Saturday exercise

I have changed back and forth on taking protein before and after exercise.  Recently about 50% of the time I don’t take anything before exercising and the other times I have been taking 2 grams of glutamine about 30 minutes before exercising; glutamine has been shown to be a secretagogue for growth hormone; glutamine is the most prevalent amino acid in the body and gets depleted during exercise; glutamine tastes a little bit sweet and cost me $12 at my health food store for 100 grams (3.53 ounces).  

Concerning after exercise, recently I have not been taking any protein immediately after exercise; I try to wait about 2 hours after exercising before having my morning yogurt smoothie which has 25 grams of protein from whey, 12 grams of protein from 2 eggs, and about another 12 grams of protein from nuts and yogurt.  I have not been having any delayed onset muscle soreness recently, but I am still concerned about eating in a way which will replenish and heal my muscles quickly.

On Saturday morning, I did the following exercise circuit twice:

1.  backwards crawl up a tree or wall (start in push up position with feet against a tree, then walk your feet up the tree and walk your hands toward the tree until doing a handstand; then walk back down) (this exercise came from Johnny Grube of The Wildman Training Program)
2. 40-yd. bear crawl
3. bicycle ab exercise
4. gymnast back arch for 30 seconds
5. wrestler back arch for 30 seconds
6. porpoise push ups
7. horizontal rows
8. 20 each 7-yard suicide forward run
9. 20 each 7-yard suicide sideway run
10. 20 each 7-yard suicide backward run

The entire exercise session took 25 minutes.  Then I had a very relaxing time while laying down and listening to music for 40 minutes; I postulate that more exercise-induced growth hormone will be released by staying relaxed after exercise and by not distracting the pituitary gland with mental or physical activity.  I find listening to music is very pleasureable while experiencing my “exercise high”.

Then I did about 10 minutes of stretching.  If I am correct in thinking that the facial grimaces of guitar players and weightlifters (when they are doing their thing) indicates a surge of growth hormone, then stretching muscles also creates a surge of growth hormone; when I stretch to the point of “mild discomfort”, my face spontaneously grimaces/contorts; if so, then it is similar to other growth hormone surges that occur when the body tries to adapt to a new condition (eg. anaerobic exercise and fasting).

Friday exercise

Just when I started to gloat about my needing less sleep (in Wednesday’s post), I needed 8 hours of sleep on Wednesday and Thursday nights.  On Wednesday which had a carb-load dinner, I could hardly keep my eyes open at 10 pm.  I am not sure what caused the change, but I am going to start logging how many hours that I sleep.

On Friday morning, I was rushed so I did a 8-sprint workout on my Stamina 4755 recumbent stationery bike.  In between my 8 sprints, I did shoulder exercises that are at the beginning of the RealAge advanced workout video.  The maximum resistance setting on my bike creates a big-time lactic acid burn in 15 seconds; the bike frame is meant to telescope out to accommodate the length of your legs but I found that the set screw was not able to hold the seat in place when I have it at maximum resistance–so I drilled a hole through the frame and secured it with a pin.  Research has shown that the lactic acid is linked to an increased release of growth hormone.  Some of the research on exercise-induced growth hormone used exercise on bikes.

The entire exercise session took 15 minutes and I felt great.

Thursday exercise

On Thursday morning I was a little pressed for time and I felt like having a shorter exercise session.  I did the following circuit twice:

1. shadow boxing and karate kicks
2. chin ups
3. explosive push ups switching back and forth from wide hands to close hands in mid-air
4. overhead one arm press ups with 35 lb dumbbell

The entire session took 12 minutes.  I felt great and I especially felt that my upper chest had a good workout from the push ups.

Another 19 hour fast; my smoothie recipe

My last food was at 12:30 pm on Tuesday.  Then I didn’t eat again until 8:30 am today (Wednesday).  I felt good and had good energy all night on Tuesday; I didn’t have any strong cravings for food.

On Tuesday night, I noticed a slight ache in my left kidney which I have noticed before while fasting; also when not fasting I have experienced a slight kidney ache a few times.  I suspect that some toxins were released when my body was eating off of its stores of fat; and my kidneys were affected.

