Carbing-up for the week
Nearing the end of week 1 of our latest try at serious ketogenic dieting, Anne and I continue to experiment and learn. Should we even have a carb meal after one week, or must we wait until the second week ends? What does and doesn't make the biggest difference? And why is not drinking red wine giving me so much grief?
Taking Dave's advice to consume this meal in the evening, so we're not as tempted to continue eating carbs, we decided to watch a movie at home. Dinner was a bottle of Shiraz, and a decently healthy frozen pizza with protein shakes on the side. Not too bad so far, right? Two doses of ALRI Porn Star and a couple of hours later, we were starving! Out came sample packets of Met-Rx pancake mix I picked up at the Arnold Classic Expo, maple syrup, mixed nuts, more protein shakes, and the remnants of a box of garlic-flavored crackers left over from our carb-up meal two weeks ago. Basically all the carbohydrates left in the house other than Waxy Maize and broccoli! An hour of laughter later, we were finally satisfied.
Eating during the week for fuel, rather than guided by taste buds, makes these carb-up meals interesting. They almost become exciting, something to plan for. Next weekend it's sushi as our re-feed meal.
ProCard Nutrition Fuels My Workouts
For a couple of weeks I've been using Chris Aceto's KreOxi Pump as my nitric oxide kick-start for training sessions. I've never been a major responder to nitric oxide products, but I enjoy their taste (most of the time) when they're powders, and their effects during workouts, whether major or insignificant. My theory is they can't hurt and probably are helping.
KreOxi Pump feels damn strong, and is effective! Chris warns that 1 gram of his Kre-Alkalyn base is potent, equivalent to 10 grams of creatine. Quercetin is in here, and helps arginine (also a component) push more blood into the muscles. That's all the science I'll give you. The ProCard Nutrition website has detailed data for you research-types.
Chris says to take 5 capsules 45 minutes to 1 hour prior to training. Pretty much standard procedure, right? Well, due to the nature of my job as a personal trainer, sometimes my workout time comes upon me rather suddenly, and I'll gobble those capsules 15 or 20 minutes before I begin to warm-up or train. Trouble ahead! In those instances I'm completely jazzed by the end of my workout, feeling the effects of KreOxi Pump fully when I'm depleted and exhausted. I've had instances where I was dizzy and shaky for a good hour post-workout, clearly a result of taking the product too close to the beginning of my session.
Your take-home lesson is to follow Aceto's instructions, and make certain you consume this powerful pre-workout supplement a full hour before hitting the weights. And make certain you don't take any other creatine before or after the session; your digestive tract will thank you. So many pre-and post-workout products include creatine today that you should pay close attention so your guts don't explode.
For myself, KreOxi Pump is an unusually effective pre-workout supplement, one I recommend and will spend my own money on.
ALR Industries Update
Nope, I'm not going to tell you about ARLI and NFL athlete Femi Avanbadejo settling their lawsuit. Author L. Rea spoke of it on Heavy Muscle Radio, and has issued press releases on the topic. He has it covered. Nor am I going to give you any details of my Porn Star use, other than to say this first bottle won't be the last!
I've completed a bottle each of Jungle Warfare and Bad Ass Mass, used daily for a three-week period. JW has a protocol of 1 capsule 3x daily, while BAM is 1 capsule 2x daily. This was easy to follow, as I carried the bottles in my cooler of food to the gym each day. A couple of times I forgot to take the single Jungle Warfare capsule during the day, just skipped it, and didn't double up and take two of them that night.
Jungle Warfare is advertised as being a "lean mass catalyst, increasing utilization of free testosterone, and estrogen management." Hmm, sounds like something useful for those coming off a cycle. Bad Ass Mass contains a "pro-anabolic matrix, leading to increased lean mass and strength, and improves male hormonal performance." These promises indeed sound useful for all of us, all of the time.
I wasn't coming off a cycle (nor am I on one), but within a week of using these two products I was seeing increased vascularity, and felt stronger in the gym. This will sound like high-school locker room talk, but my bench went up about 20 pounds during the first two weeks. Keep in mind I'd just begun using the bar for benching after several years of dumbbells only (old rotator cuff injury), but the spike in strength was immediate and lasting. Yesterday I took my flat bench up another 10 pounds, and I'm a week out from using Jungle Warfare and Bad Ass Mass.
Both these supplements are highly recommended. I enjoyed the general feeling of wellness and strength I had in the gym. I think Bad Ass Mass and Jungle Warfare are for real.
There is an important feature on the ALRI website I must mention. Click on a specific product and you find much more than the usual image of the label and some marketing blather. Author L. Rea provides essays he wrote about the research and testing of the product. Video interviews with the developing scientists are available. There is a feeling of inclusiveness, almost of family, when spending time on the ALR Industries website. I am certain this is no accident, and directly results from Author L. Rea and those he surrounds himself with in his company.
Over Memorial Day weekend I began using T and Zero-Stim, also from ALRI. These are diet-related products that should help me nail down this ketogenic diet I'm experimenting with. I'll post progress reports.
My Month Of Progenex
ProgenexSRG, Progenex Growth, Progenex Recovery
I must assume you are familiar with Dr. Scott Connelly and his lengthy career in the field, since you're reading this on RxMuscle. Coming to the attention of strength athletes when he founded Met-Rx in the ‘80s, since selling the company, Connelly has written valuable books and spent years in the research lab, always working to create more effective protein-oriented products. Connelly may perhaps know more than anyone else in the world about the utilization of protein within the human body, and the mechanisms associated with this.
