New Fitness Pill

Dubdude

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7535770.stm

g'em

lol I was wonderign how long it would take before this appeared on the board. I'll go see can I dig up the study...

Gillo

Bah, I get hundreds of emails offering to sell me stuff like that all the time.

Even if it did what it says on the tin, all I can think is I'd actually miss going to the gym, also there'd be no sense of satisfaction looking in the mirror and thinking yeah I did well (not that I'm a poser).

Naos

I agree with Gillo.

I enjoy the buzz I get when leaving the gym, knowing I've had a tough session and wouldn't give that up for a pill.

g'em

So the article goes a little something like this:

AMPK and PPARδ Agonists Are Exercise Mimetics

Vihang A. Narkar, Michael Downes, Ruth T. Yu, Emi Embler, Yong-Xu Wang, Ester Banayo, Maria M. Mihaylova, Michael C. Nelson, Yuhua Zou, Henry Juguilon, Heonjoong Kang, Reuben J. Shaw, and Ronald M. Evans.

Cell, Volume124, Issue 2, July 25 2008.

The benefits of endurance exercise on general health make it desirable to identify orally active agents that would mimic or potentiate the effects of exercise to treat metabolic diseases. Although certain natural compounds, such as reseveratrol*, have endurance-enhancing activities, their exact metabolic targets remain elusive. We therefore tested the effect of pathway-specific drugs on endurance capacities of mice in a treadmill running test. We found that PPARβ/δ agonist and exercise training synergistically increase oxidative myofibers and running endurance in adult mice. Because training activates AMPK and PGC1α, we then tested whether the orally active AMPK agonist AICAR might be sufficient to overcome the exercise requirement. Unexpectedly, even in sedentary mice, 4 weeks of AICAR treatment alone induced metabolic genes and enhanced running endurance by 44%. These results demonstrate that AMPK-PPARδ pathway can be targeted by orally active drugs to enhance training adaptation or even to increase endurance without exercise.

*Reseveratrol is the antioxidant found in wine, hence the reason why a glass of wine is said to have heart-protecting benefits andit's been shown to increase endurance (although only in mice studies iirc?).

But essentially these guys are looking at endurance exercise, not resistance exercise, which as we all know by now are two different animals completely. And later in the discussion they state that "[the researchers] found that a PPARδ agonist in combination with exercise synergistically induces fatigue-resistant type I fiber specification and mitochondrial biogenesis, ultimately enhancing physical performance." So if you're looking for a pill that helps you run longer, then this may be of interest. If you're a lifter, it's not so hot.

It also has to be considered that by and large the study was carried out using untrained, sedentary mice. In other words, if you improve the performance of a couch potato by 44%, they won't become superhumanly athletic, they'll just be less of a blob :pac:

It's an interesting study for sure, and that they're already creating a dope test to be used in upcoming competitions would indicate that they're well underway with the human clinical trials and have seen positive results.

Dragan

If they developed a pill in the morning that would have me 30lbs heavier with muscle and down 5 points of BF i still wouldn't take it.

The journey should be fun as well, not just the destination.

Zombrex

g'em wrote: »

if you improve the performance of a couch potato by 44%, they won't become superhumanly athletic, they'll just be less of a blob :pac:

Sign me up ... after years of disappointment with quick weight loss fads this sounds like the real deal, I'll loose loads of weight, and quickly too!*

* Simpsons reference btw.

Dubdude

We all know how good it is to feel after a good hard workout and seeing the results but when you think of a 20 stone man/woman that can only last 5 mins on a treadmill without feeling as if there going to collapse its this sort of person that stops going the gym after 3 weeks and only joined because they got a ben dunne deal to me its this sort of person that would take it knowing they then can manage 20-30 mins of running and then they start to see results which in fact will lead them to feel great after a workout and have them looking forward to the next days training

g'em

Dragan wrote: »

If they developed a pill in the morning that would have me 30lbs heavier with muscle and down 5 points of BF i still wouldn't take it.

Well, kudos to you. But in all honesty I don't know if I would or not. It would very much depend on the circumstances surrounding my training at any given time and how motivated I was. Maybe I just lack the 'hardcore' gene :rolleyes:

How Strange

Surely this would just encourage lazy people to remain lazy and not put in effort into doing exercise. I read this quote in the Metro this morning

'Almost no-one gets the recommended 40mins to an hour per day of exercise' Dr Evans pointed out.

This seems like justification to me. What will the future generations be like if even exercise and fitness will become sedentary?

g'em

How Strange wrote: »

This seems like justification to me. What will the future generations be like if even exercise and fitness will become sedentary?

I don't see the pill wiping out exercise completely though. Lazy people will always have an excuse not to exercise, the pill doesn't create a super-excuse as it were. There will always be people who want to be very active too, and for them, the pill will probably mean very little.

Fatloss08

*Reseveratrol is the antioxidant found in wine, hence the reason why a glass of wine is said to have heart-protecting benefits andit's been shown to increase endurance (although only in mice studies iirc?).

