ATP energy is also required on occasion, such as for the contraction of muscle cells during exercise and athletic performance, and each of these activities, conscious or not, requires adenosine triphosphate to enable muscular contraction.  As will be discussed, ATP is the source of all of that energy and so the more that can be produced during athletic performance, then the better you will perform.

ATP, and thus energy from ATP, can be produced in a number of ways within your body, such as how it uses its emergency energy store of creatine phosphate to add a phosphate group to adenosine diphosphate to generate the triphosphate. However, that is only useful for a few seconds, and the two major ATP energy creating routes involve cellular respiration of glucose to pyruvate followed either by the aerobic or anaerobic breakdown of that to adenosine triphosphate.

Here is each of these explained in slightly more detail:

Aerobic Respiration

Aerobic respiration proceeds from cellular respiration by using oxygen and an ignition source to burn the fuel:  glycolysis initially converts glucose to pyruvate as the fuel, and then aerobic exercise provides oxygen, with cellular charge as the ignition source. Very similar to a regular fire:  fuel, oxygen and ignition source.  GSH Ignite promotes this ignition of oxygen and pyruvate to generate ATP energy under aerobic conditions.

The aerobic exercise you use to promote this includes jogging,  floor exercises, step-ups and circuit training:  anything that makes you breathe hard. You take in oxygen and use it to ignite the oxidation reaction of pyruvate to ATP, CO2 and water, using up ADP (adenosine diphosphate) in the process. The greater the cellular charge, then the more efficient is the cellular respiration, in the same way that the newer a lighter flint, the faster and for longer it will ignite the gas.

Aerobic respiration is the source of ATP energy for your everyday living and for non-explosive athletic events. It is the phosphate bonds in the unstable ATP molecule that generate energy when they are broken back down to ADP.  If you remove one of the three phosphate groups, then the molecule is much more stable, and in doing that you also liberate 7.3 Kcal/mol of energy¹.

GSH Ignite provides the ignition source that makes best use of the cellular electrical charge that enables your cellular respiration system to operate at maximum efficiency.  Protein Extreme Energy also helps by maximizing that cellular charge on each cell in your body.

Anaerobic Respiration

Anaerobic respiration is respiration without oxygen, and enables adenosine triphosphate to be generated without oxygen being present.  It is not as efficient a means of generating adenosine triphosphate as aerobic respiration, but it can enable rapid short-term ATP energy production for immediate explosive power.

In the absence of oxygen, the pyruvate mentioned above undergoes a form of fermentation that creates lactic acid and adenosine triphosphate. This is sufficient to offer you maximum athletic performance for a period of 2 -3 minutes, after which the lactic acid builds up and you can no longer function without anaerobic respiration. Sprinters use anaerobic conditions, and Usain Bolt can break a work 100m record with just one deep breath. That provides all the ATP needed before lactic acid kicks in.

The more you train, the more you are able to expend energy under low oxygen conditions, and that is why those that train more can run farther at higher speeds than those that train less:  their cellular respiration is more efficient at producing ATP energy from the available oxygen before anaerobic respiration has to make up the balance. Likewise, their muscles can work longer under anaerobic conditions before lactic acid seizes up their muscles, and more oxygen is needed.

GSH Ignite supports cellular respiration, and also destroys the free radicals that are by-products of respiration. Free radical damage results from small oxygenated molecules  that can destroy the membranes of the cells that generate adenosine triphosphate, and GSH Ignite offers the free radical killer glutathione and the enzyme superoxide dismutase that help maintain efficient cellular respiration  through preventing these free radicals from destroying the cells that provide your ATP energy source.

Normal ATP Requirement

Around 160Kg of adenosine triphosphate can be created and used in the human body each day²; although at any one time you will have no more than around 250 grams available for use. In other words, your body can turn over its own weight of this amazing ATP molecule every day and athletes turn over even more ATP.

In summary, cellular respiration is responsible for the production of ATP in the mitochondria of your body cells, and the more effective your cellular respiration in oxidizing glucose ultimately to adenosine triphosphate, then the more ATP energy will be available to you to enable maximum athletic performance.  It is therefore essential that your biochemistry is tuned to producing as much ATP as possible, and that is dependent on many factors, of which cellular respiration is the most important.

By maximizing your cellular charge and reducing the damaging effects of the free radicals that are a natural by-product of the process, you will maximize the production of adenosine triphosphate.

Protein Extreme Energy increases the cellular electrical charge that enables effective oxidation of glucose, and also enables more effective hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate to energy plus ADP, whereas GSH Ignite negates the effects of free radicals and enables maximum efficiency in the conversion of ATP to energy.

