Working Out, what suppliments to take to do what! Options

[Trip like I do]

I am currently taking Allmax QuickMass 1010 Rapid Weight Gain Catalyst, Animal Stack - the complete Anabolic Hormone Stack and SuperPump 250 Instant Muscle Amplifier/ Lean Mass Catalyst.

I've gained 15 pounds with this combination but feel bloated at times! Strength has increased as well.

[Mr Bananas]

I cant comment on the supps you are using, but i can tell you this: You can drink a drink with 7-15 grams of EAA (stimulates protein synthesis more than protein does) on an empty stomach the minute before you begin lifting, during lifting you dont need to eat/drink anything but water, after you should either drink another 7-15 grams of EAA or take a gainer, when you get home you should eat lots and lots of food.
Sleep well, eat well, lift well, and you will grow!

[Rick]

Stay hungry, as the Governator used to say. Working out makes you hungry.

[Net Runner Overdose]

best supplements on the market are meat, meat and meat. I use a whole variety of bodybuilding supplements, you name it I probalby use it. but meat makes difference.

let see, animal stack is excellent. superpump only makes me go to toilet. gainers are ok but I prefer whey protein.
my favourite pre workout supplement is animal m stack, but now i m useing 200 mg of caffeine and 220 mg of guarana 20 mins before + liquid amino acids 1 min before.
after trainig I use optimum nutrition 100% whey gold standard with 5 gr of creatine + 5 gr of glutamine + 1 gr of taurine
or
muscletech nitro tech hardcore or ss professional strenght whey ....
during workout use EAA.

do not forget to eat meat, as many you can.

[XR500Final]

Don't forget to raise your Testosterone - one of the best methods to do this quickly and naturally is to do whole body lifting - German Dead Lifts and stuff like this.

The larger muscle groups work out lots as they will drive Testosterone produciton (leg squats, whole body lifts).

As I understand it you can raise Testosterone by 40% from this simple exercise.

Fail that its of for the 4 blend testosterone mixers

[code buttons]

Ok, here's my question:
I've always had a very lean, healthy body. But, I'm about to start working out again because I'm finding really hard to see my abs for the first time in my life. I've come to that time of my life when I'm finding really hard to get rid of this bicycle-tire size belt around my waist. So, strict diet is not working any more. I'm about to get back to my old weight lifting routine. The plan is basically to accelerate my metabolism towards reversing the aging process so that fat is churned into fiber again, as it is when you're in your 20s. I don't have any problem with keeping a strict diet and the rigorous exercise routine needed to accomplish my goals. My problem with supplements is that most of them do nothing but bulk you up through an enhanced muscle water retention process, which, I'm definitely not interested in. ie: Creating, and others. So all I really think I'm going to be taking is vitamin supplement pills. But, I'm also worried that I may be missing out on some real important chemical elements my muscles may need in this building process, which may or may not be in the vitamin supplements and my food! Should I just stick to food diet with the right protein-carb-fiber combo, or, is there something out there on the shelves that won't just fake-bulk me up? Thank you all for the advice, and, peace everyone!

[Flex]

Diet is totally fine if you do it right. Absolutely no need for supplements. However, there is something to be said for some of the products out there. Things I would look into for you: carnitine, chromium, good multi with plenty of B vit. fish oil, and arginine.

Creatine is actually a pretty good product. Has definitely been shown to improve performance (particularly in the first 10 seconds it allows you to go hard for about an additional second). You will retain more water, but that is not a bad thing, it is just a consequence of the physiology (unless you are a marathon runner, then it might be a bad thing).

If you just follow proper diet protocol, you are sure to gain water weight as well. If I recall properly, a gram of glycogen requires about 3 grams of water to store, so as your glycogen stores increase with strength training, so too will your water weight.

Go buy some coconut water and see if you like it. Great way to stay hydrated and increase potassium intake. If you want to see your abs, you will probably want to up your potassium intake, and keep your sodium about where it normally is (you lose more sodium when you sweat, so you don't really need to cut sodium from the diet so long as you are working out hard).

There is also popular ZMA stack you may want to look into. It is also important to make sure you are meeting your daily calcium requirement, but spreading out intake.

If you want to get into some cool stuff recent NADH research, a lot of which is soon to be published out of UCLA, has strongly suggested its efficacy as an ergogenic aid. In the future, it may even be added to the WADA list (which is pretty BS as it isn't a particularly dangerous compound. This will also aid as a nootropic. Other "nootropics" will also give you an immense workout aid. Galantamine in particular works well for me. Anything boosting acetylcholine levels should help do the job, since ACh is vital to muscle firing. L-DOPA works for sure Deprenyl will definitely get the job done, but is sort of risky, so don't take more than 1mg and NEVER take it with L-DOPA or galantamine.

When purchasing vitamins look for forms bound to TCA intermediates. They are generally better absorbed and have slight additional benefits to metabolic function.

Honestly the most effective supplement you are going to find for your goal is ephedra. You can buy the powdered herb online, and make a tea. Bring water to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Add herb (I used around 5-10 grams). Add a tablespoon or so of lemon juice. Simmer 10-15 min, filter and you are good to go. Tack on a glass or two of green tea, and an aspirin and you have a mean workout stack. This is another one of those ones to be careful with, and never do with deprenyl.