Mice are though to have a very similar brain to humans all be it alot smaller but working the same way as humans

i dont understand all the haters on here , ok granted people like Hanley and G'em are like fitness fanatics ( i wish i was too ) but not everybody can get the motivation and will power , we are all diff and while i dont agree with the likes of lipotrim or atkins etc of it gets people the head start to maintain their healthy habits / motivation and will power then fair play

lots of people including myself get lost when it comes to counting kcals and where to get the good ones from and that etc its very difficult for somebody older to get into good habits of eating of they ate **** for years , like telling people on here to stop smoking completely , they cant , FACT most people arent addicted to smokes , they just associate smokes to relaxing etc , like junk food eaters use food as comfort eating

g'em

Fatloss08 wrote: »

Mice are though to have a very similar brain to humans all be it alot smaller but working the same way as humans

aye, indeed, but there's a wold of differences too, hence the reason why mice are small and fuzzy and we're big and... hairy? I just take rodent studies with a certain level of cynicism until I see human clinical trial studies.

Fatloss08 wrote:

i dont understand all the haters on here , ok granted people like Hanley and G'em are like fitness fanatics ( i wish i was too ) but not everybody can get the motivation and will power , we are all diff and while i dont agree with the likes of lipotrim or atkins etc of it gets people the head start to maintain their healthy habits / motivation and will power then fair play

If you watch the forum and the posters here you start to see trends emerging over time. Often people embark on the fitness buzz and it absolutely engulfs them - there's little more powerful than realising what your body can do, pushing those physiological boundaries, enjoying the hit of an endorphin fuelled training session, constantly be 'on top of your game' as you see results emerging and you metamorphosize right in front of your very eyes. I guess that's when people tend to become 'Fitness Freaks' or 'Fitness Nazis'. You see what a bit of hard work can do and it's beyond comprehension why anyone wouldn't want to do the same.

But let the haters hate, that's their business. The only body you really need to be in mind of is your own. Sometimes you'll love it when it makes you proud, and sometimes you'll hate it when you feel like it lets you down. And even for those fanatics among us it isn't all smooth sailing either. Real life has a nasty bloody habit of getting in the way at the most inopportune moments. I'll be completely honest here: I suck at training right now. Seriously, I do. Compared to what I was lifting 12 months ago I'm like a kitten. No, make that a litter runt. I struggle to lift my bodyweight when not long ago it was my warm-up weight. My diet has gone to pot too and lo and behold, I'm run down, prone to illness and after a blood check at the doctor's it turns out I'm borderline anaemic. Ha! Some Fitness Nazi!

Like I said though, real life is a mofoing beatch sometimes. Some folk are very good at not letting it getting in the way and use training as a catharsis to chase away the demons. I've gone beyond that cathartic stage and am now stuck firmly in wallow-land.

But here's the thing: the calculations of calories, the reading, the training, the practicing... it's times like this that all that hard work really pays off. Because it means that when you fall down, it takes less effort to get back up and onto the proverbial Fitness horse again. As you've said...

Fatloss08 wrote:

for somebody older to get into good habits of eating of they ate **** for years

...it's not just making a few tweaks here and there, it's making a whole lifestyle change, and that's not easy. But it is worth it.

Sorry, this has turned into a bit of a long post, but I guess I just wanted to say that even some of us fanatics find it hard sometimes. The only difference is that having seen what the benefits of healthy eating and exercise are, it makes the journey back to peak condition even more compelling, challenging and satisfactory.

Keep at it, you don't realise how big the changes you're making are because it's hard to gauge on a day-to-day basis. But trust me, they're there, and you'll thank yourself heartily when you see them pay off

Mellor

I think people are missing the bigger picture, sure it "could" replace excercise. Probably wouldn't be cheap to do so.

But the big advantage of this is much more beneficial imo. People who have accidents, or are very sick and hence bed-ridden or at least partially impared. By taking these pills they could maintain (not increase) levels of body muscle.

I'm sure that there are plenty of people here would are in decent shape (some likely said above they would avoid it). But would they still avoid it if they were in a car crash, did a stint in hospital and emerged with the body of a junkie

brianthebard

Gillo wrote: »

Bah, I get hundreds of emails offering to sell me stuff like that all the time.

Even if it did what it says on the tin, all I can think is I'd actually miss going to the gym, also there'd be no sense of satisfaction looking in the mirror and thinking yeah I did well (not that I'm a poser).

Could you not take the pill AND continue exercising? Surely its not designed to replace activity? Obviously its going to be banned from competitive sports almost immediately, but if I thought was safe to use I don't think I would have a problem. I'm terrible at running for any distance, and if this pill could help improve that for me, why not?

hunnymonster

g'em wrote: »

*Reseveratrol

I don't drink, where else can I get this anti-oxidant? Grapes? Although given I have to spent 6 days in march sweating in the Sahara without a shower, maybe I should get used to hanging out with the local wino's now

brianthebard

Would it be in non alcoholic wine?

amazingemmet

I think reservatol is also an anti-estrogen so mightn't be the best thing for women to take. You can get it on t-nation.com but not sure how that one rates to other brands.

LegacyUser

I'd take it and exercise at the same time!

gabgab

cheesedude wrote: »

I'd take it and exercise at the same time!

Yeh what happens if you take the wonder drug and exercise? Sounds like a sweet deal to me,

That some creatine, a load of clean calories and you would be away in a hack, no?

Hanley

gabgab wrote: »

Yeh what happens if you take the wonder drug and exercise?

Oh... you meant a DIFFERENT wonder drug?