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How Can Advanced Recovery Techniques and Hormone Optimization Transform Your Performance as an Athlete? Dr. Nisar, Nick Walker's Soft Tissue Clinician Speaks
Gear, Growth, and Gains Episode 018
Dr. Nisar Discusses Working With Mass Monsters Like Nick and World-Class Strongmen, Cryotherapy v. Cold Modalities, and Infrared Sauna
Show Time
32 min, 26 sec
Show Notes and Description
In episode 18 of Gear Growth and Gains, host Type-IIx interviews Dr. Umar Nisar of Asylum Sports Performance & Recovery, a chiropractor renowned for his work with Nick Walker who specializes in elite athlete recovery. The episode explores advanced recovery modalities – such as active rehabilitation, cryotherapy, and infrared saunas – and emphasizes the importance of individualized treatment and routine for optimal performance. The discussion transitions to hormone optimization, introducing a guide on interpreting blood biomarkers for enhanced athletes. Key recommendations include regular, comprehensive blood testing and a systems-based approach to hormone balance. The episode provides evidence-based strategies for maximizing recovery, performance, and long-term health in strength athletes.
Outline and Timestamps
Disclaimer and Podcast Introduction (00:00:30)
Medical disclaimer, podcast intro, and resources like Meso-Rx and the Clenbuterol Handbook.
Episode Overview & Guest Introduction (00:01:42)
Host previews advanced recovery and hormone optimization topics; introduces Dr. Umar Nisar and his background.
Dr. Nisar's Background and Philosophy (00:04:05)
Dr. Nisar shares his education, inspiration for chiropractic, and founding Asylum Sport Performance and Recovery.
Chiropractic and Nutrition Approach (00:07:00)
How Dr. Nisar’s nutrition background informs his treatment of elite athletes and bodybuilders.
Active Rehabilitation Methods (00:08:03)
Discussion of active vs. passive rehab, movement examples, and programming for different athlete types.
Rehabilitation for Elite Athletes (00:09:34)
Adapting rehab for bodybuilders and powerlifters, injury management, and off-season vs. prep strategies.
Measuring Progress in Rehab (00:10:32)
Key outcomes: restoring pain-free range of motion, isometrics, and tendon health for safe recovery.
Cryotherapy, Infrared Sauna, and Passive Modalities (00:11:18)
Overview of recovery modalities offered, their uses, and tailoring protocols for bodybuilders and strength athletes.
Cryotherapy and Cold Modalities: Application and Dosing (00:13:04)
Minimum effective dose, acute vs. chronic injury use, and differences between cryotherapy and cold plunges.
Infrared Sauna: Mechanisms and Benefits (00:14:44)
How infrared saunas work, their benefits for circulation, heart health, and stress reduction in athletes.
Passive Modalities Explained (00:16:48)
Definition and examples of passive modalities, including manual therapy, e-stim, ultrasound, and more.
Sequencing Recovery Modalities (00:17:39)
How Dr. Nisar combines and sequences modalities for optimal athlete recovery and performance.
Treating Elite Bodybuilders: Challenges and Evolution (00:19:14)
Unique challenges of working with top athletes like Nick Walker and refining treatment approaches.
Key Principles for Elite Athlete Care (00:20:06)
Lessons learned, importance of routine, and mental aspects of recovery for high-level competitors.
Best Value for Non-Competitors (00:21:13)
What general population clients gain from Asylum—information, direction, and high-level manual therapy.
Future Modalities and Contact Info (00:22:08)
Upcoming tech (hyperbaric, lasers) and how to contact Dr. Nisar and Asylum SPR.
Transition to Advanced Biomarker Series (00:23:24)
Introduction to the new series on bloodwork and hormone optimization for athletes.
Bloodwork Fundamentals for Athletes (00:24:17)
Importance of bloodwork, key biomarkers, and how to interpret results for hormone optimization.
Best Practices for Blood Testing (00:25:22)
Testing frequency, washout periods, tracking trends, and focusing on hormone ratios.
Comprehensive Biomarker Monitoring (00:26:41)
Essential markers to monitor, organ health, and the importance of longitudinal tracking.
Systems Approach to Biomarkers (00:27:48)
Understanding biomarker interactions, regular monitoring, and when to seek professional consultation.
Series Summary and Next Steps (00:29:03)
Recap of the biomarker series introduction and preview of upcoming detailed episodes.
Bloodwork Service Recommendation (00:29:21)
Sponsor message recommending Fitomics for bloodwork, with discount code and sign-up instructions.
Transcript
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:00:30 This show is not intended for the treatment of prevention of disease, nor is a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. No part herein, nor any statement, act or omission made by Cormac Mannion or Ampouletude LLC or its agents or affiliates are to be construed as treatment of any medical condition, medical advice, nor to delay necessary medical treatment. Scientific evidence is discussed for informational purposes only. No patient doctor relationship is formed. Hey guys, Type-IIx here. This is the 18th episode of Gear Growth and Gains, brought to you by Meso-Rx, the leading platform for open and unfiltered discussion on enhanced bodybuilding. Members freely share experiences, hold sources accountable and ensure transparency. No censorship, just real reviews. Visit Meso-Rx at thinksteroids.com/community And start posting. And if you want to subscribe to the Gear Growth and Gains newsletter, visit typeiix.substack.com to subscribe or go to ampouletude.com and click Sign Up for Type-IIx's Newsletter. And don't forget to check out @geargrowthgains One word on Telegram.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:01:42 Are you looking to expand your knowledge on performance enhancement strategies? I'm excited to announce the Clenbuterol Handbook, your comprehensive guide to understanding this powerful compound. This meticulously researched e-book breaks down everything you need to know, from biological effects to protocol design and practical considerations. The best part is completely free for all my Substack subscribers, just head over to typeiix.substack.com. Subscribe to get your copy today! If you prefer a one off purchase, stay tuned! The handbook will be available for sale soon on ampouletude.com. Don't navigate this complex topic with incomplete information. Get the Clenbuterol Handbook and make informed decisions about your performance journey. Subscribe now at typeiix.substack.com/subscribe. Welcome to the Gear Growth and Gains podcast hosted by me, Type-IIx. In today's episode, we dive deep into the intersection of cutting edge recovery techniques and advanced hormone optimization strategies. First, I had the privilege of speaking with Doctor Umar Niar, the soft tissue clinician and chiropractor behind Nick Walker's Elite Recovery and Injury Management. We explore how targeted soft tissue work supports not just pain relief, but also long term performance gains and injury prevention.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:03:04 Then we transition into the first podcast of the Advanced Biomarker eries, where I'll continue breaking down how to read and interpret your bloodwork to optimize hormones safely and effectively. This is essential knowledge for anyone serious about enhancing their physique and performance while protecting their health. Whether you're looking to fine tune your recovery protocols or want to understand the science behind hormone optimization, this episode offers practical insights to elevate your game. Stay tuned for the full interview and an in-depth guide to mastering your biomarkers. All right, let's get into it. Okay, so I am here today with Doctor Umar Nisar, who I would introduce as basically Nick Walker soft tissue guy. But he can tell us a lot more about what he is, what he does. doctor Nassar runs asylum sport performance and recovery in Voorhees, new Jersey, which I'm hopefully pronouncing correctly. But, yeah. Doctor Nisar, why don't you tell us a little about yourself, your introduction here?
Umar Nisar 00:04:05 Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me.
Umar Nisar 00:04:07 I appreciate you reaching out and making this possible. I'm really excited to talk about some of the stuff that we have prepared, and just to hopefully get out to a little bit more of the population that listens to the podcast. but I am a chiropractor by trade and license. I do practice very heavily in manual therapy. I've been doing this now for a handful of years, but three years since having Asylum Sports Performance and Recovery, which is located in Voorhees, new Jersey. I went to grad school in upstate New York, originally went to a community college locally here in South Jersey, and studied human biology and then transferred over to Drexel University, where I continued my undergrad and human bio. And then from there I went on to grad school because I found my way to chiropractic. it wasn't that it was like so much life changing. It was more so just that a chiropractor that I had met had set me on this new path just because of our relationship and conversation, not because of the philosophy of what chiropractic is, but more so just the way that he had communicated to me, which changed, my view on the injury that I had at the time and then put me on this path and then obviously inspired.
