wise athletes podcast

athletic longevity and peak performance as we age

Latest episodes

Dec 7, 2024 • 59min

#146 | A Strong Foundation for Athleticism | Tyler Benner of Strong Feet Athletics

Professional Grade Supplements for WiseAthletes If you are like me you have been investing time and effort into getting stronger and building a foundation of health with a variety of activities including resistance training, endurance exercise, high intensity intervals, and playing games requiring hand-eye coordination. I thought that was enough but what I haven't been doing is working directly on my foundation as an athlete....my feet. In my daily routine I do not have a single drill or protocol for making my toes and feet stronger to better control my body. And when I look at my feet I can see the impact of a life of wearing shoes that are pointy and tight. I have shoe shaped feet, and it turns out that shoe shaped feet are not very good for what I need my feet to do...control my balance, agility and dexterity. Oh, and it turns out that shoe shaped feet are also not good for producing power. Dang. Today is going to be a treat. On episode 146 I am joined by Tyler Benner, who is an athlete just like us who discovered that his athletic performance, which was world class in archery, was sub-optimized by his poor foot strength. Tyler joins us today to explain his long journey to figure out how to improve himself and his feet to improve his athleticism. "Athletes deserve to know"....what do strong feet look like and what can strong feet do? how do you know if you have strong feet? "Performance isn't always what we think it is"... In other words, how much performance improvement are we missing by only focusing on just strength or power output? Power is important, but what else is important in athletic performance? Where does agility and balance and dexterity come into play in your sport? Here's two great videos for strengthening your feet: Foot Mobility Fix (3 Fast, Effective Exercises!) Build Big Toe Strength Strong feet must have space to spread your toes for optimal force production, agility, power, and balance. Bio: Tyler Benner Strong Feet Athletics was founded by Tyler Benner, internationally competitive Olympic archer and author. With a deep study of the human body, Tyler believes good posture and daily movement help people do life better. Tyler takes a holistic approach to posture and foot health. Inspired by Katy Bowman’s concept of Nutritious Movement, or how movement variety can be thought of like food groups, Tyler believes a well-rounded movement diet is required for optimal foot strength and balance. https://youtu.be/d262lidaOPo?feature=shared (foot transformation) https://www.strongfeetathletics.com Follow: 1) @venndesign 2) @astraarchery 3) @strongfeetathletics Bullet points: Foot Mobility Fix (3 Fast, Effective Exercises!) by Z-Health Build Big Toe Strength The number of hours spent training is minimal compared to our other waking hours. Improving posture alignment matters most during our non-training hours because this is where our unconscious habits are formed. 1-2 hours of “good posture” during training does not offset the 8-12 hours spent slouching in everyday life. Slouching is easy to do and not realize it is happening because we are unable to imagine life outside of gravity similar to how fish cannot imagine a reality outside of water. Related info and episodes: Episode 89 -- Better Athleticism via Foot-Core Connection w/Dr Emily Splichal Episode 74 -- Un-f*k Your Feet w/Dr Ray McClanahan Episode 54 -- Better Posture, More Power, Less Pain w/Annette Verpillot More Tyler Benner info: https://thetoespacer.com/products/rock-mat https://fasciitisfighter.com/products/fasciitis-fighter-round-2 https://pranamat.com/ https://footlog.com/collections/all-product https://www.tuneupfitness.com/shop/massage-ball-kits/roll-model-starter-kit https://a.co/d/7KdU0Ph Want to support the show? If you are enjoying WiseAthletes, please leave us a review. And, be sure to check out our FullScript supplements link to see the amazing prices on the best brands on the planet. Pro Level Supplements

