Rectal cancer (Stage 3A) diagnosed late June 2017

[Tupelo honey]

Hi Mike- I take probiotics daily in two doses, morning and evening. I also take digestive enzymes before meals.

I will keep that in mind. I'm going to stick with once a day for now and will have to decide on experiments with prebiotics after current experiments. If the probiotics work out well, then there's less motivation to try other things.

Flaxseed and Nopal (cactus) are both prebiotics so you are already taking them if you are still using Nopalina.

[NHMike]

Hi Mike- I take probiotics daily in two doses, morning and evening. I also take digestive enzymes before meals.

I will keep that in mind. I'm going to stick with once a day for now and will have to decide on experiments with prebiotics after current experiments. If the probiotics work out well, then there's less motivation to try other things.

Flaxseed and Nopal (cactus) are both prebiotics so you are already taking them if you are still using Nopalina.

I had wondered about the name.

Yes, I am still taking Nopalina. I was wondering why it had effects that regular fiber didn't. So I suspect that I don't need additional prebiotics. Nopalina gives you prebiotics, stool softener and different types of fiber. I'm still not sure what the fruit extracts do either. Nopalina is quite a bit less expensive than prebiotics and probiotics. I am not completely sold on probiotics right now - at least not as a daily thing. If you get probiotics, and they live in your gut, why do you need to take them every day? I am considering taking them once a week to see how well that goes.

In the meantime, I have a month supply of Banatrol and I guess I'll start taking them to see if they result in any noticeable change. If I don't see any benefit, then I will just stick with Nopalina.

I had to shovel over a foot of snow again yesterday. The coolest thing is that I wasn't sore after shoveling. Normally I'm sore after the first snowstorm but the barbell stuff means that shoveling is easy and that I don't get sore or injured.

[NHMike]

I've determined that the Probiotic can help but it can also make things worse. I suspect that there is some dosage that's beneficial but that dosage is less than a capsule per day, perhaps a lot less. I think that the best approach is to stick with the Nopalina and Slipper Elm. Next up is experimenting with the Prebiotic.

[mpbser]

Slippery elm is awesome stuff

[James65]

Howdy Mike, been a while.

I was wondering if you've tried Senna? That's what I use and it works for constipation and helps me have relatively predictable bowel movements.

I'm also wondering about the slippery elm. Anybody have success with that for constipation?

[NHMike]

Howdy Mike, been a while.

I was wondering if you've tried Senna? That's what I use and it works for constipation and helps me have relatively predictable bowel movements.

I'm also wondering about the slippery elm. Anybody have success with that for constipation?

Nopalina contains Senna. Nopalina is pretty cool stuff - prebiotic, five kinds of fiber and Senna. It has some fruit juice extracts too and I'm not sure what those do.

Nopalina is reasonably priced too. Some of these supplements are pretty expensive and only do one thing.

I learned about Slippery Elm on the LARs Facebook group.

[NHMike]

Slippery elm is awesome stuff

My oncologist at Dana Farber was familiar with it when I mentioned it a long time ago.

The effect is to coat the intestines and calm inflammation. So it can be used for things like IBD too. I just find that stuff goes through faster with it.

[NHMike]

I've been reading up on VO2Max - an interesting study used a group, average age 61 with VO2Max 18 or lower. 55% mortality rate after two years. The mortality rate above 18 was 11%. I did some checking and basically 18 or lower is 1% of the population. VO2Max is well correlated with longevity. The question is how do you improve it? From what I found, it's interval training. Also, cyclists tend to have the highest numbers. I suspect that is because you can work your heart very hard without damaging your joints.

Our local YMCA has Keiser indoor bicycles and they are supposedly excellent. I've never actually seen them though. They are in a spinning room and the room is always dark. So I'm going to go into the room tonight to see if I can see what they can do. I don't have a flashlight handy but I assume that there is some kind of lighting in the room.

I did some interval training this morning and am resigned that I will have to do interval training to get into much better shape. Interval training isn't pleasant but it's the most efficient way to improve cardiovascular capacity.

[juliej]

I've been reading up on VO2Max - an interesting study used a group, average age 61 with VO2Max 18 or lower. 55% mortality rate after two years. The mortality rate above 18 was 11%. I did some checking and basically 18 or lower is 1% of the population. VO2Max is well correlated with longevity. The question is how do you improve it? From what I found, it's interval training. Also, cyclists tend to have the highest numbers. I suspect that is because you can work your heart very hard without damaging your joints.

Our local YMCA has Keiser indoor bicycles and they are supposedly excellent. I've never actually seen them though. They are in a spinning room and the room is always dark. So I'm going to go into the room tonight to see if I can see what they can do. I don't have a flashlight handy but I assume that there is some kind of lighting in the room.

I did some interval training this morning and am resigned that I will have to do interval training to get into much better shape. Interval training isn't pleasant but it's the most efficient way to improve cardiovascular capacity.

I do fartleks. Yes, that is its real name! It involves jogging with intervals of full-out sprinting. The overall average heart rate (HR) is higher for a fartlek workout than for intervals, because the jogging recovery means HR does not drop as low during the recovery portions. So it's very good for improving VO2 max rates.

Did you get to check out the Keiser bicycles yet?

