Nayan Patel, PharmD

• Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree from the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy and serves as adjunct faculty there.
• Hormone health influences everything from energy and sleep to mood, metabolism, and libido—yet mainstream treatments are often driven by generic protocols and limited lab interpretations. Dr. Patel has helped thousands of patients find clarity and results by looking beyond “normal” hormone levels and building therapy around how people actually feel and function. He offers a practical view into what personalized hormone care should look like—and where most systems are getting it wrong.
• He is globally regarded as an expert on glutathione, a molecule often referred to as the “master antioxidant,” and is recognized for research into its absorbable forms. He has authored a book titled The Glutathione Revolution: Fight Disease, Slow Aging & Increase Energy with the Master Antioxidant.
• Find Dr Patel here: centraldrugsrx.com and here: aurowellness.com

Discussion Points

• The hard truth is that you cannot inject your way out of a broken lifestyle
• Sex hormone optimization is a necessary but small piece of the puzzle.  
• Extra (more than the minimum) TRT is a poor solution to overcome poor lifestyle for stress and diet, and it comes with extra negative side effects. 
• Find the least effective dose for your physiology; use bio-identical hormones (have to use every 1-3 days)
• How to “feel” like the young you. The solution pyramid is:
  • Sex hormones— 10% (necessary for older athletes but not sufficient)
  • Thyroid mgmt — 20% (pollution, autoimmune)
  • Diet / insulin - 30% (over eating, visceral fat)
  • Adrenals / Stress mgmt - 40% (lifestyle; sleep)
• Also have to address oxidative stress issues (glutathione). 

Related Episodes & Links:

• Episode 178 | Athletic Longevity isn't Easy | Brenden Egan PhD
• Episode 155 | Hormonal Triple Whammy | Kyle Gillett MD
• Episode 144 | Muscle for Athletic Performance | Mark Tarnopolsky MD PhD
• Episode 115 | Winning Athletic Longevity | Rick Cohen MD & Daniel Tawfik, Healthspan
• Episode 102 | Maximizing Performance Health | Jim Lavalle R.Ph.

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

Brendan Egan, PhD

• Associate Professor of Sport & Exercise Physiology at Dublin City University
• Associate Dean for Research (Faculty of Science & Health)
• Current research investigates skeletal muscle function and adaptation across the life course, with special interest in the synergy between nutrition and exercise interventions ranging from athletes to older adults.
• Nutrients investigated include caffeine, creatine, omega-3 fatty acids, resveratrol, leucine, protein hydrolysates, beetroot juice, and exogenous ketones.
• Outside of academia, through his sporting career as an Gaelic footballer, Brendan has had a lifelong association with sport, training and performance at all levels of competition from grassroots to elite level, and also practices in the field as a performance nutritionist with emphasis on intermittent field-based team sports, and endurance athletes, most recently with the Dublin Hurlers and the Irish Paratriathlon team.
• Find Brendan's work here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brendan-Egan and contact info here: https://www.dcu.ie/researchsupport/research-profile?person_id=35443
• https://sigmanutrition.com/episode591/

Discussion Points

• Personal Peak & Glide Path— peak as high and as late as possible, then hang on baby.
• “Use it or lose it”. It’s an old thing but now we lose faster and it’s harder to get back. Consistency is the name of the game now. Spikes in training load and intensity lead to injury which leads to inconsistent training. DO NOT GET INJURED!
• “I’m not what I was” — so true. I can't train like I used to because I can’t recover as quickly. (And don’t have as much time?)... and my body doesn’t respond to stimulus as well as it used to either...ergo, I'm not what I was.
• What to consider for improved recovery? Sleep, adequate protein, adequate carbohydrate fueling, hot/cold exposure, hydration, hypoxia exposure. Dr Egan likes a hot bath (me too).
• Testosterone falling? What else isn’t what it was? How important to get back to more youthful function of the body?
• Balancing calories surplus against calorie deficit. Keep fat and protein steady; ramp carbs to match activity (“fuel for the work required")
• Protein load: active older athletes probably don’t have anabolic resistance. May not need extra protein for age but probably do need extra for extra exercise. (1.5-1.6g/kg per day). It’s not a silver bullet of course.
• Collagen for tendons? It can t hurt. Get collagen into bloodstream right before (30 min?) workouts. Wallsits might help.
• Periodization of training. (3-5 weeks cycles). Keep it fun. Cover your bases. Build in time for recovery day to day as well as deep recovery every few weeks.
• Minimum effective dose?  What is the least attention I can put into an area of fitness to keep it alive.  Is there Inverted U shaped curve for fitness. More is better but too much is possible. Is that true? Too little time in other key elements of fitness?
• Performance vs. health and athletic longevity:  with time and recovery constraints, older athletes in particular have serious limitations.  If you put too much into one area of athleticism, you necessarily have to neglect others.  What don’t you care about losing?
• What is happening beyond Use It or Lose It?
  • gradual loss of recovery / healing / muscle growth ability
  • declining growth hormone / sex hormones (anabolic resistance?)
  • declining melatonin (sleep quality?)
  • poorer blood flow (lower NO, damage to blood vessels)
  • gradual increase in metabolic dysfunction
  • less autophagy/ mitophagy (senescence, aging blood factors, ROS, lower cellular energy)
  • higher insulin resistance
  • higher chronic inflammation (over active immune function, visceral fat, viral load)

Related Episodes & Links:

• Episode 154 Adaptive Range Expansion for Peak Performance | Mike T Nelson PhD
• Episode 144 | Muscle for Athletic Performance | Mark Tarnopolsky MD PhD
• Episode 116 | Grow Old -- Get Fast -- Don't Die | Phil Cavelle
• Episode 115 | Winning Athletic Longevity | Rick Cohen MD & Daniel Tawfik, Healthspan
• Episode 102 | Maximizing Performance Health | Jim Lavalle R.Ph.
• Episode 71 | Framework for Durability | Dr Nick Dinubile
• Episode 65 | Optimizing Aging Muscle | Brendan Egan PhD

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

Renee Fitton MS RD

• Renee is a Longevity Dietitian (she holds a masters degree in longevity nutrition earned with Dr Longo at UCLA) and she is the Director of Education at L-Nutra, the ProLon FMD company

Using Fasting-Mimicking Diet (FMD) to manage body comp

• I’m not alone in my struggle to build muscle while reducing body fat. I recently completed an 18 month effort to do just that starting and ending with a Dexa scan to avoid any self deception. The results were not bad (16 —> 15% body) but I did not achieve my goal (I had essentially zero muscle growth and lost no visceral fat). I have always struggled with balancing calorie surplus (for recovery and adaption to exercise), with calorie deficit for body composition and achieving my goal of zero visceral fat.   I guess I need more help, eh? 
• In my talk with Renee we explore the topic of finding the minimum calorie and protein consumption (over time; not everyday) needed for the life I, you, anyone may want, 
• And the use of cycles of growth (calorie surplus, high protein, hard exercise overload) and then rejuvenation (calorie deficit, low protein, fat loss, autophagy, mitophagy) to find the path that preserves vitality and health and builds a platform for a good life. 
• The devil is in the details but in my mind the key is avoiding becoming addicted to the parts that makes us feel good about ourselves: the group we belong to, the way we look, the feeling of accomplishing something important. Such addiction leads to short term misallocation of invested time which leads to long term straying from the selected path. This is my own battle.

Episode Resources

• fittennutrition.com

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 142 | Balance Muscle & Longevity w/FMD | Joseph Antoun MD PhD
• Episode 137 | #1 Secret to Healthy Fat Loss | Vyvyane Loh MD
• Episode 135 | What's Your Healthy Fat%? | Vyvyane Loh MD
• Episode 144 | Muscle for Athletic Performance | Mark Tarnopolsky MD PhD

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

Jim Martin – The Cycling Scientist

Dr. Jim Martin is a life-long competitive cyclist and well-known professor and researcher in exercise science whose work has had a strong impact on understanding cycling biomechanics and pedaling mechanics. He’s especially recognized for applying scientific methods to questions that many cyclists and coaches debate — like crank length, cadence, pedal stroke, and how muscles produce power on a bike.

Topics Discussed?

• Crank length (mechanical advantage?  Same crank length on all bikes for neuromuscular optimization?
• Cadence (higher cadence allows faster response to attacks vs. standing up to accelerate which reduces muscular endurance).  Faster cadence reduces variation in power generated during pedal stroke which preserves muscle endurance
• Quad vs. glute power dominance / pedaling technique:  unweight hands.
• Pedaling technique: perfect circles like a mountain bike rider, mashing (like when standing up), pulling up to “unweight” the pedal coming up, and “scraping mud off shoe” (LeMond)
• Any training recommendations?  Single leg training?  Why?  How?  Eccentric or muscle lengthening training?  How to train it?

Papers

• Reprint Determinants of Metabolic Cost JAP
• Reprint Determinants of Maximal Cycling Power

• Crank Length and Submaximal Biomechanics

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 106 | Pain Free Cycling | Kevin Schmidt PT MSPT-CMP
• Episode 98 | Myvelofit Professional-Quality Bike Fit from Home | Jesse Jarjour
• Episode 87 | The Bike: Fun & Fitness Part 2 | Hunter Allen
• Episode 86 | The Bike: Fun & Fitness Part 1 | Hunter Allen
• Episode 9 | How to Pedal | Glen Winkel PhD, Masters World Champion

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

Hemal H. Patel, PhD

• Professor & Vice-Chair for Development and Advancement Director, UCSD Cardiac/Neuro Protection Laboratories  VA Research Career Scientist, VA San Diego Healthcare Systemss
• Chief Scientific Advisor for Versea Discovery

MeScreen -- Why Measure Mitochondria?

• Mitochondria live inside your cells and regulate energy, metabolism, and cellular signaling to drive your body’s physiology, endurance, and resilience. The function, dynamics, and efficiency of mitochondria correlate with either health and well-being or poor health and sickness.
• Normal aging, diet, exercise, exposure to stressors, and other variables have been proven to impact mitochondrial function (energetics) and dynamics (shape and size).¹⁻³ The maintenance of
• mitochondrial function and dynamics are essential to health.⁴ Individuals who have a disease, are sick, or are in poor health will have poorly functioning mitochondria and compromised dynamics. Individuals who eat properly, have good sleep hygiene, train, or exercise demonstrate improved mitochondrial function and dynamics.
• The mescreen™ is a mitochondrial efficiency screen that provides an energetic profile of your cells and ultimately of you. Establishing a baseline mescreen™ score and tracking it over time provides you with a tool to assess your mitochondrial function. mescreen™ is also part of an ongoing research project that will allow you to compare your mescreen™ score in the future against other populations that are sick, healthy, elite performance, and other to gauge where your cellular health and mitochondrial function are at.

Episode Resources

• MeScreen.com (use "WiseAthletes" for a $100 discount on a mescreen test)
• @hemalpatelphd

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 175 | Misfiring Mitochondria | Hemal Patel PhD
• Episode 168 | Mito Boosters | Healthspan
• Episode 161 | Omega 3 | Bill Harris PhD
• Episode 154 | Adaptive Range Expansion for Peak Performance | Mike T Nelson PhD
• Episode 144 | Muscle for Athletic Performance | Mark Tarnopolsky MD PhD

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

Hemal H. Patel, PhD

• Professor & Vice-Chair for Development and Advancement Director, UCSD Cardiac/Neuro Protection Laboratories  VA Research Career Scientist, VA San Diego Healthcare Systemss
• Chief Scientific Advisor for Versea Discovery

MeScreen -- Why Measure Mitochondria?

• Mitochondria live inside your cells and regulate energy, metabolism, and cellular signaling to drive your body’s physiology, endurance, and resilience. The function, dynamics, and efficiency of mitochondria correlate with either health and well-being or poor health and sickness.
• Normal aging, diet, exercise, exposure to stressors, and other variables have been proven to impact mitochondrial function (energetics) and dynamics (shape and size).¹⁻³ The maintenance of
• mitochondrial function and dynamics are essential to health.⁴ Individuals who have a disease, are sick, or are in poor health will have poorly functioning mitochondria and compromised dynamics. Individuals who eat properly, have good sleep hygiene, train, or exercise demonstrate improved mitochondrial function and dynamics.
• The mescreen™ is a mitochondrial efficiency screen that provides an energetic profile of your cells and ultimately of you. Establishing a baseline mescreen™ score and tracking it over time provides you with a tool to assess your mitochondrial function. mescreen™ is also part of an ongoing research project that will allow you to compare your mescreen™ score in the future against other populations that are sick, healthy, elite performance, and other to gauge where your cellular health and mitochondrial function are at.

Episode Resources

• MeScreen.com (use "WiseAthletes" for a $100 discount on a mescreen test)
• @hemalpatelphd

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 168 | Mito Boosters | Healthspan
• Episode 161 | Omega 3 | Bill Harris PhD
• Episode 154 | Adaptive Range Expansion for Peak Performance | Mike T Nelson PhD
• Episode 144 | Muscle for Athletic Performance | Mark Tarnopolsky MD PhD

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

Amanda Wiggins, PhD

• Amanda Wiggins completed a BSc(Hons) in Neuroscience at University of Otago in New Zealand. University of Otago
• She then earned a PhD in neuroscience at the University of Melbourne in Australia. University of Otago
• Her interest lies in turning neuroscience/brain research into useful products — especially given the rising prevalence of neurological conditions as populations age.

In our conversation.....

• What “brain-fitness” means in the context of an athlete who’s been training for years and now faces the extra variable of aging and brain-health risk.
• How to measure risk.
• The research-based links between physical activity, vascular health, cognitive resilience, and how athletes might benefit—or in some cases put themselves at risk—if they don’t pay attention.
• Practical, actionable habits and interventions that older athletes can adopt today to sharpen their mind, and guard against memory loss, dementia or cognitive decline.
• And lastly: how to take all this science and apply it to training, recovery, lifestyle and mindset in a way that feels meaningful, sustainable and empowering.

cGP Supplement -- Why take it? (from cGP Health website)

• From around the age of 50, IGF-1 activity naturally begins to decline, and this process can be accelerated by stress, poor lifestyle choices, or specific genetic conditions. When IGF-1 levels or function are reduced, the body’s demand for cGP increases, yet it becomes harder to produce enough. Without adequate cGP, IGF-1 cannot work effectively, which may affect brain health, cardiovascular wellbeing, and energy levels.

Episode Resources

• Foodforthebrain.org
• www.cgp-health.com
• How to Order cGP: https://cgpmax.com/
• https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01296-0/abstract

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 161 | Omega 3 Science vs Hype | Bill Harris PhD
• Episode 154 | Adaptive Range Expansion for Peak Performance | Mike T Nelson PhD
• Episode 147 | Solving Inflammaging | Dwayne Jackson PhD
• Episode 135 | What's Your Healthy Fat %? | Vyvyane Loh MD

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to be medical advice

Michael J. Ormsbee, PhD

• Michael J. Ormsbee is a professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food & Exercise Sciences at FSU.
• He serves as the Graduate Program Director and is the Director for the FSU Institute of Sports Sciences & Medicine (ISSM).
• He holds the Margaret A. Sitton Endowed Professorship at FSU.

Professor Ormsbee’s work focuses on how exercise, nutrition, and supplementation interact to influence:

• Body composition, metabolism, and performance
• Pre-sleep (nighttime) feeding strategies and their effects on recovery, metabolism, and body composition
• The role of macronutrients (especially protein and types of carbohydrates) in fat metabolism, hormonal responses, and performance across both healthy and clinical populations
• Applications in athlete populations, as well as in metabolic disease, obesity, and clinical scenarios

Today I have the exact right person to talk about targeting optimal body composition. Mike Ormsbee PhD. Mike is a scientist athlete, researching health, body comp and human performance as the Director of the Florida State University’s Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine. Dr Ormsbee agreed to join me to help us Wise Athletes to understand how exercise, nutrition, and supplementation can be used to optimize metabolism, body composition and performance

Principals 

1. Speed of adaptation reflects health status and resilience:  fuel switching speed, sugar tolerance, temperature tolerance, HR capacity (max vs. resting), endurance, mobility and strength provides headroom to recover from problems.
2. Benefit stacking:  getting multiple benefits from our actions and food
3. Health maintenance is the real goal.  Achieving goals is nice, but sustaining fitness and health is the real achievement.   The key is fuel matching and non-linear calorie imbalance. (Practice maintenance)
4. No suffering; stay within yourself but push a little most days. 
5. “Better is better”.  Optimal is elusive but will slowly be achieved for each person 
6. Little things add up.   Start with easy to gain momentum and motivation for harder change.
7. Exercise doesn’t have to dominate your life; you just need to do enough of cardio/ endurance and HIIT/ strength work. 
8. More variability = better resilience
9. Consistency of effort (we are forming new habits, need time to obtain positive feedback)
10. Progressive overload (change is painful, but only a little and only some of the time, if done right)
11. Modulated workload (for recovery, adaptation, mental health, and practice for maintenance mode)

Episode Resources

• Mike's Body Composition training course ---Link to Amazon or Great Courses

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 172 | Levers of (Food) Satiety | Ted Naiman MD
• Episode 142 | Fasting Mimicking Diet | Joseph Antoun MD PhD
• Episode 137 | The #1 Secret to Healthy Fat Loss | Vyvyane Loh MD
• Episode 135 | What's Your Healthy Fat %? | Vyvyane Loh MD

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never mea

Dr Ted Naiman Bio:

Dr. Ted Naiman is a board-certified Family Medicine physician in the department of Primary Care at a leading major medical center in Seattle. Dr. Naiman holds an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, which influences his analytical approach to medicine. He earned his medical degree from Loma Linda University in 1997 . Initially raised in a near-vegetarian Seventh-day Adventist household, he experienced personal health challenges that led him to explore alternative nutritional strategies. This journey culminated in the development of the P:E Diet, focusing on the protein-to-energy ratio in foods, and now, Satiety per Calorie: Eating, solved, to promote fat loss and muscle gain.

For decades, diet books have focused on what to eat—low-carb, low-fat, paleo, keto, and everything in between. Today learn what really works for anyone who wants to improve health, body composition, athletic performance....longevity in sport.

What You’ll Learn Today:

✅ The four key factors that determine satiety per calorie ✅ Why protein and fiber are the ultimate weight-loss levers ✅ How to structure your diet for maximum satiety and effortless fat loss

Episode Resources

• Satiety per Calorie website -- SatietyperCalorie.com
• Dr Ted Naiman's personal website -- TedNaiman.com

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 145 | Food for Thought | William Li MD
• Episode 142 | Fasting Mimicking Diet | Joseph Antoun MD PhD
• Episode 137 | The #1 Secret to Healthy Fat Loss | Vyvyane Loh MD
• Episode 135 | What's Your Healthy Fat %? | Vyvyane Loh MD

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Hunter Allen Bio:

Hunter Allen, ex-pro cyclist, coach and author has recently authored “Training and Competing with a Continuous Glucose Monitor”.   Hunter is best known for his work with power meters and for developing the power training principles.  He’s the co-author of “Training and Racing with a Power Meter”, along with “Cutting Edge Cycling” and “Triathlon: Training with Power”.   Hunter was one of the co-developers of TrainingPeaks WKO software and a co-founder of TrainingPeaks.  He founded and currently operates The Peaks Coaching Group.

Key Ideas:

• Managing blood glucose is not only important for health and longevity, it impacts athletic performance in real time
• Wearing a CGM provides access to the raw data needed to manage glucose via diet, feed schedule, activity
• For athletic performance, keeping blood glucose in the high performance zone means no bonking or premature fatigue.

Episode Resources

• Hunter's Coaching Website -- PeaksCoachingGroup.com
• CGM Book Website - TrainingandCompetingwithaCGM.com

Key Discussion Points:

• Discover how and why seeing your continuous blood glucose with a CGM in real time will give you an edge in your sport with the ability to:
• Optimize the timing of nutrition intake (for exercise, for sleep…?)
• Determine the correct serving of foods to positively impact energy levels
• Understand the proper type of foods to use to “prime” your system before training or an event (“top off glycogen stores” without causing hypo-glycemic rebound?)
• Recognize patterns of poor nutrition and correct them (food combos, volume of fast carbs)
• Learn your blood glucose highs and lows throughout the day to correct them for better glucose stability (why correct them?)
• And so much more

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 87 | Zeroing in on Fun AND Fitness part 2 of 2 | Hunter Allen
• Episode 86 | Make Training Fun for Better Performance part 1 of 2 Hunter Allen

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

About the guest: Frank Schwartz, Nant'an (CEO) of F3 Nation

Frank Schwartz, known in the F3 community by his nickname "Dark Helmet," serves as the CEO (referred to as "Nant’an") of F3 Nation. F3 Nation is a free, peer-led movement designed to help men get fit, build bonds of friendship, and learn how to join forces to serve the community. As Nant'an, Frank leads the strategic vision and cultural stewardship of F3, which has grown into a global network supporting thousands of men across the U.S. and internationally.

Frank’s F3 journey began like so many others: a early morning workout, a goofy nickname, and a gut-level recognition that something life-changing was underway. Since then, he’s become a guiding voice in shaping F3 Nation: 100's of independently operating chapters around the USA and the World. He’s all-in on helping men become what they always wanted to be.

Key Ideas:

• If you change a man, you change the world
• Leave no man behind; leave no man where you found him
• No rules; only principals to guide men remaking themselves

Episode Resources

The Starfish and The Spider -- Link to Amazon

Freed to Lead 2 - Link to Amazon

F3 Website -- F3Nation.com

Key Discussion Points:

1. Why is this happening…this lack of close friends among men?
2. What is the effect of not having good friends?
3. Is a close friend for a man the same as a close friend for a woman?
4. How does F3 work?  What are the rules and methods that have been stolen and honed to craft the experience that served men?  Why does it work so well, and I speak from personal experience.
5. What is to be gained from a men’s group like F3?  Starting or joining one? What is the stair-step of benefits that are available to men who participate, who maybe are just looking for fitness, but if they want to change their lives more profoundly, they can get much more than mere fitness.

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 122 | How to Stay Young or Die Laughing | Bill Gifford
• Episode 91 | Successful Aging | Dr Alan Castel

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

• Do you feel like you are drifting through life always waiting on something?
• Do you feel dissatisfied and unfulfilled?
• Is time flying by?

About the guest: Adrian Kelly, Author of The Success Complex

Drawing from his experiences as a solicitor, entrepreneur, and sports coach, Kelly examines the skills essential for overcoming challenges and achieving sustained success. Adrian joins me to discuss how to shift into living a big life, rather than merely a long one. Adrian says:

• Most of us don’t just want simple happiness; we want intensity. We want to feel that sense of existential urgency we get when we are engrossed in some meaningful project, when we know you are doing something important and good.
• Link to Amazon: Success Factor

Episode Summary:

Adrian Kelly’s Success Complex explores the hidden emotional and psychological burdens that often accompany outward success, especially for men. It challenges the traditional view that success—defined by wealth, career, and achievements—automatically leads to happiness. Instead, Kelly argues that many high-performing individuals are silently struggling with stress, disconnection, and a lack of purpose.

Core Aspects of Spirituality

• Connection: A feeling of being linked to a higher power, nature, or the collective human experience.
• Purpose and Meaning: An ongoing quest to understand one's role and significance in the world.
• Transcendence: Experiences that go beyond the ordinary, often described as profound or mystical
• Inner Peace: Cultivating a sense of calm and contentment through practices like meditation, mindfulness, or prayer.

Key Themes:

1. The Illusion of Success -- Success is often externally validated—money, titles, status—but it can mask deep dissatisfaction, anxiety, or emotional repression. Many men achieve success only to find it unfulfilling.
2. Performance-Based Identity -- Men often tie their self-worth to performance. When they stop achieving or face setbacks, they feel worthless or lost.
3. Emotional Suppression -- A major cost of the “success complex” is emotional disconnection. Men learn to suppress vulnerability, which leads to isolation and strained relationships.
4. The Masculine Mask -- the “mask” successful men wear to appear confident, in control, and stoic. Behind it, many feel burned out or uncertain.
5. Breaking the Pattern -- Healing begins by questioning the cultural narrative around masculinity and success. This includes:
   • Reconnecting with emotions
   • Seeking genuine relationships
   • Redefining success through internal values rather than external metrics
6. Authentic Living -- shift from achievement-driven living to values-driven living—embracing meaning, connection, and self-awareness.

The ABC Framework:

• Activity (A): Engaging in purposeful actions…a means to an end
• Balance (B): Maintaining equilibrium between various life aspects.
• Congruence (C): Aligning actions and values to achieve a state where success is both sustained and sustaining

Prioritizing What Truly Matters

• In a world filled with opportunities, Kelly encourages us to reflect on our true goals and values, suggesting that genuine success may differ from societal expectations.

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 122 | How to Stay Young or Die Laughing | Bill Gifford
• Episode 91 | Successful Aging | Dr Alan Castel

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

About the guests: Richard LaFountain, PhD & Brandon Fell, MS

Clinical Staff at Healthspan (gethealthspan.com)

Rich LaFountain, PhD - Health coach and science writer; his academic and research focus centers on metabolic health, cardiovascular physiology, and the optimization of physical performance through dietary and exercise interventions.

• Education: Ph.D. in Kinesiology from The Ohio State University; Bachelor of Science in Biology from the College at Brockport, State University of New York.
• Research: His academic and research focus centers on metabolic health, cardiovascular physiology, and the optimization of physical performance through dietary and exercise interventions.
• Current Role: Senior Scientist on Healthspan's clinical staff

Brandon Fell, MS - Wellness Coach, with expertise in keto nutrition, clinical research, and longevity science.

• Education: M.S. in Kinesiology (OSU, 2020); Dietetic Internship with rotations through Volek’s lab.
• Research: Graduate Research Associate in Dr. Jeff Volek’s ketogenic diet studies; major controlled trials.
• Current Role: Head of Metabolic Coaching at Healthspan

Episode Summary:

In my followup chat with Healthspan, we talk about Methylene Blue and Urolithin A, the darlings of the mitochondrial boosting party set.

Healthspan offers both supplements as a part of its suite of longevity and healthspan offerings.

Methylene Blue is very edgy, so I wanted to understand how Healthspan came to believe it was safe for their clients/patients (I take Methylene Blue)

Urolithin A is very new and somewhat controversial. I wanted to know how Healthspan came to believe it was effective (I take Urolithin A).

Some important notes:

• Webinar for healthspan onboarding
• gethealthspan.com
• MB
• What is it, and how it is used in medicine?
• Why does Healthspan believe it is a useful supplement to use chronically?
• What are the targeted symptoms and effects of MB?  Dosing?  Take regularly or only when symptoms arise?  How long to feel an effect?
• Does it help athletic performance? (I found it makes exercise feel harder)
• What are the side effects to be cautious of?
• Who should not take MB?
• Urolithin A
• What is it, and why do people need to supplement it?
• Why would a bacteria post biotic signal the mitochondria to scavenge old mitochondria?  Is it similar to an internally made chemical used for the same purpose?
• I’ve heard a lot of marketing of Urolithin A by the company that patented its delivery mechanism, and I’ve heard scientists say there is no real proof it works.
• What did Healthspan uncover to prompt it to offer it?
• What are the targeted symptoms and effects of UA?  Dosing?  Take regularly or only when symptoms arise?  How long to feel an effect?
• Does it help athletic performance?
• What are the side effects to be cautious of?
• Who should not take UA?

Related episodes & links:

• Urolithin A -- Nature Paper
• Episode 128 | Mitochondrial Powerup w/Methylene Blue | Dr Scott Sherr
• Episode 144 | Muscle for Athletic Healthspan | Mark Tarnopolsky MD PhD

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

About the guests: Richard LaFountain, PhD & Brandon Fell, MS

Clinical Staff at Healthspan (gethealthspan.com)

Rich LaFountain, PhD - Health coach and science writer; his academic and research focus centers on metabolic health, cardiovascular physiology, and the optimization of physical performance through dietary and exercise interventions.

