The Next Round………….

While I have been making progress working through the Endurance Macro, I don’t feel I have gotten the most I can out of it. Maybe because of the slow start during the first month, maybe not. Whatever the reason I have decided to push through one more month and see where we end up. Basically, I am not satisfied with the fat loss. However, we are a lot closer to where I want to be than we were in May; the Endurance Macro is effective, just not in the way I had expected. So before we get started on any finishing work for the year, any sculpting, I want to make sure I maximize results from an endurance standpoint. I will discuss results from this Endurance Macro in my next blog.

And as we get closer the end of the Endurance Macro we need to plan on what we will be doing once we get to the Sculpting Macro. Yes indeed, planning is a fundamental part of the process when chasing down that Last 10 Pounds. So this blog is all about the Planning.

First things first; Schedule. For the Endurance Macro we completed six cardio sessions per week; two very easy – Walking, two medium easy– Slow Jogs (SLOGs) and two difficult – Split 20s or Intervals. We also completed four weight sessions per week where the first 30 minutes were basically weighted sprint sessions (medium weights lots of reps) These weight sessions consisted of upper and lower splits; we worked each part of the body twice per week. Biceps were the exception; these were worked four times per week.

Sculpting Macro Schedule;

	Week 1		Week 2		Week 3		Week 4
	AM	PM	AM	PM	AM	PM	AM	PM
Monday	20CS	Upper	20CS	Upper	20CS	Upper	20CS	Lower
Tuesday	20CS	Lower	20CS	Lower	20CS	Lower	20CS	Upper
Wednesday	SLOG+		SLOG+		SLOG+		SLOG+
Thursday	Rec IT	Whole	Rec IT	Whole	Rec IT	Whole	Rec IT	Whole
Friday
Saturday	Whole	Rec IT	Whole	Rec IT	Whole	Rec IT	Whole	Rec IT
Sunday	S-20		S-20		S-20		S-20

Cardio Slang
Split 20 (S-20)	10 min slow run with 5, 1 min fast run 1 min walk bouts. 4 min rest then repeat (maybe a 3rd 5 min bout).
Slow Jog + (SLOG+)	Segmented Walk/Run, 5 (or 6 or even 7) bouts at 5 min increasing speed or elevation, 1 min walking rest between bouts (35 min total).
20CS	20 Min Cardio Splits, Generally 10 min slow run with 5, 1 min fast run 1 min walk plus 20 min recumbent/ upright bike intervals.
Rec IT	30 min Recumbent bike (or upright) easy hills Plus 10 or 20 min Interval Training Session.

For the Sculpting Macro, it’s all about body shape; what I need to work on as far as aesthetics. Figuring out just what my weak areas are and working those areas, including a diet with target macronutrients plus a specific max daily calorie count. Don’t worry, total calories will be closer to 3000 than not; I won’t be starving.

The cardio sessions are included as a means to maintain gains from the Endurance Macro. I’ve cut the running mileage back but included Interval Training sessions and Bike Training. The big hitters are the four weight sessions. These are designed to hit each body part of focus three times a week; one up from the Endurance Macro, two up from the Power Macro. What we’ll do is change exercises each time we hit that body part. For example;

·         Quads - Squats on Tuesday, Leg Extensions on Thursday and Leg Press on Saturday.

·         Gluts – Straight Legged Deads on Tuesday, Smith Split Squats on Thursday and Standard Deads on Saturday.

Blood Glucose……………….

As I have stated in previous entries, I have a propensity toward being diabetic; yes, some of the pill pushers out there would call it pre-diabetes or maybe, metabolic syndrome. However, as long as I am mindful of what I eat, stick to my fitness plan and most importantly, keep the weight, the fat off, I stay just under the radar. Now this doesn’t mean I don’t check my condition routinely. Over the last few years it has been through a home HbA1c glucose test kit. HbA1c shows your 3 month average. My most resent is 5.5 taken on 18 August. This basically means that my average blood glucose has been 110 mg/dl. And since I have been tempting fate with my nicotine experiment, I decided to go back to the daily finger prick, the standard glucose test kit.

As I discussed in my last blog, I am cycling the 7 mg nicotine patch two weeks on and one week off. This last rest week (3^rd month Endurance Macro) I had also cycled off of my other daily supplements. And there was a several day lag between starting back on the patch and catching up on the supplements. So besides the nicotine, just what other supplements are we talking about here? I’ve posted this list several times; this is just the latest iteration.

Marks Endurance Macro Supplement List
Multivitamin  (Men’s One A Day)	Kelp Tablets (Iodine), 150 mcg
Fish Oil, 3600 mg	Vitamin C, 1000 mg
Vitamin D, 2000 IU	Aspirin, 81mg
BCAA, 6 g (after morning cardio)	Fiber (Psyllium), 1 tsp

So what does this have to do with blood glucose and nicotine? I had been monitoring waking (fasted) and directly after cardio (still fasted) glucose while on and off the patch. This included the additional supplements. My fasted glucose pre and post cardio, on and off nicotine never changed, it always averaged in at 100 to 109 mg/dl pre and jumped on average 5 to 10 mg/dl post exercise, as long as I stuck to the above supplements. Then a day or so after cycling back on the patch but still off of the supplements, the fasted pre-cardio (my waking readings) jumped to over 110 with some of the readings over 120 and at least one reading pushing 140 mg/dl. The post exercise readings were still in the 5 to 10 mg/dl over fasted; WOW!!! Then I went back on the supplements and a day or so later, blood glucose was back to 100 to 109 mg/dl fasted. My initial thought was the Vitamin C. So I doubled up on the C, taking 1000 mg in the morning and another 1000 mg at night for a couple of days. The results from that experiment; no significant change.

Anyway, the difference in values is related to the handful of supplements that I take and at least in part, supports keeping blood glucose levels in check. Just not sure which one or combination is supporting that management. That’s an experiment for another time.

From the last couple of paragraphs, you should note that my fasted blood glucose levels are relatively high. With a propensity toward metabolic issues (pre-diabetes), this is to be expected; in my case it’s called ‘Dawn Effect’ (hepatic insulin resistance). Your body, specifically your liver, releases glucose first thing in the morning to jump start your system(s) and of course there is an associated insulin release that 1) shuttles the glucose to the muscles, fat cells and other needy organs and 2) supposedly shuts the liver down as far as further glucose production; a feedback loop. However, with this Dawn Effect and its association with pre-diabetes, it seems that your liver isn’t listening and just keeps chugging out more glucose. And of course if you exercise in a fasted condition, it gets your liver even more involved, there’s no backup food in the digestive system so more glucose is dumped, more insulin is generated and the liver is still unresponsive. So after a 4 mile run you end up with 120 to 140 mg/dl blood glucose readings. And as soon as you eat something the liver finally gets the hint and shuts down glucose production. This is what keeps my HbA1c readings on the high side; e.g. Dawn Effect, e.g. hepatic insulin resistance.

Blood Glucose and the CO2 Connection………..