[Flex]

Oh and if you want some good stuff on hydration check out: http://www.anaesthesiamcq.com/FluidBook/fl3_6.php

Way too much detail for your purposes, but it is pretty interesting. Personally I would strive for a dietary K+/NA+ ratio of 4 as a guidelines. The text doesn't really lend much practical value

[code buttons]

Oh and if you want some good stuff on hydration check out: http://www.anaesthesiamcq.com/FluidBook/fl3_6.php

Way too much detail for your purposes, but it is pretty interesting. Personally I would strive for a dietary K+/NA+ ratio of 4 as a guidelines. The text doesn't really lend much practical value

Let me digest all this info as I got some other conjectures I would like to clarify. Thanks beforehand, though.

[Trip like I do]

I am currently using N.O. Xplode and prefer it too other brands like super pump and size on

[Flex]

I am currently using N.O. Xplode and prefer it too other brands like super pump and size on

Looks pretty good to me. I would have some carbs right when I start working out though, and BCAA.

[Net Runner Overdose]

Xpand Extreme Pump before
Elite Whey Protein Isolate after
Arginine, Ornithine, Lysine before goin to bed

Ephedrine is on his way...

[Phi]

Has NO Xplode been helpful?? I'm not quite sure I understand why it would be beneficial, but I keep hearing about it

[Flex]

Two roles:
1.) the urea cycle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urea_cycle
2.) arginine produces NO (hence NO xplode) which is a powerful signaling molecule, which dilated the blood vessels helping you to get a better "pump".

Actually one of my professors discovered this role and got the Nobel prize for it--still works at UCLA.

[Phi]

funny, its almost turning into a bodybuilding forum...

anyway, the "pump" seems to be no joke

[orangesand]

Could do no supplements, the long term effects of high amount of say protein, 400mg as pros
take, can lead to kidney liver problems, your liver has to deal with these drugs and the interaction
of taking multiple drugs may/often leads to a drug inhibiting another drug , slowing its metabolism,
accelerating it, ie drug A may make drug B be cleared out of system with out drug B working,
drug B may become overly expressed

[Phi]

If one has the luxury of eating properly then I'm sure there's no need to supplement

[orangesand]

As fortunately most of us do in America(have a proper diet cheaply available). People get a little overboard
on weights. I think doing outside work is better for you, than in a gym.

[code buttons]

...As fortunately most of us do in America(have a proper diet cheaply available)...

Good luck with that in the near future! Have you gone to the market lately?! What's going on!

[Flex]

3 lbs of frozen chicken breast for $6--all the protein you need right there. If you are a fan of Benihannas like me, this doesn't help you much

[orangesand]

...As fortunately most of us do in America(have a proper diet cheaply available)...

Good luck with that in the near future! Have you gone to the market lately?! What's going on!

Went to the grocery today, seemed fine. Are you saying/do you think that people will overtake/abuse the land to the point of not being able to have enough food in the future?

[orangesand]

We have enough food to feed 100% of the Earth's population, distribution appears to be a major problem.

[Phi]

I would think that I would need to set aside roughly 1000 a month for food and I could get everything I needed/wanted. Some people can't/choose not to spend that much on food

[orangesand]

I would think that I would need to set aside roughly 1000 a month for food and I could get everything I needed/wanted. Some people can't/choose not to spend that much on food

That seems like a far bit of money, are supplements a fair part of the price? I guess I may spend a bit on food, though I probably go out to eat to much. Would you buy that much food for the calories(to bulk up), associated with working out?

[Phi]

I'm including money to eat out...that's about it. If I include what I buy for the home and eating out(at a rate that I would be most comfortable and happy) it would be around there. I definitely spend much less(somewhere around 50 dollars a week), but I would one day like to spend that much on food per month.

I think I could probably be spending more money on food when I crave it and buy it/make it; instead I try to anticipate the week and wind up feeling like I'm lacking things half of the time.

[orangesand]

I often buy nothing, go out to fast food
only have pop on hand,

I wonder if cravings are associated/correlated with
the amount of meals eaten during the day/week?

I get the unusual sensation(for me) that I know that
there is something, some type of food I am craving
but I am not sure what I/my body wants

[orangesand]

I know when my money is low that I look at the price of food very
differently than when I have money, its surprising to me on how cheap
I can spend on food, verses when I am not worrying about money

[Phi]

I often buy nothing, go out to fast food
only have pop on hand,

I wonder if cravings are associated/correlated with
the amount of meals eaten during the day/week?

I get the unusual sensation(for me) that I know that
there is something, some type of food I am craving
but I am not sure what I/my body wants

I think that cravings are associated with the body's need/want for certain constituents; the amount of times I eat certain foods (with certain needed constituents) will reduce the need for them.

[orangesand]

that makes sense, the psychological craving for food is
of interest to me, like people craving chocolate, and the gender differences
in food cravings, women crave chocolate and have a highened response to
the food compared to men.

[Flex]

Tons of research on that. One can actually become addicted to sugar (based on DSM criteria). This was proven in mice experimentally.

Obese individuals are more likely to respond to food rewards than non-obese individuals. This has been linked to genes involving dopamine (reward) and accounts for the addiction to food.

Women are less capable of resisting temptation than men. They do not necessarily have heightened response.

***I will ask Dr. Heber (founder of the UCLA Department of Clinical Nutrition) for some of his slides with relevant studies when I run into him next. In the meantime, try to google some of his papers on the effects of pomegranate on gene expression--interesting stuff.