• Education: Ph.D. in Kinesiology from The Ohio State University; Bachelor of Science in Biology from the College at Brockport, State University of New York.
• Research: His academic and research focus centers on metabolic health, cardiovascular physiology, and the optimization of physical performance through dietary and exercise interventions.
• Current Role: Senior Scientist on Healthspan's clinical staff

Brandon Fell, MS - Wellness Coach, with expertise in keto nutrition, clinical research, and longevity science.

• Education: M.S. in Kinesiology (OSU, 2020); Dietetic Internship with rotations through Volek’s lab.
• Research: Graduate Research Associate in Dr. Jeff Volek’s ketogenic diet studies; major controlled trials.
• Current Role: Head of Metabolic Coaching at Healthspan

Episode Summary:

Blood testing isn't perfect but it's one of the best tools available to shine a light into the black box of your personal physiology to see how your body is doing: compared to other healthy people and compared to yourself over time as you age and implement health and longevity interventions. Healthspan now offers an online Longevity Pro Panel blood testing and analysis service to provide expert guidance into lifestyle-based health enhance, and as a gateway into more aggressive interventions to recover lost athleticism, extend healthspan, and maybe even life a long healthy life.

Healthspan comprehensively analyzes pivotal longevity biomarkers to help you optimize your metabolic and cellular health. Examining over 100 biomarkers, Healthspan identifies health insights, enabling personalized recommendations for a successful longevity journey.

Some important notes:

• Webinar for healthspan onboarding
• gethealthspan.com
• What is Healthspan, and why does it offer the blood testing / evaluation service?
• Blood panel is a big part, but what else is needed to fully assess biological age status (identify areas for improvement)?  BP, DEXA: bone, lean mass, visceral fat, VO2Max, grip strength (bar hang time), etc.
• Reliability of blood tests for identifying “optimal” vs. “problems”?  wide ranges based on population “normal” (40% obesity rate), different labs/procedures, test result variability, time of day test taken, workouts / foods eating in proximity to testing, blood is only a proxy (not the same thing as organs)
• Personal trends vs. “vs. normal” vs. low ACM?  Or centenarian typical blood marker ranges?
• Need to look at multiple blood markers and understand context to interpret blood test results
• Example of a blood panel review session (using Joe Lavelle's data)

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 141 | Your Blood Tests Results May Vary | Dr Austin Baraki
• Episode 154 | Adaptive Range Expansion (Functional Youth) | Dr Mike T Nelson
• Episode 161 | Omega 3: Science vs. Hype | Bill Harris, PhD
• Episode 140 | Solving Low Vitamin D | Dr Grant E Fraser
• Episode 139 | Finding Your Iron Sweetspot for Performance and Health | Dr Grant Fraser

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

About the guest: Matt Fitzgerald

Author of over 30 books on running & endurance

Matt Fitzgerald, a certified sports nutritionist, started running on April 19, 1983, one day after watching his father complete the Boston Marathon. This began a lifelong love affair with the sport. Having completed 50 marathons of his own, authored more than 30 books, cofounded the world’s largest online provider of endurance training resources, and coached dozens of his fellow runners to their goals, Matt lives by the motto, “Let your passion, not your ability, decide how far you go.” That’s why he created Dream Run Camp–to enable runners of all abilities who share his passion for the sport to see just how far they can go.

Episode Summary:

How do you know what you are capable of doing if you don't try? Matt Fitzgerald trains athletes of all ages, including older athletes, but he doesn't have "older athlete training plans". Matt says everyone has limiters...you have to choose to go at them or around them, or let them define you. Older athletes often self-limit themselves to play it safe but with careful attention to building up capacity, older athletes are proving themselves to be capable of more speed, more strength and more endurance than ever before.

Our talk today is about how can the older athlete avoid settling for being older...how to find compensations and motivations and expert tricks for retaining or regaining the athletic capacity of yesteryear.

Some important notes:

• Don’t let the expectations of declining athletic capacity turn. Into a self fulfilling prophecy 
• …”not every man truly lives”
• You have to push the envelope regularly or the envelope shrinks in on you
• Focus on the big rocks: training hard frequently (finding your own way that works for you), keeping the joy in it, setting and reaching for big goals )
• Everyone has limiters. They are unique to the individual and they change over time.  You have to treat the training process as an open ended experiment. You have to identify the limiters and then work towards or around them. But find out what they really are not what you think they are because you are older. 
• Keep moving. But use different forms of movement to spread the load. 
• Scale back the volume but maintain the intensity 
• Treat “niggles” with care. Incremental Retreat — backed progressively to be careful without being fearful and losing big chunks of fitness. 
• Training as treatment - ryan whited.  Motion is lotion. 
• Disadvantages AND advantages of being older:  youth is wasted on the young. 
• Compensate for losing some athletic capacity by tightening down the lifestyle that you couldn’t bother to do when younger. Diet, sleep, better training protocols. 
• Diet: eat enough of a wide range of whole foods with enough of all macros. Avoid processed foods. 
• Avoid reductionist rabbit holes. 
• Supplements: case by case. Most people can benefit from: fish oil , iron (if you need it), creatine
• Cross training: lifting weights, physical skill acquisition, balance and coordination, don’t stop playing 
• Periodization is a good practice. Weekly / monthly / seasonal cycles 

Related episodes & links:

• Stronger, Faster, Older

• Episode 91 | Successful Aging | Dr Alan Castel
• Episode 109 | Physical Intelligence for Heathy Aging | Dr Scott Grafton
• Episode 124 | Pain and Performance | Matt Fitzgerald and Ryan Whited
• Episode 148 | Adventure for Life | Brian Keane

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

About the guest:

Trevor Connor is an exercise physiologist, endurance sports coach, and former professional cyclist with nearly 20 years of racing experience. He has coached at national performance centers in both Canada and the U.S., managed teams such as Team Rio Grande, and holds a master's degree in exercise bioenergetics and nutrition. He is also the co-host of the Fast Talk podcast, which focuses on the science of endurance performance.

Trevor earned his master's degree in exercise bioenergetics and nutrition from Colorado State University, where he was the final graduate student of Dr. Loren Cordain, the originator of the Paleo Diet. His research focused on the effects of a Paleo-style diet on autoimmune conditions, including multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease

• CEO of The Paleo Diet, LLC: Since 2018, Connor has led the company, overseeing its programs, certifications, and branding initiatives
• Co-founder and CEO of Fast Talk Laboratories: He co-founded this platform dedicated to endurance sports science, offering resources on training, nutrition, and performance
• Cycling Career: A former semi-professional cyclist, Connor trained at the Canadian National Center and managed Team Rio Grande, a top-ranked amateur team in the U.S.

Episode Summary:

The Paleo Diet. Initially skeptical of the Paleo Diet, Connor's perspective shifted after personal experimentation led to improved health and a return to competitive cycling at age 40. He now advocates for whole-food nutrition and challenges traditional high-carbohydrate sports diets, emphasizing the benefits of healthy fats and reduced sugar intake

Our talk today is mostly about how can the older athlete get the most out of the Paleo Diet and how to personalize it to make it work for each of us. What are the most important guidelines of the Paleo Diet that should guide and simplify our food decision-making. Foods to emphasize and minimize. Eating (and not eating) patterns that matter.

Some important notes:

• Macronutrient based diets are hard to get right because there are healthy and unhealthy versions of all macronutrient diets. Paleo is not about macros, but instead about whole foods that mimics the food supply 10,000 years ago. Fruits, vegetables, naturally grown meat and fish, and nuts and seeds sparingly. Limit grains and minimize dairy. Some people should also limit legumes (beans / pulses / lentils / etc)
• Eating whole foods means not just getting the vitamins and minerals and macronutrients but also the food matrix....all the other stuff in things that were once alive. Everything provides some benefit as long as we don't overdo it. But eating processed foods without the food matrix is a poor health choice.
• An ancestral diet is hard to define exactly and impossible to replicate today, but some features can be mimicked: not eating the same things all the time or out of season, not eating the full daily calorie requirements every single day, eating foods that were recently alive are hard to chew (good for oral health and is satiating), not over-eating foods that didn't exist (dairy, processed food) or were in short supply (grains, beans).
• Eat more potassium and less sodium (people generally get too much sodium; avoid processed food with sodium)
• Eat more magnesium and less dairy (less calcium). Target 2:1 calcium to magnesium; most people are 4:1 calcium to magnesium.
• Supplements recommended by Trevor: Vitamin D, Fish Oil (EPA/DHA), Magnesium (especially if consuming dairy: heavy calcium source), Taurine (especially vegans or low seafood consumers)
• Protein: one source of protein is not the same as another source of protein so you cannot just talk amount of protein in a healthy diet. Protein from dairy is not the same as protein from muscle meat (animals / fish). Dairy comes from cows for their babies to grow up fast. The effect of dairy (whey / casein) is not the same as the effect of protein from muscle meat. Low / no dairy is best unless you need to build muscle as fast and as big as possible, but it comes with heath effects.

Related episodes & links:

• Dietary Patterns and Non-Communicable Disease Biomarkers: A Network Meta-Analysis and Nutritional Geometry Approach (Paleo vs Mediterranean and other diets)

• Summary of Paleo vs Mediterranean (from ThePaleoDiet company)

• Episode 100 | Practical Tips for Phytonutrients and Fiber | Dr Jed Fahey
• Episode 94 | Phytonutrients the 1% the Makes All the Difference | Dr Jed Fahey

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

About the guest:

The TriDoc Podcast is a bi-weekly show hosted by Dr. Jeff Sankoff, the host of the TriDoc podcast, is an emergency physician, Ironman triathlete, certified coach, and older athlete (58). Dr Sankoff is the exact type of expert for the Wise Athletes podcast. Dr Sankoff specializes in providing athletes with evidence-based insights into health, wellness, and training, and helping us all distinguish scientific facts from marketing hype.

• TriDoc Podcast
• TriDoc Coaching
• Tempo Talks Podcast

Episode summary:

• OTC Drugs -- impact on exercise performance -- aspirin, ibuprofen, Tylenol, anti-histamines
• Pharmacutical Drugs - impact on exercise performance -- cholesterol, BP, heart rhythm, prostate meds, ED meds
• Jeff's 3 Supplements

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 36 | Dr Jeff Sankoff is the TriDoc

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Episode 36 | Dr Jeff Sankoff is the Tri-Doc

On today's show, Dr. Merijn van de Laar, a recovering insomniac, sleep therapist, and the author of How to Sleep Like a Caveman: Ancient Wisdom for a Better Night’s Rest, will tell us how learning about our prehistoric ancestors’ sleep (via studying the Hadza) can help us relax about our own imperfect sleep. He explains that the behaviors we think of as sleep problems are actually normal, natural, and adaptive. Merijn destroys the myth that you have to get 7-9 hours of sleep a night, and how being awake during the night is normal, and how efforts to change normal healthy sleep into "perfect" sleep scores is detrimental to our health.

Today’s episode is not for those few, lucky souls who fall asleep the moment their head hits the pillow, cruise through the night, and bounce out of bed in the morning ready to take on the world. Good for you—but seriously, get out of here. This one’s for the rest of us wise athletes who work hard to be fit and healthy—through exercise, through diet—only to be undone by poor sleep. The poor sleep that slows your recovery, ramps up your risk of illness, and leaves you reaching for caffeine just to survive the day, and then something else entirely just to shut down at night and squeeze 7-9 hours into the 6-hour window we allow for.

This talk is not a list of sleep hygiene factors and discount codes for fancy tools that work well to lighten your wallet without addressing the real reasons for poor sleep. Dr. Merijn van de Laar says "sleep is cheap" and that we've been sold a bunch of BS about sleep. This isn’t about chasing perfection. This is about letting go of the pressure and easing into realistically healthy sleep—the kind your ancestors would recognize—without needing to track every blink and breath.

So unplug, lie back, and listen up—because it’s time to learn how to Sleep Like a Caveman.

About the Guest

Dr Merijn van de Laar (https://merijnvandelaar.com/the-sleep-scientist/)

Merijn van de Laar studied biological psychology at the University of Maastricht and obtained his PhD on the subject of personality and sleep and the treatment of insomnia. He worked for years at Kempenhaeghe, Center for Sleep Medicine, and treated people with insomnia, parasomnia and delayed sleep phase syndrome. He is now adjunct director at the University of Maastricht.

Merijn’s professional and personal mission is to create restful nights across the world. His motivation to give people a better night’s sleep arose when he experienced what it was like to have chronic insomnia in his twenties. He did not receive the right care and, in retrospect, not the right scientifically substantiated information that could have helped him get rid of the problem much sooner.

Merijn’s slogan is “Sleep is Cheap”. By this he means that most people with insomnia do not need expensive products, apps or medication at all and that these often don’t help or even worsen the problem. For most people, a good night’s sleep can be achieved through natural solutions that cost little but are very effective. In many ways, we should learn to sleep like Cavemen again.

Merijn van de Laar website

Episode Summary:

• Why do modern people report worsening sleep quality, despite the emergence of optimized sheets, mattresses, sound machines, and sleep trackers have emerged during that time, and despite the fact that the amount of time people are sleeping hasn’t decreased for over fifty years?
• If people aren’t sleeping less than they used to, why are they less happy about their sleep than ever before.
• Dr van de Laar says, to improve our experience of sleep, we’re better off looking past the BS modern advice and look back in time — to see how our ancestors (probably) slept.
• What is sleep, and why is it so important? Any parts more important than others?
• Why is an adults sleep so fragile while a child's sleep so easy and sound?
• What can we learn from how the Hadza sleep? Do they get 7-9 hours of sleep, sleeping straight though the night?
• What can we do to improve our sleep?

Related episodes & links:

• Sleep Like a Caveman on Amazon
• https://merijnvandelaar.com/

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

About the Guest

Roger Seheult, MD, MedCram Co-Founder & Instructor (MedCram.com website)

Dr. Seheult is currently an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine, and an Assistant Clinical Professor at the School of Medicine and Allied Health at Loma Linda University. Dr. Seheult is also quadruple board-certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Diseases, Critical Care Medicine, and Sleep Medicine through the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Episode summary:

NEWSTART Pillars of Health are different than any other "pillars" I've encountered....the typical pillars, and there are so many, are so generic as to be useless. NEWSTART is different in two ways: (1) it brings attention and priority to aspects of health that are missed by the generic pillars, and (2) uniquely, it brings a focus to the entire point of remaining healthy or returning to health and fitness....and that is "purpose". Why do you want to be a fit, strong athlete? Is winning races really that important, or is health and fitness ultimately an means to an end. Where will your fitness take you? What will you do with the gift of life you have been given?

This is what I am thinking about after my conversation with Dr Roger Seheult of MedCram.

I hope you get as much to think about as I did.

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 148 | Adventure for Life | Brian Keane
• Episode 143 | Nasal Breathing | George Dallam PhD
• Episode 144 | Muscle for Athletics & Healthspan | Mark Tarnopolsky MD PhD
• Episode 149 | Near Infrared Light is the Missing Puzzle Piece | Scott Zimmerman

• Yield and Overcome Mindset
• https://newstart.com/home

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

About the guest:

Bill Harris, PhD in Human Nutrition

Dr. William (Bill) S. Harris is an internationally recognized expert in omega-3 fatty acid research, particularly concerning cardiovascular health. He earned his Ph.D. in Human Nutrition from the University of Minnesota and completed post-doctoral fellowships in Clinical Nutrition and Lipid Metabolism at the Oregon Health Sciences University. In 2009, Dr. Harris founded OmegaQuant, a company specializing in omega-3 blood testing, notably the Omega-3 Index test, which he co-invented in 2004. This test measures the levels of omega-3 fatty acids in red blood cells and has been widely used in research and clinical settings. ​

Over his 40-year career, Dr. Harris has authored more than 300 scientific papers on fatty acids and health. His significant contributions have earned him recognition as one of the top 2% of scientists worldwide based on research impact. ​ In late 2020, Dr. Harris transitioned from his role at OmegaQuant to establish the Fatty Acid Research Institute (FARI), where he serves as President and focuses on conducting and publishing research on fatty acids and health. ​

Dr. Harris is also a Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition and has co-authored multiple American Heart Association scientific statements on fatty acids and cardiovascular disease.

Episode summary:

Omega 3. EPA/DHA. Our talk today is mostly about how can the older athlete get the most out of the omega 3 nutrient…sources, forms of supplements, how to dose, what to take it with for better bioavailability, and anything else we should know. We also explore three other areas:

1. what does our body do with omega 3’s? Is more better?
2. should we take only EPA or only DHA?
3. what’s the real story behind the recent negative headlines on omega 3’s (failed pharma studies, Afib risks, DHA is detrimental)?
4. what’s the deal with the new stuff being marketed to us now such as SPMs (specialized pro resolving mediators) and Fatty 15 (they sure are good at marketing…is this a replacement for EPA/DHA?)

EPA & DHA are not "essential fatty acids" but if you are interested in any of the many available benefits, eat more fish....or take fish oil or algae oil. Don't let your body be short of these vital nutrients.

• Lower resting HR (resulting in better oxygen to heart)
• Anticoagulation like aspirin but without stomach issues
• Reduced homocysteine
• Lower triglycerides
• Improved mitochondrial energy production
• Lower chronic inflammation
• Speeds resolution of acute inflammation (from injury or training)

Related episodes & links:

• Nature article: Blood n-3 fatty acid levels and total can cause specific mortality from 17 prospective studies
• OmegaQuant website

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

About the guest:

Mark Faulkner, President & Founder of Vireo Systems. After graduating college with a degree in physics, accompanied by a heavy emphasis on biochemistry and research, Mark began his career in the “business of science” at one of the largest publicly traded multinational diagnostics, pharma, and medical device businesses. Mark later co-founded a forensic toxicology and healthcare laboratory that provides science-driven drug testing, post-mortem, and consulting services. Based on that experience, Mark founded Vireo System to manufacture CON-CRET, the only US manufacturer of creatine to provide athletes and everyone else high quality creatine formulations.

• https://vireosystems.com/

• https://con-cret.com/pages/science

Episode summary:

Creatine is no longer just for muscle building or improving power; creatine makes cells everywhere in the body more efficient at making energy. Creatine is now at the top of my supplement list, but I've been taking it incorrectly for 30 years. Check out my conversation with Mark Faulkner, Founder & CEO of the only US manufacturer of creatine. We discuss how creatine helps the muscles, brain, bones, immune system and more, how to dose, what to mix creatine powder with to improve absorption, and much more.

Discussion points:

• What is creatine? Arginine, Glycine, Methionine in a chemical structure.
• How does it help so many aspects of health? The body makes creatine so it is expecting it. More than we can make or eat can be used.
• How to dose and take creatine to get the benefits desired? The key is solubility via chemical make-up or via temperature of mixing liquid.
• What are the various types of creatine....why not just use the regular variety (monohydrate)? Consider, gut issues / bioavailability (do you have stomach upset?) vs cost (modesty higher expense for higher solubility and US/European manufacture)
• Considerations for quality? Testing certifications. Country of origin.

## Creatine's Role in Energy Efficiency and Oxidative Stress

Creatine does make cells more efficient at energy production, particularly during high-intensity activities, while also potentially reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammation through several mechanisms:

1. **Energy buffer system improvement**

• Creates a rapid ATP regeneration pathway independent of oxygen
• Reduces the demand on other energy systems (glycolysis, oxidative phosphorylation) during intense efforts
• This metabolic efficiency means less byproduct formation per unit of work

2. **Mitochondrial protection**

• Recent research suggests creatine helps stabilize mitochondrial membranes
• May improve mitochondrial function and reduce electron leakage (a major source of ROS)
• Can potentially increase mitochondrial efficiency, reducing the oxygen required for ATP production

3. **Direct antioxidant properties**

• Some studies indicate creatine has mild direct free radical scavenging abilities
• May help neutralize certain ROS, though this is not its primary mechanism

4. **Anti-inflammatory effects**

• By reducing cellular stress and improving energy efficiency, there's less metabolic disruption
• Less disruption means reduced inflammatory signaling cascade activation
• Studies show decreased inflammatory markers like TNF-α and IL-6 with creatine supplementation

5. **Enhanced cell membrane stability**

• The cell volumization effect may help maintain membrane integrity during stress
• More stable membranes are less susceptible to oxidative damage The combined result is a cellular environment that can produce energy more efficiently while experiencing less oxidative stress and subsequent inflammation, especially during high-intensity exercise or metabolic challenge

Related episodes & links:

• Episode 103 | Better Bloodflow & Healing from Nitric Oxide | Beth Shirley RPh CCN

• https://www.health.com/types-of-creatine-8724832?utm_source=chatgpt.com

• https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/5/1035
• https://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Article/2024/04/08/CON-CRET-stands-behind-creatine-HCL-gummies/

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

About the guest:

Bob Seebohar is a board-certified specialist in sport dietetics, an exercise physiologist, a strength and conditioning coach, and a USA Triathlon certified elite, youth, and junior coach and a competitive endurance athlete.

Bob Seebohar was the director of sport nutrition at the University of Florida and a Sports Dietitian for the US Olympic Committee where he traveled to the 2008 Olympic Games as the sports dietitian for the U.S. team. He now runs his own practice eNRG Performance (enrgperformance.com) and serves as the consulting sports dietitian for the Las Vegas Golden Knights professional hockey team and the consulting dietitian for the entire University of Denver athletics program.

He has authored many books including:

1. Nutrition Periodization for Athletes,
2. Metabolic Efficiency Training: Teaching the Body to Burn More Fat,
3. Caffeine Protocol for Endurance Athletes,
4. Sodium Loading for Endurance Athletes,
5. Metabolic Efficiency Recipe Book,
6. Neuromuscular, Dynamic and Functional Exercises for Athletes,
7. Prehab Exercises for Athletes,
8. Fuel4mance Smoothie Recipe Book,
9. Performance Nutrition: Applying the Science of Nutrient Timing, and
10. Sports Nutrition for Young Triathletes.

He currently also owns & operates

• Fuel4mance, a sports nutrition consulting company (www.fuel4mance.com),
• Elite Multisport Coaching, an adult endurance coaching company (www.teamemc.com) and
• Kids that TRI, a non-profit youth triathlon organization (www.kidsthattri.org).

Episode summary:

Teach your body to burn more fat to improve health and performance. The concept of Metabolic Efficiency (ME) can be applied to individuals just beginning exercise, fitness enthusiasts and the seasoned athlete.

Metabolic Efficiency describes the relationship between the body's ability to use fat and carbohydrate as energy sources across a variety of exercise intensities. ..more than ability…it’s the training of the body to use the right fuels at the right time. Being more of a "fat burner" will allow you to improve your health, reduce risk for chronic disease, lose weight and body fat, improve athletic performance and eliminate gastrointestinal (GI) distress.

According to Bob Seebohar, older male athletes looking to improve fat burning and reduce insulin resistance should focus on these specific strategies:

1. Train in Zone 2 consistently - Prioritize longer, lower-intensity aerobic sessions (heart rate around 60-70% of max) to enhance mitochondrial function and fat oxidation
2. Implement "fuel timing" - Practice strategic carbohydrate periodization by limiting carbs during easy training and saving them for around higher-intensity sessions
3. Practice overnight fasting - Extend the natural overnight fast (12-14 hours) to enhance fat adaptation, potentially combined with some fasted morning training
4. Focus on protein quality and timing - Consume adequate protein (1.6-2.0g/kg bodyweight) distributed throughout the day to maintain muscle mass, which is crucial for metabolic health in aging males
5. Include strength training - Incorporate 2-3 weekly sessions of resistance training to support muscle mass and insulin sensitivity
6. Address testosterone naturally - Support natural testosterone production through adequate dietary fat intake (especially monounsaturated sources), zinc-rich foods, quality sleep, and stress management. 
7. Limit processed foods and added sugars - These directly contribute to insulin resistance and inflammation
8. Emphasize anti-inflammatory foods - Include omega-3 rich foods, colorful vegetables, and specific spices like turmeric
9. Consider timing of food intake - Front-load carbohydrates earlier in the day when insulin sensitivity is naturally higher
10. Monitor recovery carefully - Older athletes need more recovery time, and inadequate recovery can worsen hormone profiles and metabolic efficiency.

Related episodes:

• Episode 154 | Adaptive Range Expansion for Peak Performance | Mike T Nelson PhD
• Episode 144 | Muscle for Athletics & Healthspan | Mark Tarnopolski MD PhD FRCPC
• Episode 107 | Dr Phil Maffetone

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

About the guest:

Ellie Phillips DDS is a dentist with over four decades of experience, focusing on empowering patients to stop cavities and heal gum disease naturally. She recommends a specific collection of commercially available oral care products, but ONLY when used in a particular synergistic sequence to balance mouth biochemistry, protect enamel, and fight plaque (without harming nitric oxide production).

DrEllie.com

Dr Ellie's credentials:

• Graduated as a Dentist from Guy’s Hospital Medical School in London
• Worked in three countries: the U.K., Switzerland and the United States during the 40 years of my career, serving a wide array of patients including: special needs, seniors in nursing homes, babies and preschool kids.
• Previously a faculty member at the University of Rochester in New York
• Creator of Zellie’s - a line of dental mints and gum sweetened only with 100% pure xylitol.
• Founding Member of the American Academy For Oral Systemic Health (AAOSH)
• Author of: Kiss Your Dentist Goodbye and Mouth Care Comes Clean

Episode summary:

Dr Ellie is a highly experienced dentist and a leading advocate for people to take such good care of their mouths that they don't need dentists. Dr Ellie agreed to help Wise Athletes by explaining the basics of how the human mouth repairs damage to keep teeth and gums strong and healthy over a long lifetime, while also not allowing oral bacteria to infect the body which leads to heart disease, dementia, and diabetes. Dr Ellie also explains how people undermine those natural functions with entirely avoidable errors....leading to tooth decay, gun disease, and poor nitric oxide production. For the older athlete, oral health is low hanging fruit for higher performance. The upside is a better smile, a healthy mouth, and a long, healthy life.

After talking to Dr Ellie, I am convinced that oral health is a missing pillar of health that is so easy to do right if we only knew what to do. You've come to the right place to find out how.

Impact of Oral Health on Overall Health

• Cardiovascular Disease: Poor oral health, particularly gum disease, has been associated with an increased risk of heart disease. The bacteria from inflamed gums can enter the bloodstream, potentially leading to arterial plaque formation and heart complications.
• Diabetes: There is a bidirectional relationship between diabetes and periodontal disease. Individuals with diabetes are more susceptible to infections, including gum disease, which can, in turn, affect blood sugar control.
• Respiratory Infections: Inadequate oral hygiene can lead to the inhalation of bacteria from the mouth into the lungs, increasing the risk of respiratory infections such as pneumonia.
• Cognitive Decline: Emerging research suggests a connection between oral health and cognitive functions. For instance, a study found that individuals with fewer natural teeth at age 70 had a higher risk of cognitive impairment and mortality.

The 4 Keys To Oral Health: Daily oral care, Good saliva, Lifestyle & daily habits, Repair & Maintenance

Key #1 -- Daily Oral Care -- oh so important. But before you rush to "brush and floss", consider a few important things about your choice of toothbrush and toothpaste and how (or if) you should rinse or floss

Toothbrushes

• Clean Your Toothbrush Every Time.  
• Don't Just Rinse Your Brush. 
• Bacteria Die When They Dry. Allow your brush to dry for 24 hours between uses in a cup or holder so that air can circulate around the bristles.  You need one toothbrush for the morning and one for the evening!
• Never Put Your Toothbrush in a Drawer or Bag. 
• Toothbrush Design. It's more important to brush with a good technique than to buy an expensive brush.

