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| Meredith would have been wearing red, but it exploded after | Day 1. |
SO. Regionals are over, everywhere. I thought I'd start with a few thoughts on the athletes I had competing in various Regions.
I have to admit, while I've been a critic of the whole "Sport" of CF, the coverage, the personalities behind the scenes, I was pretty damn impressed with the whole deal. Plus, I actually had my shit together early enough to be able to attend the Can West Regionals, which was a fantastic weekend.
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| Heather G, going to Cali! |
Here's a listing of the athletes I had competing:
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| Taryn making it look easy |
- Jeremy Meredith, 1st, Can West (Qualified)
- Heather Gillespie, 2nd, Can West, (Qualified)
- Steve Howell, 3rd, Can West
- Joey Lutz, 4th, Can West
- Alicia Connors, 6th, Can West
- Taryn Romanowich, 14th, Can West
- Jason Tillsley, 35th, Can West (pulled out due to injury)
- Rachel Seimens, 1st place Team Taranis Can West, (Qualified)
I had a few other athletes sprinkled around, too:
- Steve Pinkerton, 4th, Mid-Atlantic
- Colin Jenkins, 7th, So Cal
- Connor Nelson, 14th, North West
- Meghan Sweet, 22nd, South East
I'm pretty damn stoked about having 3 athletes make it to the Games. As a side note, Rachel just placed 3rd at a Canadian National Olympic lifting competition:
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| Rachel is stronger than you. |
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| In the athlete w/u area: JT stretching, Joey, Jeremy & I chatting. |
As you can see, I'm trying my best to build my very own
Army of Red athletes.
Data Intake Program For Adrenal Function
Right after Regionals, I had a few things come together at once, which resulted in my email going nuclear. Due to the exposure, athlete placing, and talking with folks at Regionals, I had a lot of interest for my services. Also, the
project I had planned with James when I was in Scottsdale a while back was literally rolled out the day after. The response was great, and the spots were filled right away. I've gotten a fair amount of lab values back on athletes so far, and what I've found has been damn interesting. The quick n' dirty so far:
- There's a significant amount of adrenal dysfunction in high end athletes. Is this training induced, or pre-existing, and hindering the athlete, or both? Important questions.
- Some athletes compensate VERY well; despite training load, hormones like DHEA, Progesterone, and Testosterone are all quite healthy.
- Despite relatively clean diets, GI (gastro intestinal) issues are common---low GI melatonin, positive indican scores, and elevated nightime cortisol.
The Project has kept me quite busy between interpreting labs, writing nutritional prescriptions, and Skyping with clients
(which I love! Very cool to hash is out face to face ) Unfortunately, I have a pretty long waiting list. I'm a one man band with Dynamic Nutrition, and still pulling 48+hr/week at the fire dept, and also trying to spend as much time as I can with my wife and daughter. So, if you are one of the ones waiting, please be patient. Or hound me. Or send me free shit...I love that. And it's highly influential. :D
Bailing Off The Caffeine Band-Wagon
Point number 1 listed my biggest concern, and one of the main values I'm testing---adrenal capacity & health in athletes. And, like I stated earlier, I haven't seen a single athlete that didn't have some form of dysfunction. Some folks are smashed right down, with the adrenal function of a Diablo3 video-game playing, socially awkward, solar-ray avoiding Red-Bull ravaged, 120lb dweeb. Yeah, that bad.
In this regard, I have a new outlook on stimulants, and their use in athletes. Oh, there's no question they work, and work well. But the long term effects, and especially chronic use, need to be considered---especially where pre-existing issues are a factor.
As athletes, our training is a stressor, in and of itself; this can't be changed, because then training would fail to be effective. What we are trying to do is stimulate training adaptation. As humans, this is where we kick ass: we are highly adaptable. Think of all the stupid shit we do, yet still seem to thrive.
Darwin's Law of Natural Selection? Pfft. Fuckit, I'm human. I'll bypass that lame shit.
It does catch up, though. Training, bright lights, shitty sleep, poor diet, hot girlfriend that's as dumb as a sack of hammers but you can't leave and drives you mental, and of course, caffeine use. These are all "stressors", some good, some bad. It's best to try and remove the ones you can, or at least control the degree in which they affect you. Enter caffeine.