1.  Campbell, Neil. Biology, Third Edition. Benjamin Cummings, 1993: 97-101.

2. Törnroth-Horsefield S, Neutze R (December 2008). Opening and closing the metabolite gate. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
105 (50): 19565–6.

Other reading:

Karp, Gerald (2008). Cell and Molecular Biology (5th edition). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.pp. 194.

ISBN 10-0-470-04217-6.

Copyright 2010 Elite Sports and Fitness

Continued from Part I

As we saw in part one of this series, once athletes get to a certain level in their training, the strength of their bio-electrical current is what makes the difference for explosive strength and power. But how does this current, created through electron transfer and donation, travel through the body? One of the key answers is through the nervous system: using a form of electrical current (called action potential) the brain communicates via the spinal cord to the muscles, and vice versa. This provides the second key to building maximum strength and power for athletes: a strong, healthy central and autonomic nervous system is vital for optimal athletic performance. Why? There are two main reasons.

First, virtually all physical exercise relies on a stabilization of the spinal cord area (the spinal cord, along with the brain, makes up the Central Nervous System). If your spine is sublexated or compressed, you’re going to have a weakness or an imbalance in the physical structure, which will then deplete and interfere with your expression of strength and explosive capacity. Chiropractors have long known that misaligned spines lead to poor conduction of current flow to the rest of the body. The nodes on the spinal cord (the nodes of Ranvier) function like local electrical substations, and need to be unimpeded to distribute current properly. The stronger the spinal area, the more current can move through the body, resulting in more strength and explosive power.

The second reason has to do with the mental aspect of sports. The brain is what directs the body, and in order to achieve quicker reaction times, the brain has to be able move information faster through spine and the autonomous nervous system to reach the muscles. When an athlete’s brain is inundated by electrical depletions, it becomes distracted by these imbalances as it attempts to bring itself back towards homeostasis, or a balanced state. Athletes have to be extremely focused on their sport, and mental imbalances can interfere with performance. Greater electrical power and explosiveness depend on a strong brain with an open flow through the spinal cord.

So how can we cultivate a strong brain, spinal cord and autonomous nervous system?

As we’ve seen, the brain, spinal cord, and the entire nervous system work and communicate through current. To strengthen these areas, we need to increase and balance the current flow. Life Health Secrets has developed Maxodin specifically to balance the autonomous and central nervous system. Maxodin strengthens spinal current, thus enhancing current throughout the entire nervous system and allowing for neurological energy to freely cycle back and forth between the brain and muscles, increasing reaction speed. Current also allows for circulation, which in turn enables the brain to metabolize and absorb its functional nutrients properly, leading to increased brain power – enhanced focus, concentration, and attention. For the dedicated athlete, the overall effect is a noticeable enhancement in explosive power and strength, especially when combined with the respiration enhancing GSH-Ignite.

Copyright 2010 LifeHealthSecrets

My days are busy and I work full time, nearly everyday.   In order to fit in my training schedule, which is normally 2 to 3 hours 5 days a week, I train in the basement of the thrift shop where I work.  This is a recent training session focusing on 1 minute endurance sets.

• minute 1-90 pushups
  
• minute 2-80
• minute 3-80
• minute 4-76
• minute 5-80
• minute 6-80
• minute 7-84
• minute 8-80
• minute 9-90 (70 in 40 seconds)
  
• minute 10-90 (70 in 40 seconds)
• minute 11-95 (80 in 44 s econds)
• minute 12-70

• pull ups 360
• inclined push ups 180(sets of 30)
• back hand push ups (4 sets of 20) 50 straight

Prior to my training I will eat at least 3 hours prior to training two cups of brown rice, two sirloin patties, and steak and squash, half gallon of water with 2 Maxodin.  Then 1 hour prior to training I will take 3 servings of GSH Ignite and ensure I drink lots of water.

Building Strength & Explosive are Critical to Peak Athletic Performance

Compare two athletes of the exact same body size and build, who have followed the same training regimen – they don’t necessarily have the same power, speed or explosive capacity. Why? Once athletes attain a certain level of strength and stamina, the difference in their capabilities comes down to their bodies’ bio-electric current flow. The stronger the current flow, the stronger the body, and the more explosive power and strength you have access to.

Bio-electric current, also known as cellular zeta-potential, is the movement of electrons through your cells and consequently, through your body. The moving electron is literally the catalyst for the chemistry of life – a body completely stripped of moving electrons is a dead body. Current is especially important to athletes because it feeds the nerves which then feed the muscles. More current = more explosive power, when all else is equal. However, the rigorous training athletes undergo tends to deplete current, and if they allow a deficit to build over time, eventually their bodies become depleted and their explosive power diminishes. The younger athletes with the stronger current win because they haven’t yet exhausted their systems.