I was excited a few months ago when Dr. Connelly introduced his new company, Progenex. In his words, "Progenex supplements feature high concentrations of bioactive protein fractions that control the growth and repair of body tissues." Here's the best part: "Under both laboratory-controlled experiments and human clinical trials, Progenex proteins have been found to substantially increase strength, stimulate muscle growth, and improve recovery."
Listen to some of Dave and John's interviews with Dr. Connelly on Heavy Muscle Radio, or any other podcast, and you'll quickly realize he indeed speaks like this all the time. The man is brilliant, with a dry sense of humor. It's always fun when Dave provokes him to swear and get loose on the air, usually when speaking of the high-carbohydrate diet, or my favorite, those idiots who oppose high protein, moderate fat, low-carb diets and claim we're all going to die. This is when the passion that informs all of Connelly's work and writing shines through.
On to my use of the three Progenex products: I had a jug of Growth, of Recovery, and a jar of the SRG capsules. For most of the month I lived on a low-carb diet (60-70 grams per day), decently high protein (250-300 grams), and good fat levels (avocado, natural peanut butter, 6-10 omega-3 capsules, mac oil in my shakes). I utilized Progenex post-workout only, using 4 of the SRG capsules, and a scoop each of Growth and Recovery.
Initially, I felt like I needed more in my post-workout shake. The two scoops just didn't seem like enough, as I was used to a scoop of Waxy Maize, a couple of scoops of protein, 10 grams of Leucine, creatine, and Xtend, and who knows what else has been included in MRP packets I've consumed over the years. So the Progenex felt like a small shake, but I stuck to it and didn't add to the combination.
After a few days with Progenex I conducted the experiment Connelly suggests, and that both Palumbo and Romano put themselves through; leg workouts on consecutive days. For grins I threw in consecutive back workout days the next week. True to his predictions, my legs were in pretty good shape the second day, and my weights and intensity didn't lessen. I know I was determined, and felt charged up because I was trying this crazy protocol, but honestly, my legs felt no worse on day 2 than they did the day before! Guys in the gym wondered what I was doing, so that was a good opportunity to spread the Progenex gospel. My two back workout sessions resulted the same way; two great workouts.
Just so you know, my leg sessions include squats, and in these cases, leg presses also. The back sessions featured deadlifts, as well as heavy dumbell rows and low-pulley rows.
One of the most interesting aspects of these two double workouts was that I had the same great pumps and stimulation the second day as I did the first. I was worried I'd perhaps be strong enough, or have the energy, but that nothing would feel as good. My pumps were wonderful, though, notably on the leg sessions.
I cannot say I saw any decrease in bodyfat levels while using Progenex. I was suffering through periodic struggles with late-night peanut butter eating, and I probably sabotaged any lean body mass changes Progenex may have been able to make. Connelly was hoping I'd see and experience some, but I didn't.
The recovery and strength factors are substantial, though, and the recovery I experienced using Progenex was simply unbelievable. I don't think my central nervous system would handle 6-day-a-week workouts today, but I have the feeling that for a short period of time, the combination of these three Progenex products would allow my muscles, tendons and ligaments to do so. And still grow.
There isn't much taste to the shake, as there are no flavors to Recovery and Growth (Connelly is changing that shortly), but I'm not feeling as good after my workouts now as I did using them. Now that I'm out of Progenex, I find myself missing it, by force of habit looking in my gym bag for the jugs. It's almost like I have an emotional attachment to the recovery I felt, and now miss.
I cannot recommend Progenex SRG, Growth and Recovery enough. Connelly isn't a big advertiser in print media, he's depending upon word-of-mouth and successful athletes telling others about their use of the supplements. Go to the website and buy; right now Progenex prices are cut as warehouse space is needed for new products coming soon. This may be the most advanced and effective protein available to you. Ever.
Pink = House of Pain
Slip one of the new Gym Girl Chrome Tribal t-shirts (especially the pink version) on a lean, muscular lady, strap on a heavy duty lifting belt, tie up the Otomix shoes, then stand back and watch. This is a very cool shirt that looks hardcore in the gym and relaxed at home. Rick at House of Pain has the shirts manufactured so they already have a bit of a worn look with a very soft feel. The Tribal Logo is foiled, so it's eye-catching yet subtle at the same time. As you may be tired of hearing from me, like all House of Pain clothing products, this shirt is well constructed and will retain it's shape after many workouts and runs through the washing machine.
($18, available in pink, black, white, charcoal, www.houseofpain.com)
Bases Loaded: The Inside Story of the Steroid Era in Baseball...) by Kirk Radomski
To my surprise, Bases Loaded was enjoyable and interesting. Radomski hit the headlines when the Mitchell Report was issued and it turned out he had talked freely to investigators. Remember, he worked for the New York Mets for years in the clubhouse, was an amateur bodybuilder, and helped many professional ballplayers for years in their quest to learn about steroids and get their hands on them. He's that guy.
I was fascinated to learn Radomski is knowledgeable about training and nutrition and had worked hard for a long time to teach the benefits of weight-training and proper eating to baseball players before he ever got involved with drugs. His selling steroids to baseball players was upon their asking, and he worked to educate them in the process. In the world of professional sports, where winning is everything and being on the field is paramount to career and paycheck, recovery and performance rule the day. For professional baseball players who tear their bodies up day after day for months, recovery becomes the Holy Grail. Enter human growth hormone and Kirk Radomski, who knew how to use it and how to get it.
Throughout his testimony to the Mitchell Report investigators, Radomski never strayed from his belief that properly used, GH and steroids are safe, enhance health and performance, and certainly are better for an athlete's body than cortisone, alcohol and stimulants.
Bases Loaded turned out to be a book of substance, not exploitation.
(hardcover, $25.95, Hudson Street Press / Penguin Group)
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