1. Question: First of all, please briefly talk about what insulin is and why bodybuilders need to care about it?
Answer: Insulin is the most anabolic hormone in the human body. After insulin is released into the blood, it repeatedly delivers nutrients such as glucose, amino acids, and fats to various cells in the body.
If these nutrients are sent primarily to muscle cells, then muscles will grow and body fat levels will be controlled. If nutrients are delivered primarily to fat cells, body fat will increase but muscle mass will not grow.
Obviously, if some way could be found to make insulin deliver nutrients to muscles instead of fat, athletes would grow bigger muscles while keeping body fat lower.
(Meow Meow: In other words, when insulin is high, both muscle and fat may grow)
2. Question: Since insulin may increase body fat, is there any way to prevent its release?
Answer: First of all, there is no way to eliminate insulin from the blood, because insulin is released when you eat. Secondly, even if you can remove insulin, you will also abolish all of its anabolic functions, which is very detrimental to muscle growth. In fact, type I diabetes is caused by the inability to secrete insulin. If not treated, the patient will die.
Sustainedly high insulin levels in the blood can also cause trouble, such as leading to a significant increase in body fat, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, and ultimately type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by obesity, cardiovascular disease, and poor muscle storage capacity. It causes muscle wasting and massive fat storage, a phenomenon known as insulin resistance.
The main method is to first improve the sensitivity of muscles to insulin and reduce the sensitivity of fat cells to insulin. The second is to control the release of insulin at specific times of the day.
3. Question: Please explain the difference between insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity.The difference?
Answer: Simply put, insulin resistance is bad. If you are insulin resistant, your cells (especially muscle cells) will not respond anabolically to normal levels of insulin. In this case, the body will release a large amount of insulin to prompt the resistance cells to store nutrients, but don't forget that sustained high insulin levels in the blood are very dangerous and can lead to type 2 diabetes.
On the contrary, insulin sensitivity is a good thing. In this case, your cells, especially muscle cells, have an anabolic response with low levels of insulin. So, high insulin sensitivity in muscles is a very good thing for bodybuilders.
4. Question: Can insulin sensitivity be changed?
Answer: Everyone's insulin sensitivity has individual characteristics. But it can be adjusted through training, diet and nutritional supplements.
Both aerobic training and strength training can have a strong impact on insulin sensitivity. Usually, high-intensity strength training 3-4 times a week, lasting about 1 hour each time, can greatly improve the insulin sensitivity of muscle cells. In addition, aerobic training should be performed 3-4 times a week, each lasting 30 minutes. These exercises are best spaced out.
Nutritional supplements such as omega-3 fatty acids, fish oil, and chromium can also improve muscle insulin sensitivity. Moderate levels of fiber-rich carbohydrate diets also improve muscle insulin sensitivity. In contrast, a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet reduces muscle insulin sensitivity.
I recommend that bodybuilders eat moderate amounts (40-50% of total calories) of fiber-containing carbohydrates, such as oatmeal, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; Quality proteins such as casein, whey, chicken, beef, fish and eggs, and lower amounts (20% of total calories) of fats such as olive oil, linseed oil, fish oil and nut oils.
The combination of these measures will make muscle more sensitive to insulin and reduce fat sensitivity to insulin, which means you will gain more muscle and lower body fat levels.
5 Question: Why should we control the release of insulin at special times of the day?
Answer: We want to increase insulin levels to promote muscle growth, but we don’t want to cause chronic increases in insulin levels, leading to diabetes. Therefore, it is necessary to control the release of insulin at specific times throughout the day.
Question 6: So, when should insulin levels be increased, and when should insulin levels be avoided?
Answer: Insulin levels should be increased after strength training, because at this time the glycogen in the muscles has been greatly consumed and needs to be replenished, and the damaged muscle cells also need amino acids to synthesize proteins to repair. Athletes can stimulate insulin release by consuming simple carbohydrates immediately after training.
High insulin levels should be avoided at night. A wiser approach is to consume foods that can promote insulin levels (mainly carbohydrates) in the first three meals a day, and avoid or reduce the intake of these foods in the last three meals. This is a great way to promote muscle growth and keep fat levels low.