Q&A: Insulin resistance and hypertrophy, stimulant metabolism, and BMR variability

The Stronger By Science Podcast

In this Q&A episode of the podcast, Greg and Lyndsey answer questions about how to research a new subject, the effect of diabetes or insulin resistance on hypertrophy, how a pump might affect moment arms in movements, how much is too much isolation work, and more. They also give an update on the future of the podcast and announce that Dr Pak and Dr Milo Wolf are teaming up with Stronger By Science.

TIME STAMPS

00:00:00 – Podcast Updates

• https://www.strongerbyscience.com/future/

00:21:29 – Q&A Intro and "How do you go about researching a whole new subject?" (Q1 from Teo)

00:39:29 – "Does T2DM make hypertrophy impossible?" (Q2 from Jon)

• https://www.strongerbyscience.com/p-ratios/
• https://www.strongerbyscience.com/p-ratios-rebuttal/
• https://www.strongerbyscience.com/p-ratios-rebuttal-2/
• For more direct data on diabetic populations: Beyond general resistance training. Hypertrophy versus muscular endurance training as therapeutic interventions in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Acosta-Manzano et al. (2020)
• Another 2020 systematic review: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Resistance Training on Whole-Body Muscle Growth in Healthy Adult Males. Benito et al. Average increase of about 1.51kg.
• Metformin: optimism that it would help with hypertrophy: Metformin to Augment Strength Training Effective Response in Seniors (MASTERS): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
• But, that didn’t pan out. Didn’t stop hypertrophy altogether, but did seem to reduce it: Metformin blunts muscle hypertrophy in response to progressive resistance exercise training in older adults: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial: The MASTERS trial

00:55:18 – "Does getting a pump increase strength?" (Q3 from Alexander)

• https://www.strongerbyscience.com/size-vs-strength/
• https://peerj.com/articles/1462/

01:05:20 – Stimulant metabolism (Q4 from Connor Smith)

01:17:40 – "How much can BMR vary between individuals?" (Q5 from Jon)

• Do People Really Have “Fast Metabolisms” or “Slow Metabolisms”?

01:29:35 – "Is it possible to taper down activity levels (steps) without reducing calories?" (Q6 from Angela)

• Constrained energy expenditure

01:41:10 – "How do you incorporate plyometrics and explosive training for jump height" (Q8 from trugor)

01:54:29 – "Is there any research showing damage to the blood vessels or whatnot in the longer term due to the blood pressure increase, because of bracing/Valsalva maneuver?" (Q9 from No_Performer_8133)

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23231790/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33737330/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38142405/

02:00:51 – "How much isolation work is too much?" (Q10 from tompa01)

02:10:05 – "Favorite and least favorite things I’ve cooked" (Q11 from Ali Shah)

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