Umar Nisar 00:05:14 Yeah, yeah, inspired me. And fast forward us to basically now getting here and being one of Nick Walker's, soft tissue people.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:05:22 Excellent. Yeah. And you can find more about Doctor Nassar's, business and what he does at asylum, ESPN.com and at the Asylum Sport clinic underscore on Instagram. So, Doctor Nisar, what led you to establish Asylum SPR and what does your background in sport performance, how does it influence your approach to treating bodybuilders versus other athletes?
Umar Nisar 00:05:46 So I was never under the intention of like I was going to do my own business anytime soon. I was hoping to work under a family practice located also in South Jersey. But very quickly I realized that, you know what? I want to practice a little bit differently than the traditional Cairo. Most people's interpretation of what a traditional chrio is. I don't know if you've ever been yourself, but a lot of places, just like you get adjusted. You leave, and it's just that, and you're supposed to come back whether it's next week, a couple of weeks or every month, whatever it may be.
Umar Nisar 00:06:14 And to me, that just wasn't the model that I wanted. and being an athlete, ever since I was young and always being in the weight room since I was young, I had my first barbell and bench set in sixth grade. So I always loved the sport of bodybuilding, and I've always loved the act of just working out. I did play sports. but I knew like it sports wasn't going to be my thing long term or career wise. Coming from an immigrant household, it was doctor, engineer, lawyer, one of those. but I will say I found my way into this because I do have a fascination with the human body and sports performance, and that kind of got me into this.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:06:48 There's nothing more hands on than chiropractic work. I've done a lot of art. active of release. You know, and I found it very beneficial. But absolutely, it's like the model is basically going to come in every week to stay on top of these things. So you're just going to get worse.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:07:00 So you've, you've I know you've combined a chiropractic background with a masters in Applied Clinical Nutrition. How does this unique combination inform your approach to treating elite athletes?
Umar Nisar 00:07:11 I think with the Masters in nutrition, I do get a interesting insight on understanding how bodybuilders like handle their nutrition, especially so up close with guys that are super high level and you really get to like break down. Wow. Like this is what these guys do. And then you can then downtrend that to even the general population. Because I have a good mix of both like high level athletes, amateur athletes in general population. But watching the highest level, especially in a sport with nutritionists so so important you learn probably more there. I've learned more from those guys than I probably ever did in my masters. It just allowed me to bring the application together and make the dots connect. And that is what was really cool, because you went from learning from these guys that some of them don't really have higher level education, and just learning how to do this nutritional side of things and because of their sport and then connecting it to the education.
Umar Nisar 00:07:57 And that's where I was able to put a lot of things together, not so much from the actual schooling itself.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:08:03 Sure. So my audience, a lot of my readers and listeners are they want to get into the weeds with this stuff. All right. So let's talk about a couple of these different methods that I know that you specialize in. let's talk first about like, active rehabilitation. Okay. So what's an example of a movement through active rehabilitation that you might apply? Like walk us through it. Assume that we understand the gist of like contract, relax, proprioception, Golgi tendon organs and all that muscle reflex stuff.
Umar Nisar 00:08:30 Sure. I mean, when we talk about active rehabilitation, it's essentially why is it called that is because it's not passive, right? Passive is going to be something like stretching, doing a modality where the client or the athlete just lays there, and isn't really doing anything whereas active we're potentially going to actually be loading. Right. Let's say somebody has, hip rotational issues and we need to actually load that because that's where they're actually having a problem.
Umar Nisar 00:08:52 Just stretching it isn't going to do anything, but maybe doing a hip airplane or even doing some form of banded mobility movement is going to help us access more range of motion because now we have load, we have stability, and we have proprioception being tested, and those are things that we want to work on. So that way when the athlete goes and actually performs, whether it's an exercise or a movement or in whether it's the actual game, there is actual application and crossover and not just somebody stretching them, if that makes sense.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:09:18 It makes sense. So for bodybuilders and strength athletes specifically, how are you programming active rehabilitation? And I know most of your clients are not going to be like Nick Walker. Right. But how would what they do be different from what you do with somebody 270 plus pounds like Nick?
Umar Nisar 00:09:34 Sure. It just depends. Like right now I'm actually working with a one of the strongest guys in the world. and he had a recent injury to severe injuries, torn quad and a torn hamstring while trying to break the world record, in powerlifting.
Umar Nisar 00:09:48 Yeah. and just the active side of that right now we have to take. We have to pull back very heavily from the actual loading of super heavy weights, because obviously the injury is very significant, and we have to kind of move over to a bodybuilding type, training protocol to help rebuild the tiers that happen in the intramuscular regions. Active rehabilitation with especially if we are going to talk about bodybuilders, we have to be very careful depending on where they are in season or off season, and how much you can actually change their routine when you're like in prep. Active rehabilitation is going to be very, very minimal and you're going to take more of a passive approach. But if you're in the off season, that's the best time to go ahead and do active rehabilitation because their recovery is really good. They're resting a lot and there's quote unquote lesser risk for active rehabilitation and related injuries.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:10:32 And what are you looking for for improvement from them. Like what's the pre versus post outcome you're aiming for. Like just improve strength range of motion.
Umar Nisar 00:10:39 All of that. So the first thing is always going to be range of motion. Because after injuries that's the first thing that you're always going to lose. For the most part range of motion has to be restored and it has to be almost entirely pain free. A small bit I've gotten with experience. I've learned how to push into pain a little bit without making it detrimental, but almost full pain free range of motion and then start the loading process. And a lot of times it's going to be with isometric, because with bodybuilders, like, our biggest risk is that we don't want to tear anything, especially off the bone, because at that point, you know how that could completely ruin an entire career. So that's the super safe level way of reintroducing rehabilitation for bodybuilders. I love my isometric and just making sure tendon health is good. And then from there loading through full range of motion.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:11:18 Yeah okay. And I know. So besides active rehabilitation you also specialize at your facility in cryotherapy and cold modalities.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:11:26 infrared sauna, passive modalities. now, so you offer all of these for a serious bodybuilder and strength athlete. Like, what's your process for designing for deciding which to use.
Umar Nisar 00:11:37 it all depends on what the person is coming in for, obviously. And like for bodybuilders, you know that like weight is going to be a thing, especially now with the weight caps. Sometimes we can use the sauna to manipulate water, especially towards the end of a prep when you have to make those potentially drastic changes. But I will say that using it throughout the entire prep, and we use infrared ones because they're not overly aggressive, we can control the intensity of the heat and then have the athlete be completely adapted to it, so that by the time we are going to hit them a little bit more aggressively towards the end of prep to make weight, if that's an if, the if that is necessary, it's not a hard adjustment for them. Now, for the powerlifter or strength athlete, you got to be a little careful because you could fatigue the central nervous system a little bit too much.
Umar Nisar 00:12:17 So we'll regulate the intensity of the heat and make sure that the athlete has been accommodated to it all throughout their prep or whatever it may be, if it's a training block going into the competition. So that way it's not just a random spike of stress for them right before a comp. How a lot of guys try to knock out all these modalities right before the comp, and their bodies are not used to it.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:12:35 Yeah, it sounds like you have to be in such deep communication with your guys. I mean, you need to know where they are in their training. You know, you need to know what they're doing and how they are pain wise, too. So let's talk I the things that I wanted to really drill into a couple of the different modalities that you offer. So cryotherapy and cold modalities, infrared sauna, passive modalities. And we'll talk to you about your work with Nick and elite athletes. so with cryotherapy, like let's talk a little bit about it. What's the minimum effective dose for it.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:13:04 How do you assess it's working and what are you looking for there.
Umar Nisar 00:13:09 So for the cryotherapy we use a localized cryotherapy. And that's going to be typically for very acute injuries where we've seen our best and biggest responses. most of the stuff is falling within a 2 to 5 minute range. And then the five minute is a little extensive. So we do have to lay off of it or have a larger distance between our cryo. But 2 to 5 is where we find a lot of the sweet spots. It's usually more towards that too, and it's typically going to be more associated towards our acute injuries. The cold plunge that we use, we use a little bit more. So for chronic issues, inflammatory joint issues or even overall fatigue. That's where we're going to use a cold punch because the submersion of the entire body and we can attack it from that angle. The infrared sauna We use for people who also have very similar issues that can't tolerate the cold, so that can help with inflammatory arthritis, that can help with people with Lyme disease.
