Metabolic exercise - glycogen training.

Glycogen training is a type of metabolic exercise specifically focused on using up stores of glycogen. This is a combination of cardio, and medium weight strength training.

In addition to normal benefits of exercise, glycogen training is anti-inflammatory, helps reverse metabolic syndrome, and promotes healthy blood sugar levels and non-damaging metabolism of carbs. The goal here is anti-inflammatory metabolism and general health.

Glycogen training can be combined with other strength, cardio, and flexibility training methods for specific performance or body shaping goals.

Glycogen

Glycogen is stored carbs, it's sort of a puff-ball shaped molecule of glucose. Your body stores glycogen in your liver and in your muscles. Glucose as blood sugar replenishes muscle glycogen. Fructose is easily stored as liver glycogen.

Muscle glycogen is used for bursts of strength, and is used up quickly during weight lifting type exercise.

Liver glycogen is used mainly as an easy source for you liver to produce blood sugar. One of the liver's main jobs is maintaining the minimum blood sugar level. Your liver can covert fat to blood sugar, that is why no carbs are necessary in the diet. Liver glycogen is used to maintain blood sugar during carb metabolism. Once liver glycogen is used up and carbs are not being eaten, the liver switches to fat metabolism, where it only produces the minimal necessary amount of blood sugar for functions that require it, and everything else is fueled by fat.

Glycogen Training: technique

The technique for using up your glycogen is simple. Do about 20 minutes of light cardio. And rotate into cardio style full body medium weight training, without resting in between sets. Do this everyday that you are not out getting some sort of other athletic exercise. And also walk a couple times a day.

A light jog, biking, or similar exercise for 20 minutes works great. This will use up any elevated blood sugar, and drain most of your liver glycogen.

Then switch straight into working out every muscle group with one set of medium weight exercise. Body weight floor exercises, free motion machines, weight machines, and weights are all good for this. Just one medium weight set, until you first feel the muscle group getting tired, with no resting between sets. This will use up muscle glycogen, full body, drain any remaining liver glycogen and switch you over to fat metabolism.

At this point your metabolism should not be non-inflammatory for the rest of the day, unless you eat a high-carb or high omega-6 meal. Small amounts of carbs you eat have a safe place to go in restoring glycogen, the same goes for combating any abnormally high pre-diabetic blood sugar levels from the liver.

I will often do a normal heavy weight training routine right after glycogen training, and work in flexibility exercises before and after. Occasionally I will step up the light cardio at the beginning to higher intensity athletic exercise. There is evidence that too much high intensity cardio has long term negative effects, but it does seem to have a short term positive effect on my psoriasis clearing up for the rest of the day.