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I’ve been waiting a long time for this one. For almost three years I’ve gotten nearly no resistance training. Why? Because I’ve long suspected it will impact my lipid numbers. And sure enough, during my endurance running phases, I observed data that appeared to confirm this.
Now the wait is over! |
My Hypothesis
I hypothesize resistance training reduces LDL cholesterol due to higher endocytosis of LDL particles by non-hepatic tissues, this includes skeletal muscle for growth and repair.
Study Design
From August 27th to September 10th (16 days), I will have the following routine:
- Meal Plan:
- Around 10 AM: Nathan’s Uncured All-Beef Hotdogs, two ounces of Colby
- Around 3 PM: Four hard boiled eggs, four ounces of Colby Jack cheese
- Around 8 PM: Three hard boiled eggs, four ounces of Colby Jack cheese
- Activity/Exercise:
- I will be standing at my desk through working hours
- I will be walking around 2.5 miles per day in the afternoon, generally between 3pm and 8pm
- I will be traveling and doing errands outside the house as little as possible to control for confounders
- Daily testing:
- Morning glucose, BHB, weight, blood pressure readings
- Around 10 AM glucose and lipid readings
- Morning lipid readings from the day of the intervention (Sept 5th) until the end of the experiment (Sept 10th)
- Blood draws:
- Each blood draw will include Apolipoprotein A-1, Apolipoprotein B, C-Reactive Protein, Cardiac, CBC With Differential/Platelet, Comp. Metabolic Panel (14), Fatty Acids, Free (Nonester), Ferritin, Serum, Glucagon, IGF-1, Insulin and C-Peptide, Serum, Lipid Panel, Lp(a), Lp-PLA2 Activity, NMR LipoProfile, Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha
- The first blood draw will take place on September 5th just before the intervention
- The second blood draw will take place after one of two conditions, whichever comes first:
- The morning lipid reading shows a drop of more than 10% for LDL cholesterol against run-up baseline (if on a Sunday, to be carried over to the following Monday) or
- The last day of the experiment is reached
Intervention
I will engage in a workout session with a Vibration Plate Power Plus. I will be working all upper body with the intent to become as sore as is reasonable without risk of injury. I will keep track of all time allotments and settings for data and potential reproducibility.
This will be performed:
- On Wednesday, September 5th at approximately 9 AM
- On Sunday, September 9th at approximately 9 AM
Awesome Dave! Good luck with Experiment!
Go Dave! Waiting to hear what happens!
Supercool! Looking forward for the results!
When are you going to do resistance training in this study?
The intervention (resistance training) is listed as being on Wednesday (yesterday) and this upcoming Sunday. 🙂
I think the issue is that the “Vibration Plate Power Plus” doesn’t seem like resistance training, as least as how most people think of resistance training. For instance, I just got back from doing “Body by Science” type of what I consider to be “resistance training”, which is where I did a pyramid scheme for each exercise. For instance, for 45 degree leg presses, I pressed (that is, performed slow repetitions with) 5×45+1×25 plates per side until I couldn’t do any more, took the 25lb plate off each side, pressed until I couldn’t do any more, took off one 45lb plate per side, pressed until I couldn’t do any more, took off one more 45lb plate per side, and pressed until I couldn’t do any more. I transitioned as quickly as I could between these. That’s what I consider “resistance training”, and I’m not sure that the “Vibration Plate Power Plus” is the same as that.
I am a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, so hopefully I can explain why the Power Plate Dave is using is a much more effective resistance training modality than a Body by Science type workout. The Power Plate provides a high frequency vibration platform on which one performs excercises, like a push up, for example. The reasoning behind why a Power Plate will confer more benefits than doing a push up on a stable surface is that the vibrations induce activation of stabilizer muscles and fatigues them more effectively. When you compare this scenario to the heavy and infrequent lifting routine of a Body by Science workout, which only targets large, primary mover muscles, there is a significant difference in the metabolic demands of these modalities. Simply put, you get more bang for your buck when you use a Power Plate vs a machine to perform a similar exercise.
So I’ll concede I have some learning to do with how best to utilize it. But per Erin’s comment, there’s no question it does a lot and quickly. I think to many (including myself) it looks a lot easier than it is from a distance until you’re actually doing it! In a matter of minutes I was impressed by how much it was taxing me for the positions I was working with.
Would be interesting to see results with “Body by science” type workouts.
Maybe in another experiment. 🙂
Anxious to follow! Love my power plate and will be curious to see how you utilize yours in this experiment. Keep up the great work!
I ended up using it a little less than I thought I would. It has more of a learning curve than I would have expected. That said, the thing really delivers a lot in a short time frame!
I live in Vegas + wonder if u have a low carb oriented Dr u work with to get CAC CIMT as can’t find any cash pay – no Rx needed.