Sep 29, 2024 • 58min

#145 | Food for Thought | William Li, MD

Professional Grade Supplements for WiseAthletes Food as medicine is an old idea...it's the original idea on how to be a healthy person dating back more than 2000 years, but can food be the way to achieve athletic longevity? Can wise athletes target certain foods to target faster recovery, better health, and longer life? Can it be done without extreme or highly restrictive diets? Today on episode 145, I am joined by Dr William Li...a physician, scientist and author of "eat to beat disease" and "eat to beat your diet" to discuss his research on using plant and animal based foods to boost our 5 body defense systems to fend off the chronic diseases associated with aging. And, in particular, I asked Dr Li to talk about combating chronic inflammation and activating stem cells to rebuild our body. All right, let's talk to Dr Li . Bio: William Li, MD William W. Li, MD, is a physician, scientist and author of the New York Times bestsellers “Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself” and “Eat to Beat Your Diet: Burn Fat, Heal Your Metabolism, and Live Longer.” His research has led to the development of more than 40 new medical treatments that impact care for more than 70 diseases including diabetes, blindness, heart disease and obesity. His TED Talk, “Can We Eat to Starve Cancer?” has been viewed more than 11 million times. He is President and Medical Director of the Angiogenesis Foundation, and he is leading global initiatives on food as medicine. Bullet points: Science shows many foods can prevent, halt or even reverse cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and other life-threatening chronic diseases. Over the past decade, the Angiogenesis Foundation has discovered and gathered evidence that fruits, vegetables, herbs, seafood, tea, coffee, and even chocolate contain natural substances — bioactives — that can prevent and intercept disease by influencing angiogenesis and other defense systems in the body. What we eat and drink is enormously impactful when it comes to preventing disease. 5 body defense systems -- key pillars Each of these systems is influenced by diet. When you know what to eat, to support each system, you can then use your diet to maintain health and beat disease. The five defense systems are angiogenesis, regeneration, microbiome, DNA protection, and immunity. Angiogenesis: The process by which blood vessels are formed. Angiogenesis keeps the sixty thousand miles of blood vessels found in your body working to support health and fight disease. This is the common component in cancer tumors. Barley and mushrooms are good for growing blood vessels where you need them. Regeneration: The process of creating and renewing 750,000 stem cells that power our bodies. Stem cells maintain, repair and regenerate our bodies. Avoid too much salt, saturated fat, alcohol, smoking. Do eat dark chocolate, barley, mushrooms, fruit skins (apple, pear, peach, strawberry...also anti-inflammatory)...to get stem cells to come out to heal the body. Microbiome: The bacteria that is found within our bodies that act to defend our health. DNA Protection: This is our genetic blueprint. Foods can help repair damaged DNA caused by daily living, but can also help lengthen our telomeres, which protect DNA and slow aging. Immunity: Our immunity defends our health. Too much or too little of each of the above defense systems can cause problems in the body systems in fighting disease. When the angiogenesis function is out of control, it feeds cancer tumors. The key to keeping all of these systems in balance. 5 x 5 x 5 framework that supports the five defense systems. In order to support the 5 defense systems you choose five health-supporting foods you already like to eat and then eat them up 5 times each day. There is overlap in foods that serve more than one defense system. The goal is to eat 5 different foods every day that support each system. Examples below: Angiogenesis: almonds, blackberries, chicken thighs, coffee, eggplant Regeneration: black/green tea, cranberries, EVOO, red wine, coffee Microbiome: tomatoes, dark chocolate, sourdough bread, cauliflower, broccoli DNA Protection: coffee, broccoli, grapefruit, kale, carrots Immunity: apples, mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, capers Related info and episodes: Episode 94 -- Phytonutrients w/ Dr Jed Fahey Episode 100 -- Practical Tips for Phytonutrients/ Dr Jed Fahey Episode 132 -- Measuring Metabolism w/Hari Mix PhD More William Li info: SOCIAL MEDIA: https://www.instagram.com/drwilliamli/ https://www.facebook.com/drwilliamli/ https://twitter.com/drwilliamli?lang=en https://www.youtube.com/c/DrWilliamLi BOOK LINKS: https://drwilliamli.com/etb-diet-book/ https://drwilliamli.com/book-li/ Want to support the show? If you are enjoying WiseAthletes, please leave us a review. And, be sure to check out our FullScript supplements link to see the amazing prices on the best brands on the planet. Pro Level Supplements

