Training Specificity & Testing

In Progress

Keep in mind that everybody has a greater genetic disposition to being naturally better at specific physical activities. Diverging from these preferred variations of movement often results in slow technical and physical development, where it would be more efficient to train in an activity that your body “craves”.  

Contents

Measuring Exercise and Physical Performance

• Energy Production: Aerobic and Anaerobic Fitness
• Neuromuscular System Function
• Mobility
• Agility, and Coordination
• Functional Movement
• Muscular Strength
• Muscular Size
• Weight Loss
• Recovery

Methods to Improve Physical Performance

• Endurance: The ability of the respiratory and circulatory system to acquire, process, and deliver oxygen to tissues.
• Muscular Endurance: The ability of the body (specifically the muscles) to process, store, and utilize energy.
• Muscular Strength: The ability of the muscle or muscle group to produce force.
• Mobility: The maximal range of motion (ROM) of joints.
• Muscular Power: The ability of the muscle or muscle group to produce maximal force as quickly as possible.
• Speed: The ability to perform a recurring action as quickly as possible.
• Coordination: The ability to combine several actions into fluid and continuous movement.
• Agility: The ability to minimize the transition time between two actions.
• Balance: The ability to control changes in body position in relation to gravity.
• Accuracy: The ability to control movement of varying intensity and direction.

What Kind of Weight Training Is Best?

Exercise and Immunity

• Ways That Exercise Benefits the Immune System
• What’s the Optimal Dose of Exercise?

Muscle Mass and Immuno-senescence

Overtraining

Fasting and Intermittent Fasting While Training

Measuring Exercise and Physical Performance

The main areas of exercise performance:

• Energy production: Aerobic and Anaerobic fitness
• Neuromuscular system function – muscular strength and maximal force generation, speed strength and explosiveness, strength endurance
• Mobility, agility, and coordination
• Recovery

Aerobic Fitness: The ability to utilize oxygen for low-intensity, higher-endurance activity. Cardiovascular and respiratory fitness are related to aerobic fitness and the ability of the body to use inhaled oxygen for fuel.  

UKK walk test for VO2 max/oxygen uptake:

Walk 2km, on a flat surface, as fast as possible. Adequate accuracy is achieved when the heart rate is at least 80% of maximum. Not recommended for people with very high fitness.

• Men: 184.9 – 4.65 x (time in minutes) – 0.22 x (heartbeat) – 0.26 x (age) – 0.39 x (BMI)
• Women: 116.2 – 2.98 x (time in minutes) – 0.11 x (heartbeat) – 0.14 x (age) – 0.39 x (BMI)

Clinical exercise stress test (exercise ECG):

Usually done on a bicycle to detect cardiovascular disease potential. Good for measuring aerobic fitness and anaerobic force generation, as it is performed to exhaustion. Arterial blood oxygen and lung function may also be measured. Athletes usually undergo more comprehensive testing, i.e. running spiroergometry. This tests for oxygen consumption and CO2 production and therefore anaerobic threshold. The more comprehensive version can measure lactic acid level in arterial blood.

Cooper test:

Involves running as far as possible in 12 minutes. Apparently, there is a strong correlation between test results and maximal oxygen uptake. Better for runners as it utilizes running economy and technique.

Anaerobic Fitness: May measure power and capacity. Anaerobic power tests are affected by the subject’s pain tolerance and motivation. Anaerobic capacity is affected by phosphocreatine and lactate utilization properties of the muscles.

The Wingate anaerobic test:

A bicycle ergometer test that measures anaerobic capacity. 5-10 minutes of a low-power warm-up followed by 30s of pedaling. Completed using maximal power and a standardized load. Should be completed in the afternoon or evening during peak power times.

Measurable quantities:

• Peak power (PP)
  • Power produced in the first 5s (W)
• Relative peak power (RPP)
  • Peak power proportional to body weight
• Anaerobic fatigue (AF)
  • Percentage of power lost by the end of the test vs. the starting peak power
  • Indicative of lactic acid tolerance – the higher the percentage, the lower the lactic acid tolerance level
• Anaerobic capacity (AC)
  • Total amount of work performed during the test

MART Test (maximal anaerobic running test):

Used to test properties related to endurance and speed.

RAST Test (running based anaerobic sprint test):

Similar to the Wingate test. Used in ball sports to measure lactic acid tolerance levels. Involves running 35m, six times, as fast as possible.

• power = bodyweight x distance2/time3

Mobility and body control:

• Spine, hip, shoulder, knee, and ankle joint ROM tests.
• Home tests:
  • Forward bend test
  • Shoulder mobility test
  • Straight leg rise test
  • Lateral flexion test

Body control and agility:

• Balance test on one foot (>30s is good)
• Y balance test
• Balance beam test
• Zigzag sprint
• Shuttle run test
• Throwing a tennis ball at a wall from 2-3m with one hand and catching with the other hand
• Agility T-test

Functional Movement Screen (FMS – Gray Cook):

• Deep squat
• Hurdle step
• Trunk stability push-up
• Rotary stability
• In-line lunge
• Active straight leg raises
• Shoulder mobility

Muscular strength:

• Vertical jump has a strong correlation with maximal speed strength of the lower body. 60cm for men and 50cm for women is good. Measurements up to 120cm have been measured. Improve with plyometric training.
• Standing long jump measures explosive strength and elasticity of the body.
• The Margaria-Kalamen Power Test, also known as the step test, measures strength and power of the lower limbs. A 6m run followed by running up a set of stairs as fast as possible while only stepping on every third step. Each step is 17.8cm tall. The test measures the time spent ascending from the 3rd to 9th step.
  • Power = acceleration due to gravity (9.81m/s2) x mass of the athlete x the vertical height between the 3rd and ninth step / the time between third and 9th step.
• Medicine ball throw. 2kg for women and 3kg for men. Thrown overhead to test for explosive force generation for the whole body.
• Medicine ball side throw measures the explosive force of the core and upper body. The test also appears to be comparable to the 1RM bench press.
• Hand grip strength test usually uses a Jamar/Saehan hand dynamometer. Elbow 90 degrees, subject seated, wrist in a neutral position, 5s, 2-3 times. Translates well into deadlift and pull-up strength.

Surface EMGs can measure the following:

• The activation level and force generation of the muscle
• Muscle fatigue
• Activation of different muscle cell types (fast vs. slow)
• Timing of muscle activation in relation to the movement
• May hep to correct muscular imbalances and lateral difference

Measuring recovery:

Objective tools for monitoring recovery:

• HRV
• Resting HR
• HR after exercise – X % in Z minutes
• Bodyweight
  • Rapid loss may be indicative of excess fluid loss
• Reaction time test
  • Slower times are indicative of impaired recovery speed of the nervous system
• RESTQ-Sport questionnaire for athletes
• Mood (POMS questionnaire)
• Orthostatic test

Subjective tools for monitoring recovery:

• Sleep quantity and quality
• Appetite
• Severity and duration of DOMS
• General energy levels
• Sensitivity of the nervous system, e.g., jump testing
• General wellbeing

Factors affecting recovery:

• Amount and intensity of exercise
• Nutritional state (quantity over quality)
• Health and illness
• Sleep quantity and quality
• Rest and relaxation
• Muscle care
• Various medications
• Alcohol use
• Jet lag
• High altitude
• Adapting to a new climate
• Work-related stress factors
• Social stress factors
• Emotional stress factors

Methods to Improve Physical Performance

Aspects of Physical Performance

1. Endurance: The ability of the respiratory and circulatory system to acquire, process, and deliver oxygen to tissues.

2. Muscular Endurance: The ability of the body (specifically the muscles) to process, store, and utilize energy.

3. Muscular Strength: The ability of the muscle or muscle group to produce force.

4. Mobility: The maximal range of motion (ROM) of joints.

5. Muscular Power: The ability of the muscle or muscle group to produce maximal force as quickly as possible.

6. Speed: The ability to perform a recurring action as quickly as possible.

7. Coordination: The ability to combine several actions into fluid and continuous movement.

8. Agility: The ability to minimize the transition time between two actions.

9. Balance: The ability to control changes in body position in relation to gravity.

10. Accuracy: The ability to control movement of varying intensity and direction.

Endurance Exercise and Cardiovascular Fitness

Definition: The maximum amount of oxygen you can utilize, an amount called VO2 max (maximal oxygen consumption, maximal oxygen uptake, peak oxygen uptake, or maximal aerobic capacity).

