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Anabolic Pump - Insulin Levels and Gaining Muscle Mass

SD Nat Muscle

New member
I always thought that one of the main reasons bodybuilders ate so many meals a day was to maintain insulin levels. My understanding is that when insulin levels are elevated your body is in an anabolic state. When insulin levels are low it triggers catabolism and the body begins to break apart muscle tissue for consumption.

This being said why would it be advantageous to take a supplement that lowers insulin levels when trying to gain muscle mass? Wouldn't this put the body into a fasted and catabolic state and cause just the opposite?

I'm not trying to trash the supplement I'm just trying to understand how it may help someone attempting to build LBM.
 
The point of insulin is the drive glucose and aminos into muscle cells to provide fuel for growth. It's namley the action of the substance, not the substance itself. (generally speaking)

With AP, you can increase musclular sensitiy to insulin, casuing less release, but still forcing the needed nutrients into muscle cell.

So, less insulin can also mean more fat lipolysis/oxidation, and you still get needed nutrients to your muscle cells. Win win.
 
papagunz said:
The point of insulin is the drive glucose and aminos into muscle cells to provide fuel for growth. It's namley the action of the substance, not the substance itself. (generally speaking)

With AP, you can increase musclular sensitiy to insulin, casuing less release, but still forcing the needed nutrients into muscle cell.

So, less insulin can also mean more fat lipolysis/oxidation, and you still get needed nutrients to your muscle cells. Win win.
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Very well said!
 
Mulletsoldier said:
Very well said!
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Coming from you that's an uber compliment. Just fyi, I'm a few days into AP, seems promising, but too early to tell. Definetly makes me feel hypo after 20 mins, and my blood sugar seems stable after a larger carb meal (no crushing appetite or headrush)
 
papagunz said:
Coming from you that's an uber compliment. Just fyi, I'm a few days into AP, seems promising, but too early to tell. Definetly makes me feel hypo after 20 mins, and my blood sugar seems stable after a larger carb meal (no crushing appetite or headrush)
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Well, it would be a compliment coming from anybody. Great understanding there.

Anyway, give it some time; I'm sure you will be patient enough!
 
Also, the point of the many meals is to keep insulin levels *stable*, not elevated. If you eat 3 large meals your insulin spikes much more after those meals even if the total carb load is the same with 8 smaller meals.
 
papagunz said:
The point of insulin is the drive glucose and aminos into muscle cells to provide fuel for growth. It's namley the action of the substance, not the substance itself. (generally speaking)

With AP, you can increase musclular sensitiy to insulin, casuing less release, but still forcing the needed nutrients into muscle cell.

So, less insulin can also mean more fat lipolysis/oxidation, and you still get needed nutrients to your muscle cells. Win win.
Click to expand...


I can see how the philosophy behind AP can help someone attempting to lose weight but it seems counterintuitive for someone attempting to gain LBM.

Once the body enters into "fat lipolysis/oxidation" it is in a catabolic state and feasting on your muscle cells as well as your fat stores. It seems that entering this state more quickly (as AP is supposed to do) would actually hinder your progress towards building muscle. The idea behind eating many meals a day containing low GI carbs is to avoid this catabolic state.

Am I missing something?
 
Yes, it's catabolic to fat. Because beta oxidation occurs, doesn't mean you are feasting on muscle as well.

The premise behind AP is to create an anabolic environment for muscle cell (max glucose/amino uptake into muscle tissue) and a catabolic environment for fat (via antagonizing glut4 in fat tissue and insulin management).

Whether or not it will work out that way depends on a few factors including body type and total caloric intake. Make no mistake, I'm not pimping or shilling, just giving my understanding of the product. I've just started using it myself and will make up my mind in due time.
 
papagunz said:
Yes, it's catabolic to fat. Because beta oxidation occurs, doesn't mean you are feasting on muscle as well.

The premise behind AP is to create an anabolic environment for muscle cell (max glucose/amino uptake into muscle tissue) and a catabolic environment for fat (via antagonizing glut4 in fat tissue and insulin management).

Whether or not it will work out that way depends on a few factors including body type and total caloric intake. Make no mistake, I'm not pimping or shilling, just giving my understanding of the product. I've just started using it myself and will make up my mind in due time.
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I still don't see how it is anabolic or muscle building. Low insulin levels cause the release of Glucagon. Glucagon breaks down muscle cells to release glucose back into the blood. It would be great if low insulin levels only cause the breakdown of fat cells but it just doesn't work that way.

I'd be interested to know how the supplement works for you. What are your goals?
 
