For his very high profile role as the mastermind of the greatest sports doping scandal in history, Victor Conte is a very unassuming man. 
He's more apt to call me up and ask what my son is going to be for Halloween than anything earth shattering. Yet, he does frequently call about things of varying magnitude. Whether they be the latest foibles of the federal agents that tracked him since the famous BALCO bust of 2003, or the latest scandals in Track and Field, or the deposition of certain performance-enhancing criminals, whenever the caller ID says "Victor Conte" I know I'm in for the day's most interesting call.
Since the BALCO days, Victor has endeavored to reinvent himself and his corporate image by culling from the vast knowledge and information base he has amassed over two decades of work extracting maximum performance from elite world-class athletes. Anyone who thinks "it's all drugs" is a complete uninformed moron. So much goes into prepping and dialing in an Olympic athlete - especially gold medal winning athletes - that merely stating "it's all drugs" is like watching Jenson Button win the Formula 1 World Championships and then saying "it's all horsepower." So, when Victor called to tell me about his new product, HypOxygen, I was very curious about the synergy I knew would be associated with it.
Hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, is usually associated with endurance athletes and the odd mountain climber. Athletes commonly prone to oxygen deficient performance will typically use the drug erythropoietin (EPO) to combat the condition. The only problem is that EPO is illegal. Also confounding the appearance of an EPO-like supplement is the bodybuilding world's universal ignorance of the need for more oxygen carrying red blood cells. Typically, the greatest test of endurance for a bodybuilder is chewing his eight meals a day. But that is just ignorant. High intensity exercise creates an oxygen deficit that causes a build up of metabolic waste byproducts such as lactic acid and ammonia resulting in the rapid onset of fatigue. In addition, nutrients are needed to support the production and regulation of red blood cells and hemoglobin, which transport oxygen molecules throughout the body. A certain amount of vasodilation also promotes oxygen delivery to muscle tissue and accelerates the removal of metabolic waste byproducts.
The sports nutrition industry is rapidly becoming inundated with products touting their ability to stimulate the production of EPO and increase red blood cells and hemoglobin. But, what's the end game for these products? Athletes are looking for legal ways to enhance oxygen uptake and delivery to working muscle tissue and accelerate the removal of metabolic waste byproducts. This is really important to bodybuilders because what we all seek after the gym is recovery.
The problem with most of these so-called EPO boosting supplements is that they only contain an insignificant amount of iron. Studies have shown that Iron is the most vital nutrient involved in the production of new oxygen carrying red blood cells, and most bodybuilders are deficient in Iron! Even the injectable EPO being used illegally by athletes requires an adequate supply of iron for red blood cell synthesis. In short, if EPO is present without sufficient iron, there is insufficient fuel for red blood cell production, and ultimately, this will negatively effect your recovery.
For many years now, there has been a tendency for supplement companies to market iron free products. This trend started with an often quoted Finnish study published in 1992 by Salonen, et al. These researchers found that men with high serum ferritin levels (index of iron status) had a two-fold increase in the incidence of heart attacks. They hypothesized that free radicals induced by iron caused the increase in the rate of heart disease. But, as it turns out, they were wrong. Three major studies have been published since the Finnish report which have found no relationship between heart disease and elevated iron status. There is little evidence that supplemental iron has played any role in increasing the incidence of heart disease. Nevertheless, iron supplementation has continued to get an undeserved bad rap for almost two decades. There is a danger of iron overload to people with a rare hereditary disease called hemochromatosis (excessive iron accumulation). This condition has been found to exist in between 0.07% and 0.5% of people in various surveys. So, obviously, it is advisable to ask your doctor to check your serum ferritin along with your hemoglobin before iron supplementation.
A recent 2009 study was conducted to assess the prevalence of iron deficiency in competitive male athletes. In total, 90 elite athletes practicing a variety of disciplines including judo, rowing, pentathlon and volleyball, aged 16-33 years, were studied. Iron deficiency was found in 43% of the subjects. Despite a lack of anemia among the studied athletes, the incidence of latent iron deficiencies (iron depletion and iron-deficient erythropoiesis) was very high. Active women with low ferritin levels were also studied. After iron supplementation, VO2 max was significantly greater, blood lactate decreased and endurance time to exhaustion increased by 38%.
To further complicate matters, the sports nutrition market is flooded with nitric oxide products and consumers need to be aware that increasing nitric oxide levels can reduce iron stores. Strenuously exercised animals have been found to have increased nitric oxide levels and low iron status. Iron levels were decreased in both blood plasma and tissues. These data suggest that increased production of nitric oxide might cause low or suboptimal iron status as an impact of exercise.
The next problem serious lifters face is hemolysis - the destruction of red blood cells due to exercise. Compression of large muscle groups on capillaries may accelerate the destruction of older red blood cells. Oxidative stress has also been implicated in the "aging" of red blood cells and there are numerous reports of oxidative damage and antioxidant depletion after exercise.
Finally, there has been a great deal of research examining the potential of carnitine supplementation to spare muscle glycogen and improve exercise performance. The L-carnitine L-tartrate form in HypOxygen has been found to be effective in assisting in recovery from high-repetition squat exercise. Researchers found the beneficial effects of carnitine on exercise recovery responses to include improved blood flow and reduced free radical formation, tissue damage and muscle soreness. The positive effects of carnitine supplementation on VO2 max have also been demonstrated in studies involving various types of athletes. As I discussed earlier, one of the consequences of high-intensity training is hypoxia (low blood oxygen), which increases the concentration of ammonia. Ammonia accumulation has been associated with muscle fatigue and L-carnitine L-tartrate has been found to decrease athletes' ammonia levels.
HypOxygen is a science-based synergistic formulation that provides a wide range of potential benefits for men and women from everyday fitness enthusiasts to world-class athletes. But for us bodybuilders, we're always looking for that ultimate work out. On top of all of your NO2 pre work out pump products, I'd strongly suggest a one-week trial of SNAC's HypOxygen. Take two with four of SNAC's Aerobitine about 45 min before your workout. After a week you'll understand why it's the stuff I like.
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