Posted: 9/9/2012 5:47:50 PM EDT
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Hey all !
I have been wondering lately what all this talk about Pro hormones and supplements are all about. I've never used any vitamins , supplements, not even protein powder and i'm starting to think i'm missing out. I recently lost about 45 lbs. I am now 5'9 175 lbs. I want to start building muscle mass and trim the last bit of flab off my stomach. I do PT regularly 5 days a week and will start lifting 3 or 4 nights a week. |
| I know a lot of guys that have put on good mass with the help of PH......the side effects they have from them is enough to keep me away though. From the research I have done the stuff we can't talk about here is more effective with fewer side effects. I have never used either (and its obvious lol) so keep that in mind also. |
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I'm not an expert, but in my personal and my friends' experiences, pro-hormone supplements are generally a waste of money. I don't think that there are any legal, OTC supplements that increase your T levels enough to see any anabolic effect.
Focusing on a solid program and a solid diet will do more than any overpriced pro-hormone or other "magic pill". That said, I think that protein supplementation is a good idea, because you can only eat so many chickens, turkeys and cows. After getting some beginner gains, creatine will give you another boost. But real food and busting your ass in the gym is 95% of your success. |
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Quoted:
I'm not an expert, but in my personal and my friends' experiences, pro-hormone supplements are generally a waste of money. I don't think that there are any legal, OTC supplements that increase your T levels enough to see any anabolic effect. Focusing on a solid program and a solid diet will do more than any overpriced pro-hormone or other "magic pill". That said, I think that protein supplementation is a good idea, because you can only eat so many chickens, turkeys and cows. After getting some beginner gains, creatine will give you another boost. But real food and busting your ass in the gym is 95% of your success. If it works, it's illegal. I have a protein powder if I'm going to go longer than four hours or so without eating, and even that is speculation on my part. The Leangains guys are routinely going twelve hours without eating during the day and still putting on decent mass. Seriously, save your money and buy more good food. I worked with two .mil guys who were monsters as long as I knew them and have always seemed to take pretty good care of themselves. One's had one heart attack and is now diabetic, and the other has some weird undiagnosed metabolic disorder that everyone's convinced is a product of all the shit those guys took for the last ten years. Eat meat and lift heavy. |
| Something important to remember: supplements aren't magic beans. IF (and that's a big if) any of them work, they work by allowing you to train harder, either directly by providing a stimulant effect, or by enhancing recovery. If you're new to training or you're not already training at or very near your limit, supplements are not going to do much beyond draining your wallet. (IMO). |
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Quoted: Something important to remember: supplements aren't magic beans. IF (and that's a big if) any of them work, they work by allowing you to train harder, either directly by providing a stimulant effect, or by enhancing recovery. If you're new to training or you're not already training at or very near your limit, supplements are not going to do much beyond draining your wallet. (IMO). I tend to agree with this...I do think BCAA's can help- there are a few studies backing that claim, but the bottom line is that it absolutely ISN'T a magic pill. If you are going to the gym 3-4 times a week you probably don't need them. If you're doing 2 a days, or training really hard then BCAA's may help a little with recovery allowing you to avoid missing sessions. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I'm not an expert, but in my personal and my friends' experiences, pro-hormone supplements are generally a waste of money. I don't think that there are any legal, OTC supplements that increase your T levels enough to see any anabolic effect. Focusing on a solid program and a solid diet will do more than any overpriced pro-hormone or other "magic pill". That said, I think that protein supplementation is a good idea, because you can only eat so many chickens, turkeys and cows. After getting some beginner gains, creatine will give you another boost. But real food and busting your ass in the gym is 95% of your success. If it works, it's illegal. I have a protein powder if I'm going to go longer than four hours or so without eating, and even that is speculation on my part. The Leangains guys are routinely going twelve hours without eating during the day and still putting on decent mass. Seriously, save your money and buy more good food. I worked with two .mil guys who were monsters as long as I knew them and have always seemed to take pretty good care of themselves. One's had one heart attack and is now diabetic, and the other has some weird undiagnosed metabolic disorder that everyone's convinced is a product of all the shit those guys took for the last ten years. Eat meat and lift heavy. This. Specifically heavy squats are shown to increase testosterone and growth hormone production naturally. Eat good protein, get good sleep, work-out hard, actively recover, and if you're really burning it, get a clean protein powder to facilitate anabolic muscle growth. The two cleanest protein powders I've seen are Mark Sisson's Primal Fuel and this stuff. I can't emphasize enough that almost ALL supplements are not FDA approved, and say what you want about the FDA, but that means they can basically put whatever they want in them with little to no regulation. Heavy metals, wonky stuff that boosts performance and may-or-may-not be legal, may "find" their way into that protein powder you enjoy so much. Fitness should be enjoyable, but it should also be done with the end in mind. Do you want to get lean and strong and have intact kidneys and liver, or would you rather get possibly better results in the interim and destroy your future? |
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Whether you have side effects or not is predetermined by your genetics. Some can take it, some can't. There's no way around it.
My workout partner and myself have used Super-DMZ by IronMagLabs for 8 weeks. The only side effect I suffered was that I couldn't keep my hands off my girl. After 8 weeks I just stopped taking and had no "crash" or ill effects. I settled 2 weeks later with a 9lb gain. My roomate, on the other hand, had trouble sleeping more than a few hours, developed sore/puffy nipples and BAD back acne after about 4 weeks. He had to go on an anti-estrogen suppliment and he continued it for about 6 weeks after we stopped using before the nips felt normal. The acne took months to die down. I think he would have "crashed" but I had him on high doses of tribulous up until 4 weeks after. While he suffered side effects, he did hold an 11lb gain...but he'll never do it again. |
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Quoted: There are some VERY dirty pro-hormones that do work... best way to describe them: 100% side effects of 'real' anabolics, with 10% of the effect... Legal, but not worth it. Eat a couple pizzas/wk and lift heavy. They are real anabolics. As in they are anabolic steroids. They're just (for now) being sold over the counter. And just like the illegal anabolics, some of them work well, some don't. |