A study just posted this month confirms this finding in humans:
The study, published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, investigated the long-lasting effects of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) on the cellular properties of human skeletal muscle in former AAS users. This study is significant as there was previously no information available on this topic.
The team performed muscle biopsies on 25 males aged 18-50 years who were engaged in recreational strength training. Of these, 8 were current AAS users, 7 were former AAS users, and 10 were controls (none users). Myonuclei density and myofiber size were quantified using immunofluorescence analysis.
The results showed that type II muscle fibers in former AAS users had a higher myonuclei density and DNA-to-cytoplasm ratio compared to controls, indicating smaller myonuclei domains.
This was even the case four years after stopping AAS. Also, a significant association was found between longer accumulated AAS use and smaller myonuclei domains in previous AAS users. In addition, type I fibers in current AAS users exhibited a higher amount of satellite cells per myofiber compared to controls.
The study suggests that former AAS users retain a higher myonuclei density and DNA-to-cytoplasm ratio in their muscle fibers years after they have stopped using the steroids, indicating a potential for enhanced retraining capacity.
The TLDR
In basic terms, the use of steroids creates more muscle cells which you retain for life, also known to many as "muscle memory".
This could have implications on sports that only temporarily suspend participants that test positive for PEDs.
]]>A new study conducted by researchers at Anglia Ruskin University has shown that consuming natural olive fruit water could have positive effects on several key markers of running performance. This is the first study to examine the benefits of natural olive fruit water for people who exercise.
Olive fruit water is a by-product derived from the production of olive oil. Olives contain polyphenols which have antioxidant properties, and a commercially available olive fruit water product, called OliPhenolia, contains a number of phenolic compounds and is particularly rich in hydroxytyrosol.
The study involved 29 recreationally active participants who consumed either OliPhenolia or a placebo, matched for taste and appearance, over 16 consecutive days. The participants were then tested for various markers of running performance.
The results of the study showed that OliPhenolia consumption improved respiratory parameters at the onset of exercise as well as oxygen consumption and running economy at lower levels of intensity (lactate threshold 1). Respiratory parameters at higher intensity (lactate threshold 2) were largely unaffected, but perceived exertion was improved, as was acute recovery following incremental exercise.
Lead author Dr Justin Roberts, Associate Professor in Health & Exercise Nutrition at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said, "For a long time, I've been interested in the exercise benefits of polyphenols, such as those derived from cherries and beetroot. To gain similar benefits from olives, you would have to consume large quantities daily, which isn't realistic, so we were keen to test this concentrated olive fruit water.”
He added, "Like olive oil, it contains hydroxytyrosol, but this olive fruit water is a sustainable by-product. It's typically thrown away during the production of olive oil, and we found a company in Italy -- Fattoria La Vialla, a biodynamic farm in Tuscany -- who decided to turn this waste water into a dietary supplement. Ours is the first study to investigate the use of this olive fruit water in an exercise setting, and we found that 16 days of supplementation could have a positive influence on aerobic exercise, most notably at submaximal levels.”
The researchers plan to carry out further research at Anglia Ruskin University to corroborate these findings. They are also looking to investigate whether this product can be used for marathon training and recovery, as well as test its effectiveness in suppressing inflammation associated with exercise.
It's worth noting that the research was funded by Fattoria La Vialla, the Italian company that produces OliPhenolia. However, the funders had no role in the design of this peer-reviewed study, the collection, analysis or interpretation of data, the writing of the manuscript, or the decision to publish the results.
]]>A study aimed to investigate the effects of consuming wild watermelon juice on arterial stiffness and nitric oxide production in healthy young female participants.
The study was conducted in a randomized, double-blind crossover design, with participants receiving either a beverage containing 90g of wild watermelon extract or a placebo control beverage.
The researchers measured pulse wave velocity (PWV), an indicator of arterial stiffness, blood flow, and plasma nitrate/nitrite levels at 30, 60, and 90 minutes after the participants consumed the beverages.
The results showed that consuming the wild watermelon juice significantly reduced arterial stiffness in the lower limbs and increased nitric oxide production compared to the placebo.
