Baclofen and exercise

[Lo0p]

Baclofen and exercise

ignominous;962798 wrote: Have you seen this one Loop. Stimulatory effect of acute baclofen administratio... [J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1979] - PubMed result Looks like it may make some contribution.
Interesting, sure! Thanks for bringing it to my attention. As to what contribution it may make, negative or positive, to body composition (fat vs muscle) you could only speculate. hGH is definitely a major player and any way to increase it is generally regarded as a major benefit, which is another reason why I do the 4x20's.

But 10 mgs. :H

My transformation(s) are impressive sure. Some people have even responded with skepticism and concern about how 'natural' I am. The truth is, I've been researching this stuff with as much fervor as I research anything for YEARS. And I did everything right.

I attained the "holy grail" of body transformation, which is gaining muscle and losing fat simultaneously. Most so-called experts believe that this is impossible to do.

As to what role baclofen played, I'm confident it is not even measurable. In my book food is king. There is a hierarchy to body transformation and it goes like this, in order of importance:

1. Nutrition
2. Nutrition
3. Nutrition
4. Resistance training (Weight lifting, NOT cardio, male or female, it doesn't matter. You want to burn fat? Lift weights.)

And in a very distant 5th place:

Everything else

ignominous;963361 wrote: Increases it. Therefor I guess your muscles get bigger faster
Chronic baclofen therapy improves the blunted growth hormone response to intravenous arginine in subjects with spinal cord injury -- Bauman et al. 78 (5): 1135 -- Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism
This seems to negate the negative effects of SCI however provides no add'l benefit when compared to the control group with no SCI. Still very interesting and thanks again.

Sunnyvalenting;963487 wrote:

Maybe that is why I have been loosing weight at the gym faster than I would have expected. Also my sons tell me I am getting buff. I am a 58 year old woman who has a few more pounds to loose.
Does the muscle hypertrophy, if any, mean stronger as well?
But now that I am nearly tapered off of the bac will I become weaker?
Sunny

This is going to sound like I'm being short with you. I don't mean to, I am just extremely confident that what I am saying is 100% correct.

No, baclofen isn't why you've been losing weight faster than expected. Refer to my hierarchy above. Please don't rack your brain and think things like: "but I haven't changed my diet that much it's the same as last time I tried to lose weight"

The truth is you cannot know precisely A) how much you are eating and B) how much energy you are expending, even if you think you've got a pretty good handle on it. I weigh my food to the gram when I am dieting and even then I accept that I've only got a *good* estimate of my daily energy balance (kcals in vs kcals out).

You can be confident in one thing: You are doing something right! :goodjob: and keep it up!

ignominous;963497 wrote: No idea what hypertophy is.
Enter Loop!

Hypertrophy is an increase in muscle fiber in response to an increase in demand. Muscle fibers increase in both size AND number.

For the purposes of our conversation you can say this is an increase in strength. If you are a real fitness nutcase like me we can differentiate between hypertrophy and strength but we won't go there.

[Lo0p]

Baclofen and exercise

Sunnyvalenting;963487 wrote: But now that I am nearly tapered off of the bac will I become weaker?

Baclofen is not making you stronger, and not taking it will not make you weaker. You will become weaker if you do either one of two things:

1. If you do not support your muscles with adequate protein AND calories you will lose them. Not overboard like a junkie like me, just adequate. Want a good measuring stick? What you are doing right now obviously works! Build on that and enjoy the ride! Muscle is active metabolic tissue, meaning it burns calories even at rest!

2. If you do not convince your body consistently that it is necessary to maintain this energy costly active metabolic tissue (use it or lose it)!

[Lo0p]

Baclofen and exercise

Random thought:

Ahhh human growth hormone. What Juan Ponce de Le?n and so many throughout history have searched for but never found.

Google hGH and you'll find that many think of it as the mythical fountain of youth. There are still hGH fanatics who spend $1000's and inject themselves with the sh!t with maybe only a perceived or placebo benefit.

The closest thing we will ever have to a fountain of youth is lifting weights, which goes hand in hand with treating your body properly. Your body is the temple of your soul. I won't begin to go into what AL does to it because I'd be preaching to the choir. We all know and that's why we're here.

[Lo0p]

Baclofen and exercise

But yes, I must admit, there is something about the baclofen. I just don't know what. To try to put my finger on it, which is why I started this thread, would be folly.

But it is fun to talk about!

This is why I call myself Lo0p :nutso:

[ignominous]

Baclofen and exercise

What doe LoOp mean

[gratitude]

Baclofen and exercise

loop,
I admire your passion/mania about exercise. I'm convinced high intensity cycling is one of the major reasons I'm still sober. I follow a pretty strict exercise program and it definitely gets rid of the anxiety that ii drank over. I'm lucky that it's one of my passions and I look forward to it every day. just finished the Leadville 100mountain bike race in aug. hardest thing I have ever done by far. also, got rid of most of the craziness I felt the first couple years of sobriety. thanks for the pics of burning man. god, that has evolved.