Umar Nisar 00:13:53 Very unique in that sense. And it can also be very, very helpful for people that may have cardiovascular issues because it's almost a light form of cardiovascular conditioning due to adapting to that heat and your heart rate going up and down.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:14:05 Great. So is the major difference between cryotherapy and cold modalities like cold plunges, just the degree of cold that you're dealing with. I know, like it's you're probably talking about like liquid nitrogen and that kind of thing. Is that is that what cryotherapy is? It is.
Umar Nisar 00:14:18 Yeah. So cryo is liquid nitrogen. And the thing about cryo is that for people who can't handle full body submersion, it's very localized. You can attack a specific area. So it's in cases where systemic inflammation is not the concern. We can go very specific to that area, whatever it may be. and it's almost always with traumatic and acute injuries. That's where it makes the most sense. Whereas for the cold plunges and the cold, cold water, that's for systemic inflammation and any form of inflammatory diseases.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:14:44 Use I. All right. So let's talk about infrared sauna. Like how does infrared sauna work.
Umar Nisar 00:14:48 So the infrared sauna, the research behind it goes behind is more towards the wavelength of the light. Right. That's why the whole infrared is such a big deal. the research shows that it can penetrate on a more microscopic level, whether it's helping the cells or the skin. Now, as to how far true that is, obviously, it's very hard to prove there is research out there that it's getting a little bit better. It's not too phenomenal. But I will say research for saunas has been around for years. And that's the implementation that I really like for people is that it is very, very beneficial for circulation. It's very beneficial for heart health, and those are the things that we want to focus on. And with these bodybuilders, the biggest thing is, is that we're using it to help decrease cortisol levels, to remove stress, have them just be very, very calm and relaxed during these preps.
Umar Nisar 00:15:29 So that way they're not holding on to unnecessary water stress, fatigue or whatever it may be.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:15:34 That actually sounds like a really good plan. Like I've never thought about that to you. So you're using it around the competition, probably like to use it like pre and post like show.
Umar Nisar 00:15:43 So we love. We actually use it. So a lot of the guys, the pro level guys, the bodybuilders that we work with, is typically 1 to 2 times a week when we're in prep. So they're here almost twice a week, and we split that up based off recovery days and training days or post recovery from their hardest training day. So that way we can compile that damage as close as possible together. And that's when we hit them as hard as we can with all of these passive modalities, because we don't want to hit them all year long during the off season because they develop tolerances to it, especially when they're so large. We want to hit them with these passive modalities very acutely and very sharply when they need it the most.
Umar Nisar 00:16:14 That's going to be during the preps when these aches and pains pop up. So we hit them, with the saunas almost 2 to 3 times a week, depending on how well they tolerate it. And we regulate it very well. So we know exactly the infrared ones. What's cool about then? You can measure things. You can see what the exact temperature was when they got in, how much time they were in, what the intensity of the wavelength was. so that's why I like the infrared ones for me, because there's tractability to it, and we can make sure that we're not hitting them with any two crazy before going into a show, because I've seen guys jump into a sauna that's super aggressive and then not be able to bounce back and peek properly.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:16:48 Makes sense. So you talked a lot about passive modalities. And I just want to make sure that the audience understands what we're talking about here. So what are the passive modalities.
Umar Nisar 00:16:56 So the passive are always going to be like the manual therapy stretching but also the electrical stimulation type of machines that everyone has seen.
Umar Nisar 00:17:03 Everyone's got different variations. We have a pretty high level one. everyone's got a different one. People. Have you ever seen like the newbie? Ours is called the AAP wave, but there's also regular e stim. But those are passive modalities they're supposed to help with like regeneration to a certain extent with especially acute injuries. So when guys tweak something, we want to be able to apply that and hopefully see the response that we're looking for. even infrared saunas and the plunges and cryo all fall under passive modalities. Everything that's not the athlete actually actively loading or moving on their own is considered basically a passive modality. You can even have ultrasound shock wave. Those things will fall under that too.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:17:39 Interesting. So how do you combine these all of these recovery modalities and what sequence yields the best performance outcomes? Is there even a general rule. Or does it depend on the athlete?
Umar Nisar 00:17:50 A great, great question. I have obviously certain people have their routines, have a set way of doing things. We try things a little differently, but we see what works the best for the athletes.
Umar Nisar 00:17:57 For me as a chiropractor, I do use spinal manipulation and decompression. I don't market that heavily. That's just a part of the appointment. I don't, you know what I mean? I don't believe in the whole let me charge you this much money for just doing a quick 22nd adjustment. That's not that's not what I stand for. That's the very beginning of our appointment. Just so we can get, like a little bit more joint mobility and start working on the athlete. From there, we transition to the manual therapy. We spend anywhere between 40 to 60 minutes doing manual therapy. And if there's passive modalities in there, whether we need to use the stimulation machine, things like ultrasound or cryotherapy could be used in that time frame. once that's all done, we usually end our sessions with either the plunge and the sauna or just the sauna. But the sauna really helps. Like believe the athlete in terms of being stressed out or potentially even feeling slightly irritated from all the work. So just go relax in the sauna.
Umar Nisar 00:18:45 Some guys fall asleep.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:18:47 That's a good sign. There's no better sign than that. You can do that on show day. Contest day. That's the best thing to do.
Umar Nisar 00:18:53 It's awesome. Some of them will drop like 4 or £5 between when they walk to their front door.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:18:58 I actually believe it, I believe it, it's just wild to think about. That's like. That might be a small percentage of a nick, but that's still like that's substantial weight, you know for sure.
Umar Nisar 00:19:06 It's recording it a lot more. That's exactly it's the stress that's like leaving their body. But obviously they're going to sweat water and float water too. And that they're here.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:19:14 Sure. So you work with Nick Walker has gotten attention. What unique challenges come with treating a mass monster at his level compared to other bodybuilders? Strength guys.
Umar Nisar 00:19:23 So it's not as much anymore. But I think Nick was my breakthrough and like, not being so nervous anymore, where obviously when you when you make that gap of like working with amateurs and working with athletes that aren't considered.
Umar Nisar 00:19:34 I don't want to sound like that, but they aren't considered high value yet, you know, because at the amateur level, no one really has a value just yet. But when you're working with somebody who everybody is looking at and then their health is in your hand to a certain extent, if he gets hurt, it could be massively my fault, especially after he had that injury. I actually worked on him like pretty closely after the hamstring injury and monitored it slightly, a good amount and it made me very, very nervous, especially following an injury. I was like, man, if I messed this up, there's a lot.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:20:06 That means you care. Honestly, that just means you care. Like, really. So how's your treatment approach evolved based on what you've learned working with Nick and with the elite bodybuilders and strength athletes? What key principles have you refined?
Umar Nisar 00:20:19 For sure. And that's exactly what it is. It's refining of the of the quality of work and understanding how much detail has to go into this and removing a lot of stuff kind of earlier, how you asked, like, how do you like use all those modalities? I actually started pulling things away, which I realized, like going back to like the very, very basics and understanding what like really works for this athlete.
Umar Nisar 00:20:38 And what they need a lot of times is really just what they think that they need is what they what you should probably give them, because it plays such a large mental, aspect for them. And you don't want to mess these guys up from their routine because their routine is so, so important, especially at that level. Like they don't budge. They don't skip a beat. For Nick, one of the coolest things is we'd be working on a session and we'd be almost like an hour deep into a session. His timer would go off. It'd be mid session. I would be working maybe on his back or something. Timer would go off. He would sit up, walk over to the chair, sit down and start eating his meal. Oh yeah, say a word. And then as soon as he'd be done, he'd be right back on the table.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:21:13 It's the most important aspect. It's the hardest one to the diet. So yeah. Yeah. So for listeners who train hard but aren't competing, what service that asylum would give them the biggest performance improvement for their investment?
Umar Nisar 00:21:25 I think it would be really information.
Umar Nisar 00:21:27 And that's where a lot of people don't realize, like what people get out of here, like the general population when they walk through these doors and the amount of like attention and information and care that they get, not even from a hands on standpoint. That's what's lacking so much is actual good information, because a lot of times I don't have the answer, but I can refer you to the right direction. And I think that has given me a lot more credibility than my hands on work ever has. Even though, like, yes, you can come in, you can get your service. I do practice manual therapy really heavily. I work with a lot of like professional athletes, especially in the bodybuilding world, so they would get a high level service in terms of that. But I want people to know, is that what they would get when they walk through these doors is a community of people that has a lot of information and direction to give.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:22:08 Okay. Are there any new treatment modalities or approaches you're looking forward to implementing at asylum in the near future? Anything in the pipeline tech wise, anything like that?
