After my initial success with the Russian Nootropic, Selank, I have decided to do a little experiment (You can read about my initial response to Selank here). Most of the information I have gathered from around the internet suggests a dose of 1-3mg per day. I have been using about 250-500 micrograms of it. Perhaps the higher dosages are because the main route of administration for Selank seemed to be intranasally in the form of a nose spray. It would seem to me, some of the potency would be lost with this method and so injectable forms might prove to be as beneficial, while needing less than normal amounts for the same intended effect. Nevertheless, I’m an adventurer, so what the hell.

I ordered 5 more bottles from here and plan on running 2mg per day for ten days to see what, if anything, arises from this increased dosage. I am splitting the dose up in two injections – late afternoon and early evening. I just recently took my last 1mg injection about twenty minutes ago. I’m struggling to stay awake at this point. Now, let me explain that I did get up rather early this morning so I’m due to feel some fatigue today. There seems to be another level to this fatigue though. Not a knockout feeling, but a subdued and relaxed feeling, urging me to curl up on the couch and let the dog snuggle up next to me as I sleep off the next hour or so.

In general though, sleepiness has not been a common effect for me on this. The effect has been much more qualified as a mood stabilizing effect. I suppose I’m feeling sleepy because I’m tired, I just ate two apples with peanut butter, and I took something that activates, or degrades the enzymes responsible for breaking down endorphins.

You see, one of the the studies I pulled up about Selank mentions that Naloxone, a potent opiate receptor blocker reversed Selank’s ability to make mice get jazzed on apomorphine (Something I’d love to get a hold of one of these days anyways). So it seems we have one mechanism involved with Selank, the ability to modulate our own internal opiate system.

I found another interesting study here that points out mice that are given a drug that halts serotonin production in the brain were given Selank, and that Selank reversed this inhibition. Perhaps that’s why I’m feeling noddy. Extra serotonin following an indulgent snack during the afternoon =  sleepy time.

Another interesting facet of Selank is that it has anti-viral properties. You see, Selank is an analog of a naturally occurring peptide called tuftsin. Tuftsin is strung together like this Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg, which means a Threonine amino acid is attached to a Lysine which is attached to a Proline which attaches to Arginine. Selank is the same peptide, except for the addition of a Pro-Gly-Pro, or Proline, Glycine Proline.  In mice studies exploring the immune system, scientists have discovered a Proline-Glycine peptide has a pronounced effect on cytokines, chemokines and their respective receptors. If you notice, this almost a near match at the end of the Selank, which is Pro-Gly-Pro. Scientists discovered Selank shares some of this other peptide’s abilities to modulate inflammation signals.

Last but not least I’d like to mention anhedonia. That’s a state of blahness. You simply get no pleasure out of things anymore. Maybe you’re not depressed, hell maybe you are pretty content with life. But nothing pushes your button. Eating seems like a chore, sex just doesn’t get your attention anymore and maybe a favorite hobby of yours has gone unnoticed for a while because it just doesn’t lead to satisfaction. That’s what I say when people ask me what anhedonia is. As a matter of fact, I first explain that this is how I feel, and then I give it the fancy name. I struggle with this issue, if you can call it that.

So what I found so interesting about the research in Selank is that scientists are looking at ways to detect anhedonia in rats. In addition to depression tests, like the forced swimming test (don’t ask), they have added a sucrose taste test in an attempt to measure whether or not the mouse is feeling anhedonic. If the mouse is pretty jazzed, then he will continue to self administer the sucrose. If he just doesn’t get any kicks, then he won’t keep pushing the button. Selank seemed to help restore the hedonic tone of the mice, as more of them continued to self administer the sucrose.

So at this point here’s what I know.

• Selank is based off Tuftsin, an immune peptide produced by the spleen.
• Selank increases endorphins, most likely via an inhibition of the enzymes that normally keep endorphins in check.
• Selank restores serotonin metabolism in spite of measures to inhibit it.
• Selank is immunomodulatory, meaning it has an effect on cytokines, chemokines and their receptors.
• Selank increases Tyrosine Hydroxylase, which is a rate-limiting step in the production of Dopamine in the brain.

