James DiNicolantonio, PharmD, (my coauthor for “Superfuel”) and Siim Land have written three books together, “The Immunity Fix,” “The Mineral Fix” and, now, “WIN: Achieve Peak Athletic Performance, Optimize Recovery and Become a Champion,” which is the topic of today’s discussion. “WIN” is a great reference, loaded with simple but powerful exercise strategies. It’s also one of the best books ever written on hydration. I’ve often warned that unless you’re engaging in regular exercise, especially after you hit 40 or 50, you’re headed for an eventual metabolic and structural catastrophe. The only sure thing about your future is that you’ll become frail, which is a miserable way to die. There’s no magic pill for frailty. To avoid frailty you simply must engage in regular movement and exercise. When and what you eat, and how you hydrate, can make a big difference in your performance though, and can affect your payoff in terms of the amount of muscle you can build. Should You Eat Before Exercising?Many fitness experts believe that you should have carbs and protein before you work out, because you'll be able to work out stronger. However, I believe far greater benefits can be had by exercising in a fasted state, as this will allow you to maximize autophagy. Land addresses this in his brilliant book, “Metabolic Autophagy.” DiNicolantonio says:
Land agrees, stating that the choice of exercising in a fasted state or not depends on your goal. If you’re a professional athlete, he believes it makes more sense to have some carbs and food in your system, because it will optimize performance. And, if you’re competing, you’ll need to train at near-peak performance most if not all the time, so training in a fasted state may be counterproductive.
For the average person, however, especially older people, optimizing autophagy is likely a far more important health goal. Nothing depletes glycogen from your muscles more effectively than exercising in a fasting state, which will maximally upregulate autophagy. So, for many, it’s a really powerful strategy. That said, it’s not black-and-white. As noted by Land:
Should You Take HMB?One of the things you want to achieve with your exercise is the activation of mTOR, and one way to do that is to make sure your body has plenty of branched-chain amino acids, especially leucine, isoleucine and valine. One of the metabolic byproducts of leucine is hydroxymethylbutyrate (HMB). Some fitness experts recommend taking HMB either before or after your workout. According to DiNicolantonio, there’s evidence that HMB is beneficial, particularly in catabolic states, but the jury’s still out. Some studies show dramatic improvements in muscle gains when using HMB, but it’s still fairly controversial. “Personally, I can't necessary recommend it outside of really low-caloric intake states to help preserve muscle mass,” he says. Land agrees, saying he believes HMB would be most appropriate for people with sarcopenia, or people who are on low-calorie or low-protein diets. “If you're getting enough protein in your diet, then you probably don't need it,” he says. How Proper Hydration Can Optimize Your WorkoutMy favorite part of “WIN” is the section on hydration. There’s far more to proper hydration and hydrating for fitness performance than meets the eye. Most will simply drink water or, worse, sports drinks chockfull of sugar in addition to the electrolytes, and call it done. But as explained by DiNicolantonio:
The Importance of CarnosineThat said, beta-alanine is also very important. It’s the rate-limiting amino acid for the formation of carnosine, which slows the aging of cells and protects against mitochondrial dysfunction.1 It’s especially important if you’re prediabetic, which a majority of Americans are. Another way to boost your carnosine level is with magnesium orotate. Orotate (orotic acid, a mineral) converts into beta-alanine, and then into carnosine in your liver. So, it basically acts like a delayed-release beta-alanine. There are also carnosine supplements available, but they’re not as cost-effective. As noted by DiNicolantonio, taking a precursor is typically better than taking the actual substance that you're trying to increase. Hydration Is More Than Merely Drinking WaterA common misconception is that hydration is all about water intake. DiNicolantonio and Land turn that myth on its head in their book. Merely hydrating with plain water can actually have negative effects on performance, both vigorous exercise performance and endurance exercise. DiNicolantonio explains:
Hydration and Other Benefits of GlycineTo do the hydration protocol reviewed above, you’d start drinking the salt solutions around 90 minutes before your exercise, finishing it off over the course of about 30 minutes. It’s important to not include any kind of glucose in the solution, as glucose will increase diuresis and cause dehydration. To your salt solution you could, however, add glycine, an amino acid with a mildly sweet taste. Glycine helps increase the absorption of sodium in the intestine and decrease core body temperature. Glycine is also an inhibitory neurotransmitter and may help reduce muscle cramps. Glycine is thought to be the reason for why pickle juice is so effective at rapidly aborting muscle cramps.