Umar Nisar 00:22:17 I would definitely like to potentially get into hyperbaric and the oxygen, and or grade four lasers, both of which are extremely, extremely expensive.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:22:27 Yeah, yeah, that's interesting stuff. I know a little bit about the first topic, but the laser stuff. No, that sounds pretty out there. That's pretty interesting though. I mean, you got to keep on the edge with this stuff because there's a lot of this stuff has benefit. Like the infrared to me was totally novel. I had to look into it. And basically everything you said corresponded with my research too. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's I think that's super interesting and it works. So for. Yeah. So for our listeners who might be interested in working with you, what's the best way for them to connect with asylum SVR?
Umar Nisar 00:22:55 So honestly, just our Instagram is probably the easiest, easiest, most direct way people do contact me through email. That's another way that people can contact me at a doctor, [email protected]. And then obviously you already said our Instagram, but that's going to be probably the two best ways to get to me. And then on our website has my direct phone number.
Umar Nisar 00:23:14 So people could easily just call me.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:23:16 Great. Thank you, Doctor Nisar for being here today. We learned a lot. And thank you for your time. All right.
Umar Nisar 00:23:21 Have a good one I appreciate it man. You too. Thank you. All right.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:23:24 Listen.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:23:24 Up all you enhanced fucks! The Meso-Rx forum at thinksteroids.com is your go to source for everything enhanced. We're not just another board with a most trusted harm reduction community in the game, you should be looking only at unfiltered reviews where members don't bullshit at Meso they definitely tell it like it is. Don't waste time with shills. Visit. thinksteroids.com and stop posting now. In this second section of Gear Growth and Gains. Episode 18 I'm kicking off a new hybrid written article and audio podcast series, culminating in an e-book focusing on advanced biomarkers, how to understand and use them to optimize your hormone profiles, boost performance, and safeguard your health. This episode serves as an introduction to crucial topic for any serious athletes or enhance bodybuilders.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:24:17 Reading and interpreting your blood work. Bloodwork is the cornerstone of any scientifically sound hormone optimization protocol. Without it, you're essentially flying blind, relying on subjective feelings rather than objective data. The problem is, many athletes get blood test results back and see a bunch of numbers and reference ranges, but don't know how to make sense of them. Or even worse, they just jump around and get different biomarkers without knowing how to use them. That's where this series comes in. The guide I'm referencing today, which you can read in full at typeiix.substack.com is from my article titled How to Read Bloodwork for Hormone Optimization An Athlete's Guide: Key Advanced Biomarkers for Enhanced Lifters breaks down the critical biomarkers. You need to know how to prepare for testing, and how to interpret your results in a way that supports both performance and long term health. Here are some of that articles. Key takeaways. First, comprehensive testing matters monitor total and free testosterone estradiol the sensitive or ultra sensitive assays only IG-1, lipids, liver markers and inflammation indicators at least every six months.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:25:22 Second, timing is everything. Respect compound specific washout.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:25:27 Periods ranges from two days to 84 days before testing to avoid false readings. Third and fourth track trends, not snapshots. Maintain 18 plus months of chronological blood work data to identify meaningful patterns and hormone relationships, and finally, optimize ratios over individual values. Focus on testosterone to estradiol balance and marker interaction rather than maximizing single hormones. If you'd like my help with this, you can visit Ampouletude.com for my professional, custom, and individualized protocol design for you with continuous bloodwork. Monitoring of relevant biomarkers. So hormone optimization isn't just about hitting normal lab ranges. Those ranges are statistical averages based on general populations, often sedentary individuals, and don't necessarily reflect what's optimal for an athlete pushing the limits. Instead, optimization is about finding your individual hormone balance that supports muscle growth, recovery, metabolic efficiency, and overall Performance. Key hormones to monitor include total and free testosterone, estradiol, measured with the sensitive assays and ultra sensitive and IGF-1, which is a marker for growth hormone activity.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:26:41 But it doesn't stop there. Cardiovascular risk markers like LDL and HDL, apolipoprotein ratios, and inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein are essential to track as well. Liver and kidney function tests, including gamma glutamyl transferase that get help ensure your organs are handling the stress of training and any compounds you might be using. One of the most important points in the guide is respecting washout periods. Before testing different compounds, clear your system at different rates from a couple of days for some oral steroids to nearly three months for long acting testosterone esters. Testing too soon after a cycle of protocol change can give you misleading results, which could lead to poor decisions about your health and dosing. Another critical concept is longitudinal tracking. One off tests are snapshots. They don't tell the full story. This guide recommends maintaining at least 18 months of chronological blood work data. This allows you to identify meaningful trends and patterns, such as how your testosterone estradiol ratio shifts with training, diet, or protocol adjustments. It's these trends, not isolated numbers, that provide actionable insights.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:27:48 This guide also emphasizes a systems approach instead of obsessing over individual values. It's about understanding how biomarkers interact. For example, changes in SHBG can affect free testosterone bioavailability even if total testosterone looks normal. Similarly, balancing estradiol with testosterone is crucial to avoid side effects like gynecomastia or cardiovascular risks for athletes using enhanced protocols. Regular monitoring every six months, at least during maintenance phases, is essential, with more frequent testing when adjusting dosages. Annual heart scans and liver and kidney imaging are recommended to catch any early signs of complications if you're navigating complex biomarker interactions is seeing unexpected results. Professional consultation is invaluable. Specialists can help tailor your protocols and interpret subtle patterns that might otherwise be missed. In summary, this guide is a must read for anyone serious about hormone optimization, provides a comprehensive guide work for using blood work as a dynamic feedback system, guiding your decisions to maximize gains while protecting your long term health. To dive deeper into all these topics and get the full details, visit typeiix.substack.com. It's packed with actionable insights to help you take control of your hormone optimization journey.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:29:03 That's it for today's introduction to the Advanced Biomarker Series. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes where we'll break down individual biomarkers, testing strategies, and protocol adjustments in more detail.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:29:21 Hey guys, I don't know what you're doing for yourblood work, but if you're using anyone besides Fitomics your lighting money on fire and probably not getting the right biomarkers to boot. This is especially true if Labcorp's within driving distance to you, because they're literally one third the price of the competition. Use coupon code type-iix. That's type E hyphen II, x. It's not case sensitive. You'll save 10% if all you have nearby is. Quest is still the best option because while there's like one cheaper company, they don't offer as many biomarkers and they end up not being worth it. So sign up for the Research Labs Insider at Fitomics.org. That's Fitomics for by far the best lab work options available in the US, except for New York, new Jersey, and Rhode Island with self requisition of blood work isn't legal, at least not yet.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:30:13 If you're confused at all, the best thing to do is visit my site at Ampouletude.com, click Sign Up for Type-IIx's Newsletter, sign up and when I send out my occasional, valuable, Never Spam newsletter, I include the steps to sign up and use Fitomics.
Topics
Gear Growth and Gains, Type-IIx, advanced recovery techniques, hormone optimization strategies, bodybuilders, strength athletes, Dr. Umar Nisar, chiropractor, soft tissue clinician, Asylum Sport Performance and Recovery, Voorhees, New Jersey, Nick Walker, elite athletes, performance enhancement, Meso-Rx, Clenbuterol Handbook, active rehabilitation, manual therapy, sports nutrition, injury prevention, cryotherapy, cold plunges, infrared saunas, electrical stimulation, ultrasound, shockwave therapy, passive recovery modalities, training phase, routine in recovery, mental discipline, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, grade four lasers, advanced biomarkers, blood work, testosterone, estradiol, IGF-1, lipid profiles, liver markers, inflammation indicators, cardiovascular health, hormone ratios, systems approach, lab testing, Fitomics, Quest Diagnostics, personalized protocol design, continuous blood work monitoring, athlete health, performance optimization
References
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References
The Clenbuterol Handbook by Type-IIx
How to Read Bloodwork for Hormone Optimization – An Athlete's Guide Key Advanced Biomarkers for Enhanced Lifters
Asylum Sports Performance & Recovery
Join Team Ampouletude | Coach Type-IIx
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Gear, Growth, and Gains Episode 018
Dr. Nisar Discusses Working With Mass Monsters Like Nick and World-Class Strongmen, Cryotherapy v. Cold Modalities, and Infrared Sauna
Show Time
32 min, 26 sec
Show Notes and Description
In episode 18 of Gear Growth and Gains, host Type-IIx interviews Dr. Umar Nisar of Asylum Sports Performance & Recovery, a chiropractor renowned for his work with Nick Walker who specializes in elite athlete recovery. The episode explores advanced recovery modalities – such as active rehabilitation, cryotherapy, and infrared saunas – and emphasizes the importance of individualized treatment and routine for optimal performance. The discussion transitions to hormone optimization, introducing a guide on interpreting blood biomarkers for enhanced athletes. Key recommendations include regular, comprehensive blood testing and a systems-based approach to hormone balance. The episode provides evidence-based strategies for maximizing recovery, performance, and long-term health in strength athletes.