Sep 8, 2024 • 1h 10min

#144 | Muscle for Athletics & Healthspan | Mark Tarnopolsky MD, PhD, FRCP(C)

Professional Grade Supplements for WiseAthletes Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell....yes, but what does that mean? What can we do, as Wise Athletes, to have enough healthy mitochondria in our muscles and everywhere else powering our bodily functions for optimal brain power, energy levels, we well as muscle power and endurance? These questions and more are addressed by Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, neurologist, mitochondrial researcher, lifelong elite athlete. Mark is the real deal who knows both sides of the story....the science and the practice of building muscle and VO2Max for performance today and a long stay on the planet as a strong athlete. All right, let's talk to Dr Tarnopolsky about the single best way to stay healthy and strong as we get older....exercise. BIO: Mark Tarnopolsky, MD, PhD, FRCP(C) Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, CEO and CSO, Exerkine Corporation, Director of Neuromuscular and Neurometabolic Clinic, McMaster University Medical Center Bullet points -- Muscle & Mitochondria "We all are suffering from the mitochondrial disease called aging" "An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure"...Muscle loss prevention is ideal but it’s never too late to restart exercising; benefits accrue to everyone who starts exercising at any age. Aerobic training is very good, but we also need weight training. Exercise provides a modest 4-year lifespan extension but a 10-year healthspan extension as it lengthens the time in life we can be mobile and take care of ourselves. Do at least 30 minutes of exercise everyday VO2Max is a function of and delivery of oxygen (heart stroke volume and heart rate) and extraction of oxygen (capillarization of blood vessels into muscle and mitochondrial volume to use oxygen) Vo2max: At rest: 3.5 milliliters of oxygen per kg of body weight per minute Min. to live without assistance: 12 ml/kg/min Mark's VO2Max at his athletic peak: 88.2 ml/kg/min VO2Max falls from 25/30 yo but older athletes have higher vo2max than sedentary young people But VO2Max isn’t enough for longevity. We need 3x/week of endurance training for VO2Max and 2-3x week of resistance training to build and maintain muscle mass. Longevity metrics: VO2Max, leg strength, waist-to-hip circumference Elite athletes need 2x the protein of sedentary people Don’t train with futility: Get enough high quality protein (aim for 1.2g/kg), don’t be deficient in Vit D (take a supplement), get sufficient calcium in diet. Milk and egg whites are the best quality proteins. Collagen is low quality protein (used as the no-protein control in experiments) Running or cycling at 65% of VO2Max (approx. lactate threshold; top of zone 2) 3-5x per week for 30-60 minutes a day will increase mitochondria. Interval training will increase the pace and HR possible at a zone 2 (“all day pace” of work) by increasing the lactate threshold. Once lactate starts to accumulate, it is only a matter of time before exhaustion sets in. Weight training in untrained older people does build mitochondria, and there is a spill over into VO2Max development Weight training for endurance athletes is about building muscle mass for strength and healthspan Fast vs. Slow twitch: Slow are the endurance fibers that are full of mitochondria, can go all day without fatigue, can burn every fuel we have with oxygen, but are smaller (to allow better oxygen delivery) and slower to turn fuel into energy. These fibers and their mitochondria come from a demand (consistent exercise) for long, moderate effort of work. Fast are the stronger fibers that have some mitochondria but not as much, burn glucose with or with oxygen, are bigger and stronger but tire easily. These are the fibers we build lifting weights that usually does not stimulate mitochondrial biogenesis Why do we lose muscle? What can we do to stop it? Lack of use is the big one Loss of enervation…the nerve