Tom Lambert

How much protein per meal can be used for muscle growth? 🥩Absorption limited? 🔥Used for oxidation vs protein synthesis? ⏲️Anabolic response short-lived? An 8-part thread 🧵👇

Signaling The most interesting theme in Endurance Training, Science & Practice (linked higher in the quoted thread) is "signaling" I've been experimenting with four types of signaling 1⃣Fully Glycolytic 2⃣Lactate 3⃣High Intensity Strength 4⃣Depletion Before we get into the details, this is marginal stuff and poor execution will generate a negative return for many. Get the big stuff right. ✅Lift Aerobic Threshold, assess yourself using my (free) article on Applied Exercise Science at Endurance Essentials ✅Get Strong ✅Demonstrate Capacity for Consistency ✅Sleep We have to build fatox capacity before it makes sense to "practice" switching it off. See Chapter 7 of Alan's book (Section 3, Table 7.6). Also keep in mind YOUR top priority. Mine is Improving General Capacity. I don't want to slow my ability to work towards 750-800 annual hours of balanced training. With my training mix, that's 'Level 4" on @Alan_Couzens scale of LTAD, see his article, Leveling Up. +++ Fully Glycolytic You will hear @doctorinigo use this term a lot... with 1⃣his presentations on Zones, 2⃣training mix and 3⃣his own training. ➡️Clearly, this subject is on his mind. ➡️It wasn't on my mind. 😃 ...but I've been watching him set PBs on local climbs. ...and he's a smart guy. ...so I'm thinking... Might there be a way to incorporate this into my program without generating much fatigue? There is, Doc San Millán explains his amateur protocol in all his podcasts. Where many of us will go wrong with "fully glycolytic" is: 1⃣We're clueless on where that happens. 2⃣We set our Green Zone too high 3⃣We overdose on Tempo & Red Zone ...so we are "more" glycolytic than we realize. Pic 2 is from a study Doc San Millán undertook. If you know what to look for then you'll see "fully glycolytic" happens from Zone 3 through Zone 4+ depending on the level, and fitness, of the athlete. That's my interpretation. Some would push the athletes into Zone 5. I've found that's counterproductive. When we used metcart data to compare what well-trained amateur athletes were really doing (metabolically) many were "mostly glycolytic" nearly all the time. That's why Alan's always telling y'all to train in Zone 1. It's the only way to dial down a high-motivated amateur. As well, a slowtwitch dominant high-volume athlete, might have to push Zone 5 to be fully glycolytic. Highly fatiguing. It was my profile when I was an elite. How do you "know" how hard you need to go? To be sure, get yourself a progressive fuel test, at a good lab, with proper metcart and a tech who works with the best elites in your region. ...but you don't need to be precise. See Pic 2 from the study... the weekend warrior cohort is at a lactate of 6mmol at 80% of VO2max. Tempo is going to do it for most everyone reading this post. Long story short... I'm experimenting training like Iñigo. Hit the gas at the end of a couple aerobic sets each week. It's a small dose of a few minutes, doesn't seem to fatigue me or disrupt my metrics. I do this on the bike as it is my sport with my "worst" anaerobic capacity -- AKA -- it is the sport where my aerobic threshold is the highest %age of VO2max. +++ Lactate Signaling Listen to the podcast between @GeorgeABrooks3 and @foundmyfitness This is beyond my biochemistry understanding... but not beyond my ability to apply in my training. How to apply? The application is explained (above) by Doc San Millán. With the elevated lactate signal, the question is how much, how high and how long... similar to my approach to zones (published tomorrow)... I am skewing errors left (ie on the low side). +++ High Intensity Strength 20 years ago, the coaches, and esteemed physiologists, who didn't like to lift use to say "there's no evidence strength training makes you faster." That's not the case anymore. There's good stuff in today's literature. I've always dropped my strength training intensity as I ramped up sport-specific training. Across the season, when my mojo was high, I'd smash myself on the leg press - one session, randomly. Might be something there. From the book... ✅Durability of strength gains - much longer than I'd expect. ✅Connection between strength intensity & economy - better than I'd expect. Includes plyometrics. ...and the workload that the studies were applying are not demanding (for anyone with a history of consistent strength work). Easiest way for you to learn more - listen to the strength training section of the podcast of @BasVanHooren speaking with @SciTriat . Bas uses the protocols discussed in the book. Personally, I prefer leg press as it's easier on my 55 yo body. ➡️Heavy leg weights are one of the most anabolic things we can do for our bodies. If you are any of these... female, light frame, older, bike-limited or... simply want to look & feel better... it's a wonderful boost for quality-of-life. My in-season action here: ➡️Maintain the intensity of my key lifts but drop the total load & duration. ➡️Add short sessions AFTER I've done my key training for the day. Being strong for my category, I want the signaling more than additional "strength." +++ Depletion A favorite topic of many! As you can read in my Nutrition Chapter... I'm not a fan. I recommend we clean up our non-training nutrition, fuel the burn and improve our overall metabolic fitness. Depletion leads to rebound eating, reduced training quality and fat gain.... not a pretty combination. However... if you're a high-volume athlete then there might be something here. You should be reading @theplews on this because he thinks differently than me. Remember my rule of thumb on "thinking differently"... when two experienced practitioners disagree on approach... move on, it's not important. But there are two areas where I agree with Dan. You might want to look into these... 1⃣Boost intake of healthy fat. 2⃣Consider ways to adjust timing of sugar intake. 1⃣ is something we would do on our high-volume camps. You'll see it in the High-Volume Nutrition section of the Nutrition Chapter. You could make this shift in your Core Nutrition. 2⃣ is also mentioned in the Nutrition Chapter. I call it getting caught on the Wheel of Sugar. Dan writes about the signal possibly being via lowered muscle glycogen stores. Elites, especially males who train properly, get a lot of that by default. You and me, not so much. So my experiment isn't depleting on any key sessions. I eat-the-house, for hours, if that happens. The experiment is being more conscious about the timing of my sugar intake and eating a real-food breakfast after a couple of my easy workouts. I can go up to 90-minutes of Zone 1, fasted, without triggering rebound eating. As Dan notes in his most recent blog (Feb 2, 2024 on Endure IQ) this is not likely to deplete my muscle glycogen. So I'm probably not getting the signal Dan would want for me. However, I am reducing my sports nutrition intake in favor of real food with all my macros. ...and most everyone would agree that's a positive shift. +++ At some stage, I'll write this up with all the links. Hope this helps => stay focused on the big gains. G