I have had some wakefulness in the middle of the night in some of my previous fasts and I had about an hour of wakefulness last night.  However during my 2 immediately-preceding fasts, I slept through the entire night.  Even with an hour of wakefulness last night, I was ready to get up after 7 hours of being in bed.

On Wednesday, I had a relatively light anaerobic exercise session that took 12 minutes.  I did one set each of the following exercises:

1. dips
2. handstand push ups (3 cheap ones, then holding the up position for 25 seconds; the fast seemed to reduce my strength)
3. 6-count burpees in a half Tabata protocol
4. Plank (to reach a muscle burn quickly, I rotate my trunk to alternately dip my hips down to the ground)
5. Side plank

After exercising, I stretched for 5 minutes while listening to music.

For my first meal after my fast, I had a smoothie with 1032 calories.  Many people wouldn’t eat my smoothie today if they knew the ingredients were 4 raw egg yolks, .5 cup yogurt, .25 cup almonds, .25 cup walnuts, 1 scoop whey, .5 cup blueberries, 3 tablespoons coconut, and 1 tablespoon cocoa.   (I had a carb-load meal scheduled for my evening meal in which I want to be high carb, moderate protein, and low fat; so I saved the 4 low-fat egg whites for dinner along with my carbs.)

I explained why I eat raw egg yolks and barely heat egg whites on my post from April 22, 2008. Here is a recipe for my normal smoothie when I am not coming off a fast or preparing for carb-load meal:

Mark’s yogurt smoothie	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
½ cup plain nonfat yogurt	69	0	9	7
1 tablespoon Cocoa, Nestel Pure Cocoa	15	0	4	0
3 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut	120	11	4	1
½ cup frozen blueberries	40	0	9	0
2 eggs (raw yolks, barely heated egg whites)	149	10	1	12
1 scoop Unflavored Whey Isolate by All the Whey	105	0	1	25
¼ cup Walnuts (about 1 oz.)	196	20	4	5
TOTALS	693	41	32	51

Tues. exercise; 100 grams of carbs per day

On Tuesday morning, I was pressed for time so I did not warm up for my sprints other than jogging for 15 seconds before sprinting.  In the 8-sprint workout, each repetition includes a sprint for 20 seconds and then a rest for 100 seconds.

I completed the entire workout in 16 minutes and I felt great.  I have been pleased with doing 10-20 minutes of anaerobic exercise every day in that I get some exercise-induced growth hormone daily and I haven’t had any delayed-onset muscle soreness.

I started keeping track of carbs, fat, and protein at the end of July. During August I decreased my average carbohydrates to about 100 grams/day.  I quit putting half of a banana in my morning yogurt smoothie.  On most days I have half a cup of frozen blueberries and a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa in my smoothie for taste and antioxidant reasons; my unflavored whey isolate seems to add some sweetness to my smoothie even though there is only 1 gram of carbs in a serving; my smoothie has totals of about 34 grams of carbs and about 700 calories.  Recently at lunch after my meat and vegetables, I have only been having a medium size plum or an apple.

I don’t know for sure, but I am attributing these benefits to keeping my carbs around 100 grams:

1. I have been feeling great all day
2. My energy level seems to stay stable even when I am late for a meal or if I miss a meal; my body must have improved its ability to get energy from my body fat.
3. In August, I have been waking up refreshed after 7 hours of sleep.  Before starting anaerobic exercise in Feb. 2007, I slept 8 to 8.5 hours a night; for a few months after Feb. 2007, I slept 7.5 hours a night; then I reverted to sleeping 8 hours most nights until this summer. 
4. Since the middle of July, I have lost about 5 pounds.

Monday exercise

On Monday morning, I did the following exercise circuit twice:

1. Squats with overhead press up of 5 lb. dumbbells in a “half Tabata protocol” (ie. four 20-second exercise bouts with 10 seconds rest intervals.
2. Curls (one arm at a time)
3. Hammer curls
4. Reverse curls with stretch tubing
5. Side lunges
6. Tablemaker
7. Double leg lifts up to an unsupported shoulder stand

The entire session took 17 minutes and I felt great.