I will write in once more about my trial of 2mg by the end of the week. If things continue at this rate, I may have to buy up as much as I can before it’s run out of stock, or before the “man” decides I don’t know what’s good for me.

There always seems to be some really cool shit going on in Russia. I’ve always wanted to make a trip out there. For one, I think Russian women are hot. Well, to be clear, I think HOT Russian women are HOT. I’ve also appreciated all of the changes that have occurred over time in that country. So much strife, revolution, and yes – experimentation.  If we wanted to know more about crazy, revolutionary drugs or programs, even if they turned out bunk in the end, we’d turn to Russia.

Selank is an example of the Ruskies getting it right. Damn right if I do say so myself. Selank is a peptide, a string of amino acids, that have some really unique effects on the body and mind. It is touted as both an anxiolytic (reliever of anxiety) and nootropic (it makes you smart). I can’t yet vouge for the nootropic effects of this compound, but I can definitely attest the anxiety relief that Selank offers.

I purchased 5mg of Selank from here. I had read of several other people talking about this having a subtle but noticeable mood stabilizing effect. The dosages in studies are usually somewhere between 1 and 3 mg per day. This 5 mg bottle wouldn’t last me long at that dosage, and even at 1 mg a day I’d have to buy about 6 bottles at $25 per to make it a whole month. Not exactly cost-effective. But I have heard of users experimenting with amounts in the microgram range, so I started with 250mcg.

I am very sensitive to how drugs make me feel. Call it a gift, call it a curse. In this case I called it a godsend. After about an hour I just became calm and focused. I enjoyed menial tasks like cleaning the kitchen. My body experienced a subtle tickling effect, similar to goosepimples you get when you hear an amazing song or watch an amazing performance.

I have since continue to dose the same amount, and it’s been five days. If things continue in this fashion I’ll probably be taking it for as long as it’s available. To be clear, there was no abusable sense of euphoria from this product. I did not get high. It just made me feel good.

So my next step was to start digging into the research behind this chemical. After all, Russia is very secretive about their special stuff, AND even if they’re completely open, I don’t speak a single word of Russian.

I am not going to write a dissertation on this but here are two studies I found that really highlight Selank’s effects.

The first one: Selank is most likely doing a lot of its magic by increasing endorphins. Scientists gave mice a drug that releases a lot of dopamine called Apomorphine. Selank had a particularly strong effect of increasing Apomorphine’s effects. But when they gave an opiate blocker, naloxone, the beneficial effect Selank had on things was greatly diminished.  So it appears that Selank works some of it’s magic through the endorphin system, the internal opiate system.

The second one: After rats were given a special poison, 6 hydroxydopamine which causes severe damage to receptors for catecholamines (serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine), they were then treated with Selank. In the rats treated with Selank, cognitive functioning was restored. What does this mean to me? Well, someone who may have never abused drugs before in their life may find very little benefit to this drug.

But if you’re like me and you’ve probably done one too many tabs of ecstacy or one too many beers, or so on, you probably notice along with that remorse, a certain sense of mental dull. If my hunches serve me well, and they usually do, Selank may actually help me get that mental brightness back that I had before I wasted so many brain cells trying to achieve hedonic bliss.

References:

1. Naloxone-blocked depriming effect of anxiolytic selank on apomorphine-induced behavioral manifestations of hyperfunction of dopamine system.

2. Effect of Selank on cognitive processes after damage inflicted to the cerebral catecholamine system during early ontogeny

Recently, a new doping drug has come on the scene for horse racing. Actually it’s been around for a while, but it seems to be catching on. So what does this have to do with humans? A lot.

Thymosin Beta-4 is a unique peptide that was first discovered in the thymus, a gland in the human body. Since that initial discovery, however, thymosins of all sorts have been found present in all different types of tissue throughout the body. One particular place we see Thymosin Beta-4 that is of interest to us, is muscle, both smooth  (like heart muscle) and skeletal (our movement muscles). Thymosin Beta-4 is upregulated when damage occurs to muscle tissue. When trauma occurs, Thymosin beta-4 is released to increase the healing of that trauma. It also acts to prevent the formation of adhesions. This means less scar tissue, and hopefully, more flexibility.