How to do it: Minimum effective dose (MED) for maintenance is 5 x 4-minute high-intensity rounds at 87-97% of your maximum heart rate, with approximately 4 minutes of rest or low activity after each round.

Depends on the performance of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, as well as the energy management in the muscles, i.e. their ability to convert fat and carbohydrates into energy. This is determined by the number of mitochondria, the number of capillaries in the muscles as well as various metabolic pathways (glycolysis, Krebs cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation).

The recommendation is 2 hours and 30 minutes per week. Walking, cycling, swimming, hiking, and even heavy house and yard work. Running, cross country skiing, fast cycling, or ball games will push the intensity to create improvements. Even aerobics, dance, and cross-training classes.

Endurance exercise can be broken down into basic aerobic endurance, tempo endurance, maximal endurance, and speed endurance. It can also be divided into aerobic and anaerobic exercise. The threshold between basic aerobic and tempo is the aerobic threshold. Anaerobic energy production increases with the level of physical effort.

• The aerobic threshold is the level of effort at which anaerobic energy pathways start to be a significant part of energy production (usually under 70% of the maximal heart rate).
• The anaerobic threshold is defined as the level of exercise intensity at which lactic acid builds up in the body faster than it can be cleared away by the heart, liver, and striated muscles. Also called the lactate threshold (approx. 85-90% of maximal heart rate).
• Maximal endurance relates to the level of intensity that ranges from the anaerobic threshold to the maximal aerobic exertion. Determined by the maximal oxygen intake (VO2 max), the biomechanical power of the activity, and the performance of the neuromuscular system.
  • (Maximal heart rate – resting heart rate) x desired heart rate zone between 60-90% + resting heart rate

Basic principles of endurance training:

• Endurance training takes place in the basic endurance zone (approx. 70-80% of the training session)
• Focus on technique training
• Training should be progressive in nature and there should be sufficient time reserved for recovery
• HIIT is particularly effective for increasing mitochondrial number and VO2max
• Perform various interval exercises in the tempo and maximal endurance zones
  • Short intervals (HIIT); 15-45s, rest for 15s-3min
  • Long intervals; 3-8min exercise intervals, rest for 1-4min.
  • Incremental intervals; 8-20min exercise intervals, varying rest intervals. The intensity is lower than the long interval training.

Strength training increases the effectiveness of endurance exercise and improves performance.

Perform restorative exercises and avoid overtraining.

Heart Rate Zones and Lactate Levels for Endurance Training

Zone 1/Basic Endurance 1:

• Goal: Recovery, warm-up, and cool down
• Energy systems: Aerobic (oxidative)
• % of lactate threshold: 70-76%
• Intensity (% of HR max): 50-60%
• Description: Light aerobic exercise may facilitate recovery by boosting circulation (removing inflammatory agents) and the secretion of growth hormones. E.g. walking a dog, hiking, light swimming, yard work, yoga, etc.

Zone 2/Basic Endurance 2:

• Goal: Endurance
• Energy systems: Aerobic
• % of lactate threshold: 77-85%
• Intensity (% of HR max): 60-70%
• Description: Beneficial for slow muscle cells and the improvement of basic endurance. Energy utilized mainly from the adipose tissue. 

Zone 3/Tempo Endurance 1:

• Goal: Muscular endurance
• Energy systems: Aerobic and glycolytic
• % of lactate threshold: 86-95%
• Intensity (% of HR max): 70-80%
• Description: Increases exertion and improves aerobic power. Breathing is heavy but steady. Significant consumption of energy reserves; there is a risk of overtraining in this heart rate zone

Zone 4/Tempo Endurance 2:

• Goal: Muscular endurance, lactic acid tolerance, speed
• Energy systems: Aerobic and glycolytic
• % of lactate threshold: 96-103%
• Intensity (% of HR max): 80-90%
• Description: Takes place on either side of the lactate threshold and improves tolerance. Breathing is heavy and laborious. Improves fast muscle cells and recovery in this heart zone. Useful in interval training (2:1 to 1:3 exertion to recovery)

Zone 5/Maximal Endurance:

• Goal: Speed maintenance, development in exercise technique and economy, the effective removal of lactic acid
• Energy systems: Glycolytic, creatine phosphate
• % of lactate threshold: 104%-max
• Intensity (% of HR max): 90-100%
• Description: Exertion always exceeds the lactate threshold. Very exhausting and arduous. Suitable for short interval exercises. Longer recovery period

Beyond Zone 5:

• Goal: Explosive speed, power
• Energy systems: Creatine phosphate (glycolytic when duration exceeds 5s)
• % of lactate threshold: Max
• Intensity (% of HR max): –
• Description: Improves strength, explosive speed, and fast muscle cells. Performed as short explosive intervals (1:4 to 1:10). Powerlifting, weight training, and plyometrics

If your endurance fitness is good but you get fatigued as soon as your muscles start producing lactic acid, you should add intervals in heart rate zone 4.

If intervals pose no problem but you get fatigued during prolonged exercises performed at a steady pace, you should add exercises in heart rate zone 2 and intervals in zone 3.

If you can’t sprint to the finish at the end of a 5km run, you should add intervals in heart rate zone 5 (maximal endurance).

If your body is slow to recover, add exercises in heart rate zone 1.

Common pitfalls of endurance training are training at the same intensity level and heart rate zone over and over, training at the same pace, and training too hard on lighter training days or vice versa.

The structural benefits of endurance exercise include increases in heart volume and muscular strength, lung volume, number of mitochondria and microvasculature. Functional benefits are lower blood pressure at rest, lower resting HR, increased heart stroke volume and cardiac output, and improved oxygen uptake. Also, a positive impact on anxiety and depression, balancing stress and the treatment and prevention of numerous chronic illnesses.

Disadvantages from excessive endurance exercise include cardiac remodeling and increased arrhythmia. Also, more likely to have repetitive strain injuries and impaired muscle mass and strength.

Maximum stamina

Definition: The ability to move at low to moderate intensity for 90 minutes or longer. Around the 90-minute mark, your muscle and liver glycogen stores run out, and your body has to burn fat for fuel.

How to do it: Once or twice per month, do something like a backpacking trip, long bike ride, Bikram yoga session, or anything else that combines endurance, mental focus, and low-to-moderate-intensity physical activity. Try to do it in a fasted state or with ketone, amino acids, and electrolytes.