Caffeine works by antagonizing the adenosine receptors non-selectively; one of these, the adenosine receptor A2a suppresses
neurotransmitters like epinephrine (aka adrenaline) and norepinephrine. In other words, "the brakes are off" when it comes to secretion of these stimulating hormones from the adrenal glands. You can see where I'm going with this, and the illustration of the vicious circle of stress and adrenal fatigue. Caffeine is an ergogenic,
but at a cost.
I've told 3 clients this week to back off all caffeine;
and, for me, this is Day One of zero caffeine. I can't, with any amount of integrity, ask a client to do something I wouldn't.
"Do as I say, and do as I do". If any of you know me, you know how much I love that gal java. I don't expect my n=1 to be easy, but I don't expect it to be brutally hard, either. Despite my non-caffeine today, my coconut seems to be rather clear tonight, and I have a game plan:
- Adaptogens: I had mentioned these in an early post on Adrenal Fatigue. What I'm currently using is a killer formula from Peak Biology, called Max Energy. The name is a bit deceiving as it's not a stimulant, but an multi-source adaptogenic formula that deals with stress quite well.
- Tulsi: John Power, aka Kstar of the North from Power Health put me onto this. It's common name is Holy Basil, and it's a strong adaptogenic herb with some interesting properties in regards to both testosterone and cortisol. I'm using this as a tea, along with Gotu Kola, from Organic India
- Licorice Root: This is a staple in any adrenal dysfunction protocol; in a nutshell, licorice root extends the half-life of endogenous cortisol---what you make sticks around longer.
- Ultra B: This is also a staple; the B vitamins are all required for proper energy production in the Kreb's cycle, and B5 is essential for hormone production. The New Roots brand kicks total ass.
We will see what 30 days brings. :) Next time I post, it will probably be post-Crossfit Games, but I'm always willing to answer emails or comments, so let 'em fly!
Right after Regionals, I had a few things come together at once, which resulted in my email going nuclear. Due to the exposure, athlete placing, and talking with folks at Regionals, I had a lot of interest for my services. Also, the project I had planned with James when I was in Scottsdale a while back was literally rolled out the day after. The response was great, and the spots were filled right away. I've gotten a fair amount of lab values back on athletes so far, and what I've found has been damn interesting. The quick n' dirty so far:
Point number 1 listed my biggest concern, and one of the main values I'm testing---adrenal capacity & health in athletes. And, like I stated earlier, I haven't seen a single athlete that didn't have some form of dysfunction. Some folks are smashed right down, with the adrenal function of a Diablo3 video-game playing, socially awkward, solar-ray avoiding Red-Bull ravaged, 120lb dweeb. Yeah, that bad.
Logging you in...
Posts
Sean'O · 669 weeks ago
Mike 58p · 669 weeks ago
My training has been weeeeeeeeeeeaaaak lately. At least, it feels that way. I'm still on track for my PRs in my lifts, but I'm feeling a bit busted up again. We will have to find some time to get a session in. It's tough, man. Time. The ultimate currency.
Want a nice lil' metcon thrasher? 9 Min AMRAP of 9 Thrusters, 95#, and 9 pullups. Yeah, it's a 9 minute Fran. And yeah, I thought it was a good idea at the time. Not so much.
Mark G · 669 weeks ago
Mike 58p · 669 weeks ago
The mainstays of treating AF, especially late stage II and III are w/ bio-identical hormones in small supportive doses. This is a catch 22, because it's extremely hard to get these in Canada due to border regulations. It's a grey area---for personal use, "yes"...for distribution "no". Ordering cross-border, it's a 50/50 chance you get them or not.
chadcilli 17p · 667 weeks ago
I'm new here, just stumbled across your blog. I think you have some really interesting ideas here and I'm very eager to see the results of your Adrenal Function data. This is a topic that has been of great interest to me, and I've done an extensive amount of work and research on it. You brought up some interesting points I'd like to discuss with you. Just some observations I'd like to share with you, and hopefully you'll get a chance to respond.