TB500 is a synthetic version of Thymosin Beta-4 which does all the same wonderful things that its natural counterpart does. Some of the claims made by makers of TB500 include:

• Endothelial (blood vessels) cell differentiation
• Angiogenesis (growth of new blood cells from pre-existing vessels) in dermal tissues
• Keratinocyte migration
• Collagen deposition; and
• Decreases inflammation.

In some  instances, these are all good things. Increased blood flow, healthy vasculature, enhanced healing from skin abrasions (keratinocytes are part of the barrier in our skin that keeps bad stuff from just seeping in) collagen deposition (healthy joints, and of course decreased inflammation.

The last one in particular should make a lot of sense. Thymosin beta-4 is involved in regulating the immune system. Increasing levels of Thymosin Beta-4 through the use of TB500, would decrease our inflammatory response to injury, because the injury would be healing at a much faster rate. Inflammation is our body’s signal to repair. Once that repair is underway, inflammation goes down.

So we know what makers of it are touting for dogs and horses. Increased endurance, muscular strength, flexibility, less scarring, and decreased inflammation. But are there any benefits for humans? Some scientists think it may be able to help our hearts heal after a heart attack. I have seen one study show that Thymosin Beta-4 activates progenitor cells after a heart attack, essentially allowing the heart to heal itself. I have also read elsehwhere that this effect has not been reproduced during further testing.

What do i know about this new drug? Not much. I have actually experimented with 5 mg a week of this and have found it to be a great preworkout booster of sorts, but nothing dramatic as of yet. It has been said results come over time, so we shall see. I personally think the dosages being sold on the internet are much lower than we should take in order to see results, but that doesn’t surprise me, as most online sources of research peptides tend to make sure the profit margin is well within their own favor. If supply becomes abundant and we see larger amounts surfacing for reasonable prices I may try and go for something more like 10 mg a day and see how that treats me.

In the meantime I keep stretching, and hoping this stuff will help increase my flexibility, which was the primary reason I showed interest in this. I am one giant muscle knot.

Simple Table Sugar can Supercharge Workouts.

Exercise Intolerance is more than just a simple dread of working out. For some people, those with a disease known as Mc Ardle’s disease,  exercise can be a toxic affair. Mc Ardle’s disease is a rare affliction that affects the body’s ability to store glucose in the muscle, otherwise known as glycogen. As anyone who has practiced low carb dieting can attest to, anything above  a moderate intensity can be laborious if you’ve cut out carbs for even a few days.

I’ve always stressed that the problem of fatness comes down to excess carbohydrate and the detrimental effects it has on hormones involved in fat storage. To be more precise, metabolic syndrome arises due to an excess of insulin, and more recently realized – decreased growth hormone. But for some people with a unique metabolic disease, if intense exercise is part of the cure, then cutting out sugar completely can lead to intolerance, and rhabdomyolysis, leading to kidney failure.

Do you find that working out sucks? That might be natural. But if you’ve been exercising with consistency for a while now and you still experience muscle aches, pains, weakness, the kind of ache and weakness that stops you in your tracks, especially if it happens initially and then you catch a second wind, it might not hurt to get checked out for Mc Ardle’s. Now I’m sure there would be a lot of debate about the specific criteria used to determine whether or not you are truly intolerant of exercise. After all, very few of us actually enjoy or feel good after intense exercise. But I am willing to bet some of you out there may in fact have a biological reason why you are intolerant of intense exercise, and it may be killing you.

With that doom and gloom out of the way I still think it’s worth noting that even those of us who are not inflicted with this disease may very well be doing ourselves a disservice by not training with some kind of sugar in our bloodstream. During the rest of the day when the body is at rest it’s paramount to avoid simple sugar. It serves one purpose -  to deliver instant fuel source for intense energy demands. Delivered in an environment where that energy is not in demand, and we get a surge of insulin, and we get fatter.

If you’ve been dedicated to lower carb existence, but your workouts have gone to shit, there’s no need to turn to any kind of fancy preworkout supplement. BCAA’s are always a recommendation from me, but if you are really hitting the gym hard, throw in a tablespoon of plain old table sugar into that intra-workout drink and sip on it. See what that does for you. If it means the difference between killing it in the gym, or just plain feeling dead, then it’s worth every single extra calorie it provides to the mitochondria of your muscle cells, who need that instant energy while the metabolic processes involved in breaking down glycogen are slowly working to provide that second bump of intensity for your workouts.

