Workout in a pill

[omelissokomos]

Science Comes a Step Closer to a Workout in a Pill

"St Vincent's and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) have identified and unlocked the structure of an enzyme -- a protein that kicks off chemical reactions -- that turns off the synthesis of fat and cholesterol."

Read all about it...

[brent]

Not quite what I was hoping for when I read the headline, but it is a step closer. This raises the argument, if it was easy to grow muscle, would it be special?

[ethernet_jock]

Brent,

That's a very good point and a disturbing thought to me in the direction of our collective future. If genetic and biological engineering really does figure out a "miracle muscle pill" be it either myostatin blocker or something else.... what will become of the muscle people of the future? Won't the object of all competitive sports, particularly individual sports become mostly pointless and silly? Furthermore, how sad is it that you could have muscle on your body that you never truly "earned"? I never feel like I deserve or can enjoy anything I have unless I worked for it and earned it, but maybe that's just me.

This idea really scares me a lot more than just the surface silliness factor too. I can envision a true separation of classes of humanity and perhaps a new race war. The have's and the have nots.... or the refuse to have's... if you will. I would have to be on the refuse to have's side. I truly believe that our bodies were given to us with a certain set of genetics and building blocks for us to work with... sometimes they are incredibly crappy (as in the case of those physically handicapped) and sometimes they are blessed beyond belief in terms of physique... but everyone's unique package has gives and takes and makes for a great dynamic and balanced blend of humanity. For humans to go and fuck with that special matrix of balance... to me... is like the final insult to mother nature. If and when this concept comes to light, whether it be in our lifetimes or not... there will be a give and a take to it. Mother nature will find a way to fuck over anyone who does it in another way, perhaps a way that they can't even truly see at first. Even if these "modified" people become the dominant race in society simply because a guy like me, no matter how much time I spend lifting weights the natural way can't possibly keep up and ends up getting pushed around, it will still be wrong and there will eventually be a downfall to it.

Anyhow, I feel like I could write a 20 page thesis on the morality and pure tom-foolery of this idea. We all love the idea of growing muscle so easily, I love the idea too. But the reality of it is incredibly depressing.

Just my $0.02.

[buffdoc]

ethernet_jock, interesting thoughts and welcome to the brave new world...I think it is much closer when we all think. With respect to this enzyme inhibitor, trust me when I say it is far away from practical use. Cholesterol is a ubiquitous part of nearly all cell membranes and blocking its production would be a disaster; plus cholesterol is base component of everyones (at least mine) favorite hormone testosterone. The most promising efforts are directed at understanding how fat cells work. In the past, everyone thought the fat cell was not very special and was a simple storage vessel. The new theories about fat hold that collectively fat is much like a endocrine organ (i.e. thyroid gland, adrenal gland) and exerts a profound impact on metabolism and ultimately body composition and weight gain. In fact genetic differences in fat cell regulation and gene expression, may partly explain why some people tend to be naturally lean (and unfortunately very skinny).

[brent]

Originally Posted by buffdoc

ethernet_jock, interesting thoughts and welcome to the brave new world...I think it is much closer than we all think.

That's sort of scary.

Originally Posted by buffdoc

... The most promising efforts are directed at understanding how fat cells work. In the past, everyone thought the fat cell was not very special and was a simple storage vessel. The new theories about fat hold that collectively fat is much like a endocrine organ (i.e. thyroid gland, adrenal gland) and exerts a profound impact on metabolism and ultimately body composition and weight gain. In fact genetic differences in fat cell regulation and gene expression, may partly explain why some people tend to be naturally lean (and unfortunately very skinny).

Here's a definition I found of endocrine.
endocrine

adj : of or belonging to endocrine glands or their secretions; "endocrine system" [syn: endocrinal] [ant: exocrine]

That didn't tell me much. What types of hormones are endocrinal? More importantly: does this mean that it's good to have a certain amount of fat on your body when you are trying to gain weight?

[buffdoc]

Endocrine refers to glandular structures in the body that release hormones. For example, the thyroid gland produces thyroid hormone and regulates basal metabolic rate; the testes produce testosterone and are responsible for the secondary sexual characteristics (e.g. muscle growth) in males. Fat cells are now also being thought of as endocrine structures. They release soluble factors in the blood and can influence how metabolism of food stuffs occurs. They also can change the way they respond to external hormonal signals (such as growth hormone, insulin, and some sex steroids) as a function of their absolute number (fat cells have now been proven to divide) and how much fat each individual cell is storing. So they are not passive--they are actually active hormonally speaking. With respect to weight gain, some people are naturally lean others more fatty. This probably has to do with many factors but inherited differences in how fat cells respond to other hormones and the ease of which they release their own hormones may play a role. With respect to weight training, as your body fat percentage increases, the relative amount of weight gain in terms of lean mass to fat falls. In other words, assuming excess adequate caloric intake in order to gain mass, you want to be as lean as possible when starting to bulk. That is why it can be important to bulk and cut in regular fashion; otherwise, you will end up with relatively more fat than muscle over time if you consistently attempt to recklessly bulk and neglect keeping body fat in check. If you throw in anabolic steroids into the mix, this changes somewhat but in general this is a good principle for natural lifters to consider.