Maximum Mitochondrial Density:

Definition: Mitochondria are responsible for producing ATP. Mitochondrial biogenesis is the creation of new mitochondria, and increasing mitochondrial density means packing the maximum number of mitochondria into your muscles so you can metabolize more fat and glucose.

How to do it: 4 x 30s all out sprints activates mitochondrial biogenesis in the skeletal muscle of humans. 3 sets of 5 x 4s treadmill sprints with 20s rest between sprints 3 times per week has the same effect.

Summary: All you need is short, intense sprints. Tabata sets will cover most of your mitochondrial bases, but if you have time to spare after your strength or endurance workouts, perform a few brief, intense sets of sprints.

Strength Training

Physical strength is determined by two factors: the cross-sectional area of a muscle as well as muscle fiber volume and their contractile intensity. Force generation hinges on the ability of the nervous system to command, recruit, and organize the muscle fibers more efficiently. The strength of connective tissue, such as tendons and fibrous tissues, also affect the ability of the muscles to generate force. Force generation also varies with cell type distribution, sex, age, hormonal balance, nervous system function, general health, and nutritional status.

Key factors:

• Perform the exercises using correct technique and form
• Favor multi-joint exercises (deadlift, front squat, back squat, pull-up, bench-press, dip, shoulder press, etc.) over single joint exercises as the latter do not bring any significant additional benefits
• Progressively increase weight between exercises, start for example with 60-70% of the maximal performance capacity
• Progressively increase exercise volume, i.e. the number of sets or repetitions
• Vary the tempo and time under tension (TUT)
• Get sufficient rest and vary the length of recovery periods
• Reduce the training load every 3-4 weeks
• Change up your training program every 1-3 months

Maximal strength: 1-5 repetitions reaching 85-100% of the 1RM. 3-5 x 3 sets. Rest for 3-5 minutes between sets. 5-10s TUT.

Speed strength and explosive strength: Sub maximal (40-80% 1RM) loads in several sets. 7-9 x 3. Rest for 1-3 minutes between sets. 5-10s TUT.

Ideal Strength-to-Muscle-Mass Ratio

Definition: Wiry, explosive muscle that is functional and strong.

How to do it: Super-slow lifting protocol (30-60s reps and relatively high weights)

• Upper-body push (overhead press, push-ups, chest press)
• Upper body pull (bent or upright rows, lat-pull downs, pull-ups)
• Lower body push (leg press, squats)
• Lower body pull (deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, lower back extensions, reverse hyperextensions)

Optimized fat burning, metabolic efficiency, and blood sugar control

Definition: Maximizing your body’s ability to generate ketones and burn fatty acids for fuel while avoiding frequent fluctuations in blood sugar.

How to do it:

• Perform short aerobic workouts as many mornings during the week as possible, preferably in an overnight fasted state
• Avoid frequent snacking
• Save all your carbohydrates for the end of the day, and until then eat high amounts of healthy fats with moderate amounts of protein
• Stay physically active all day long – use a standing workstation and take jumping jacks or walking breaks
• Become more resilient by engaging in cold thermogenesis and sauna therapy

Summary: Start each day with 10-30 minutes of light, fasted-state activity (yoga, walking the dog, yard work), take at least one cold shower per day, visit the sauna at least once per week, consume only nutrient dense carbohydrates like sweet potatoes and dark, leafy greens, and be as active as possible all day long. You can even control blood glucose fluctuations with a simple 15-minute walk after the day’s main meal.

Hypertrophy: 8-12 (65-85% of 1RM). Most effective is 3-5 x 8-10. Rest for 60-90s. 30-60s TUT.

Strength endurance: Sets of 12 with sub-maximal loads (20-70%). 3 x 15-20. Rest for 30-60s. More than 60s TUT.

Varying TUT duration can impact different energy systems (ATP, creatine phosphate, and anaerobic glycolysis). A set of slower repetitions of longer TUT performed to exhaustion is more effective for hypertrophy than faster reps.

Maximum Muscular Endurance and Aerobic Capacity

Definition: Your maximal muscular endurance is the amount of work your muscles can endure, and your maximum aerobic capacity is the maximum amount of time you can “do battle” while keeping your force output high.

How to do it: Tabata sets – 4 minutes of going all out for 20s, resting for 10s, and repeating. 2 x per week with full body bodyweight exercises.

Recovery: The supercompensation theory

Training consumes common resources, biochemical cascades, energy reserves, and the nervous system. Therefore, training represents a catabolic activity.

The body needs rest, hydration, and nutrition to bounce back from the catabolic state. If recovery is optimal, the body becomes stronger and more powerful by the time of the next workout. If it is too short, the next workout will consume even more of the body’s resources, leading to overtraining. If the rest period is too long, the progress will be lost.

Training Periodization

• Varying training volume and intensity so that optimal performance level is achieved while avoiding overtraining.
• Micro cycle (1 week/2-14 days): One training cycle.
• Mesocycle (2-12 weeks): For example, a 3:1 paradigm where the training is incremental in intensity for 3 weeks and then lighter for one week. Several mesocycles may be repeated back-to-back.
• Macrocycle (2-12 months): A typical athlete macrocycle includes the training season, the competition season, and the transitional phase of the competition season. Can be divided into mesocycles that emphasize various properties.

Train with weights that are light enough for proper form. Add 2.5kg of weight each session (squat and deadlift); for other exercises add weight every other session. Add weight until you can no longer complete 3 x 5. Reduce the set weights to what they were 2-3 weeks ago and begin again from there.

Strength training strengthens bones, increases muscle mass, helps weight management, improves muscular endurance, reduces the occurrence of musculoskeletal ailments, and slows down sarcopenia.

Disadvantages include injury if improper form is carried out. Strains, muscle cramps, joint pains, ruptured muscles or bone fractures.

Isometric training:

• May be used to promote recovery from injury. Can increase strength and muscle mass but only at the muscle of the joint angle used. Dynamic muscular training is required for full range of motion.
• Use maximal muscle contractions
• Set length is 1-10s for maximal strength
• 45-60s for hypertrophy
• Use 3 different joint angles
• Rest between sets using a ratio of 1:10 (3s exercise to 30s rest)
• Can activate the neuromuscular system before a training session or to finish off.

Eccentric quasi-isometric training:

• Slow/almost static eccentric movement to strengthen muscles at all joint angles.
• Pushup with hands on blocks
• Dips on a parallel bar
• Lunge with feet on blocks
• Pull up
• Under 60s (weak), 60-90s (below average), 90-150s (average), 150-240s (above average), over 240s (excellent)

Super-slow repetitions:

• Growth of satellite cells and the nuclei of muscle cells. Great for those over 50yo. A drawback is the weak development of maximal strength and the lesser metabolic impact on energy expenditure and fat burning.

Super-slow eccentric repetitions:

• Very slow eccentric followed by explosive concentric (40X0). Excellent for maximal muscle growth and tendon strengthening.

• Seven-minute workout (30s with 10s rest between):

  • Jumping jacks or burpees
  • Wall sits
  • Push-ups or clapping push-ups
  • Crunches or knee-ups
  • Step-ups or lunge jumps
  • Squats or squat jumps
  • Dips
  • Planks
  • Lunges or lunge jumps
  • Jump rope, stair sprints, or running in place with high knees
  • Push-ups with rotation
  • Side planks

Negative repetitions:

• Purely eccentric and it is possible to use a higher than 1RM load. Requires help from another person or in safety bars. Very exhausting as using supramaximal loads.