Read more about Mc Ardle’s Disease on Wikipedia. Study referenced here.

If you’ve been exercising vigorously for over 8 weeks, then congratulate yourself. Then, take a break. Now, vigorously might mean three hundred different things to three hundred people, so let me put it simply. If you’ve gotten to the point where lifting has become a chore, then stop for a minute.One of the best things you can do for long term body composition is to adhere to a strict lifting/exercise routine. The second most important thing is to adhere to a consistent diet of mostly protein, fats, leafies, and starches/sugars only as needed. The third most important thing is rest. Growth Hormone for instance, peaks when one is in a fasted state. Go to sleep a little hungry, and get plenty of sleep.

But one often overlooked strategy for long term body composition goals is a periodic break from what you’re doing. So many people I know that struggle to get this part of their life handled are also the kind of people that would go nuts if they weren’t lifting as often as possible. But I’ve learned from experience, any time you force yourself to do something, even if you know it’s good for you, the results you get from that work will start to dwindle when it becomes a “chore” rather than a “choice”.

What happens when something becomes a “chore” we figure out how to do it as efficiently as possible. We figure out that sticking a bunch of shit under the bed is a quick fix for organizing our things so they’re more easily accessible the next time we need them. We figure out how to mindlessly get through it and in effect we also learn how to not maximize our physical effort in doing so. Look at the ghosts on the treadmills. They’re buried in a book, or staring off into the flatpanel tv dangling precariously from the faux ceiling. The “choice” to become stronger, leaner, sexier, has become a “chore” that must be quickly taken care of, rushed through with little thought of WHY we’re here in the first place.

If you’ve found yourself getting into this mindset, and be honest here – you’re the only one you have to be accountable to, then it’s time to break yourself free from that mindset. The first step towards making it a “choice” is to CHOOSE NOT TO. That’s right.

There are ample studies showing that a 7 day break from any kind of hardcore training can be beneficial to the mechanisms responsible for growth and metabolism. But that’s not why I’m interested in the break. I’m interested because I’ve discovered after 15 + years of lifting and dieting, that anything I feel like i HAVE to do, becomes something I don’t treat with care and concern.

So do it. Take the day off. Hell, take the week off. Do something you love to do instead. If you still love to lift, fine, take a week off anyways. Let that week of getting decompressed fuel you to kick ass twice as hard the week you do resume your training. When you do get back in the gym, form a gameplan, but always leave room for choices. That’s why I prefer to lift with a focus on movements rather than muscles anyways, because it leaves a whole window open for choice. Sick of doing pullups? Work on another pull exercise, like pulldowns, palms facing, slow and controlled. The idea here is to leave room for recognizing that, even though you’re a driven and determined individual, the decision to challenge yourself every workout is still a choice you make. Keep it playful. As much as Nike and Gatorade, and Powerbar might try to convince you this is some serious shit, it’s not. IT’s what YOU MAKE IT. And if being serious all the time, and working out when you don’t really feel it, or staring off into the distance while you’re on a treadmill just putting along is working for you, then don’t stop.

But if you’re like me, and you find yourself waking up from a bad dream known as “I’ve been doing this so long I don’t even think about it anymore” then snap yourself out of it. Change things up, and most importantly, take a break every now and then. If for no other reason than to motivate yourself to push twice as hard the next time you get in the gym.

I’m not talking about tricking the muscles, or muscular adaptation here. I am far from the expert in that realm and there’s plenty of people making a living figuring out why muscles begin to adapt to certain workloads and forces and routines. What I am an expert at, is the mind, and when the mind has adapted to something it tends to lose interest, and lost interest tends to lead to lost benefit. Once you’ve adapted to something, it’s time to shake things up. Start with a week off, de-stress, re-set some goals and then let me know how you get on with it!