that connects the muscle fiber to the brain dies, and now the muscle cannot get any signal to move, so the muscle is lost. On average people lose 30% of the muscle nerves. This seems to occur more frequently in people who do not exercise. Nerve talks to muscle; muscle talks to nerve. Mitochondrial damage from oxidative stress. Antioxidants made by the body and in our diets can help. As we lose mitochondria, the remaining mitochondria make more reactive oxygen species which cause oxidative damage. And old mitochondria have accumulated more damage and make more ROS. Exercise stimulates mitophagy…the clearing out of old mitochondria. But the ROS is also a signal to make the cells stronger and more resilient, so some ROS is good while too much can cause extra damage. Taking antioxidants after moderate exercise is probably not helpful and might impede adaptation but antioxidants after very hard, perhaps excessive exercise can be helpful to minimize the damage Other things Mark takes: a multi-vitamin, Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA), coQ10 because he exercises hard 7 days a week. Deficiencies are never good: get iron/ferritin levels checked, b12 is often low, check thyroid…low thyroid is bad for mitochondria, vit d, lipids, Anabolic resistance…older people have a lower level of muscle protein synthesis for a given level of stimulation (exercise or amino acids). Largely related to poorly functioning transporters that bring the amino acids into the muscle cell to use to make more muscle. Probably from oxidative stress, AGEs damaged proteins, 0.8 g/kg is not enough for trained athletes training very hard…cannot fully recover. When training 1.5-2 hours a day, athletes need almost double the protein (1.6-1.7g/kg per day).High quality protein is best at these minimum intakes. Older adults should aim for 1.2g/kg/day vs the RDA of 0.8-1.0 unless training heavily and then aim for 50% more than younger athletes training the same amount “humanized milk” = 60% casein & 40% whey Autophagy is increased by exercise, which is safer for older athletes than fasting or caloric restriction. To adapt to training you need to match calorie intake with calorie expenditure AND get enough protein. Eat a variety of colors (phytonutrients are important). Eat “close to nature”. Avoid simple sugars and highly processed foods. Antioxidants in food are always good. Chronic inflammation is a cause for reduced muscle mass and slower muscle building. Exercise lowers chronic inflammation. A healthy gut comes from a healthy diet. Avoid the highly processed food (i.e. peanut butter) with emulsifiers. Mitochondria are not just in the muscle…but exercise is good for mitochondria everywhere in the body. Exercise is the key to healthy aging as well as health today. Cataracts, hearing loss, Supplements: fish oil (best in fish) good for muscle and mitochondrial preservation during disuse, ALA and Vit E and creatine combined lowered oxygen-related stress, creative alone is useful for improved sleep and muscle strength and brain health TRIM7 -- Obesity supplement also is good for mitochondrial health: Coq10 ALA, Vit E, beet root extract, Green tea extract, green coffee bean extract and mint extract called Forskolin. Browning of white fat….helps people to lose weight without losing muscle. Urolithin A – poor evidence of efficacy. NAD+ boosters….may not be good and some evidence of problems from niacin and niacatinamide. MUSCLE5 – creative, humanized milk, vit D, calcium. Related info and episodes: Episode 128-mitochondrial-power-up-w-methylene-blue-scott-sherr-md/ Episode 127-how-to-get-great-bones-dr-keith-mccormick/ More Tarnolpolsky info: Mark's Supplement Company: Stay Above Nutrition: https://stayabovenutrition.ca Exerkine (Revolutionizing Medical Nutrition): https://www.exerkine.com/ Want to support the show? If you are enjoying WiseAthletes, please leave us a review. And, be sure to check out our FullScript supplements link to see the amazing prices on the best brands on the planet. Pro Level Supplements

