Insulin ,Glycogen & ATP in Muslce Tissue
Assuming the person is not diabetic, Endogenous and Exogenous insulin have the same effects and actions in the body.
Energy Yielding Pathways -> ATP
ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) is the only chemical form of energy our bodies can use to perform “mechanical” work.
There are several pathways that yield to ATP production, Oxygen dependent and none oxygen dependent.
- Glycogen to Glucose to lactate to ATP none oxygen dependent: fast but limited by glycogen.
- Glycogen to Glucose to CO2 to ATP Oxygen dependent: slow and limited by glycogen.
- Triglycerides to Fatty Acids to CO2 to ATP: Slow, needs lots of oxygen but unlimited.
- Muscle Protein to Amino Acids to CO2 to ATP: exceedingly rare.
About 80% of glycogen is stored in the muscle, the rest is stored in the liver and other tissue. So muscle tissue is the biggest storage tank for glycogen, and glycogen is the main contributor to ATP followed by triglycerides. When muscle glycogen dip to about 40%, triglycerides surrounding muscle tissue start contributing to ATP to get the job done, in our world is muscle contractions.
Glycogen Synthase
Glycogen synthase (GS) is a
major enzyme that is involved in glycogen synthesis. As you will see later, muscle glycogen is limited because of GS.
GS regulates the amounts of glycogen synthesis. It also controls the rate by which glycogen is synthesized. This is important for the discussion of exogenous insulin use to replenish muscle glycogen during a workout where people tend to think that they can shuttle as much glycogen as they want into the muscle cell just because they used X amount of Insulin. Does not work this way.
Insulin
A lot of people are under the impression that insulin “shuttles” macronutrients to their respective storage sites, example, insulin “shuttles or drives” carbs into the muscle cell, protein int muscle cell and fat into fat cells.
Insulin does not really work like that. It’s not a bus on the highway picking up glucose hitchhikers and driving them to their destination.
In the presence of insulin few things happen:
- Insulin stimulates glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis after exercise
- Insulin will translocate Glut4 to the surface of the cell to be ready for glucose uptake
- Insulin prevents muscle protein breakdown
Without GLUT4 translocation, glycogen synthesis will not take place. Insulin insensitivity will render GLUT4 useless.
GLUT4 can be translocated by the presence of insulin
AND by muscle contractions (Exercise)
Going back to the idea of using Insulin Immediately pre workout, and assuming that the workout is not a very long one what will actually happen when we take that insulin shot pre workout and consume carbs?
As we know, Insulin does stimulate glycogen synthesis it will translocate GLUT4 as well, so all is good so far. (Not going to mention amino acids here).
But we all know that, our bodies do produce insulin as well, so if you are adamant about taking carbs during the workout, what would be the point of using Insulin? What is the logic?
Since we know muscle contraction will activate GLUT4 translocation and we know that glycogen synthesis is limited due to GS (Glycogen Synthase Enzyme), we could just drink a bit of carbs and let our body use it’s own insulin to achieve our goal.
Some will argue that replenishing ATP is also why we need the exogenous insulin pre workout, the answer is no, UNLESS your workouts are way too long. Plus we do know that muscle triglycerides will contribute to ATP once muscle glycogen dip below a certain point.
For those people who follow a Carbohydrate Cyclical diet, as in high, low and medium days, think about when do you glycogen super compensate? It is after the LOW days. We also know for a fact that Glycogen supercompensation can ONLY be achieved when the body is at rest and glycogen depleted to a point. So, no you cannot super compensate during workout out.
Our bodies are most prime to amino acid uptake and glucose uptake AFTER a workout not during or before. Besides, taking an insulin shot pre workout will overlap the insulin shot done immediately post workout. Does not make any sense.
Also, the overuse of insulin will lead to insulin insensitivity and that’s why some people who take a shit load of Insulin and think hey, we need all that damn insulin, are probably insulin insensitive to a point but they don’t know it.
What does this all mean, it means if you use insulin, use it sparingly and in the right time. Now obviously if you are using GH, I would through in some insulin as well, but just fucking jabbing insulin for the fuck of getting more ATP is fucking ridiculous and nonsense.