Dr D or anyone with this particular experience PLEASE READ AND GIVE OPINIONS
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND: Bachelors in Bio-Engineering so im somewhat versed in biological systems, humans being one. I feel I decent understanding of biology, chemistry, bio-chem, kinetics relating to biological functions (receptors, enzymes, factors, cofactors, cell messengers, hormones, inhibitors, ect.) and factors that could effect them.
Very very very interesting topic. Here are some background, some theories I will try very soon and the reasoning behind them, PLEASE COMMENT
CURRENT WORKOUT (reason I begain to think about my theory)
Goals: maintain lean mass while cutting, body recomp
Workout: 2 per week (1.back bis legs 2. chest shoulders tris) heavy, drop sets, low sets
Mon and Thurs
Reason: maintainance during extreme cutting, diet
Effectiveness: very, no loss of strength, this was very surprising and i have theories behind this but thats for another post.........
THEORY:
Since im on a 2 day a week workout I theorize that taking a slightly higher (say 40-50 mg EPI) but spaced out only 2 dosages a week (as opposed to 3-4) will result in similar effects on muscle size with less suppression.
RATIONALE:
The human body has to a resiliency to spikes in ACUTE stimuli, and the reaction is non linear even with higher magnitude. CHRONIC stimuli even if its lower in magnitude, pushes the body towards adaptation, reactions tend to be linear.
In essence the body can bounce back easier from random and non-pattern like shifts in its system without much long lasting effect, however large they may be. If the shifts are constant albiet smaller, the body will be more likely to react to maintain homestasis or develop a "new normal base". This is seen in physical drug dependance/addiction and how relatively smaller doses over prolonged periods can be disasterous. This is why binge drinkers can be relatively healthy compared to long term alcoholics. If you look a given time period when the binge drinker is drinking he will drink more than a given alcoholic, and his body will have higher levels of alcohol and its metabolites. But the short and random duration of his binge saves him. His body bounces back, its "sees" this as a random and temporary, therefore it doesnt changes. His "highs are higher while drunk because of his ACUTE use" and his body has not adapted to the process of CHRONIC abuse. One the other hand the long term alcoholic is set in his patterns. He drinks 6 beers a night or 8 fingers of scotch everyday in a CHRONIC pattern. His body has adapted to the booze. He no longer enjoys the buzz as much and without it he goes into withdrawls. His whole system has adapted to the chronic use. His "new normal" is maintaining homeostasis with alcohol in his system. His body has developed new nerve transmission patterns, new neuro-molecular chemistry, different levels of enzymes and protiens to deal.
HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO HTPA SHUTDOWN OR SUPPRESION????????(THEORETICAL)
Binge drinker=Pulsing cycle (more cushion for temporary high dose)
Chronic alcoholic=Traditional cycle (less cushion even with lower dose)
Now these examples do not in anyway mean that I view alcoholism and hormone supplementation on any kind of similiar level. It is just the simplest and most understandable example I can readily come up with
Pulsing cycle: Acute, even at high doses, non-adaptive response, bounce back because body hasnt produced sub-systems, elevated enzymes, ect to counter and "learned" how to adapt to a repeating stimulus, body has a non-linear response to acute use
Traditional cycle: Chronic, even at lower doses, adaptive response, body doesnt bounce back for reasons above, body has a linear response according to dosage at this point in chronic use
EXPERIMENTATION
To take this to the hyperbole I will attempt to see if this relationship is indeed non-linear by reducing the total number of dosage days to 2, and increasing the dosage to 40-50 mg of EPI (not overly high, as a precautionary, experimental measure). I suspect the side effects will be further reduced, while positive effects will remain similarly.
This single dose will actually be a split single dose spanned over an hour. Sounds confusing right? Well to allow higher levels of blood circulating hormones to be present pre workout (as an aside, this in itself has very effective for many reasons, but thats for another post......)as well as immediatly post workout. The first 20 mg will be taken 30-45 minutes preworkout, followed by 20 mg immediate post. Now this will have little overall effect on half life as the total spread of doses will be about an hour.
A little more food for thought relating to the pre/post workout supplementation.....................ever noticed how every supplement (creatine, protien, caffiene, ect, ect,) is more effective when taken pre during and post workout, This has to do with the priming effect. Its very muscle protective, and muscle supportive.
I truly believe lots of muscular damage can be reduced through pre/post supps not just post supps. Pre is vital. having circulating levels of GOOD STUFF IN YOUR BLOOD prior to a workout will immensely increse your ability to recover, and grow
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS TO PONDER
Are 2 days a week low enough to "trick the body" into an acute response? If so will the cycle prove effective in such spaced out doses? Will higher doses present unforseen immediate problems.
LIMITATIONS
I will not have access to bloodwork due to where I currently am employed/live. Therefore it will be anecdotal. And since I am the only one doing this my experiment will be severly lacking in sample size statistically speaking
what I mean is that if you are doing everything else right, the difference will be gradual over time to where it wont stand out, but someone who hasn't seen her in 6 months may say "damn, what have you been doing". But shortest i've seen someone say noticeable results was 6 weeks, most people agree at least 3 months to see them.