A question from a reader:

I just dont have it in me to run anymore, i dont have the lungs or stamina for it due to ashma and i can maintain a steady cardio routine, although i can use the eliptical for 30 mins 5 days a week no problem. its obviously not the same intensity but is it still effective? i usually burn about 350 calories in a 30 min period on the eliptical.

What’s up with your asthma? Are you treating it?

Steady cardio is for the birds. I mean it. If you can fly, then please continue, because your life will depend on it, lest you poop out and come crashing to the ground. But I don’t think you have wings.

Where did you receive the info about 350 calories in 30 minutes?
If it’s from the machine you can toss that info. It’s generalized and can vary by as much as 25%

I’m a little biased because I prefer training in the upper intensity of one’s cardiovascular system. Give me 15 minutes of huffing, puffing, gasping for air, rather than 30 minutes of staring off into the TVs hanging from the ceiling or texting buds.

Your asthma will be the limiting factor here though. If it’s not controlled well then this is a great way to end up needing medical attention.

Here’s what I’d do if you were a client who wanted to do something different.

5 minutes of jump rope
500m on the row machine

50 jumping jacks
40 cross country (40 on each side)
30 bodyweight squats
20 pushups
10 mountain climbers (10 on each side)

5 minutes of jump rope
500m on the row machine

Now, first of all, I hardly think you’ll be able to jump rope for more than a few minutes when you first start this. It sounds easy until you start doing it. I have only a handful of clients who can go for five minutes, and they usually need a few minutes to rest before jumping into something else.

But for no more than 10 bucks (never spend more on a fancier gimmicky rope) you can have a killer cardio workout that is strengthening your calves like crazy. Not to mention you’ll look cool when you can do double unders and crossovers.

If you can actually complete the entire workout above it will probably take about 30 minutes the first time, and eventually you can get it down to 20. Once you get it down to 20 you’ll notice two things.

1) You’ll be getting very vascular and leaner – in a way that jogging on the DREADmill won’t accomplish.

2) You’ll need significantly less time between your heavy lifting sets. Your body will become more conditioned and that 3 minutes of rest will turn into 2, sometimes even 60 seconds. It’s amazing what happens when we give our mitochondria a reason to get off their little cellular asses and do some high intensity work. If you’re like me, you’ll even feel like you’re cheating on heavy days, because it will be a breeze – not to say it won’t be heavy and heavy sucks, but you won’t be wiped out.

Hope that helps…

I just came across a recent study on Alpha Lipoic Acid. It does some amazing things for insulin sensitivity but it we haven’t seen what it can do for lipids. Until now.

Very impressive. And again, it’s hypothesized that the method which ALA works so well on lipids comes down to its ability to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation (which I think really means it helps limit insulin which is the cause of that inflammation)

Good stuff

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21593803

[QUOTE]Plasma levels of free fatty acids (FFAs), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (T-Chol), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-Chol), small dense LDL-Chol (sd-LDL), oxidized LDL-Chol (ox-LDL-Chol), very low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (VLDL-Chol) were all significantly decreased (P < 0.01). At the same time, both plasma oxidative products (malondialdehyde (MDA), 8-iso-prostaglandin) and inflammatory markers (tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6)) were remarkably decreased (P < 0.01), while adiponectin was increased (P < 0.01).[/QUOTE]

Increased Adiponectin = Awesome.

Decreased LDL, triglycerides = More Awesome.

Best part is that this only took two weeks to manifest. Granted the subjects were receiving 600mg intravenously a day, but still, no reason to think we can’t do the same thing with our oral preparations.

Insulin Like Growth Hormone and Selective Glucose Uptake

Skinny Fats May Find Transformation Possible

So this is probably old news to a lot of those already well versed in the properties of insulin like growth factor 1 (igf-1), but for me it was a real eye opener when it comes to solving the problem of being “skinny fat”.First of all, the problem. Meet the skinny fat. They are a unique case of metabolic consequence. Usually we have the super skinny who don’t put muscle on easily but don’t gain fat easily either. We have the more traditional fatty which can put on muscle quite easily but gains a ton of fat in the process. You mesomorphs are going to find little of interest in here, so go back to looking amazing and putting on muscle just by putting away your groceries, you bastards.

