBTRACTING FAT

The Slow-Carb Diet I/II

• Slow Carb Diet:
  1. No white carbs
  2. Same Meals
  3. Do not drink calories
  4. Do not eat fruit
  5. Once a week have a cheat day
• When Cheating:
  1. First meal of day should not be binge. High in protein and fiber (eg legumes)
  2. Flat line blood glucose by having a bit of fructose (eg orange juice, grapefruit juice, etc)
  3. Multivitamins!
  4. Consume some citric juices (lemon, lime, and grapefruit)
  5. Do a bit of exercise before (~10 minutes) and then after (~90 minutes). Eg 40 air squats or 40 wall pushups. Activates more GLUT-4

Damage Control

• GLUT-4 (glucose transporter type 4) helps push calories into muscle. Working out brings more, and thus eating after = better.
• Do 30-50 reps of air squats, wall presses, or chest pulls before each meal and 90m after each meal
• CQ (cissus quadrangularis)
• take 2.4 grams 30 minutes before meal.
• Gut Bacteria:
  • Splenda kills it
  • Get fermented stuff. Kimchi, kefir, sauerkraut, yogurt.

The Four Horsemen of Fat-Loss

• Four Horsemen of Fat Loss – PAGG Stack:
  • Policosanol: 20-25mg
    • Helps lower cholesterol
  • Alpha-lipoic acid: 100-300mg
    • Antioxidant and free radical scavenger
  • Green tea flavanols: 325mg (at least 325mg EGCG)
    • EGCG is a catechin and flavanol found in green teas
    • Increases GLUT-4 recruitment
  • Garlic extract: 200mg
• AGG before each meal, PAGG before bed time
• Make sure you get enough B-complex vitamins when on PAGG

Ice Age

• Forcing your body cold forces your body to burn more calories (to generate heat)
• Ice pack on back of neck and upper traps for 30 minutes = helps fat loss. Do it during night when insulin sensitivity is at its lowest
• Consume ice cold water when you wake up
• Take 5/10 minute cold shower before breakfast
  • Short-term cold exposure leads to fatty acid release. It can help recruit GLUT-4
  • Increases adiponectin levels and glucose uptake
  • Increases immunity
  • Can help vs depression

The Glucose Switch

• DexCom SEVEN Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) to track glucose level
• Glucose from food hits you about 90-120 minutes later
• Eat fat earlier in the meal (eg appetizer) can help suppress glucose jump
• Stabilized glucose does notnecessarily mean more fat loss
• 3 tbsp of lemon juice helps suppress glucose response
• Cinnamon helps stabilize glucose
• ~4g (1.5 tsp) per day max. Saigon is best, ceylon close, cassia shit
• Slow the fuck down when eating

ADDING MUSCLE

Building the Perfect Posterior

• Kettleball swings = huge
• T-Handle (page 180) for instant kettleball with plates.
  • One 0.75″ x 12″ long pipe nipple.
  • Two 0.75″ x 4″ long pipe nipples for handles.
  • One 0.75″ pipe “T” to connect all 3 together
  • One 0.75″ floor flange to keep plate one
  • One spring clamp to keep plates from drifting
  • Get a new T pipe every ~6 months for wear and tear
• Ideal men waist-to-hip ratio is 0.8-0.9 and waist-to-shoulder ratio of 0.6

Six-Minute Abs

• Cat Vomit Ab Workout:
  1. Get on all fours (like back stretch)
  2. Forcefully exhale from mouth. Your abs should contract
  3. Hold your breath for 8-12 seconds and pull belly towards spine
  4. Inhale fully through nose

  Take one normal breath cycle to rest, then repeat x10

• Bicycle crunch also good for abs
• Fix pelvic tilt with hip flexor stretches (page 187)

From Geek to Freak

• Colorado Experiment:
  • Negative-only sets
  • Supersets (eg leg extension) to prefatigue and then compound (squats)

Occam’s Protocol

• Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy
• more water around muscle fibers
• Myofibrillar hypertrophy
• more muscle fibers

IMPROVING SEX

The 15-Minute Female Orgasm

• [all graphical, so skipped]

Sex Machine

• Protocol #1 for Sex [Long Term]:
  • Fermented cod liver oil + vitamin-rich butter fat – 2 capsules upon waking and before bed
  • Vitamin D3
  • 3000-5000 IU upon waking and before bed
  • Short cold showers
  • 10 minutes upon waking and before bed
  • Brazil nuts (aka filberts)
  • 3 nuts upon waking and before bed
• Protocol #2 for Sex [24 Hours Sex]:
  • Before Bedtime Day before Sex:
    • 800mg cholesterol (4+ eggs)
  • Four Hours before Sex:
    • 4 Brazil nuts (helps selenium)
    • 20 raw almonds
    • 2 capsules of fermented cod/butter combo

