Show #2685
DIALOGUE edit
The BluePrint Power Hour
Co-host, Coach Rob Regish

Coach Rob Regish: [00:02:22]
The good news is my lower back is completely healed. The bad news is my upper back. It's moved to my middle back and it's locked up, but all things considered that's a lot less debilitating, right? So I'm actually a happier man, but I was a week ago.

Carl Lanore: [00:02:42]
Right. And it's not the continuation of the same problem, the lower back healed, but then you were moving furniture for your dad and you kind of cramped your upper back.
There you go. And one of the, one of the benefits of being strong is everyone asks you to help them move.

Coach Rob Regish: [00:03:25]
I want to thank everybody that came on board for the special, Thank you very much.

Carl Lanore: [00:03:48]
The first question comes from Mike Demers. He says, does creatine need sugar for maximum absorption.

Coach Rob Regish: [00:04:23]
It would be fair to say. I think that an insulin surge would help more creatine get to the muscle cell or ultimately be stored there. However, creatine is much more dependent in fact, on sodium for transport across the muscle cell gradient into the center of the cell, though salt is in my mind anyway, much more important.

Coach Rob Regish: [00:06:40]
Alpha-lipoic acid, ALA, does have research showing that when it's consumed along with creatine, more creatine gets into the muscle, which by the way, is why you see the R isomer of alpha-lipoic acid in progenic tracks. It's generally the one that I recommend. However, I, for sure don't recommend 75 grams of sugar with your creatine.  The question becomes, what should you do to get maximum amounts of creatine into the muscle? I would I take five grams a day, no more, along with your highest carb and or calorie based meal of the day, and I would lightly salt your food.  Even a low carb meal if there are enough calories will elicit a rise in insulin. It's not going to be this huge spike that you would see from carbs or equal caloric load which is going to be helpful in getting more creatine into the muscle, it hitches a ride with it. The light salting basically seals the deal.

I've seen a lot of guys intentionally avoiding salt and really to their detriment. I recommend they re-introduce it in their diet and almost invariably, they can't believe how much stronger they felt, etc. You're not dehydrated anymore. There are several other ways to get more creatine into the muscle but those are outside of the context of this discussion. Truthfully, most people will do well enough with the recommendations that I just gave.  Take it with food. Don't take more than five grams, lightly salt that food. 

Carl Lanore: [00:09:33]
I'm going to give you a tip on how to spike unsulin without sugar, that you've never heard anywhere on anybody else's podcast. In fact, you've never even heard anybody talk about it.  Viagra!

Some of the early research on PDE5 inhibitors showed that over time taking 25 milligrams of Cialis every single day seemed to make patients somewhat insulin resistant. When they looked into it, they found out that in the face of any meal the amplitude of the pulse of insulin is dramatically greater. In fact they looked at whether they could actually make a person who is type two diabetic get their pancreas to squeeze out more insulin after a meal, if they were using a PDE5 inhibitor. The problem is with long lasting PDE5 inhibitors such as Cialis, if you take them every day, you do run the risk of actually becoming insulin resistant over time and having visceral fat accumulation, higher probability of neurological diseases, heart problems, and so on.

A good friend of mine messaged me last week and said," I'm thinking about starting to use a small dose of insulin post workout." I told him not to, but rather take 50 milligrams of Viagra. Viagra only lasts five hours. So you get this big pulse and then it's gone. You're not going to raise insulin all day long. Take it post-workout as you leave in the gym, on an empty stomach.  When you leave the gym, if you've got to take your peptide shots or whatever, take those, wait about a half hour and then eat your meal and you will produce a whole lot more insulin.

Read the research on Viagra and insulin production.

[00:13:24]
Next question:  Why is it some of these calisthenics masters don't have much muscle. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to do some of those tricks they perform, but I want to at least look like I lift.

Coach Rob Regish: [00:13:46]
Any extra bulk that you're carrying, especially fat works against you. Every single body weight move is going to suffer if you're carrying around extra Chub. Because of that, a lot of people have learned that the easiest way to accelerate your progress when using calisthenics is to cut weight. For most, that's the story. Bigger picture though: There is no doubt in my mind calisthenics stimulate muscle growth. The historical evidence is there. We know people that have used only Calisthenics and built a lot of muscle. Maximum levels of muscle though, require something else in my opinion.

Most calisthenics masters skip the heavy eating. Overeating alone, is a powerful stimulus for muscle growth. There were studies done showing that simple overfeeding results in virtually all measures of hormones and everything else related to muscle building rise considerably. 