Sports Illustrated just named XWERKS Ignite their pre-workout of the year 🏆
We developed Ignite almost 7 years ago after I could not find a pre-workout that was actually functional.
Meaning, one that wasn't just loaded with face melting stims to do curls in front of the mirror (which is fun sometimes) but a product that actually helped you to perform better in athletic situations.
Whether it's CrossFit, Ultrarunning, Obstacle Course Racing or sports in general, it's been amazing getting all of your feedback over the years.
Check out the SI article here
Cheers to another 7 explosive years
Even after PED use is stopped some of the advantages stay with you for life.
]]>We all know using a PED can provide a drastic benefit during use, what most don't know is some benefits never actually stop. If you saw our last post on 'Muscle Memory' it starts to make more sense.
One of the main benefits of steroid/PED use is the rapid increase in muscle size and strength. In basic terms, the use of anabolic steroids can add more cells (nuclei) to the muscle, and enhance muscle fiber size. These nuclei remain for life.
This has been studied as well. Norwegian scientists roided out some mice with testosterone and found that three months after the drug was withdrawn, their muscles grew by 30% after six days of exercise. A control group of mice saw growth of just 6% in the same time period.
Mice obviously aren't humans but the same evidence appeared in human studies as well. Swedish researchers found:
"The researchers found that several years after anabolic steroid withdrawal, and with no or low current strength-training, the muscle fiber area intensity, the number of nuclei per fiber in the quadriceps was still comparable to that of athletes that were currently performing high intensity strength-training. They also discovered that the shoulder-neck fiber areas were comparable to high-intensity trained athletes and the number of nuclei per fiber was even higher than found in the current steroid-using group."
They concluded:
“Based on the characteristics between doped and non-doped power lifters, we conclude that a period of anabolic steroid usage is an advantage for a power lifter in competition, even several years after they stop taking a doping drug.”
So while someone can technically be "clean" from PED use, any past use will almost definitely benefit them after and likely for life.
]]>Most of us call this muscle memory and yes its real.
The nerdy explanation is when you build muscle, you create more nuclei and those nuclei are almost never lost.
This study summarized it as "The old and newly acquired nuclei are retained during severe atrophy caused by subsequent denervation lasting for a considerable period of the animal's lifespan."
The older you get, the harder it is to build these nuclei. So the more fit you are when you are younger the more it carries over into later life.
Another study with mice doing CrossFit (kidding) studied the skeletal muscles of mice, which were trained on a progressively weighted wheel over a period of 8 weeks to build muscles, then taken off the wheel for 12 weeks, or "detrained."
This was followed by a four-week period of retraining. These mice were then compared against a control group that was only trained for four weeks. Findings indicated that the previously trained cohort saw accelerated gains in muscle growth after retraining when compared to the control group, and that specific epigenetic changes to DNA methylation persisted after the original training.
So next time you have a break from the gym, don't sweat it, the gains are not all lost.
]]>A twelve week study using strength training resulted in a 10% increase in tendon hypertrophy in the placebo control group (resistance training, no whey) and a 15% increase in hypertrophy in the group that performed the resistance exercise training and also supplemented their training with 19.5 g of whey protein.
As people train harder for longer periods of time, supplementing with whey protein may be critical to help not only your muscles grow but tendons as well - ultimately preventing injuries.
]]>In recent years the vegan diet has been hot, from news articles to Netflix documentaries, many people are buying into this 'sustainable' diet.
Many vegans also force their children to adopt their diet, but at what cost?
]]>Many vegans also force their children to adopt their diet, but at what cost?
This Polish study with children aged 5–10 y (63 vegetarian, 52 vegan, 72 matched omnivores) concluded children on a vegan diet had increased risk of nutritional deficiencies and lower bone mineral content (BMC) and height.
It also concluded the prevalence of depleted iron stores (serum ferritin <15 µg/L) was 12.8% in omnivores, 18.3% in vegetarians, and 30.2% in vegans.