"There's a significant amount of adrenal dysfunction in high end athletes. Is this training induced, or pre-existing, and hindering the athlete, or both? Important questions."
I've noticed this in elite soldiers. Special operations members have classic adrenal dysfunction, reversed diurnal rhythm, low cortisol, low DHEA, low testosterone, high blood sugar, and yet they thrive. It's mind boggling. I've seen guys with pre diabetic blood sugar goes days without food and never have any energy issues, and then they still manage to perform well with tasks that would break the average person like carrying a 50 pound ruck over rough terrain for 50 miles in under 20 hours. It defies everything I've ever learned. However, it is my belief that it is training induced, and is actually an adaptation that they make to the stressors of their environment. I say this because some of these special operators were athletes of mine before going to Ranger School, BUD/S, BRC, BUD/S, etc, and they did not have the signs of adrenal dysfunction. Yet, after a few years of training, a handful of deployments, and the stress of combat as counter intuitive as it seems I believe that these are actually positive adaptations. They have no "off" switch, and therefore, when normal people have to accelerate from 0 to 60 in a fight or flight situation, these guys cruise at 45, so they're only going 45 to 60 and it makes them better at reacting to threats and unexpected situations. Is it healthy? Probably not. But is it keeping them alive in their line of work? Definitely. I don't believe it hinders their performance at all, but I do believe it decreases their longevity.
"Some athletes compensate VERY well; despite training load, hormones like DHEA, Progesterone, and Testosterone are all quite healthy."
I haven't seen this actually, I generally see guys in a hypogonadal state. Or at least, hypogonadal by my standards. I'll see guys who are 25 with a total testosterone of 450 ng/dL. Yet, they far out perform their "optimally gonadal" peers. It is my belief that we place far too much value in testosterone. Yes, it is important, but I've seen guys with T levels over 800 who had longer recovery times and lower response to training than guys who were at 400 total T. I'm not saying I know what it is, but I think there is another variable in this equation that is making all the difference. Athletes, well humans in general really, have an amazing ability to adapt to almost anything. That "compensation" as you point out is taking place constantly. I suspect that IGF-1 plays a large role in this, but I just don't have the quantity of bloodwork data to draw that inference.
Despite relatively clean diets, GI (gastro intestinal) issues are common---low GI melatonin, positive indican scores, and elevated nightime cortisol.
Again with the reversed diurnal rhythm. Low cortisol in the AM, high cortisol at night. Check out their sleep cycles though. They usually drop into delta phase sleep literally 10-15 minutes after falling asleep. It's like their body knows what it needs and goes straight for it. GI issues do seem extremely common though. I know alot of guys talk about taking a "combat dump" or getting "battle runs." I have to assume that it has something to do with the body switching back and forth between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Obviously, I can't really gain data on this since it would be completely impractical to be doing blood draws in the middle of a gun battle in some Afghan village, but I would imagine that their adrenals are pumping out as much aldosterone and adrenaline as they can, and once the threat is neutralized, the body goes into "repair" state and starts pumping out as much cortisol (the body's natural anti-inflammatory) as it can. I think this constant flip flopping between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system is the main driving force behind the GI issues. After all, when we go into "flight or fight" the last thing our body is worried about is how to digest last night's dinner.
chadcilli 17p · 667 weeks ago
The human body is the most amazing thing in the world. I fully believe that we are able to adapt to stress in a manner where we can perform no matter our physical state. I've seen guys run on broken legs, climb with dislocated shoulders, and sprint with a torn achilles. Certainly we're capable of overcoming a less than optimal adrenal state. Just to keep my statement in perspective though, I believe that it is entirely a short term ability. Just like running on a broken leg or sprinting with a torn achilles. They can do it till the threat is over, and then they're laying on the ground screaming in pain. We can overcome our adrenal state while the threat is present, but what you really have to worry about is what is going to happen when that threat is gone.
I really hope to hear back from you on this, I rarely find anyone who is as interested in it as I am.
Mike 58p · 667 weeks ago
Phenomenal, PHENOMENAL insights! The concept of adrenal fatigue and depressed hormone levels being adaptation in situ is extremely thought provoking. While I think these specific labs (cortisol, DHEA, test, etc) are very relevant to performance, I think there's other measures than we are missing that may have more impact.