Toothpaste

• Some Toothpaste Can Harm Oral Health. 
• Avoid Toothpastes with: abrasives, peroxide, baking soda, or glycerin.
• Avoid Whitening Pastes. Whitening products are generally too aggressive for enamel and can lead to erosion and fracture after long-term use.
• Avoid Glycerin / glycerol. Glycerin/glycerol seems to interfere with the natural repair and replacement of minerals in teeth.
• Sensitive Toothpaste. Sensitive pastes often contain stannous fluoride - a tin-based product designed to block pores or holes in teeth. These holes formed from loss of minerals and these pastes provide a quick fix, not a solution, to the problem of sensitivity.
• Plaque Control Toothpaste.  Some toothpastes are designed to dissolve the proteins that are an essential component of a healthy mouth ecosystem. Triclosan, a common ingredient in plaque-control toothpastes, has been shown to interact with chlorine in tap water to form chloroform and to potentially disrupt important hormones.  

Mouth Rinses -- Not all mouth rinses are a problem

• Watch the Acidity. Many well-known mouth rinses (even "healthy" ones and ones advertised for dry mouth) are acidic, some with a shocking pH as low as 3.3! Whitening products can be acidic with a pH below 2.0.
• Some Mouth Rinses Strip Teeth of Protective Proteins. Avoid rinsing with hydrogen peroxide or baking soda - especially if you have sensitive teeth, gum recession, or a groove at the gum line.
• Some Mouth Rinses Contain Glycerin.  Avoid
• Strong Antiseptic or Antibiotic Mouth Rinses. Some rinses wipe out disease bacteria and at the same time they damage the healthy bacteria that are an essential part of a healthy mouth ecosystem.  Avoid chlorhexidine

Flossing

• Is Flossing Necessary? "Floss" was designed to clear food particles when dentists thought food particles caused gum disease and cavities. Now we know these are bacterial infections and that floss is not the best tool for resolving this bacterial infection.
• Is Flossing Dangerous? If you have a highly infected mouth with cavities and gum disease the act of flossing could push these life-threatening bacteria into your blood (bacteremia).
• Hydro-/Liquid Flossing. "Water-picking or hydro-flossing" may stop gum pockets from healing - possibly by damaging fragile periodontal fibers that are trying to "zip-up" gum pockets around teeth. If your gums are unhealthy, do NOT use this equipment!

Key #2 -- Saliva  -- Our mouths are bathed in saliva, a liquid that is perfectly equipped to balance and restore any minerals that acidity leached from our teeth.

Our Saliva is the perfect rinse

• Our own mouth liquid can be the perfect and most healing mouth rinse.
• Allow teeth time to interact with your own saliva - especially in the afternoon hours when saliva composition is most healing.
• At night our saliva usually becomes acidic. It is vital to prepare our teeth well before going to bed at night and use products that promote mouth health and natural repair (especially if you are a mouth breather or snore).

Saliva pH

• Our mouths are bathed in saliva, a liquid that is perfectly equipped to balance and restore any minerals that acidity leached from our teeth.
• After meals it can take an hour for healthy saliva to wash over teeth and replenish lost minerals. This process is called re-mineralization and when it occurs correctly it can be a healthy process that allows teeth to stay young, strong and healthy. 
• The caveat is that this rebuilding must occur immediately after damage and that the amount of repair must equal or exceed the amount of damage.
• Problems will occur when there is more damage than repair for some reason.

Neutralize Saliva

• Healthy saliva is a naturally balanced liquid super-saturated with calcium and phosphates that have the capacity to repair and replenish any minerals that were lost from teeth.
• Nothing manufactured comes close to the ability of healthy natural saliva to deliver minerals to teeth in this process called re-mineralization. Only when the amount of damage is greater than the ability of saliva to repair this damage does our dental health deteriorate.

Saliva is Diluted by Constant Sipping Habits. Stop sipping drinks throughout the day; instead, drink adequate amounts of liquid at meal times. At least stop sipping for an hour or two after lunch.

Non-Water Drinks Strip Teeth of a Protective Protein Layer and Cause Excessive Damage. Even “body-healthy” liquids – like lemon water and cider vinegar – can adversely affect mouth health.

• Acidic water (many bottled and tap waters are acidic. Water will become acidic if citrus lemon or orange slices are added).
• Alcohol - all kinds
• Juices
• Coffee & Teas (including black tea and green tea)
• Carbonated drinks - especially with citrus flavor
• Kombucha
• Energy drinks

Key #3 -- Lifestyle & Habits either help or hurt

Avoid Practices / Habits that lead to Mouth Dryness Some people have a face or jaw shape that puts them at increased risk for mouth breathing – which reduces saliva’s ability to heal their gums or strengthen teeth. Others have difficulty breathing through their nose because of allergies or sinus issues. Dry mouth usually leads to sensitivity, staining, bleeding gums and tooth fractures.

Avoid Practices / Habits that lead to Mouth Acidity How long is your mouth acidic each day? Acidic conditions dissolve minerals out of teeth and leave them soft, more likely to stain and more likely to erode and wear. Acidity provides the conditions for harmful bacteria to multiply – leading to bleeding and the onset of periodontal pocketing and gum disease. 

Many drinks and foods are acidic –even healthy ones – and periods of acidity will need to be balanced or else they will cause serious mouth problems. Foods that contain sugar or carbohydrates create acidity in the mouth. The problem is not short spells of acidity but the creation of extended periods of mouth acidity – by sipping or snacking over many hours. 

To-Do's to limit acidic conditions and give teeth time to interact with undiluted saliva.

• Chew xylitol gum or eat a xylitol mint frequently during the day to stimulate a flow of alkaline saliva into the mouth. This helps control long periods of mouth acidity after eating or drinking and creates ideal conditions for the replacement of minerals into teeth. 
• Topical use of a little sodium fluoride toothpaste or a 0.05% sodium fluoride rinse has been shown to work synergistically with xylitol. This means it will speed and improve the absorption of minerals into teeth. We do not recommend drinking fluoride but the topical use of tiny amounts of fluoride can help teeth to attract minerals from saliva and into the tooth’s surface.
• End your meals with a tooth-protective or alkaline food (celery, cheese) and a swish of alkaline water and/or a xylitol mint or piece of gum. .
• Before sleeping - prepare your teeth for a long night – a time when your mouth may be very acidic and dry (especially if you are a mouth breather or snore).
• A xylitol nasal spray may help with nasal congestion and encourage more natural breathing, while you sleep.
• A good oral probiotic (formulated with xylitol) may be helpful for people with a dry mouth or acidic saliva. Use this only after you have implemented all the other changes

Key #4 -- Repair & Regeneration -- Dr Ellie's System

Pre-Brush Rinse

CloSYS is a gentle mouth rinse that reacts with your saliva during the first 30 seconds it is in your mouth to create oxygen – and if you keep the rinse in your mouth an additional 30 seconds, the oxygen will help to disrupt harmful mouth bacteria of cavities and in periodontal pockets. The mouth’s most harmful bacteria thrive in low oxygen – so remember – a timed 60 seconds (not shorter and not longer) will give you terrific results with no harm to healthy mouth bacteria.

Tooth Brushing & Gum Massage

The mechanical (brushing) is not so much to “clean” teeth, but to achieve a gum massage. The aim is to stimulate circulation in the gum tissues around teeth. Most people are told to use a soft brush – but this is inadequate for this purpose and will not achieve the circulation and blood flow necessary for gum healing. 

Providing that you protect teeth from abrasion damage by using the CloSYS pre-rinse, you will safely be able to use dense (a firmer) brush without fear. Always select a high quality brush and be sure to have a new brush regularly (especially if you are fighting cavities or gum disease) and allow brushes to air dry for 24 hours between uses.

Crest Cavity Protection Regular Paste is proven to help mineralize teeth and on the tube it is able to claim that it  “helps stop cavities before they start.” This specific Crest formula is different from more modern formulations which are not recommended as part of this system. For amazing results, use the Crest Cavity Protection Regular Paste that contains sodium fluoride, silica, and has no glycerin.

Target Specific Bacteria

Listerine is a misunderstood mouth rinse! Listerine is an essential oil rinse with a strong taste. It is a very important part of the Complete Mouth Care System, especially for anyone fighting cavities or gum disease. Two formulations are suggested: Original or Cool Mint. Don’t use other formulations – no matter how “natural” they appear. 

The essential oils in Listerine effectively target (reducing by 99.9%) specific plaque-forming bacteria called streptococcus mutans. Left unchecked, this bacterium matures every 12 hours to form complex bacterial masses responsible for cavities, gingivitis, bad breath and potentially more serious periodontal gum disease. Listerine does not harm the mouth’s diversity of good bacteria or the mouth’s production of nitric oxide. This is a completely false myth.

Promote Mineralization Daily

ACT is a dilute 0.05% sodium fluoride rinse, with a comparable fluoride dilution as water that is recommended for drinking. Do not consume unnecessary fluoride, but topical fluoride rinse is a vital finale. ACT encourages minerals from saliva to be absorbed into teeth where they can naturally repair, strengthen, and beautify tooth enamel. Natural mineralization will occur for hours after providing you do not eat or drink anything afterward. This is how it is able to help enamel resist acidic damage and how it can help to heal cavities and naturally whiten your smile. Extra mineralization is the natural way to reduce tooth sensitivity – and this can occur in less than a week when you use the entire system of care.

Related episodes:

• Episode 103 | Better Bloodflow & Healing from Nitric Oxide | Beth Shirley RPh CCN

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

About the guest:

Olle Johansson, PhD, is a former associate professor at the department of neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet. His research focuses on the biological effects of electromagnetic fields and the potential consequences of unbridled expansion of global communications networks. He is outspoken in his desire to inform the public of the known dangers of electronic devices and wireless technologies, particularly to children, who are more susceptible to the effects.

Please consider funding Prof. Johansson’s research: https://research.radiation.dk

Olle is a past associate professor at the Karolinska Institute, Department of Neuroscience, and head of The Experimental Dermatology Unit as well as a guest and adjunct professor in basic and clinical neuroscience at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. He has published more than 600 original articles, reviews, book chapters and conference reports within the fields of basic and applied neuroscience, dermatology, epidemiology, and biophysiology.

Article from Johansson O, "Stop! In the Name of Life!”, Jan 9, 2025 -- https://newsvoice.se/2025/01/radiation-exposed-bacteria/

Episode summary:

How can you protect yourself and family from possible harms of nnEMF without giving up every modern convenience? Look for opportunities to reduce power, increase distance, and eliminate exposure wherever the inconvenience is low: while you sleep, what you didn't even know was turned on....or the exposure is high (cell phone in your pocket all day everyday)

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

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About the guest:

Gage Banks's expertise encompasses the complex relationships between airway function, hearing, vision, dental occlusion (how teeth align), and tongue positioning—all of which play crucial roles in regulating body tension and balance. By integrating this specialized knowledge with his foundation in orthopedic care, breathwork, and neurovisceral techniques, Gage helps patients understand how these systems influence their movement patterns and daily function. His comprehensive approach addresses various conditions, including TMJ dysfunction, sleep apnea, breathing disorders, and dental-related pain, working collaboratively with local dentists to provide coordinated care for optimal results.

"Just mobilizing joints, giving patients stretching and strengthening exercises, or having a patient participate in 'core stabilization' is not sufficient to address the complex interrelationship between the available mobility of the human system and the integration of automatic and volitional motor strategies.” 

Gage's Credentials:

Gage Banks website - kinectphysicaltherapy.com

• Master of Science in Physical Therapy (MSPT)
• Manual Therapy Certification (MTC)
• Certified Functional Manual Therapy (CFMT)
• Fellow of Functional Manual Therapy (FFMT)
• Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Therapy (FAAOMPT)

Episode summary:

Gage Banks came recommended to me as a voodoo healer, a bringer of solutions for inscrutable problems. I found Gage to be an intelligent problem solver who opened my eyes to the problems we create for ourselves by living a modern, habitually unbalanced life.

Our physiology is a magnificent thing. Billions of years of trial and error have led to a self repairing and adapting mechanism that is us. Our modern world has changed the game faster than our instinctive mechanisms can change so it is up to our conscious selves to know what can go wrong to take corrective action.

Bullet point summary:

• It’s when we get so out of balance that we cannot find balance when we need it
• Reintegrate ourself in the world so we can flow in the world
• Stand on one leg with your eyes closed to see if you are overly focused on central vision
• Tongue extension: deviation and impression of teeth
• Grabbing the pen with your eyes closed
• Watching your feet when you walk to be careful 
• Looking at the stairs when you walk on them. 
• Being too careful means you are locked up. 
• Walk with a forward head. Not swinging arms when you walk. 
• How to put yourself in the world?
• (1) Look at your heels (or the underside of the chair) the entire time while you stand up or sit down (avoid the "plop")
• (2) Walk and notice what you do: look at the ground near your feet? just notice what you do.
• (3) Walk and pick a place to look off in the distance while noticing the peripheral vision (without looking at the things in the periphery)
• (4) Walk and swing your arms forward and backward while rotating shoulders....see your arms with your peripheral vision
• (5) Then look for tension where you don't need it....let it go. Emphasize rhythm and flow.

Related episodes:

Episode 151 | Pain is NOT all in your head | Rick Olderman, MSPT

Episode 121 | Recovery for Performance Longevity | Brian MacKenzie

Episode 14 | Solving Athlete Pain | Charlie Merrill, PT

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save HUGELY on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

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About the guest:

Dr. Gillett enjoys providing holistic individualized care to his patients. His practice includes preventative medicine, aesthetics, sports medicine, hormone optimization, obstetrics and infertility, integrative medicine, precision medicine including genomics, and aesthetics. He believes that each human is a unique creation that requires attention to their body, mind, and soul. He uses shared decision-making and an evidence-based approach. He firmly believes “food is medicine” and “exercise is medicine”. Dr. Gillett describes the “7 pillars of health”: exercise, diet, sleep, stress, social, sunlight, and spirit. These are more powerful than any medication or supplement. He enjoys spending time outdoors on the farm with his wife, two sons, daughter, and wolfhound.

• Kyle's website: kylegillettmd.com/
• Gillett Health website: gilletthealth.com/
• Kyle's YouTube Channel

Kyle's Credentials:

Dr. Kyle Gillett is a dual board-certified physician specializing in family medicine and obesity medicine.

He earned his medical degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine and completed his residency at Cox Family Medicine Residency

Episode summary:

Kyle walks me through the details behind: hair loss, BPH (benign prostate hyperplasia), and low T, what we can do to keep it from happening or stop it, and his perspective on choosing between finasteride and dutasteride....two of the major players in solving the big 3.

Key Points:

• General recommendations for older m
  1. once a week 1mg dutasteride is a good preventative program (hair and prostate) with limited side effects (sunflower lethicin )
  2. Low dose tadalafil EOD or daily 
  3. TRT if needed and risks (cancer) are low 
• Hair loss regiment ( 3 layers)
  1. anti androgen (dutasteride)
  2. growth agonist (minoxidil)
  3. micro needling
• Big 3: hair loss, prostate growth (and cancer), and low T. Related?  
• People with insulin resistance, higher IGF-1, more pronounced metabolic syndrome (pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes) are more prone to issues 
• Metabolic syndrome and sleep apnea are the two leading causes of low total testosterone (but not necessarily causing low free testosterone)
• Free T and DHT matters more for athletic performance and body composition 
• Total T matters more for how you feel, and for delivery of androgens to the prostate (growth)
• Several different types of 5 alpha reductase enzyme; finasteride and dutasteride have different effects on each which is why they can have different effects. 
• It mostly about the ratio of testosterone plus dht vs estrogen. If the ratio changes you are more likely to have symptoms of high estrogen
• Free T = calculated with total T and SHBG (tightly binding) and albumin (loosely binding)
• Free T should be 2-3x lower than estrogen (in normal, not same units). If 4-5 lower estrogen too high. 
• free t of 15 ng/dl; estrogen pg/mil of 45 (45/15=3)
• Free T usually listed as ng/dl (0-50). Can be pg/mil. 
• Estrogen usually in pg/mil
• When on dutasteride or finasteride, have to watch the ratio more closely because the lower dht makes you more sensitive to higher estrogen. 
• 1-2/x week dose of dutasteride will decrease DHT but increase testosterone and estrogen. 
• SHBG. Why does it reduce free t?  SHBG is a good thing unless you have a low free T
• As long as free t is 12-15 ng/dl, then the higher the SHBG the better. Helps with stability, metabolism, and delivery to tissues…correlation with longevity. 
• More SHBG:  happens when T is low, when estrogen is high, when insulin is low. 
• long time endurance athletes:  years with low insulin levels due to long exercise…the bodies of such people gets stuck in the high SHBG mode. 
• Mostly it is better to improve free T by increasing total T rather than reducing SHBG 
• However, a few things makes sense to do:  take boron if deficient.  Dates. Raisins. 
• Try pre or inter workout carbs if you are normally a low carber. It will stop you from having very low insulin but won’t cause high insulin due to the exercise.  Insulin peaks can lead to insulin resistance but dips in insulin lead to high SHBG. 
• SHBG is a sort of buffer system. It keeps the testosterone in check without losing it but available when needed. 
• The ratios are what matters most but the absolute levels can have an effect. Very high estrogen will lead to high platelets (blood clots).  Taking a lot of T will lead to high estrogen which can cause a problem despite the ratio being good. 
• If body fat is normal: male: 10-22% ; female: 17-33% - less likely to have high conversion of t to estrogen and dht when taking replacement doses of T. 
• 2/3rds of Americans have metabolic illness (maybe 90%, really).  “Overweight and obesity epidemic”. Fasting glucose over 100 or fasting insulin of 7 or over. 
• CRP highly correlated with risk of heart attack and stroke. 
• Oral testosterone replacement therapy is coming and helps with visceral fat. 
• TRT replacement can be useful even temporarily even if just above the low end of normal. 
• TRT replacement therapy is not necessarily forever. Can be used to get out of a doom loop 
• Rule of thumb:  99% likelihood of getting back to baseline T if no damage. Testicles need to be the same size.  If there has been shrinkage, can get back.  If starting at 300, can get back. If starting at 300 10 years ago, then get back to 250 without T medication. 
• A person with moderate total T but very low free T due to obesity would be helped by losing the extra body fat.  But that letting feels so bad (low mood, low energy, hates working out) that TRT can help get that person over the hump of feeling better to make progress on the fat loss and enjoying workouts more. Then plan to stop the T once the fat is down and the muscle is up.  Natural total T will be about the same, maybe a little less, but free T will be much higher. 
• ED is the canary in the coal mine. Plaque in arteries mean plaque in blood vessels leading to penis (and brain, etc). 
• PDE5 is the enzyme that degrades NO. It increases significantly in older people. So NO does last as long. Viagra and Cialis stop the PDE5 action to make NO last longer so the erection lasts longer and blood vessels in the body are relaxed longer. But more NO is not better unless low. The body adapts to these drugs so they don’t work as well if taken all the time.  
• Best to slightly inhibit SDE 5. Take cialis 2.5mg EOD or 3 days per week. 
• Cialis also helps with BPH by relaxing the vessels that allow more pee flow.  Reduce nighttime peeing. 
• Gold standard for improving ability to pee with BPH: Alpha blockers (flowmax et al). Can have significant sexual disfunction issues.  Alphazosin has less side effects. Also helps with kidney stones. 
• 5 alpha reductase inhibitors— stop DHT causing growth in prostate.    Lock the growth in prostate growth and even reduce the size.  Good for hair, skin, heart. Maybe a higher cancer risk. 
• Prostate Surgeries are getting better for preserving sexual function. 
• Medical management vs surgery is a hard question. Individual due to varying side effects sensitivity. 
• Should interrupt the natural growth of the prostate. Lifestyle and medical interventions can help. 
• 5a reductase for prevention is tricky. If been on finasteride for a long time with little prostate growth and a low PSA, don’t change. If starting later in life, and PSA is not low, then there is a risk of high grade cancer. Similar to risk of TRT of birth control — not extreme but scary. 
• No post dutasteride syndrome.  Most common side effect is feeling like having low T even when T is not low. But avoids issues with specific to nervous system or pubic skin. 1-2 capsules per week for hair rarely causes side effects. More might be needed for prostate. 
• Post finasteride syndrome is 90-95% in 20-30 year olds due to disruption of ongoing maturation in neurological and sexual systems 
• Hair loss regiment ( 3 layers)
  1. anti androgen (dutasteride)
  2. growth agonist (minoxidil)
  3. micro needling
• General recommendations for older male athletes
  1. once a week 1mg dutasteride is a good preventative program (hair and prostate) with limited side effects (sunflower lethicin )
  2. Low dose tadalafil EOD or daily 
  3. TRT if needed and risks (cancer) are low 

Related episodes:

Episode 67 | Hormone Health for the Older Athlete | Kyle Gillett MD

Episode 134 | Testosterone Envy | Rick Cohen MD

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save HUGELY on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Pro Level Supplements

About the guest:

Dr. Mike T Nelson is a research-fueled Fitness and Nutrition educator. Dr. Mike has spent 18 years of his life learning how the human body works, specifically focusing on how to properly condition it to burn fat and become stronger, more flexible, and healthier. Better health as a foundation for better athletic performance is his specialty. He is the legendary creator of the Metabolic Flexibility and Physiological Flexibility programs.

Dr Mike T Nelson Website

Dr Mike's Credentials:

• PhD in Exercise Physiology from University of Minnesota
• BA in Natural Science from St. Scholastica
• MS in Biomechanics from Michigan Technological University

• Adjunct Professor in Human Performance for Carrick Institute for Functional Neurology
• Adjunct Professor & Member of American College of Sports Medicine

• Instructor at Broadview University
• Professional Nutritional Member at the American Society for Nutrition
• Professional Sports Nutrition Member at the International Society for Sports Nutrition
• Professional NSCA Member at the National Strength and Conditioning Association

Episode summary:

Dr Mike is famous for his ability to develop training protocols that bridge the gap between scientific research and actual results for his athletes.

Dr Mike joins me to provide a framework for the crazy stuff we've all heard about and done....that might even make a big difference in reducing biological age and unlocking peak athletic performance. Some of this these therapies you may already be doing, such as sauna or cold therapy, or Wim Hof breathing or breathholds. But listen in to understand why these interventions work and how to organize them intelligently to enhance your resilience, longevity, and physical potential.

Whether you’re an athlete or someone striving to feel younger and stronger, this episode is packed with insights to help you thrive.

-----

Rebuild your Physiological Flexibility -- the 4 regulators to train: pH, temperature, CO2 tolerance, and expanded fuels.

TEMPERATURE --Cold and heat exposure – embrace the temperature extremes. Turn your body into a machine that thrives under temperature duress.

• Hot -get hot outside or sauna
• Cold - cold water immersion, get cold outside, cold showers (see protocol below)

pH -- ACIDIC vs. BASIC -- teach your body to handle high intensity exercise ("the burn") as well low-CO2 from hyperventilating

• Acidic: HIIT -high intensity exercise (Maximum Effort for a short time)
• Basic: Fast Breathing (supra ventilation) techniques like Wim Hoff and others, lower intensity exercise (Sustainable Effort for a long time)

O2 & CO2 REGULATION -- expand your tolerance of higher CO2 with restricted and nasal breathing

• High CO2 Tolerance: light exercise with nasal breathing, slow/restricted breathing techniques and breath holds
• Low O2: high altitude training if you have access, shallow breathing for 10 minutes to bring SpO2 down and hold under 90%

EXPANDED FUELS -- train your body to burn everything (fat / ketones vs. carbohydrates / lactate), and switch between fuels easily. Intermittent fasting and keto cycling aren’t diets—they’re survival strategies.

• Low glucose usage - fat burning; longer periods of fasting, longer time in zone 2 (fatmax) training, ketone supplements
• High(er) glucose usage -- increased time doing HIIT to create more lactate

Note: Joe's Cold Shower Protocol (that actually works to make it possible to do this impossible feeling act)

1. Turn on water....not hot but a warm temp
2. Get under water, then turn the temp to cool (starts to feel bad)
3. Do your washing and then rinse off soap
4. Step away from water, and drop temp ½ way to coldest
5. Put in arms in first
6. Then step back and put in legs
7. Then one shoulder, and then the other
8. The chest
9. Turn around and let the water spray onto your lower back, then move the water up to your neck
10. Lastly, put your head under the water spray
11. Step away from water, and drop temp to coldest
12. Repeat process ignoring arms and legs. 
13. Then start counting (start at 10 seconds and work up to 3 minutes), and repeat the core (ignore arms and legs)
14. Don’t force it. Work up to 100% cold water if necessary.
15. Repeated exposure will lead to pleasurable anticipation
16. Don't break the habit or you'll have to start from scratch (believe me, I know)

It is a marker of aging. Your declining ability to deal with extreme stresses eventually compresses your ability to deal with normal stresses. Push back at the extremes to remain functional and recover lost function. Use it or lose it.

• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4868097/
• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5730851/
• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6240408/

Related episodes:

• Episode 153 | The Physionical Man | Nic Verhoeven PhD of Physionic
• Episode 143 | Nasal Breathing for Health and to Avoid Injury| George Dallom PhD
• Episode 142 | Fasting Mimicking Diet | Joseph Antoun PhD
• Episode 32 | Helping Older Athletes Feel Young Again || Dr Mike T Nelson

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

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About the guest:

Nic Verhoeven PhD is the host of Physionic, an educational platform on YouTube dedicated to making medical research understandable to empower individuals to make informed health decisions. Dr. Verhoeven's specialty is translating hard data from complex scientific studies into understandable and actionable information for the lay public. In this mission, Nic is entirely successful.

Youtube.com/physionic

NIc's Credentials:

Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine / Cell & Molecular Physiology Cell & Molecular Biology Researcher [10 years] M.S. Exercise Physiology Professor of Physiology, Nutrition

Episode summary:

Nic and I boil the ocean on many topics that needed answers from the best source of scientific research findings. Nic is the best science communicator in the business. Our chat ran a bit long but it will be worth your time. Enjoy!

Below are my notes that Nic referred to during our conversation....Nic agreed with some of my thoughts but not all...listen to Nic, not me.

Layer #1 – the base layer…stuff to avoid… interventions with the fewest side effects are the stupid things you stop doing….any thoughts on the stuff to avoid?

1. Avoid narrow diets for long periods of time…eat a variety of foods
2. Avoid pollution / toxins….no smoking or any smoke in lungs, avoid heavy metals, plastics, nnEMFs, other?
3. Stop screwing up your circadian rhythm…don’t need stimulants to wake up and drugs to feel sleepy…nighttime lighting, eating late, etc…”coffee is good for you” yeah, but don’t need it
4. Stop drinking poisons…using alcohol (in drinks, in mouthwash) that kills NO production from diet. 
5. Stop sitting all the time … Move throughout the day not just during workouts.  And don’t wear shoes all the time…your feet will thank you
6. Stop being inside all the time …losing out on NIR/UV…too much blue spectrum from “white” LEDs. Get sunlight …open a window, go outside, use a full spectrum lamp if you cannot get out enough

Layer #2 – the stuff where the max or min is better (no U shaped curve)…so much of biology is about the sweetspot…not too high or too low…but some things DO fall into the bucket of extremes are best …. any thoughts on these?