Glucagon is released when blood sugar is low and afaik, not when insulin is low.
Stolen from wikipedia:
Increased secretion of glucagon is caused by:
Decreased plasma glucose
Increased catecholamines - norepinephrine and epinephrine
Increased plasma amino acids (to protect from hypoglycemia if an all protein meal is consumed)
Sympathetic nervous system
Acetylcholine
Cholecystokinin

So if you are taking enough carbs you should be protected from glucagon being released.
 
eatingisfun said:
Glucagon is released when blood sugar is low and afaik, not when insulin is low.
Stolen from wikipedia:
Increased secretion of glucagon is caused by:
Decreased plasma glucose
Increased catecholamines - norepinephrine and epinephrine
Increased plasma amino acids (to protect from hypoglycemia if an all protein meal is consumed)
Sympathetic nervous system
Acetylcholine
Cholecystokinin

So if you are taking enough carbs you should be protected from glucagon being released.
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I was using Insulin and Blood Sugar somewhat analogously. When Blood Sugar is low Insulin is low and the body is catabolic. Glucagon is released to get glucose back into the blood stream and unfortunately a large part of it comes from the muscle cells.
 
But I think the trigger is much different biologically. If you eat enough carbs your blood sugar will not drop any more than it normally would through regular insulin secretion. Since AP is fairly targeted towards GLUT-4 in muscle cells only, the fat cells don't really get much glucose. They still get some of course because it's pretty hard to fight them off completely. You blood sugar still drops to normal if you don't take AP so this is not really any different except you are bypassing the insulin pathway which in turn bypasses the fat cells somewhat.
 
Many pro bodybuilders take insulin with huge amounts of carbs. Yes your blood sugar drops but if you are taking in enough carbs then it's not dropping to hypoglycemic levels.
 
SD Nat Muscle said:
I'd be interested to know how the supplement works for you. What are your goals?
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Straight recomp/lean bulk. We'll see, I'm fairly skeptical. 4 days in and the pumps are better and vascularity is more prevalent. Again though, we shall see. I have 3 bottles total which I picked up on sale. Either I strike gold or never buy USP again, it's that simple, but time will certainly be given to make a fair judgement.
 
Plain and simple, I love AP because it is the perfect supp for gaining lean muscle mass and dropping bodyfat:thumbsup:
 
grexx said:
Plain and simple, I love AP because it is the perfect supp for gaining lean muscle mass and dropping bodyfat:thumbsup:
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x2! :head:

papagunz said:
Straight recomp/lean bulk. We'll see, I'm fairly skeptical. 4 days in and the pumps are better and vascularity is more prevalent. Again though, we shall see. I have 3 bottles total which I picked up on sale. Either I strike gold or never buy USP again, it's that simple, but time will certainly be given to make a fair judgement.
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I'm a natural skeptic as well, but your post confounds me. 4 days, and you're realizing those effects - yet you sound antagonistic towards the product & the company.. :think:

I was a diehard keto dieter for 4 years till AP made me a believer in the power of utilizing carbs!
 
papagunz said:
The point of insulin is the drive glucose and aminos into muscle cells to provide fuel for growth. It's namley the action of the substance, not the substance itself. (generally speaking)

With AP, you can increase musclular sensitiy to insulin, casuing less release, but still forcing the needed nutrients into muscle cell.

So, less insulin can also mean more fat lipolysis/oxidation, and you still get needed nutrients to your muscle cells. Win win.
Click to expand...

Nice..
 
snagency said:
I'm a natural skeptic as well, but your post confounds me. 4 days, and you're realizing those effects - yet you sound antagonistic towards the product & the company.. :think:
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Antagonistic towards USP, nope, not at all. Just a realist leaning towards pessimist in my approach to supplements.

Here's my take. If I take a very scrutinizng approach, and this stuff blows me away, I'm 110% sold without a doubt. And you also must understand that I'm a 19 year old college kid, just paid the semester bill, and will be buying a few hundred dollars in books coming up here soon, so money is tight. I don't want to pay 30-40 a month for something, but if it works that well I'd highly consider it.

Am I excited that this could take me from endo to endo/meso? Hell yes. But, one of my favorite quotes is "hope is the foundation for dissapointment."
 
papagunz said:
The point of insulin is the drive glucose and aminos into muscle cells to provide fuel for growth. It's namley the action of the substance, not the substance itself. (generally speaking)

With AP, you can increase musclular sensitiy to insulin, casuing less release, but still forcing the needed nutrients into muscle cell.