Aug 28, 2024 • 1h 3min

#143 | Heart, Lung & Brain Injury from Chronic Over-Breathing | George Dallam, PhD

Professional Grade Supplements for WiseAthletes We all want a healthy heart, lungs, and brain. Can you guess at the single behavior that connects the dots on solving: the ability to run or ride at the same speed using 25% less breathing, reducing the occurrence of the so called exercise induced asthma or bronchoconstriction (EIB), eliminating side stitches while running, avoiding frequent sinus infections and bronchitis, and even dodging aFib and dementia?...and what if it cost you nothing but your attention? Well, listen to this: The latest science is showing us that while breathing with an open mouth allows for an increase in ventilation, increases work capacity (think: vo2max), and actually feels more comfortable and normal, doing so also predisposes us to a variety of potential health problems over time. Right, today we are going to talk about nasal breathing. while nasal breathing may have fallen off the internet talk circuit as a popular biohack, wise athletes should always pick the low hanging fruit. so coming back to our show on episode 143, the one and only Dr George Dallam walks us through his personal benefits from adapting to nasal breathing nearly 20 years ago, and the latest research into the health and physical performance benefits available to us all...without ingesting any chemicals, or changing our diet, or buying a single thing. All you have to do is breath through your nose. Its a simple prescription; ....if only it was easy to learn.... i say since i have failed to fully adapt in the two years since i first spoke with dr dallam... All right, let's talk to George Dallam, author of the just published book, the-nasal-breathing-paradox-during-exercise George Dallam PhD Dr. Dallam holds the rank of Distinguished Professor in the School of Health Science and Human Movement at Colorado State University - Pueblo (CSUP). Dr. Dallam has been involved in numerous research studies examining various aspects of triathlon performance and training, diabetes risk factor modification, and the effects of functional movement improvement on running. His primary research interest recently is focused on the capability of human beings to adapt to nasal only breathing during exercise as a way to improve both health and performance. Dr. Dallam has received both the United States Olympic Committee's Doc Counsilman Science in Coaching award (2004) and the National Elite Coach of the Year award (2005) for triathlon. Finally, Dr. Dallam has been continuously training and competing in triathlon since 1981. Bullet points -- The Nasal Breathing Paradox Benefits of nasal breathing: Better filtering of particles and viruses (less nasal infection, bronchitis). Filtering becomes even more important when exercising because we take in so much more air. Less water lost though breathing Less energy spent on breathing (more energy for locomotion); higher O2 extracted per breath (higher efficiency) Recovery from “EIB” exercise induced bronchoconstriction (exercise induced asthma) Provides a powerful training stimulus to improve fitness…make you faster even if you go back to mouth breathing in high intensity efforts, such as races Improved stress management Better sleep, and overall improved recovery from exercise (lower stress, avoidance of snoring) Better posture and movement ability with improved diaphragm activity Functional movement benefits —diaphragm is a major core muscle that is under strength when we mouth breathe. Avoids possible damage to the heart from over breathing (a hypothesis from Dr Dallam) Effect of nasal breathing during exercise on brain health (https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol2/iss15/103/) Myths about breathing: I feel the need to breath faster when I need more oxygen — mostly false. It is the presence of higher than usual CO2 in the blood that causes the “air hunger” CO2 is bad, and needs to be removed as fast as possible — false; CO2 is necessary for normal bodily functions. Too much AND too little CO2 are bad for the body. Breathing faster brings in more oxygen (superoxygenation) — no; red blood cells are generally 95-98% oxygenated after passing by lungs. You don’t get more oxygen into red blood cells, you just lose more CO2 from blood plasma, which creates problems for the body Breathing doesn’t take much energy or use much oxygen to do — false. During exercise, breathing can use as much as 15% of the total energy burn of the body…15% of the oxygen being used. If we can save 25% of that by breathing more efficiently (less breathing for same oxygen), we’ll have more oxygen left over for other muscles to use. An athlete cannot get enough oxygen for exercise though just nasal breathing — false. It is easy to see why people would come to this conclusion after one attempt, but with adaptation, many elite athletes compete using just nasal breathing. What does the nose do for us? Conditioning of the air: humidifying the air and warming up the air. Reduce lung dehydration and related wheezing and breathing problems Filtering: particulates (dust, smoke), viruses are captured instead of putting in lungs. Avoid