I found this article at Elitefitness.com and wanted to share it with you. I might start this up soon.
I am going to point out the important conversation that went on. If any of you have experience and can add or give some positive suggestions let me know.
******************************************************
I’ve recently had several enquiries from guys interested in running Insulin during cycles, or at PCT. Most(if not all) seemed very fearful of Insulin. And with good reason. If Insulin is run incorrectly a host of things could happen to you, including death. With that said, I refer you to Mr. Sparkles thread on Insulin. All you questions can be answered there….
This post is just a simple guide for first time insulin users to follow in a safe, and effective manner.
I urge you to invest in a glucometer. This will give you a close estimation of where your BG(Blood Glucose) levels are (Safe Zone 70-90,but independent upon each individual).You want to take in adequate amounts of carbs, but not too much. As the excess will be stored as fat. And yes, if you aren’t careful, you can add quite a bit of excess body fat. As you’ll see in my dosing example below, we drop carbs slightly as to not to acquire excess BF.
As you already might know. The basic rule is 10g Dextrose to 1 iu of Insulin. Now the trick is to get in tune with your body so to take advantage of the insulin spike, which allows nutrients to be shuttled to the muscle cells rapidly, doing so without taking in excess carbs which equates to body fat.
Below is a 30 day cycle(which is recommended) for Insulin. I don’t use Insulin on off days from the gym. Some like to use Insulin on off days in the morning to fight off the catabolic state we’re in upon awakening. I feel upon awakening in the morning a shake consisting of Whey/Dextrose would be sufficient in bringing you out of this catabolic state from fasting over an 8 hour period while sleeping. Remember, you can become Insulin insensitive if abused. So by running insulin on training days only reduces that threat.
I’ll use the 5 day training split as an example here. That will give you 20 days “on” insulin.
Day 1 : 5 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 2 : 5 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 3 : 5 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Congratulations!! You’ve survived thus far. I assume(hope) you’ve been monitoring your BG levels. You probably have noticed that you are in the higher range using 50g of dextrose PWO. Now it’s time to drop the carbs slightly. Don’t fret. This should be more than ample amounts(of carbs) to get you through to your PPWO meal.
Day 4 : 5 iu insulin/40g Dextrose
Day 5 : 5 iu insulin/40g Dextrose
At this point you should have a good idea of how you react with Insulin in terms of BG levels vs. carb intake .
Let’s up the dose……
Day 6 : 6 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 7 : 6 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
By this point in time you should be feeling good(ie;more confident),but still respectful to Insulin. Let’s test the waters for 3 days to give you the feel of things. By that I mean we’ll drop the carb intake slightly so you can find a comfortable ratio in regards to iu’s vs. carbs per gram.
Day 8 : 6 iu insulin/40g Dextrose
Day 9 : 6 iu insulin/40g Dextrose
Day 10 : 6 iu insulin/40g Dextrose
Now, the above ratio’s are safe and effective. You can stop right here and continue on for the next 10 days at the above doses/ratio’s. Or you can move forward slightly.
Day 11 : 7 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 12 : 7 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 13 : 7 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 14 : 7 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 15 : & iu insulin/50g Dextrose
If you felt confident with the above protocol.You could experiment on days 14-15 and drop your dextrose to 40g.If you do so, please monitor your BG levels every 15 minutes or so. And have glucose tabs, or another source of quick carbs handy (like orange juice) to stave off any possible signs of hypoglycemia. Don’t panic should this happen,just drink a glass of orange juice, or similar, and in 10 minutes the symptoms will have subsided.
Ok, on to your final week.
Day 16 : 8 iu insulin/60g Dextrose
Day 17 : 8 iu insulin/60g Dextrose
Day 18 : 8 iu insulin/60g Dextrose
Day 19 : 8 iu insulin/60g Dextrose
Day 20 : 8 iu insulin/60g Dextrose
***********************************
how do you minimize fat gain while using insulin? will this negatively affect you after you stop with the "protocol"? like being less sensitive to your own insulin or something? if so can you recover from it/how long does it take? what kind of gains can be expected (like 5lbs or something)?
If your new to insulin then use very fast acting insulin. Humalog. Start small... 3IU's then work your way up to maybe 6. Never exceed 10. Newcomers shouldn't really need more than 6IU's twice per day. And most important is you need 10 grams of carbs for every 1IU of insulin.