HIIT

85-95% of maximum heart rate completed in interval form. Rest phase is usually 60-70% of maximum heart rate. By varying the action phase from 10s-4 minutes, it is possible to develop the body’s various energy systems. However, there doesn’t seem to be a link between the length of the rest phase and the biochemical effects of the exercise on muscle cells (lactate, ATP, creatine phosphate, and H+). Meaning, the benefits of varying rest intervals can be explained by neurological, hormonal, and cardiovascular changes.

HIIT develops the cardiovascular and circulatory systems, maximal oxygen uptake, insulin sensitivity, and sugar metabolism, as well as lactate tolerance. Not to mention fat burning. It has been shown to increase mitochondria in muscle cells and the volume of oxidative enzymes in the muscles.

Tabata:

• Warm up for 5-10 minutes (stationary bike, rowing machine, running)
• Complete 8 sets as follows:
  • 20s of action (very high intensity/maximum heart rate)
  • 10s of rest
• Follow with a short cool-down and recovery phase
• As performance improves, increase the resistance on the stationary bike or rowing machine
• 1-3 workouts per week

The Gibala Method: 3min warm-up, 60s exercise, 75s rest, repeated 8-12 times.

Sprint Interval Training: May significantly increase levels of myokinase and creatine phosphokinase enzymes in muscle cells as well as boost the activity of glycolytic enzymes and mitochondrial enzyme activity. Meaning it improves aerobic and anaerobic energy expenditure of muscle cells. It may also increase cross-sectional muscle area and to change muscle cell distribution to favor fast IIA cells. It has also been shown to increase GH and testosterone.

• On a level surface or incline (easier on knees)
• Warm up by jogging for 5-10 minutes and performing a few sharp accelerations
• Complete 4-6 sets:
  • Run 200m at 85-95% of maximum exertion
  • Rest/walk for 3-4 minutes
• Slowly increase the number of sets from four to six
• 1-3 workouts per week

HIRT: Resistance training HIIT. Shorter recovery periods are better at producing GH and improving muscular endurance.

• Always complete a full-body workout
• 5-15 reps per exercise
• 3-4 supersets per workout
• Warm up for 10-15 minutes before
• Complete the workout 48-72 hours after the previous workout to ensure recovery
• You can also use a basic barbell and weights for complexes

Sample:

1. Superset 1 (8-10 min without breaks)

• a. Deadlift (20% 1RM) x 10
• b. Clap push ups x 5
• c. Pull-up with overhand grip x 5
• Ab wheel (knees on ground) x 6-10

2. S2 (8-10 minutes without breaks)

• a. Jump squat x 5
• b. Pull-up with underhand grip x 5
• c. Bench press (20% 1RM) x 10
• d. Knee lift to elbows (hanging) x 6

S3

• a. Bulgarian lunges x 5/leg
• b. Inverted row on a bar or rings x 10
• c. Push up x 10
• d. V-ups x 8

Gymnastics

The goal is to improve physical strength, coordination, balance, agility, muscular endurance, and flexibility. Excellent for developing children.

Easy:

• Forward/backward roll
• Bridge
• Hollow rock
• Superman
• Oull-up
• Ring row
• Broad jump
• Box jump
• Burpee
• Hip shoots
• L-sit
• Hanging on a bar
• Push ups

Medium:

• Cartwheel
• Headstand
• Handstand
• Handstand walk
• Dip
• Rope climb
• Toes to bar
• Tuck up
• V-up

Difficult:

• Handstand push up
• Muscle-up
• Front level
• Back lever
• Iron cross
• German hang
• Swings on parallel bars
• Kip

Kettlebell Training

Strength, speed, balance, and endurance. Also improve endurance and maximal oxygen uptake.

Easy:

• Russian swing
• American swing
• Deadlift
• One-arm row
• Goblet squat
• Shoulder press
• Abdominal crunch with straight arms
• Farmer’s carry
• Slingshot
• Halo
• Russian twist

Medium:

• Single leg deadlift
• Turkish sit-up
• One hand swing
• Push up on KB
• Walking lunges
• Lateral squat
• Floor press
• Push press

Difficult:

• Turkish get-up
• Front squat with 2
• Clean using 1 or 2
• Jerk using 1 or 2
• Snatch
• Thruster
• Floor press in bridge
• Overhead squat
• Sots press
• Pistol squat

Sample (circuit training – one exercise to the next with a 30-60s break):

Warm up for 5-10 minutes (slingshot and halo, light jogging, indoor rowing, or burpees)

Actual training:

• Russian swing 3 x 20-30 reps
• Bent-over row 3 x 15 on each side
• Goblet squat 3 x 15
• Abdominal crunch 3 x 15
• Shoulder press 3 x 10 on each side
• Deadlift 3 x 10-15
• Around the world 3 x 20

What Kind of Weight Training Is Best?

Compact and explosive muscle beats out pure muscle mass for slowing aging. The healthiest muscles are found on a wiry physique of modest size, capable of exerting a lot of force over a short period. The minimum effective dose of strength training would be two specific workouts per week. The first workout is a super-slow lifting protocol (similar to Dr. Doug McGuff in Body by Science). For 12-20 minutes, perform multi-joint exercises with relatively heavy weights, doing each rep over 30-60s.

• An upper-body push (e.g., overhead presses, push-ups, chest presses)
• An upper-body pull (e.g., bent or upright rows, lat pull-downs, pull-ups)
• A lower-body push (e.g., leg presses, squats)
• A lower-body pull (e.g., dead lifts, Romanian dead lifts, lower back extensions, reverse hyperextensions)

Performing reps slowly has low injury-producing potential. Super-slow resistance training to muscular fatigue results in the same type of cardiovascular adaptations caused by a long run (lactic acid buffering, increased mitochondrial density, and better blood pressure).

The second workout is a high-intensity bodyweight circuit designed by researchers to maintain strength and muscle in as little time as possible. Each exercise is to be performed for 30s, with 10s rest between exercises.

Except for wall sits, perform as explosive as possible:

• Jumping jacks or burpees
• Wall sits
• Push-ups or clapping push-ups
• Crunches or knee-ups
• Step-ups or lunge jumps
• Squats or squat jumps
• Dips
• Planks
• Jump rope, stair sprints, or running in place with high knees
• Lunges or lunge jumps
• Push-ups with rotation
• Side planks

Natural Movement

Parkour training program:

Deep bodyweight squat

• Start by spending 1min per day in the squatting position
• Increase the time by one minute until you spend 30 minutes per day in the squatting position after one month
• Improves mobility of the ankles, back and pelvis

Hanging on a bar (passive)

• Start by hanging for 15s per day and increase to 7 and a half minutes after a month
• Improves shoulder mobility and strength

Wall support

• A few seconds at a time until 30s
• Improves upper body and core strength

Walking on all fours

Jogging, sprints, and jumps

• Start lightly a few times a week in a time frame of 15-30 minutes

Bodyweight:

• Many bodyweight exercises work muscle groups and certain functional muscle-tendon-fascia lines.

Mobility:

Optimal mobility is crucial for good posture and prevention of incorrect positions during exercise.

Dynamic, short stretches as well as MET (muscle energy technique) and PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching). MET is suitable for treatment of painful muscle tension caused by oxygen deficiency. Yoga, Pilates, fustra, tai chi, and mobility training can help overall mobility and flexibility.

