Fitness And Nutrition General

That's frightening. At the risk of asking too personal a question, why were you using the stuff? I've always been very cautious about messing with body chemistry, so I get interested as to what motivates others to do so.

Again, if too personal, disregard.

They make a variety of sport supplements ranging from weight-loss pills to pre-workout.

I took Jack3d as a preworkout for a long time.

It is (was?) really popular too.

Those are thermogenic diet pills not steroids lol.

Thanks, Mr. Bean. I never would have guessed they were thermogenic compounds from the word "thermogenic" on the labeling. You know what else is thermogenic? Methamphetamine. I am in no way suggesting that this stuff is amphetamine, just pointing out that I both know what thermogenic compounds do and that, you know, they actually have an impact on the body's chemistry. Heck, let's make this topical and point out that thermogenesis is the effect Jillian Michaels was supplementing in the recent Biggest Loser scandal when she gave her team caffeine pills.

My interest was in what purpose was served by using the stuff, as in, to stop being fat or get in shape for a bodybuilding or wrestling competition or out of a desire to be a certain weight/body fat percentage. It's his business, though.

Two immediate reasons i can give for personally taking the ephedrine/caffeine combo.

It feels really good, and it's fairly addictive.

Pre-workouts are pretty standard before any workout for many people, regardless the brand.

Pre-workouts just give your workout that extra kick with a bit more endurance.

So maybe I'm stupid or possibly just strange (I have a lot of atypical reactions to substances), but why on earth would you want to increase your metabolic rate and body temperature prior to doing something that will accomplish that already? It sounds like a really good way to cause an arrhythmia or heat-related problem. At least, I know that when I have to take pseudo-ephedrine for congestion and then go out biking, the feeling that I'm sweating buckets and my heart is going to explode have never been very helpful.

Meh my prework out entails a turkey sandwich and some black coffee :/

Jack3d was the first one I tried. Friend at work got me hooked on it but it made me shake horribly and made my skin itch. I tried smaller doses and I still reached the same way. Then he bought razor and I got a better feel out of it and the razor made him feel weird. Go figure. Only other one I tried was c4 and it was just weak compared to razor and c4 made me itch too.

The most literal answer would be for the flood of epi, nor-epi, and dopamine.

It's funny, you've already made the connection to meth. All you have to do is that point is ask yourself why methheads do meth, then turn the intensity from 11 down to 4-5.

Now, were you actually asking, or just feigning incredulity that someone would take a potentially dangerous substance in order to feel good?

Drug abuse I understand. Well, actually, I don't. I find all psychoactives to be either totally ineffectual or highly unpleasant, but I intellectually understand the idea of cooking one's organs to get high. What I was aiming at was more the question of why someone would screw their body up at the same time as nominally trying to make it better.

If I'd asked the question of someone using anabolics, I'm sure I'd be met with the same glass-eyed stares (followed by the same dissertation I've seen many times about being careful and using other drugs to lessen the effects and so on and so on). No one ever seems to be interested in the whys and wherefores of their actions, at least not here in the US.

Was looking on bodybuilding can't find a straight answer for this: is it a myth or true that dedicating one day to just one muscle achieves better results for trying to target a specific muscle?

E.g. delts+back vs delts?

I am very happy with results from training a muscle group primarily one day a week. My results have been better than when I was training everything twice a week. Every workout continues to improve from the last. Of course you naturally involve muscle groups in exercises when it's not the primary focus of the day; like biceps are involved in most back exercises.

When I was doing everything twice a week general fatigue set in after a couple months and I felt pretty over-trained. My rotator cuff started to flare up. Hit a plateau too.

The answer totally relies on the person and their recovery rate. Personally I won't group corresponding muscle groups together on the same day because the second group will already be fatigued when I start working on it directly. Example, my Monday is entirely just chest. I save triceps on Friday during my "arms day" so that they're completely well rested and able to perform at 100%. If I would train triceps on Monday right after then they'd already be spent and burning up with lactic acid by the time I've gone through 25 sets of chest exercises, so most of my lifts will go down. As well, this also lets me hit the smaller muscle groups twice a week because they're getting indirect stimulation on most compound chest/back exercises followed by their own direct stimulation day. Moar gainz.

It takes trial and error to experiment with different routines until you find your groove and what workload your body is capable of going with. There really is no definitive answer to this. I think ***like push/pull/leg day routines are great for beginners, but as you build experience your body will be able to recover much quicker and you're basically wasting time by not getting enough work in. Now 3day push/pull/leg routines done twice a week are a different story and would give incredible gains, but that also requires some "outside help" to be able to recover fast enough.