damaging lungs long-term (emphysema, cancer) and reduce infections impacting lungs. Increasing air resistance…forces a recruitment of the diaphragm which is the best muscle for efficient breathing. Breath through the nose, then you will breath diaphragmatically without thinking. You can stop trying to train yourself to “Belly Breath”. Calming. Reducing stress. Deep slower breathing vs. quicker shallow breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system…lowers the stress level of the body. This is definitely true at rest. For athletics, peak performance comes of being able to relax into the effort..not by trying as hard as possible, so stress level might also play a role in athletic performance. More efficient breathing: breathe less to get the same amount of oxygen. 25% less breathing when nasal breathing. So the 15% of total energy expenditure being spent on breathing is lowered to 11.5%….a 3.5% point reduction in energy used for breathing that can now be used elsewhere. This is the same level of economy improvement that elite endurance athletes seek to obtain from using weight training…and this is just from breathing through your nose. Avoids the over breathing associated with mouth breathing. Over-breathing MAY be a cause of damage to the heart seen in endurance athletes as a higher incidence of AFib….lowering of CO2 in blood (from over breathing) results in blood flow restriction, which may be a cause to a lack of blood flow (a lack of oxygen) to the heart. Related to Exercise Induced Asthma / Bronchial restriction (EIB) The lungs are filled with alveoli … the little sacs that allow the body to exchange gases. Single cell thick, covered in a surfactant that allows the sacs to stay open even at low pressure. The lung environment is very liquid and very delicate. Imagine blowdrying wet tissue paper with a hairdryer…not good. When the air comes into lungs via the mouth, the air is not treated. Everyone has experienced coughing…the only way we have to get stuff out of our lungs that shouldn’t be there. It also is what happens when we have damaged our lungs, whether from breathing air that is too cold or too hot or too dry or too wet or filled with damaging particulates or just through over extertion. Our body creates “broncho constriction” to protect the lungs. If you ever had a wheeze at the end of your exhales, you’ve had this thing. This correlates very highly with mouth breathing athletes. Bronchio restriction is vey common among elite athletes…cycling, swimming, running. 20-50% of population vs. 5% among sedentary population. The more you breath, the more important it is to treat the air you breath and protect the lungs. The availability of broncho inhalers may just be serving to allow us to overcome our natural defense again damaging our lungs from mouth breathing. HOW TO NASAL BREATHE? The transition to nasal breathing is easier for some people. Some people feel a terrible air hunger while others get used to it very quickly. The path forward for everyone is to find your way to just the threshold point that your body can do it…with just a suggestion of air hunger…and then move higher over time. It takes 6 weeks to 6 months. Three key variables that impact time to adapt: Existing sensitivity to CO2. If low sensitivity, then short time to adapt. How well developed is the diaphragm muscle. The more you need to build, the longer it will take. How dedicated is the effort to adapt. The more you nasal breath, the faster you will adapt. What do you need to do to be able to nasal breathe all the time? Break / Start the Habit Break the habit of mouth breathing. Do it whenever you realize you are not nasal breathing. Set reminders. (See Episode 45 - Build Strong Habits ) During exercise, put a little water in your mouth so you don’t have to think about nasal breathing. According to Dr. Dallam, “I also found that focusing on nasal breathing during exercise facilitated focusing on it throughout the rest of my life as well. While subjective at best, I consider that I am more relaxed, more thoughtful, sleeping better and happier as a direct result.” Once you can do your endurance & recovery workouts while nasal breathing, the adaptation will go very fast because that is most of your training. And, if you are nasal breathing outside of exercise as well, you are essentially always nasal breathing at this point. You’ll adapt even faster if you will take down the level of effort to match your ability to perform while nasal breathing, and only increase as your nasal breathing improves. Separately work toward nasal breathing during sleep. This is harder as you will be unconscious, but this will have a gigantic impact on your health and ability to recover from exercise. Look into mouth taping and breathing exercises to open nasal passages before sleeping. Reduce CO2 sensitivity: By nasal breathing more, you will have less CO2 in your blood. Your body will get used to that …meaning it will start to feel normal quickly (in days). Keep pushing on the edge of discomfort to keep lowering your sensitivity. Pushing too hard will backfire, so take your time. This is not the place to develop a psychological problem. And, this adaptation will happen faster