Dynamic stretching program:

• May be completed before a workout
• Can warm up with a skipping rope, rower or star jumps first
• Repeated 2-3 times
• Hand stands for 10m
• Leg swings front, back, and sides (15 reps each direction)
• Lunges, twisting the torso toward the squatting leg (10 reps each leg)
• Scorpion (10 reps each)
• Knee to chest walking stretch (10 reps each)
• Upper arm rotations individually and both hands (10 each)
• Upper arm swings sides and front (30 total)
• Clavicle press and twist (10 each)

Exercise and Immunity

Exercise can directly improve our immune system, by increasing immune cell production, and also indirectly improve it by contributing to fixing metabolic syndrome.

Regular exercise stimulates the body’s defense mechanisms and strengthens immunity by activating nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2 (NRF2). NRF2 activation is how our body activates our antioxidant response element (ARE) increasing the production of numerous antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes throughout the body. In fact, this is how hormesis works, by activating NRF2 and then upregulating our body’s own antioxidant defense systems. NRF2 also promotes lymph and blood circulation. Exercise improves arterial function, which protects against the development of atherosclerosis and has anti-inflammatory benefits. Exercise also improves gut microbiome diversity, where around 70% of our immune system resides. Regular exercise enhances immuno-surveillance, lowers basal inflammation, which may protect against cytokine storms, and benefits other chronic health conditions.

Skeletal muscle produces muscle cell cytokines called myokines that exert hormonal, immunomodulating, regenerative and anti-inflammatory effects. It’s been found that skeletal muscle can antagonize antiviral CD8+ T cell exhaustion by protecting T cell proliferation from inflammation. Muscle tissue is also in communication with other organs of the body, such as the bone, pancreas, thymus, lungs, brain, and intestines. Myokines and physical activity can alleviate immuno-senescence and slow it down.

Ways That Exercise Benefits the Immune System

• Exercise and muscle mass can slow down immuno-senescence. It boosts the function of several immune cells despite aging. Physically fit elderly women have significantly higher levels of natural killer cells, T lymphocytes, and reduced rates of illness compared with sedentary women. In another study, elderly runners who have been running for 17 years showed significantly higher T lymphocyte function compared to controls. The elderly who stay physically active also show increased antibody response to influenza immunization. Exercise prior to influenza vaccination increases the effectiveness of the vaccine by fueling antibody response and lowering the incidence of the infections.
• Moderate exercise acutely elevates IL-6, which has anti-inflammatory effects by reducing TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta signaling, improves blood sugar management and lipid metabolism. However, heavy physical exertion has been associated with transient immunodeficiency, elevated inflammation and increased risk of upper respiratory tract infections. Prolonged intense output suppresses immunoglobulin A (IgA), natural killer (NK) cells, T and B cells. Although exercise increases inflammatory biomarkers transiently, it chronically lowers them.
• Exercising regularly has been shown to reduce the risk of upper respiratory infections. Several studies suggest that regular exercise reduces mortality and prevalence of influenza and pneumonia. However, during an active viral or influenza infection, exercising might increase disease severity when you’re already sick. Additionally, overtraining will make you more vulnerable to getting sick. If you have a fever and you feel sick, do not exercise but other than that keep yourself physically active all the time.

What’s the Optimal Dose of Exercise?

Exercise bouts less than 60 minutes increase the circulation of anti-inflammatory cytokines, immunoglobulins, neutrophils and others that all have an important role in fueling immunity. 30 minutes of walking has been shown to raise natural killer cells, lymphocytes, monocytes and neutrophils. It appears that moderate intensity exercise lasting less than 60 minutes is protective against infections, whereas, prolonged strenuous exercise causes a transient immunosuppression.

Suggested exercise dose, duration and frequency to boost the immune system:

• Moderate intensity exercise 30-60 minutes, 5 x per week
• Heavy exertion 30-45 minutes, 3-4 x per week
• High intensity interval training (HIIT) of 15-30 minutes, 3 x per week
• Avoid heavy exertion of 60 minutes or longer.

This isn’t to say that you should never perform intense prolonged exercise of 60 minutes or more, it simply increases your risk of infection, which can obviously hinder training or performance during events. It’s a risk vs. benefit balance, i.e., you may increase your conditioning and/or muscle growth with heavy exertion exercise of 60 minutes or longer but you may also increase the risk of infection. It’s important to note that most of the studies that look at heavy exertion increasing the risk of infections have to deal with running, cycling or swimming. Thus, whether this applies to those who are lifting weights intensely for 60 minutes or longer is debatable but at some point, the longer you lift heavy, the greater at risk you will be for getting respiratory infections.

A potential strategy to offset the increased risk of infections after intense prolonged exercise:

• Yeast beta-glucan: 250-500 mg/day
• Dietary vitamin C or vitamin C extracts (Camu Camu, Kakadu plum, Acerola, Rosehip): 500-2,000mg/day of vitamin C
  • Avoid synthetic high-dose vitamin C supplements, especially close to work outs. They can inhibit inflammation and reduce exercise gains. A tiny bit of vitamin C (50-100 mg) along with collagen after exercise may help increase collagen synthesis/strength. Vitamin C should primarily be sourced from the diet or whole fruit/plant extracts, which contain other beneficial compounds compared to synthetic vitamin C.
• Selenium: 50-200 mcg/day
• Zinc/copper: 20mg/1mg ratio, once to twice daily
• Vitamin D & magnesium: 2,000IU and 200 mg, respectively
• Adequate intake of all nutrients, especially vitamin A, B-vitamins & unrefined salt
• Do not exercise when sick

Acute as well as chronic changes in immunity caused by exercise are now also described as important for mediating the reduced risk of chronic disease like cardiovascular disease and cancer. Exercise improves arterial function, which protects against the development of atherosclerosis and acts as an anti-inflammatory.

During exercise, natural killer cell activity increases but it drops to a minimum 2 hours later and returns to pre-exercise levels in 24 hours.

Protein powder enriched with green tea and blueberries may protect athletes against viral infections following prolonged strenuous exercise. After ingestion of the protein and plant polyphenols, athletes’ blood had improved antiviral properties. The immunosuppression after exercise may be due to a shift away from the Th1 immune response towards the Th2 response. Th1 immune responses are inflammatory, which are critical for early antiviral activity during infections. Certain compounds that can recover the Th1-type immune response after exercise may improve antiviral properties.

Chronic stress is one of the major contributors to an imbalanced immune system and predisposition to diseases. Patients with viral infections show elevated levels of cortisol. Stress hormones and pro-inflammatory cytokines do not reach high levels during moderate exercise. Prolonged endurance athletes are also more likely to get sick than power athletes because strength sports tend to be shorter in duration and less stressful.

Sedentary people with no physical activity bear a normal risk for URTIs whereas it’s 40-50% lower in those who exercise moderately. Individuals who exercise 5 or more times a week experience 43% fewer days of URTI illness. Yet again, heavy exertion may lead to a 2-6-fold increased risk of sickness (J-shaped curve).

The general consensus is that short bouts of moderate to intense exercise, up to 60 minutes are beneficial for increasing immune defense whereas it will likely decrease when the duration exceeds 60 minutes.

