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Atherosclerosis and 20rep squats
A few years ago I went out for my usual lunch time hike. I had left my boots in the car and it was 16 degrees out. After putting my boots on my right foot immediately started to feel funny. A few days later it still felt funny and was kind of an unhealthy looking color (white to bluish).
So to skip to the end of the story it ends up that I have a little atherosclerosis going on though the main problem that day was probably more related to what they call Reynauds syndrome. That's basically where your body shuts down blood supply to extremities to protect the core. Some guys get it just stepping on a cold tile floor, I don't. It was also probably exacerbated by stress which I was responding to by trying to murder mountains. (Mountain Lovers: Mountains have shown no effects from my efforts).
So my question is, since higher rep schemes are supposed to cause the body to react with vascular development, is there any thinking going on besides in my tiny brain that there could be some benefit in increased blood supply to guys like me from higher rep sets?
The "gold standard" therapy is said to be walking but I wonder...
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Oh, just a follow up. I responded to that scare by spending a few months afraid to eat just about anything except steel cut oats, greens and fish. That's when I dropped to just under 160lbs @ 5' 11". I began SS at this weight and in that frame of mind.
I've since read Good Calories, Bad Calories and I'm looking forward to getting back to the states and my grass fed meat. I'm not on any medications, but I do take niacin, baby aspirin and fish oil.
I usually take quercetin and drink lots of green tea and Hawthorne tea (when I'm home).
Last edited by ColoWayno; 05-09-2010 at 02:11 AM.
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If you're asking me for the data, I'm quite sure it doesn't exist and probably won't anytime soon, what with the medical establishment's insistence that full squats -- especially the hard kind -- kill and maim people. The current thinking on atherosclerotic plaqueing is that the body forms a plaque in response to a damaged spot that is likely the result of inflammatory damage. To the extent that training normalizes the body, it would help. To the extent that overtraining can harm by increasing inflammation, it could be a problem. This is why you're taking fish oil. But I don't know that you could say that 20-rep squats done the usual insanely hard way we do them would be helpful to a dose of atherosclerosis just because they shove a bunch of blood through the system.
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Thanks!
I think the dietary changes I've made have been helpful. The number one is eliminating most simple carbs. I've also tried to find meat with healthier fatty acid profiles (grass fed beef or buffalo for example).
I don't think I'll try the 20 rep scheme any time soon. The good thing is this is a slowly progressing disease and I have plenty of time to be an experiment of 1. I might very well try higher rep sets for a while when the time is right and see what happens.
Last edited by ColoWayno; 05-09-2010 at 10:50 PM.
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