PERFECTING SLEEP

Engineering the Perfect Night’s Sleep

• 200mg of huperzine-A 30 minutes before sleep helped REM 20-50%.
• More than 2 glasses of wine within 4 hours of sleep decreases deep-wave sleep 20-50%
• Two tbsp of almond butter on celery before bed eliminated 50% of the ‘feel like shit’ in the morning. Possibly due to low blood sugar.
• To Improve Sleep:
  • Sleep with 67-70 F temperature
  • Eat a large fat/protein dominated meal within 3 hours of bed. 800mg of cholesterol (4+ eggs) and 40g protein.
  • Use light cues, eg Philips goLITE
  • Iso-lateral (one arm or leg) movements. The more stabilization the better
  • Cold bath one hour before bed
  • Ultrasonic humidifier
  • Nightwave pulse light

Becoming Uberman

• [skipped]

REVERSING INJURIES

Reversing “Permanent” Injuries

• Four Stages of Injury Recovery:
  • Stage 1: Movement – Correcting posture/biomechanics through specific movements
  • Stage 2: Manipulation – Correcting soft-tissue damage using tools/pressure
  • Stage 3: Medication – ingest, injection, application
  • Stage 4: Mechanical – surgical repair
• Stage 1: Movement:
  • Shoe heel removal, use vibrams/barefeet. Fixes: lower back
  • Egoscue. Fixes: cervical/neck and mid-back
    • Static Back
      • Lie on back, legs up on block/chair, arms out at 45 degrees, open palm, thumbs touching floor.
      • 5 minutes
    • Static Extension on Elbows.
      • On knees, push forward, butt up, back arched, on your upper arms, thumbs up, fists, heads down
      • 60 seconds
    • Shoulder Bridge with Pillow
      • Bridge up, arms out, pillow between legs while pressing together. Only tense legs
      • 60 seconds
    • Active Bridges with Pillow
      • Like shoulder bridges, but keep moving hips up and down
      • 3 sets of 15 reps
    • Air Bench
      • Wall squat, 95 degrees
      • 2 minutes
• Stage 2: Manipulation:
  • AMIT (Advanced Muscle Integration Therapy). Part of MAT (Muscle Activation Techniques) Fixes: pecs, glutes, calves
    • Works on proprioception (how CNS controls muscles)
    • The master is Craig Buhler in Kaysville, aka Dr. Two Fingers
  • ART (Active-Release Technique). Fixes: Shoulder internal rotators
    • Painful
    • Can eliminate scar tissue
    • Works for 70% of people
• Stage 3: Medication:
  • Prolotherapy. Fixes: left knee, right wrist
    • Mixture of irritants are injected into tendons, ligaments, and inside joints to stimulate tissue repair
  • Biopuncture. Fixes: infraspinatus, achilles tendon
    • Bunch of injections from small needles

How to Pay for a Beach Vacation with One Hospital Visit

• Medical Tourism:
  • Patients Beyond Borders by Josef Woodman – comprehensive guide on medical tourism
  • http://www.imtjonline.com/resources/patient-guide/
  • http://www.bumrungrad.com/
  • http://www.medretreat.com/
  • http://www.medtrava.com/

Injury-Proofing the Body

• Most likely cause of injury is not weakness or tightness. It is imbalance
  • Designed to identify left-right imbalance (asymmetry) and motor control (wobbling and shifting)
  • Test using the following five:
    1. Deep squat
    2. Hurdle Step
    3. In-line lunge
    4. Active straight leg raise
    5. Seated rotation
  • Four main corrective exercises for fixes:
    • Chop and lift
    • Turkish get-up (best)
    • nine discrete moves
    • Two-arm single-leg deadlift
    • Cross-body one-arm single-leg deadlift
  • Imbalance is not just a strength problem, but also a motor control problem

RUNNING FASTER AND FURTHER

Hacking the NFL Combine

• Jumping:
  • Use your shoulders to jump. Throw your arms down
  • Pull extended arm back (retract) at the apex
  • When squatting to jump, feet just inside hips and back flat
  • Stretch out hip flexors (lunge with knee on floor, then rotate. Hold 30s)
• Sprinting:
  • Short distances at 95%+ effort. No 75-95% effort (higher volume too hard to recover from in 24h)
  • 80% of training on 10 yard dashes
  • Stance:
    • Like an NFL lineman.
    • Weaker foot one foot behind line
    • Stronger leg behind, upper thigh straight down, lower leg bent, toes on.
    • Hip width between legs
    • Stronger almost arm straight down. Balance on index, middle, thumb.
    • Weaker arm close to hips, 90 degree at elbow
    • Shoulders slightly forward. This lets you push with your stronger arm instead of lifting it
  • Running:
    • When starting, target strong leg to land one yard in front of weaker leg toe
    • Eyes where first step will land (3 feet in front of weaker leg)
    • Ensure knees ahead of toes
    • Keep chin tucked (forces your torso upright)
    • Upper body ahead of lower
    • Take fewest steps possible (will make you feel slower).
  • Hamstring exercise: bodyweight glute-ham raise. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlalgTN1dgA

