Go From Tired to Energized in Just 15 Minutes!

In my 44 years of practicing medicine, I can tell you that without a doubt, starting and maintaining a regular exercise program is the single most important thing you can do to be strong and never get sick. And that’s particularly sad, because it’s also the single hardest thing to get people to do who aren’t used to it.

That’s why I’m always on the lookout for anything that can help people exercise smarter and get more out of their workouts. And that brings me to Ben.

Ben is a 58-year-old man who came to see me from Alaska. Ben has type-2 diabetes. He is also about 20 pounds overweight. This is not a good combination. But here’s the thing. Ben is one of the healthiest patients I have. He’s not on any medications. His blood work is perfect. He feels great. And his Bio-Energy Testing shows he has the mitochondrial function of a 35-year-old. You can learn more about Bio-Energy Testing in either of my books (Bursting With Energy or The Type-2 Diabetes Breakthrough) and also at www.bioenergytesting.com. The bottom line is this. Anyone with the kind of Bio-Energy Testing results that Ben had is at the top of their game. So, the first question I asked Ben was, “What in the world have you been doing?”

Ben said, “For the past nine months, all I have been doing is what you describe in your diabetes book, as well as exercising with oxygen for an hour, three times a week.” I was amazed. Patients usually do great if they follow the program in my book, but Ben's remarkable turnaround was nothing short of amazing. I was sure that a major reason why Ben had been so successful was that he had been exercising with oxygen. So, let me tell you about exercising with oxygen therapy, or EWOT for short.

EWOT is not new. I briefly mentioned it in last week’s alert. German doctor Manfred von Ardenne developed the idea in the 1960s. The concept is very simple. Most people exercise while breathing air. Air contains 20% oxygen. Von Ardenne wondered what would happen if, instead of breathing 20% oxygen while exercising, you breathed much higher levels. So, he started experimenting by having his patients exercise while connected to oxygen at various concentrations and for various durations. He found out it helped almost every condition.

This is not hard to understand since he was improving the delivery of the most important substance there is for tissue life and repair. In fact, patients with circulatory disorders like heart disease and strokes can experience particular benefits. But people with cataracts, memory problems, joint pains, infections, and diabetes also saw improvements. Dr. von Ardenne described how it works. It has to do with pressure – the pressure of oxygen.

Oxygen pressure in the blood (for the technically minded, PaO2) is what drives oxygen out of the blood and into the cells. But guess what happens with oxygen pressure as we get older? If you guessed it decreases, you guessed right. On average, oxygen pressure drops about .3% every year. The typical 20-year-old has an oxygen pressure of 100 mm/Hg. By the time that person has 70 candles on his birthday cake, his oxygen pressure has dropped to the low 80s. And as oxygen pressure decreases, less oxygen enters the cells. The oxygen is in the blood, it’s just not getting into the cells because there’s not enough pressure to drive it there. And if the oxygen in your blood is not getting into your cells, it’s the same effect as not having oxygen. It translates into less oxygen utilization by the cells, decreased mitochondrial function, reduced cellular energy, weakened tissues and organs, rapid aging, and a greater chance of disease.

This is why oxygen pressure is so important. And it also explains why EWOT can be so effective. Von Ardenne’s breakthrough with EWOT came because the oxygen percentage he was giving his patients was so much higher than that of air that it actually raised their oxygen pressure back to youthful levels. This means their cells were getting the same amount of oxygen as when they were much younger. And what’s just as important is that von Ardenne discovered that the effect is long-lasting! Regularly exercising with oxygen is an effective way to enhance the net effect of your workout. And if that’s all it did, it would be great. But that’s not all.

In one study titled “Effects of hyperoxic training on performance and cardiorespiratory response to exercise,” the researchers examined a group of athletes participating in a very intense training program. For six weeks, half of them trained using air just like they usually did. The other half trained using EWOT. Then they stopped training altogether for three months.

After the three-month break, they resumed training. Only this time, they reversed the EWOT. Those who did not get the EWOT the first time got it the second time. And those who got the EWOT the first time went to regular air the second time. The researchers monitored all fitness and oxygen utilization measurements throughout the experiment. Here’s what they found.

Every time the athletes were training with EWOT, they were able to work 8.1% harder. In other words, for the same amount of training time and the same amount of effort, they were getting 8.1% more results. And although they had a great training effect, whether or not they used EWOT, the effect on performance time was always greater when they used EWOT.

In their words, “This increased training intensity during hyperoxia [EWOT] resulted in improved exercise performance.” Here’s why this is so impressive. These were high-level athletes, not normal people. They were already in top cardiovascular condition. If they showed so much improvement when exercising with oxygen, how much more would normal people see!

EWOT is surprisingly easy to do. And you don’t need a doctor to do it. All you need is some exercise equipment and a special “non-rebreather” oxygen mask that is connected to a 10 LPM oxygen concentrator. An oxygen concentrator is a piece of equipment that can convert regular air into oxygen with an oxygen concentration of greater than 90%. All you do is put on the mask, turn on the concentrator, and exercise as usual. It doesn’t matter whether you are resistance training with weights or training aerobically on a treadmill or a stationary bicycle. Your workouts will be more efficient.

For most people, and at most workout levels, this particular EWOT setup will deliver about a 60% oxygen level during exercise. But there is a way to take it up another notch. And that is with a reservoir bag. This is a new development and is not something that von Ardenne had available to him. In this setup, the oxygen from the concentrator does not go directly into the mask. Instead, it fills a large (4x5-foot) bag made of special plastic. The filling process takes about two hours. Once the bag is filled, a different kind of mask is attached to it, and you breathe oxygen directly from the bag. This setup can provide an oxygen level of about 95% during exercise, which is 30-50% higher than you can get from the standard von Ardenne setup.

Once you have the oxygen mask on, start to exercise as usual for 15-30 minutes. Do this every day for three weeks, then decrease it to three times a week to maintain your gains. Of course, if you want to, you can do it as often as you like. Von Ardenne originally had his patients do it for two hours a day.

With the traditional EWOT setup that von Ardenne used, all you need is 15 minutes of exercise to feel the effects. It’s immediate. You’ll go from feeling run down and tired to energized and ready to go after just 15 minutes. It’s truly remarkable. You can order a traditional EWOT setup from our friends at Optimize Products. These are the same folks who sell the ozone saunas I’ve talked about in the past.

Optimize Products has two traditional EWOT systems to choose from. Please note that they don’t use refurbished or used machinery. And they don’t use materials made in China. Everything in these packages is made in the U.S. The “Gold” package has a 10 liters per minute (LPM) oxygen concentrator ($2699; includes a special Second Opinion reader $100 discount, regular price $2,799) and the “Diamond” package has a 20 LPM model ($5395; includes a special Second Opinion $100 Discount, regular price $5495). Shipping is not included and will be added at the time of purchase.

Either model will work just fine for supplying the oxygen you need. If you search the Internet for similar packages, you won’t find any. These are very unique packages that work better than anything I’ve seen for EWOT. If you want to add the bag system, ask Optimize about their Reservoir Bag Systems.

You can order by calling Optimize Resources Inc. at 1-844-927-1374 from Canada/USA (Internationally use 011 250 999 9099). You can also reach them by emailing [email protected].

Yours for better health,

Frank Shallenberger, MD