1. apoB low as possible?
2. Polyphenols… high as possible?  30 plants every week
3. Fiber …for SCFA, for bowel transit…keep chronic inflammation low
4. Advanced glycation end products (keep blood glucose in normal range & minimize burned foods)
5. Fat isn’t bad…Visceral fat is bad … keeping / building muscle while losing / avoid adding visceral fat
6. Alcohol doesn’t help much…reduces glutathione, impairs sleep, …learn how to relax without drugs
7. Smoke in lungs – smoking, fires, etc
8. Mouth breathing… Minimize mouth breathing….filtering, moisturizing, NO from nasal passages
9. Viral load – exposome?
10. Stimulants – caffeine, nicotine – double edge sword…don’t need it
11. Max Mitochondria / ATP production – energy to power the cells to live and function properly…see layer #3

Layer #3 –a vigorous life for a dynamic physiology…the older athlete does not have the resilience of the young….we have to be more mindful…more purposeful in providing the right stimulus to the body to encourage the adaptations we want.  A steady state is only for dead people…. So, what can we do to create the upward spiral of improvement using cycles…progressive overload (hormesis) then recovery, and then again and again.

1. Hot/cold – don’t be comfortable all the time. Sweat a lot. Shiver sometimes.
2. Hard exertions / recovery – performance improvement comes at the edges…you cannot rest your way into a stronger, healthier body and mind (need HIIT (to clear out old mito), and long, low intensity (to build new mito))
3. Metabolic flexibility – carbs for athletic fuel …burn fat when not eating…
4. Calorie balance – eat excess for growth and in deficit for body comp/autophagy
5. Protein:  high vs. low cycling for growth then autophagy
6. Supplemental nutrients…cycle everything: teach the body to have resilience…avoid building tolerance

Related episodes:

• Episode 143 | Nasal Breathing for Health and to Avoid Injury| George Dallom PhD
• Episode 142 | Fasting Mimicking Diet | Joseph Antoun PhD
• Episode 135 | Healthy Fat % | Vyvyane Loh MD

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Pro Level Supplements

About the guest:

Dr. Cory S. Goldberg BSc, MD, MASc, FRCS(C), FACS, MBA is a Plastic Surgeon with a fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. 

He is a diplomat of the American Board of Plastic Surgeons and is also a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He earned his MD degree from Queen’s University, Canada and completed his Plastic Surgery residency training at the University of Toronto, including a Master’s of Applied Science in Biomedical Engineering. He subsequently did sub-specialty fellowship training in Craniofacial Plastic Surgery at University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.

• https://www.corygoldbergmd.com/
• https://www.beautyspan.com

Episode summary:

Dr Goldberg explains his journey from plastic surgeon to longevity medicine, and explains how skin is a two-way window into our health status today and our trajectory for healthspan in the future. The short version is take care of your skin, and be careful of popular beauty products that only fake the look of health while actually injuring your skin.

How are you doing in your health trajectory? You are doing well if you:

• have healthy looking skin (not: thin, crepey, spotty)
• are strong enough in all muscles
• have endurance for movement
• have little pain in your body
• have regular (daily at least) bowel movements
• are able to sleep and wake on a natural circadian rhythm without drugs
• can go without eating for a day without a problem

GliSODin

Study undertaken to examine the effects of an orally effective antioxidant supplement consisting of vegetable origin SOD chemically combined with wheat gliadin, GliSODin, on parameters of muscle damage, inflammation, and work performance in elite rowers during intensive physical activity. https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/11/10/1437

Link to a website for a research community dedicated to the understanding and advancement of GliSODin SOD / gliadin complex

Related episodes:

Episode 123 | Inspiring Stories of Older Athletes | Lauren Hurst

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Pro Level Supplements

About the guest:

Rick Olderman, a licensed physical therapist with over 25 years of experience, is a best-selling author and respected speaker in chronic musculoskeletal pain. Rick transformed countless lives at his Denver clinic with his innovative approach to treatment. Rick is also the creator of a online programs revolutionizing treatment for chronic back, knee, head, shoulder, hip, foot, and migraines.

Rick's latest book, Pain Patterns: Why You Are in Pain and How to Stop It, is a groundbreaking guide for overcoming chronic back pain, sciatic pain, and SI joint pain. Rick shares the insights and techniques that have helped thousands of patients solve pain problems without giving up what they love to do.

rickolderman.com

Episode summary:

Rick walks me through his journey to solving pain problems remotely....without hands-on treatment....and his confirmation of the importance of first identifying the root cause of pain before launching into a series of generic solutions to find something that helps the symptoms. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions for pain.

During the chat Rick walks me through a low back test and solution, and an upper back test and solution...both of which have been helpful to me. Do you have low back pain or upper back or neck pain? You will get immediate help from this episode.

Click the book to read more on the Amazon website.

Related episodes:

Episode 73 | An Easy End to Pain | Rick Olderman

Help the show:

3 ways to support our show: 

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save big on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions at info@wiseathletes.com.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Pro Level Supplements

Hey Everyone, welcome to WiseAthletes, your source for discovering how to flourish as an older athlete, and find your path to longevity in sport. I'm your host Joe Lavelle.

Today on Episode 150 I am presenting Part 2 in my series on Near Infrared (NIR) light, an important environmental factor that our bodies expect to have and need for our health. But in a narrowly focused effort to improve energy efficiency, our society has shifted our indoor lighting to LEDs which are the least power hungry way to illuminate our homes and offices....but in focusing on visible light, we have lost something very important to our health. This loss is compounded by the increase in time spent indoors (estimated at 90%). Part Two of the series is with Professor Glen Jeffrey PhD, an research biologist, who has been focused on using Deep Red/NIR light to preserve and improve eye health. His lab has also discovered that a short exposure to deep red (670nm) light measurably reduces blood sugar. Deep Red (670 nm)/NIR (700-2,500nm) light acts to increase ATP production and while blue light reduces ATP production.  Low ATP production leads to, in the short term, lower visual acuity, while in the long-term, to photo receptor death (macular degeneration).

"Retina has an enormous metabolic rate...things that burn a lot of energy age fast...by the time you are 70 years old, you've lost 25%-30% of the central photo receptors in your eye....even if you are healthy"

"Retina is a sports car....goes like crazy, burns vasts amounts of energy, but also has a frailty in it. It needs a lot of looking after." You cannot recover lost photo receptors but you can slow the rate of decline by preserving the function of mitochondria in the retina. And you can improve eye function within 3 hours with as little as 1 minute of exposure to deep red and NIR light (targeted LEDs and the effect lasts for days. Incandescent lights also work (if your government hasn't banned them), and natural light is the best solution (if you live far enough South, or it's the right time of year).

The morning is the best time of day for red light to improve mitochondria energy production (it doesn't work after norming!)

Overall metabolic health PLUS deep red light ---> helps the mitochondria in the retina to produce a youthful level of energy to continue to function well enough to survive and allow us to see.

The scary bit is you and I have already lost a lot of our photo receptors (vision)...we just cannot tell yet. Now is the time to stop it.

Meet Glen Jeffrey

Professor of Neuroscience, Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London (UCL Profile)

Professor Jeffery researches the intricate relationship between light, mitochondria, and health. Mitochondria (the “powerhouses of the cell”) are responsible for producing nearly all of the energy produced in the body. Sufficient exposure to red light / NIR lightwave frequencies can significantly boost mitochondrial function, leading to a range of health benefits, including:

• Improved cellular energy production
• Reduced inflammation
• Accelerated tissue repair
• Enhanced cognitive function
• Anti-ageing effects

Social Media (Glen and others mentioned)

• Glen Jeffery (@glen_jeffe5111) — biologist specializing in NIR light effect on the body
• Bob Fosbury (@BobFosbury) — astrophysicist expert in light (electromagnetic waves in frequencies from UV to IR) and penetration into the human body
• Scott Zimmerman (@SZimmZoo)— optical engineer specializing in building light sources which minimize the health detriments of indoor lighting 

Help the show: 3 ways...

• Leave a review (or share this episode)
• Check out our Fullscript site to save huge money on high quality supplements. Thank you!
• Email us your questions to info at wiseathletes.com.

Website & MedCram videos

• https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/7465
• https://niralighting.com/
• https://youtu.be/6Win49aeh8A?feature=shared
• https://youtu.be/16UHK1gPUO8?feature=shared
• https://youtu.be/isz2IQs_EPg?feature=shared
• https://youtu.be/wadKIiGsDTw?feature=shared

Related info and episodes:

• Episode 149 -- NIR Light is the Missing Puzzle Piece w/Scott Zimmerman
• Episode 108 -- Red-NIR Light Therapy w/Dr Zulia Frost
• Episode 105 -- UV Light Sweetspot w/Prof Prue Hart/

Relevant Scientific Articles:

• Light stimulation of mitochondria reduces blood glucose levels
• A Pilot Study Evaluating the Effects of 670 nm Photobiomodulation in Healthy Ageing and Age-Related Macular Degeneration
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32252424/
• Does photobiomodulation influence ageing?
• Morning exposure to deep red light improves declining eyesight
• A day in the life of mitochondria reveals shifting workloads
• Dallaghan, Paul. “Mitochondria (Cellular Energy Batteries) Enhancement with Red Light and Near-Infrared (NIR) Light Therapy.” Samahita Retreat, www.samahitaretreat.com/mitochondria-cellular-energy-batteries-enhancement-with-red-light-and-near-infrared-nir-light-therapy/. Accessed Jan. 26, 2021.
• Infrared and skin: Friend or foe (Science)
• The health benefits of the great outdoors (Environ): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6562165/ 

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.

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Hey Everyone, welcome to WiseAthletes, your source for discovering how to flourish as an older athlete, and find your path to longevity in sport. I'm your host Joe Lavelle.

Today on episode 149 I am starting a 2-part series on Near Infrared (NIR) light, an important environmental factor that our bodies expect to have and need for our health. But in a narrowly focused effort to improve energy efficiency, our society has shifted our indoor lighting to LEDs which are the least power hungry way to illuminate our homes and offices....but in focusing on visible light, we have lost something very important to our health. This loss is compounded by the increase in time spent indoors (estimated at 90%). Part One of the series is with Scott Zimmerman, an optical engineer, who has been focused on quantifying the health effects of natural sunlight and designing indoor lighting that reintroduces near-infrared into our homes and offices (that does not run afoul of the Department of Energy). NIR light acts to increase ATP production and while blue light reduces ATP production.  But blocking blue is a half-measure   The real problem is the missing NIR light that you can get in the sun (or better yet, shade) if you would only spent a lot more time outside.   Or, you can fix your indoor lighting.

Meet Scott Zimmerman

Founder of Silas, Inc., maker of NIRA lighting (https://niralighting.com/). Scott has more than 35 years of experience in the fields of lighting and displays. His innovations and inventions have been used successfully in a wide range of military and commercial products that include night vision displays, liquid crystal display backlighting designs, and lighting fixtures.

• Scott Zimmerman (@SZimmZoo)— optical engineer specializing in building light sources which minimize the health detriments of indoor lighting 
• Glen Jeffery (@glen_jeffe5111) — biologist specializing in NIR light effect on the body
• Bob Fosbury (@BobFosbury) — astrophysicist expert in light (electromagnetic waves in frequencies from UV to IR) and penetration into the human body

Website & MedCram videos

• https://niralighting.com/
• https://youtu.be/6Win49aeh8A?feature=shared
• https://youtu.be/16UHK1gPUO8?feature=shared
• https://youtu.be/isz2IQs_EPg?feature=shared
• https://youtu.be/wadKIiGsDTw?feature=shared

Related info and episodes:

• Episode 108 Red-NIR Light Therapy w/Dr Zulia Frost
• Episode 105 -- UV Light Sweetspot w/Prof Prue Hart/

Relevant Scientific Articles:

• Dallaghan, Paul. “Mitochondria (Cellular Energy Batteries) Enhancement with Red Light and Near-Infrared (NIR) Light Therapy.” Samahita Retreat, www.samahitaretreat.com/mitochondria-cellular-energy-batteries-enhancement-with-red-light-and-near-infrared-nir-light-therapy/. Accessed Jan. 26, 2021.
• Reiter, Russel J. and Zimmerman, Scott. “Melatonin and the Optics of the Human Body.” Melatonin Research, February 21, 2019, www.melatonin-research.net/index.php/MR/article/download/19/208?inline=1.
• Grabher-Meyer, Arno. “Interview with Scott Zimmerman -- Reactive Oxygen Species.” LED professional, July/August 2020, www.led-professional.com/downloads/lpr80_full_834991.
• Zimmerman, Scott. “The Role of Reactive Oxygen Species in Infectious Diseases.” Journal of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology, June 19, 2020, www.clinmedjournals.org/articles/jide/journal-of-infectious-diseases-and-epidemiology-jide-6-134.php?jid=jide.
• Infrared and skin: Friend or foe (Science)
• Effects of artificial dawn on subjective ratings of sleep inertia and dim light melatonin onset (Chronobiology Int)
• Effects of Artificial Dawn and Morning Blue Light… (Chronobiology Int)
• Circadian rhythms in the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (MCE):https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21782883/ 
• Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep (PNAS): https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/112/4/1232.full.pdf 
• Ocular input for human melatonin regulation (NEL): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12163843/ 
• Melatonin and the Optics of the Human Body (Melatonin): https://www.melatonin-research.net/index.php/MR/article/view/19/213 
• Melatonin in Mitochondria (APS): https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/physiol.00034.2019 
• The health benefits of the great outdoors (Environ): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6562165/ 
• Interplay between up-regulation of cytochrome-c-oxidase (Nature):https://www.nature.com/articles/srep30540 
• Red/Near Infrared Light Stimulates Release of an Endothelium Dependent Vasodilator (FRBM):https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5699925/ 
• Effect of daylighting on student health (CMSE): http://www.wseas.us/e-library/conferences/2013/Malaysia/MACMESE/MACMESE-20.pdf Shining the Light on Sunshine (Clinical Endo):https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cen.12567 
• Associations of Outdoor Temperature (JCEM):https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/104/7/2903/5315432?login=true 
• Relationship between sun exposure and melanoma risk (EJC): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046902/ 
• Sun exposure and mortality from melanoma (Multicenter): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15687362/ 
• Avoidance of sun exposure as a risk factor for major causes of death (JIM):https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26992108/ 
• Interdependence… sun exposure and vitamin D to MRI measures in MS (JNNP):https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23385850/ 
• Severe Glutathione Deficiency, Oxidative Stress and Oxidant Damage in Adults Hospitalized with COVID-19 (MDPI): https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/11/1/50 
• Sunlight (Healthful Living): https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/388.1702#1702
• Photobiomodulation Therapy (PBMT): What is It? (Shepherd University):https://youtu.be/0MMewRIP51M

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.

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Hey Everyone, welcome to WiseAthletes, your source for discovering how to flourish as an older athlete, and finding your path to longevity in sport. I'm your host Joe Lavelle.

Socrates warned us to beware the barrenness of a busy life. I understand that all too well these days. If you are like me, you are so busy doing the many things you HAVE to do plus your athletic longevity efforts to live long strong, including getting good sleep, eating a good diet with enough of this and not too much of that, and getting enough high and low intensity exercise … that the days just flash by.  Time is flying by.  Which is the exact opposite of what I am after. 

The missing ingredient, I think, is marking time with powerful memories:  and for me powerful memories come of adventures that provide experiences that had such powerful emotions that my brain stored the memories very securely. These experiences mark time and give my life a sense of fullness. 

This idea is why invited Brian Keane to the show for episode 148.  You probably know Brian. He is famous for his epic adventures in the Sahara desert and the arctic and more. 

In our chat we discuss how to pick adventures and how to up your game to prepare for them while accomplishing your health and fitness goals for life. 

I have to say that Brian is amazing and my conversation with Brian has had a big impact on my thinking. My mind is now  focused on returning to my roots as an adventurer. I hope Brian has a powerful effect on you too

Who said “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”?

Why do Adventures?

• Powerful memories to mark time for a full life
• Feel proud of overcoming fears
• Motivation to up your fitness game, both mentally and physically
• Find your people; make life friends

Bio: Brian Keane

• Brian has also completed some of the worlds most gruelling endurance challenges, such as six back to back marathons through the Sahara desert, a 230km through the Arctic and multiple ultra-marathons, including a 100 mile ultra-marathon in the desert in Nevada.
• Brian is the host of one of Ireland and the UK’s top health podcasts, which is regularly featured #1 on the iTunes Health Charts.
• Brian is a three time best-selling author with The Fitness Mindset, Rewire Your Mindset and The Keane Edge: Mastering the Mindset for Real Lasting Fat Loss.
• Over the past ten years, Brian has become one of the most recognised faces in the Irish health and fitness industry. He has spoken at major wellness events such as Wellfest Ireland and Mefit Dubai, was a Keynote speaker at Google HQ and has done corporate wellness talks for Allianz Partners, SAP and Acorn Insurance.
• briankeanefitness.com
• @brian_keane_fitness - Instagram

Links:

• Joe & Pete's Matterhorn & Mont Blanc trip report
• 5 14ers on my 40th Birthday with Brian trip report
• The 2 Joes Bolivia Peak Bagger trip report
• Teton Adventure with Brian trip report

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.

Hey Everyone, welcome to WiseAthletes, your source for discovering how to flourish as an older athlete, and finding your path to longevity in sport. I'm your host Joe Lavelle.

Chronic low grade inflammation underlies all states of sickness and disease associated with aging. Everything that is "healthy" is probably good for chronic inflammation but eating blueberries or taking magnesium or focusing on nasal breathing are just too specific... not fundamental enough. What I want to know is what is the #1 best way to target inflammaging that will make a difference....I can worry about the marginal gains later.

Having said that.....what would you ask if you got a chance to talk to a PhD who is a retired academic researcher in multiple areas of human physiology, was a professional athlete in two sports, has been a lifelong bodybuilder, and who is now coaching top level athletes and older high performing older around the world? What would you ask him?   Right....so would I. On episode 147 I took a deep dive into inflammaging with Dr. Dwayne Jackson to understand his approach to stop chronic inflammation from reducing our ability to perform and recover, and improve our health along the way. He did not disappoint.

Dr Jackson even shared his secret breakfast feast that I have been eating every morning ever since.  Be ready to take some notes. 

This episode will definitely help if you find that you are....

• Recovering from exercise more slowly?
• Cutting calories but still cannot lose that last bit of visceral fat?
• Eliminating healthy foods because you can't digest them well...feel bloated...get constipated?

All right, let's talk to Dr Dwayne Jackson about resolving chronic inflammation.

• Bristol Stool Chart

• Monash FODMAP Info & App

Bio: Dwayne Jackson, PhD

• Dr. Dwayne N. Jackson is a dad, athlete, health specialist, medical educator, scientist, and entrepreneur. He has over 12 years of university education in exercise/human physiology, medicine, and nutritional biochemistry. Dr. Jackson holds a PhD in neurovascular physiology and has been educated at some of the top academic institutions in North America including University of Ottawa, the University of Western Ontario, and Yale University School of Medicine.
• drdwaynejackson.com
• dwayne@yourvitalscience.com
• @drdnjackson - Instagram
• @drdnjackson - Twitter / X

Notes:

Lower inflammation 

• gut health :  healthy poops
• How to get a healthy gut?
• Don’t major in the minors. Focus on what matters. Highly processed food isn’t ideal but it won’t make a big difference if it is occasional. Mostly eat a whole food mostly plant based diet.   
• Seed the biome with diversity and fertilize / feed the biome a diverse diet to provide food for the different elements of good bugs. 
• Blood tests (hsCRP, ESR, ferritin, fibrinogen ) to see if you have an inflammatory problem. 
• Get fiber up to 40-60g/d. Start with low FODMAP high fiber “overnight oats” plus berries and whey
• You will start pooping regularly 

Make Overnight Oats the day before

• 0.5-1 cup of large flaked , old fashioned oats
• 1-2 tblsp milled flax
• 1-2 tblsp chia 
• 14 grams of nut of choice
• Dried fruit — whatever you want 
• 1+ cup of milk of choice
• Sit overnight 
• Make 5 serving at once

Eat Overnight Oats in the morning

• Scoop into bowl
• 1 scoop of whey protein isolate 
• ½-1 cup of berries
• 17-35 grams fiber. Low fodmap 

Also take probiotic during last part of the day

• Visbiome. Full strength 450 billion colony forming units per satchet. Last part of day. 
• Add: Fiber supplements soluble fiber
• Add: 5g glutamine 
• Do this for 4 weeks …solve your gut problem. 

Related info and episodes:

• Episode 145-food-for-thought (food as medicine) w/william-li-md/
• Episode 142-fasting mimicking diet (inflammation killer) w/joseph-antoun-md-phd/
• Episode 140-solving-low-vitamin-d w/grant-e-fraser-md/

More Dwayne Jackson info:

• https://drdwaynejackson.com/
• https://twitter.com/drdnjackson?lang=en
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCug0feRRsISitPwUJysSzdw
• dwayne@yourvitalscience.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.

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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.

1. "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?
2. "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.

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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

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?

1. Lack of use is the big one
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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
5. Other things Mark takes:  a multi-vitamin, Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA), coQ10 because he exercises hard 7 days a week.
6. Deficiencies are never good:  get iron/ferritin levels checked, b12 is often low, check thyroid…low thyroid is bad for mitochondria, vit d, lipids,
7. 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,
8. 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.
9. 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
10. “humanized milk” = 60% casein & 40% whey
11. Autophagy is increased by exercise, which is safer for older athletes than fasting or caloric restriction.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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,
15. Supplements: 
16. 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
17. 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.
18. Urolithin A – poor evidence of efficacy.
19. NAD+ boosters….may not be good and some evidence of problems from niacin and niacatinamide.
20. 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

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

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

"In science and engineering, convention dictates that unless a margin of error is explicitly stated, the number of significant figures used in the presentation of data should be limited to what is warranted by the precision of those data."

Why don't I see error bars on my blood test results...?

We love to say that what is measured, improves. It is a fine idea that applies to many walks of life including athletic performance.  Starting with Inside Tracker in 2009, an industry has emerged to help wise athletes and longevity seekers alike to measure, track changes over time, and even optimize lifestyle behaviors, supplements and pharmaceuticals to target “low all cause mortality” levels for blood based bio markers.  And since the human body relies on many organs and biological processes to survive and thrive, scientists have developed biological age calculators that combine a set of the actual vs optimal blood markers to assess overall health status relative to “normal” to calculate a biological age or rate of aging.  In longevity circles, a biological age lower than chronological age is a badge of honor.  And it’s a booming business.

But just how accurate are these blood tests that all of this science and my own blood test results are based on?  It’s a question that has been haunting my thoughts over the last year as I have aggressively measured my blood markers and calculated my biological age every 3 months in an effort to fine tune my longevity interventions.  

So, today on episode 141 I am joined by Dr Austin Baraki who argues that blood testing is an important but challenging area of medicine.  He argues that people should not put too much faith in imprecise technology measuring indirect markers of biological function. False precision can lead to over confidence, and distract people from the lifestyle improvements that would really make a difference.  And he also shares his tips on reducing the variability and error in your own blood test results. 

British Medical Journal: your results may vary: the imprecision of medical measurements (20 February 2020)

Dr Austin Baraki Bio

Dr. Austin Baraki is a practicing Internal Medicine Physician, competitive lifter, and strength coach located in San Antonio, Texas. Originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, he completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at the College of William & Mary, his doctorate in medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

After a 15 year career as a competitive swimmer through the collegiate level, he discovered the barbell and began training for strength and competitive powerlifting. He  also coaches individuals ranging from beginners of all ages to national and internationally competitive athletes.

His interests include the application of strength training in the context of complex medical conditions, sarcopenia, pain neuroscience & rehabilitation, as well as cognitive and sport psychology.

Related Episodes

• Episode 35 Inside Tracker

More Dr Baraki info:

• barbellmedicine.com
• Dr Baraki Article: Where-should-my-priorities-be-to-improve-my-health/

Your Results May Vary website...see if your blood test result variations are significant (click photo)

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Updated edition: we had to fix a few spots in the recording so this episode is the (slightly) revised one.

Vitamin D isn’t a vitamin but a hormone, and it plays an important role in our bodies including the building and repair of muscle. 

Can you just take a vitamin D pill and forget about it?  Do you have to get sunshine to get sufficient vitamin D?  Can you be low on vitamin D despite getting lots of sunlight?  How much vitamin D can you take before you are risking getting too much?  2k, 5k, 10k every day?

The big question: is low vitamin D a cause or an effect of poor health?  

These questions and more get answered or at least discussed in detail in my followup chat with Dr Grant Fraser who is passionate advocate for vitamin D supplementation. 

To be honest, I've been a vitamin D supplementation skeptic for a long time, in part based on scientific studies that say supplementation doesn’t affect outcomes. Dr Fraser says …not so fast, pal!

Well, one thing is clear, everyone should get their vitamin D levels tested to see where they stand. If yours is low, today’s talk can provide a path forward. Fortunately the at home test only costs $37…mine is already on the way.

Grant E. Fraser MD, ABAARM, DABFM, FRACGP, FACRRM, GEM

Grant E. Fraser, M.D. is Board Certified in Anti-Aging & Regenerative Medicine, and more and is passionate about helping patients improve their quality of life, reverse health conditions, and live longer and happier.

Related Episodes

• Episode 139 Finding Your Iron Sweetspot w/Dr Grant Fraser
• Episode 105 UV Light Sweetspot (more than Vitamin D) w/Prof Prue Hart

More Dr Fraser info:

• https://www.grantfrasermd.com/
• https://www.grantfrasermd.com/blog

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.

FullScript Site for WiseAthletes

We’ve all heard about anemia and iron deficiencies hurting our athletic performance and our overall energy level. But the latest thing is iron overload and dumping iron. So is iron good or bad??…the answer is yes.  Iron is both a toxin and a nutrient. 

What I’ve learned for myself is the older athlete needs just enough iron but no more. So the right question is …how to tell where you are on iron storage in your body, and how can you help your body not hold too much iron while avoiding having too little.  

We all need 3-5 grams or 3000-5000 mg of iron in our bodies every second of every day and we only can absorb 1-2mg of iron per day from our food and supplements…plus or minus a bit using various techniques to raise or lower iron. 

Too little iron can mean chronic fatigue, brain fog, and breathlessness.  Diets low in animal proteins, frequent hard workouts, low stomach acid, gut issues causing poor nutrient absorption, and of course bleeding can lead to lower iron. 

Too much iron, unless dramatic, is harder to feel and more likely for older athletes. Without blood loss, iron tends to accumulates in organs during aging and leads to dementia, heart disease, T2D and much more, and is worsened by drinking alcohol. 

Donating whole blood can lower iron but moves the needle very slowly as only 100-250mg of your total 3000-5000mg of iron is lost at each donation. That’s the equivalent effect of not absorbing iron from food for 3 months, so it’s something. 

The key is to plan ahead. 

So how to know if you are low or high?  Or on the verge of being low or high?  How to know if donating whole blood every 8 weeks is a good idea or a bad idea?  How can you make donating blood less unpleasant?  And what else can you do to stay in your iron sweetspot and to avoid both of these terrible outcomes for athletic performance, quality of life, and overall health?

To answer these questions and more today on episode 139 I am joined by Dr Grant Fraser who is board certified in the United States in anti-aging and regenerative medicine and in family medicine.   Listen in while Dr Fraser helps me to sort out what is going on and how to plan ahead to get into the iron sweetspot. 

Grant E. Fraser MD, ABAARM, DABFM, FRACGP, FACRRM, GEM

Grant E. Fraser, M.D. is Board Certified in Anti-Aging & Regenerative Medicine, and more and is passionate about helping patients improve their quality of life, reverse health conditions, and live longer and happier.