Maybe a bit late, but if u want a trainer to push u thru a resistance oriented routine SAFELY such that u
WILL be sore, I have the guy + it’ll be my treat.
I think we chatted earlier. If not, remind me and I’ll send you a message.
No we didn’t chat. So pls dm when u get some free time -Hahaha
This awesome! Since you have so insanely many ideas for impacting lipids, I’m going to do a comparable study myself for comparison using EECP next time I engage in it, as I believe it may have an impact BEYOND what Resistance Training or HIIT can achieve. I didn’t consider it’s impact on lipids when I did it in March and April, so didn’t measure then. I’m also curious if you’ve thought about angiogenesis and whether it has any relation to cholesterol. Seems like more vessels, even microvessels might need more “boats”?
Good questions. I don’t know as of yet.
Would it work for LMHR + GSD 1a? Looking back at all my past lipid panel, it appears not to. I have also tweeted this comment not sure which is the best way to get this thru to you 🙂
I don’t know, but I suspect it would as it is the same physiology. (Your lipid metabolism should be just fine assuming no other genetic challenge or derangement)
I hope that you’ve got the statin merchants a shakin’ and a quakin’ as well!
Do either of you use an online site to order these tests? I’ve tried to find one that tests everything you list in this article but can’t see to find one. Any suggestions?
We have an inside track that we’re working toward making available to everyone, but it’s been a long process. For now, use a service like RequestATest.com. 🙂
Thanks Dave. Excited to see what you come up with. Have you had any similar discussions with anyone about trying to bring an inexpensive home insulin test kit to the market? That would be a real game changer.
All. The. Time.
My first question is terminological; my second one will be about athletes and cholesterol, in particular in connection with the Carnivore Diet, particularly a “strict” one that consumes literally zero carbs.
First, As a 60 year-old lifelong athlete with a B.S. in physical education, I fail to see why this experiment is called a ‘resistance’ training experiment rather than simply a ‘mild-to-moderate exercise training’ experiment. ‘Resistance’ training, as the term is normally used, doesn’t apply to such mild exercise as walking or standing, though of course any movement other than lying down or sitting will create some minimal amount of resistance, in the sense that some muscles will have to work at least a little bit. Rather, ‘resistance’ training refers to what is meant by the broad use of the term ‘weight training’, whether that training be by moving weights per se (or other objects, such as a medicine ball) or moving one’s own body weight in ways that substantially increases the load that muscles will have to bear in contrast to the “normal” load such muscles incur while standing or walking. For example, doing push-ups or pull-ups or chin-ups or lunges or body-weight-only squats or climbing stairs or hills or or the like are all activities that are considered resistance training. Sure, standing multiple hours a day and walking 2.5 miles a day–assuming it is on a flat surface and not up and down slopes or hills–will give more resistance to the lower extremity and spine than than just sitting around all day, but in the physical education and/or athletic world no one would call that ‘resistance’ training.
Second, it would be very interesting to find out what weight training, in the sense I defined above, would have on blood lipid profiles, etc., not to mention what effect other much more athletic endeavors would have on them. I’ve read about “Lean Mass Hyper Responders” on the site (and I suspect that I will be one of them), but haven’t yet found anything more about athletes and cholesterol, though I’m relatively new to the site. Can you recommend something on the site I can read about that? I’ve recently switched from a HCLF diet to the Carnivore Diet. I’m currently on Day 61 of the Carnivore Diet and Day 56 of Zero Carbs (literally, as I’ve consumed nothing at all except dark meat chicken and 100% grass-fed beef, along with sea salt and water, for 56 days.) I read some things in THE BIG FAT SURPRISE by Nina Teicholz (see pages 304 and 398 for anyone interested) about how endurance athletes, very surprisingly, actually performed better on almost no carbs at all than on high carb diets. And I’m very interested in learning more about this and related subjects.
Hi Tom —
1) Sure. 😉
2) I haven’t written on it much as I haven’t been able to get into it a lot until now (due to the hold off while capturing other data). But you can find lots with Volek and Phinney’s work, of course. Hopefully, I’ll have a lot more of my own data to show soon.
When I posted the comments/questions I did a few minutes ago I had not read the “Intervention” section”. Since the above section said “activity/exercise” I thought that was supposed to be the resistance experiment! My apologies. I’m new to the site and just figuring things out. I thought the “study design” was all there was to it. I also have never heard of the “vibration power plate plus” thing he used. I’ll have to look it up. But this could deal with the first question I asked in my preceding comment. Also, I hadn’t read the comments below. The comment from Erin Macfarland is particularly interesting. There is no doubt that working stabilizing muscles is important for neuromuscular coordination, posture development, and a variety of other things, but, since I’m not familiar with what the “vibration power plate plus” is I’ll have to look it up.
And to be sure, I’m by no means an expert in any of this on the physical side, so I wouldn’t be surprised if my terminology is a bit off.