My favorite hydration strategy is to drink a quart of water about one hour before my workout and sauna, in which I have added two packets of our new electrolyte powder and one-half teaspoon of glycine powder (about 3 grams). Summary of the Dehydration Acclimation ProtocolSo, to summarize the dehydration acclimation protocol discussed above:
Raising Your Alkalinity Can Boost PerformanceThere's a common misconception that delayed-onset muscle soreness is due to lactate or lactic acid. As explained by DiNicolantonio, lactate is actually the beneficial molecule that pulls the acid — hydrogen ions — out of your cells. Your body actually uses lactate as fuel during exercise. However, lactate correlates with high acid in your cells, so there's this myth that lactate is bad for you, even though it’s not. When you vigorously exercise, you produce loads of hydrogen ions because ATP demand exceeds supply. When that happens, you automatically retain acid. You can get ahead of the problem by boosting your bicarbonate level to hit peak alkalosis. This will increase your pH, reducing the acidity in your blood, and this too can dramatically improve performance. The reason for this is because many mitochondrial enzymes are pH-sensitive. As the cell becomes more acidic, it shuts down those enzymes and reduces ATP production. Eventually, the muscle ceases to work.
I agree that this is likely a crucial point. If you’re on a high-meat or carnivore diet, you need to address this because you can get far too acidic and it best to neutralize this excessive acidity with bicarbonate and/or citrate. I personally use both, as citrate has the added advantage of binding to oxalates in your foods. Testing for and Correcting High AcidityThe good news is you can easily measure the pH of your body fluids with a litmus test. According to DiNicolantonio, the best time to test is four hours after a meal. If your urine pH is less than 6.8, you're likely retaining acid. Ideally, you want to be around 7.4. If you’re too acidic, you can take either sodium citrate or sodium bicarbonate to lower it. DiNicolantonio’s preference is sodium citrate, as it does not increase the pH of your stomach the way sodium bicarbonate does. He explains:
The Importance of Getting Your Protein Dosage Right“WIN” also delves into the issue of protein, which is really important. In the past, I got overzealous about not activating mTOR and went on a low-protein diet (0.6 to 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram). It was a terrible mistake. Once I realized it and doubled my protein intake to 1.5 grams per kg (140 to 150 grams) per day. This helped me put on over 25 pounds of muscle mass and I now weigh 200 pounds for the first time in my life and my body fat is around 10%. Land expounds on this important topic:
How Much Protein Do You Need for Muscle Building?So, just how much protein do you need? The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for protein is quite low, only 0.4 grams per pound of body weight. But the research shows that, at least for elderly people, higher protein intake is better for maintaining muscle mass and bone density and reducing frailty. For the elderly, Land recommends 0.7 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight (double that amount for grams per kg). So, the RDA is considered inadequate even for regular people. When it comes to sports and fitness, protein demands increase exponentially as well. According to Land, the optimal peak seems to be around 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight, or 0.8 to 1 grams per pound of body weight. You're not going to be building more muscle if you eat more protein than that. Higher amounts will help burn more fat though, or will result in less weight gain if you’re in a calorie surplus. DiNicolantonio chimes in:
How to Cool Down More EffectivelyAnother important topic covered really well in “WIN” is how to lower your core body temperature. Most people make the mistake of simply cooling the back of their neck or their chest when they get hot. But to rapidly and effectively lower your body temperature, you need to focus on your glabrous skin, which is enervated with special blood vessels that can dilate and bring in cold directly from the venous supply right into the arterial supply, bypassing the capillaries. Your glabrous skin is found on:
How Cooling Your Body Can Improve PerformanceDiNicolantonio explains:
To learn more, be sure to pick up a copy of “WIN: Achieve Peak Athletic Performance, Optimize Recovery and Become a Champion.” from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/03/13/win-exercise.aspx |
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