A strong electron transfer system, along with an abundant supply of electron donors, is important to the athlete because it strengthens cellular respiration and cellular charge (membrane potential) – both of which are essential to explosive power and strength.

First, let’s look at why cellular respiration is important. Just like you have the lungs, you have 60-100 trillion small lungs in your body – your cells. If those cells are ‘breathing’ at their optimum capacity, then they can increase ATP production, providing you with more energy for explosive power, to move your muscles. The best way to increase cellular respiration? By increasing current, or the supply and transfer of electrons.

If you’ve taken the time to do a bit of research, then you know there’s a dilemma all athletes face when they’re training: the harder you work out and the more ATP you produce, the more electron-robbing free radicals your body produces, and the faster your cells and DNA become damaged by oxidative stress. Taking a supplement like creatine to increase cellular respiration just makes the problem worse – your body ramps up ATP production without any means of defending its cells against the increased free radical load. Not only does a high free radical load decrease your performance in the medium and long term, it also leads to premature aging.

This is why glutathione supplementation is so important. Glutathione solves the athlete’s dilemma by allowing cellular respiration to increase while protecting cells against free radicals. Glutathione is one of your body’s most powerful electron donors –so powerful, in fact, that we literally can’t survive without it. That’s why our bodies produce it internally. However, as we get older, from as early as 20 years old, our internal glutathione levels begin to drop by as much as 35%. That means that your body slows ATP production as well, to protect against increased free radicals. Remember, ATP is the energy your muscles need for power and explosive strength. By dealing with the free radicals from within the cell, glutathione permits ATP to increase naturally. Greater cellular respiration = more explosive power and maximum strength for athletes.

So is the answer just to take a glutathione supplement? Not so fast. Remember, there are two aspects to the body’s bio-electrical current: cellular respiration and cellular charge (the sodium potassium pump). Cell charge is the second element you need for explosive power and strength. When cellular charge is low, metabolic waste accumulates and cellular respiration is impeded. If this isn’t dealt with, then the cell’s osmotic pressure become so weak that it can no longer expel its own waste and old body fluids, and edema or water retention occurs. The cell has trouble pulling in nutrients and becomes congested. If you don’t increase cell charge, then glutathione supplementation is ineffective, or minimally effective at best, because the cell can’t even pull in the nutrients it needs to function. By strengthening cellular charge, metabolic wastes are efficiently removed and cellular respiration can increase.

So how can an athlete increase current, and by extension increase both cellular respiration and charge?

GSH-Ignite was formulated specifically to address these issues. By providing the body with an ample supply of bio-recognizable electrons, and using proprietary means to transfer and move those electrons throughout the body, GSH-Ignite allows athletes to achieve greater levels of explosive power and strength than they could through training alone. GSH-Ignite strengthens the body’s current and promotes healthy glutathione levels while also increasing cellular charge. The effect? Maximum strength and more explosive power.

Copyright 2010 Elite Sports and Fitness.com

To make the record official, Shaun will repeat his performance next month while being filmed from both front and side angles. To best his own recent performance, he’s now training with seventy-five pounds stuffed into his book bag, so that “a forty pound weight will feel like nothing in comparison.”

I train hard, and the LifeHealthSecrets supplements have helped a lot. They keep me relaxed, in the zone and sharp. I get a better rest at night, and I’m a lot stronger than before. I felt stronger after only the 3rd day on the supplements. My stamina has increased. Before taking the products, I was managing only 10 reps per set, with a total of 80 push-ups. Now I’m averaging 20 to 25 reps of front pull-ups per set, with a total count of 300. Now I can also do more one-armed pushups, averaging 10 one-arm pushups in a set, for a total of 70. Prior, it was 7 per set, with a total of 49. I’ve also gone from doing 2,015 pushups in an hour to 2,080, and this is increasing all the time, getting closer to the 3,800 I need to beat the world record.

I’m diagnosed as an insomniac and I find it hard to sleep without taking something. The doctors told me it’s stress. I live a stressful life, I worry about a lot of things. It’s just me and my mom, and I help my mother pay the bills, so I’m always worried about that. I live in a bad neighborhood, so I’m always worried about getting attacked or something crazy happening to me. Since I’ve been on this plan, taking Maxodin, Adrenal Re-Boot, the Protein Extreme Energy and GSH Ignite, I’m sleeping a lot better and feel much more awake when I’m awake, not groggy at all, which I used to feel a lot. I’ve also noticed that since I’ve been on these products, I’m not as angry as I usually am. I’ve very hot blooded, I have a bad temper, and I’ve noticed that things don’t bother me as much as they used to, I’m not stressing over things. I’m more focused on the things I need to be focused on. Now I feel more mentally alert, focused, and with a sense of calmness that I didn’t have before.