Outline and Timestamps
Disclaimer and Podcast Introduction (00:00:30)
Medical disclaimer, podcast intro, and resources like Meso-Rx and the Clenbuterol Handbook.
Episode Overview & Guest Introduction (00:01:42)
Host previews advanced recovery and hormone optimization topics; introduces Dr. Umar Nisar and his background.
Dr. Nisar's Background and Philosophy (00:04:05)
Dr. Nisar shares his education, inspiration for chiropractic, and founding Asylum Sport Performance and Recovery.
Chiropractic and Nutrition Approach (00:07:00)
How Dr. Nisar’s nutrition background informs his treatment of elite athletes and bodybuilders.
Active Rehabilitation Methods (00:08:03)
Discussion of active vs. passive rehab, movement examples, and programming for different athlete types.
Rehabilitation for Elite Athletes (00:09:34)
Adapting rehab for bodybuilders and powerlifters, injury management, and off-season vs. prep strategies.
Measuring Progress in Rehab (00:10:32)
Key outcomes: restoring pain-free range of motion, isometrics, and tendon health for safe recovery.
Cryotherapy, Infrared Sauna, and Passive Modalities (00:11:18)
Overview of recovery modalities offered, their uses, and tailoring protocols for bodybuilders and strength athletes.
Cryotherapy and Cold Modalities: Application and Dosing (00:13:04)
Minimum effective dose, acute vs. chronic injury use, and differences between cryotherapy and cold plunges.
Infrared Sauna: Mechanisms and Benefits (00:14:44)
How infrared saunas work, their benefits for circulation, heart health, and stress reduction in athletes.
Passive Modalities Explained (00:16:48)
Definition and examples of passive modalities, including manual therapy, e-stim, ultrasound, and more.
Sequencing Recovery Modalities (00:17:39)
How Dr. Nisar combines and sequences modalities for optimal athlete recovery and performance.
Treating Elite Bodybuilders: Challenges and Evolution (00:19:14)
Unique challenges of working with top athletes like Nick Walker and refining treatment approaches.
Key Principles for Elite Athlete Care (00:20:06)
Lessons learned, importance of routine, and mental aspects of recovery for high-level competitors.
Best Value for Non-Competitors (00:21:13)
What general population clients gain from Asylum—information, direction, and high-level manual therapy.
Future Modalities and Contact Info (00:22:08)
Upcoming tech (hyperbaric, lasers) and how to contact Dr. Nisar and Asylum SPR.
Transition to Advanced Biomarker Series (00:23:24)
Introduction to the new series on bloodwork and hormone optimization for athletes.
Bloodwork Fundamentals for Athletes (00:24:17)
Importance of bloodwork, key biomarkers, and how to interpret results for hormone optimization.
Best Practices for Blood Testing (00:25:22)
Testing frequency, washout periods, tracking trends, and focusing on hormone ratios.
Comprehensive Biomarker Monitoring (00:26:41)
Essential markers to monitor, organ health, and the importance of longitudinal tracking.
Systems Approach to Biomarkers (00:27:48)
Understanding biomarker interactions, regular monitoring, and when to seek professional consultation.
Series Summary and Next Steps (00:29:03)
Recap of the biomarker series introduction and preview of upcoming detailed episodes.
Bloodwork Service Recommendation (00:29:21)
Sponsor message recommending Fitomics for bloodwork, with discount code and sign-up instructions.
Transcript
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:00:30 This show is not intended for the treatment of prevention of disease, nor is a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. No part herein, nor any statement, act or omission made by Cormac Mannion or Ampouletude LLC or its agents or affiliates are to be construed as treatment of any medical condition, medical advice, nor to delay necessary medical treatment. Scientific evidence is discussed for informational purposes only. No patient doctor relationship is formed. Hey guys, Type-IIx here. This is the 18th episode of Gear Growth and Gains, brought to you by Meso-Rx, the leading platform for open and unfiltered discussion on enhanced bodybuilding. Members freely share experiences, hold sources accountable and ensure transparency. No censorship, just real reviews. Visit Meso-Rx at thinksteroids.com/community And start posting. And if you want to subscribe to the Gear Growth and Gains newsletter, visit typeiix.substack.com to subscribe or go to ampouletude.com and click Sign Up for Type-IIx's Newsletter. And don't forget to check out @geargrowthgains One word on Telegram.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:01:42 Are you looking to expand your knowledge on performance enhancement strategies? I'm excited to announce the Clenbuterol Handbook, your comprehensive guide to understanding this powerful compound. This meticulously researched e-book breaks down everything you need to know, from biological effects to protocol design and practical considerations. The best part is completely free for all my Substack subscribers, just head over to typeiix.substack.com. Subscribe to get your copy today! If you prefer a one off purchase, stay tuned! The handbook will be available for sale soon on ampouletude.com. Don't navigate this complex topic with incomplete information. Get the Clenbuterol Handbook and make informed decisions about your performance journey. Subscribe now at typeiix.substack.com/subscribe. Welcome to the Gear Growth and Gains podcast hosted by me, Type-IIx. In today's episode, we dive deep into the intersection of cutting edge recovery techniques and advanced hormone optimization strategies. First, I had the privilege of speaking with Doctor Umar Niar, the soft tissue clinician and chiropractor behind Nick Walker's Elite Recovery and Injury Management. We explore how targeted soft tissue work supports not just pain relief, but also long term performance gains and injury prevention.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:03:04 Then we transition into the first podcast of the Advanced Biomarker eries, where I'll continue breaking down how to read and interpret your bloodwork to optimize hormones safely and effectively. This is essential knowledge for anyone serious about enhancing their physique and performance while protecting their health. Whether you're looking to fine tune your recovery protocols or want to understand the science behind hormone optimization, this episode offers practical insights to elevate your game. Stay tuned for the full interview and an in-depth guide to mastering your biomarkers. All right, let's get into it. Okay, so I am here today with Doctor Umar Nisar, who I would introduce as basically Nick Walker soft tissue guy. But he can tell us a lot more about what he is, what he does. doctor Nassar runs asylum sport performance and recovery in Voorhees, new Jersey, which I'm hopefully pronouncing correctly. But, yeah. Doctor Nisar, why don't you tell us a little about yourself, your introduction here?
Umar Nisar 00:04:05 Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me.
Umar Nisar 00:04:07 I appreciate you reaching out and making this possible. I'm really excited to talk about some of the stuff that we have prepared, and just to hopefully get out to a little bit more of the population that listens to the podcast. but I am a chiropractor by trade and license. I do practice very heavily in manual therapy. I've been doing this now for a handful of years, but three years since having Asylum Sports Performance and Recovery, which is located in Voorhees, new Jersey. I went to grad school in upstate New York, originally went to a community college locally here in South Jersey, and studied human biology and then transferred over to Drexel University, where I continued my undergrad and human bio. And then from there I went on to grad school because I found my way to chiropractic. it wasn't that it was like so much life changing. It was more so just that a chiropractor that I had met had set me on this new path just because of our relationship and conversation, not because of the philosophy of what chiropractic is, but more so just the way that he had communicated to me, which changed, my view on the injury that I had at the time and then put me on this path and then obviously inspired.