This is something I have been curious about for some time and I finally got around to checking it out. I guess re-acquainting myself with the Dawn Effect (high morning glucose) and adding and subtracting supplements, got me reading and wondering out load if there is a connection between elevated CO2 levels and high fasting glucose. And yes, I think there is. There may also be a connection between elevated CO2 and my love handle, man pooch issues. However, if you cruise the internet and look for a direct connection, you probably won’t find one. What you will find; there are a large number of studies that directly attribute high fasting glucose and hepatic insulin insensitivity (liver not responding to the insulin feedback loop) plus obesity issues to Sleep Apnea and extreme snoring. So what does Sleep Apnea, snoring and elevated atmospheric CO2 have in common? All cause an increase in blood CO2 levels (higher blood PaCO2, hypercapnia). So I bought a CO2 monitor and guess what I found, fairly high CO2 levels in my apartment, especially in the bedroom, especially when I’m sleeping. When I say fairly high, we are talking 800 to 1000 ppm. That’s about two and a half times what’s outside; 400 is supposed to be the norm. And the outside environmental CO2 level, the norm, is close to 80 ppm higher than it was in the 1960’s and 1970’s. So do these higher levels have a correlation to my blood glucose levels? I don’t know, but maybe. Since we are talking about a ‘chronic’ exposure to elevated CO2 levels, I don’t think, or from what little information I have collected, I don’t see any immediate connection. To test my thoughts, I could go out and get a pressurized mask; that’s the fix for severe Sleep Apnea. But then, who wants to wear a mask all night? Besides, if CO2 levels in the bedroom are high, why would I force feed myself those higher levels? I do snore but I also sleep pretty soundly; at least according to my wife. She has tried to wake me to stop the rumble, rarely successful, for the last 40 years. Hell, fire and damnation, the higher CO2 levels could be the cause of the snoring; maybe. High CO2 concentration in the bedroom? How can this be fixed? A CO2 scrubber? We’ll think through this and come up with something. They can purify the air on a submarine, they can purify the air on the International Space Station, so I guess I can come up with something to clean up the air in my bedroom. I would like to see where blood glucose steadies out at 400 ppm, at 300 ppm and maybe at 200 ppm. In the meantime, I’ll just keep collecting information.

More on Nicotine……………

So we are continuing the nicotine patch experiment with some success and some disappointment. Success wise, if I were training to compete; running, jumping, biking, swimming, skiing, etc… I would (will) use the 7 mg patch as part of my pre-training supplement stack, I would cycle two, maybe three weeks on and one week off, and if legal for the event, I would cycle off 2 or 3 days prior to the event, catch up on ZZZZZZ’s and put on a fresh patch the day of the event, at least 5 hours prior to the competition. Nicotine as far as a central nervous system stimulant is very, very powerful and you should very much believe the claim of a 17% gain in endurance; at any body weight, at any fitness level. And if I’m in a situation where I need to concentrate and be effective mentally; nicotine with a coffee boost is my new stack of choice. The only caution I would give; if you are overweight and out of shape you may find yourself overstimulated; injury is in your future. Get to ‘normal’, have a pretty advanced level of cardiovascular fitness and you will be rewarded. Anything less and you may be very, very disappointed.

As far as those love handles and man-pooch, I don’t think the patch makes a rat’s butt difference, other than you can exercise longer. You might get in an extra set, an extra couple of reps, a quicker sprint, an extra 15 minutes on the bike, and maybe burn another 100 calories per session sportin’ a patch but you have to ask yourself, is that extra 100 calories worth the added expense in dollars and effort? In my opinion; if you’re competing, Yes. If you’re just interested in weight (fat) loss, No. Again, hard work and an on target diet are your best allies in the war against love handles and man-pooches.

Besides the cost and disappointment of zero impact on my handles and pooch, the only negative I found using the patch is the sleep disturbance. If you apply a patch the night before a morning workout, I guarantee you will fail open earlier than you may want. If wait and apply the patch in the morning, you will not receive the benefit of improved endurance. For this experiment, I dealt with the sleep issues as a tradeoff for the improvement in my morning workouts. With the said, if you need to pull an all-nighter, drive long distance, study for finals, get ready for an important interview or attend an important meeting that 7 mg patch or that 2 mg lozenge may be your best friend.

And finally, the 7 mg patches (or 2 mg lozenges) leave NO unbreakable craving or addictive behavior; this from a man that smoked for the better part of 30 years. The 7 mg patch is more like a good cappuccino, only steady state.

As far as the results from my grand experiment, I plan on using the patches for one more round (totaling four 2 week rounds) and then back off. This will ensure I’m clean going into the next Power Macro. Will I use nicotine again for my work out sessions and general fitness training? Yes, I will. Nicotine most definitely has a place when charging after that Last 10 Pounds. You just need to be ready for it.

MMJennings