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1. Fellas, train your neck and traps
This is a shot that Seed Oil Disrespector posted on his twitter with the caption “When I start training neck it's OVER for the brahs.” (Quality account, he posts a bunch of memes about why seed oils suck.) I used liquefy to double beef up his traps and neck and then generative fill to fix the warping from using liquefy. Here’s the result:
Interesting how much better people look with a bigger neck.
Jeff Nippard has a good video on building the neck. I recall another Youtuber making a video titled something like why you don’t look like you lift. That explains how having a small neck makes people look awkward and a lot weaker even if they have a huge chest and arms.
*This isn’t a jab at SoD, I’ve got neck work to do myself.
2. Paper from 2022 - “Debunking the vegan myth”
Interesting to see more papers recently being published that directly oppose veganism.
Abstract of Debunking the vegan myth: The case for a plant-forward omnivorous whole-foods diet
Vegan diets are widely promoted as protective against cardiovascular disease (CVD); however, removing all animal foods from a human's diet usually causes unfavorable health consequences. Our hominin ancestors began consuming meat, fish, seafood, and eggs >2 million years ago. Consequently, humans are genetically adapted to procure nutrients from both plant and animal sources. In contrast, veganism is without evolutionary precedent in Homo sapiens species. Strict adherence to a vegan diet causes predictable deficiencies in nutrients including vitamins B12, B2, D, niacin, iron, iodine, zinc, high-quality proteins, omega-3, and calcium. Prolonged strict veganism increases risk for bone fractures, sarcopenia, anemia, and depression. A more logical diet is a plant-forward omnivorous eating pattern that emphasizes generous consumption of natural, unprocessed foods predominantly from plants. To balance this diet, modest amounts of wholesome animal foods, such wild-caught fish/seafood, pasture-raised meat and eggs, and fermented unsweetened dairy should be consumed regularly.
3. Ice your Testicles for more Testosterone?
“Hey Apu, sittin’ in the ice cream cooler, ey?”
“By chilling my loins, I increase the chances of impregnating my wife.”
If you’re a man, I don’t need to tell you that your testicles hang lower when it’s hot out and they practically retract into your pelvis if they get really cold. (Take an ice bath if you’re not sure what I mean)
This graph is from a study titled Mild induced testicular and epididymal hyperthermia alters sperm chromatin integrity in men and shows that sperm count declines when men wear tight underwear. This is thought to be the result of not allowing the testicles to freely hang and distance itself from the body. Being pressed up against the body heats up the testicles. Sperm count increased when they stopped wearing the underwear.
Further studies like The effect of induced intrascrotal hyperthermia on testicular function in man” and other studies have noted that overheating the testicles decreases sperm count. One study even suggests that heat can be used as a method for contraception. This study notes that if you want to preserve the integrity of a semen sample itself, it needs to be kept at a cool 20 degrees. In another study, it was found that the hotter the testicles in infertile men, the more messed up their sperm was:
In the infertile men, it was found that the higher the scrotal temperature, the more alterated the sperm characteristics.
The good news is that, unsurprisingly, cooling the balls (at night) improves semen quality.
So maybe chilling the nads increases testosterone?
There’s this rumor that Chinese powerlifters iced their balls right before attempting to hit a PR. The best I could find was this reddit thread from 9 years ago that links to a blog that no longer exists. However thanks to user “nothanksjoff,” we know the gist of the article:
In case someone needs a tl;dr: stick your balls in ice water 2x/day
The host of the youtube channel Ergogenic Health claims that icing the balls was a key component of a testosterone boosting protocol that got his testosterone to about 990 ng/dL. This was even more effective than my fasting and refeeding experiment which got me to 887ng/dL though obviously we differ a lot in biology and lifestyle.
Ergocentric health claims you can expect all kinds of benefits like increased Libido, more morning wood, deeper voice, more energy, increased testicular hang size from icing your balls. His protocol is as follows:
There’s not that much science behind the concept, but wacking an ice pack on my crotch while at my desk isn’t that hard so I gave it a try while doing some work the other night. I might seriously try integrating it into my routine as it did feel like the icing was having an effect on me. I had trouble sleeping due to an increase in libido.
4. Bryan Johnson, the guy who refuses to age
Bryan Johnson is trying to build a lifestyle that slows aging as much as possible. He says he’s been endeavoring to build “the world’s best anti-aging protocol,” and his webpage says that “two years and millions were spent developing Blueprint, an algorithm that takes better care of me than I can myself. Now, you can build your Autonomous Self as well.
The protocol is impressively rigorous. It entails a very specific diet, all kinds of supplements, an exercise routine, and all kinds of other routines for maintaining every aspect of health. He’s really trying to manage every part of the body which includes monitoring dozens of blood markers, visceral fat, liver fat, he’s also monitoring various tissues like the prostate, kidneys, thyroid, lung, gut & brain, and he’s got protocols for maintaining hair, skin, eye, ear, and oral health as well as a routine for maintaining optimal sleep.
While I don’t agree with some of his protocols like following a low protein vegan diet or being that pale, and some of his claims like “Now accumulating aging damage slower than 88% of 18 year olds” are sus, I think a lot of value and helpful information will come from his endeavors so I’m looking forward to seeing how his experiment pans out.
5. Fascinating video about transplanting a mini human brain into a rat brain
This video breaks down an experiment where a clump of human neurons were incorporated into a rat brain. The human brain cells functionally integrated themselves into the rat brain tissue and not only did the human neurons respond to the rat’s whiskers being touched, but the human neurons could be used to control rat behaviors.
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Anyone who thinks Bryan Johnson isn’t aging is delusional. What’s worse is that he doesn’t just look aged he looks weird like something is wrong with him. Deeply disturbing.