A Frankenstein approach to training

I’m heading into an extended vacation/break from the gym in about a month. While I’m normally careful to take rest days as needed, I’m approaching my long layoff by grinding on nonstop.

I’m reminded of a story I read in a bodybuilding book many years ago. The author was trying to make a point about the importance of rest days and giving your body a chance to heal. A bodybuilder, forced by injury to take a month off from training, found he actually measured a larger diameter around his arms after his convalesce than before. I’m shooting for something like this.

In any event, as I stagger towards the finish line, I’m trying to keep everything bolted together long enough to board the airplane in one piece. Here’s the strategy:

BPC-157 injections

I’ll never know if the relief I’m feeling in my elbow is due to this treatment or placebo effect. However, I’m sorta able to run my own control group with the high hamstring tendinopathy I’ve experienced in my left leg for many years. I previously tried the Askling L-Protocol to fix this proximal hamstring tendinopathy, but it never healed completely. I basically ignore the leg pain now, so as a consequence, I can consciously think about it and decide if there’s been any improvement.

The biggest challenge with BPC-157 was getting ahold of the 28-gauge needles used for the injections. When I ran out of the samples provided by the doctor, I learned that there was no stock of 28-gauge needles at any CVS pharmacy within 24 miles of my location.

Supply chain disruptions are showing up everywhere. If I were to try the treatment again, I would first secure a month’s supply of the needles, then begin the daily injections.    

Heavy metal detox

My functional medicine doctor has put me on a heavy metal detox program. The theory is that by reducing the amount of heavy metal in my system, my body’s natural healing mechanisms will work better.  

I have a hunch this doctor uses a heavy metal urine test, and the inevitable detox treatment, like a registration fee to continue working with him. I have read several thoughtful articles that say the levels of heavy metal excreted after a DMSA challenge (a pill taken to dislodge heavy metals) are meaningless.

Regardless, metals like lead, mercury, and arsenic aren’t elements you want in your body at any level, and a round of oral chelation agents will remove some amounts. Along with the chelating pill, the doctor also assigned me a mineral complex supplement. He wants to make sure that I maintain a healthy level of good elements while the bad stuff is pulled out.

Minerals like zinc and boron have been part of my regular supplementation for many years due to their support of immune function and hormone production. It’s well known that monocrop farming is depleting the soil, and that modern environmental insults make mineral supplementation even more important.   

One of the benefits of mineral supplementation that gets no mention is how it helps restore and keep one’s natural hair color. I can’t believe I’m the only one who’s discovered this, but I’ve never heard it discussed anywhere. My graying hair started to turn darker when I began taking boron, and my natural color returned as I increased my intake of zinc. Minerals are cheap and not patentable, so you won’t see studies of this phenomenon anytime soon.

The latest conspiracy theory that I read about on Twitter is that our caveman ancestors—eating only organic, all-natural, non-modified food; absorbing abundant sunlight that shined even on their privates; enjoying stress-free lives with no alarm clocks interrupting their sleep—were all 7 ft. tall with perfect teeth who lived to be 400 years old. Change my mind.    

Mobility exercises for my low back

My final tactic to remain healthy in the home stretch is to be consistent with my mobility exercises, once or twice per week.

Mobility is different than stretching. Over the past couple decades, we’ve learned that stretching before exercise reduces your athletic performance because you’re just loosening the explosive elasticity that would otherwise exist. In addition, the relationship between stretching and injury is inconclusive or possibly negative because the remedy is literally pulling joints and connective tissue apart. On the other hand, mobility trains your body to move naturally, instead of seizing up to protect vulnerable parts of your anatomy. I do the mobility exercises described in my low back rehab course.  

By the way, a few posts back I had asked rhetorically why BPC-157, in spite of its youthful potential, is ignored by pharmaceutical companies. The answer is because as a peptide (a chain of amino acids), BPC-157 is plentiful, cheap, and most importantly, not patentable.