Shaun McDaniel

Age 24

Queens, New York

Lots of anticipation followed me to Week 1 of the Colgate Women’s Indoor Games.   I have had this recurring nightmare for years that I either forget my sprint spikes, or that I am late for my race.  Well, this week, the meet was running ahead of schedule, so when I arrived, my heart jumped as I saw the hurdles set up and ready to go.  I had to do an abbreviated warm-up, while quickly saying hello to long-time friends and fellow-competitors, who come together only at this time of year, every year, for the Colgate Women’s Games.  Keep in mind, that each week athletes advance to the next week based on their performance, in hopes of qualifying for the finals at Madison Square Garden.  This is a six week track series.  There were a lot of women competing in the open 55 meter hurdles, and I placed second in my heat in the trials and second overall in the finals.  My time was faster in the trials, and I felt a little strain in my right lead leg hip flexor, that has been plaguing me on and off for a few weeks now.  My left hamstring was also a little sore.  As far as training, we added plyometrics and power exercises to my training this week.  Coach Johnson incorporated box jumps and cleans after my hurdle workout, which will help me with my starts and exploding out of the blocks.  Keep in mind that the open athlete has a different training schedule than a collegiate athlete.  A collegiate athlete trains with the expectation of running their peak times in late January and February at championship meets.  As an open athlete, my major competitions are in February and March.  Therefore, I started speed and hurdle training a little later this indoor season, so I did not feel as sharp and quick over the hurdles as I would have liked, but my training is devised so that each week I run a little faster….so stay tuned!

The goal for this phase is to build a foundation in strength & power  before starting speed training.  My weight training during this phase is 3-4 sets of shorter reps and heavier weights.

Tara DiLuca USA Track&Field Hurdles

This phase focuses on developing strength and power, which will be important when working on block work to the first hurdle.  I am also focusing on developing ankle flexibility, which is important for a hurdler.  The start requires explosive and controlled drive and power.    Right now, my training phase on the track includes Sprint Day 1 of mobility training over 5-7 hurdles close together.  No rest period.  This is a continuous workout performed on the balls of my feet.

Day 1 Training:

Hurdle mobility

Step overs  x 5 each side

Side Step overs (walking) x 5 each side

Leading with the left

Leading with the right

Lead leg shuffle (over side of hurdle) x 5 each side

Leading with the left

Leading with the right

Side Step overs (QUICKLY!!!!!) x 5 each side

Leading with the left

Leading with the right

Day 2 Training:

Consists of training over 8-10 hurdles and covering a distance of approximately 100 meters.  During this workout, I do repeat 5 step drills over 8-12 hurdles (depending on week) with trail leg, lead leg and over the middle.  I position the hurdles about 40 feet apart (counting with my own feet), so that I can get some good speed in between each hurdle.  I am focusing on not reaching for the hurdle, quickness, and dorsi-flexing my toes and driving my trail leg through and snapping down my lead leg.  Rest period is key, and I take 3 minutes between each rep and 5-8 minutes between each set.  (2 sets of 3-5 reps with lead, trail and middle).  By the end of the workout, I have gone over about 90 hurdles!

I will age up into the 60-64 age group this season which will make me the “youngest” in my age group and I intend to try to leverage that as much as possible! Protein Extreme Energy and Adrenal Reboot are both playing a huge part in recover and muscle building, allowing me to recover and do quality lifting 3 days a week.  I actually look forward to my weight sessions these days, using up to 3 doses on heavy days and feeling great.

I usually have a scoop of Protein Extreme Energy each morning when I get up  and then another scoop after my workout.  Depending on how hard my workout was and how I’m feeling, I may use a 3rd scoop later in the day.

FYI, even tho I’m not doing any speed training at all, I ran a 5k “fun run” on Sunday; won my age group with a 21:32 (that’s fast by my standards!!!) and felt great.  My marathon was only 5 weeks ago and I am totally recovered and racing…that’s huge!

So far I am scheduled to race the Devilman sprint tri in early may, Eagleman 1/2 IM in early june and the NYC Tri in mid july.  after that I’m not sure exactly what races I will be doing, but I will be starting to think about prepping for Boston in the spring of ‘11 and moving up to full IM later in that season.

Half marathon “fun run” at disney world in early jan.  I’m definitely not training for it…too early in my season.  but I’ll be very interested to see how it feels.