than the muscle development so there is no payoff from pushing harder than just enough. “Breathe light” exercises: just breathe more slowly while resting…until you feel an urge to breath more….just experience the feeling (from Patrick McKeown) Do breath holds while moving (walk, light jog). Hold until the air hunger is strong. Recover your breath fully, then repeat (from Patrick McKeown) Do HIIT intervals breathing nasally...start short and build up longer and longer. Muscle development: Training the breathing muscles to get stronger. This happens simply by using nasal breathing. Just give the muscles some time to adapt. It’s like getting used to using a bigger gear on the bike….You can do it for a short time right away, and over time you will get more muscular endurance as you get stronger. The Diaphragm muscle has to adapt. At first, you won’t be strong enough to keep nasal breathing (i.e., pulling air through the nose and down into the bottom of the lungs) for a long time. But the diaphragm muscle will get stronger and eventually you will be able to breath diaphragmatically for as long as you need and train for. This might be the slowest part of the adaptation.. The nose muscles have to adapt as well. Nasal passage recovery: If you haven’t been using your nasal passages in this way, you will have to get them adapted to this level of use. The most important thing is to just breathe through your nose as much as possible. It will probably help to start using a Neti pot or Neti bottle (there are many varieties). Use distilled or boiled water, not tap water. Remember to not blow your nose too hard after rising nasal passages with water…you may inadvertently push water into your ear tubes which may cause irritation. I do it first thing to let the water fully drain out before I sleep. The first few times will be unpleasantly reminiscent of getting water up your nose at the beach. But do you remember how amazingly good your nasal passages felt after a day in the surf? This is the same thing. After doing it for a week, you will never want to stop. And it will make nasal breathing so much easier Use BreathRight strips or the like to hold open the airways in your nose. George says his nose muscles got stronger after a while, so this may be a temporary thing. But it does make an enormous difference in the beginning. There are other nasal dilator devices to try if you like the idea of stuff up your nose. I don’t. Try the Buteyko (bu-tek-o) method for clearing mild nasal congestion Metrics: It can help to track improvement if you use metrics but you don’t have to do so because the goal is NOT to breathe less, it is to use nasal breathing. The rest comes naturally. HRV — your HRV level should start to increase, especially if you can nasal breath while sleeping HR — you may find your HR starts getting lower for the same power / speed. This doesn’t occur for everyone. Breaths per minute — monitor your natural breathing. Oura ring & Whoop strap do this for sleep, which is a good way to see if it is falling. You want to get to 14 or less breaths per minute. 10-14 breaths per minute is normal, according to Patrick McKewon. Length of time until air hunger — 5 normal breaths. Exhale. How long until impulse to breath? 25 seconds minimum. 40 seconds target. Maximum breathlessness test: normal breath in and out of nose. Exhale, then hold and see how many steps you can take. 60 steps is minimum for “good” CO2 sensitivity. How to get started with nasal breathing during exercise, According to George: Get on an indoor device you like to use: stationary bike, treadmill, etc. Get going at a pace that is lower than normal Breathe nasally. Every 3 minutes increasing the pace just a little, and rate how much the air hunger you feel. When you find the level at which you feel you cannot keep going, back off just a little so you can keep going. It will feel hard but not feel like you are suffocating. The effort should be in the challenge of pulling the air in and out, not in staying conscious or in dealing with the fear of suffocating. Another thing to watch is a rising HR…if your HR is higher than it should be for that level of power / pace, then you are struggling too much…just back down a little until the HR stabilizes The next workout, try to go a little harder while nasal breathing to see if you can do it. You will probably find you can go harder every time for a while. The early, beginner gains will be the easiest, as in most things. Continue the upward progression over time Feel free to mouth breathe once in a while if you want to go harder. It won’t be a set back, but it won’t help you progress toward 100% nasal breathing. Just don’t lose track of the behavior change you are trying to instill as a habit. Related info and episodes: breathing-well-is-a-skill-w-george-dallam-phd protecting-lung-health-meilan-k-han-md/ More Dallam info: George Dallam CSU-Pueblo profile Book: the-nasal-breathing-paradox-during-exercise-george-dallam Want to support the show? If you are enjoying WiseAthletes, please leave us a review. And, be sure to check out our FullScript supplements link to see the amazing prices on the best brands on the planet. Pro Level Supplements for WiseAthletes