Muscle Mass and Immuno-senescence

After the age of 40, lean mass and strength goes down at a rate of about 2% per decade and fat mass increases approximately 7.5% per decade. However, the greatest changes occur after the age of 50, where more than 15% strength loss occurs per decade. This sarcopenic deterioration makes it easier to gain weight, promotes poor metabolic health, leads to insulin resistance, increases damage from falls and all-cause mortality. Having more muscle mass, on the other hand, has the opposite effect i.e., better insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance, stronger bones, and increased longevity.

Sarcopenia and decreased fitness are primarily attributed to a sedentary lifestyle, not necessarily aging.

Regardless of age, physical inactivity, alcohol and insulin resistance decrease muscle protein synthesis (MPS) which is the process of keeping and building muscle tissue. As rates of MPS decrease, the body begins to slowly lose functional lean mass, which will eventually lead to worse metabolic health and less myokines. Conversely, it is well demonstrated that resistance training enhances protein synthesis in both young and older people. Even a single bout of resistance training can increase MPS by 2-3 times, which may be enhanced further with a protein-rich diet.

Exercise promotes autophagy and the growth of new mitochondria, called mitochondrial biogenesis. Resistance training has been shown to activate autophagy and reduce apoptosis of muscle cells. Some aspects of time-restricted eating can also be an effective way to relieve the burden of dysfunctional mitochondria. However, excessive overtraining or too much fasting can lead to too much autophagy activation and result in muscle atrophy.

Here is the course of events, starting with inactivity and ending with immuno-senescence:

• Physical inactivity/overnutrition
• Sarcopenia/muscle loss
• Reduced glucose tolerance/insulin sensitivity
• Metabolic syndrome/obesity
• Reduced myokine expression/anti-inflammatory cytokines
• Increased pro-inflammatory cytokines
• Immuno-senescence (accelerated aging and increased susceptibility to infections)

Resistance Training and Muscle Growth

With age, you see a decline in type IIb muscle fibers also known as fast twitch muscle fibers, which are trained primarily with high intensity resistance training. This is probably because of underuse because people tend to engage in less of this kind of explosive power and strength activities.

The best exercises for increasing muscle growth and strength are full-body compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, barbell rows, pull-ups, push-ups, dips, walking lunges, sprints, kettlebell swings and farmer’s carries. Both weights and calisthenics can provide a sufficient stimulus because the body can’t tell the difference where it’s coming from.

Blood flow restriction (BFR) training or occlusion training is a form of exercise that applies occlusion cuffs around the muscles that are being trained. This restricts blood flow to the target region, creating partial blood flow restriction. BFR combined with low load resistance training enhances muscle hypertrophy and strength. BFR may also result in small strength gains during low-intensity aerobic training. Best of all, BRF alone can attenuate muscle atrophy, especially amongst older people who are less able to lift heavy weights.

• BFR has been shown to proliferate stem cells in experimental groups and increase growth hormone by about 290 times, 15 min after BFR training, until exhaustion. BFR lowers blood pressure, increases insulin sensitivity and metabolic flexibility, and reduces dyslipidemia and obesity. You’ll have increased blood flow in the muscles trained but also more cerebral blood flow in the brain, which may protect against stroke and brain dysfunction. It also increases nitric oxide that promotes blood flow and further stimulates muscle satellite stem cells. BFR increases vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which enhances the growth of new blood vessels and blood vessel plasticity.
• BFR creates partial inflow into the muscle and restricts venous outflow from the muscle. Because the loads are much lower, you can recover from BFR exercise faster than from traditional weightlifting. The increased blood flow also helps a lot to speed up this process. Research has found that the pressure has to be 40-60% of the arterial occlusion pressure or just 40-60% of occlusion.
• It’s important to note that when using regular blood flow restriction bands, the occlusion should only last perhaps 1 minute per muscle group and then removed for at least 1 minute.

Protein Intake and Muscle Growth

Muscle growth results from the positive balance between muscle protein breakdown (catabolism) and muscle protein synthesis (anabolism). Things that encourage catabolism are exercise, fasting, calorie restriction, protein restriction, sarcopenia, hyperglycemia, and physical inactivity. Anabolic catalysts include resistance training, sufficient calories, sleep and dietary protein.

Adequate protein intake prevents muscle loss or sarcopenia, frailty, and dependence on caretaking later in life. Higher protein intakes during dieting promotes weight loss, helps to maintain more muscle and keeps the metabolic rate up.

You want to eat whole food proteins like eggs with the yolk, salmon, mackerel, beef, chicken, organ meats, red meat, etc. Plant based alternatives are legumes, beans, quinoa, nuts and seeds but to make them complete you’d have to combine several protein sources and their leucine content, which is required for muscle protein synthesis, tends to be lower.

Exercise Recovery

Here are signs of over-training and/or under-recovery:

• Troubles maintaining balance and motor control
• Chronic muscle soreness or nagging injuries
• Brain fog, forgetfulness, getting distracted, and dullness
• Problems falling asleep and getting up in the morning
• Higher basal heart rate than normal
• Losing muscle strength and power
• Lack of motivation to train and move around
• Decreased performance and plateaus in progress
• Increased perceived effort above what’s normal
• Mood swings, agitation, and mild depression
• Low thyroid and high cortisol

Recommended supplements pre-work out

• L-carnitine: 2 grams
• Taurine: 1-2 grams
• Citrulline: 3 grams
• Carnosine: 2 grams
• Coffee/caffeine: 80-160 mg caffeine

Recommended supplements post-work out

• Grass-fed whey protein: 20 grams but up to 40 grams after full body workouts
• Creatine: 5 grams
• Hydrolyzed collagen: 5-20 grams
• Glycine 2-3 grams
• Vitamin C: 50-100 mg

It has been found that antioxidant supplements, NSAIDS, and cryotherapy after working out reduces inflammation and exercise-induced oxidative stress, which can slow down or completely negate the adaptive signal needed for muscle growth.

Antioxidant supplementation before exercise has been shown to interfere with mitochondrial biogenesis, which is a key adaptation to endurance performance capacity. Multiple studies have also found antioxidant supplements to impair anabolic signaling and muscle hypertrophy. However, it does not seem to affect muscle strength. Vitamin C doesn’t appear to benefit exercise performance and it may impair exercise performance at doses above 1000 mg/day.

Overall, having a higher HRV means you are more recovered, less stressed, and parasympathetic dominant. Decreased HRV has been shown to be a predictor of mortality after myocardial infarction, cancer, and sudden cardiac death. Lower HRV is also associated with heart failure, diabetic neuropathy, and liver cirrhosis. In fact, the risk of dying after a heart attack is more than 5-fold higher for those with low HRV vs. high HRV.

If your HRV is low, it is not the smartest idea to exercise hard or impose other forms of hormetic stressors, like the sauna or cold, as there is an increase in sympathetic drive during and potentially after the acute stressful event. For example, sauna sessions may lower HRV but they have also been shown to reduce arrhythmias and improve HRV in patients with chronic heart failure. Sauna sessions can have cardiovascular benefits such as lowering vascular resistance and other studies have found that sauna sessions improve HRV upon recovery from the session. Thus, sauna sessions may be good or bad on HRV, depending on the person.

There is a clear association between an elevation of pro-inflammatory IL-6, higher C-reactive protein, and decreased HRV. Usually, an elevated heart rate and body temperature is a sign of an active infection.