The other half of this is that most calisthenics movements have a skill level component to them that is much higher than what you see in weightlifting movements. Those skills get better with practice which you need to be proficient.  I feel that the vast majority of people should be performing both bodyweight work and weights, not one or the other. If you are young then build as much muscle as possible with weights between the ages of 15 and 25  while hormone levels are most conducive to putting on muscle fast. Once those years are gone, they're gone for good.

[00:25:55]
Next question: Hey coach, do you recall a concept called carb backloading? It was all the rage several years ago, but I don't hear much about it today. 

Coach Rob Regish: [00:26:13]
I think it's one of those things that may be worth exploring further if you're interested in the concept. My understanding of the method was that by saving all your carbs for the end of the day, you could ingest them in one dose and get all the benefits with none of the downsides, no fat gain or water gain, etc.

[00:28:03]
I think if carb backloading was the breakthrough that it purported to be it'd be here with us today. We'd still be hearing about it and a lot more popular like low carb diets, intermittent fasting, or their variations.

Carl Lanore: [00:28:55]
We did the show about carb backloading in February of 2013 with John Keifer, the guy who wrote the original book and promoted the original idea born from the fact that insulin sensitivity is different in the day than it is in the evening and based on that insulin sensitivity pattern, he postulated that eating all of your carbs at night, right before bed would lead to greater muscle gains because of glycogen uptake and no fat storage because of the insulin sensitivity phenomenon that varies in tissue from fat cells to muscle cells and so on.

A lot of people tried it and a lot of people complained that their sleep went to crap. They fell asleep, they woke up, they fell asleep and woke up. Eating that much carbohydrates before bed is a horrible thing and probably will help you develop dementia faster if you're an older adult.  No one does carb backloading. It's not around for a reason.

[00:32:19]
Next question: Training wise, how long do you stick with a particular style?  I find myself program hopping and looking for a way out. No sooner do I start something then I read about another method they say works better.

Coach Rob Regish: [00:32:43]
Interesting question. It's a dynamic that seems to happen fairly regularly. The best template I have found for people that are prone to program hopping is the original blueprint and that shell.  You rotate through no less than five training methods that have stood the test of time, in the first eight to 10 weeks during your first blueprint run. So you are never far from switching things up but not arbitrarily. Each phase literally builds upon the last, which solidifies gains as permanent to finish the process. It can be repeated over and over, which really sets it apart from conventional training programs.

Carl Lanore: [00:51:02]
any, anything that increases insulin sensitivity is gold.

Coach Rob Regish: [00:51:07]
Yeah, beyond exercise itself and a good diet. Those things are going to make a big difference. You can try to boost testosterone all day long but you're not going to get there with anything over the counter. Insulin is the big boy if you're looking to build a lot of muscle without the anabolic stuff. Understand number one, what foods to eat, and number two the compounds that increase your insulin sensitivity and you're going to start getting somewhere fast.  Look up Dr. Di Pasquale's anabolic diet to get a better understanding.

Carl Lanore: [00:53:57]
So, Rob, what is the blueprint tip for the day?

Coach Rob Regish: [00:53:58]
The tip of the day has to do with the question. What is strength. At some point in every lifter's career you will no doubt compare yourself to others in the strength department, the physique department, etc.  Here's a spoiler alert for you. There's always going to be someone bigger, stronger, faster, better looking, etc than you are so prepare yourself for that inevitable occurrence. It does beg the question though. What is strength when you're talking about being physically strong? There are many different kinds so in order to narrow your focus a bit I'd like to go over a few.  There is absolute strength, which is typically measured best by the three classic powerl lifts; Bench press, squat, deadlift. Of those three I feel the deadlift is likely most indicative of absolute strength.

I know powerlifters that are 300 plus pounds and can deadlift over 700, but they can't do a single chin-up. They certainly can't perform handstand pushups, and they're going to struggle greatly to perform one single pistol squat This may be the most accurate way to compare yourself to others: I'm talking about relative strength, usually seen in the form of calisthenics but relative strength as in relative to your body weight is probably the best measure. Maximizing that genetic hand that you were dealt is inspiring stuff.

If you learn only two things from this tip of the day, here they are:

You should only compare yourself to you and your last workout. 

Whatever doesn't kill me, makes me stronger.

I'm going to end this with a shout out to Carrie, a friend of the show who has recently gotten some tough health-related news. One of the strongest people I've ever met. When you encounter someone like  and look at what she's up against, at the same time maintaining the positive attitude, the sense of grace, it is a rare person that can man up or woman up as the case may be in the face of adverse circumstances and take care of business. And that's exactly what she's doing on a daily basis. Carrie for whatever it's worth, I think you are the perfect example of a strong person, physically, mentally, and emotionally and I really respect and admire you for it.

Carl Lanore: [01:01:50]
Natalie found the show that I did with my brother-in-law. I'm sending an email with the link today.