Vegans had lower concentrations of mean RBCs, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and ferritin. Vegetarians did not differ in any of the iron status indicators from the omnivores
Another with 40 kids, with the average age of 3.5, we given a nutritionist planned vegan diet or omnivore diets. Even with nutritionist creating the diets (a luxery most of us don't have) they found "vitamin A insufficiency and border-line sufficient vitamin D" was shown in all vegan participants.
This meta analysis by a panel of experts from the Scientific Society for Vegetarian Nutrition (SSNV) citing 101 studies concluded:
"Due to the rapid increase in popularity of vegan diets, healthcare providers must be aware of the characteristics of a complete vegan diet in order to advise their patients correctly. Vegan diets restricting energy intake, excluding one or more food groups, not paying attention to critical nutrients or to vitamin D status, and not supplementing vitamin B12 cannot be considered well-balanced, and may have dangerous health consequences."
Meaning, this pro-vegan group admits the only way a vegan diet can be healthy is with copious amounts of supplementation and observation. Most parents are not and can not get regular blood work on their children to monitor their bio markers.
While vegan diets are generally well intentioned, their outcomes can be far from healthy.
]]>A new University of Maryland study of healthy older adults shows that just one session of exercise increased activation in the brain circuits associated with memory -- including the hippocampus -- which shrinks with age and is the brain region attacked first in Alzheimer's disease.
"While it has been shown that regular exercise can increase the volume of the hippocampus, our study provides new information that acute exercise has the ability to impact this important brain region," said Dr. J. Carson Smith, an associate professor of kinesiology in the University of Maryland School of Public Health and the study's lead author.
Dr. Smith's research team measured the brain activity (using fMRI) of healthy participants ages 55-85 who were asked to perform a memory task that involves identifying famous names and non famous ones.
The action of remembering famous names activates a neural network related to semantic memory, which is known to deteriorate over time with memory loss.
Participants' brain activation while correctly remembering names was significantly greater in four brain cortical regions (including the middle frontal gyrus, inferior temporal gryus, middle temporal gyrus, and fusiform gyrus) after exercise compared to after rest.
"Just like a muscle adapts to repeated use, single sessions of exercise may flex cognitive neural networks in ways that promote adaptations over time and lend to increased network integrity and function and allow more efficient access to memories," Dr. Smith explained.
]]>Exercise may be as effective as prescribed drugs to lower high (140 mm Hg) blood pressure, suggests a pooled analysis of the available data, in what is thought to be the first study of its kind, and published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
But there are no direct head to head comparative trials of exercise and blood pressure lowering drugs, and the numbers of participants in some of the included studies were relatively small, caution the researchers.
While promising, the findings shouldn't persuade patients to ditch their blood pressure lowering drugs in favor of an exercise regimen just yet, although patients might want to boost their physical activity levels, advises the lead study author in a linked podcast.
Exercise can lower systolic blood pressure -- the amount of pressure in the arteries when the heart is beating and expressed as the top number in any blood pressure reading.
But what isn't clear is how exercise compares with blood pressure lowering drugs, of which there are several types, as no direct head to head clinical trials have been carried out.
To get round this, the researchers pooled the data from 194 clinical trials looking at the impact of drugs on lowering systolic blood pressure and 197 trials looking at the impact of structured exercise, and involving a total of 39,742 people.
Three sets of analyses were done: all types of exercise compared with all classes of blood pressure lowering drugs; different types of exercise compared with different types of drug; and different intensities of exercise compared with different drug doses.
And finally, these analyses were repeated, but in a group of exercise trials that included only participants with high blood pressure, as most of these trials were of young healthy participants with normal blood pressure.
The results showed that blood pressure was lower in people treated with drugs than in those following structured exercise programmes.
What's more, the effectiveness of exercise increased the higher the threshold used to define high blood pressure -- that is, anything above 140 mm Hg.
The researchers also found "compelling evidence that combining endurance and dynamic resistance training was effective in reducing [systolic blood pressure]."
This trend is likely to continue, say the researchers, given that major clinical practice guidelines have recently lowered the threshold for high systolic blood pressure to 130 mm Hg.