The skinny fat, in my estimation is really just a fatty that starved themselves thin and are in a place where they can remain there but any attempts to put muscle on usually leads to excess fat gain, and any attempt to burn the fat off also burns the muscle off. They are pretty much metabolic syndrome posterchildren.

The solution? Undo the damage done that has caused metabolic syndrome. Keep insulin quiet. We can do that by limiting our carb intake. We can also do this by intermittent fasting. Another great way to keep insulin quiet is to utilize drugs or herbs that help sensitize our bodies to the effect of insulin. By doing so we reduce the amount and the duration of insulin production, thus keeping it quieter than normal.

A lot of people wish to have a magic chemical that would sensitize our muscles to insulin but not fat cells.  While I agree this would be nice I think they’re missing the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that our carb intake has gotten out of control, like a spastic 2 year old with crayons, running amok in our body and causing a major stress. Insulin is the babysitter running after the kid, but in the process does more damage stomping around. Anything we can do to restore peace and tranquility to our metabolic system will, in the long run, be useful for fat loss and lean muscle gain. Sure, some of that glucose might get dumped into fat cells after converting to triglycerides, but the net effect is a restoration of our natural balance.

There seem to be two exceptions to this rule now. One way to effectively shuttle nutrients to muscle while ignoring fat is through intense exercise. After exercise our muscles are ready to suck up sugar without the help of insulin. Our glut-4 receptors come to the cell surface. Glucose Transporters normally need insulin to cajole their mouths open. Exercise removes this obstacle. Hungry muscles suck up sugar.

Another really awesome way I just learned about is the use of IGF-1. IGF-1 is like insulin, is produced from Growth hormone signalling in the liver, and mimics some of insulin’s effects except for one big difference. IGF-1 will dump glucose into a muscle cell, BUT it will NOT dump glucose into a fat cell. In essence we have that magic bullet people are dying for already. So how do we go about getting more igf-1?

IGF-1 LR3 is a unique form of IGF-1 that is synthesized artificially in order to avoid being bound by special proteins in the body. It’s really not such a bad thing if it did bind to a protein but I’m not going to get into that story. Because of these modifications IGF-1 LR3 is a perfect candidate for being a GDA (glucose disposal agent). It’s the most ideal GDA too because of it’s uniquely specific action on skeletal muscle.

While I’m not going to recommend anyone use IGF-1 LR3 I would say that if I were using it I would inject subcutaneously about 20 micrograms a day and keep my carbohydrates on the lowish side. More carbs than I would if I weren’t using it, but don’t go hog wild. Use for four weeks and then take two weeks off. Not because of receptor down regulation, which has been the commonly believed reason, but because of antibodies our immune system create to “protect” ourselves from this foreign invader.

It won’t be an overnight transformation, but over the course of six months I would imagine someone could have eliminated metabolic syndrome and would be on their way to the kind of body composition transformation all skinny fats wish they could achieve.

With all of the talk lately about exercise mimetics such as AICAR and gW5156, it only makes sense to explore natural alternatives to these drugs. Not because of safety reasons per se, because those two compounds have been undergoing a lot of studying. Mostly it just makes sense to see if something in the garden would be as effective or at least somewhat effective for the job at hand. Enter Cordyceps Sinensis.

Cordyceps Sinensis (CS) is a fungus that grows on certain moths and has been used in Chinese medicine for several reasons. It is, in the eyes of traditional chinese medicine, a perfect balance between yin and yang. I’m not as up on that discipline but I do know a quick pubmed search will show several benefits from CS supplementation. It has particularly powerful effects on lung health, liver detoxification, immune system modulation, ATP formation, smooth muscle relaxation and spermatogenesis (making of new sperm within the testes).

There’s been a few studies showing that CS was ineffective at increasing endurance in trained cyclists. I can believe that. I can also believe that trained cyclists have most likely hit their peak in VO2 MAX (the most oxygen consumed) and literally all other metabolic parameters are probably up their at the top of human potential. After all CS is an adaptogen. I’m not going way into a discussion about adaptogens (others include rhodiola, ginseng) but I will say that adaptogens do one thing well. They balance stuff. They won’t let certain things go too high, nor will they let it drop too low. So if you’re a well trained endurance athlete you may still find benefit in taking CS, but not for the endurance reasons.