Umar Nisar 00:05:14 Yeah, yeah, inspired me. And fast forward us to basically now getting here and being one of Nick Walker's, soft tissue people.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:05:22 Excellent. Yeah. And you can find more about Doctor Nassar's, business and what he does at asylum, ESPN.com and at the Asylum Sport clinic underscore on Instagram. So, Doctor Nisar, what led you to establish Asylum SPR and what does your background in sport performance, how does it influence your approach to treating bodybuilders versus other athletes?
Umar Nisar 00:05:46 So I was never under the intention of like I was going to do my own business anytime soon. I was hoping to work under a family practice located also in South Jersey. But very quickly I realized that, you know what? I want to practice a little bit differently than the traditional Cairo. Most people's interpretation of what a traditional chrio is. I don't know if you've ever been yourself, but a lot of places, just like you get adjusted. You leave, and it's just that, and you're supposed to come back whether it's next week, a couple of weeks or every month, whatever it may be.
Umar Nisar 00:06:14 And to me, that just wasn't the model that I wanted. and being an athlete, ever since I was young and always being in the weight room since I was young, I had my first barbell and bench set in sixth grade. So I always loved the sport of bodybuilding, and I've always loved the act of just working out. I did play sports. but I knew like it sports wasn't going to be my thing long term or career wise. Coming from an immigrant household, it was doctor, engineer, lawyer, one of those. but I will say I found my way into this because I do have a fascination with the human body and sports performance, and that kind of got me into this.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:06:48 There's nothing more hands on than chiropractic work. I've done a lot of art. active of release. You know, and I found it very beneficial. But absolutely, it's like the model is basically going to come in every week to stay on top of these things. So you're just going to get worse.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:07:00 So you've, you've I know you've combined a chiropractic background with a masters in Applied Clinical Nutrition. How does this unique combination inform your approach to treating elite athletes?
Umar Nisar 00:07:11 I think with the Masters in nutrition, I do get a interesting insight on understanding how bodybuilders like handle their nutrition, especially so up close with guys that are super high level and you really get to like break down. Wow. Like this is what these guys do. And then you can then downtrend that to even the general population. Because I have a good mix of both like high level athletes, amateur athletes in general population. But watching the highest level, especially in a sport with nutritionists so so important you learn probably more there. I've learned more from those guys than I probably ever did in my masters. It just allowed me to bring the application together and make the dots connect. And that is what was really cool, because you went from learning from these guys that some of them don't really have higher level education, and just learning how to do this nutritional side of things and because of their sport and then connecting it to the education.
Umar Nisar 00:07:57 And that's where I was able to put a lot of things together, not so much from the actual schooling itself.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:08:03 Sure. So my audience, a lot of my readers and listeners are they want to get into the weeds with this stuff. All right. So let's talk about a couple of these different methods that I know that you specialize in. let's talk first about like, active rehabilitation. Okay. So what's an example of a movement through active rehabilitation that you might apply? Like walk us through it. Assume that we understand the gist of like contract, relax, proprioception, Golgi tendon organs and all that muscle reflex stuff.
Umar Nisar 00:08:30 Sure. I mean, when we talk about active rehabilitation, it's essentially why is it called that is because it's not passive, right? Passive is going to be something like stretching, doing a modality where the client or the athlete just lays there, and isn't really doing anything whereas active we're potentially going to actually be loading. Right. Let's say somebody has, hip rotational issues and we need to actually load that because that's where they're actually having a problem.
Umar Nisar 00:08:52 Just stretching it isn't going to do anything, but maybe doing a hip airplane or even doing some form of banded mobility movement is going to help us access more range of motion because now we have load, we have stability, and we have proprioception being tested, and those are things that we want to work on. So that way when the athlete goes and actually performs, whether it's an exercise or a movement or in whether it's the actual game, there is actual application and crossover and not just somebody stretching them, if that makes sense.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:09:18 It makes sense. So for bodybuilders and strength athletes specifically, how are you programming active rehabilitation? And I know most of your clients are not going to be like Nick Walker. Right. But how would what they do be different from what you do with somebody 270 plus pounds like Nick?
Umar Nisar 00:09:34 Sure. It just depends. Like right now I'm actually working with a one of the strongest guys in the world. and he had a recent injury to severe injuries, torn quad and a torn hamstring while trying to break the world record, in powerlifting.
Umar Nisar 00:09:48 Yeah. and just the active side of that right now we have to take. We have to pull back very heavily from the actual loading of super heavy weights, because obviously the injury is very significant, and we have to kind of move over to a bodybuilding type, training protocol to help rebuild the tiers that happen in the intramuscular regions. Active rehabilitation with especially if we are going to talk about bodybuilders, we have to be very careful depending on where they are in season or off season, and how much you can actually change their routine when you're like in prep. Active rehabilitation is going to be very, very minimal and you're going to take more of a passive approach. But if you're in the off season, that's the best time to go ahead and do active rehabilitation because their recovery is really good. They're resting a lot and there's quote unquote lesser risk for active rehabilitation and related injuries.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:10:32 And what are you looking for for improvement from them. Like what's the pre versus post outcome you're aiming for. Like just improve strength range of motion.
Umar Nisar 00:10:39 All of that. So the first thing is always going to be range of motion. Because after injuries that's the first thing that you're always going to lose. For the most part range of motion has to be restored and it has to be almost entirely pain free. A small bit I've gotten with experience. I've learned how to push into pain a little bit without making it detrimental, but almost full pain free range of motion and then start the loading process. And a lot of times it's going to be with isometric, because with bodybuilders, like, our biggest risk is that we don't want to tear anything, especially off the bone, because at that point, you know how that could completely ruin an entire career. So that's the super safe level way of reintroducing rehabilitation for bodybuilders. I love my isometric and just making sure tendon health is good. And then from there loading through full range of motion.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:11:18 Yeah okay. And I know. So besides active rehabilitation you also specialize at your facility in cryotherapy and cold modalities.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:11:26 infrared sauna, passive modalities. now, so you offer all of these for a serious bodybuilder and strength athlete. Like, what's your process for designing for deciding which to use.
Umar Nisar 00:11:37 it all depends on what the person is coming in for, obviously. And like for bodybuilders, you know that like weight is going to be a thing, especially now with the weight caps. Sometimes we can use the sauna to manipulate water, especially towards the end of a prep when you have to make those potentially drastic changes. But I will say that using it throughout the entire prep, and we use infrared ones because they're not overly aggressive, we can control the intensity of the heat and then have the athlete be completely adapted to it, so that by the time we are going to hit them a little bit more aggressively towards the end of prep to make weight, if that's an if, the if that is necessary, it's not a hard adjustment for them. Now, for the powerlifter or strength athlete, you got to be a little careful because you could fatigue the central nervous system a little bit too much.
Umar Nisar 00:12:17 So we'll regulate the intensity of the heat and make sure that the athlete has been accommodated to it all throughout their prep or whatever it may be, if it's a training block going into the competition. So that way it's not just a random spike of stress for them right before a comp. How a lot of guys try to knock out all these modalities right before the comp, and their bodies are not used to it.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:12:35 Yeah, it sounds like you have to be in such deep communication with your guys. I mean, you need to know where they are in their training. You know, you need to know what they're doing and how they are pain wise, too. So let's talk I the things that I wanted to really drill into a couple of the different modalities that you offer. So cryotherapy and cold modalities, infrared sauna, passive modalities. And we'll talk to you about your work with Nick and elite athletes. so with cryotherapy, like let's talk a little bit about it. What's the minimum effective dose for it.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:13:04 How do you assess it's working and what are you looking for there.
Umar Nisar 00:13:09 So for the cryotherapy we use a localized cryotherapy. And that's going to be typically for very acute injuries where we've seen our best and biggest responses. most of the stuff is falling within a 2 to 5 minute range. And then the five minute is a little extensive. So we do have to lay off of it or have a larger distance between our cryo. But 2 to 5 is where we find a lot of the sweet spots. It's usually more towards that too, and it's typically going to be more associated towards our acute injuries. The cold plunge that we use, we use a little bit more. So for chronic issues, inflammatory joint issues or even overall fatigue. That's where we're going to use a cold punch because the submersion of the entire body and we can attack it from that angle. The infrared sauna We use for people who also have very similar issues that can't tolerate the cold, so that can help with inflammatory arthritis, that can help with people with Lyme disease.