I do chest, shoulders, triceps for example. But as I go the bodyparts the volume decreases. It can work. But always do what's best for you.

Yeah exactly my point, look at the size of you lol. You've got years experience under the belt so your recovery and endurance rate is pretty high.

Well thank you for your kind words. Rest and nutriention are keys to success in this field. Train in a way what works best for you. But aways try to get the best out of your nutriention. Best wishes to all for your success!

Well, that was a terrible mistake.

Oh well, Thanksgiving only comes once a year.

Enjoy your meal! We all need to cut lose once in awhile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCr8Vm_hL-Y
can't embed this properly for some reason

Love this dude's videos, everything is spot on. Was beginning to feel worn out from constant training & dieting this year without any breaks, realized I really do need a few weeks off for the holidays after watching this. Enjoy boys, Elliot dropping knowledge on yo ***

I'm glad to hear you say that, I've been obsessed with watching his videos lately but feel kind of shameful since he's a bit of a bro. :p

His info is really solid though. The "let's get to the root cause" philosophy of his approach has always resonated with me. My only gripe is that he misuses anatomical terms sometimes and it makes him look less credible. Lots of wisdom though.

Could use a little advice if anyone's able.

With winter having come way too early and hard this year (I usually have to worry about the roads in January but I smashed my cell phone in a crash earlier this week), I'm finding my activity level has taken a dramatic dip. I bicycle to get almost everywhere, even when it is sludgy out (hence the crash), but when it is bitter cold, I also tend to take the shortest route, avoid any optional stops or diversions, and have no interest in riding for leisure. Work, which normally keeps me quite busy, has also gotten slow between the holidays and the weather.

I know from long experience that I simply cannot force myself to exercise at home nor go to a gym alone. Unfortunately, all my friends are chunky and happy being that way (although they tend to say they aren't, it doesn't change their eating nor exercise habits, so...), so I've got no one to drag out to the gym.

I'm at a loss for what to do. I haven't been gaining weight, at least, but if we're going to have a harsh winter, I dunno how long that state will persist. I need something to do.

Additionally, I've had a ridiculous sugar-craving lately. It's not even carb-craving because it'll hit me even after a meal with a reasonable amount of carbs. When I've decided to indulge the idiocy by having a cookie or something, it does nothing to affect it. It's really confusing me as I can't figure out what is going on. In the past, I could rely on a craving to point out when I'm missing something (I'm sure everyone has felt the weird urge for a banana or two when potassium starts to dip), but this is clearly not that.

sounds like depression Onorgul. you say you cannot force yourself to exercise at home, what do you mean by force? is there something preventing you? if not, i recommend doing aerobic kickboxing. you can download a program online and do it while watching them on the computer. you don't have to move from the position you are in very much, just need to have enough room to kick and punch around you. great cardio exercise that builds up a sweat in very little time and you don't have to go anywhere. also great, because if you are starting to get pudgy no one has to see you bulging in your workout clothes =)

You have to change that habit. Maybe find some inspirational music/gym play list? That helps me.

Health Question: I did my physical and I have high liver enzyme levels as a result of poor diet. The dr told me adjust my diet temporarily until they return to normal. Anyone have this experience?

He said the obvious avoiding alcohol and NSAIDS. But I've been reading caffeine can also place stress on my liver?

Pretty much what Bacon said. Don't depend on anyone else for your workout. It's fun to have a partner, but when they're not there, still gotta do the work.

Valid diagnosis, but I've been checked on that. I'm not even prone to SAD because I get plenty of sunlight in spite of the oncoming solstice.

I will basically do anything else. Given a choice between checking a 40,000 page medical textbook for typos and doing an hour of yoga, I nearly always opt for the former, and I actually enjoy yoga. I am not sure why. Also, regarding kickboxing, I don't have the space. I live in a very small studio which is fine during the warm months since I just go outside and do things, but it becomes a little bit of a nuisance in bad weather since I have to rearrange furniture just to do pushups.

I'm not exactly an audiophile (being partially deaf means I don't geek out about fidelity as I literally can't spot the difference), but I do use music all the time. I've got a series of playlists that get me pumped up, but none that make it pleasant to pull on three layers to bike several miles to a gym. It doesn't help that I cannot afford the ones that are in my area so I have to wander a bit far. I don't even regard anything less than 10 miles as a real distance on my bike... except when it's bloody 10 degrees outside and the city can't be arsed to plow.

I am not a physician and you'd be better served to just consult yours again, but what I know about caffeine suggests that it has a neutral to positive effect on liver health. If you had significant liver damage (cirrhosis or possibly cancer), you could conceivably overdose on caffeine as your ability to metabolize it is HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE by liver damage, but I doubt that is likely in your case.