[Sunnyvalenting]

Baclofen and exercise

Didn't know where to post this but happy to report that In the past 3+ months I have lost over 25 pounds by walking 3 miles a day uphill and eating quite light but lots of veggies and at least 60 grams of high quality protein / day. I also do pull ups, crunches, and back strengthening 2 times/week.
I am very protective of my exercise time. As I plan my day it is not if but WHEN will I fit this in.
A recent cholesterol panel showed
Total cholesterol; 145
Triglyceride; 45
HDL 80
LDL 56
Happy to report that with abstinence and consistent good habits one can reclaim one's health. It doesn't happen overnight but slowly. I plan to keep this up.
sunny

[muchthought]

Baclofen and exercise

Sunny -

That is wonderful! You're numbers look great. Three miles a day. I do one mile - guess I need to up it! Plus 25 pounds off, which must feel great and enables you to do more.

I am 35 pounds overweight (well, I was 25 pounds but bac has made me pack on some.) I can blame bac, but really it is my inability to control my eating, BUT...besides encouraging you, I wanted to post here that in the last few days I cut my sugar intake drastically and I think I am doing better.

Loop I loved the first points about bodybuilding, nutrition, nutrition, nutrition. There is a great youtube video of Craig Ballantyne demonstrating how you cannot run fast enough on a treadmill to counteract eating a pizza. I know all the arguments about how dumb the concept is, but it is still funny.

I tried doing p90 (p90x for older people - the video exercise regime) with my husband starting last fall and powered through it for 9 months, until realizing it made me up my visits to the chiropractor. So, I stopped p90 about the same time I seriously upped my bac intake. So I am walking one mile or two a day to make up for it. It bugs me that my husband is still doing p90 and I can't, because I actually like the strength training and cardio parts of it.

Enough rambling, just putting my two cents in on the merits of exercise. And Loop you look fine. Crazy how much you can lift however.

[muchthought]

Baclofen and exercise

Ack - okay the other reason I wanted to post on this particular thread is because i find it much easier to make myself exercise since taking bac and drinking half the amount I used to. That's not muscle growth like Loop is talking about, but it's making my muscles grow....?

[Sunnyvalenting]

Baclofen and exercise

For what it's worth my diet is nothing special. Just lots of veggies, & fruit. I eat several mini meals/day rather than big meals. It works for me.
I have taught myself a few tricks to help my approach to food be healthy:

Am I fueling up or filling up? I am trying to assess my fuel needs and meet but not exceed it with good quality balanced food.
and
If the only thing around were an apple and a carrot would I eat them? If so I am hungry. If not I am "something other than hungry".
I think these 2 questions are helping me make good food choices. I am now down 30 pounds and still doing my daily gym routine.
Thanks to all who post here with good ideas. It is good to know I have some discipline left after all.
Sunny

[Publius]

Baclofen and exercise

Lo0p...I just have to get this out, and this is the only thread that seems appropriate for it. If that pic is of you, you are way too jacked...eff you haha :goodjob:

[Lo0p]

Baclofen and exercise

Publius;976284 wrote: Lo0p...I just have to get this out, and this is the only thread that seems appropriate for it. If that pic is of you, you are way too jacked...eff you haha :goodjob:

Hell yes it is! :thanks:

I've got more pics floatin' around here too. In this thread: https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...nds-42543.html and in this one: https://www.mywayout.org/community/f20/pm-s-44185.html

[Lo0p]

Baclofen and exercise

And this is the date it all started:

[Publius]

Baclofen and exercise

yes..to reiterate...go eff urself...but seriously, did this transformation happen after going simply AF or after baclofen, or did the 2 coincide? Whenever I go AF I always hit the gym like a maniac, somewhat making up for lost time and the sober realization of what i've done to myself whilst being a drunken idiot, and somewhat because I need to focus my anxiety elsewhere when I'm AF because I am so used to quieting my mind with the horned beast every night and I can't help myself but to fix all the problems I've created for myself during my period of being a hopeless lush. Actually, I've been wondering what parts of my personality I'll lose on bac (I'm only up to 30mg/day). When sober, I've always prided myself on being able to accomplish things in a timeframe that noone else can match. It's like a beastly hyperfocus if you will. I'm worried that this gift is part of the curse, like once my anxiety goes away I won't be the same dysfunctional nutcase that I was before. It's a small concern, as I would trade a lifetime of moderation for flashes of brilliance mixed in among drunken nothingness any day; yet it is something I worry about. Maybe I just stabbed a very interesting thread in the back, but the two kind of coincide, wondering if you had any thoughts...

[Publius]

Baclofen and exercise

had you ever gone AF before bac or was this the first time...first time I went AF it was on antabuse when I was 20...I had gained 70...yes 70 pounds in the first school year of college. When I went AF 2 years later for 9 mos I lost 80 pounds... going from 235 to 155... jw whether this is a bac thing, an AF thing or both for you?