Umar Nisar 00:13:53 Very unique in that sense. And it can also be very, very helpful for people that may have cardiovascular issues because it's almost a light form of cardiovascular conditioning due to adapting to that heat and your heart rate going up and down.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:14:05 Great. So is the major difference between cryotherapy and cold modalities like cold plunges, just the degree of cold that you're dealing with. I know, like it's you're probably talking about like liquid nitrogen and that kind of thing. Is that is that what cryotherapy is? It is.
Umar Nisar 00:14:18 Yeah. So cryo is liquid nitrogen. And the thing about cryo is that for people who can't handle full body submersion, it's very localized. You can attack a specific area. So it's in cases where systemic inflammation is not the concern. We can go very specific to that area, whatever it may be. and it's almost always with traumatic and acute injuries. That's where it makes the most sense. Whereas for the cold plunges and the cold, cold water, that's for systemic inflammation and any form of inflammatory diseases.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:14:44 Use I. All right. So let's talk about infrared sauna. Like how does infrared sauna work.
Umar Nisar 00:14:48 So the infrared sauna, the research behind it goes behind is more towards the wavelength of the light. Right. That's why the whole infrared is such a big deal. the research shows that it can penetrate on a more microscopic level, whether it's helping the cells or the skin. Now, as to how far true that is, obviously, it's very hard to prove there is research out there that it's getting a little bit better. It's not too phenomenal. But I will say research for saunas has been around for years. And that's the implementation that I really like for people is that it is very, very beneficial for circulation. It's very beneficial for heart health, and those are the things that we want to focus on. And with these bodybuilders, the biggest thing is, is that we're using it to help decrease cortisol levels, to remove stress, have them just be very, very calm and relaxed during these preps.
Umar Nisar 00:15:29 So that way they're not holding on to unnecessary water stress, fatigue or whatever it may be.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:15:34 That actually sounds like a really good plan. Like I've never thought about that to you. So you're using it around the competition, probably like to use it like pre and post like show.
Umar Nisar 00:15:43 So we love. We actually use it. So a lot of the guys, the pro level guys, the bodybuilders that we work with, is typically 1 to 2 times a week when we're in prep. So they're here almost twice a week, and we split that up based off recovery days and training days or post recovery from their hardest training day. So that way we can compile that damage as close as possible together. And that's when we hit them as hard as we can with all of these passive modalities, because we don't want to hit them all year long during the off season because they develop tolerances to it, especially when they're so large. We want to hit them with these passive modalities very acutely and very sharply when they need it the most.
Umar Nisar 00:16:14 That's going to be during the preps when these aches and pains pop up. So we hit them, with the saunas almost 2 to 3 times a week, depending on how well they tolerate it. And we regulate it very well. So we know exactly the infrared ones. What's cool about then? You can measure things. You can see what the exact temperature was when they got in, how much time they were in, what the intensity of the wavelength was. so that's why I like the infrared ones for me, because there's tractability to it, and we can make sure that we're not hitting them with any two crazy before going into a show, because I've seen guys jump into a sauna that's super aggressive and then not be able to bounce back and peek properly.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:16:48 Makes sense. So you talked a lot about passive modalities. And I just want to make sure that the audience understands what we're talking about here. So what are the passive modalities.
Umar Nisar 00:16:56 So the passive are always going to be like the manual therapy stretching but also the electrical stimulation type of machines that everyone has seen.
Umar Nisar 00:17:03 Everyone's got different variations. We have a pretty high level one. everyone's got a different one. People. Have you ever seen like the newbie? Ours is called the AAP wave, but there's also regular e stim. But those are passive modalities they're supposed to help with like regeneration to a certain extent with especially acute injuries. So when guys tweak something, we want to be able to apply that and hopefully see the response that we're looking for. even infrared saunas and the plunges and cryo all fall under passive modalities. Everything that's not the athlete actually actively loading or moving on their own is considered basically a passive modality. You can even have ultrasound shock wave. Those things will fall under that too.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:17:39 Interesting. So how do you combine these all of these recovery modalities and what sequence yields the best performance outcomes? Is there even a general rule. Or does it depend on the athlete?
Umar Nisar 00:17:50 A great, great question. I have obviously certain people have their routines, have a set way of doing things. We try things a little differently, but we see what works the best for the athletes.
Umar Nisar 00:17:57 For me as a chiropractor, I do use spinal manipulation and decompression. I don't market that heavily. That's just a part of the appointment. I don't, you know what I mean? I don't believe in the whole let me charge you this much money for just doing a quick 22nd adjustment. That's not that's not what I stand for. That's the very beginning of our appointment. Just so we can get, like a little bit more joint mobility and start working on the athlete. From there, we transition to the manual therapy. We spend anywhere between 40 to 60 minutes doing manual therapy. And if there's passive modalities in there, whether we need to use the stimulation machine, things like ultrasound or cryotherapy could be used in that time frame. once that's all done, we usually end our sessions with either the plunge and the sauna or just the sauna. But the sauna really helps. Like believe the athlete in terms of being stressed out or potentially even feeling slightly irritated from all the work. So just go relax in the sauna.
Umar Nisar 00:18:45 Some guys fall asleep.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:18:47 That's a good sign. There's no better sign than that. You can do that on show day. Contest day. That's the best thing to do.
Umar Nisar 00:18:53 It's awesome. Some of them will drop like 4 or £5 between when they walk to their front door.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:18:58 I actually believe it, I believe it, it's just wild to think about. That's like. That might be a small percentage of a nick, but that's still like that's substantial weight, you know for sure.
Umar Nisar 00:19:06 It's recording it a lot more. That's exactly it's the stress that's like leaving their body. But obviously they're going to sweat water and float water too. And that they're here.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:19:14 Sure. So you work with Nick Walker has gotten attention. What unique challenges come with treating a mass monster at his level compared to other bodybuilders? Strength guys.
Umar Nisar 00:19:23 So it's not as much anymore. But I think Nick was my breakthrough and like, not being so nervous anymore, where obviously when you when you make that gap of like working with amateurs and working with athletes that aren't considered.
Umar Nisar 00:19:34 I don't want to sound like that, but they aren't considered high value yet, you know, because at the amateur level, no one really has a value just yet. But when you're working with somebody who everybody is looking at and then their health is in your hand to a certain extent, if he gets hurt, it could be massively my fault, especially after he had that injury. I actually worked on him like pretty closely after the hamstring injury and monitored it slightly, a good amount and it made me very, very nervous, especially following an injury. I was like, man, if I messed this up, there's a lot.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:20:06 That means you care. Honestly, that just means you care. Like, really. So how's your treatment approach evolved based on what you've learned working with Nick and with the elite bodybuilders and strength athletes? What key principles have you refined?
Umar Nisar 00:20:19 For sure. And that's exactly what it is. It's refining of the of the quality of work and understanding how much detail has to go into this and removing a lot of stuff kind of earlier, how you asked, like, how do you like use all those modalities? I actually started pulling things away, which I realized, like going back to like the very, very basics and understanding what like really works for this athlete.
Umar Nisar 00:20:38 And what they need a lot of times is really just what they think that they need is what they what you should probably give them, because it plays such a large mental, aspect for them. And you don't want to mess these guys up from their routine because their routine is so, so important, especially at that level. Like they don't budge. They don't skip a beat. For Nick, one of the coolest things is we'd be working on a session and we'd be almost like an hour deep into a session. His timer would go off. It'd be mid session. I would be working maybe on his back or something. Timer would go off. He would sit up, walk over to the chair, sit down and start eating his meal. Oh yeah, say a word. And then as soon as he'd be done, he'd be right back on the table.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:21:13 It's the most important aspect. It's the hardest one to the diet. So yeah. Yeah. So for listeners who train hard but aren't competing, what service that asylum would give them the biggest performance improvement for their investment?
Umar Nisar 00:21:25 I think it would be really information.
Umar Nisar 00:21:27 And that's where a lot of people don't realize, like what people get out of here, like the general population when they walk through these doors and the amount of like attention and information and care that they get, not even from a hands on standpoint. That's what's lacking so much is actual good information, because a lot of times I don't have the answer, but I can refer you to the right direction. And I think that has given me a lot more credibility than my hands on work ever has. Even though, like, yes, you can come in, you can get your service. I do practice manual therapy really heavily. I work with a lot of like professional athletes, especially in the bodybuilding world, so they would get a high level service in terms of that. But I want people to know, is that what they would get when they walk through these doors is a community of people that has a lot of information and direction to give.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:22:08 Okay. Are there any new treatment modalities or approaches you're looking forward to implementing at asylum in the near future? Anything in the pipeline tech wise, anything like that?