But substituting exercise for drugs may be challenging as people with high blood pressure often have several long term conditions, and an estimated 40 per cent of adults in the US and many European countries are physically inactive, they say.
]]>According to the Journal of Cell Science, the mTOR (or the mammalian target of rapamycin) signaling pathway integrates both intracellular and extracellular signals and serves as a central regulator of cell metabolism, growth, proliferation and survival.
The new study, published in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, looked at krill oil supplementation in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study design.
The researchers were investigating krill oil’s effect on mTOR signaling as a measure of how it affects muscle growth and recovery after resistance exercise.
The research team consisted of individuals associated with Avoca, a Rimfrost/Olympic Seafood AS subsidiary, two researchers from Increnovo, a Milwaukee-based contract research organization and a faculty member from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
One of the researchers, Dr Ralf Jäger, PhD of Increnovo, said the benefits of krill oil, and omega-3s in general, in aiding in the recovery from exercise is an area of continued study.
“In athletes, krill oil has been shown to improve post-exercise immune function (2 g/d for six weeks) and diminished post-exercise oxidative damage during recovery (1 g/d for six weeks); however, failed to improve exercise performance (cycling time trial and total run time in a 2,000 meter test),” Jäger told NutraIngredients-USA.
“The lack of performance benefits of krill oil supplementation in previous sports studies might have been based on a lack of an accompanying controlled challenging training protocol optimizing krill oil’s benefits on recovery, as muscle recovery after an exercise bout might influence training adaptations,” he said.
“Fish oil supplementation in combination with or without resistance exercise resulted in increased strength and functional ability in older adults; however, potential long-term benefits of omega-3 PUFA supplementation on muscle hypertrophy and performance in young healthy subjects undergoing a controlled resistance training program are currently unknown,” he said.
Dr Jäger is also a co-holder of a patent on the use of krill oil extract to increase muscle growth.
The researchers noted that in addition to the beneficial molecules of EPA and DHA, krill oil also includes the potent antioxidant carotenoid astaxanthin.
But they speculated that the phospholipid nature of krill oil might boost the absorption of the astaxanthin in the material as it does for the EPA and DHA that is present.
The krill oil group received 3 grams of krill oil (supplied by Rimfrost) daily, whereas the others received olive oil placebos.
A cultured tissue assay comparing the mTOR signaling activation effects of krill oil to soy-derived phosphatidylcholine also formed part of the publication.
]]>Lifting weights for less than an hour a week may reduce your risk for a heart attack or stroke by 40 to 70 percent, according to a new study.
“People may think they need to spend a lot of time lifting weights, but just two sets of bench presses that take less than 5 minutes could be effective,” says DC (Duck-chul) Lee, associate professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University.
In other words, you don’t have to meet the recommended guidelines for aerobic physical activity to lower your risk; weight training alone is enough.
They measured three health outcomes: cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke that did not result in death, all cardiovascular events including death and any type of death.
Lee says resistance exercise reduced the risk for all three.
“Lifting any weight that increases resistance on your muscles is the key,” Lee says.
In the two studies (one, two), which appear in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers found resistance exercise lowered the risk for both.
]]>A new discovery could explain why obese people are more likely to develop cancer, scientists say.
Obesity is the biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK after smoking, Cancer Research UK says.
Dr Leo Carlin, from the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, said: "Although we know that obesity increases the risk of 13 different types of cancer, we still don't fully understand the mechanisms underlying the link.
"This study reveals how fat molecules prevent immune cells from properly positioning their tumour-killing machinery, and provides new avenues to investigate treatments."
]]>A study suggests that those who don't feel well after a night of poor sleep may want to consider dehydration—not simply poor sleep—as a cause, and drink more water.
Researchers looked at how sleep affected hydration status and risk of dehydration in U.S. and Chinese adults.
A hormone called vasopressin is released to help regulate the body's hydration status.
"If you are only getting six hours of sleep a night, it can affect your hydration status," Rosinger said.
Future studies should use the same methodology across sites and examine this relationship longitudinally over the course of a week to understand baseline sleep and hydration status, Rosinger said.
