HGH in endurance sports

[vulpes]

The scientific data on HGH in endurance sports shows no clear benefit to endurance and suggests it may actually negatively impact VO2 max. However Cyclists keep getting busted for it and rowers were big into it before testing improved. These athletes have good doctors, so there must be benefits to be had when it is correctly used. How do you guys think HGH should best be used by the endurance athlete? Doses and timings?

My personal aims with HGH (apart from enjoying increased recovery) are to gradually improve the strength of connective tissue, allowing me to get stronger muscles safely, so I can then go faster later down the line. Its quite long term and I could take a hit to VO2 max for a few months if it paved the way for me to safely get stronger to then go faster. I would appreciate advice with dose and timings.

HGH appears to benefit anaerobic exercise capacity by increasing the ability to make ATP the anaerobic route -so you get more lactate as a by product, which may be what hits the VO2 max. (Certainly I watched an athlete I coach become awesome at 400's and 800's on MK677 but crap at endurance because he just "drowned in lactate after about 4 800's". Endurance returned when MK 677 was stopped, while some long sprint improvement was retained.) Beating up your connective tissue by sprinting is also going to be really good for stimulating it being built back better, so HGH after doing short hard intervals seems a possible good plan and HGH being the sprinter's friend is well documented scientifically.

However, we already get a good hit of endogenous HGH following sprints (very well documented scientifically). Do we just go for a bigger hit with exogenous? Or can we use exogenous at other times that will still benefit tendon repair while enjoying what we already get for free after sprints? One could for example say "we don't get a good hit of endogenous following low aerobic training, so we could use it then? We could just take it before bed but then that is a time when we are soon to be getting a big natural hit. When would you recommend and of course how much would you personally recommend? I was thinking start 1 iu, move up to 2 if 2 showed increased benefit but I am interested in people's ideas.

I would be grateful of people's considered opinions.

Thanks.

 

[Benf15harp]

The scientific data on HGH in endurance sports shows no clear benefit to endurance and suggests it may actually negatively impact VO2 max. However Cyclists keep getting busted for it and rowers were big into it before testing improved. These athletes have good doctors, so there must be benefits to be had when it is correctly used. How do you guys think HGH should best be used by the endurance athlete? Doses and timings?

My personal aims with HGH (apart from enjoying increased recovery) are to gradually improve the strength of connective tissue, allowing me to get stronger muscles safely, so I can then go faster later down the line. Its quite long term and I could take a hit to VO2 max for a few months if it paved the way for me to safely get stronger to then go faster. I would appreciate advice with dose and timings.

HGH appears to benefit anaerobic exercise capacity by increasing the ability to make ATP the anaerobic route -so you get more lactate as a by product, which may be what hits the VO2 max. (Certainly I watched an athlete I coach become awesome at 400's and 800's on MK677 but crap at endurance because he just "drowned in lactate after about 4 800's". Endurance returned when MK 677 was stopped, while some long sprint improvement was retained.) Beating up your connective tissue by sprinting is also going to be really good for stimulating it being built back better, so HGH after doing short hard intervals seems a possible good plan and HGH being the sprinter's friend is well documented scientifically.

However, we already get a good hit of endogenous HGH following sprints (very well documented scientifically). Do we just go for a bigger hit with exogenous? Or can we use exogenous at other times that will still benefit tendon repair while enjoying what we already get for free after sprints? One could for example say "we don't get a good hit of endogenous following low aerobic training, so we could use it then? We could just take it before bed but then that is a time when we are soon to be getting a big natural hit. When would you recommend and of course how much would you personally recommend? I was thinking start 1 iu, move up to 2 if 2 showed increased benefit but I am interested in people's ideas.

I would be grateful of people's considered opinions.

Thanks.

1: if you start taking hgh it will shut down your natural production.
2. You need to find out your natural level and if it’s low you can add GH to get to the top of a natural range. Any more than that and it’ll eventually have a negative effect.
3. 50-70% of GH is produced during the first few hours of sleep so if replacing natural production you should aim for 50-70% at bedtime and the rest post workout
4. GH like most peds are used for recovery not necessarily performance
5. If you can’t recover you can’t perform
All the best.

 

[Benf15harp]

Also, if you truly want to perform your best with or without GH you need to train/practice as much as possible without overtraining(critical) sleep as much as possible min 10hours and eat as much as possible.
GL

 

[vulpes]

Thanks. I was hoping you would reply as I have seen you write lot of good stuff.

I wish I could sleep that much! I do try (though the wife complains I go to bed too early). For me, the biggest aid to good HRV (which seems to be my best single indictor of recovery) is an early evening meal. I wonder if this might be HGH related? Better recovery is my big aim. I think its the thing you lose most as you age. I started with keeping quality of effort the same but adding more rests and that really helped.

My big issue is trying to start being serious later in life. I am surrounded by family and friends who know their stuff and have achieved well but the theory will only work if the body can recover enough to develop strength and speed at the time when most people are trying just to hold off the decline.

How long do you believe the suppression of endogenous growth hormone lasts? Most body builders seem to believe exogenous HGH does not suppress endogenous. However the fact that doping tests rely on the suppression of natural forms suggests otherwise.

I found this "The initial test developed in the mid-2000s for rhGH detection took advantage of the fact that native hGH is made up of multiple isomers, while rhGH contains only the 22kD isomer. When someone takes rhGH, the natural production of hGH is suppressed and the percentage of the 22kD isomer relative to the other isoforms increases. Although this test is accurate and there have been several confirmed cases of athletes who have admitted the use of hGH, the isoform test has a limited window of detection, usually on the order of one or two days following administration of the hormone."

If the window of detection is only a couple of days does this suggest the suppression is only short term? or does the ratio return to normal but a degree of overall suppression remain? If the suppression itself is only short lived, there would be little to lose from a trial of HGH. This might be easier than trying to test my levels because its so pulsatile and will depend on many external factors which might make accurate testing hard for an amateur to fit into life?

If we are aiming simply to replace good natural levels in a young man, I find suggested dosage of 0.004 to 0.016mg/ kg. Does this sound right to you? (0.85 iu to 1.7 ius for an 11 stone man)?

 

[Benf15harp]

I believe you’re correct on suppression time and dosage.
only thing about dosage is igf-1 response seems to vary greatly and likely due to a variety of variables.
For me anything over 2ius caused more harm than good. The hgh I’m currently using tests at 12ius per vial so each IU is 400mcgs so I take 1.5ius which puts me at 600mcgs. During recovery breaks I take 2ius. 1.5ius puts me at 250 igf1 and 2 is about 310.
I would just try it and see if it helps.