While the stress of competition cannot even hold aflame to the extremes of combat, I do see the parallels. I'm extremely interesting in hearing about how you've treated the clients/patients you've seen, and what progress they've made.
Shoot me an email to mike@dynamicnutrition.ca and lets talk more.
chadcilli 17p · 667 weeks ago
optcoach 1p · 667 weeks ago
- we forget that resiliency and emotional toughness has no biological markers, hence the reason why we see some adapters and some non adapters; we are going to develop a psych test to see if we can flush this out and over time compare those scores with the health bio markers - hypothesis, we wont see any connections
- stress adaptation is necessary for the sport; and hence a large lack of health, the closer to innate maximums, the worse the health, and we are using health parameters - also see the military method as an upgrade for our thinking, as their adaptation is measured, but who gives a shit when trying to live and survive, as we can drop the barbell, they cannot stop running from the gun...which leads me to my next point, there needs to be more time on this and correlates taken on the "placings" of the individual and the scores in health,,,,as we are seeing folks that are really good not even think about, are aware of, or even care about their hormones and state of being, whereas take someone who is "chasing" and they "perceive" themselves as working hard and are "aware" of it, this causes the downstream affect when they see their scores plummet....time will tell on this one as we get more years into the sport
- you're right on the gut and stress combo, and that terrain adapts 1st, before the HPA...i.e. you learn fast in schooling how to digest fast and break food down after you eat and go hard for 3 hours and throw it all up in the 1st 10 min...everyone adapts fast then....but i think that having a omega wave HRV or the HRV we have here in AZ might be a better method of seeing internally the SNS and PSNS differences based on the stress...and i can betcha just like we'll see in the sport of CF that there are some made for it based on the stress adaptation and resiliency, and this CAN be measured as you had mentioned in the SNS/PSNS ratios...more to come on that as we are digging into it more now
and you are right, there is only a few who are interested in this...reason being is that the truth hurts...
chadcilli 17p · 667 weeks ago
I couldn't agree with you more about the resiliency and emotional toughness being a major player. However, I don't know if you're familiar with the CSORT (Computerized Special Operations Resiliency Test), but thus far, they've been unable to draw any usable data from it. Guys score a perfect on it and DOR during indoc, meanwhile, other guys can score a 1 on it and still be standing there on graduation day. There seems to be no correlation whatsoever based on preliminary data.
Want a bizarre correlation? It seems that blue eyes and the number of tattoos a trainee has are correlated to the odds of him finishing. I have absolutely no explanation for that, but I really wish I did.
I really like your observation about people who don't care or think about their hormones. I've often observed that the alpha males that I've worked with never obsess over the details. They just do what they do. Meanwhile, the guys fighting tooth and nail for that top spot, measuring out their food, taking their blood glucose after every meal, utilizing the emWave2, doing saliva testing, etc, their hormones are completely out of whack. But it's chicken or the egg since I can't possibly have data on them before they started tracking their data. I don't know if their obsession with their hormones and training causes the drop the sex hormones and spike in stress hormones, or if they were that way to begin with.
That being said though. I've seen some monsters who had horrible bloodwork, but still looked and performed like gorillas. I had a kid with a total T of 420 ng/dL squat 3x bodyweight, snatch 1.5x bodyweight, and still run a sub 18 minute 5K. His saliva cortisol was constantly depressed, suggesting later stages of adrenal fatigue.
As for the gust and stress combo, if you're not familiar with him, check out Col. Dave Grossman. He gave a lecture some time ago talking about the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system in combat. Basically, when all hell breaks loose, your body says "forget about digestion!" And thus the bowels and bladder empty whatever contents they might be carrying, so that all of the body's energy and resources can be utilized for addressing the immediate threat.
I'm particularly interested in your HRV data from the OmegaWave. I've been using the emWave2 software, and I've yet to find any real correlations. Although.... I did notice that in using Phil Maffetone's MAF test, a drop in performance while maintaining the same heart rate was a very strong predictor of reduced thyroid function.
I'm really looking forward to talking with you both!