Body By Science, Fasting and BFR Training Results (with pics!)

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #244

Yes my 4th one (BFR) at 8 lbs arms, this week had a small amt of soreness on arms post couple of hours routine. Then one day later a little more. Can see vascular differences. How can that be? @Meerkatsandy

#245

@Don_Q
I think I can do 2 sissy pushups :joy: calling them “girls’” pushups shames me even more, me being a girl :joy: I do them standing with the help of my kitchen counter and last week I managed to do 10 slowish pushups, inspired by BBS. :slight_smile:
I would like to increase my strength and exercise efficiency, switch it up a little because I think I’m stagnating with the exercises I’m doing now.
Also I’m experimenting with my body, I am a woman and I might just have to listen to other women when it comes to exercise - I believe BBS and BFR is an interesting route to try.

@daddyoh Eric, could it be that maybe you’re training harder than you did on the first three rounds? Maybe you have better form and are pushing yourself harder, because you’re familiar with the exercises?

(Windmill Tilter) #246

Same. My arms have a spiderweb of blue veins for days afterwards. For some reason, the blue doesn’t show up very well in photographs, but it’s really visible. I’ve only had that happen once prior to BFR, and it was after I did my complete Body By Science workout twice in one session like it was circuit training. Not an experiment I repeated! It completely wrecked me for days, but it did move the needle in terms of plateau breaking… :yum:

Do your arms look kind of like this the next day?:

do2fjH5.jpg?12253×2266

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #247

Yes I started slowly. You are supposed to get your arms and legs used to restricted flow. The first two sets were with lighter weights. This last one was 8 lbs for the arms. I have a week off because of travel and then will do 8 lbs again with slightly more restriction.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #248

yes I got some spider veins popping on the inside wrists and then the exterior larger ones (are they veins or arteries) really bulged. Some of the bulging is still there.

(Bunny) #249

Interesting answers by different scientists:

[1] Muscle Glycogen: does resistance training deplete it systemically, or only in the muscles used at the time? …More

Interesting study on rats:

[2] Depletion of muscle and liver glycogen during exercise: “…Resting glycogen stores in the liver were higher and were depleted more slowly during exercise in the trained than in the untrained animals. Blood lactate concentration was significantly lower in the trained than in the untrained rats at the end of the exercise test. These results provide evidence that endurance exercise training induces adaptations which protect against the depletion of glycogen from the liver and from the three types of skeletal muscle during prolonged exercise. …”

This is really interesting:

[3] ”…Two approaches to creating a state of low carbohydrate availability are often described simultaneously, as if they’re simply different but equivalent ways of going about it:

a) exercising after an overnight fast - stores of carbohydrates are used while you sleep and not replaced before a workout, or

b) exercising after a prior heavy exercise bout - carbohydrate is used up during an exercise bout and not replaced before a second workout.

Despite being presented as equivalent options, the two approaches are different in their bioenergetics and will lead to different adaptations. This episode is meant to clarify the physiology of the two approaches and to present additional concepts related to fat vs carbohydrate usage for fueling your ultra endeavors. …” …More

Body By Science stuff:

[4] “…“Low-intensity, steady-state (popularly referred to as “cardio”) activity does not tap the fast-twitch muscle fibers that possess the most glycogen. Consequently, the muscles are never emptied of meaningful levels of glucose, with the result that the circulating glucose has nowhere to be stored – except as body fat.”

“The center of metabolic health is not the heart and cardiovascular system; it is the muscular system.”

“Human beings require periodic bursts of high muscular effort. In the absence of such activity, glycogen is not drained out of the muscles to any meaningful degree. When this state is coupled with routine consumption of large amounts of refined carbohydrates, a level of glucose is produced that can no longer be stored in the muscles. The muscles are already full, because an insufficient number of glycolytic fibers have been tapped. Glucose therefore begins to stack up in the bloodstream, and the body’s insulin levels rise. Because the glucose cannot get into the muscle cells, the receptors on the surface of those cells become insensitive to insulin. The body then produces even more insulin and now has large amounts of circulating glucose and large amounts of circulating insulin.” …” …More

[5] The 20 Best Glutes Exercises of All Time

[6] Eccentric training focuses specifically on the lowering movement. And we slow the lowering time way down. Most trainees will be able to do this exercise with greater resistance than the lifting and lowering. This will cause your muscles to generate more force and build greater strength. …” …More

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[7] “…An eccentric movement is the lowering part of a move. It’s when your muscle works as it’s lengthened, like those glutes do when you’re lowering into a squat, or like your biceps do as you’re lowering a dumbbell after a curl. And, in turns out, every muscle fiber in your body is the strongest as it moves eccentrically.

It’s not just because of gravity. When muscles work eccentrically, more of the parts of the muscle used for contracting remain attached to each other at any given time, so together they can produce more force. There may also be increased tightness in some proteins within the muscle fiber during eccentric actions, which make the muscle more taut (aka strong). Hence why lowering into a squat feels a heck of a lot easier than getting back to standing. …” …More

[8] “…One thing to keep in mind is that at 362, squatting (per @atomicspacebunny - working the glutes) is similar to a 200 person doing squats with a 100 pounds bar on their back (not a 162 pound bar because weight is distributed around your body).

So, if you start out doing “air squats” (squats without a bar) and practice form and getting low (which will take time) you can - as you lose weight, retain the fat burning and (once uncovered) great looking set of glute muscles. Drop 25 pounds, squat with a 20 pound dumbell, drop 75 pounds, squat with a 50 pound bar - as the weight comes off the body, add it to the bar. It will seem easy and - especially as you get older - you want to avoid muscle loss if possible (which is inevitable as you lose a lot of weight but still worth fighting against). …” …More

#250

Yesssss…! It’s wild how densely nourished muscles grow with enough protein provided - even w/o strength training. Then add some training leverage and the body practically sings. (Easier too with less DOMS or exertion headaches - since taking Ginger capsules with my fatty coffee an hour before training, I’ve been free of both).

(Bunny) #251

But from my own experiments it certainly speeds up the process.

I was sitting their wondering why I could not burn off that extra little bit of fat with keto alone or my other crazy dieting experiments and then I was like ah haaaa! Body fat started flying off fast…lol

I have almost zero fat on my body and all muscle!

I also found the key to making it work correctly is not lifting weights all the time, only a couple times a week or every 10 days for maybe 20 minutes even 10 minutes. I do this very infrequently, no set time or dates just making a little blurb about how infrequently. That’s how I maintain my weight long-term. When I do lift weights it is a lot of weight until It feels like my arms and legs will break.

#252

Yes, minimal sessions for short periods, once once or twice a week, is very good. My regimen has been derailed for months at a time due to extenuating circumstances, but without noticeable reduction in strength.

Mitochondrial repair and metabolic enhancement is quite amazing.

That would be interesting to get really lean, maybe when I’m older, like in my 60s, it’ll happen naturally. I’m reassured that my body recomp is ongoing - my body has a mind of its own though, muscling out my collarbone, pecs, and upper arms, leaving the apple fritters for last I guess. :joy: OTOH, have been considering doing a squats-centered routine to see what that does for the whole body.

(PJ) #253

Dang it, my brain right now will not remember the name of the protein researcher I watched two interviews with (too long ago to find in youtube history but I got both of them from posts on this forum). He said that the immediate thing for most people is unnecessary and as long as the protein is within a few hours it is fine. But he suggested it is different for people who are really high performance trained.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #254

I’ve found that 6 to 8 days of recovery seem to lead the best muscle growth and strength and apparent fat loss. I say apparent because I’ve not had it measured but I can see and touch places on my body and feel where fat has been replaced with smaller muscle. I also have places that are “gaps” in tissue where I can feel an indent and the connective tissue. This is especially true around to collarbone and outside above the knee.