Here are things that lower heart rate variability (HRV) and impair recovery:

• Emotional Turmoil – Daily worrying is found to lower HRV during waking hours as well as sleep. Temporal pressure, social anxiety, negative emotions, trauma and stressful interactions decrease HRV and increase sympathetic activity. Post-traumatic stress disorder victims experience more autonomic hyperactivity during rest and they are not as good at coping with stress.
• Hyperglycemia and Insulin Resistance – Big swings in blood sugar cause stress on the body, which produces cardiac vagal withdrawal, thus lowering HRV. Diabetics have lower HRV and signs of early cardiac neuropathy.
• Alcohol also lowers HRV in excess.
• High Inflammation – Higher pro-inflammatory cytokines decrease HRV, damage healthy cells, and create oxidative stress. Heart rate variability also predicts levels of inflammatory markers like CRP, IL-6 and A1C.
• Sleep Deprivation – Poor sleep has been shown to lower HRV. HRV can be used to predict decrements in psychomotor vigilance and concentration due to sleepiness. It can also identify sleeping disorders and other related ailments.

Here are the things that increase heart rate variability (HRV):

• Exercise – Regular exercisers have a lower resting heart rate and a higher HRV. During submaximal exercise, HRV tends to be lower than at rest because the body is under stress but it reverses after recovery.
• Intermittent Fasting – Being in a fasted state tends to lower resting heart rate and increase HRV. However, if you go hypoglycemic or become stressed out, then it will lower HRV because of the increased stress. That is why fasting while being keto adapted is less harmful because the brain can substitute glucose with ketones.
  • However, a 48 hour fast has been shown to lower HRV by causing parasympathetic withdrawal. This may not be inherently harmful as long as you don’t experience a lot of other stressors but it does further prove that fasting can be stressful on the body and may impair immunity slightly during extended fasting. It will come back after breaking the fast but it may not be the smartest idea to engage in this kind of longer fast when you’re already immunocompromised. Daily time-restricted eating and compressing your eating window, however, appears to be beneficial.
• Heat Exposure – Sauna bathing increases HRV and is associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality. Just pay attention to your blood pressure and other vital markers. If the heat makes you too stressed out, your HRV can actually drop.
• Meditation – Sitting down to meditate can be a great way to lower stress. It will calm you down, thus increasing HRV. Different meditation practices have been shown to improve HRV and reduce heart rate and blood pressure.
• The same applies to practices like yoga or Tai Chi. A 2016 review of 59 studies with 2358 participants found that yoga increases HRV and regular yoga practitioners had higher vagal tone, which is associated with increased HRV.
• Biofeedback – Some forms of neuro or biofeedback have been found to reduce stress and anxiety and improve depression and increase HRV.
• Music Therapy – One study found that playing Native American flutes increased HRV and reduced stress. Listening to music is great for relaxation and therapy. Humming and singing have been found to benefit HRV because it requires guided breath control. Just playing around and taking the time to do the things you love is also amazing for relieving stress and getting out of fight or flight mode.

Overtraining:

Hypotheses for the cause of overtraining:

• Glycogen hypothesis: Low reserves manifesting as fatigue
• CNS fatigue: Crucial factor being serotonin and its dysregulation
• Glutamine hypothesis: Low levels in food and body as predisposing factors for infections and fatigue
• Oxidative stress hypothesis: High oxidative stress, silent inflammation, muscle fatigue, and muscle soreness.
• ANS hypothesis: Imbalance of the SNS and PNS. Evident from HRV analysis.
• Hypothalamus hypothesis: Changes in the HPA axis and HPG axis affect the levels of cortisol, ACTH, testosterone, and other hormones. Low ratio of cortisol to testosterone.
• Cytokine hypothesis: Continuous hard training and insufficient rest cause a chronic state of inflammation and a cytokine storm (IL-1b, IL-6, TNF-alpha). High levels may cause decreased appetite, sleep disorders, depression, and general feeling of illness.

Factors that promote the onset of overtraining syndrome:

• Increased training load without adequate rest
• Lack of diversity in exercise
• Excessive competing
• Trouble sleeping
• Low energy intake form food, micronutrient deficiency
• Social and emotional stress factors (family, work, relationships)
• Previous illness
• Exposure to high altitudes
• Heatstroke
• Severe physical impact or shock, particularly in the head area

Laboratory tests:

• Immunological markers to check the state of the immune system
• Cortisol and testosterone saliva (cortisol and DHEA) and urine (cortisol metabolites, ratio of cortisol to cortisone)
• Thyroid hormones (TSH, T4V, T3V, rT3, and autoimmune antibodies if needed)
• Creatine kinase (reflects muscle breakdown)
• Iron balance (ferritin, transferrin saturation, serum iron, and transferrin)
• Oxidative stress (FRAS test)
• Energy metabolism and mitochondria function as well as general nutritional state
  • Amino acids
  • Fatty acids
  • Organic acids
  • Vitamins and minerals
  • Oxidative stress
  • Citric acid cycle
  • Methylation

Can You Build Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time?

To lose fat you have to be at an energy deficit i.e. burn more energy than you consume.

To build muscle you have to be at an energy surplus i.e. consume more energy than you burn.

Calories aren’t just calories because they can be partitioned differently according to the macronutrient ratios, quality of nutrients, hormone levels, training status, and overall energetic demands on the body.

If your workouts are stimulating the muscles enough, and if you follow it up with adequate muscle protein synthesis by consuming enough protein, then the rest of what you need can be derived from stored body fat. Likewise, you can gain fat and lose muscle at the same time by doing a lot of catabolic exercise like chronic cardio for hours and overconsuming daily calories with very little protein.

The adipose tissue consists of stored triglycerides, which is an ester comprising of three fatty acid molecule chains and a glycerol backbone that holds them together. This single fat particle can cover most of the body’s metabolic needs in at least the short term. Fat is fuel that most tissues and muscle can use.

Lactate is the byproduct of glucose metabolism and it’s been shown to contribute up to 18% of skeletal muscle glycogen synthesis after high-intensity exercise. Basically, during high-intensity workouts, you’re producing a lot of lactic acid by burning off your muscle glycogen. To eliminate the burn effect and restore the glycogen you lost, the body uses some amounts of that lactate for muscle glycogen resynthesis.

There are certain times the body needs more fuel and amino acids than at others. For instance:

• After working out, the muscles are more prone to shuttle the nutrients you’ve consumed into glycogen stores and to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. In that scenario, all the calories you eat would be primarily directed towards positive muscle growth rather than fat accumulation because the body prioritizes recovery rather than storage.
• On the flip side, eating a bunch of excess calories without having moved a flower will inevitably be more pro-fat gain just because the body isn’t under such energetic conditions that would favor high energy intake. What the body doesn’t need right away will be used for storage.

In the case of intermittent fasting, you would inevitably see a much bigger lean muscle gain if you were to consume most of your calories after a resistance training workout. The dominos will all be set in line – the mechano-overload from exercise, depleted glycogen stores, activated mTOR, and nervous system fatigue – everything is much favorable for building muscle as long as you stimulate MPS and bring in the building blocks.

Intermittent fasting and time-restricted feeding are such powerful tools for building muscle and burning fat at the same time.

• Whenever you’re fasting, you’ll be burning more fat, suppressing hunger, and promoting growth hormone that helps to maintain muscle.
• You don’t need a bunch of calories or energy to do strength-based resistance training. That’s the main catalyst for muscle growth and it can be easily done with limited supplies.
• Eating food after working out will promote more muscle growth rather than fat gain. It will facilitate a more anabolic response while still eating fewer calories.
• Eating more food before working out may make you lose a bit more muscle if you’re eating at a caloric deficit. The reason being nutrient partitioning and meal timing.