Ultra-Endurance

• For more endurance, work on short distances to build up aerobic capacity
• For long distance, run 4x400m at 95% effort with 90s rest in each. Then 10mins of 100m sprints with 10s rest between
• Need to have your ligaments, tendons, and small muscles of feet and ankles developed
• Jog barefeet on grass 30 min x 3/week to strengthen feet/ankles
• Biomechanically Efficient Running:
  1. Use gravity for forward motion
  2. Land on balls of feet and have feet land under your center of gravity
  3. Never fully straighten legs
  4. Pull each foot off ground towards buttocks (instead of pushing off). Use hamstring as it passes center of gravity
  5. Target 180 total steps per minute
  6. Short contained arm movement
• Decreases load on knees, increases on ankles. Change into this slowly
• Muscle soreness in long distance is from weak sodium-potassium pump
• If you can run a 10K, you have the base for a 50K
• Likes the Inov-8 shoes (like I wear!)
• If your shins hurt, you are dorsiflexing. Keep foot/lower leg at >= 90 degrees
• Should not hear stomping when running
• Target consuming one gram of carb per kg of bodyweight per hour while running
• Gulp water, not sip

GETTING STRONGER

Effortless Superhuman

• Use dynamic stretching
• One kg of skeletal muscle can produce enough force to support 44kg of mass
• Cause of speed drops is due to inability of fibers to supply sufficient tension (not reduction in fuel supply)
• When doing deadlift, drop weight at top (when at knee) to prevent hamstring injury
  • Straight back, as if pinching a wallet between shoulder blades
• Time under muscular tension should be < 10s to minimize lactic acid production
• Lactic acid delays recovery
• Competition Conditioning:
  • Walk as fast as possible (near jog) for 15 minutes, 3x a week
  • After four weeks = baseline conditioning
• Maximal Strength:
  • 1 set of 2-3 reps at 95% RM, then 1 set of 5 reps at 85% RM, 5 minutes between sets
  • Bench and deadlift
  • 3x a week
• Use global compound exercises (eg deadlift or bench press)
• Lift 3x a week, with conditioning/supplementary on other days
• Do sports-specific skill 6x a week
• Take one day off completely
• Sets of two or three reps, with roughly 10 total reps per exercise
• Never to complete failure
• Five minute rest between sets
• Save fatigue for your sport
• “Chronobiology” is the science of investigating time-dependent changes in physiology

Eating the Elephant

• Muscle strength and short-term power peaks in the early evening (4-6pm)
  • Coincides with daily max body temperature and highest pain tolerance
  • Based on a wake time of roughly 8am, so peak is 8-10 hours after waking

FROM SWIMMING TO SWINGING

How I Learned to Swim Effortlessly in 10 Days

• The Total Immersion (TI) method on swimming
• There are videos on YouTube
• Eight Newbie Tips:
  1. Focus on shoulder roll and keeping body horizontal
  2. Keep head in line with your spine – look completely down
  3. Think of freestyle as alternating sides. You want to push your hip into it
  4. Penetrate water with your fingers angled down (45 deg) and fully extend arm well below head.
     • Extend it lower than you think
     • Don’t need to lift arms too high. Arms should be naturally out, not crowded towards body
  5. Focus on increasing stroke length, not stroke rate
  6. Stretch your extended arm and turn your body to breath
     • You should feel the stretch in your lats
     • When starting off, breathe on every stroke, working up to every three strokes
     • Remember to exhale underwater
  7. Visualize process. Hard to remember when in action
  8. Focus on practice, not numbers. Most train CNS for counterintuitive movements
  9. Board shorts drag you down. Get streamlined
  10. Get good goggles. Recommends Aqua Sphere Kaiman

The Architecture of Babe Ruth

• [skipped]

How to Hold Your Breath Longer than Houdini

• Disclaimer: For informative purposes only, do under supervision
• Definitions:
  • Deep Breathing – Big breath through mouth, hold 1s, exhale for 10s through mouth with tongue on lower teeth
  • Purging – Strong/quick exhalation followed by big & faster inhalation
  • Semi-Purging – between the two others
• Process:
  1. 1:30 deep breathing
  2. 1:15 purging (if you feel like passing out, decrease intensity)
  3. Hold breath up to 90s, no more
  4. Three semi-purge breaths
  5. 90s deep breathing
  6. 90s purging
  7. Hold breath up to 2:30, no more
  8. Three semi-purge breaths
  9. 2:00 deep breathing
  10. 1:45 purging
  11. Hold breath up to maximum
  12. After exhalation, 3-10 hard semi-purge breaths until you recover
• Moved finger slightly every 30s to let them know you are okay
• Go through A to Z, visualizing friends with that letter to help pass time. Distract yourself
• Don’t check time, or it will go much slower

ON LONGER AND BETTER LIFE

Living Forever

• Focuses more on how quality of life can go down with most techniques
• Calorie restriction (30%) elongates life
• Less ejaculation could prolong life
• Protocols being used:
  1. 5-10g of creatine
  2. Intermittent Fasting and Protein Cycling
  3. Blood Letting / Bleeding

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Closing Thoughts

• To improve inner game, improve outer game
• Most people have resigned themselves to a partial completeness
• Your body is almost always within your control

APPENDICES AND EXTRAS

Getting Tested – From Nutrients to Muscle Fibers

• SpectraCell
• Useful information: http://www.labtestsonline.org/
• Make sure to remove variables in tests. Same time, day of week etc.