So, less insulin can also mean more fat lipolysis/oxidation, and you still get needed nutrients to your muscle cells. Win win.
Click to expand...

Papagunz couldn't have stated that any better!
 
I'm pessimistic towards life in general, so I feel ya there. But all I got to tell you is if you use the product in the correct fashion, with the proper building blocks of food & decent intesity in your workouts, you will not be disappointed.

But to come into a USP forum spouting pessimism about a product that you've done for only 4 days - a product you're seeing results from already at that - that gives the perception of "hater". Give it some time & proper use before airing such opinions. You made the decision to purchase the product despite being in apparently financial straits - don't let your 2nd guessing yourself distract you so you end up making it a self-fulfilling prophecy by not running proper protocol; then you'd be correct, it would be a waste..

There are a lot of guys around who will be happy to help you with usage questions, but not if your fighting them all the way thru with such doubtful countenance.
 
snagency said:
I'm pessimistic towards life in general, so I feel ya there. But all I got to tell you is if you use the product in the correct fashion, with the proper building blocks of food & decent intesity in your workouts, you will not be disappointed.

But to come into a USP forum spouting pessimism about a product that you've done for only 4 days - a product you're seeing results from already at that - that gives the perception of "hater". Give it some time & proper use before airing such opinions. You made the decision to purchase the product despite being in apparently financial straits - don't let your 2nd guessing yourself distract you so you end up making it a self-fulfilling prophecy by not running proper protocol; then you'd be correct, it would be a waste..

There are a lot of guys around who will be happy to help you with usage questions, but not if your fighting them all the way thru with such doubtful countenance.
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I'm not "spouting hate" or any such thing man. I'm trying to help the OP see the benefits of AP's effects. I believed that with my endomorphic bodytype AP would work well for me, and it was on great sale (25 per bottle) so I picked up three bottles to give it a fair but scrutinizing run.

Since it's my hard earned money, I will be very skeptical, yes.

If you'll notice, I was the first one to post in this thread to try and help another AP user/potential user. If I were a hater who "spouts off assumptions" I would just come in and tell him to save his money.

The only thing I would've/should've worded differently is "it either works or I never buy USP again." Yes, I could see that being read rather harshly, so for that alone I do apologize.

Just, ease up on the assumptions. I have high hopes, and am following lots Mulletsoldiers recomendations, and have read a **** load about what this product does, timing issues, ect. I want this to work for me. I really really do.
 
papagunz said:
I'm not "spouting hate" or any such thing man. For christ's sake I'm trying to help the OP see the benefits of AP's effects. I believed that with my endomorphic bodytype AP would work well for me, and it was on great sale (25 per bottle) so I picked up three bottles to give it a fair but scrutinizing run.

Since it's my hard earned money, I will be very skeptical, yes.

If you'll notice, I was the first one to post in this thread to try and help another AP user/potential user. If I were a hater who "spouts off assumptions" I would just come in and tell him to save his money.

The only thing I would've/should've worded differently is "it either works or I never buy USP again." Yes, I could see that being read rather harshly, so for that alone I do apologize.

Just, ease up on the assumptions. I have high hopes, and am following lots Mulletsoldiers recomendations, and have read a **** load about what this product does, timing issues, ect. I want this to work for me. I really really do.
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Yes, that statement was what stood out to me. And my bad - somehow I got you and the thread starter mixed up and was sensing some negative overtones. (You'll have to forgive me, I'm in like 12 different threads right now, lol).

I see you do have a grasp on the product application by your post, so you're way ahead of the game already. And you can't go wrong listening to Mullet, he's a knowledgeable dude.

I think you'll be a happy camper. Looking forward to seeing your opinion down the road..
 
snagency said:
Yes, that statement was what stood out to me. And my bad - somehow I got you and the thread starter mixed up and was sensing some negative overtones. (You'll have to forgive me, I'm in like 12 different threads right now, lol).

I see you do have a grasp on the product application by your post, so you're way ahead of the game already. And you can't go wrong listening to Mullet, he's a knowledgeable dude.

I think you'll be a happy camper. Looking forward to seeing your opinion down the road..
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All is well my friend and I hope I have a very satisifed opinion to give you down the road.
 
One week in, and pumps are much fuller in the gym, vascularity is more pronounced, and by god. The endurance in the gym is nuts. Is the last one normal?
 
papagunz said:
One week in, and pumps are much fuller in the gym, vascularity is more pronounced, and by god. The endurance in the gym is nuts. Is the last one normal?
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Endurance in the gym and intra set recovery is because the increase in muscular glycogen....add a little creatine and beta-A and watch out!
 
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