Juliej

[NHMike]

I've been reading up on VO2Max - an interesting study used a group, average age 61 with VO2Max 18 or lower. 55% mortality rate after two years. The mortality rate above 18 was 11%. I did some checking and basically 18 or lower is 1% of the population. VO2Max is well correlated with longevity. The question is how do you improve it? From what I found, it's interval training. Also, cyclists tend to have the highest numbers. I suspect that is because you can work your heart very hard without damaging your joints.

Our local YMCA has Keiser indoor bicycles and they are supposedly excellent. I've never actually seen them though. They are in a spinning room and the room is always dark. So I'm going to go into the room tonight to see if I can see what they can do. I don't have a flashlight handy but I assume that there is some kind of lighting in the room.

I did some interval training this morning and am resigned that I will have to do interval training to get into much better shape. Interval training isn't pleasant but it's the most efficient way to improve cardiovascular capacity.

I do fartleks. Yes, that is its real name! It involves jogging with intervals of full-out sprinting. The overall average heart rate (HR) is higher for a fartlek workout than for intervals, because the jogging recovery means HR does not drop as low during the recovery portions. So it's very good for improving VO2 max rates.

Did you get to check out the Keiser bicycles yet?

Juliej

I have heard of Fartleks though I haven't tried them.

The bicycle room was locked. It appears that they can only be used in a classroom setting. I am going to ask the other YMCA if their bicycles can be used outside of the context of a class. They store the bicycles in the hallway when they aren't in use as they only have two classrooms for exercise whereas my local YMCA has a dedicated classroom for spinning.

I usually let my heartrate drop back down to 100-120 after an interval and I know that I can overall get it higher by decreasing the rest time. I'm still cautious on getting it up too high. Lately, it has been generally lower than it has been several months ago with the same exertion levels. It was up in the 180s this past summer and it's mostly been in the 160s with an occasional trip into the 170s. It is likely that I am getting more efficient or stronger. There are joint limitations on speed though. I could get the heartrate higher with more speed but it would place more stress on the joints and there's the old saying of not increasing distance or speed more than 10% every two weeks (which I often ignore).

I'm probably going to continue what I am doing right now for a few months to gradually improve conditioning and will see how the VO2Max goes. If it goes up a little, I'll be pretty happy. If not, then I'll look at other things. The harder thing about training is working around times when I need to go to the bathroom or worry that I'll need to go. It crimps available time for running.

I used the rowing machine on Sunday and noticed that my hands felt a little arthritic on Monday morning (had some amusing typos). It took me a few minutes to connect the two things. My fingers feel fine now though but rowing is definitely an exercise that I'll try to do more of to get stronger fingers. Those Keiser bicycles just look so cool though.

[juliej]

Lately, it has been generally lower than it has been several months ago with the same exertion levels. It was up in the 180s this past summer and it's mostly been in the 160s with an occasional trip into the 170s. It is likely that I am getting more efficient or stronger.

It definitely sounds like you are getting some VO2Max benefits from your training. I try to alternate duration and speed training, not both at the same time. Two weeks on increasing distance, two weeks on increasing speed. Then when I go back to distance, I'm amazed how much easier the old distance feels.

Those Keiser bicycles just look so cool though.

Let me know if you get a chance to check them out!

Keep up the good work!
Juliej

[NHMike]

Lately, it has been generally lower than it has been several months ago with the same exertion levels. It was up in the 180s this past summer and it's mostly been in the 160s with an occasional trip into the 170s. It is likely that I am getting more efficient or stronger.

It definitely sounds like you are getting some VO2Max benefits from your training. I try to alternate duration and speed training, not both at the same time. Two weeks on increasing distance, two weeks on increasing speed. Then when I go back to distance, I'm amazed how much easier the old distance feels.

Those Keiser bicycles just look so cool though.

Let me know if you get a chance to check them out!

Keep up the good work!
Juliej

I spoke to someone that has done research on VO2Max testing and she suggested that I could get to the upper 40s. She said that the numbers aren't exponential but they aren't linear either. I indicated that my current fitness level is a lot lower than it was two years ago.

I tried to schedule a spinning class and they were booked until two weeks later so I have a class for next Friday. The classes are typically overbooked in case someone can't make it. I hadn't realized how popular spinning is.

[juliej]

Wow! Your fitness level is amazing! If you make it into the upper 40's you'll be in the top 1%!

You can blame those Soul Cycle people for the popularity of spinning classes, even though they aren't the same thing. Soul Cycle classes are held in a candlelit room. I don't need candles to get fit. What's great about spinning is that it gets you into high heart-rate zones STAT without slamming your joints.

Juliej

[NHMike]

Wow! Your fitness level is amazing! If you make it into the upper 40's you'll be in the top 1%!

You can blame those Soul Cycle people for the popularity of spinning classes, even though they aren't the same thing. Soul Cycle classes are held in a candlelit room. I don't need candles to get fit. What's great about spinning is that it gets you into high heart-rate zones STAT without slamming your joints.

Juliej

My feeling on VO2Max is that the numbers are generally poor because society is so sedentary and that older people just accept not moving more or working daily on fitness.

The class is 45 minutes long so I have to be careful the first time or I could be very sore the next day.

[Atoq]

Hi Mike,
I also have a Garmin and from my experience it is very easy to go both up and down very quickly with VO2 max. This is the effect of ice on the road:

https://ibb.co/FDmN9MK

All the best

Claudia