Bullet points

• What is iron?
• Iron is a very common mineral on Earth
• It has a highly stable nucleus and is capable of accepting and donating electrons easily, which makes it react with water to form rust and is very useful for biological organisms. 
• We use it to grab oxygen from air and carry it around the body, we use it in the chemical chain that makes ATP or energy the body uses to power itself, and iron is a necessary part of many proteins. 
• Our bodies need iron every second of our lives, so we keep extra on board just in case… we have 3-5grams in our bodies and we absorb about 1-2mg a day.  That’s 1-2 mg vs. 3000-5000mg…we can’t get much very fast.  So mostly we recycle it, and we keep some stored away in protective cages that keep the reactive iron from damaging our cells.
• So it’s like calcium (stored in bones) and proteins (stored in muscle and elsewhere) that we scavenge when we need some.  But iron is so reactive it will damage our cells, so we lock it away and convert it to less reactive forms?
• In addition, most bacteria that infects us needs our iron to grow, so our bodies react quickly to inflammation to stop absorbing more and stop releasing iron from storage.
• So where is the iron and how does it get moved around, and what is measured in understanding iron status in the body when we use blood samples?
  • Hemoglobin: 2 g (men), 1.5 g (women) – our red blood cells to carry oxygen
  • Ferritin: 1 g (men), 0.6 g (women) – mostly in cells around the body but some in blood plasma?  Why is it in the blood?
  • Hemosiderin: 300 mg -- ?
  • Myoglobin: 200 mg – in muscles?
  • Tissue enzymes (heme and nonheme): 150 mg
  • Transport-iron compartment: 3 mg (transferrin?) – moving the iron to where it is needed…mostly bone marrow?  Why so low?
• When the liver or brain or arteries have too much iron, how is that stored?
• So why do we measure iron from the blood?  It’s the easiest to get at?  Issues with using blood measurement?  Getting the tail end of a process? 
• What do we measure and what does it tell us?  Do we want to be at the low end of the range…at the high end?  What is best for longevity?
  • Serum iron – includes what?  Iron in transferrin being moved around the body?
  • Ferritin – cage for iron…why in blood?  Decreases with low iron and increases with high inflammation…if droppoing suddenly look into why
  • Transferrin – increases when….can be low even when iron is needed because…
  • Saturation?  30% is normal. Why measure it? 
  • TIBC – total iron binding capacity – measures the amount of transferrin.  Why?
  • Other?
  • Red blood cell count & mass? – a check for anemia…a clue to sleep apnea?
  • Hematocrit - what is it?
  • RDW- why important?  Increase if building fast…
  • MCV – what does it tell us?  Size of red blood cell…iron deficient blood makes small cells. 80-100…decrease iron def…going up vit 12 def
  • MCHC – what does it tell us?
• It helps to look at iron in vs. iron out to get a handle on where problems might come from.
• Iron in – issues
  • Plant based diets – low absorption of non-heme iron, plant compounds binding to iron to block absorption.  Calcium, tea/coffee,
  • Medicines – PPI, antihistamines,
  • Under eating – RED-S in athletes and other
  • Gut issues reducing absorption – IBS, celiac, crohns
  • Inflammation reducing absorption – from infection, hard exercise (for 4-6 hours), metabolic disease
  • Eating too many iron supplements
• Iron out – some issues here
  • Bleeding:  surgery, menstrual cycle, bowl cancer, ulcer, etc.
  • Pregnancy – baby needs iron
  • Growing – children need iron
  • Sweating -- can lose iron in sweat
  • Foot strike red blood cell breakdown
• Low iron is a problem for many people.  The challenge in getting in iron is particularly important for people who are growing or bleeding regularly.  It can also be an issue for people with chronic inflammation, such as in obesity or with metabolic illness or with chronic iron absorption issues.  Athletes can have issues without bleeding causes due to overtraining, heavy sweating, eating iron close to exercise which limits absorption.  And low iron can come from GI bleeds, bowel cancer, ulcers…so figuring out why iron is low is important…don’t just supplement iron
• Low iron appears slowly usually…here are the official “stages of low iron”
  • Stage 1 - Ferritin low while hemoglobin normal - some depletion for energy intracellularly
  • Stage 2 - lethargy starts - more effects on cellular energy as tries to take iron to preserve hemoglobin level
  • Stage 3 - anemia: ferritin and hemoglobin low. Compromised function
• Now let’s talk about my main interest….high iron.
• High iron is mostly a problem for people with genetic issues related to reducing absorption but can also be a problem for older people who have been accumulating iron for a long time:  eating a lot of iron, drinking alcohol, or maybe its just a breakdown of the normal homeostatic mechanisms like many other things that don’t the way they used to?
• I’ve heard about things we do that interfere with iron management and contribute to higher iron…
  • Zinc over supplementation (copper)
  • Copper deficiencies (copper vs. magnesium)
  • Vit c with iron meals
  • Supplementing with iron unnecessarily (multivitamins)
  • Estrogen supplementation (increase absorption if iron)
  • Alcohol
• High iron is associated with many illnesses.  People with clearly high iron should take aggressive action to reduce it. But what about people like me:  my iron biomarkers are all in the green.  Could I have accumulated iron in my organs that doesn’t show up in my blood?  If iron is associated with neurological disease, metabolic disease, heart disease and more, would I be crazy to actively knock down my iron if I am eat an iron rich diet?
• Donating blood regularly… I do it every 3 months (for the last year)…I haven’t seen any impact on my iron markers.  I’ve stopped drinking alcohol almost entirely,
• What else makes sense to drive down iron
• Emla – reduce pain from needle pain from donating blood

More Dr Fraser info:

• https://www.grantfrasermd.com/
• https://www.grantfrasermd.com/blog

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.

FullScript Site for WiseAthletes

Jeff Patterson….martial arts expert and author of The Yielding Warrior.

After teaching 25,000 students ni his martial arts academy and earning the equivalent of black belts in the martial arts of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Eskrima, Tai Chi, Qigong, Muay Thai, and Kenpö, Jeff now shares personal experiences, age-old wisdom, and the philosophies of meditative arts with his readers.

In The Yielding Warrior, you will learn how to:

• attain a higher level of proficiency in any sport or physical activity
• enhance emotional control and sharpen intuition for increased happiness and self-acceptance
• deepen self-awareness and esteem through the benefits of yielding
• apply meditative practices to excel in interpersonal communication and business relationships
• improve your focus by applying the skills attained through yielding awareness

The Yielding Warrior is about the concept of yielding and how it can be applied to almost any area of life

--> "everyone should meditate for 20 minutes a day unless you are too busy, then you should meditate for an hour"

Related episodes:

• Episode 121 | Brian Mackenzie of ShiftAdapt
• Episode 119 | HRV Biofeedback w/ Marco Altini
• Episode 110 | Mental Fitness w/ Kate Allgood
• Episode 70 | Healing Yourself w/Joe Taft

More Jeff Patterson info:

• https://www.theyieldingwarrior.com/ - Jeff Patterson's website

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

As a followup to my chat with Dr Vyvyane Loh, Glen and I sat down with Dr Loh to get into the HOW of losing excess body fat without losing muscle. Dr Loh does not disappoint as she shares her tips on how she has helped so many people successfully navigate the changes needed to get to a healthy body fat level AND a healthy body muscle level...both are necessary for health and athletic performance.

Check out my own Dexa Scan at the bottom of the show notes that reveals the details we all need to know to assess bone and fat and muscle health status, and to set improvement goals. I used dexascan.com via a provider in my area. My scan showed that while my body fat % is only 16.3%, I still need to lower my visceral fat from 87.7 cm2 to 70.0 cm2. I'm working on it.

Episode #135 | What's Your Healthy Fat %

Dr Loh is board certified in internal and obesity medicine, and she runs a medical practice helping people of all shapes and sizes to solve metabolic health challenges.

Bullet points

How to lose excess fat while retaining or gaining muscle?

• Good Sleep #1 (to keep cortisol and sex hormones healthy; recovery)
• 8-9 hours of good sleep for athletes (consistent sleep schedule every day & avoid use of sleep drugs that interfere with sleep architecture (melatonin okay)…eye mask, noise protected, test for sleep apnea
• Circadian rhythm— set by light and eating. Be consistent everyday. 
• Respecting the timing of meals: Eat breakfast (within an hour of waking) with protein to end catabolic state
• Protein: eat 30-35 grams of complete protein per meal, up to 5 meals per day. Everyday. Animal sources of protein allows for lower calorie burden to get the protein. 
• Exercise 
• Resistance training is key (3X/week)
• Work at end range (maximum range of motion under tension but be careful)
• Essentric (lengthening) movement better than concentric (shortening)
• Also isometrics (good during injury recovery)
• Cardio is good also (do after resistance training if on same day)
• HIIT 2x/week (20-45 minutes) targets visceral fat. Has to be really hard. Dread it. 
• Diet: 
• Higher percentage body fat — with a calorie deficit in diet doesn’t mean less availability of calories. Still need enough protein to hold onto muscle
• Near goal body fat — eat 5 times day and getting enough protein. Working out. No calorie deficit. 
• If fat is okay but low muscle? Get extra protein everyday. Maybe extra protein before bed to reduce muscle loss. 
• Low carbs to manage calories but need enough carbs. No keto. Low carb is good for calorie control. 80-100g of carbs. Need more carbs if alot of high intensity. 
• Insulin is a growth factor. Extra protein to get extra insulin to stimulate muscle growth. And extra protein can be turned into glycogen 
• The key is to be clear about goals.
• Changing lifestyle is hard. Start with identity and making it hard to cheat. 
• Everyone is ready when they seek help. It’s after they’ve lost weight at people lose focus. “Just ….” means you are in trouble because you are rationalizing. 
• Just a little…just this one time…etc. watch out. 
• Moderation is a loser strategy. We’ve tried that experiment across the country. Now we are all obese. Rising metabolic disease. 
• Either you are getting the results you want or you are not. Focus on results not on theory and what we want to be true. 
• Other topics:
• Rising fat in body leads to falling blood flow to brain. Leads to shrinkage of brain. Brain can’t get more blood flow but it can get more sugar per volume of blood. Crave sugary foods. High blood sugar. 
• Don’t make it hard for yourself. Don’t put those foods in your home. 
• Declare your identify as a person that doesn’t eat that sort of thing. 
• Over eaters are fine in front of other people if they have declared publicly that they don’t eat crap and over eat. But when they get home, all bets are off of the foods are in the house
• Drinking alcohol also interferes with healthy eating. Alcohol calories. Decrease in willpower
• What about pleasure in eating? “As I got bigger my world got smaller”. Let’s be accurate…if you are over weight you might be enjoying the few minutes of eating but you are not happy most of the day. Getting healthy can you a boatload of happiness. Plus, stop hiding from the real problem. The food isn’t really solving the problem. 
• GLP-1 good? Look for Dr Loh’s paper. (Didn’t sound positive)
• Vyvyanelohmd.com
• Sign up for Dr Loh’s newsletter, and send email on website asking for link to fat-muscle-bone talk 

Related info and episodes:

• Episode 135 | What's Your Healthy Bodyfat %?
• Episode 132 | Measuring Metabolism
• Episode 120 | Recover from Food Madness

More Dr Loh info:

• Vyvyanelohmd.com - Dr Loh's website

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

The USA declared war on heart disease in 1955. 70 years later it is still the leading cause of death. What about statins and all that medical progress we’ve had. Exactly, what about it?

Dr Michael Twyman is a board certified cardiologist who runs Apollo Cardiology, a clinic serving patients from all over the world. His approach is to understand cardiovascular health from a whole body perspective. Rather than focus on LDL and HDL and apoB, he says we need to look at the bigger picture of cardiovascular health….namely cardiovascular health as a marker of whole body health. He says plaques can start building early in life....stop the progression now to eliminate the need for dramatic interventions with significant side effect later in life.

We discuss specific behaviors and supplements and even medications to signal the body to stop building plaques. A statin is only one of many potential solutions. Since recording this episode, I have stopped taking my low-dose statin that was significantly reducing my muscle power, and replaced it with better tools.

• Stop damaging the Glycocalyx (the protective barrier to the lining of arteries)
• Stop making so many ApoB particles
• Make more receptors to remove more ApoB particles
• Lower reabsorption and absorption of cholesterol from food in gut

Bullet points

• Damage to glycocalx
  • Causes: high oxidative stress (mitochondrial disfunction), inflammation from any source: gut related, infection (COVID), smoking, high insulin, high glucose
  • Signs: high BP, erectile dysfunction
• Supplements to consider
  • Vit k2 - keep calcium in bone not arteries
  • Garlic - support glyocalix health
  • Berberine — increase LDL receptors (like a weak pcsk9)
  • Bergomot - lower LDL production (like a weak statin)
  • Ezetimibe (not supplement) — reabsorption of cholesterol
  • Aspirin (81 mg) - complicated. Had an event?  Aspirin for life. No event yet?  Higher CAC?  Aspirin. Unless high risk of bleeding.
• Blood markers review
  • Homocysteine <10
  • GGT high means low glutathione (high oxidative stress)
  • Uric acid. High means poor metabolism. A marker of gout but also damaging to glycocalyx.
  • Oxidized LDL — 5 alarm code
  • hsCRP — good to know but if high doesn't point to the problem
  • Myeloperoxidase (increase with infection) — HDL dysfunction
  • Boston heart panel

Related info and episodes:

• Episode 103 | Boosting Nitric Oxide
• Episode 105 | UV Light for Health
• Episode 112 | Simple Solutions for AGEs

More Dr Twyman info:

• drtwyman.com - Dr Michael Twyman's website

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

If you look around you can see that body fatness is a bigger problem now than it used to be.  Officially the statistic is approximately 45% of Americans are obese measured by BMI. But if we measure body fat as a percentage of total body weight, the metric is closer to 90 percent. because of the many people who don’t look obese but have high fat combined with low muscle mass. What's even more concerning for wise athletes is that the level of body fatness that is unhealthy varies dramatically between people because the location of the fat is what matters. Some people have a very low threshold for fatness before they start to experience metabolic problems that are associated with obesity including higher rates of Cancer, t2d, and CVD.  So what is my threshold for unhealthy fat? What is yours?

Today on episode 135, Dr Vyvyane Loh joins the show to explain what is happening to our bodies and why, and thankfully she shines a bright light on the pathway to metabolic health and athletic longevity.  Dr Loh is board certified in internal and obesity medicine, and she runs a medical practice helping people of all shapes and sizes to solve metabolic health challenges. And she has answers to my questions on how to know if this applies to you, and how to avoid the excessive catabolism that comes from sitting too much, over weighting endurance exercise, eating too little protein, intermittent fasting, frequent dieting, and more. 

Bullet points

• People generally think their body fatness is lower than it really is.   The “pinchable” fat under the skin isn’t the problem. Fat can be hidden under the abdominal wall and in organs: muscles, heart, lungs, liver, pancreas …wherever your body could put it after your “under the skin” (subcutaneous) fat storage filled up.  
• Note: Ectopic (abnormal place) fat includes visceral (in the abdomen) fat
• Obesity measurements based on weight miss the key point. It’s the amount of ectopic or "out of place" fat that drives metabolic illness.  And each person has a different amount of healthy fat storage before the unhealthy storage begins. So the amount a person weighs can be misleading if the fat increase is offset by muscle and bone losses, and for people who have very low healthy fat storage. In fact, muscle and bone losses on top of fat increases is an even bigger problem even though BMI is “normal”.  
• Obesity definition — body fat %
  • Men: 25% or higher
  • Women: 35% or higher
• If you are using a bio-impedance device add 10-15 points (men) or 20-25 points (women). Use Dexa “body scan” to get an accurate reading. Very low radiation. 
• You can’t get an accurate assessment with body fat photo comparisons or bio impedance or using blood markers of inflammation 
• The key: find your body fat % and where is the fat located
• Dexa breakdown
  • Fat mass
  • Lean mass (muscle, organs, protein in bone, water)
  • Mineral mass of bone
• A dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan can measure bone mineral density and body composition, including lean mass, fat mass, and muscle mass. Lean mass is made up of everything that isn't bone mineral or body fat, including organs, skin, connective tissue, and water. However, DEXA scans don't show body water as a separate component.
• People lose 3-8% of muscle mass per decade of aging
• On top of that loss, “catabolic crises” cause additional muscle (and bone) loss. Illness, injury, surgery.  Also weight loss is a catabolic crisis. 
• Catabolic crises
  • “Aging”
  • Injury & Illness
  • Yo-Yo dieting (30% of weight loss comes from lean mass but weight regain is nearly 100% fat)
  • Excessive endurance exercise 
  • Intermittent fasting and extended fasting
  • Losing muscle mass leads to less space to put the excess calories eaten. Now the extra calories have to go to fat storage which eventually becomes dysfunctional and inflammatory. This inflammatory state accelerates the muscle and bone loss, as well as the diseases of “aging”. 
• Solution
  • Resistance training is key: 3 full body sessions per week
  • Metabolic conditioning: HIIT (“talk test” & “high exertion”) two 30 (maybe 45 minutes) minute sessions per week (3 / week of only doing 2 resistance training session per week
  • Some endurance exercise is okay but do less low intensity if exercise time is constrained. Dr Loh says 1 slow endurance exercise day per week
  • Mobility day — no exercise for except mobility work
  • Protein: 120-150g per day divided into 30-35g per meal. Animal sources. 
  • Don’t skip meals. Breakfast protein is important to break the catabolic 
  • Sleep is critical. Work on circadian rhythm. Muscle builds during sleep. Low sleep makes hunger worse. 
  • High BP that is resistant to medication means sleep apnea is a likely problem. 
  • Creatine can help
  • Fish oil is good
  • Stay away from antioxidants right after workouts; wait 6 hours after workouts 

Related info and episodes:

• Episode 132 | Measuring Metabolism
• Episode 129 | Optimal Human & Bone Health
• Episode 127 | Great Bones

More Dr Vyvyane Loh info:

• tulaversity.com - Dr Loh's Coaching platform
• vyvyanelohmd.com - Dr Loh's website
• Dr Loh's podcasts -- for medical professionals and laypeople who want details
• Courses/info-metabolic-health-practitioner-certification-program-level-1
• Dr Loh's YouTube Channel - for laypeople

Want to support the show?

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Should I take TRT? Should my testosterone be higher? I've been thinking about testosterone for 15 years, and of course the issue goes way beyond athletic performance enhancement ... wise athletes have serious questions about testosterone's impact on health and longevity. We all want to be better athletes, to be stronger and recover like we used to. Is there a way to boost testosterone that gives me all the benefits of getting back to my youthful levels of testosterone without injuring my ability to be a strong and healthy athlete throughout a long life? To answer those questions and more, on Episode 134 I am rejoined by Rick Cohen MD, a longevity and hormone health expert who works with athletes of all ages to find a safe and sustainable path to being the strong athlete we all want to be.

Bullet points

• On one hand, there’s the TRT advocates who say “everyone should have 1000 ng/dl testosterone”…”don’t let your doctor scare you”….these guys usually also say ..”come to my low-T clinic”….or “buy my testosterone book”…These guys focus on making HIGH T a badge of honor and promote “testosterone envy”…
• But just as annoying is the old school doctor who says…aging is natural, and falling sex hormones is a normal part of the life trajectory that everyone goes through.  People need to get used to these changes.  See a psychiatrist if you need help.  This group deals in fear… talks about getting cancer and losing natural testosterone production
• Testosterone Envy is bogus:  Higher T is not better unless it is too low.  Too high is not healthy but too low is also bad.
• Each man has a T level that suits his body.  The body works hard to maintain the “right” level of sex hormones (symptoms tell the story better than blood tests). 
• But current T level is affected by two overlapping buckets of issues:  (1) health status (chronic inflammation, low mitochondrial function) and modern life issues (constant stress, sedentary lifestyles, nutrient shortages, medicines)
• Adding in TRT creates a lot of side effects that have to be worked out plus it is a lifetime commitment to continuing it because the body will stop making its own T.  This should be the action of last resort, not the first or second action
• The body knows what to do….i just need to make myself as healthy as possible, and not screw up the program by not providing enough of the right nutrients and stimulus for my body to recognize that a “strong Joe” amount of testosterone is warranted.
• Get sleep, move, lift heavy things, get off of toxic foods, don't over-train...quick fixes. Lifting heavy and sprinting are the big levers.
• Fasting all the time isn't a good idea, but periodic fasting can fit into a good overall program of repeating cycles of growth and repair
• Traditional low testosterone symptoms: falling asleep after dinner, no sex drive, no motivation to exercise, losing muscle mass, no morning wood.
• Low T is the warning light that something is wrong. You have to fix the problem to signal the body to go back to making a desirable level of testosterone.
• Sometimes people need a short treatment of medication to stimulate natural T production to boost motivation and mood so that they can do what is needed to do to increase testosterone production back to normal without drugs. Enclomiphene. Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG).
• Supplements mentioned: Akarkara root, Pine pollen, Tongat Ali
• Do not take iron supplements. Donate blood to keep iron from getting too high.

Related info and episodes:

• Episode 96 | Longevity Medicine w/Daniel Tawfik & Rick Cohen MD
• Episode 67 | Hormone Health w/Dr Kyle Gillett
• Episode 63 | Boosting Testosterone Right w/ Dr Rick Cohen

More Dr Rick Cohen info:

• Pure Clean Performance website: Lab Assessments & Supplements

Want to support the show?

If you are enjoying WiseAthletes, a great way to support the show is by leaving a review on the Apple Podcasts. It only takes a minute and helps more people find the episodes.

Gut health is all the rage now but it is so complicated and everybody has a different solution…from eating lots of fiber to eating only meat to taking probiotics.  How can we figure out what to do?  Is improved athletic performance possible from gut health? Today in episode 133 I am joined by Ross Pelton, the Natural Pharmacist who recently published a paper on the microbiome theory of aging in the medical journal Integrative medicine.  Ross shares his deep knowledge about improving gut health and also his knowledge about an emerging topic for me….postbiotics which are beneficial substances made by bacteria that our bodies rely upon and respond well to when we do have an optimal gut.  We’ve all heard of SCFA (short chain fatty acids), well that is only one of many substances made by bacteria in a healthy gut but now are available in supplement form to help us all get our gut back on track.  Ross works with Dr Ohhira's Probiotics & Postbiotic Metabolites which are available in the Wise Athletes Fullscript store if you’d like to check it out. Ross shares several medical studies using Dr Ohhira's including one with athletes that showed significant increases in vo2max and lactate threshold.....legal doping!

Paper: The Microbiome Theory of Aging, January 2023

Link to get free copy of book: Dr. Ohhira's Probiotics & Postbiotic Metabolites

Ross's website: naturalpharmacist.net

Everybody knows exercise is good for us but why? And why doesn't my food tracker balance my calories even when I weigh my food and use a power meter and heart rate monitor to track energy usage? Do I really have to step on a scale everyday to know if I am eating too much? And how can I tell if I'm eating too little to build muscle and to avoid bone and immune function issues down the road?

Today on episode 132 I am joined by Hari Mix, a Stanford University PhD and the Founder and CEO of Calorify, an emerging technology company providing athletes and sports teams with the world's most accurate measurement of energy expenditure, powered by doubly labeled water. Only by accurately measuring metabolic activity can athletes and everyday people know if we are consuming too much or too little food to power our athletic pursuits and the bodily functions that repair our bodies and keep us healthy for a long time.

Hari Mix explains that professional athletes are shifting from "how little can I eat and still perform" to "how much can I eat to perform better", and he walks us though what is known about these complicated and vexing questions about balancing calories in vs. out, and why exercise is not a great tool for losing weight.

The image below is a weak illustration of the idea that your metabolism changes in response to changes in energy availability / left over after exercise. It works both ways: too little available energy will turn down metabolic rate while too much energy availability will turn up the metabolic rate. The metabolic rate of energy usage is indicative of bodily function activity level: energy surplus: growing muscles and bones and other organs, energy shortage: scavenging of old and damaged proteins in muscles, bones, immune cells, etc. (autophagy, mitophogy):

Related info and episodes:

• Episode 131 - Supplement Quality & Efficacy
• Episode 129 - Bone Health
• Example Calorify report
• Metabolism by Age chart (full image)

More Hari Mix & Calorify info:

• Exercise Paradox article by Dr Pontzer
• calorify.com

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I think it is clear that nutritional supplements are a useful and medically legitimate way for me to meet my nutritional needs and support my efforts to be a strong athlete for a long time. Yet, the question of which nutritional supplements to buy turns out to be much more complicated than it appears … my conversation today will make that challenge less overwhelming. 

If you have ever dared to wonder if that nutritional supplement you have been taking for the last year with no or little effect really contains the real botanical or amino acid or whatever you wanted and expected, then you have already realized you have no idea and no way to find out. 

Sure, you can use 3rd party services like ConsumerLab but that can’t tell you if the bottle in your hand is the same as the one they tested.  So what is a wise athlete to do?

Today on episode 131 I am interviewing Dr Jeff Gladd who is a medical doctor with his own clinic and the chief medical officer of Fullscript, a wholesale nutritional supplement fulfillment service serving over 6 million patients through 100,000 healthcare providers. Dr Gladd knows the ins and outs of the nutritional supplement business, and he shares his tips for how to find brands and to source product that provides the best chance of having the purity and potency you and I seek.   And he also shared his advice on specific supplements for the older athlete. 

And be sure to explore the WiseAthletes Fullscript site where you can see for yourself if the product selection and pricing is as good as the quality control offered by FullScript. I am no longer buying from Amazon as I have done for years. It's time for me to make sure I am getting the purity and potency I need. 

Bullet points:

• Navigate the nutritional supplement industry by focusing on quality first and then cost. A quality product in your hand can only come through quality control maintained throughout the manufacturing and distribution process...any step along the way with a company you can't trust and that hasn't been checked by 3rd party certifiers means you don't know what you are getting.
• Start with goals: what are you trying to accomplish: (1) do everything you can through lifestyle improvement, (2) then turn to supplements to fill in gaps: start at the top...what are the most important things to address, (3) don't take 25+ supplements...take 5-6 high quality nutritional aids that you can expect to work, and then test to be certain, (4) move onto the next thing to address.
• Certifications available: Certified Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian, cGMP, NSF, Kosher Check, Certified Vegan, Certified Halal. UL, Informed-Choice, Informed-Sport, Friend of the Sea, Certified B Corporation, Non GMO Verified, USP, USDA Organic, GOED, IFOS, ISO, Certified Organic, Certified B Corporation®, NSF Certified for Sport, MOSA Certified Organic, QAI, Homeopathic, Clean Label Project™, MSC Fish, 1% For The Planet, Non-GMO, NSF Certified, Halal, Keto Certified, Plant-Based Certified
• Allergen indicators. Animal product free, Artificial color free, Artificial flavor free, Artificial preservative free, Artificial sweetener free, Casein free, Corn free, Crustacean/shellfish free, Dairy free, Egg free, Fish free, Gluten free, GMO free, Grain free, Grass-fed, Hydrogenated oil free, Hypoallergenic, Keto friendly, Kosher, Mustard free, Organic, Paleo friendly, Peanut free, Preservative free, Rice free, Salicylate free, Salt free, Sesame free, Soy free, Starch free, Sugar free, Tree nut free, Wheat free, Whey free, Yeast free

Related info:

As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jeffrey Gladd advises on company and product direction with the perspective of integrative and family medicine. In 2010, Dr. Gladd opened GladdMD Integrative Medicine, blending health-promoting care with high access technology. In 2011, he created and launched the web’s first nutrient depletion tool, www.mytavin.com. Dr. Gladd is a sought after speaker in his field, speaking at TEDx and being featured in various industry publications.

Dr. Gladd has been featured in:

• Blog Talk Radio: Interview with Hello Health Customer Dr. Gladd
• Business People Magazine: Creating a Culture of Health
• RETHINKing Healthcare: Fort Wayne TEDx talk
• The Future of Medicine: Functional Forum

Want to support the show?

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Breathing is the essence of life. Yet lung function declines as we age. The chemicals and small particles breathed into our lungs leave a mark and reduce lung function, a little here and a little there. But we can slow the decline, and we can even recover lost function with targeted effort. Do you know how to protect and strengthen your lungs?

Today I am joined by MeiLan K. Han, MD, a pulmonologist and the Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care at the University of Michigan, and a national spokesperson for the American Lung Association. Dr Han is also the author of Breathing Lessons ... a rallying cry for lung health. With the authority that only a practitioner and medical researcher can deliver, Dr Han reveals the latest scientific thinking about the leading respiratory risks — including indoor and outdoor pollution, smoking and vaping, and wildfire smoke during outdoor exercise — and offers practical advice on how to protect the lungs.

Listen in to learn about treating your lungs well and maintaining or recovering effortless breathing as you age.

Related info and episodes:

• Episode 103 - Nitric Oxide w/Beth Shirley
• Episode 50 -- Breathing is a Skill w/ George Dallam, PhD
• Air Quality Index info

More Dr MeiLan K. Han info:

• DrMeilanHan.com
• Dr Meilan Han on X (Twitter)
• Breath Lessons book on Amazon
• Dr Melan Han website
• @meilanhan on both Instagram and Facebook

Want to support the show?

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And, checkout the discount codes provided by show guests who offer unique products that I or Glen use. Click here: DISCOUNTS

This is part 2 of my bone health exploration, and this time the question is what should I do if I have osteoperosis? Is it game over? No. Absolutely not. But you will need to work hard to recover the bone health you lost.

Doug Lucas, DO, Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon and Anti-Aging Specialist, will give you insight into the lifestyle, nutrition, testing, and medical solutions for Osteoporosis management and yes, possibly, even reversal. Avoiding pharmaceuticals if at all possible.

Dr Doug Lucas is a double board certified physician specializing in optimizing healthspan and bone health. Seven years after completing his training at Stanford and starting his career as an orthopedic surgeon Dr Doug left the traditional medical model to pursue a second fellowship and board certification in anti-aging and regenerative medicine and achieve the status of fellow in Anti-Aging and Metabolic Medicine.

Dr Doug has gone on to build a team of experts to help optimize patient's health and help them to live better, longer. The vision has come to fruition with 100s of patients seeing success by reversing chronic diseases like osteoporosis and diabetes but also by improving energy, performance and vitality.

Bullet points

• Layers for building health…start at the foundation and build up….
• Lifestyle (sleep, diet, stress mgmt., activity, sunshine, social, spiritual)…lots of these things can be done together…time efficiency is important.
  • Keys to get right:  enough protein, enough calcium, the right dairy (A1 vs A2 casein) if possible?  Fermented …full fat is better?  a calm immune system, the right exercise/activity, sleep, stress mgmt
  • stuff to avoid:  alcohol, salt, caffeine, fasting, yo-yo dieting, HPF highly processed food…antibiotics?  Proton pump inhibitors?  NSAIDs (aspirin?)
• Supplements based on need, which means testing (how do you test?  Anything beyond the standard panels?  How do you assess status or need?  I’m used to my doctors who say anything in the “normal range” is good enough…what other biomarkers do you use….BP, RHR, …any functional markers like grip strength or balance?
• Other related to testing
  • What about allergies?  I’ve heard food allergies are an issue but is it the same for airway allergies like pollen or dust creating histamines?  Do antihistamines help?Melatonin?  Help with sleep and bones?What about non-chemical interventions?  Red/NIR light, UVB lamps, vibration plates, etc.
• Hormone optimization  — lifestyle then replacement based on real need.  But hormones affect more than bone….right?  Estrogen is the key for bone health?  How do men get enough estrogen for bones?
• Peptides – gray area….is this an area people should be careful about?  Stuff you can get online…can you trust it?
• Pharma – medications tend to be very powerful and have side effects.  Anything common that you find contributed to the bone health issues?  How do you deal with polypharmacy issues….accumulation of drugs taken forever?
• Longevity interventions?  Off-label?  Optimization of biomarkers vs. “normal range”?   (rapamycin?  MB?  ….a long list of off-label medications found to extend healthspan and lifespan in mice:  acarbose, metformin (when combined with rapa), SGLT2 inhibitors (canagliflozin)…and others.

Related info and episodes:

• Episode 127 on Great Bones w/Dr Keith McCormick

More Dr Doug Lucas info:

• Link to FREE Bone Foundations course (you'll have to share contact info)
• Optimal Bone Health website
• Optimal Bone Health youtube channel
• Optimal Human Health -- Doug Lucas bio

Want to support the show?

If you are enjoying WiseAthletes, a great way to support the show is by leaving a review on the Apple Podcasts. It only takes a minute and helps more people find the episodes.

And, checkout the discount codes provided by show guests who offer unique products that I or Glen use. Click here: DISCOUNTS

Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell, as we learned in high school biology. What's emerging from science more recently is how unhealthy mitochondria are at the heart of many diseases, and even shows up in our daily lives as feeling chronically fatigued or having brain fog. Improving mitochondrial function is at the heart of everything we do for athletic performance, health, and athletic longevity. Heck, mitochondrial dysfunction is one of the 12 hallmarks of aging...so what can we do?

Today I am speaking with Dr. Scott Sherr who says "he is a conductor of all things optimal health & performance"....he says everything he does for his patients...whatever their issues are...is usually aimed at improving mitochondrial dysfunction. Dr Sherr is not just a medical doctor …his unique background has led him to build a medical practice combining the best of traditional and alternative medicine.

Dr. Scott Sherr is a Board Certified Internal Medicine Physician and a specialist in Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT).  His clinical practice includes Health Optimization Medicine as its foundation plus an integrative approach to hyperbaric oxygen therapy, trargeted supplementation, synergistic new & ancient technologies, and more.  He is the perfect doctor to speak to the Wise Athletes podcast.

But there is still more.  Dr. Scott is also the COO of Smarter Not Harder, the company behind Troscriptions, a line of unique supplements to optimize brain and body energy production and to relax and calm when needed.  And, as you will soon hear, Dr Sherr is the person who convinced me to try Methylene Blue, which has served to banish afternoon brain fog from my life.

Bullet points (from Smarter Not Harder's THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO METHYLENE BLUE)

• THE MAGIC HAPPENS AT LOW DOSES
• At low doses (<3mg/kg), Methylene Blue (MB) is called an electron cycler. It acts as an electron donor to the electron transport chain in your mitochondria, increasing ATP production.
• MB also works as an acceptor of free electrons from reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (i.e. it works like an antioxidant...one as powerful as vitamin C or glutathione, in fact). There are very few compounds that cycle electrons (i.e. donates and accepts them) as effectively as MB.
• MB also increases the cytochrome oxidase (complex IV) function in your mitochondria and drives increased glucose consumption. The latter occurs because, when the mitochondria are making more energy, they need more substrate to supply electrons to the electron transport chain.
• While increasing glucose consumption and energy production, MB also increases the supply of NAD+.
• At <2mg/kg, MB causes the release of nitric oxide and the dilation of blood vessels so that more oxygen-rich blood flows to the area of increased glucose consumption.
• MB can bypass potentially dysfunctional mitochondrial complexes I and II. This is why MB works to reverse or compensate for mitochondrial damage.
• MB concentrates in tissues with the most mitochondria (e.g. the brain where it readily crosses the blood-brain barrier) the heart, muscles, the liver, and kidneys.
• But...at moderate doses (3mg to 10mg/kg in most studies), MB becomes an electron donor and a pro- oxidant that facilitates the generation of singlet oxygen and peroxide radicals, especially in the presence of certain spectrums of light. This is likely the way MB works in septic shock (via nitric oxide synthase inhibition) and possibly in cancer treatment.
• Moderate doses can be useful for addressing infections or other acute injuries, but shouldn't be taken for long periods of time

• THE TOP 8 BENEFITS OF LOW DOSE METHYLENE BLUE
• MB donates electrons at the electron- transport chain (ETC) and increases ATP production. This effect can occur in the presence or absence of oxygen (works even at high altitude!).
• MB enhances the function of cytochrome oxidase (complex IV), making it work faster and more efficiently. This leads to increased oxygen consumption and increased ATP production, especially in the most metabolically active cells, like nerve cells in memory regions of the brain.
• MB stimulates glucose metabolism in conditions with and without oxygen + increases the amount of NAD + produced by mitochondria. The greater amount of NAD+, the younger your cells remain/become due to sirtuin activation.
• MB may function as a cholinesterase inhibitor, increasing the amount of acetylcholine available, a neurotransmitter in the brain responsible for arousal, attention, memory, and motivation.
• MB, combined with certain spectrums of light, are synergistic in mitochondrial activation AND may be anti-infective against bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
• MB functions as a powerful antioxidant as it scavenges the mitochondria and cytosol for free electrons to accept and neutralize. On the macro level, this is how MB is neuroprotective and may reverse skin, brain, heart, and other damage.
• In red blood cells, MB changes the configuration of the iron (heme) in hemoglobin, the molecule in a red blood cell that carries oxygen. This improves the oxygen-carrying capacity of hemoglobin, which leads to increased ATP production from the ETC.
• MB also has mood-lifting effects, functioning as a monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor. Inhibiting MAO prevents monoamine neurotransmitter breakdown (dopamine, melatonin, and serotonin) which leads directly to increases in these neurotransmitters.

• USE WITH CARE
• Methylene Blue has been used for over a hundred years and, when used with care, is an extremely safe compound.
• However, it can cause toxicity at high doses (>3mg/kg), and even at lower doses toxicity can occur if used at too high a dose in this range or for too long.
• Also, combining Methylene Blue of any dose with SSRIs, SNRIs, or other drugs that prevent serotonin reuptake (including psychedelics) may cause serotonin syndrome. Do not use methylene blue with these types of medications.
• Methylene Blue is also not safe if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or nonhuman
• It is also not safe if you have G6PD deficiency

Related info and episodes:

• Episode 121 | Recovery for Performance Longevity | Brian MacKenzie of ShiftAdapt
• Anti-Aging Potentials of Methylene Blue for Human Skin Longevity
• Article on Uses for Methylene Blue.
• Paper on Methylene Blue
• Wikipedia on Methylene_blue
• Hallmarks of Aging (including Mitochondrial Dysfunction)

More Dr Scott Sherr info:

• Dr Sherr on X (Twitter)
• Troscriptions website
• Dr Scott Sherr on Instagram
• Hyperbaric Medical Solutions website
• Dr Scott Sherr website

Want to support the show?

If you are enjoying WiseAthletes, a great way to support the show is by leaving a review on the Apple Podcasts. It only takes a minute and helps more people find the episodes.

And, checkout the discount codes provided by show guests who offer unique products that I or Glen use. Click here: DISCOUNTS

The surprising truth is that bone health is one of the key levers of health and longevity for men and women. Bone health is a driver AND a symptom of overall health that declines steadily past the age of 30. Yet, it is slow to give us feedback on our mistakes...it is a lagging indicator that is hard to fix once low bone density and/or quality have arrived. Do. Not. Let. It. Happen. I used to think I didn't need to worry about my bone health because I was a strong and active athlete my whole life. But I was wrong. Osteoporosis afflicts 50% of all women and 20% of all men, including life-long athletes who "did everything right".

Today, on episode 127, I am joined by Dr. R. Keith McCormick to talk about Great Bones. Dr McCormick was an Olympic athlete who discovered 1st hand how "doing everything right" does not keep you safe from osteoporosis. His journey from Olympic athlete to bone fractures from osteoporosis at 45 years old, and back to competitive athlete at 69 years old has informed his deep knowledge about losing and regaining bone health. In his book, Great Bones, Dr McCormick explains not just the fundamentals of osteoporosis and the mechanics of bone loss and regaining skeletal health, but also what you and I can do to slow the decline in bone density and quality so we can keep our bone great bones well into our 60s, 70s, and beyond. In our chat today, Dr McCormick share a little of this knowledge with us.

This episode is a bit long and we get into the weeds but there is important information shared all the way to the end.  Take your time, and get to the end. You will learn a ton about the hows and whys about having great bones. And how to avoid weak bones and fractures and the fear of fractures that may come for you if you are not careful. I can promise you that I am being careful starting now.

Bullet points

• Bone health is a symptom and a driver of overall health
• Bone health drugs can buy time if you've fallen too far, but they are not a long term solution. Don't need them..
• Bone breakdown and bone building is an all the time thing, just like muscle; if either breakdown or buildup gets out of wack you lose the balance and you lose bone density and quality.
• You have to signal to the body that you need strong bone. But you also need the substrates to build bone AND a clear signaling to the bone stem cells (immune system issues, inflammation issues, fat cells in bone marrow, etc)
• For Great Bones, you need:
  • 1.2g/kg/day of high quality protein (collagen is good but doesn't count toward protein intake). Can take leucine and alpha ketogluterate to boost anaerobic effect of protein 
  • Low chronic inflammation; over-active immune system is bad for bone (watch gluten and dairy). Also, long cardio sessions increase inflammation which is bad for bone.
  • Frequent high impact activity (2x/day for 30 minutes is ideal); resistance exercise is the key
  • A healthy gut for absorption of nutrients & avoiding immune system over-activation: lots of fiber, digestive enzymes (acidic digestion), herbs: berberine (good for gut and for bone)
  • Sufficient nutrients, including calcium (not carbonate; 150-200mg a few times a day), magnesium (not carbonate); keep sodium in check; watch iron
  • Get enough Vit D (test for 40-60 nanograms/ml; commonly 1000-5000iu/day) and Vit K (1 & 2 MK- 4&7). Omega 3 are helpful.
  • Healthy sex hormone levels....don't be catabolic
  • Stable weight (no yo-yo dieting); dramatic weight loss is bad for bone
  • No fasting or IM if low BMI
  • Vibration plates are not a good substitute for resistance exercise; useful for people who cannot exercise.

Related info and episodes:

• Episode 78 on Bone Health w/Melissa Rittenhouse PhD

More Dr Keith McCormick info:

• Wikipedia -- R._Keith_McCormick
• mccormickdc.com/OsteoNaturals, LLC
• Dr McCormick Blog
• Great Bones on Amazon
• The Whole-Body Approach to Osteoporosis on Amazon
• Dr McCormick on Twitter / X

Want to support the show?

If you are enjoying WiseAthletes, a great way to support the show is by leaving a review on the Apple Podcasts. It only takes a minute and helps more people find the episodes.

And, checkout the discount codes provided by show guests who offer unique products that I or Glen use. Click here: DISCOUNTS

Healthspan is all the rage now but beyond a healthy lifestyle what does that really mean? How can it be done? And what can I do now to ward off problems before the illness shows up?

Today on episode 126, I am joined by Nathan Price, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Thorne HealthTech and co-author of the book, The Age of Scientific Wellness (2023). If there is anyone on the planet who can tell us how we can make this shift from merely treating illness to keeping ourselves healthy for a long, active life......Dr Price is just that person.

Dr Price has been at the forefront of creating Precision Medicine as a co-founder of Arivale and Associate Director of the Institute of Systems Biology, and now he is helping Thorne to bring Precision Medicine to you and me.

In case you don't remember, Arivale was that way ahead of its time company that offered ongoing wellness and nutritional coaching tailored to the results of each person’s genetic, blood and microbiome tests. Actual personalized medicine.

Today, most doctors wait for clinical symptoms to appear before they act, and the ten most commonly prescribed medications confer little benefit to most people taking them. Nathan Price (and his co-author Leroy Hood) argue that we must move beyond this reactive, hit-or-miss approach to usher in real precision health―a form of highly personalized care they call “scientific wellness.” Using information from our blood and genes and tapping into the data revolution made possible by AI, doctors can catch the onset of disease years before symptoms arise, revolutionizing prevention. They say this approach is just getting started but has already had amazing results: diabetes reversed, cancers eliminated, Alzheimer’s avoided, autoimmune conditions kept at bay.

All right, let's talk to Nathan Price about the technologies emerging this year and his thoughts on what wise athletes can do right now to slow the rate of aging.

Bullet points

• Scientific Wellness -- a remaking of healthcare from reactive, reductionist reducing of symptoms ... to... figuring out how to keep people healthy while they are healthy...extend the span of time in health..."healthspan"
• Thorne Ventures...dedicated to launching a platform for health ventures
• Learned a ton from thousands of measurements over many years
• The most commonly prescribed drugs have a wide variety of effectiveness on individuals for many reason: microbiome, genome, etc.
• In 13% of prescribed drugs (including statins), the drug is transformed in the gut by bacteria before being absorbed. So the effect on each person is dependent upon the bacteria in the gut
• Once a person hits 50, a healthy person's gut microbiome begins to be less and less like anyone else's gut microbiome.
• There is no average person
• Examples:
• LDL cholesterol lowering:
  • Genome identification of individuals with predisposition for high LDL....no way to lower LDL by lifestyle alone...need medication
• Weight loss:
  • People with gut microbiome's (identified with fecal matter testing) that produced more SCFA lose weight more successfully
• Individual testing to find personalized health solutions:
  • Genetic testing
  • Normal blood markers for health
  • Metobolomics --- 1000 small molecules....chemical markers in blood
  • Several 100 Proteins -- Proteomics in blood (for discovery purposes)
• "Digital Twin" simulations -- a computer model of a human being that can comprehend status and changes in biomarkers to predict health issues and identify health interventions for individuals based on genome, blood markers, gut microbiome. For now, building digital twins for specific systems (brain, metabolic health, muscle wasting)....someday the whole human.
• Alzheimers / dementia is caused by a failure to sustain oxygen profusion in the brain...exercise is protective due to the increase in blood flow....but it isn't enough.
• Phosphatidylcholine is a rate limiter on brain energy production. Eat a diet higher in phosphatidylcholine (eggs, red meat, whole grains) to push out development of alzheimer's. But the wrong bugs in the gut can convert phosphatidylcholine into TMAO which is a cardiovascular health risk factor.
• Vitamin D -- digital twin models show the importance of vitamin D for brain health
• But a human is so complex that no one thing can make a difference. Just taking phosphatidycholine or just taking vitamin D is not enough. This is why RCTs often fail to show benefit....if the study is not large enough there isn't enough signal to show an effect even though it is a benefit....more is needed...people are rarely missing or deficient in just one thing.
• What do to now?
  • Biological age models....make sure the results are actionable...need organ and system level data to be able to find weak links to target
  • Make sure to have no big deficiencies in the lifestyle pillars
  • For the older athlete, eat enough protein (food or protein powder)....probably more than you think you need...to avoid muscle wasting over time
  • Emphasize mitochondrial health in multiple ways....Urolithin A shows promise (not a Thorne product)
  • Get inflammation low...make sure no gut issues contributing to inflammation...Thorne has a gut microbiome test. Day Two is another good test. Omega 3's can help with inflammation. Quercetin is interesting for inflammation and to deal with scenescent cells in the body. NAD boosters (NR, NMN, etc) to help with DNA repair.
  • Resolve insulin resistance...watch Hba1c
  • Watch apoB to avoid ASCVD
• 4 big buckets to manage:
  • Cardio-metabolic (insulin resistance, apoB, distribution of particle sizes, bioage, gut microbiome testing, VO2Max -- higher is better)
  • Muscle wasting -- more muscle mass now to have more room to fall
  • Dementia -- brain health. Rapamycin news: helps with brain oxygen profusion (at least for women).
  • Cancer --- screen early (Galleri.com) to catch early.

Related info and episodes:

• The Age of Scientific Wellness book on Amazon
• LA Times article on Alzheimer's

More Nathan Price PhD info:

• Chief Scientific Officer of Thorne HealthTech, targeting personalized supplement and testing unit leverages clinical science, biometric testing, and multi-omics data. https://www.thorne.com/who-we-are
• Past Professor and Associate Director of the Institute for Systems Biology
• Co-founder of Arivale, the way ahead of its time company that offered ongoing wellness and nutritional coaching tailored to the results of each person’s genetic, blood and microbiome tests.
• Co-authored The Age of Scientific Wellness with Dr Hood published in 2023
• Book review - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10836631/
• Nathan on LinkedIn
• Nathan on Twitter / X

Want to support the show?

If you are enjoying WiseAthletes, a great way to support the show is by leaving a review on the Apple Podcasts. It only takes a minute and helps more people find the episodes.

And, checkout the discount codes provided by show guests who offer unique products that I or Glen use. Click here: DISCOUNT CODES

I haven't given my kidneys a second thought until now. It's easy to take care of your kidneys as long as you start early enough.

Today on episode 125, Glen and I are speaking with the amazing Rick Johnson MD about all things kidney and more. This is Dr Johnson's third time on the show...this time to drill down into how to keep our kidneys healthy (and a little bit about avoid Alzheimers). Declining kidney function is a normal feature of aging...perhaps it is a driver of agings. I am trying to age as slowly as possible, which means I must keep my kidneys healthy. Are you taking care of your kidneys? Do you even know how to take care of your kidneys? Do your blood tests show a dropping eGFR year after year? Is your blood pressure going up as you get older? Do you ever get dehydrated? Do you ever take ibuprofen? This episode is for you

Take care of your kidneys so they can take care of you!

Dr. Richard Johnson is a practicing physician and clinical scientist and a world expert on sugar, and especially fructose, and its role in health. His research has been largely supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is one of the most cited scientists in his field and has published more than 750 papers and lectured in over 45 countries.

He has authored three books on sugar and its health effects--The Sugar Fix with Timothy Gower in 2008; The Fat Switch in 2012, and Nature Wants Us to Be Fat (2022) in which Dr Johnson details his group's discovery of a switch that controls obesity and how it can be turned on and off.

He is currently Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado in Denver. He lives in Aurora, Colorado with his wife, Olga, children, Tracy and Ricky, and two goldendoodles, Charlie Brown and Apollo 11.

For more information, visit www.drrichardjohnson.com

Bullet points

• What causes kidney disease?
  • High sugar diets / Metabolic syndrome / Diabetes (cut back on sugar in food)
  • Gout / High Uric acid: stay hydrated, avoid fructose (sugar is ½ fructose), minimize the purines (beer, shellfish, sardines, processed meats, gravy, bacon), take vit C (500 mg / day), quercetin, certain diuretics, SGLT2 inhibitors lower uric acid
  • "Aging" (may be related to high sugar or high carbohydrate diets)
  • High blood pressure
  • NSAIDs (ibuprofen is bad for kidneys; aspirin and Tylenol are okay)
  • Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI)
  • Dehydration (drink 8-10 glasses of water every day, and drink before consuming salty foods). Don't drink too much too fast, especially after getting behind (being dehydrated).
  • Spikes in blood sodium leads to temporary increases in BP which can progressively develop damage in the kidneys.
• Fat is a storage of calories and a source of water (metabolic water)
• Mild dehydration (can be from eating salty food) causes the body to want to accumulate fat (makes you hungry); but drinking water eliminates this effect. Drink 8-10 glasses of water per day.
• Dehydration Test: (1) urine color in the bowl mixed with the toilet water should be clear or just slightly yellow, (2) low specific gravity of urine (<1010...your doctor can order), (3) high "normal" (138-141 is good; 142 or higher is not good) serum sodium in blood test indicates dehydration and indicates increased risk for kidney disease, heart disease, dementia, diabetes, and more.
• A sign of kidney disease is have to pee more often but not as much volume...having to get up more often to pee at night. It then progresses to feeling weak, low energy. Then itchy, chest pain, confusion. 
• Early kidney disease is common in people with metabolic syndrome and with gout.  As we get older, kidney function declines. But aging-related declines can be stopped by eliminating sugar (in tests of animals)
• Alzheimer's: (1) brain mitochondria lose the ability to make energy efficiently, (2) the brain becomes insulin resistant and cannot take up glucose for fuel, (3) inflammation in the brain reduces blood flow and oxygen delivery in the brain
  • High sugar / high glycemic carb diets increase risk of alzheimer's
  • Rats fed a high sugar diet have lower cognitive ability (and you find the same 3 problems in Alzheimer's brains). And it's the fructose in the sugar that is the problem.
  • Cut back on sugary drinks and the big 5 carbs: bread, rice, cereals, potatoes. Adding salt makes the problem worse.

Related info and episodes:

• Dr Johnson's Latest Book: Nature Wants Us to Be Fat
• Episode 64 – Eating for Higher Energy
• Episode 58 -- Is Sugar Really So Bad? (yes)

More Rick Johnson MD info:

• www.drrichardjohnson.com

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Pain is a terrible word. Four little letters that I used to believe mean I can't or I'm broken or worse. But, today on episode 124, I speak with Ryan Whited and Matt Fitzgerald, co-authors of Pain and Performance, to hear the origin story behind "Training as Treatment" and the 3-step process that we all can use to get on the path to better performance and less downtime and less hassle with pain solutions that don't work. While pain is communication, it does not mean "injury" or "imbalance" or "wear and tear"...and we can be more self sufficient in managing pain.

Pain and Performance on Amazon

Related info and other Matt Fitzgerald episodes:

• Paragon Athletics
• Pain and Performance on Amazon
• Episode 82 -- Mind Over Muscle w/Matt Fitzgerald
• Episode 76 - Body Comp w/Matt Fitzgerald

Some of the many Wise Athletes episodes about Pain

• Episode 92 - Knee Magic w/Ebonie Rio
• Episode 83 - PainScience w/Paul Ingraham
• Episode 73 - End to Pain w/Rick Olderman PT
• Episode 52 - Make Your Joints Last w/Howard Luks MD
• Episode 14 - Pain is Not What You Think w/Charlie Merrill PT

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This isn’t the sort of topic I usually cover on the Wise Athletes podcast but it should be.  Enjoy my talk with Lauren Hurst, author of North of Forty.

In North of Forty, senior fitness expert Lauren Hurst and photographer Nick Cinea tell the stories of over 50 senior athletes ranging from ages 54 to 103, marathoners to martial artists to mountaineers, ordinary and extraordinary people. Told through captivating interviews and illustrated by stunning black and white portraits, their stories will inspire anyone who's made it "north of forty" and kept climbing.

https://www.northfortyfitness.com/

I often say I don't want to LIVE forever, I just don't want to stop having fun.

Today on episode 122 I am speaking with Bill Gifford, the author of “Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying)” and the co-author of the recent best-seller "Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity" written with Peter Attia MD. Bill wrote Spring Chicken back in 2015 when he was just beginning on his exploration of healthspan and longevity, and used his journalistic skills to share his findings with us all. And more recently, Bill worked with Peter Attia to write the latest longevity blockbuster with the latest, best scientific knowledge about how each of us can slow the rate of aging ...and keep having fun for a long, long time.

Spring Chicken is a super fun read and a rip-roaring journey into the world of anti-aging science - a murky place filled with extraordinary breakthroughs (new) and dangerous deceptions (new and old).

Bill Gifford is a journalist comfortable writing for periodicals on lifestyles and health, who has the chops to tackle an in-depth look at the complexities surrounding aging and what we can (and can't) do about it. Gifford leaps deftly into the fray, sifting through both the nonsense and the sensible, all while learning some things about his own aging body along the way. Gifford’s analysis takes into account the fact that the concept of old age has changed over the millennia, with life expectancy expanding, meaning more old people are alive now than ever before. Unfortunately, with longer lives has come the increased need for a daily medication of some sort, and heart disease, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease are acting as the inevitable escorts down the last stretch to the pearly gates.

Bullet points

• Don't be weak in any area of health...sometimes you have to do what you don't want to do
• You don't have to make health a full time job
• Don't focus on exercise. Instead find something fun to do that moves your body
• Longevity medicine has come a long way. Be safe when you venture off the map

Related info and episodes:

• Outlive on Amazon
• Spring Chicken on Amazon
• Episode 109 - Physical Intelligence
• Episode 115 -- Winning the Longevity Game

More Bill Gifford info:

• Twitter (X): @billgifford

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Original Show Notes from Episode #14, January 2021

Today, Glen and I are joined by Charlie Merrill, PT in Boulder, Colorado. Charlie is a Physical Therapist who has been serving the Boulder community and athletes for over 20 years.  Over the past few years, Charlie has added pain science and more psychologically informed modalities to his manual therapy and biomechanical toolkits. He emphasizes the body and mind in identifying physical AND psychological/social factors that result in physical symptoms, like pain.  Charlie says the source of most athlete’s pain is often not what you’d expect and you can now work with him remotely at Lin Health, a new pain management platform.  

Charlie's website is Mperformance.com

Charlie's new pain management platform: https://www.lin.health/

Charlie's Youtube channel has nearly 200 videos with free content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCinoyk46RyzA1v6PqbUl8_w Charlie's and Dr Howard Schubiner's upcoming professional training for clinicians: https://adlpages.lpages.co/beyond-pain-education-registration/

I learned from Charlie that there is a disconnect between pain and structural damage in the body.  What regular people think is true is that pain indicates something wrong, something damaged...that pain is a signal to slow down, be careful, let the damage heal.  But that is not always true.  Pain comes from the brain.

Listen in as Charlie explains the science and practice of solving pain issues for athletes.

Some topics we touch on:

• What is pain and where does it come from? Is pain the same as damage to the body?
• What is pain that seems to come out of nowhere?
• What is chronic pain? Is it caused by damage to the body?
• Are overuse injuries real? Is Wear and Tear for athletes a thing?
• How to tell and how to deal with pain that is not related to damage in the body?
• Advice for the older athlete who wants to remain strong and active for a long time? (Hint: add fun, pursue novelty, connect with your psychology)

The twin peaks model I referenced from the book "Explain Pain"Which can be downloaded here.  It's excellent for anyone to read: https://www.noigroup.com/product/explain-pain-second-edn-epub/

Other Resources:

Wise Athletes Recovery Deep Dive

Wise Athletes Recovery

https://www.stitchttps://www.stitcher.com/show/cycling-in-alignment/episode/4-charlie-merrill-the-psycho-social-considerations-of-pain-70104112her.com/show/cycling-in-alignment/episode/4-charlie-merrill-the-psycho-social-considerations-of-pain-70104112

https://petermcgrahttps://petermcgraw.org/pain-injury-and-moving-with-joy/w.org/pain-injury-and-moving-with-joy/

A few documentaries but none really apply specifically to athletes.

• Howard Schubiner's This Might Hurt Trailer: Link Here
• John Sarno's All the Rage Trailer: Link Here
• Allen Gordon's Pain Brain Trailer: https://painbrainfilm.com/
• Howard Schubiner's book "Unlearn Your Pain": https://www.amazon.com/Unlearn-Your-Pain-Howard-Schubiner/dp/0984336702

As we kick off the new year in 2024, I continue my pursuit of better stress management with one of the legends in the space.

Today on episode 121, Glen and I speak with the great Brian MacKenzie...a best-selling author and recognized expert on stress adaptation…to help me to better understand how to rebalance my ability to perform well under stress and recover quickly to create greater performance longevity.   

Brian explains his practice of stress adaptation to improve performance AND the quality of life. Brian says we have to see what we really want so that we will be willing to do what it takes create sustainable performance. Higher HRV is not enough; know your why to have the motivation and staying power needed to make it happen. And, if you do it right, you'll get higher HRV.

Brian is the Founder & CEO of Shift. He is also the President and Co-Founder of The Health and Human Performance Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching how breath and innate tools can optimize and help health and human performance.  Brian has also co-authored the book Power Speed Endurance, The New York Times Best Seller UnBreakable Runner, and UnPlugged. And, Brian is the co-founder of The Art of Breath, a course he teaches through SH//FT that teaches a principles based approach to breath & performance.

Bullet points

• Eagle Story -- Don't be an Eagle that lived like a Chicken
• Do more non-exercise movement: 10k steps a day, or 2 sessions of zone 1 cyclings a day (max 15 breaths per minute; nasal breathing)
• Build in cycles of up/down stress every day.
• Find time for recovery snacks: drive the speed limit, don't take the smartphone into the bathroom, breathing exercises several times a day
• Breathing Gears:
  • Gear one: 2 seconds inhale; 2 seconds exhale...nasal breathing
  • Gear two: power nasal breathing...fast inhale/exhale (only for 25 breaths before shifting to mouth breathing)
• Test CO2 tolerance to check your nervous system status. Then build a plan to recapture your ability to flex between stress and relaxation / recovery
• Brian's Speed Power Endurance book: https://a.co/d/3LKSEQL
• Peter Crone YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcakm7T9YgnrWYL4g15Drgw
• Ernest Rossi - Ultradian: https://www.ernestrossi.com/interviews/ultradia.htm
• Anthony De Mello -- Awareness book (I saw $6 used copies on Amazon)

Related info and episodes:

• Brian MacKenzie website
• shiftadapt
• The Health and Human Performance Foundation
• Episode 68 - becoming-anti-fragile-w-dr-mike-t-nelson
• Episode 50 - the-science-of-better-breathing-with-george-dallam-phd
• Episode 32 - helping-older-athletes-be-young-again-with-dr-mike-t-nelson/

More Brian MacKenzie Info:

• Twitter (X): @brianmackenzie
• Instagram: @_brianmackenzie
• Breathing Gears on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CoKgylXtO0Z/

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It’s that time of year when my carefully manicured and effortless diet of healthy foods with just the right amount of calories is destroyed in an orgy of holiday indulgence.  But that’s okay, the trick is to get back on track quickly. 

To help me I thought I would talk with an absolute expert, a true genius in helping to build a solid defense against the relentless whisperings of my more primal self…the emotional brain that worries about impending famine and the need for deep fat stores to survive the winter.   

Today in episode 120 I talk with Dr Glenn Livingston, the author of Defeat Your Cravings, who has developed a program that gives us control while not making us feel deprived. It’s not a weigh loss program; it’s a how to stick with your plan program.

So, enjoy your holiday celebrations, but be sure to listen in to make your New Year’s resolutions easier to keep. 

Defeat Your Cravings....one-liners:

• Have a plan (or you are a part of someone else’s plan)
• Character beats willpower 
• If you can form a craving, you can extinguish a craving; you are not powerless
• Feeling aren’t facts
• Don’t try to put out the fire, build a fireplace around the fire
• Move your difficult food decisions from your impulses to your intellect
• Add "crunch to your lunch"
• "Hand over the chocolate and no one gets hurt"
• "When you’re in a hole, stop digging". Always use the present moment to be healthy 
• Aim with perfection (don't just try...do your best with every shot)
• Teach your brain that you are willing to endure any suffering in order to follow your own rules
• Overeating and addiction are biological errors. Teach the brain where to get enough healthy food
• Attitude, Judgement and Responses. These are the only things completely under your control. Embrace them. Use them. 

The Process...a summary:

1. Start with a simple rule. Don’t worry about losing weight at first
2. Raising the bar slowly but surely
3. Pry yourself away from the inner craving at the moment of temptation. Use 7-11 breathing. Use your words. Count to ten
4. Disempower the justifications of the inner craving to make the right decisions. Write them down; write down why it doesn’t make sense. Wait 24 hours before implementing a change to the food plan. 
5. Don’t believe that your happiness in life from eating your favorite indulgences will be lost forever. It isn’t true.  Reset your response to super stimuli 
6. Other:  stop eating highly processed foods (HPF), do food prep, create signals for ending eating at night

Related info and episodes:

• Defeatyourcravings website
• Get a Free Copy of Defeat Your Cravings
• Episode 45 - build-strong-habits-with-samuel-salzer

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HRV or heart rate variability has made a come-back in my pursuit of health, longevity, and athletic performance. Years ago I discarded HRV as one-less-thing-to-fuss-with, but I have been reborn as believer in the power of HRV to guide me in rebalancing my nervous system for the benefit of better stress management and better sleep. All thanks to Marco Altini, PhD

Today on episode #119, I am speaking with the one and only Marco Altini, PhD. Marco says he is a scientist and developer mainly working at the intersection between health, technology and performance. He is also the founder of HRV4Training, which is trusted by more than 150 000 athletes, including olympic medalists and professional teams, to measure physiology and quantify stress, helping people of all ages and athletic pursuits to better balance training and lifestyle stressors. 

In our discussion, Marco illuminates the many factors that impact the calculation of heart rate variability, how stress impacts the autonomic nervous system, and how we can use HRV as a biofeedback tool with deep breathing exercises to help us learn or re-learn how to self-regulate and better cope with stressful situations. 

How to do HRV right: "Pick one good tool, be consistent in usage, be patient"

• Devices:  fingertip, ring, wrist, chest strap (only way to get actual HRV)
• Phone apps:  be sure to get proper error correction, and avoid conversion of standard algorithms to proprietary indexes
• Different algorithms …rMSSD is best but SDNN (used by Apple Watch) is fine. Skip the "readiness scores" and "indexes"
• Time of day:  all night sleep or upon wakeup (nothing is perfect; consistent is good enough)
• Body position: Sitting is best if done after wakeup
• Breathing method (for HRV baseline):  breath naturally, somewhere between "resonance" (6 bpm) and sleeping (12-20 bpm). Breath however you normally breath...nasal/mouth, and try not to breath more deeply than normal
• Do not over-breathe: if you blow off too much co2 it will increase stress; activate sympathetic ANS

HRV biofeedback: "Rebalance the autonomic nervous system; build resilience and capacity to self-regulate & deal with life stress."

1. Identify resonant frequency try 4.5-6.4 bpm. Inhale belly; exhale pursed lips. “Deep abdominal breathing following a pacing stimulus”. The apps will provide a sensory guide to time your inhale/exhale to match targeted frequency
2. Synchronize breathing and heart rate. Maximize oscillations in heart rate that you see on the app
3. 2x/day for 20 minutes (work up to this...a few minutes before bed will have an impact)
4. Continue for as long as you want to be healthy

Related info and episodes:

• HRV4biofeedback.com/the-app
• HRV4Training
• Circadian Rhythms of the Autonomic Nervous System
• Episode 107 - using-music-for-a-better-brain-body (relaxing after workouts)
• Episode 70 - healing-yourself-w-joe-taft (reference to meditation)
• Episode 68 - becoming-anti-fragile-w-dr-mike-t-nelson
• Episode 50 - the-science-of-better-breathing-with-george-dallam-phd
• Episode 45 - build-strong-habits-with-samuel-salzer
• Episode 32 - helping-older-athletes-be-young-again-with-dr-mike-t-nelson/
• Longevity Prize based on HRV - https://paloaltoprize.com/prize-two/

More Marco Altini Info:

• Email Marco here
• Marco's Substack: marcoaltini.substack
• Marco's social media:  Twitter, Instagram 
• Marco is a runner...find him on Strava

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Intense exercise takes a biochemical toll. Research has shown that intense activity results in decreased levels of glutathione, our body’s homemade master antioxidant. And, that happens even when you start the day with enough glutathione despite the naturally declining levels found in the older athlete.  Without sufficient glutathione, the oxidative stress associated with exercise can reduce athletic performance and delay recovery.   Heck, low glutathione can make you look and feel old.

Today we have invited Ross Pelton the Natural Pharmacist to educate us about Glutathione, the master antioxidant and a key biomarker of aging. Glutathione is made by the body to act as the master regulator of other antioxidants....when you have enough glutathione, your body can make or recycle all the antioxidants it needs. What's more, low glutathione is a marker for aging and a higher likelihood of disease. The older we get, the less glutathione our bodies make, and the more glutathione our bodies need.  Glutathione IV drips are all the rage these days, but do we need it?

Ross is the Natural Pharmacist and his website, bio and blog are at naturalpharmacist.net. He is passionate about life extension and anti-aging science and technology. He has written 12 books including “Rapamycin, mTOR, Autophagy & Treating mTOR Syndrome” and in 1999, he was named one of the Top 50 Most Influential Pharmacists in the U.S. by American Druggist magazine

The Critical Roles of Glutathione

• Direct chemical neutralization of singlet oxygen, hydroxyl radicals, and superoxide radicals
• Cofactor for several antioxidant enzymes
• Regeneration of vitamins C and E
• Neutralization of free radicals produced liver metabolism of chemical toxins
• Transportation of mercury out of cells and the brain
• Regulation of cellular proliferation and apoptosis (think: cancer)
• Vital to mitochondrial function and maintenance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)

A few of the benefits an athlete can expect from glutathione.

• Improved Endurance and Performance -- Glutathione has been shown to improve physical exercise endurance and increase energy
• Reduced Muscle Soreness and Inflammation -- Glutathione helps to rebuild damaged & tired muscles, so it can reduce the time in pain
• Enhanced Recovery Time -- It’s easy to get stuck in a cycle of soreness. Reduce your recovery time to accelerate your training progression
• Energy Production -- Glutathione is vital to the body’s ability to create energy as it is a key ingredient in the function of ATP, which is used by our bodies to create energy
• Improved Immune System Function -- A healthy and efficient immune system is key to athletic performance. If you’re feeling unwell, your perform will suffer

Considering how important glutathione is to health, researchers have looked for ways to increase intracellular and intramitochondrial levels. Here are the effective approaches:

• Decrease the need for glutathione, which means decreasing toxic load (e.g., limit alcohol). The most obvious is limiting alcohol consumption.  Less obvious is decreasing exposure to persistent organic pollutants, the primary source of which are conventionally grown foods.  
• Another strategy is to provide other antioxidants to decrease oxidative stress. A good example is α-lipoic acid, supplementation of which increases mitochondrial glutathione levels even though ALA is not used in the synthesis or recycling of glutathione.
• Consuming glutathione does not work, but we can provide specific nutrients to promote glutathione production. Cysteine availability is the rate-limiting step in the de novo production of glutathione. Supplemental cysteine in the form of whey or N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is effective at raising levels. While there is substantial variation, 1000 mg/d of NAC will substantially increase glutathione in virtually all patients
• Consuming certain probiotics that make glutathione in the gut is a new option. Lactobacillus fermentum ME3
• Go to the doctor office for a weekly IV glutathione infusion (yuck).

Related episodes:

• Episode 97: The Natural Pharmacist: A Passion for Life Extension

More Ross Pelton Info:

• Probiotics, postbiotic metabolites and the gut microbiome
• Postbiotic Metabolites: The New Frontier in Microbiome Science
• Lactobacillus fermentum ME-3: A Breakthrough in Glutathione Therapy
• Naturalpharmacist.net (go here to learn more about sourcing ME-3)

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Ross Pelton, R.Ph., Ph.D., CCN

Ross Pelton received his BS degree in pharmacy from the University of Wisconsin, has a Ph.D. in psychology and is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist (CCN). In October 1999, Ross was named one to the Top 50 Most Influential Pharmacists in America by American Druggist magazine for his work in natural medicine. Ross is nearly 80 and looks much younger.

For centuries the search for eternal youth or elongated life has been a frequent topic of various myths and legends from around the world.  Adventurers looked in far away lands for clues to the healing waters. In modern times, pharmaceutical companies hunted in jungles and tropical islands for exotic molecules that could be used to solve human disease. Now Ora Biomedical is searching among chemicals and combinations of chemicals laying in plain sight for clues to massive life (and health) extension. And now you can participate by sponsoring a compound that you know or just think is worth $100 to take a look.

Today we are talking with Mitchell Lee, PhD about Ora Biomedical's Million Molecule Challenge and its new citizen science fundraising approach that allows everyone to participate in completing the moonshot Million-Molecule Challenge (assess 1,000,000 longevity interventions in 5 years vs. just under 1,100 compounds tested so far by modern science). In addition, Dr Lee and I discuss my question of how to be "bold but safe" regarding the high-wire act of using off-label pharmaceuticals and OTC nutritional supplements to get a fast start (i.e., start now) on the pursuit of extended human healthspan. This question has been burning my brain as I personally search for a path that avoids the slippery slope of wishful thinking, marketing overpromises (lies) and the dangers of combining too many powerful chemicals.

From Ora Biomedical's website: "...from a small pilot screen of a few mTOR inhibitors, Ora has already identified one that works better than rapamycin....our preliminary data lead us to believe that combinations of 2-5 different longevity interventions have the potential to be twice to ten times as effective as the current best-in-class."

Related episodes:

• Episode 95: The Next Rapamycin w/Dr Mitchell Lee
• Episode 115: Being Bold & Safe w/Dr Rick Cohen & Daniel Tawfik

More Ora Biomedical Info:

• Ora Biomedical website
• orabiomedical.com/sponsor-mmc/
• youtube.com/watch?v=kEzRU_jTKl8
• Dr Lee on X, formerly known as Twitter @michellblee33

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Dr Mitchell Lee Bio

Dr Lee received his PhD in Experimental Pathology from the University of Washington School of Medicine, where he trained with Matt Kaeberlein . He is the Co-founder and CEO of Ora Biomedical, a new pharmaceutical company seeking to realize the full potential of healthy aging therapeutics by developing "a new generation of broad use small molecule healthy aging interventions for humans, companion pets, and all other organisms for which prolonged healthy survival is desired."

Links to checkout:

• NIA ITP program
• rapamycin.news

The better cyclist you want to be past 50, the more you probably have to drop cycling sessions out and put something else in to compensate. So you probably need to drop a cycling session now and put in a gym session, or a running session, or some other sport to work on bone density and muscle fibre loss. So it's a counterintuitive thing. The more you cycle and the more you seek cycling performance, the more you probably need to cast your net a bit wider. Sometimes you need to slow down to go fast.

Phil Cavell is the author of The Midlife Cyclist', a book for the 40+-year-old cyclists who want to train hard, ride fast and stay healthy. It's less of a how-to and more of a philosophy of the older athlete...a collection thoughts and ramblings. It's what you’d talk about with a doctor friend who knew everything about the body and cycling the bike. 

Phil says to stop by Cycle Fit to say hello if you are ever in London. I know I will.

Links:

• Cycle Fit website: https://www.cyclefit.co.uk/
• Episode 88 - Strong Heart w/Dr Ben Levine: https://www.wiseathletes.com/podcast/88-how-to-get-a-strong-heart-for-performance-and-health-much-more-w-dr-ben-levine/
• Episode 63 - Boosting Testosterone: https://www.wiseathletes.com/podcast/63-boosting-testosterone-right-with-rick-cohen-md/
• Episode 32 - Metabolic Flexibility: https://www.wiseathletes.com/podcast/32-helping-older-athletes-feel-young-again-via-metabolic-and-physiologic-flexibility-with-dr-mike-t-nelson/

Phil Cavell Bio:

Phil Cavell is the CEO of the London-based bike fitting studio, Cycle Fit. As well as being an expert on the biomechanics of cycling, Phil has recently written 'The Midlife Cyclist', a book for the 40+-year-old cyclists who want to train hard, ride fast and stay healthy.

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Detailed Show Notes

• Go slow to go fast
• Do less cycling to get better at cycling
• Do the work; don’t resort to shortcuts which always backfire in the end
• Sleep is the key to health and performance; work it out and never give up (or resort to drugs)
• Video yourself in action; see your disfunction
• Be careful of alcohol and hard exercise for the older athlete heart

One of the major bummers for the older athlete, is that no one knows how to make people younger.  All we can do is slow down the rate of aging.  The healthier we are, the slower we age….meaning the more slowly we progress toward that visit to the pearly gates. 

How can we balance risk and reward, prioritize which interventions to pursue first, how to tell is we are getting a positive or negative result from our interventions including pharmaceuticals and nutritional supplements. These are the questions answered by Daniel and Rick, who also share their thoughts about Rapamycin dosing, cycling interventions to restore beneficial cycles of growth and autophagy, and how Healthspan is delivering a platform to help clients to set proper goals and stay on course over time including taking corrective action when interventions (type and dose) don't deliver results.

Links:

• Healthspan Longevity Medicine website: https://www.gethealthspan.com/
• Episode 96 - Healthspan Longevity Medicine: https://www.wiseathletes.com/podcast/96-what-is-longevity-medicine-w-daniel-tawfik-co-founder-of-healthspan/
• Episode 63 - Boosting Testosterone: https://www.wiseathletes.com/podcast/63-boosting-testosterone-right-with-rick-cohen-md/

Dr Rick Cohen & Daniel Tawfik Bios:

Dr. Rick Cohen, M.D. is a leading authority in the fields of nutrition, sports performance and longevity medicine. He received his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering with honors of distinction from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and his medical degree from Hahnemann Medical University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rick is also a leader in the field of male functional hormone health and the author of the book “Be All the Man You Can Be” with over 100k copies sold in the past five years. 

Daniel Tawfik is the founder, developer, and CEO of HealthSpan. Daniel holds a BS degree from UCLA in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology and physics. Daniel did his graduate research at UCLA's Protein Expression Technology Center where he studied neurometabolic disorders.

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Detailed Show Notes

Today we are talking about one particular aspect of acquiring and retaining healthiness:  the chemicals we put into our bodies.  Chemicals include:  pharmaceuticals, botanicals, herbs, spices, concentrated foods, vitamins, minerals.   Today, we are NOT going to talk about specific recommendations for specific chemicals…rather we are going to discuss how to think about using chemicals in a way that is safe and responsible, while also being aggressive if we so choose.

We know a lot about getting and staying healthy. The primary pillars are pretty much the same regardless of the source, and supplements can play a role in all of them.

Ray Kurzweil takes 100 supplements a day (according to an article from 2018). Bryan Johnson is the newest famous person for taking many supplements to recover his youthfulness  … 105 per day, as I understand it.  It’s a slippery slope…get healthy, be stronger, solve your biggest problems…for only $0.30 per day (per supplement).  It’s hard to say no.  Frankly, I think it’s my biggest addiction.

Heck, Americans can’t agree on much but we apparently do agree that pills are good.  Almost everyone take some supplements. Multivitamins…I grew up with the one-a-day brand. Immune system boosters like echinacea. I used to swear by echinacea.  Sleep aids like melatonin are very common. Etc.   

So what’s the problem?  So what if it’s a placebo effect….as long as I get an effect I’m happy.  So who’s complaining?

Okay, here it is:

Whenever I talk to or hear actual scientists talk about supplements and consumption of chemicals chronically, the message is consistently for caution. Don’t push it. Their own lists of supplements is short. 5-8 items. Only the basics. And only for short periods of time.  They say we don’t know enough about how they work or how they combine when we take many things at once. 

This is true for OTC supplements for health (whatever that means) and also for longevity interventions.  The most credible scientists say that taking more than 1 compound for the purpose of longevity is going off the map…that the best in the world don’t know how to predict what will happen.

Polypharmacy is an old medical term for people with multi morbidities taking multiple medications which create unintended and unstudied interactions, possibly creating additional symptoms requiring additional medication. 

My fear is that I and people like me are creating a stew of interactions which eliminates the potential benefits or even creates health problems.  

We need a framework for understanding how to be smart. I still want to be bold, but I don’t want to be stupid.  … in my interventions to improve my health, reduce my rate of aging.  I just don’t want to hurt myself in the meantime.

3 step process to think this through…:

1. what is the landscape to navigate…stuff to avoid
2. protocols to follow to stay on the map….to be smart 
3. how can we tell if we are doing it right…or need to make a change?

(1) The framework has to consider the landscape to be navigated….here are a few key elements.  Is it true that:

• There are interactions between pharmaceuticals, between pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter supplements, between supplements, between everyday foods and the chemicals.  Interactions database from NIH  https://mor.nlm.nih.gov/RxNav/  
• Chemicals have many effects on the body…on our health.  Even if the chemical does have a desired effect, it is having other effects.  We’ve all heard of "side effects."
• There are other ways to get the effects that most or all chemicals can or are promised to provide:  lifestyle, light therapy, etc.
• Our bodies can build up tolerances to chemicals?  The dosages become less effective over time?
• More does not mean better.  Big, superphysiologic doses are especially risky.  The body is good at getting rid of stuff it doesn’t want, but if you hit it with huge doses ….

Creating imbalances

• zinc vs copper
• Copper vs mag
• Mag vs calcium
• Vit A vs Vit D
• Iron vs zinc

Medications that impede nutritional uptake

• PPI
• Birth control
• Statins — b12, coq10
• Ezetimibe— fish oil
• Antibiotics— gut health
• Mouthwash — NO/nitrates → nitrites
• Fiber - soluble fiber becomes a gel…block absorption?
• NSAIDS – b vitamins

Chemicals that were once thought to be no brainers but no more

• aspirin
• calcium …take with K2
• Electrolytes…not needed for cramps
• High dose multivitamin…more is better
• Vit C

(2) what should we do…what sort of protocols should we use to keep from going off the bleeding edge?  To be bold but smart?

• Get as many therapeutic effects as possible from other mechanism, from non-chemical interventions (diet, exercise, sleep, sunshine, avoiding pollution, red light/NIR, PEMF)
• Don’t take too many chemicals at the same time.  Fewer is better.
• Don’t take chemicals everyday forever:
  • Skip days.  Do supplement fasts
  • Cycle out of supplements periodically to see whether you still need it.  
  • Continuously move toward solving the lifestyle issue that is causing the need for a supplement or medication....and then remove the chemical
• Prioritize effects to get 80% of the benefits from 20% of the chemicals.  Go for the more fundamental issues:  metabolic health
• only do 1 thing at a time for each thing you are trying to accomplish...there are diminishing return effect as well as interference

When selecting and buying and using supplements:

• Research potential interactions: Use reputable sources like drug interaction checkers or consult with your healthcare provider to identify potential interactions between your medications and supplements.

• Choose high-quality supplements: Purchase supplements from reputable manufacturers and choose brands labeled with the NSF International, US Pharmacopeia, Underwriters Laboratory, or Consumer Lab seal. These verify that the product actually contains the ingredients that the label says it does, and that the product doesn't have any potentially harmful ingredients. 
• Other third party websites provide analysis of supplements, like Labdoor.com and Consumerlabs.com. These websites publish lists of the highest quality supplements.

• Stick to the recommended dosages for both medications and supplements. More is not always better, and excessive intake can increase the risk of interactions.
• Time your intake thoughtfully: Some medications and supplements may be taken at specific times of the day to reduce the risk of interactions, and to improve bioavailability (empty stomach, fatty meal, etc.).
• Only take a supplement for the recommended length of time. If you are taking supplements in response to a biomarker level, recheck your biomarker to ensure continued supplementation is needed.  Recommendations often have a “safe for x weeks” indication.
• Store supplements in the appropriate environment. Some supplements need to be refrigerated and others kept away from light. 
• Be aware of nutrient interactions: Some supplements, like calcium and iron, can interfere with the absorption of certain medications.  There are web resources that can help with this.  NIH has one.  Your doctor has access to these resources.
• Stay informed: As new research emerges and your health status changes, stay informed about potential interactions, and adjust your regimen accordingly.

All of this probably sounds like a lot of work.  No one is saying you should take a bunch of supplements.  But if you do, do so as though your life depended upon it.  Because it does.

(3) How can we tell if we are doing it right, or doing it wrong, or need to change what we are doing?

• Only add 1 thing at a time and maintain the same routine to see if the new chemical is having a negative affect.  
• Be vigilant for any unusual symptoms or side effects. If you experience any adverse reactions, consult your healthcare provider immediately.  Stop if you feel off or badly.

• Is "How you Feel" a good guide? What does how you feel include:
  • feel good, happy, optimistic, motivated
  • Feel energetic / not sleepy
  • No Chronic pain
  • No chronic Muscle soreness
  • Clear headed / not foggy
• If you feel bad, that means something.  But can you feel good, and be doing it wrong. Don't trust "I feel good" to measure supplement effectiveness. 
• Monitor your biomarkers (physical, blood, etc.): Ensure your medication and supplement regimen is still appropriate for your needs.  Stop if your biomarkers move in the wrong direction.

Links:

• KuliKuliFoods website: https://www.kulikulifoods.com/ (use discount code: wiseathletes)
• Episode 94 - Phytonutrients: https://wiseathletes.com/podcast/94-phytonutrients-the-1-that-makes-all-the-difference/
• Episode 100 - Phytonutrients Practical Tips: https://wiseathletes.com/podcast/100-practical-tips-for-phytonutrients-and-fiber-w-dr-jed-fahey/
• Dr Jed Fahey’s website

Lisa's & Jed's Bios:

While working with women farmers in Niger, Kuli Kuli’s founder Lisa Curtis was introduced to the energizing and healing powers of Moringa. Out of that experience, Lisa dreamed of a business that would help Americans experience the power of superfoods like Moringa while empowering female farmers around the world. Out of that dream, Kuli Kuli was born.

Dr. Fahey is THE INTERNET FAMOUS nutritional biochemist with extensive background in plant and human nutrition and phytochemistry.

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The original NASA TVEMF - PEMF systems were developed by Dr. Robert Dennis for NASA under contract in 1997 - 1998.  Recently corrected NASA patents verify his status as original inventor.  Four additional patents (1 2 3 4) demonstrate the recent advances that have been made since the original work at NASA, leading to modern ICES® DigiCeutical® technology developed in 2013 - 2014.  ICES is the new PEMF.

Founded by Dr. Robert Dennis (LinkedIn profile) to provide biomedical technology research & development to bridge the gap from academic research to industry, Micro-Pulse LLC has evolved into an independent core technology origination company for a wide range of products, including specialized test apparatus for basic scientific research, robust products for military applications, and low-cost high-performance commercial products for medicine, research, and education.

Links:

• Micro-Pulse.com website: https://www.micro-pulse.com/
• PEMF Forum: https://forum.fluxhealth.co/
• Bob Dennis's article on PEMF: https://www.josam.org/josam/article/view/69
• Bob's University of North Carolina bio: https://bme.unc.edu/bme-person/bob-dennis/

Bob's Bio:

Bob Dennis is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a medical scientist and tissue engineer, and consultant in medical device design. He has worked in the aerospace and defense industries, the automotive industry, and the medical device industry. He co-founded the Biomechatronics Group in the Harvard-MIT HST program in the original MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, where he developed the world’s first hybrid (living + synthetic) swimming robot for DARPA. As a professor at U-Michigan and UNC, he has lead multi-institutional research projects to develop new tissue engineering technologies for the United States Department of Defense.

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A.G.E.s is an acronym for Advanced Glycation End-products or "glycation". Most people wrongly think A.G.E.s is only a problem for people with a high HbA1c score measuring average blood glucose levels over the last 3 months. A.G.E.s affect us all. A.G.E.s are now known to be a cause of cancer and of many chronic diseases, including: type 2 diabetes, heart disease, painful joints, erectile disfunction, cataracts, and even wrinkling of the skin.

Our bodies make A.G.E.s as an unavoidable consequence of making energy to live, and we eat foods containing a wide range of A.G.E volumes. Avoiding the A.G.E.s in our food is the easiest way to control the accumulation of A.G.E.s. The volume of AGEs in our food is dependent upon the type and amount of food and how it is prepared. Cooking food slowly, wet, with acidic marinades (such as lemon, lime, tomato sauce, vinegar, wine) and/or certain spices (such as Indian) makes all the difference. Eating food raw is even better. And regular exercise may be the only way to reduce the retention of A.G.E.s.

The Anti-A.G.E. Foundation says research suggests up to 30% of the A.G.E.s we consume in our food remains inside our bodies. Over our lifetime, very slowly these A.G.E.s build up in our tissues. Very slowly but very surely. The organs of a 50 year old will have far more A.G.E.s than a 20 year old. Initial studies in healthy individuals suggest that consumption of 15,000 to 20,000 A.G.E.s per day may be a healthy limit, as the body can detoxify some amount of A.G.E.s. But research has not concluded a safe level, so “less is more” applies. 

15,000 A.G.E.s may sound like a lot but a single fast-food meal contains 22,000 A.G.E.s. Fried, grilled, and baked foods...and in particular fatty meats ... generate the most A.G.E.s.

Learn about A.G.E.s from Dr Turner's TEDx Talk: https://youtu.be/LvwMXqyrKG0?feature=shared

Anti-AGEs / Dr Turner / Dr Findlay Info:

• Dr. David Turner's Lab: https://surgery.vcu.edu/research/surgery-research/turner-lab/
• Dr Victoria Findlay's Lab: https://surgery.vcu.edu/research/surgery-research/findlay-lab/
• Anti-AGEs Foundation website: https://anti-ages.org/

Dr. David Turner is President & Co-Founder Anti A.G.E Foundation (non-profit) and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery at the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center. His strong British accent was honed growing up in the North of England where he completed his Honors Science Degree in Molecular Biology and Doctorate in Biochemistry at the University of Newcastle in the United Kingdom. His passion is combining his scientific research on A.G.E.s with a total commitment to making the world “A.G.E. aware”.  

Dr. Victoria Findlay is a Co-Founder of Anti-A.G.E. Foundation (non-profit) and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery and a Co-Leader of the Cancer Prevention & Control Program at the Massey Cancer Center at the Virginia Commonwealth University. She earned her BSc in Edinburgh, Scotland and her doctorate in Genetics at the University of Newcastle in England. Her passion is to educate and inspire the next generation of scientists. Her work with A.G.E.s in normal breast development seeks to focus a light on the ‘windows of susceptibility’ that occur throughout a woman’s life to increase her risk of breast cancer. She has a particular interest in the A.G.E. levels in breast milk and infant formula and the resultant effects on childhood diseases.

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Listen in as Don Moxley explains how the cannabis plant includes compounds that work with our body's signaling infrastructure to switch on recovery mode, and to resolve anxiety-led sleep interference. If you've tried CBD before but didn't get any benefit, you probably weren't taking a large enough dose. Don also explains the difference between CBD and CBDa, and why CBD is the wrong target. CBDa is what you need for affordable recovery support.

Learn about CBD: https://projectcbd.org/

Don Moxley Bio:

• Mode+Method website: www.modemethod.com (use discount code -- wise15)
• SpermidineLife website: https://spermidinelife.us/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donmoxley/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donmoxley/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/donmoxley?lang=en

Mode+Method's HRV+

• Includes cannabinoids CBD, CBDa, BCP (50mg cannabinoids per capsule; daily dose = 3 capsules per day)
• Formulated with Curcumin, Magnesium and Omega-3 to reduce inflammation

Don is a regarded longevity science leader known for making the complex simple.

Don Moxley is Director of Applied Science and Brand Development at Longevity Labs Inc. in the United States. Operating with the personal mission of helping individuals understand the changes necessary to alleviate suffering and contribute to the betterment of all people, Moxley draws upon his career as an athlete, a sports scientist, and an instructor to lead and educate on the science of autophagy and longevity.

Throughout his life and career, Moxley has applied science to enhancing well-being. A former captain and Big 10 Championship winner with the Ohio State University wrestling team, Don served as the university’s first sport scientist. By giving athletes the ability to track their progress in strength, cardiovascular and resilience training, he helped the wrestling team win a national title and three Big 10 Championships. He has helped athletes achieve two Olympic metals, four World Championships, seven National Championships and 23 All-Americans.

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Kate Allgood Bio:

• Kate's Website: www.qpathlete.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/qpathlete/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sportpsychology/

Kate delivers mental training solutions to overcome the demands faced by elite athletes and other high performers in the military and business. Kate's life has always involved balancing a healthy body and mind. After a successful athletic career, Kate found her passion for helping others to improve and enhance their mental health and performance. Kate earned two Masters degrees with honors in psychology, specializing in applied sport psychology, and general psychology with a concentration in family psychology. She graduated with distinction for both degrees. And, in 2010 Kate launched Quantum Performance Inc, a high performance coaching firm specializing in the mental training of high performers. Current and past clients have included professional athletes in the MLB, NFL, NHL, AHL, Supercross, PGA, LPGA, skateboarding, the Anaheim Ducks & San Diego Gulls hockey teams, Olympic, college, & high school athletes, Navy SEALs and Marine fighter pilots to ironman triathletes.  And, Kate is the author of 3 books that provide all the details behind her approach.

Kate's books:

• The Athlete Within: How to build Your Mental Game for Peak Performance
• Get Into The Zone: The Essential Guide To High Performance Through Mental Training
• Fortitude: The Essential Guide to Building and Sustaining Mental Toughness

What is Mental Training for Peak Performance?

Multiple levels of framework, from highest level to lowest:

1. Self-awareness. Confidence.
2. What helps with Self-awareness? Medication
3. What helps with Confidence? Self talk, focusing on small successes
4. Focus....at the core of everything. Tools for training attention.
5. Energy...energy level and type of energy to synch mind and body
6. Imagery and visualization
7. Perspective. Mindset falls into perspective. Respond vs. react.
8. Lot's of skills and techniques to pull all of this together

Outline of Discussion

• Kate's background
• Mental performance in sport vs. in life...separate but connected
• Kate's framework for mental training for peak performance
• Growth mindset: athletes succeed through effort, not talent
• Growth mindset: constant improvement is at the core of all great athletes. Every experience is an opportunity to grow, not good vs. bad
• Growth mindset: help others to improve
• Stress is not good or bad, it is a physiological response. We can learn to have the right response, and use tools to modulate the response to be more appropriate for the situation when necessary
• Getting centered: feel the grass/dirt, smell the grass/dirt
• Chewing gum for the mind: music, mantras
• Breathing for calmness: "box breathing" (4 x 4 x 4 x 4) and "diaphramatic breathing" (making exhales 2x the length of inhales; in via nose, out via mouth)
• Laughing, singing, emotional release
• Mental preparation. Think through what could go wrong to prepare your mind for how to react. Cut the stress and make it easier to make a good decision under pressure. Use the "if-then" statement structure.

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Mike T Nelson, PhD

Dr Mike is a well known expert on Metabolic Flexibility, and I have had him on Wise Athletes twice out of pure admiration for his amazing body of work. On episode #68, Glen and I spoke with Dr. Mike T Nelson about building anti-fragility across a range of physical and mental functions. If you missed this one or the 2021 episode on Metabolic Flexibility, be sure to listen in. If you already heard it, you wouldn't be wasting your time to check out Dr Mike's advice again.

Episode 32: https://www.wiseathletes.com/podcast/32-helping-older-athletes-feel-young-again-via-metabolic-and-physiologic-flexibility-with-dr-mike-t-nelson/

Bio

Creator of the Flex Diet Certification & Phys Flex Certification, kiteboarder, lifter of odd objects, metal music lover.  

• PHD IN EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY FROM UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
• BA IN NATURAL SCIENCE FROM ST. SCHOLASTICA
• MS IN BIOMECHANICS FROM MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
• ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT CARRICK INSTITUTE FOR CLINICAL NEUROLOGY
• AND MUCH MORE

Dr. Mike's Website https://miketnelson.com

Dr. Mike's Instagram drmiketnelson

Physiological Flexibility 

The 4 main regulators pH, temp, blood gas oxygen and CO2, and blood glucose.  The 8 interventions (2 for each) are:

• Hot -such as warm temps outside or sauna
• Cold - cold water immersion, cooler temps, cold showers
• HIIT -high intensity exercise as Wingates (aka Beast Mode)
• LISS - as Dr Mike's buddy Luke from Muscle Nerds calls it "Least Mode" aka lower intensity exercise
• Low blood glucose - via fasting protocols
• High(er) blood glucose challenge - 2 pop tart test
• Slow breathing techniques and breath holds
• Fast (supra ventilation) techniques like Wim Hoff and others

--------

Met Flex = Flexible Diet + metabolic flexibility. 

The focus is Body composition and athletic performance, which are intertwined.  Body composition is good for health, self esteem and performance. Athletic performance is good for (1) health (body is built to move), (2) longevity (3 factors) and (3) body composition (burning calories  Key Principals:

1. Speed of adaptation reflects health status and resilience:  fuel switching speed, sugar tolerance, temperature tolerance,  HR capacity (max vs. resting), endurance, mobility and strength provides headroom to recover from problems.
2. Benefit stacking:  getting multiple benefits from our actions and food
3. Health maintenance is the real goal.  Achieving goals is nice, but sustaining fitness and health is the real achievement.   The key is fuel matching and non-linear calorie imbalance. (Practice maintenance)
4. No suffering; stay within yourself but push a little most days. 
5. “Better is better”.  Optimal is elusive but will slowly be achieved for each person 
6. Little things add up.   Start with easy to gain momentum and motivation for harder change.
7. Exercise doesn’t have to dominate your life; you just need to do enough of cardio/ endurance and HIIT/ strength work. 
8. More variability = better resilience
9. Consistency of effort (we are forming new habits, need time to obtain positive feedback)
10. Progressive overload (change is painful, but only a little and only some of the time, if done right)
11. Modulated workload (for recovery, adaptation, mental health, and practice for maintenance mode)

Inflexible people have a insulin resistance, have lots of insulin to deal with sugar, makes it hard to burn fat.  Issue in losing fat and using fat for endurance intensity exercise. 

8 interventions for nutrition and recovery. Help people: higher metabolic flux, fast switching between fat and carb burning.   Getting stronger and getting control over body composition. Help people understand nutrition, and factors involved in body composition and performance. Not treating medical conditions. 

Started with Dr David Kelly(Brooks and mercier) Coined “Cross over effect” 

Leverage: Focus on high impact (make a big difference in physiology), easy to do (clients will do it) interventions: physiology & psychology. Actually have clients rank interventions according to what they will do.  Progressive disclosure

Exercise is not the same as physical activity. Wise Athletes must continue to use all of our physical skills to retain them long into life. Instead of investing in carefully planned strength training, cardio training, balance training, mobility training....just get out into nature and use your body in ways that are unpredictable...that challenge your brain.

Dr. Scott Grafton

Dr. Scott Grafton, Distinguished Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara, directs the Action Lab, which works on the neuroscience of goal-directed movement. Professor Grafton is also the author of Physical Intelligence: The Science of How the Body and Mind Guide Each Other Through Life.  

• Physical Intelligence book (Amazon)
• Action Lab Website

What is Physical Intelligence?

Dr. Grafton shares how ‘physical intelligence’ works, what you can do to hold on to old physical skills as well as learn new fun things to do, and why it’s so important for all of us as we age.

Physical intelligence is the brain's ability to figure out how to perform physical skills better and better. It learns by doing. 

But we forget. We lose skills we don’t use. That results in losing basic life skills if we withdraw from life. The more we pull back from activities that might result in injury the less capable we become over time. We have to find a way to stretch ourselves in what we already know or in learning new activities. 

Exercise is not enough. We need unpredictable environments. An opponent across the net. An unstable trail. Something that engages the brain in adapting skills to accommodate new information. We retain physical skills and we exercise the brain.

1. Smart Practice -- spending time wisely that provide the best result....only practicing the hardest skills...not wasting time on the easy stuff because it's fun
2. Variability in Practice -- it's good to have randomness in the practice to maximally stimulate the brain to learn faster
3. Good sleep is important for consolidating new physical skills
4. We are born to learn physical skills. We are great at it. But we are also great at forgetting. Use it or lose it.
5. Find a way to stretch your physical capabilities (which will stretch your mental capabilities as well) to keep from shrinking down to a fragile person who is afraid and incapable of operating in the world
6. Why do people fall down? Strength? Balance? Vision? No: its a loss of skill in moving through real-world environments.

Outline of Discussion

• you were talking about how exercise is not the same as physical activity ….as a “exerciser” I found that a little annoying
• eventually I understood that you were diagnosing the problem I have been complaining about publicly for the last 6 months… about how I have lost athleticism as I have focused more and more on just lifting weights and riding a stationary bike, and not doing sports anymore
• you just returned from a trip to the mountains.  How did it go?  Was this your annual trip to you mentioned in your book?  And, when you tell us about that also tell our audience how you came to know so much about physical intelligence
• I admit to being a bit jealous of your trip.  So much so that I had to brag to you earlier about the mountains I have climbed in my life, but the truth is I regret feeling that I had to give it up as too hard for my aging body.  But you are still doing it.  How?  And please tell us why.
• you are doing it right. Am I am not going it right, which brings us to the point of our talk today.  How should wise athletes do to find a good glide path to perhaps slowing but as slowly as possible….staying staying strong both physically and mentally as long as possible?. So , Healthy aging is not from a treadmill.  We need complex physical engagement for the body and brain.  And the mindset, the attitude matters….is that just for motivation or does the mindset affect the benefit we get form doing physical activity? 
• in the context of aging, when we’re told to do our “exercise” for our health, we aren’t being given completely good advice, are we?
• physical activity that engages the brain is important….use it or lose it seems to apply broadly to the human condition. 
• I used to think the declines of the body and mind was just a natural progression…unavoidable.  But now I wonder if we are doing it to ourselves somehow.  Leaping past the question of why the body “gets old” and just start with the thought that because my joints hurt, I stop doing certain activities…and maybe that is the beginning of the end. 
• I stop using my body the way I used to, and pretty quickly I lose the ability to do it.  My mom followed this path to doing less and less.  The less she did, the more things that felt dangerous…which led to further reductions in activity and more lost physical skills. Are we doing it to ourselves, dr grafton?

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Dr. Zulia Frost

Dr. Zulia Frost is a medical doctor and clinical director at Recharge Health. Dr. Frost explains that red light & near infrared light technology has many applications, including treating injuries, resolving age-related pains, improving sleep and much more. 

• drzulia.com
• recharge.health

What is Red & NIR Light?

Sun exposure has long been valued for its healing properties. But the dangers of sunburn, skin aging and skin cancer, and just the modern, indoor lifestyle has dramatically reduced the exposure we get to the sun. 

The largest proportion of sunlight is infrared light which we feel as heat.  The reason we can feel it is the infrared wavelengths can penetrate through clothing and through our skin and even through bone, down into our muscles and organs.  It turns out that our bodies react to this light, as well as to other wavelengths including red light which is at the longest wavelength end of visible light.   

The technology for replicating red and NIR light is called photo biomodulation.  It used to be called “cold laser” therapy because it relied on low power lasers, but eventually it was discovered that LEDs worked as well.  This is where all the consumer products are coming from.

• Red & IR light are of wavelengths that do not create heat in the body but do have a photobiomodulation effect
• Mechanisms of benefit include:
  • Increases energy in cells impacted by red & IR light
  • Via nitric oxide release, improves blood flow, which is critical for healing
  • Release of anti-inflammatory cytokines (to reduce inflammation related to healing)
  • Rapid pain reduction in certain circumstances via reduction in inflammation
  • Increased production of collagen: higher quantity and quality
• Dosing is important to get any effect
  • Power of LEDs
  • Distance from skin
  • Time of exposure
  • Biphasic dosing: the benefits build up over time but too much for too long can be counterproductive. Not injury but lost effect. Take a break to recover ability to get benefits.

Key Details:

Near-Infrared (NIR) Light is considered to be about 750nm-1200nm. NIR's longer-wavelength, lower-energy light can reach deeper tissues of the body like muscles, joints, and even brain tissues.  The most effective wavelengths of NIR are 810-850nm.

Red Light is typically considered to be 620nm-750nm. Red light's shorter-wavelength, higher energy light will penetrate a little less than NIR but can help with shallower parts of the skin, like skin repair and rejuvenation.  The most effective wavelengths of Red Light are 635-670nm.

Outline of Discussion

• What is sunlight made up of in terms of wavelengths?
• How did red / NIR light therapy get started as a treatment?
• What are the benefits? How does it help? Pain reduction, improved skin quality, blood glucose control, better sleep, lower anxiety, faster muscle recovery, recovery from TBI.
• How do we know it really works, and is not just a placebo effect? (this was my fear, originally)
• How does it work? Multiple mechanisms: improved blood flow, higher cellular energy, activated immune response for healing plus anti-inflammatory response
• How can people determine which devices will suit their goals? Part of body to target, device form factor, power, distance from lights, time of exposure
• Tell us about Recharge, and how people can learn more about red / NIR light therapy

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Dr Phil Maffetone

Dr. Phil Maffetone’s credo is that “everyone is an athlete.” As a health and fitness trendsetter, Dr Phil has had as much positive impact on a wider variety of people than anyone in modern history. Dr. Phil is a long-time respected pioneer in the field of complementary medicine, bringing the latest advances to health-care professionals around the world. He is an internationally recognized researcher, educator, clinician and author in the field of nutrition, exercise and sports medicine, and biofeedback. In 2003, Dr. Maffetone was presented with the prestigious Statuette award by the International Academy for Child Brain Development. He was named Triathlete Magazine’s coach of the year in 1995, and in 2000 was honored by Inside Triathlon magazine as one of the top-20 most influential people in endurance sports worldwide.

Since the 1970s, Dr. Phil Maffetone has warned against sugar addiction and carbohydrate intolerance along with pioneering the use of biofeedback via heart-rate monitoring devices. His approach has been proven successful by thousands of MAF devotees. Dr. Phil is committed to making the Maffetone Method available to everyone.

Music can positively influence intensity, fat-burning, as well as encouraging overall brain and body benefits. However, it needs to be used intelligently. Best to avoid the stress-induced pounding drums and driving bass lines. While a no-pain, no-gain approach to exercise and music can be enjoyable, be careful out there. If you want an aerobic workout to burn more fat and increase energy capacity, listening to intense music can be problematic. Lower heart rate exercise increases fat-burning and builds mitochondria capacity for superior aerobic performance.

Consider songs that help promote warmups — slower, easy music allows your body to ease into the session, increasing the workout benefits. Likewise, with your cool down. For aerobic workouts, a more moderate beat is great, and for high intensity a faster song helps move you along. The most important music choice is always the music you enjoy.

However, the choice. Personalize. Most importantly, always avoid junk music.

Dr Phil has created some playlists of his music. The two playlists are for an Easy Aerobic Workout, and for Higher Intensity Training. And, it’s all free.

Links:

• www.Maffetonemusic.com
• www.philmaffetone.com  
• Dr. Phil's B Sharp! book on Amazon

Outline of Talk

• The main topic today is music, which a newer aspect of your amazing career….a career which I think can be summarized as:  helping athletes to be faster by being healthier.
• Before we get into the music side of this story... can you give us a high level understanding of the MAF Method. …. Why did you see a need for it and why does it work?
• MAF Method  -- The point is not to see how fast your body can move. The point is to change the way your body gets energy. You want to burn more fat and less sugar.
• MAF stands for Maximum Aerobic Function and combines exercise, nutrition, and stress to build your aerobic system, the fat-burning engine responsible for fueling the body.
• A well-functioning aerobic system leads to:
  • Increased energy and endurance
  • Run / bike / swim faster for longer
  • Prevent injury and disease
  • Improved brain function
• So, a healthy athlete is a strong athlete… that makes sense,
• But why can’t I just focus on getting what I want … a higher FTP and VO2Max, so why not go for it directly instead of doing so much “talking pace” exercise?
• The more I learn about health and fitness and even longevity, the more I understand that the body and mind want and need cycles of stress and recovery, feast and famine, growth and repair, intensity, and relaxation, again and again. 
• It’s funny …. Recovery is one of those things that quote/unquote “everybody knows and nobody does”…. it is so elusive, I think, because you can’t go directly at it…
• Let’s start with music and exercise, then we’ll get into the broader use of music.
• Tell us your thinking about how a wise athlete should use music before or during or after exercise?
• When I first heard you talk about using music to relax, I realized that I only listened to fast tempo music anymore….and that was my choice because it charged me up…made me ready to move and made exercise much easier.
• But after your talk, I started listening to relaxing music after my workouts. Luckily I had some old favorites on my phone that I never listened to… and now I find I can calm down and just relax for a bit instead of charging off into some other project that needs doing.  And if I sing along with the music I even feel happy.
• But it’s true that Fast music feels exciting and makes exercising feel easier and more fun.  But you say it raises the heart rate for the same level of output , but that’s is the opposite of what the MAF Method is trying to build…which is lower heart rate for a given level of power or effort
• To transition in into talking about music and aging well…music and improving the brain, I want to read part of a quote from Mark Allen about your book. And for the younger audience members, Mark Allen won the Hawaii Ironman 6 times (’89-’95); Mark was an athlete Dr Maffetone helped to transition from a regular top-10 athlete to perhaps the all-time-great endurance athlete:  Here’s a part of what Mark said:
  • “Reducing stress, gaining happiness, experiencing joy and fulfillment, living a life filled with longevity and vitality… In "B Sharp!” Dr. Maffetone explains how participation in music brings us all of this and more.
• obviously Mark is talking about more than recovery from exercise here. Can you explain what he means ….how can music give us all of this…reducing stress, gaining happiness, experiencing joy and fulfillment?  I would certainly like some?
• Your book lists 5 benefits of using music to expand the mind.
  • Deep meditation - boost alpha and theta brainwaves
  • Revitalization - encourage optimal aging
  • Neuroprotection - repair and protect the brain
  • Neurogenesis - produce new brain cells
  • Human performance - maximize brain-body health and fitness
• So, music is a lever that is built into our operating system.  It’s like a backdoor to tuning our minds to support our goals.  Heck, maybe it’s the front door. 
• As I have thought about music in preparation for today, I occurred to me that any particular song picks up….an emotion or a mental state, a program that plays in my mind when I hear that song.  .  But for me, some songs have particular effects
• Christmas songs I only hear at Christmas time and remember back through happy tmes
• Songs from my childhood that I rarely hear anymore, send me flying back in time.  I feel a happy for some reason.  Nostalgic
• Songs that I have had in my exercise playlist for 20 years…those songs get me riled up…ready to do hard work because I have done a 1000 hard workouts while listening
• And old favorites that are slow tunes play a program that let’s me sit and relax and not think about the other things I could be doing. 
• On the other hand, A song that I listened to all the time in many situations can lose the program due to interference of so many things attached

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Thanks.

A bike is a marvelous extension of the human body. Riding a bike is a like full-body meditation. When you do it right you are immersed in the present….lost in the pleasure of your body working well. That is, as long as your bike doesn’t cause pain.   Some people never have problems but others have to struggle to get the right combination of gear, body function, and set up. For those of us in that last category, a good bike fitter is priceless. 

So why is good bike fitting so hard to come by?  It turns out that it isn’t hard if you know what to look for.  Kevin Schmidt knows bikes, and he knows bodies. He's a good friend to the cyclist.

I have to admit that I didn't think this episode would apply to me. I mean my bike fits me already. But after my discussion with Kevin, on my very next bike ride, I noticed I had to scoot back on my saddle. Suddenly I was reminded of Kevin's advice about saddle tilt. I got off my bike and looked at my saddle for the 1000th time, and it looked good. But I decided to make the smallest possible adjustment to my saddle tilt, and BINGO! Suddenly my bike felt 100% better, and no more sliding. Yeah, you should listen to Kevin.

Kevin Schmidt, PT, MSPT, CMP, Bike Friendly Physio and owner/founder of Pedal PT

Kevin Schmidt is a physical therapist, clinical bike fitter, bike adventurer, and entrepreneur.  Since 2007, Kevin has dedicated himself 100% to living the 'bike life' and has not driven a car to a workday in over 12 years. He Founded Pedal PT in 2012 in Portland, Oregon, which became America's very first Physical Therapy clinic ever to be certified as a 'Gold-Level' Bike Friendly Business from the League of American Cyclists. In his pursuit of ‘Bike Friendly Physical Therapy” Kevin has written and been featured in numerous articles and speaking events on Bike Fit and managing the cycling population, and is also the creator of the ‘Pedal PT Online Academy’, and “The Portlander” Bike Fit training stand. Kevin lives in southeast Portland, OR with his family.  

Links:

• www.pedalpt.com
• Pedal PT YouTube Channel
• Pedal PT Blog on Medium
• Email: Kevin [at] pedalpt.com 
• Kevin's Pedal PT Academy: https://pedal-pt.mykajabi.com  

Outline of Talk