It is truly amazing what one or two exercise regimes a week do when the type IIa and IIb muscles are enlisted.

I say 2 times because I have been splitting lower and upper over two days. Today in a few mins I will do my first combined lower and upper body by science workout.

Thanks Bunny for the research quotes.

#255

There are sooooo many different studies in regards to protein and when to eat, I really dont know what is the best way to go.
I have a question regarding this, actually…I prefer my workouts early in the morning before work, I wake up at 4 am, and I have my OMAD at 6pm. I believe it was Don who mentioned that the best time to do HIT is sometime in the afternoon due to our circadian rhythm. So, if I would try to do it the “proper” way, I would work out in the afternoon and then have my OMAD within the next four hours?

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #256

Today I got TUT for all 6 exercises. I try but sometimes I press the button and it does not start the timer. I use an old radio shack time that is clipped to my belly pack.

I just have to be making sure it starts.

I did my first combined upper and lower big 6 today. Mostly it went well. I accidentally dialed in 150 lbs for leg ext instead of 140 so my leg curls, which are my last routine, suffered a little.

On my chest press my form is suffering because I can’t extend to even 80%. So I’m going to evaluate some of them, and back the wt off a little, get the form and extension improved and get a high TUT and rep count. Then go back up in weight.

Dr Sato looks good.

(Windmill Tilter) #257

My 2 cents is that you should do what’s convenient and feels good because that’s going to be what’s sustainable.

Don’t worry too much about what’s “optimal”. If you get 90% of the benefit and do it for the whole year, it blows the doors off of doing it “perfectly” for two months.

Nothing wrong with experimenting a few times with afternoon workouts to see how it feels, but always goes with what feels best for you. That’s what I think anyway.

The evening OMAD definitely adds a wrinkle though. My guess is that your body will tell you when to eat. That’s probably going to switch your OMAD to a 2mad/3mad, move your exercise later, or your OMAD earlier.

Personally, I get ravenously hungry 1-2 hours after I lift weights. It doesn’t matter whether I’ve fasted 30hrs or 120hrs (I always fast at least 1 full day before working out on my feast/fast schedule). You might be different. Experiment with what feels best.

For me, I like to give my body clear signals on what I want from it. If I want it to burn fat, I give it only water that day. If I want it to build muscle, I work every muscle to absolute failure, and then feed it whatever it wants, whenever it wants, for as long as it wants. :yum:

#258

You’re right, I’m overthinking this…thanks Don :slight_smile:

#259

I’ve been catching up on some videos I saved on “watch later” and I just watched this lecture by Drew Baye…what a great lecture.

(PJ) #260

I just discovered that Alexa has a skill “myStopwatch” which will let me verbally tell it to start, pause, resume, stop, and tells me the time elapsed. I haven’t tried it yet (waiting for my echo to update to the skill) but it seems like that would work for TUT which I have not bothered paying attention to before.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #261

Yesterday I did my first upper and lower body combined BBS training. I pushed harder than I ever have. This morning I’m feeling sore in my upper-body and I’m smiling. My soreness is usually minimal on keto. Not today. I think @Don_Q called is DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness)

In a past life I would never have wished to feel sore after exercising. Now I know I am stronger, more agile and no longer approaching older age with a trend towards frailty.

I am so grateful for failure training and also all of you. This tribe of people interested in BBS and BFR is helping me learn to improve my game.

(Windmill Tilter) #262

I’m a big fan of Drew Baye. I’ve gotten some good info off his blog, and his HIT book helped fill in some gaps left by BBS.

(Windmill Tilter) #263

Must be a new feature. It didn’t have one before. We use the timer feature all the time.

When you have little kids like me (5,7,9), a timer can be a great “bad cop”. For example, when pajama time is taking too long, I don’t need to nag my kids, I just say loudly in an impatient Dad voice “Alexa, set a timer for 5 minutes”. No pajama’s, no book. It works like magic. :yum: