So its been about 4 months since i've taken a preworkout.. just bought a pack of no-explode... we shall see how i like it. I've never taken it before.

When I took jacked-3D I felt like I wanted to play in traffic.

Calories:

I typically use myfitnesspal to track my calories. I've been trying to consume around 1950 per day because it claims that is what I should eat to loose .5lbs per week. It worked really well when I was working out 3 days a week. I cut out non diet soda, sweet tea, etc. My wife cooks pretty healthy dinner meals. the weekend beer is what gets me, but I'm not trying to live a miserable life either.

After looking at past graphs of my intake it's better than I previuosly posted before this edit. Typically my daily intake is closer to 33% fat, 33% carbs, and 33% protein without supplementing with protein shakes.

I've never a pre-workout before. I'm interested in what you guys have to say about them from experience. I really, really need to add more muscle to my chest.

C4 - I didn't feel anything from it (used a sample I had)
ON PRE - didn't get much from it (sample)
Old jack3d - hit hard, but felt like it dropped off pretty fast. Gave a burst if energy and focus. I loved this one but didn't last as long as I would have liked. (I think they banned this one)
Old White flood - gave me plenty of enery and focus but didn't hit as hard. It also lasts longer without and drop off. This is perfect for me because my training sessions can last up to 6 hours.
White flood reborn - I feel I got a little more focus compared to the old white flood.

It would be nice to try pre and c4 a few more times to see if I had an off day. When I tried them I just didn't get that much energy. I just felt like sitting there.

naNOx9 hardcore, definitely stopped/reduced failing from lactic acid buildup.
naNO vapor liquid, holy mother I thought I was going to die, Seeing random blotches of colors in my vision and light headed and I only took half a serving like the directions recommended for first use and it still fucked me up.

I fucked up my liver on white flood... was yellow for 2 months with bilirubin levels of 30something (normal is bellow 2). How do i know it was white flood? I started drinking it, 2 weeks later my symptoms began.

Why do you think that garbage was taken off the market?

Personally i love Assault... tons of endurance. Say you bench 250 first set, next set u go down 240, then down to 225, then down to 185 etc as u get more and more tired. With assault you will do 250, then go down to 240, then you'll stay at say 230 for few more sets.

I watched a couple of "starting strength" youtube vids on squats and deads, then downloaded a free Kindle sample of the guy's book

The sample includes the squats and deads chapters. I'll be trying the tips out.

I felt like a real DB squating just a 45lb. My legs are still sore and I have squats again tonight. Going to parallel or slightly below is what really gets you. I'm glad I'm now glad I started where I did. i think it will help build a solid base. Get my body used to the form before the weight gets heavy.

I added in a couple sets of pullups, but I think I am going to knock that shit off too. I'm going to strictly adhere to the routine.

I need to take my fatty pre pics and see how I look in 12 weeks. I suspect it will work for me longer than 12 weeks.

I agree that it feels silly to start with the lighter weight, but I also agree with you that getting the form correct with light weight is important. Also, it will add up quickly. ;) My starting weights were a little higher than just the bar because I had been doing most of those exercises already (just not in the SL5x5 routines) and had recent baselines to work from.

Mehdi also has some videos online you should review if you haven't already for tips on form and technique.

I definitely concur that proper-form parallel squats are a lot harder than what I was doing before. Depending on your gym, be prepared to be really annoyed when you find all the squat racks are full of guys doing deadlifts, barbell curls, and everything except squats.

Also, learn not to be that guy. ;) The squat rack is for squats. You can do everything else without the rack as long as there are extra barbells. For instance, we have a bunch of benches at my gym (several each of flat, incline, and a decline) so there is always one unused. We only have 3 squat racks. If I am doing deadlifts or overhead presses, I just take a bar from an empty bench and find a spot with enough space to work.

I am trying to stick very closely with the routine for at least 12 weeks. You can't say it does or doesn't work if you don't actually do the routine. In my case, I have a hard time being strict with 3x per week due to an unpredictable work schedule.

That said, I do incorporate a 3-5 minute, high intensity warmup (interval run or jump rope) and try to have a stretching period at least at the end of the workout. I will sometimes also work in some days with plyometric, ab, and core-specific stuff but no other weight routines.

For example, Fri = SL(A), Sat = jog + plyo routine, Sun = SL(B).

I'm bad about it, but taking pics every couple of weeks would probably be beneficial to track progress. I can't get enough precision in my cheap body fat percentage calipers to tell between 11-13%, for example (and no way to tell if the nominal value is at all useful). My weight fluctuates a little, but I'm really not concerned about that number. I'm concerned with (1) getting stronger and (2) looking better.

I learned that by being the DB doing standing lat pulls in the rack. I got a "Excuse me sir, how many more sets do you have? I need to do some squats."

I thought shit, I could be doing these without a rack. Then I thought, sir?, do I look like a sir?

Heres the thing.. form>weight. Once you get the form down you will start going up however if you start lifting heavier with shit form you will get used to shit form and eventually it will catch up to you and your body will start hurting and you wont be able to increase the weight u lift because of it.

Personal story, when i started benching i started with shit form.. no one told me better so i got up to about 200lb. My shoulders were hurting bad, overall my bench felt unstable so i hit what felt like a platoe.. went back down to 185ish for a month, fixed my form and thats when i started going up. about half a year later i hit 315 and then 2ish months later i did my 350 1 rep max.

x2

I ordered this to add to my current whey protein after I lift. It's really, really, really hard to gain muscle on a 1300-2000 calorie diet with under 50grams of carbs. Leaning out is fun and all, but I can't wait to reach 190lbs so I can start packing on muscle.

I'm doing squats tomorrow before work. Saw this and it fit perfectly.
Attachment 239621

Started my final (I hope) cut to get down to 190lbs. I'm at 210 right now.

I'll give updates on Mondays.

Diet is strict Keto; 1500-1800 calories depending on the day.

Workout routine is still the same; lift, abs, HIIT treadmill, more abs. I'll be switching each week from lifting for volume to lifting 2x6 leading with a dropset.

Well guys after about half a week on NO-Xplode i must say i'm disappointed. I dont feel any different from before and my body should be very sensitive to it since i havent taken any preworkouts since january. Well i dont feel shit. No pump, nothing... other than my stomach feeling like its full of gas so lots of burping.

A preworkout that i love is MP Assault. Gives me a pump and gives me tons of endurance and would recommend it. Do a month (max) on, a month + off cycle so your body doesnt get used to the crap. On the month off buy caffeine pills from walgreens if ur body isnt bad with caffeine and take 1 pill before your workout (200 mg). More than 1 has a negative effect.

You just described the situation that started my health/fitness/diet journey. The only difference is that I was never really overweight -- but I was "skinny fat" despite being fairly active. I had low muscle mass and was getting a small paunch and layer of subcutaneous fat. I had extreme energy swings that affected my mood; functionally, I was bipolar. When my blood sugar dropped, it would get so bad that I literally lacked the emotional energy to find something to eat even though I knew that's what would make me feel better.

Thyroid problems and various autoimmune disorders run in my family, so I had levels checked but everything came back normal. The doctor said that based on my health history and symptoms, that I should investigate "reactive hypoglycemia" (not normal hypoglycemia) and consider adjusting my diet/lifestyle. He also pointed me to a study done that suggests a correlation between reactive hypoglycemia and small-framed, highly-intelligent children.

Initially I was really frustrated. Most of the typical advice was really just a coping mechanism -- not a solution. Eat small meals more frequently, keep a snack handy so you don't crash, eat your sweets or carbs along with protein, etc.

Then I started on the Primal/Paleo stuff and never looked back. Now it's no problem for me to go 5, 6, even 7 hours between meals. I often have "bulletproof" coffee in the morning (coconut oil and unsalted butter whisked in) and it holds me until well through the lunch hour if necessary. Even when I begin to feel hungry, my actual energy level doesn't plummet like it used to -- I can still function like a normal, happy human being.

I'm thinking of working out twice a day now. Hmm.

Geez, the above points accurately describe me.

Get a job.

you guys must hang out on the same internets.

Yo, yo. Down to 208lbs. Cut seems to be working. Abs are starting to show more naturally now. Still hitting the weights hard.

A good article sent to me from a friend. Your Cardio Routine is Making You Fat | Yahoo! Health

I sent it to my former running partner (he's too slow, now) and I bet you he will dispute it saying he just needs to run more.

After taking NO-xplode for 2nd week i must say i'm disappointed. I'm not feeling any different than without it. No extra pump at all.

White flood reborn is amazing and I'm not yellow of whatever you said.

There is a reason why there is a new version of white flood...

And it's amazing. As was the one before it.

I know this is English; I'm just not sure it is coherent English.

I now feel better that my calipers are in the ballpark. I used the gym's handheld device and it showed 10.8% body fat.

You can measure body fat 5 different ways and get 5 different results, none of which will be accurate. What's nice about the various caliper methods is that they actually make you grab your flab so you can physically see it instead of inferring it from body impedance.

I think I am picking up what you are putting down, which is why I have always talked about the number as an estimate. However, if you measure it five different ways and they are all within a few percentage points of each other, I think you can infer that the precise number is somewhere in that general ballpark - especially when the physical appearance matches up with the expectations for that BF%. :)

In my case, I have been single digit BF% before so I know what I look like in that condition (ripped like Jesus). I am not there but my appearance now does seem to fit with the ~11 - 13% range.

I use use my caliper measurement as a progress gauge. As long as the thickness keeps shrinking in the same spot, then I'm happy.

exactly. it's like dynos. you can't dyno at BEGi, throw on a 3" exhaust and then see what your gains were at FM...

Unless they both had dyno jets with the weather station... and since its a turbo car, at ~ the same elevation. :fawk:

This guy, Dr. Jack Kruse, is right up mgeoffrau's alley.
He’s a neurosurgeon, who went from 340 lbs to a buff 200 lbs.
He did a bunch of research and figured out how important Leptin Sensitivity is, more so than Insulin Sensitivity, and why the medical community is 15 years behind the research.

This is a long 1 hr interview, but it is WELL worth the time.
Leptin: The Master Hormone Tying Everything Together | One Radio Network

The actual interview begins at 4 minutes.

If you have a podcast player (I use “Ginkgo Audio Book Player” on my Android), here is the direct download for it:
http://www.oneradionetwork2.com/mp3/...paleo_diet.mp3

And here's a 2nd interview:
The LLVLC Show (Episode 474): Nashville Neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Kruse Rocks The Low-Carb Message « Jimmy Moore's Livin' La Vida Low Carb Blog

Not a fan. Whatever valuable information he might have to offer is completely outweighed by the general kookiness of the guy. Guys like that make the Paleo/ancestral/ketogenic crowd look like something that belongs on Art Bell Coast to Coast instead of a serious, research-based movement.

Pls. expound on "non research based".

Just read any of the articles on his various "quantum biology" ideas.

Weird all right.

What about the stuff he bases on Amgen's Leptin research ... e.g.:

- have a bigass hi protein low carb breaky within 30 minutes of rising
- dinner should be 3-5 hours before bed time
- exposure to bright light at bedtime affects sleep cycles and screws up cortisol...

Sure, that's all fine. But I can learn the same kind of stuff from Robb Wolf, or Mark Sission, or Loren Cordain, or Chris Kresser, and I don't have to weed out the hokey silliness.


EDIT: I'm not saying he doesn't have anything to add to the "canon" of dietary knowledge. I just think he's a poor spokesman based on the bizarre stuff he talks about.

So.......when your lifting, what percantage of total calories are you trying to target for protein, fat, and carbs?

I assume like miats, everyone is different and will respond differently to the same tune. ( you like how I did that?)

Up to 95lbs for squats on stronglifts. Woohoo!

I've made it back into the gym for the 3rd week now. Back on the creatine, gained 8 pounds of water, my shoulder is still at the level of "just a bit more than the asians" when it comes to bench press variations. Getting 135 for 10 hasn't felt like an accomplishment since the 9th grade.

What about his testing ideas, e.g. rev T3, HS-CRP, cortisol... ?

I noticed that my A1c (a measure of average blood sugar) has always been on the high side of normal. So I tried Jack Kruse's recommended giant low-carb high-protein breakfast, and removed all starches from my diet. I typically don't get hungry for lunch til 2-5 pm.

In 3 weeks I lost 4 lbs but my strength in the gym has been fine.

Almost too easy.

So what's the breakfast? I'm curious man...post it up.

Typically:

An omelet with 4 pastured eggs, goat cheese, 2 grass-fed sausages, chopped onions and tomatoes.
"Bulletproof" coffee with Kerrygold butter and coconut oil.

2 eggs, 2 or 3 strips of bacon, coffee with kerrygold butter and coconut oil every morning.

Eggs. Bacon. Cheese.

'dat Keto

I tried the bp coffee this morning, (well, I guess the ghetto version) k-cup, organic unsalted butter, and coconut oil. Along with 4 eggs and 3 slices of bacon.

I had great energy, and was in a better than typical mood. Things didn't seem to bother me as much as usual. Maybe placebo

What happens if you drink this stuff, but do not stay on a low carb diet? That's a lot of fat to be consuming. With my limited knowledge on how the body processes fuel. It prefers carbs. If there is an excess of fat while carbs are available, then the body stores the fat. This would appear to make your lunch choice very critical, and maybe dinner is not so bad.

i'm not necessarily trying to avoid carbs, but I seem to feel better with a higher protein/fat diet. I'm still hitting my target calories for the day.

From what I've read if you're Leptin/Insulin sensitive, you can tolerate some carbs and your body's "fat thermostat" will just reduce your appetite when you start gaining fat weight. However lots of carbs will start to affect your metabolism and your appetite will increase despite a caloric surplus.

So riddle me this. I gave up (diet) sodas etc. two weeks ago. Replaced with water. All I drink now is water, coffee (espresso, no sugar/cream and only in the mornings) and fresh squeezed OJ (weekends, every now and then) so mostly just water. At the same time I started riding my MTB around again and stopped having midnight snacks etc. I feel even more sluggish than before and have actually gained 4-5 lbs. No muscle as far as I can tell. I wasn't expecting to drop 30 pounds in two weeks, but gaining? Where's the motivation in that?

Not enough info. What's the rest of your diet look like?

Hmmm, usually a bowl of cereal in the morning, black coffee. 4-5 slices brown (not whole wheat/sunflower seed etc stuff) bread with whatever is in the fridge on top for lunch. Dinner is 6 times out of 10 meat, random veg and some potatoes. Rest is either pasta w/ homemade pesto or whatever else I feel like cooking. Does usually involve meat, low-fat cheese etc. Drink water throughout the day, having replaced all softdrinks (and it was a lot) with plain water. Seems better/healthier, scale and feeling say otherwise.

I would submit that trying to gauge the effect of diet soda vs. water while the rest of your diet has that much carby, inflammatory stuff is an exercise in frustration.

Water is healthier than diet soda, but any positive signal is being drowned out by all the unhealthy static from the rest of your diet.

Makes sense, other than that has been my diet for a while now. Weight was pretty steady before the water/cycling thing took over. There lies my frustration.

Oscar, when I started my last cut I would fluctuate up to 8lbs overnight.

Wow 8 lbs. how's that even work? I'ma give this another week and try to cut down on carbs. I will look fabulous in a bikini one day damnit

Jason and Mark - Are you guys using the actual BulletProof(TM) coffee or just regular black coffee with unsalted butter and coconut oil?

No TM, just homebrew. I do think good quality, recently roasted coffee is important to avoid the mycotoxins present in most coffee beans. And yes, unsalted, grass-fed butter and coconut oil. Never tried the MCT oil.

Trader Joes Italian Roast here. I should go find a local coffee shop that roasts their own excellent coffee.

I dont drink enough coffee to get away from the k-cups. I only have 1 per day, when I buy a pound of coffee its starts to taste bad before I'm halfway though. I can buy a 54 count box of k-cups and they taste the same through the whole box and the starbux medium roast ones actually seem to taste better than most coffee shops and 80% of the times you go to dunks. Its also way better than any time I've actually ever gone into star bucks.

So yesterday i bought foam pads that i use instead of gloves. Well they had 1/2" thick foam which i wanted to try. All i say is my forearms were burning after my work out. The giant grip really makes u squeeze hard.

Just to bring things full circle.

Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism - Artificial sweeteners produce the counterintuitive effect of inducing metabolic derangements