I only have one 35-pound dumbbell.  Since I always can’t reach 6 to 9 repetitions (which is optimum for growth hormone release according to Rob Faigin), I use my opposite arm to help raise the dumbbell and then do the negative motion with just one arm.  I have also read in several places that doing the negative motion slowly helps to maximize the release of growth hormone; I come down slowly on many exercises such as push ups, chin ups, dips, double leg lifts to shoulder stand, curls, shoulder shrugs, and horizontal rows.

My experience with Tropic Thunder

I’m a fan of Ben Stiller; I start to smile just thinking about the characters he has played in past movies.  So last week, I was glad to hear he had another his new movie, Tropic Thunder, was coming out.  I started to laugh when I read that the plot involved actors in a war movie getting involved in real war-like action.

In previous posts (laughter to release growth hormone, 5 funny movie scenes)), I have mentioned that research has shown that even the anticipation of seeing something funny releases more growth hormone.  I felt some lightening of mood every time this week I thought about or talked about the fact that I would be going to see Tropic Thunder.

Tropic Thunder is a mock war movie so there are some scenes with blood and guts which some people won’t enjoy;  I don’t like seeing blood and guts but I still laughed at most of the bloody scenes.

Anyway, I was in good frame of mind and expecting to laugh when I went to the movie theatre on Saturday afternoon with my niece and her husband.  Although I didn’t hurt my belly laughing, I laughed throughout the entire movie.  One movie goer in my theatre created some contagious laughter from his frequent laughter outbursts.  By the time the movie was over, I noticed that my physiology was in a state akin to an exercise high and my face muscles felt tight.  Then I enjoyed recounting some scenes with my niece and her husband.

Today I still smile thinking about the movie and it lightens my mood while simultaneously decreasing my stress hormones.

Sat. and Sun. exercise

On Saturday morning, I “warmed up” by vacuuming the house and working around the swimming pool.  I started my anaerobic exercise program by doing five “fairly good” handstand push ups and then held the up position for 25 seconds.  Sometimes I can’t even do one repitition on a second set of handstand push ups so I haven’t been attempting a second set.  Maybe in time I’ll get stronger to add handstand push ups to some of my circuit exercise sessions.

Then I did the following circuit twice:

1. 15-second sprint on a recumbent exercise bike
2. pseudo-planche push ups
3.  20 each 7-yard suicide forward run
4. 20 each 7-yard suicide sideway run
5. 20 each 7-yard suicide backward run
6. wide hands pull ups

The entire anaerobic session took 16 minutes and I was sweating pretty good.  Then I laid down while listening to music for 20 minutes and almost fell asleep; my favorite music which is blues rock sounded real good.  After my “lay down” I did 10 minutes of stretching.

In case you didn’t already know, here are some things I do which (I think) help to maximize the release of growth hormone after exercise:

1. when possible I lay down after anaerobic exercise so that the pituitary’s release of growth hormone isn’t distracted by mental or physical activity.
2. when possible I listen to music after anaerobic exercise; I reason that I have enhanced appreciation of music after exercise due to exercise-induced growth hormone and conversely I reason that music helps to release more growth hormone.
3. I avoid eating for about 1-2 hours after exercising so that my body doesn’t release insulin.  Avoiding carbs after exercise is especially important to avoid dampening the release of exercise-induced growth hormone.  Occasionally I have a small amount of protein (in the form of unflavored whey isolate) after exercise; although protein causes a relatively small release of insulin, protein has also been found to stimulate the release of growth hormone.
4. I consciously direct my thoughts and attitude to be positive to minimize stress hormones.

On Sunday morning, I did the following exercise circuit twice:

1. shadow boxing and karate kicks
2. wrist curls
3. one-arm push ups
4. jump tucks
5. backwards crawl up a tree (start in push up position with feet against a tree, then walk your feet up the tree and walk your hands toward the tree until doing a handstand; then walk back down) (this exercise came from Johnny Grube of The Wildman Training Program)
6. push ups with wide hands and feet elevated

The entire exercise session took about 18 minutes.  Since it was Sunday, I had time to lay down and listen to music for 15 minutes.