Aug 17, 2024 • 54min

#142 | Fasting Mimicking to Balance Muscle & Longevity | Joseph Antoun, MD PhD

Professional Grade Supplements & 5-Day FMD Kits for WiseAthletes Like so many people, I have struggled to lose my visceral fat while I have continued to put on muscle.... but there is more to being a wise athlete than having maximum muscle. I also want to live LONG as a strong athlete. The prevailing wisdom says that when you fast or when you cut calories, you lose fat and muscle. So the challenge remains….how to thread the needle on losing the visceral fat while keeping my muscle. And what about the battle between the high protein for maximum muscle growth vs low protein for low IGF-1 and life extension? Is there any way to get the best of both worlds? Today on episode 142 I am joined by Dr Joseph Antoun, a medical doctor who is now the CEO at L-Nutra, the company that makes Prolon, the 5-day FMD food kits (wwwprolonlife.com). Could fasting mimicking be the answer to losing visceral fat while retaining muscle and at the same time extending lifespan as a strong athlete? After talking to Dr Antoun, I am convinced it is…and as of today, I am on day 2 of my initial 5-day FMD. Listen in to see if you come to the same conclusion. And please forgive the inconsistent recording quality….but if you want to give the Prolon FMD a try, click on the link at the top of the show notes to get a great discount. All right, let’s talk to Dr Joseph Antoun about fasting mimicking for athletes. Joseph Antoun, MD, PhD, MPP Joseph Antoun, MD, PhD is the CEO of L-Nutra, a Food as Medicine leader using Science to Nutrition research first to uncover what humans should eat to live healthier longer and second to help patients achieve better health outcomes. Bullet points Food as medicine & muscular longevity Use your body's built-in system to renew and fine-tune cells. ProLon, a 5-day precision nutrition program, and Fast Mimicking Technology formulation, is designed to trigger your body's built-in system to renew and fine-tune cells - by mimicking a fast. Fasting mimicking (not fasting per se) to get the renewal signal without resource depletion (Joe's take: long water only fasts are the equivalent of overtraining…too much signal without enough recovery) Periodic fasting mimicking turns on cellular renewal without forcing the body into restructuring into a low resource phenotype GH is a stress hormone. In water only fasting the body doesn't have the resources to maintain muscle. With FMD the minimal resources provided are enough to work with GH to maintain muscle while getting fat loss and autophagy Eat the least protein necessary to build and maintain the body and lifestyle you want. Any more than the minimum is age accelerating without muscle benefit. The amino acid composition matters. Focus on plants with some fish protein. That’s good enough for muscle building when combined with FMD a few times a year. Eat 0.8-0.9 g/kg on average per day (less if you aren't an athlete). Perhaps cycle between higher and lower amounts of protein around resistance training. For me, that means i'm cutting back from 200g/day to an average of 100g/day (I'll adjust after seeing how my body reacts)... I already started. I'm on day 2....looking in the box I can tell you it would be hard to pull it together myself. For now I will buy the box to see if it really does work for me. It’s pricy but tolerable. And the Fast Bar is delicious. Prolon info Clinical studies have shown that the ProLon formulation can specifically target belly fat and promote safe and effective weight loss. Why not just fast? Despite the potential benefits, fasting is hard to do. Hard on the body. Related info and episodes: Episode 135 | What's Your Healthy Bodyfat %? Episode 132 | Measuring Metabolism Episode 137 | Healthy Fat Loss More Prolon info: prolonlife.com https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45260-9.pdf https://www.valterlongo.com/daily-longevity-diet-for-adults/ Want to support the show? If you are enjoying WiseAthletes, please leave us a review. And, be sure to check out our FullScript supplements link to see the amazing prices on the best brands on the planet. Pro Level Supplements for WiseAthletes

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