View the full article here and learn how to hack your sleep here.
]]>As of now, this has not been confirmed directly from CrossFit HQ.
]]>“It’s a historic mistake,” Brooks said. “It was thought that lactate is made in muscles when there is not enough oxygen. It has been thought to be a fatigue agent, a metabolic waste product, a metabolic poison. But the classic mistake was to note that when a cell was under stress, there was a lot of lactate, then blame it on lactate. The proper interpretation is that lactate production is a strain response, it’s there to compensate for metabolic stress. It is the way cells push back on deficits in metabolism.”
Lactate has been showed to be a major fuel source in your body, your muscles, heart and brain arguably prefer lactate as their main fuel source. Both Xwerks Ignite and Motion contain lactate in their ingredients.
"When lactate is around, as during intense activity, the muscle mitochondria burn it preferentially, and even shut out glucose and fatty acid fuels. Brooks used tracers to show that both the heart muscle and the brain prefer lactate to glucose as fuel, and run more strongly on lactate."
]]>Researchers found that after a daily dosing (2.4oz) of beetroot juice, aerobic endurance performance increased by 24 percent after just one week.
The evidence suggests that dietary inorganic nitrate supplementation has beneficial effects on blood pressure control, vascular health, exercise capacity and oxygen metabolism.
]]>Astaxanthin is found heavily in salmon and krill oil and is what gives them their red/pink color.
"By activating the FOXO3 gene common in all humans, we can make it act like the longevity version. Through this research, we have shown that Astaxanthin activates the FOXO3 gene," said Willcox."
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A new study has shown that exercise changes the brains and sperm of male animals that can later impact the brains and thinking skills of their offspring.
]]>The findings show that the brain boosting benefits of physical activity can be passed along to children from their fathers, even if the father does not start exercising until adulthood.
Studies have indicated that exercise can alter how genes work, this process is known as epigenetics.
“My personal opinion is that exercise is probably much more important” than mental stimulation for altering brains and gene expression and potentially even the aptitudes of one’s offspring, Dr. Fischer says."
More from The NY Times
]]>From the article:
“Fasting has many effects in the intestine, which include boosting regeneration as well as potential uses in any type of ailment that impinges on the intestine, such as infections or cancers,”
“This study provided evidence that fasting induces a metabolic switch in the intestinal stem cells, from utilizing carbohydrates to burning fat,”
“This paper shows that fasting causes a metabolic change in the stem cells that reside in this organ and thereby changes their behavior to promote more cell division. In a beautiful set of experiments, the authors subvert the system by causing those metabolic changes without fasting and see similar effects,”
]]>A diet-related inflammatory index was associated with cancer risk in a dose-dependent manner across 44 studies involving 1,082,092 participants. People with the highest diet-related inflammatory score had a 58% increased cancer risk compared to those with the lowest scores.
The diet-related inflammatory index has been shown to be highest with a Western-type diet (high in sugar, fried foods, high-fat dairy products, & refined grains). It has been shown to be associated with higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers.
Inflammation has been associated with many chronic conditions, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and insulin resistance. There also is evidence that chronic inflammation may be associated with depression and may predispose individuals to dementia. Inflammation due to a response to injury, e.g. from cigarette smoking or hypertension, is involved in the steps of atherosclerosis that lead to plaque rupture and thrombosis. The inflammatory microenvironment includes production of cytokines and chemokines that also can lead to tumor initiation, growth, and invasion.
]]>People who used a sauna 2-3x per week had a 12% reduction in stroke risk and people who used a sauna 4-7x per week reduced their stroke risk by 62% compared to people only using 1x per week.
Researchers studied 1,628 men and women aged 53 to 74, free of stroke at the start. They had data on body mass index, alcohol consumption, smoking, blood pressure, blood lipid levels, and other health and behavioral characteristics that affect cardiovascular health. From The New York Times
If you want to learn more about the benefits of saunas, check out this report by Dr. Rhonda Patrick or this post on Tim Ferriss's blog.
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