For those of us who don’t always train in a high intensity fashion however, this can be a good thing. I for one have recently started teaching a bootcamp class. Not only am I kicking my student’s asses, but mine as well. I was literally spent after just 45 minutes of jumping, lunging, squatting, pushing, pulling. So I started looking for something to help me get my endurance going quicker than it would take normally. I bought some CS and while it’s still too early to say with certainty, a few days of supplementation made my next class go much smoother. My muscles also feel more relaxed throughout the day, which is a good thing for me since I tend to build up a lot of lactic acid in those types of training situations, and tight muscles only seem to hold on to that lactic acid.

Here’s a study that shows some promising results with regard to CS’s effect on several key metabolic regulators of energy, fat loss and performance. In particular the AMPk and the Glut4 (shoves glucose into muscle without needing insulin).  Also of note, is their comment that CS may actually be an effective exercise mimetic, much like AICAR and gw5156.

New Clinical Trials for Unique Fatty Acid Hints at Potential Efficacy

Tetradecylthioacetic acid, otherwise known as TTA, is a uniquely modified fatty acid that induces beta oxidation in the liver and muscles of rodents. The same activity has been show to occur in humans and there are some new clinical trials going on, exploring its use in the treatment of obesity, inflammatory disorders and diabetes (which are basically all the same disease albeit in different stages of development).

Basically, in a nut shell, this is a fat that can’t be broken down. The liver is stubborn though, and will ramp up its efforts to break down this fat so that it can be used for energy or stored away. Because of this increased effort, all sorts of magical things happen within the cells of the liver that make it a supercharged fat burning machine. That doesn’t mean that the liver will now burn all the fat off your body in one swoop, however.

What it does mean is that if you have let yourself become Insulin Resistant, your liver has made some pretty wonky adaptations to this state that cause your body to remain in a heightened level of disease. What TTA does esssentially, is it fixes the liver so that it begins behaving as it once did in a healthy state. This affords you, the obese or overweight (or just not ripped yet) user the chance to undo the damage that was done by eating a high carbohydrate diet all these years. Your glucose tolerance (think insulin resistance) will improve greatly and its due to things like increased mitochondrial density (your cells have become stronger).

TTA also has effects within muscle  cells that go to work burning off unneeded triglycerides, and as well glycogen, which explains the cramping a lot of users experience. This will also enhance one’s recomping efforts, leading to increased fat loss within the same caloric intake.

It’s not a miracle, but it certainly has some magic to it that merits revisiting it. So why did we stop looking at it? Well for one, a lot of users online were concerned about its safety profile. After all, the liver can’t break it down, which is part of what makes it so effective. So if it can’t be broken down, does this cause a health risk? According to several studies, no it doesn’t. It’s safe enough, in fact, that studies are taking place right now in an attempt to turn this supplement into a drug. Several supplement companies that used to include this in their formulations are now pulling it because sooner or later there will be a knock on their door. Once a supplement “turns into” a drug, it is no longer kosher to sell it as a supplement.

So how useful would this supplement be to someone healthy? After all most of the studies done on these compounds are done using diseased humans, most notably diabetics. Well to be honest, not a lot. But keep this in mind: During a bulk, when you’re consuming far more carbs than you probably do any other time, especially for an extended period of time, you could be invoking a temporary state of insulin resistance. If you are gorging on food to pack on muscle but you begin to get fat or your muscles fall flat it could be a sign that you need something like TTA to help restore the changes you’ve brought about by changing your eating habits.

My only further thought? I’ve bought a 100g container of the stuff, anxious to try it one more time before it ends up disappearing. I am going to eat like a pig and see if this stuff helps keep me tight during a bulk.

REFERENCES

Pettersen, Reidar J MD*; Salem, Mohamed MD, PhD*; Skorve, Jon PhD†‡; Ulvik, Rune J MD, PhD†‡; Berge, Rolf K PhD†‡; Nordrehaug, Jan Erik MD, PhD*

Tetradecylthioacetic acid attenuates dyslipidaemia in male patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, possibly by dual PPAR-alpha/delta activation and increased mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation.