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Q: I've been following the "one-set" workout for a year now. But, I've stopped growing, and my strength isn't increasing. What should I do? Should I just take more time off between workouts?
A: Most of the research on training with only one intense set to failure (low volume) has been done with beginning weight-lifters for short amounts of time—only a matter of weeks. There's more research on the anabolic effects of high-volume training. Charles Poliquin could better elaborate on what type of training to do for specific muscle groups, but I can at least give you a general answer as to why the one-set program may work for only a limited amount of time.
There are different types of muscle fibers, with different neuron-firing thresholds and different energy systems. One-set training stimulates the fast-twitch, Type IIb fibers, which need high tension (heavy weight—over 80% 1-rep max—and low repetitions) to grow. However, after the first intense set, it is possible to stimulate the other Type II muscle fibers, the "a" type, but these respond better to a repetition range of between six and eight. A trained weightlifter can also cause an anabolic training response in the slow-twitch (Type I) fibers, but these fibers are best stimulated by higher volume, lower weight training. This is not to say every muscle group responds best to higher volume training. For example, in a recent study, researchers examined the effects of around 12 sets for the biceps muscles. They found the Type II fibers increased in size by 17%, and the Type I fibers increased by 10%. However, the hamstrings have less Type I fibers than the arm biceps, so 12 sets for hamstrings might be excessive. As mentioned, a great strength coach, like Poliquin, can tell you which muscle groups have high enough amounts of Type I fibers and therefore respond better to higher training volume.
Some experts accurately point out that a beginning weightlifter doesn't respond as well to high-volume training as low-volume training. And there is the isolated bodybuilder who responds tremendously well to reduced training volume. I should point out, though, that one of the mechanisms of the anabolic training response is a certain amount of trauma inflicted on the muscle, often measured in studies by creatine phosphokinase (CK) levels in the blood.
Although bodybuilders are not research scientists, most will, through trial and error, arrive at successful training programs. A few months ago, I asked Chris Aceto, who works with many bodybuilders, how he had improved his biceps and triceps, which had been lagging body parts. He said he had noticed that the bodybuilders with the biggest arms trained them by using many sets and reps. As much as we are increasingly looking into the laboratory and to university studies for answers in the bodybuilding world, in many instances, athletes do stumble onto a workable solution, which is usually validated, at a later date, by scientists.
As for your problem of no gains, even though you have been doing one-set-to-failure training, you might still be overtrained (although you might be undertrained). This overtrained state usually happens when you stick to the same exercises week after week. It can be a combination of minor joint and connective-tissue trauma and injury or not enough nerve recuperation, as continually stimulating the Type IIb fibers can cause nervous system exhaustion. It might be that your actual muscle fibers are not overtrained, but everything surrounding them is. If you take a break for two weeks and come back to the gym doing the same exercises at higher poundages, obviously you were overtrained. To avoid this type of overtraining, it's best to change exercises frequently (which changes motor-unit recruitment), and avoid locked-in planes of movement that cause repetitive damage (meaning: stick with free weights). Most importantly, though, up the training volume.
Q: Will pyruvate be an effective supplement to take during the dieting phase of the ABCDE Program?
A: I believe the chief benefit of using pyruvate during dieting may be as an energy substrate in the liver cells, which need energy to convert inactive thyroid (T4) to the active thyroid (T3). Because of the reduction in calories, when you diet you eventually experience a lowered body temperature, which indicates diminished T3 output from the liver. When this happens depends on the amount of carbohydrates in your diet as well as your activity level. Because the dieting phase on the ABCDE Program lasts only two weeks, even in a worst-case scenario (i.e., a no-carb diet and daily aerobics), you would maintain most of your regular T3 output because of existing liver glycogen and gluconeogenesis from glycerol and ala-nine. And the subsequent two weeks of overfeeding (especially with carbs) after the dieting phase is more than enough time to replenish depleted ATP (if it has diminished enough to affect T3 levels).
I should remind you that the human trials studying pyruvate for fat loss used a wide range of dosages—from 16 to 75 grams a day. Most of these subjects did mention some kind of gastric upset from the increased mineral load, as the researchers relied on only two mineral variants (calcium and sodium) of pyruvate. At the present time, most of the retail sources of pyruvate charge around 75€ a gram. And although the recommended dosage on the labels is five grams a day, the human fat-loss effects were not produced at this low dosage. Other researchers have done human studies showing that dietary phosphate may restore T3 levels in the liver. And the various phosphate supplements may do this at a lower dosage and a cheaper price than the presently available dietary pyruvates.
As an alternative to supplementing pyruvate, you could just maintain your natural pyruvate levels (it is a product of glucose and glycogen breakdown), since a large amount of liver pyruvate is converted to lactate, which cannot readily be used as an energy substrate in the Krebs Cycle. The one compound I know of that may forestall the conversion of pyruvate into lactate is dichloroacetate (DCA). DCA given intravenously to animals was shown to decrease lactic-acid accumulation and significantly increase exercise endurance. Unfortunately, this substance is quite toxic and not available in oral form. Since I have an ongoing interest in this subject, I'm looking at nutritional alternatives with similar effects. I'll keep you informed on new developments in future issues of Muscle Media.
Q: In the past, you've written that soy is a low-quality protein, but lately I'm hearing about soy's many positive attributes. Is it true soy promotes estrogen synthesis, or is this true for only larger doses of soy protein? What is your opinion of soy protein?
A: Modern soy proteins have very good solubility, as good as a whey protein. Whey protein has a better amino acid spectrum, as unenhanced soy lacks methionine, which is why its biological value (BV) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) scores are not so hot. By including a moderate amount of rice protein (which has high methionine amounts) with the soy, this deficit can be rectified. In their natural states, soy has more glutamine than whey, but most whey proteins have been fortified with some glutamine. However, a quality soy-protein isolate retails for around $10 a pound, and whey is about twice that.
If a healthy athlete is choosing a protein simply for amino acid content, a properly fortified soy is a very good, cost-effective choice. Certainly, if you are on a tight budget and the choice is either buying two pounds of whey protein a month or four pounds of soy, soy protein is the cost-effective winner. However, unenhanced soy protein will generate more urea in the body, and this is a concern to diabetics, post-menopausal women, and people with kidney impairment.
Nonetheless, many athletes choose a protein for its benefits beyond simply fulfilling macro-nutrient needs. In whey's case, its peptide-bound cysteine allows amounts of the powerful antioxidant glutathione to be produced in the body from the whey aminos. Soy does not have this benefit. Since many endurance athletes are prone to upper respiratory infections, the immune-boosting effects of glutathione are a very real benefit of whey.
Soy, though, seems to impart some kind of thyroid-boosting activity (yet to be explained). So a dieting bodybuilder might choose soy protein for this immediate benefit. As for the issue of estrogen: soy has some trace compounds (phy-toestrogens) that exhibit weak estrogen characteristics. Even though these compounds are not the classic four-ring steroid structure, they can bind at the estrogen receptor, depending on the estrogenic environment of the individual. Women, who have more potent estrogens like estriol, estrone, and estradiol, do not feel the effects of the soy compounds. This might be different with a male, but i've yet to see this effect in the real world.
I don't think there should be an "opposing-camp" mentality with soy and whey proteins. Both can be well-made products, and you should pick the benefit that best suits you. Because whey seems to increase the levels of the powerful antioxidant glutathione in the body, during the flu season, consuming whey protein may be beneficial. Consuming soy protein while dieting might help burn more bodyfat. Of course, you could compromise and simply mix the two together.
Q: I can only find pseudoephedrine where I live. I was wondering if I could take this in place of ephedrine in the ephedrine, caffeine, and aspirin stack. What dosage should I use?
A: Been there, done that. When I was in federal prison, we couldn't get ephedrine in the commissary, but pseudoephedrine and aspirin were available in the clinic. And we'd make our mock espresso by dissolving instant coffee until it was almost a syrup. We all got a slight buzz with the pseudoephedrine, aspirin, and instant coffee stack. And we tried a lot of Sudafed tabs, sometimes ten at a time. None of us felt any temperature elevation. After a few times, we all stopped everything except the coffee. Pseudoephedrine doesn't have similar effects to ephedrine. So if all you have is pseudoephedrine, don't bother.
Q: I've been training alone, so I can't do forced reps or negatives. Do I need a training partner?
A: Most training partners I see in the gyms do more harm than good. Either they help too much, rep after rep, repeating, "It's all YOU!" or they make the person under the weight struggle so mightily that it instills nervous exhaustion, which ruins the rest of the workout and slows recuperation. Many bodybuilders don't train to failure. And with enough experience, you know very well which rep you will fail on. It's very rare that you misjudge the weight and give out mid-rep. My idea of failure is that you cannot do one more full rep. I have yet to see the benefit of needing to complete a half-rep. Training partners are great motivators in some cases and can help you overcome the fear factor in a couple lifts. But they aren't a "must."
Q: On the NBC Today show last week, a doctor talked about something called UPC-2 and how it may help burn fat in muscle. Fill me in here. Where can I buy it?
A: The correct term is actually UCP-2, which is short for "uncoupling protein-2," but you were close. To help you understand the significance of UCP-2, I must first explain UCP-1, which is also called "thermogenin." Thermogenin controls body temperature in many animals (and newborn babies) by heating the blood as it passes through brown adipose tissue (a.k.a. BAT or "brown fat"). Thermogenin is found only in BAT, but adult humans have very little brown fat.
These BAT uncoupling proteins are hidden in the mitochondria, which are tiny structures in every cell in the body but densely packed in BAT. The mitochondria take the fatty acids in the blood and transform them into ATP, which is the primary energy molecule used in all cells. To simplify the physics, UCP-1 uncouples (throws off) protons from the fatty acids, and heat is generated instead of ATP. This thermo-genic effect is triggered in brown fat by 1) sympathetic nervous stimulation which releases noradrenaline, 2) chilling the body (Eskimos have more BAT than you or I), or 3) consuming polyunsaturated fats. But very little heat is produced this way in humans.
Until very recently, scientists thought such thermogenic uncoupling proteins were unique to brown fat. But in the March 1997 issue of Nature Genetics, a research journal, a group of researchers reported that they had found a similar uncoupling protein in cells other than BAT: notably, in skeletal muscle, white adipose tissue, and most immune system cells. Because this uncoupling protein is not identical to the one in BAT, the scientists have named it UCP-2.
This is a very important discovery. Previously, scientists had estimated that up to 40% of body-heat regulation in an adult human was caused by thermogenic uncoupling, although they couldn't find similar uncoupling proteins outside of BAT.
So far, the scientists have determined that fatty acids and thyroid hormone both stimulate the uncoupling thermogenic effects of UCP-2. And the presence of UCP-2 in the immune system seems to indicate that the fever response to infection and disease is because of UCP-2's heating effects. But they haven't identified all the hormones and chemicals that "rev up" UCP-2. From this point forward, scientists will be looking for genetic factors that either increase or diminish a person's UCP-2 levels. So when you see the type of person who seems to be able to eat enormous amounts of any kind of food yet never get fat, it may be because his or her cells have more UCP-2's.
As to your question—no, you can't buy UCP-2. Your natural levels are set by your genetics. You can, however, stimulate the thermogenic effect by consuming moderate to high amounts of fats, although we don't know which specific fats yet. Nicholas Bachynsky, the world authority on DNP (the mother of all uncouplers), has postulated that certain short-chain fatty acids, which exhibit unstable proton bondings, might be candidates. And there are many uncoupling agents that will cause this thermogenic effect. I have made you aware of dinitrophenol (DNP), but there are a number of other uncoupling agents that are less toxic and, interestingly, naturally occurring in plants. As much as others in the bodybuilding media are trying to vilify me for my discussion of DNP, the main direction of obesity drug research in the future could be to find drugs that can stimulate the UCP-2 to greater heat production.
The average person has a body temperature of 98.6°, and scientists think that up to 40% of this temperature is generated by these unique UCP-2 proteins, which divert fatty acids into heat rather than ATP. And some obese people have a genetic defect that doesn't allow many UCP-2's in the body. These people have lower body temperatures and don't need as many calories as expected, even though many of their other heat regulators (thyroid, adrenaline) look normal.
I haven't completed my research yet, but in a future article, I'll discuss the various uncoupling agents found in the plant world. Yes, there may be a safe, natural protein uncoupler, and I'm surprised no one has marketed it yet.
Q: I've read a lot about pyruvate, including everything you've written. I'm confused. Should I use pyruvate or not - yes or no?
A: Let's review one of the human studies on pyruvate. Obese women, weighing between 225-245 lbs went on a 1,000-calorie-a-day diet for 3 weeks. The women without the pyruvate lost an average of 3.15 lbs a week. The women using 36 grams of pyruvate every day (20 grams of sodium pyruvate and 16 grams of calcium pyruvate) lost 4.3 lbs a week. So it appears that supplying the diet with 36 grams of pyruvate every day allowed an extra 1.2 lbs of weight loss each week (.95 lbs of fat loss each week).
Regardless of the brand, most companies buy their pyruvate from a company called Med-Pro Industries, which is authorized to market the use-patent claims. Med-Pro pyruvate is expensive because distributors want to use the dieting claims from the research studies in their advertisements, so they pay top price. The average retail price of Med-Pro pyruvate is about 750 a gram.