I am going to point out the important conversation that went on. If any of you have experience and can add or give some positive suggestions let me know.
******************************************************
I’ve recently had several enquiries from guys interested in running Insulin during cycles, or at PCT. Most(if not all) seemed very fearful of Insulin. And with good reason. If Insulin is run incorrectly a host of things could happen to you, including death. With that said, I refer you to Mr. Sparkles thread on Insulin. All you questions can be answered there….
This post is just a simple guide for first time insulin users to follow in a safe, and effective manner.
I urge you to invest in a glucometer. This will give you a close estimation of where your BG(Blood Glucose) levels are (Safe Zone 70-90,but independent upon each individual).You want to take in adequate amounts of carbs, but not too much. As the excess will be stored as fat. And yes, if you aren’t careful, you can add quite a bit of excess body fat. As you’ll see in my dosing example below, we drop carbs slightly as to not to acquire excess BF.
As you already might know. The basic rule is 10g Dextrose to 1 iu of Insulin. Now the trick is to get in tune with your body so to take advantage of the insulin spike, which allows nutrients to be shuttled to the muscle cells rapidly, doing so without taking in excess carbs which equates to body fat.
Below is a 30 day cycle(which is recommended) for Insulin. I don’t use Insulin on off days from the gym. Some like to use Insulin on off days in the morning to fight off the catabolic state we’re in upon awakening. I feel upon awakening in the morning a shake consisting of Whey/Dextrose would be sufficient in bringing you out of this catabolic state from fasting over an 8 hour period while sleeping. Remember, you can become Insulin insensitive if abused. So by running insulin on training days only reduces that threat.
I’ll use the 5 day training split as an example here. That will give you 20 days “on” insulin.
Day 1 : 5 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 2 : 5 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 3 : 5 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Congratulations!! You’ve survived thus far. I assume(hope) you’ve been monitoring your BG levels. You probably have noticed that you are in the higher range using 50g of dextrose PWO. Now it’s time to drop the carbs slightly. Don’t fret. This should be more than ample amounts(of carbs) to get you through to your PPWO meal.
Day 4 : 5 iu insulin/40g Dextrose
Day 5 : 5 iu insulin/40g Dextrose
At this point you should have a good idea of how you react with Insulin in terms of BG levels vs. carb intake .
Let’s up the dose……
Day 6 : 6 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 7 : 6 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
By this point in time you should be feeling good(ie;more confident),but still respectful to Insulin. Let’s test the waters for 3 days to give you the feel of things. By that I mean we’ll drop the carb intake slightly so you can find a comfortable ratio in regards to iu’s vs. carbs per gram.
Day 8 : 6 iu insulin/40g Dextrose
Day 9 : 6 iu insulin/40g Dextrose
Day 10 : 6 iu insulin/40g Dextrose
Now, the above ratio’s are safe and effective. You can stop right here and continue on for the next 10 days at the above doses/ratio’s. Or you can move forward slightly.
Day 11 : 7 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 12 : 7 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 13 : 7 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 14 : 7 iu insulin/50g Dextrose
Day 15 : & iu insulin/50g Dextrose
If you felt confident with the above protocol.You could experiment on days 14-15 and drop your dextrose to 40g.If you do so, please monitor your BG levels every 15 minutes or so. And have glucose tabs, or another source of quick carbs handy (like orange juice) to stave off any possible signs of hypoglycemia. Don’t panic should this happen,just drink a glass of orange juice, or similar, and in 10 minutes the symptoms will have subsided.
Ok, on to your final week.
Day 16 : 8 iu insulin/60g Dextrose
Day 17 : 8 iu insulin/60g Dextrose
Day 18 : 8 iu insulin/60g Dextrose
Day 19 : 8 iu insulin/60g Dextrose
Day 20 : 8 iu insulin/60g Dextrose
***********************************
how do you minimize fat gain while using insulin? will this negatively affect you after you stop with the "protocol"? like being less sensitive to your own insulin or something? if so can you recover from it/how long does it take? what kind of gains can be expected (like 5lbs or something)?
If your new to insulin then use very fast acting insulin. Humalog. Start small... 3IU's then work your way up to maybe 6. Never exceed 10. Newcomers shouldn't really need more than 6IU's twice per day. And most important is you need 10 grams of carbs for every 1IU of insulin.