I have fine-tuned my shadow boxing and karate kicks to reach a muscle burn more quickly.  I start by doing punches with my right and left arms simultaneously:

1. 15 forward double punches,
2. 15 out-to-side double punches, 
3. 15 up-to-the-sky double punches. 

When I do the karate kicks, I also punch with one arm at the same time:

1. 15 punch forward with left arm when kicking forward with the right leg
2. 15 punch forward with right arm when kicking forward with the left leg
3. 15 punch to the left side with left arm while kicking to the side with the right leg
4. 15 punch to the right side with right arm while kicking to the side with the left leg
5. 15 each lean forward, punch forward with the left arm while kicking the right leg backwards
6. 15 each lean forward, punch forward with the right arm while kicking the left leg backwards

Using sleep debt to increase growth hormone

I got up at 4 am on Thursday and went to work early.  Consequently I will probably have a larger release of growth hormone tonight when I go to bed.  A scientific study on growth hormone related to sleep debt indicates that more growth hormone is released on the night after missing some sleep.  For the full scientific article, click on the following link: http://ajpregu.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/279/3/R874.pdf .  The article postulates that a sleep debt created by getting up early (rather than going to bed late) would be best at stimulating the release of growth hormone on the following night.  Although I have been aware of this study for some time, I haven’t purposely tried to create a sleep debt.

Thursday exercise:  At 4:15 am on Thursday morning, I did one set of one-arm push ups.  Then I finished my exercising while driving to work in my car.  I have a rubber ball that gives a good workout for my hands and forearms; I also throw punches while squeezing the ball.  I did isometric exercise with my legs squeezing the ball between my legs.  I threw elbows backwards one at a time as fast as I can.  I did butt and abdominal isometrics.  I did shoulder shrugs while resisting the upward movement with my opposite arm; I focus on going up as fast as I can and go down slowly; I also move my shoulder forward as fast as I can against the resistance of my opposite arm.  I pushed my knee upwards against the resistance of my arm.

I have made some progress towards having a younger-looking physique.  Here I am at 157 pounds after completing my 20-hour fast on Wednesday morning.

 

 

A short fast, Wed. exercise, and Wed. calories

I started to fast after lunch on Tuesday and didn’t eat again until 8:45 am on Wednesday.  This basically amounts to missing one meal, but it felt like a longer fast because in the previous days I had been expending more calories than what I was eating.  Missing one meal is pretty easy for me in that I had plenty of energy to go for a bike ride on Tuesday night and to do sprints on Wednesday morning; however my running speed and endurance during my 20-second sprints was down somewhat.  I am not tempted by food and my mood stays steady when fasting.  I fast to release more growth hormone and for health reasons.   Scott Kustes at http://modernforager.com has some excellent fasting information in a multi-post sequence; you can read the first post by clicking here. 

On Wednesday morning, I was rushed for time, so I did the 8-sprint workout with hardly any warm-up or cool-down; the whole thing took about 16 minutes.  I felt very good afterwards and had plenty of energy (even though I missed my evening meal on Tuesday).  I was ready to eat, but think my body is better than it used to be at getting energy from my bodily fat; I think this is because I have reduced my total carb intake to about 100 grams for five days of the week.

Having missed my evening meal on Tuesday, I ate more than I usually do on Wednesday.  And since this was one of my carb-load days, my last meal of the day had more carbs than usual.  (I do a carb-load meal twice a week, but keep my carbs low the rest of the week as explained in previous posts.) The software that I purchased from FitDay helps me keep track of calories and nutrients; knowing the data has helped me make day-to-day decisions on what to eat and I have lost a few pounds.

8-20-08	Calories	Fat(g)	Total Carbs(g)	Protein (g)
Breakfast	979	79	42	36
Lunch	1416	113	45	69
Dinner	829	9	128	69
TOTAL	3223	200	215	174

 Here are some averages from the last 14 days which include data from 2 short fasts and 4 carb-load meals:

Daily averages for 14 days
Calories	Fat (g)	Total Carbs (g)	Carb Dietary Fiber (g)	Protein
2256	135 52% of calories	127 21% of calories	28	149 27% of calories