The cheapest pyruvate i've seen is the Health Dynamics Research (1-800-660-4448) brand, as they make no weight-loss claims, so they don't have to pay use-patent fees. You can easily become a wholesale dealer, so you can buy calcium pyruvate for $19.95 for one hundred and twenty 500-mg capsules (making it 330 a gram). Even at this price, you'd need $12 a day, 72 capsules, to duplicate the research results. And this much calcium would be dangerous.
So, however good pyruvate looks on paper, spending $12 a day for an extra .95 Ibs of fat loss a week is not cost effective and probably dangerous (because of the huge amount of calcium). I realize that many of the pyruvate companies have been recommending about five grams a day (or less), but there are no human weight-loss studies which used this low dosage. I know that several brands have been tested and the purity isn't that great, so you may not be getting the amount of pyruvate you thought you were getting anyway. Would you like to speculate what 5 grams would do if 36 grams daily caused only .95 Ibs of additional fat loss each week?
Bottom line: until research shows it works at a reasonable dose, why bother?
Q: I sometimes experience depression. Would using steroids help or hurt this?
A: Most of the potent anabolic steroids are mood elevators. And as the East Germans found out, androgens influence the central nervous system. But, when you stop using steroids, those same mood elevators, once withdrawn, cause mental depression. Both these effects are significant and should be of concern to steroid users, especially those with mental-health problems. I strongly advise you to talk to your doctor about your intended course of action. That being said, I'm assuming you'll probably try some kind of steroid anyway, so my instinct is to warn you to stay away from the overt "mood changers," specifically all the androgens (like testosterone, Dianabol, and Anadrol). Although I will not make any recommendations, I can say that of all the steroids, the two that seem to cause the least amount of mood alteration are the injectable Primobolan Depot and the tablet Primobolan S (the acetate form). Since this issue intrigues me, i'll assign one of my newsletter writers to research and report on this area in an upcoming issue.
Q: I have access to two diuretics - Dyazide, which you don't care for, and injectable Lasix. In Bodyopus, you recommend intravenous Lasix, but this scares the shit out of me. Will using it intramuscularly work just as well?
A: I use intravenous Lasix mostly for practical reasons. In working with a variety of bodybuilders, I've found using Lasix intravenously imparts more predictable results. It starts working within five minutes with everybody. But there is no particular magic in doing this instead of going the intramuscular route. An intramuscular injection simply takes somewhat longer (around a half hour) to start working. So if you are going to use Lasix, you don't have to inject it intravenously. And if you are not holding a lot of water and you think you don't need to drop much water, you could get by with an oral diuretic.
Professional bodybuilders, because of the staggeringly high amounts of anabolics and growth hormone used, require a more potent diuretic than the mild Dyazide. Also, you might not know that at IFBB shows, they test for diuretics immediately after the afternoon prejudging. The majority of competitors will use a diuretic before the night show, and the de facto choice, because of its speed, is intravenous Lasix. Supposedly, the contest is already placed and won after the prejudging, but a tiebreaker could be won at the night show by a sharper competitor. I have noticed a remarkable difference in competitors between their afternoon and night appearances. Audience members who were not privy to the prejudging sometimes cannot understand some of the night placings. For example, at the most recent Olympia, Paul Dillett was much tighter at the night show, and the audience couldn't understand his low placing. It was simply because he wasn't as tight in the afternoon. As long as the IFBB diuretic testing is done in the afternoon, it will make the diuretic problem worse. Before diuretic testing was instituted, most pro bodybuilders didn't use intravenous Lasix. Now they do.
All this could be avoided by simply testing after the night show.
Q: I'm going island hopping in the Caribbean. Where are the steroids? And how do I get them back?
A: Forget the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands. They're dry. The Dominican Republic reportedly has a few anabolics available, including a Dianabol variant. Some guys go to a pharmacy in each country and ask the pharmacist what's available. If they find a pharmacy with a selection of anabolics, they sometimes ask for a recommendation for a doctor who will write a prescription.
As far as getting the stuff back to the U.S. it’s risky. If caught, the usual fine is $5,000. Sometimes you can try poor and reduce the fine to $500, but this reduction is rare. Customs, agents are not honoring steroid prescriptions from Mexican doctors, but I believe this is because of NAFTA. I have yet to learn if customs agents are questioning steroid prescriptions from other countries.