Umar Nisar 00:22:17 I would definitely like to potentially get into hyperbaric and the oxygen, and or grade four lasers, both of which are extremely, extremely expensive.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:22:27 Yeah, yeah, that's interesting stuff. I know a little bit about the first topic, but the laser stuff. No, that sounds pretty out there. That's pretty interesting though. I mean, you got to keep on the edge with this stuff because there's a lot of this stuff has benefit. Like the infrared to me was totally novel. I had to look into it. And basically everything you said corresponded with my research too. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's I think that's super interesting and it works. So for. Yeah. So for our listeners who might be interested in working with you, what's the best way for them to connect with asylum SVR?
Umar Nisar 00:22:55 So honestly, just our Instagram is probably the easiest, easiest, most direct way people do contact me through email. That's another way that people can contact me at a doctor, [email protected]. And then obviously you already said our Instagram, but that's going to be probably the two best ways to get to me. And then on our website has my direct phone number.
Umar Nisar 00:23:14 So people could easily just call me.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:23:16 Great. Thank you, Doctor Nisar for being here today. We learned a lot. And thank you for your time. All right.
Umar Nisar 00:23:21 Have a good one I appreciate it man. You too. Thank you. All right.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:23:24 Listen.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:23:24 Up all you enhanced fucks! The Meso-Rx forum at thinksteroids.com is your go to source for everything enhanced. We're not just another board with a most trusted harm reduction community in the game, you should be looking only at unfiltered reviews where members don't bullshit at Meso they definitely tell it like it is. Don't waste time with shills. Visit. thinksteroids.com and stop posting now. In this second section of Gear Growth and Gains. Episode 18 I'm kicking off a new hybrid written article and audio podcast series, culminating in an e-book focusing on advanced biomarkers, how to understand and use them to optimize your hormone profiles, boost performance, and safeguard your health. This episode serves as an introduction to crucial topic for any serious athletes or enhance bodybuilders.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:24:17 Reading and interpreting your blood work. Bloodwork is the cornerstone of any scientifically sound hormone optimization protocol. Without it, you're essentially flying blind, relying on subjective feelings rather than objective data. The problem is, many athletes get blood test results back and see a bunch of numbers and reference ranges, but don't know how to make sense of them. Or even worse, they just jump around and get different biomarkers without knowing how to use them. That's where this series comes in. The guide I'm referencing today, which you can read in full at typeiix.substack.com is from my article titled How to Read Bloodwork for Hormone Optimization An Athlete's Guide: Key Advanced Biomarkers for Enhanced Lifters breaks down the critical biomarkers. You need to know how to prepare for testing, and how to interpret your results in a way that supports both performance and long term health. Here are some of that articles. Key takeaways. First, comprehensive testing matters monitor total and free testosterone estradiol the sensitive or ultra sensitive assays only IG-1, lipids, liver markers and inflammation indicators at least every six months.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:25:22 Second, timing is everything. Respect compound specific washout.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:25:27 Periods ranges from two days to 84 days before testing to avoid false readings. Third and fourth track trends, not snapshots. Maintain 18 plus months of chronological blood work data to identify meaningful patterns and hormone relationships, and finally, optimize ratios over individual values. Focus on testosterone to estradiol balance and marker interaction rather than maximizing single hormones. If you'd like my help with this, you can visit Ampouletude.com for my professional, custom, and individualized protocol design for you with continuous bloodwork. Monitoring of relevant biomarkers. So hormone optimization isn't just about hitting normal lab ranges. Those ranges are statistical averages based on general populations, often sedentary individuals, and don't necessarily reflect what's optimal for an athlete pushing the limits. Instead, optimization is about finding your individual hormone balance that supports muscle growth, recovery, metabolic efficiency, and overall Performance. Key hormones to monitor include total and free testosterone, estradiol, measured with the sensitive assays and ultra sensitive and IGF-1, which is a marker for growth hormone activity.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:26:41 But it doesn't stop there. Cardiovascular risk markers like LDL and HDL, apolipoprotein ratios, and inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein are essential to track as well. Liver and kidney function tests, including gamma glutamyl transferase that get help ensure your organs are handling the stress of training and any compounds you might be using. One of the most important points in the guide is respecting washout periods. Before testing different compounds, clear your system at different rates from a couple of days for some oral steroids to nearly three months for long acting testosterone esters. Testing too soon after a cycle of protocol change can give you misleading results, which could lead to poor decisions about your health and dosing. Another critical concept is longitudinal tracking. One off tests are snapshots. They don't tell the full story. This guide recommends maintaining at least 18 months of chronological blood work data. This allows you to identify meaningful trends and patterns, such as how your testosterone estradiol ratio shifts with training, diet, or protocol adjustments. It's these trends, not isolated numbers, that provide actionable insights.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:27:48 This guide also emphasizes a systems approach instead of obsessing over individual values. It's about understanding how biomarkers interact. For example, changes in SHBG can affect free testosterone bioavailability even if total testosterone looks normal. Similarly, balancing estradiol with testosterone is crucial to avoid side effects like gynecomastia or cardiovascular risks for athletes using enhanced protocols. Regular monitoring every six months, at least during maintenance phases, is essential, with more frequent testing when adjusting dosages. Annual heart scans and liver and kidney imaging are recommended to catch any early signs of complications if you're navigating complex biomarker interactions is seeing unexpected results. Professional consultation is invaluable. Specialists can help tailor your protocols and interpret subtle patterns that might otherwise be missed. In summary, this guide is a must read for anyone serious about hormone optimization, provides a comprehensive guide work for using blood work as a dynamic feedback system, guiding your decisions to maximize gains while protecting your long term health. To dive deeper into all these topics and get the full details, visit typeiix.substack.com. It's packed with actionable insights to help you take control of your hormone optimization journey.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:29:03 That's it for today's introduction to the Advanced Biomarker Series. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes where we'll break down individual biomarkers, testing strategies, and protocol adjustments in more detail.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:29:21 Hey guys, I don't know what you're doing for yourblood work, but if you're using anyone besides Fitomics your lighting money on fire and probably not getting the right biomarkers to boot. This is especially true if Labcorp's within driving distance to you, because they're literally one third the price of the competition. Use coupon code type-iix. That's type E hyphen II, x. It's not case sensitive. You'll save 10% if all you have nearby is. Quest is still the best option because while there's like one cheaper company, they don't offer as many biomarkers and they end up not being worth it. So sign up for the Research Labs Insider at Fitomics.org. That's Fitomics for by far the best lab work options available in the US, except for New York, new Jersey, and Rhode Island with self requisition of blood work isn't legal, at least not yet.
Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:30:13 If you're confused at all, the best thing to do is visit my site at Ampouletude.com, click Sign Up for Type-IIx's Newsletter, sign up and when I send out my occasional, valuable, Never Spam newsletter, I include the steps to sign up and use Fitomics.
Topics
Gear Growth and Gains, Type-IIx, advanced recovery techniques, hormone optimization strategies, bodybuilders, strength athletes, Dr. Umar Nisar, chiropractor, soft tissue clinician, Asylum Sport Performance and Recovery, Voorhees, New Jersey, Nick Walker, elite athletes, performance enhancement, Meso-Rx, Clenbuterol Handbook, active rehabilitation, manual therapy, sports nutrition, injury prevention, cryotherapy, cold plunges, infrared saunas, electrical stimulation, ultrasound, shockwave therapy, passive recovery modalities, training phase, routine in recovery, mental discipline, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, grade four lasers, advanced biomarkers, blood work, testosterone, estradiol, IGF-1, lipid profiles, liver markers, inflammation indicators, cardiovascular health, hormone ratios, systems approach, lab testing, Fitomics, Quest Diagnostics, personalized protocol design, continuous blood work monitoring, athlete health, performance optimization
References
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References
The Clenbuterol Handbook by Type-IIx
How to Read Bloodwork for Hormone Optimization – An Athlete's Guide Key Advanced Biomarkers for Enhanced Lifters
Asylum Sports Performance & Recovery
Join Team Ampouletude | Coach Type-IIx
Labcorp Research Insider
Quest Research Insider
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