Alex Kikel wrote a really good book (in my opinion) titled Exogenous Insulin for Athletics. Here's a look at the table of contents:
Exogenous Insulin and its Interaction with Endogenous Production...1
Exogenous Insulin - Basic Introduction…3
APIDRA…6
NOVOLOG...7
HUMALOG...7
NOVOLIN-R...8
LANTUS...9
ACTIONS OF EXOGENOUS INSULIN FOR ATHLETICS...10
PRACTICAL APPLICATION FOR ATHLETES - By Sport/Goal...22
GENERAL USES...23
PHYSIQUE COMPETITORS (all divisions- male and female)...23
POWERLIFTERS (male & female)...24
STRONGMAN (WOMAN)...24
STRIKING ATHLETES (males & females, BJJ/Boxing/MMA/etc.)...24
TEAM SPORTS ATHLETES (males & females, Football/Basketball/Lacrosse/etc...25
HIGH ENERGETIC SPORTS (males & females, Crossfit/Endurance Sports/etc.)...25
NEUROLOGICALLY DEMANDING SPORTS (males & females, Chess /Gamers/etc...25
SAFE APPLICATION - A First Time User’s Guide...26
FURTHER APPLICATION - An Advanced User’s Guide...27
PRACTICAL APPLICATION FOR ATHLETES - In Depth...29
I was very interested in trying insulin but had never used it before I bought and read this book. I found it very helpful! It definitely gave me more confidence and less anxiety about using it situationally after I had a much better understanding of exactly how to apply it. Examples:
PHYSIQUE COMPETITORS (all divisions- male and female)
- Preworkout to potentiate the workout itself (learning, ATP recycling, anti-catabolic, nutrient partitioning, improvement in hemodynamics, improvement in postworkout BP normalization)
- Postworkout to drive recovery & hyper storage
- Before low intensity cardio to improve fat loss
- Before parasympathetic beta-oxidative walks to improve fat loss
- Upon waking to drive hunger
- On a competition day to fix a spill for physique competitors
- On competition day to improve the glycogen loading process for physique competitors
- To fix diuretic mistakes with potassium (hyperkalamia)
- With GH to improve its action
- With Injectable L-Carnitine to improve its action
- With Injectable Glutathione to improve its action
- With Androgens to improve their actions through different cascades
- Throughout the day with meals to improve nutrient partitioning
- With a free/cheat/D-FLUX meal in order to improve nutrient partitioning
- Reduce strain on pancreas from having a high carbohydrate diet
- Drive direct mTOR
The first half of the book is very science-heavy but also a great intro and backgrounder to insulin!! The rest of the book is how to implement it situationally. Here is one example he gives of situational use that reflects the conversations of this thread:
Before low intensity cardio to improve fat loss
- This is going to drive lipolysis so we can put more fatty acids into our bloodstream to be oxidized off during our aerobic work
- These effects begin as low as 0.5IUs and can be worked up to 2-3IUs depending on how much glucose is in the athlete’s bloodstream (potentially some cases can be even higher but caution must be used)
- This usage is applicable for both genders of all sports
- Insulins preferred are Apidra, Humalog, Novolin-R
- The whole goal of doing this is to not only mimic a “fasted state”, but more importantly, put the nutrients into the bloodstream that we want to oxidize (stored fatty acids from adipocytes and not stored glycogen or nitrogen from intramuscular stores)
- We would utilize them as follows: Apidra: subq right before your cardio, Humalog: subq right before your cardo, Novolin-R: IM right before your cardio, Novolin-R: subq 15-20 minutes before your cardio
Hope this post helps in some way! The book is worth the buy for me!
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