Losing Muscle While Fasting

Growth hormone increases exponentially by up to 2000-3000% at the 24-hour mark.

Another hormone that’s going to help you build muscle is testosterone.

• Short-term fasting has been shown to increase Luteinizing Hormone (LH), which is a precursor to testosterone. In a study done on obese men, LH increased by 67% after 56 hours.
• Another study found that obese men saw a 26% increase in GNHR (Gonadotropin-releasing hormone), which is another testosterone stimulant. The same study found that men who were working out saw a 67% increase in GNHR, which led to a 180% boost in testosterone.

(1) Gluconeogenesis While Fasting

The reason you may trigger gluconeogenesis is that you don’t have access to other fuel sources, like fat. Your body isn’t keto-adapted to burning ketones yet and the next best thing it can think of is protein.

(2) Autophagy and Muscle Loss

The second reason why you may lose muscle while fasting is the inhibition of autophagy. Studies have found that autophagy is needed for maintaining muscle mass.

• If you’re doing a caloric restriction diet but blocking the effects of autophagy, then you’re going to keep yourself in a semi-starvation state because your body will never switch into ketosis. This leads to gluconeogenesis.
• If, however, you allow autophagy to kick in, whether that be through strict water fasting or a fasting mimicking ketogenic diet, then you’re also stimulating the other growth hormones we’ve been talking about so far and it’s going to preserve your muscle.

Even as little as 50 calories or 2-3 grams of leucine will stop autophagy and shift you into a fed state. It’s going to be better for fat loss, for muscle sparing and for longevity, to avoid all calories during your fasting window.

There are several possible mechanisms by which a ketogenic diet preserves muscle mass and prevents protein catabolism.

• Low blood glucose stimulates the secretion of adrenaline, which regulates skeletal muscle protein mass. Adrenaline’s been shown to directly inhibit protein breakdown.
• Ketone bodies provide a plentiful source of fuel to brain and muscle tissue, which suppresses protein oxidation and gluconeogenesis of muscle. In fact, BHB has been shown to decrease leucine oxidation and actually promote protein synthesis in humans.
• Dietary protein consumption also has a much greater muscle sparing effect than carbohydrates. Eating protein increases protein synthesis by increasing the availability of amino acids in the blood.
• When eating at a caloric deficit, higher protein intake has also been shown to reduce muscle loss and promote fat loss.

Can Fasting Make You Build Muscle

Studies have found that fasting lowers the expression of mTOR and IGF-1, which are both needed for cellular growth by increasing one of their inhibiting proteins called IGFBP1.

TOR has quite a detrimental role in anabolism. Inhibiting mTOR blocks the anabolic effects of resistance training and prevents muscle growth. mTOR is clearly anabolic but also anti-catabolic. It’s going to protect the body against the harmful effects of cortisol and glucocorticoids on muscle tissue.

The rationale of trying to build muscle and strength with intermittent fasting isn’t oriented towards maximizing muscle growth or performance. It’s about prioritizing longevity and not over-stimulating the anabolic effects of mTOR all the time.

When you’re doing resistance training, then you’re inducing damage to the muscle cells and tissues. If you consume adequate protein after the workout, you’ll be able to heal that damage and hopefully result in sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. However, when working out fasted you have limited amino acid availability and thus are subject to increased muscle damage. That may not be ideal for someone trying to build more muscle because they may end up with a NET negative muscle homeostasis.

The amounts of protein you can absorb in one sitting is arbitrary for maintaining lean tissue but it’s probably not optimal for positive NET growth. That’s why having some amino acids circulating the bloodstream during the workout will not only minimize the muscular damage but will also promote additional muscle protein synthesis after training.

However, there are still some advantages to working out fasted:

• Consuming carbohydrates and raising insulin suppresses lipolysis and fat burning during exercise. You’d have to burn through those carbs first before getting access to your adipose tissue.
• Whether or not it matters is subject to context and the goal of that particular training session.
• Training fasted improves glucose tolerance and improves insulin sensitivity, which doesn’t help with muscle growth directly but it’ll help you to stay leaner while building muscle.
• Fasting increases blood flow in abdominal subcutaneous fat, which can help with losing that stubborn belly fat. A 3-day fast increased abdominal subcutaneous blood flow by 50%. However, this change is minute and probably not relevant.
• Fasted resistance training causes a bigger anabolic response to eating post-workout than fed training by increasing the p70S6 kinase. Theoretically, you’ll create a bigger super-compensatory effect for muscle hypertrophy by working out while fasting and then refeeding properly.
• Increased growth hormone from working out fasted may help to preserve lean muscle and protect against excessive catabolism. This may be worthwhile if you’re eating at a caloric deficit but still getting more than enough protein. At other times, it would depend on what macro ratios you eat.

To maximize the autophagic benefits of fasting, you’d want to fast for as long as possible every day. In most cases, that would entail about a 20-hour fasted window.

For optimal muscle growth, you’d want to have a smaller number of amino acids and protein in your system before working out.

For better body composition and nutrient partitioning, you’d benefit more from backloading most of your calories into the post-workout scenario where your body prioritizes recovery.

Here’s what the Targeted Intermittent Fasting Protocol looks like:

• Fast for the majority of the day as long as you can before working out.
• Consume only water and zero calorie teas or coffee all the way up until 18-20 hours of fasting.
• When starting to workout at 18-20 hours, consume a protein shake with 20-30 grams protein. It’s preferable to drink it during the actual workout and use quality protein powders that don’t have artificial sweeteners or other additives.
• While working out, focus on heavier compound movements and hypertrophic exercises to stimulate muscle growth. In between your sets, sip on the protein shake.
• In the post-workout scenario eat the rest of your calories within 2-3 hours or in a single meal. Make sure you still get enough protein after training.

Post-Workout Nutrition While Fasting

Eating immediately afterwards isn’t ideal because you may be still under the influence of cortisol and digestive stress, which can promote gut issues and fat gain. The sweet spot for muscle protein synthesis and avoiding catabolism seems to be between 60-195 minutes after training but not before 60 minutes.

Protein shakes would have the most effect either immediately before or intra-workout ala targeted intermittent fasting. If you wait for 2 hours and eat, then it’d be better to get your amino acids from real food but if you don’t have access to those conditions, then the shake is a great alternative.

When taking any fitness supplements, you have to be wary of their ingredients and content. You definitely want to avoid artificial sweeteners like sucralose, saccharin, fructose, and aspartame because they’re linked to insulin resistance and other diseases. They’re still going to spike insulin and even disrupt the microbiome by promoting the proliferation of certain gut buts that can extract more calories from the food you eat.

In general, workout somewhere between the 16–20-hour mark of fasting and wait at least 60-120 minutes before eating anything. The fear of missing out on this so-called “anabolic window” wherein you’ll start building exponentially more muscle is futile.

Re-feeding after fasting, especially on carbohydrates, raises the thermic effect of food, which produces excess body heat and can lead to a positive result in body composition.

Part of the reason why cholesterol helps with muscle growth may have to do with the anti-oxidant properties of cholesterol and the repair mechanisms it triggers. Cholesterol improves membrane stability of cells which enhances their resiliency against muscle damage during exercise. This also controls inflammation during recovery. Cholesterol supports mTOR and IGF-1 signaling by helping with the formation of signaling pathways.