Cellular respiration involves the intake and use of oxygen by your body’s cells in order to generate energy called Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP).  To understand the process, consider a very common energy source – fire.  What are the three components needed for fire? They are:

• Fuel
• Oxygen
• Ignition Source

The same is true for the energy your cells generate, Adenosine Triphosphate is a biological battery:  a source of energy that changes to ADP, the diphosphate, when it has completely discharged. The ADP then undergoes cellular respiration to change back to the ATP that enables you to attain maximum athletic performance.

The three essential components needed to enable cellular respiration to take place are:

Fuel: The fuel is glucose, which primarily comes from your carbohydrate intake, whether in the form of simple sugars or complex fats.  Ultimately the carbohydrates you consume are converted to glucose. That is the raw material for cellular respiration – any unused glucose can be used to top up your glycogen stores, and any after that forms fatty tissue.

Oxygen: Oxygen is taken in by the lungs and attached to the red blood cells, so is available to the body cells when needed to generate energy.

Ignition Source: Cellular respiration differs from normal ignition in that it is a series of chemical reactions, and is basically what is known as a redox reaction. There is no single ignition source as such, though ATP kicks it off by breaking open the chemical bonds of the fuel source, glucose.

The whole reaction sequence comprises three basic stages, known as:

• Glycolysis: Glucose is broken down to pyruvate.

• Krebs Cycle:  Also known as the Citric Acid Cycle, pyruvate is used form the high energy ATP molecules.

• Electron Transport System:  This is an oxidation-reduction process wherein electrons are transferred from a high energy donor molecule to a low energy acceptor molecule with the release of energy and the generation of more ATP.

What Does All This Mean To You As An Athlete?

The stronger your electron transport system, then the more ATP energy you can generate. Not only that, but electrons are also essential for the generation of electric current, and guess what? Your nervous system is an electrical system.

Your nerves are the wires that carry electrons from your brain, to the cells that react to contract your muscles. The faster and stronger that these muscle cells contract then the quicker and more powerful your reactions, the more powerfully they can contract, the more strength you have. Your athletic performance is a combination of strong cellular respiration (generating energy for more power when you need it) and a high membrane potential (the electrical charge within your body cells), which are needed to generate the explosive power, sustained speed and stamina needed by runners over all distances.

Free Radicals and Inflammation

However, any chemical reactions involving oxygen are liable to produce by-products known as free-radicals. These are destructive oxygenated molecules that destroy your cells and their means of producing energy – leaving you with less overall energy available.

Not only that, but exercise can damage body tissue and initiate the inflammatory response of your immune system. Neither of these side-effects is desirable in athletes, and can severely affect you fitness and performance.

So how can you help to strengthen cellular respiration while at the same time avoiding the negative consequences of doing so?  By using GSH Ignite.

GSH Ignite

GSH Ignite is a supplement that has been developed specifically to provide your body with a readily usable source of electrons. It enables runners and other athletes to make best use of the fuel and oxygen they take in to maximize cellular respiration while also fighting against the free radicals and reducing inflammation. The result is explosive power & increased strength and endurance.

Copyright 2010 LifeHealthSecrets

It’s also 14 minutes faster than I could run 25 years ago.  I still find that part totally amazing.

Even more amazing to me is my recovery thanks to using PXE and Adrenal Reboot. I started to take the adrenal reboot the week prior to my race (I’ve been taking Protein Extreme Energy for about three months now).

Immediately after the race I was feeling pretty bad, but after a few hours I went out to eat with my family and then got in my car and drove back to NYC. The next day I worked a full day and was a little rough, but by Tuesday I was feeling great and today [Wednesday – 3 days after the marathon]  I went for a bike ride and felt like I was completely recovered from the marathon, I had an amazing amount of energy. PXE and Adrenal Reboot are amazing!!! I’m 59 and was willing to give myself a full 2 weeks to recover form the marathon. Though I’m still going to take it easy, I feel like I’d be ready to go and tackle another race by this weekend.

Its only been a week, but I’ve experimented with taking more servings at different times during the day, limiting myself to 2 servings on “rest” days and using 3 servings on “heavy” workout days, with the 3rd serving being taken in the evening.

Yesterday, I did a training run of 18.5 miles/3hrs, lots of hills/very hot and humid. Had one serving prior to my run, one serving mid afternoon and then a 3rd before going to bed. This is the longest run I have done in 25 years. Today I feel great. I had one serving prior to my run, one serving mid afternoon and then a 3rd before going to bed. Yes, I’m a little sore today, but nothing compared to my fears.

So this protein has made a noticeable difference in my performance.