Muscle decline and declining testosterone levels in aging men
In the recent AMA #40 on body composition and in previous you well highlight the decline in muscle mass and strength with aging. Yet you do not mention one glaring confounder: The role of (very common) declining testosterone levels in men with aging and the resulting sarcopenia. I would appreciate if you would tease this out with a deeper dive and roadmap for assessing sex hormonal influences for both men and women. I am an advanced prostate cancer patient age 73. On standard androgen deprivation treatment I developed severe hypogonadism with obese sarcopenia. This also severely blunts the body's response to intense strength training. I stopped androgen deprivation and lost 50# on keto diet. But discovered I had lost so much muscles and strength! Now I am on "Bipolar Androgen Therapy". High levels of supra-physiologic testosterone replacement for 2-3 months alternating with androgen deprivation drug periods to keep the cancer in check. Muscle and strength progressively (slowly) returning with very intense workouts to failure weekly with a trainer. (Plus lots of cardio, circuits, and Rucking.) Bottom line: Who should consider testosterone replacement therapy?
All Things Racing
As as fellow amateur racer (and I'm likely not the only one) I'm interested in Peter's racing life. 1. How did you get started in racing? 2. What series (SCCA, NASA, PCA, Lemons, Champ, club racing) and class (formula cars, production, sports racers) have you raced in? 3. Have you done any endurance racing? Have you done the 25 Hours of Thunderhill? 4. What is your favorite track? 5. Have you driven Spa or The Ring? COTA? 6. What kind of track do you prefer—flat tracks (e.g., Buttonwillow, Portland, Indy road course), or elevation tracks (e.g., Laguna Seca, Sonoma) and why? 7. What is your approach for learning a new track? 8. What is your methodology for working on a difficult corner? 9. What about visualization? 10. How do you use data acquisition? Do you have a specific set of graphs that you review (speed/TPS/braking/steering/Gsum), scatter (lat g vs long g)? others? 11. What about heart rate data? Are you consistently in zone 2 or 3 during a race or do you run higher? Have you noticed any correlation between heart rate and lap time performance? 12. What is your training regime for racing? What specific exercises do you do that target “racing muscles"? 13. Are you familiar with the work of Dr. David Ferguson at Michigan State? https://rdsp.canr.msu.edu/faculty/35-ferguson-david 14. How do you warm up before getting in the car? 15. What is your best racing story? Any “last to first” stories? 16. How many F1 races have you attended? What is your favorite venue as a spectator? Will you be attending the Las Vegas F1?
Rapamycin: Blood cancer prevention only?
In a recent AMA, Rhonda Patrick dismissed the preclinical results of the ITP's testing of Rapamycin as being understood to merely prevent the blood cancers that kill the majority of mice. She suggested this had little application to humans who die of blood cancers at a much lower rate. If she is incorrect, what other results came from the ITP's testing of Rapamycin, or from other preclinical trials, which are more applicable to humans? When are the ongoing human trials likely to bear results?