Supply and Demand within the Human Body (Preview)

Supply and Demand within the Human Body

Some of the knowledge and understanding I have from this post is from relying on research papers but I also have implemented some of this knowledge practically. In my fitness routine I have tested some of these theories out with success. In my posts on Market Society I mentioned the concept of biological market theory which is a way of looking at biology and biological processes from a market oriented perspective. In this post I will be applying the concept of supply and demand to physical fitness (physiological adaptations to stress in the environment).

Supply and demand are involved in physiological signalling

When a human body is under stress such as when you are training your energy systems (aerobic, anaerobic) or when you are trying to produce muscular hypertrophy through resistance training there is a currency the body always uses. When you exercise in essence you are paying your body in the form of physical/environmental stimulus to adapt in the manner you want. The currency of the human body is energy and it costs energy to produce any kind of stimulus.

The energy system involved in resistance training is a combination of ATP, anaerobic, and aerobic. When you do squats or deadlifts your body ends up in an oxygen deficit and must pay the oxygen debt. Anaerobic energy systems when utilized are without oxygen and this puts the body into an oxygen debt. When you do resistance training in a way which you pay the price of growth in the form of stimulus and in energy cost then you're signalling to your body that there is a demand. The body responds to this demand by increasing the supply.

So in the case of aerobic exercise if you decide to run for a mile every few days then what happens is eventually your body learns that there is an increased demand for aerobic capacity (provided you use he aerobic energy system) and it increases the supply of that aerobic capacity by activating the necessary physiological adaptations.

In the case of muscular hypertrophy the currency again is in energy cost (which you can calculate in calories) but also also in the form of stimulus. So you tell your body that there is a demand for muscle growth by paying the price that the body physiologically determines is the minimum effective volume for muscular growth. If you do that volume then your body recognizes that there is a need to increase the supply and responds to the demand in the market. Sets x reps x weight equals volume and as long as volume is progressively increased over time the body continues to recognize that there is demand for muscle growth. In other words the cost is in energy and in volume.

Programming the human body by using stimulus

The human body is programmable to some extent by it's environment. Stimulus from the environment determines not only how the human body looks aesthetically but also how the immune system functions. In economic terms the micro orgnaisms within our gut are service providers. The mitochondria we have inside of us are also service providers. They work for us in a mutualism but they do not do this for free. In order for mitochondria to regenerate (mitochondrial biogenesis) we have to essentially pay for the process by providing a stimulus. We achieve this stimulus by various means but one of the known methods is through high intensity interval training which has been shown to cause mitochondria biogenesis.

This means we have to not only consume enough energy to get through our HIIT workout but we also have to do the work as a means of (signalling) paying our body to do the physiological process we want. There may be pills which achieve similar in mice (PQQ) but these supplements have not been tested in humans. In other words, the body is programmable if we learn the language of our physiology.

The "Make More Mitochondria" signal again is a result of demand. When you do HIIT you are showing the body that there is a demand for more mitochondria by way of producing the correct stimulus. This activates AMPK and other processes which can lead to beneficial adaptations which include mitochondria biogenesis. HIIT specifically activates PGC-1α rather than AMPK but we do know that AMPK can be activated by drugs and supplements as well as by moderate intensity aerobic training. PQQ at least in some studies indicates that it activates mitochondria biogenesis by a similar mechanism as HIIT (PGC-1α).

Filling genetic buckets (supply is not unlimited)

In aerobics we have what they call base training. In resistance training we have a final form based on genetic limits. These genetic limits are the hard limit beyond which a specific body cannot adapt much further. The plateau which is experienced when someone reaches a physiological peak is a body running out of supply. In other words just like in markets where the amount of resources determine how much supply you can create to meet the demand of your customers it is also true that physiologically speaking the body simply runs out of the resources it needs to continue to meet increasing demand. In aerobics we would say VO2max is the genetic limit which while it can be increased it can only be increased according to genetic roadmaps. The same is true with muscular adaptations where muscles can grow perhaps for life but the rate of growth eventually slows down to a very slow rate until it is almost unnoticeable.

What athletes and or highly motivated individuals seek to do is to maximize their physiology. In other words it is possible to fill your genetic buckets which is to simply keep telling the body to "make more" by way of stimulus until the body cannot continue to meet the demand and begins to reach a state of having it's bucket full. This is not the same as over training, but is more the result of training for many years until the body slows the rate of improvement.

In cardio the base training phase is the phase where most improvement happens. In resistance training the newbie gains phase is where most of the growth happens. Understanding of these phases and of personal genetics can allow for maximization of genetic potential which is what I refer to as the full bucket state. Most never reach this state and it can take 20 years of training to get to this state where improvement is no longer noticeable or almost immeasurable. Muscle growth still takes place but it could be 1/2 pound of muscle a year or less. Aerobic conditioning might still happen but after a certain point it becomes mostly maintaining a base rather than growing a base.

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References

1. Chavanelle, V., Boisseau, N., Otero, Y. F., Combaret, L., Dardevet, D., Montaurier, C., ... & Sirvent, P. (2017). Effects of high-intensity interval training and moderate-intensity continuous training on glycaemic control and skeletal muscle mitochondrial function in db/db mice. Scientific reports, 7(1), 204.
2. Harris, C. B., Chowanadisai, W., Mishchuk, D. O., Satre, M. A., Slupsky, C. M., & Rucker, R. B. (2013). Dietary pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) alters indicators of inflammation and mitochondrial-related metabolism in human subjects. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry, 24(12), 2076-2084.
3. Chowanadisai, W., Bauerly, K. A., Tchaparian, E., Wong, A., Cortopassi, G. A., & Rucker, R. B. (2010). Pyrroloquinoline quinone stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis through cAMP response element-binding protein phosphorylation and increased PGC-1α expression. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 285(1), 142-152.

A: https://www.pragcap.com/the-economy-the-human-body-system-flows/
B: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1816695?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents