1 Month out…

June 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

IMG_4178

 

Currently one month out. So far I’ve dropped 8 pounds and a pants size.

I owe this to a few things.

1) My current supplement stack is fairly simple. Protein (BSN Syntha – 6, Fish Oil). I’m not really using a Pre-Workout at this point, although I have used BSN’s Hyper FX off and on the last month, with a review pending.

2) I’m very, very selective on which blogs I follow for advice. But a great one? Workout Nirvana! I contacted Suzanne via email months ago, when I was completely lost with my nutrition. I’ve always brought it at the gym, but I was seeing no results what so ever. I emailed her, and Suzanne very clearly gave me advice on nutrition. The truth is, buy supplements out the wazoo and spending 2 hours in the gym is easy. The hard part for me has always been that I don’t know (didn’t know) how to grocery shop for myself. Suzanne pretty much explained to me the foods I need to shoot for as well as the types of workouts I need to be doing. IF you are only reading one workout blog to get an understanding of the unique interplay between nutrition, working out and mental/emotional health, let this site be the one. Go to Workout Nirvana— Where being strong is a lifestyle.

3) I finally decided to do something I hadn’t done before— SLEEP! The end of Spring has been useful for me as classes have ended and I’ve been able to sleep for a the normal recommended amount of sleep, without waking up to the anxiety of another crazily busy day. The importance of sleep can not be understated. Pulling all nighters and sleeping for 2-3 hours is not the way to live. Grad school or not. Get your 8 hours. I had to look at self and the truth is, that if I am pulling an all nighter, it means I wasted a large amount of time during the day and night. It means poor time management. The same discipline that’s required for going to the gym is the same discipline required to come up with a schedule and stick with it. It’s discipline.

4) Positivity. Call it trite or corny. But I think a generally positive disposition on life is beneficial in all areas of life, include our physical appearance. I think the ability to roll with the many punches life gives us, the ability to find the positive in all situations and the decision to choose to hope is only a help to fitness. How our bodies look matters not if we’re a wreck on the inside. And I have been that wreck before.  I choose not to be anymore. I laugh. A lot. I smile when there’s not a really valid or good reason to. I look for the beauty in the disaster. I choose to be light. Hey, if nothing else— laughing burns calories. I would recommend that we all do more of it.

I have one more month before I bring the best beach body ever and celebrate the joys, beauty and love that exists in life.

Bring it!

Filed Under: Fitness, Super Heroics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Supplement Review: MHPStrong Dopamite

February 24, 2013 By 5 Comments

Here it is, a long awaited supplement review, my first in forever. I spent some time on this one because quite frankly…my heart was involved. I have to start out by saying that this particular supplement review would not have been possible without the love and support of my baby. Thank you, sugar for your undying support and unwavering encouragement. I love you! We’re partners so I fully dedicate this post to you and the strong presence of love, faith, truth and joy that you place in my life. Thank you for all that you are…and for never forgetting to wear your invisible crown. You are a princess.

Let’s get right into this.

This year, I wanted to change the focus of the site some, with less emphasis on just pre-workouts but also with other stuff: Proteins, BCAAs, and also Fat Burners. Fat Burners have long enthralled me, and this goes back to my days as an obese 20 year old, entering freshman year at college. The very first fat burner I ever tried was Hydroxycut by MuscleTech. I had long been a reader of Muscle and Fitness as it was my first fitness magazine (trivia point: today I do not read this magazine because I consider the men in it to be too “puny”. This is what happens when your mother’s favorite comic book super hero is the Hulk).

I tried Hydroxycut for a bit in the early Hey days of MuscleTech. Man, that formula was awful! It was like 95% caffeine, 5% other stuff you can’t pronounce. I didn’t lose a single pound on that stuff. Instead, I broke out into a cold sweat, and I started having heart palpitations.  Then of course, there was Stacker and Stacker 2. That stuff was filled with Ephedrine and it was the worst stuff on the market. I’ll never forget, my 2nd week of taking it (this was I’d say near the middle of my first semester of grad school),  I suffered a crazy reaction. I started being able to see sounds and after a few days, I could see about 4 seconds into the future.

Not. Making. That. Up.

So in having the thought of reinstituting fat burners into a supplement stack, I searched long and wide to find one I’d be interested in trying. Sure enough, in looking at the companies that I really love, MHP Stands out. I wondered if they made a fat burner, and sure enough…they did.

I give you, Dopamite.

Going on the company’s site, MHP has uploaded a Youtube video that tells us:

To find more scientific information, you can go to a website, I’ve linked…here!

In layman’s terms, unlike most fat burners which raise your heart rate and resting metabolic rate in order to burn your adipose tissue, this pill works by stimulating the release of dopamine into your system, and activating your pleasure center. Additionally, a feeling of energy is supposed to overtake you as well as reduce cravings. You’ll hear that a lot in the Youtube video above. This in turn is supposed to help you not eat as much since eating is such a pleasurable thing though being on a cut is not. I wondered if those claims were really true. Sure enough, a happy, giggly angel decided to quell my curiosities and before I knew it, Dopamite was in my hands.

IMG_2822

IMG_2823

IMG_2828

To give basic stats, I’m 5’11 (hold up, now I’ve been 5’10 forever but I come up at 5’11 on trips to the doctor. I’m claiming it, give me my 1 inch!!!) and about 190-192 pounds before taking this stuff. Now, I’m not the delusional type (regardless of the fact that I named my site after a super hero and sometimes I wear a costume at night. Let’s just ignore this, ok?).  It’s unrealistic to take a fat burner and then hope for the best. Instead not only did I take Dopamite, but I am on a bit of a cut right now. I lowered my calories by 500, cleaned up the diet (no more Crown and Cokes, I’m afraid) and increased my cardio. Remember folks, it’s a supplement. It’s supposed to support what you’re already doing, not do everything on its own.

I started by taking one pill a day for a week. By week two I couldn’t “feel” the pill working anymore. So I started taking 2 pills every morning before heading off to school. There’s  a great mood enhancing quality to this supplement. I would almost qualify this as more of a mood enhancer than a fat burner. It felt like I had eaten a whole chocolate cake for breakfast and could come back for seconds. Funny since really, I’m not a fan of dark chocolate. From a starting weight of 192 lbs, my off season weight, I am currently down to 187. That’s remarkable. Cutting calories always is hard. You have to meet your nutritional needs, while not starving but still having enough energy to get through 20-40 minutes of cardio, which in my case was running on a treadmill. I definitely think the mood enhancing qualities helped out a lot. Dropping calories usually makes you grumpy but I felt good all the way through.

Now, here’s the downside. This pill has caffeine in it which is designed to promote your metabolism and give you energy. But I honestly didn’t feel a thing. I flirted with the idea of taking 3 pills at a time to see how it would feel but then thought better of it since this was a gift and I didn’t want to run through the bottle. This is definitely not for someone with a high caffeine tolerance. Also, it’s not for “body sculpting”. It’s to help you get over the mental hump of lowered calories. I didn’t find my alertness or focus anymore increased than before I took the product. Another downside is just basic physiology: if you keep releasing high levels of dopamine, you’re going to need to reduce larger and larger amounts to feel the same amount. So I don’t think this is the kind of pill you take for a long period of time. I think you cycle it and I’d be conservative: maybe one bottle every 4 months if you were just sticking with the MHP Brand.

The price of this is competitive: You can find this on Amazon for around $20-$25. I almost never recommend buying directly from any supplement company if you’re on a budget. In this case if you do, the price jumps to $40. Try to be smart with your finances since supplements can be expensive but I’d say it’s worth the Amazon price.

Overall, you can’t go wrong here unless of course you don’t have a sweet tooth.

MHP will long be one of my favorite brands just because they have superior athletes, great supplements, fairly priced items and was one of the first brands given to me as a gift from the love of my life. So they will always be special. I say give this a try. It’s one of the lower intensity fat burners out there and is probably good for a beginner.

As with all products though, you only get what you put in. Workout, clean up that diet and get 8 hours of solid sleep. Adding this into the mix will easily help you achieve the body you want. Then, like me…you’ll be happy and giggly.

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My BSN Care Package

February 24, 2013 By 1 Comment

This is too cool to put into words, so I will just show it in a picture.

IMG_2807

 

As I arrived after midnight to home (which is common for me) this was waiting on me from BSN. A care package of their top supplements: Their BCAA Amino X, their fat burner, Hyper Shred; Their Protein Syntha-6; and their pre-workout that I’ve wanted to try for over a year: Hyper FX.

Slowly but surely they are changing my mind about them for sure. These are all new products for me, so I am hoping that I was wrong about my statement that their products don’t tend to mesh well with my biochemistry. I’m hoping for the best. If nothing else, this is one of the greatest acts a supplement company has done for me.

Expect four separate blogs on each of these products. Summer time is coming, I need / want abs and maybe, just maybe BSN will be the ones that give it to me. That and a lot of time spent in the gym and eating right in the kitchen.

Thank you so much BSN. Thank you, so much.

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Cancer War

July 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Ok, this is a serious post for me.

July is always a weird month for me. It’s like the “Calvin new year’s celebration”. In July, usually good things happen to me and bad things happen to me. My year begins and ends in July.

Today is July 5. It’s my mother’s birthday. Today, she would have been 60 years old. Unfortunately, her life was cut short almost a decade ago due to being on the losing side of a very courageous and valiant fight  against Cancer. She fought it the first time, and she KICKED ITS ASS.

But it returned 5yrs later. More violent. More aggressive. Unyielding. Ultimately, during this 2nd time it was a bit too much for her.

This was all nearly a decade ago. Since then, I’ve grown up, been in love, fallen out of it, gained money, wasted money, worked a lot, had a lot of friends, lost a lost of loved ones and lived life to the fullest. I’ve done this in honor of her memory. I loved her. I love her.

The one thing I want to do more then anything else in life now, is to give back. I want to take my #Fitblog status and make it into something more. Something better. Something so powerful that one day, no child will ever have to think about a world where he saw his mother suffer with a disease that ultimately ended her time here way too soon.

Personally, I try to eat right, exercise, watch the alcohol do the things that will put me in the best shape to be here a while. To fight cancer in my own life.

I do have a villain. And although I’ve swore to fight off fat, laziness and improper nutrition, the biggest villain of all is that jerk called… BREAST CANCER. What an absolute bitch.

There are few things that I hate. I can’t think of any actually. Outside of 1. And I HATE Breast Cancer.

I hate it for what it does to women. I hate it for what it does to families. I hate it for what it does to those left behind.

I’ve had thoughts here and there and what I know at this point is that I wish to DO something… something that both helps to educate to prevent as much as possible Breast Cancer as well as help women who are currently dealing with the disease and need to be reminded that they are not alone and that even now, regardless of what happens to their hair or breasts, THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL.

I’m enroute to entering a Ph.D. program in the fall. But that’s not an excuse. My mother passed nearly a decade ago and I’ve done nothing to give back. So today I start.

I’m trying to lay the plans to open a foundation dedicated towards Breast Cancer research and treatment. It’s the one thing I want to leave on Earth, whenever the time comes for me to not be here anymore. Obviously, I’m naming it after her, my mother.

I’ve never loved so much in my life than that woman, that I can say. As an expression of that, I want all who deal with what she dealt with to know there is at least one person thinking of you and on your side— me. I’ll keep you posted. But a year from today, I want to say I have a tangible organization in which to help Breast Cancer patients, and women at risk.

I want to say that I value my friendship with Krysten, who reminds me that there is always the opportunity to “do more” and not let your circumstances define you.  (Follow her on Twitter!) She has her own story to tell. It’s time for me to catch up to her, who inspires me with every post. She was the first guest post I allowed on here because her story is so compelling.

And of course, I want to write that I still love you, Mama. I always have. I always will. And even now I feel your presence in my life. I am going to do something to keep your struggle and your fight alive. And the time is NOW.

Filed Under: Thoughts at Midnight Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Some thoughts on Intermittent Fasting: Lean Gains

June 30, 2012 By 6 Comments

Alright, prepare yourself, this is going to be a bumpy ride.

As you know, I’ve spent some time among the Youtube Bodybuilding community (I even have a brand spanking new channel, that soon will have vids. Go ahead and subscribe now, eh?)

Making it’s way through the Youtube community is a new craze (no, not the preworkout). Called Lean Gains: Intermittent Fasting. The inventor is Martin Berkhin.

There are tons of videos on Youtube about this lastest diet.

There are those that love it (Here, Here) (these have NSFW language so be warned. Also keep in mind the twins are trying to get to 4% BodyFat)

And there are those that do not.  (Here [compared to replicating an eating disorder], Here [Thinks no Serious Bodybuilder can or should do this. At all. Ever] and Here ["IF? Hell No. I'm going to Eat when I'm hungry."]

Also a General Overview of IF. Thanks Campbell Fitness.

Intermittent Fasting: 16 hours no eating at all. 8 hours to eat. Other variations can be 19/5 or however you manipulate.

8 hours to get in all your calories. For the entire day.

Chris Jones states it best.

Burning fat is simple: Calories in vs. Calories out.

Take in more than you need, you will gain weight. Take in less than you need, lose fat. Got it?

Once you get 8% Bodyfat or lower, the harder it is to burn fat, and this is because the body is designed to store energy in the form of fat. Under 8%, it becomes harder to lose weight, as the body tries to hold on to that fat even harder than before. It’s of evolutionary benefit to us to have fat on our bodies.

This Brings us to IF.

I see a few problems with this diet. For starters, when you starve yourself for 16hrs, you are more likely to gorge yourself for those 8 hours you can eat. It’s very difficult to train your willpower to only hold to say 2000 calories, when you will most likely wind up eating 3000 calories longterm. Why? Because you’re STARVING!!!

I think you need food for energy, food for growth, food to help your many supplements work better and to keep your body functioning normally.

Your body hates to burn fat. The chance is too great that you’ll lose weight— but it’s because your body burnt Protein. That’s right, that muscle you’ve been spending all that time in the gym building.

You want to lose fat? There’s much better ways to do so!

1) Fasted Cardio. Cardio on an empty stomach. Burn Fat. Increase cardio time, too, to about 30-40 minutes.

2) Drink more water. Make it COLD. Your body will burn more calories trying to warm it up in your system. This has the additional benefit of turning your metabolism on overdrive.

3) Weights: Low weights, Hi Reps. Burns Fat.

4) Caffeine: Guess what? It burns fat. A cup of coffee is fine, though you can try a great fat burner like Fusion Bodybuilding’s Sub Q or Cellucor Super HD. These are the only 2 real fat burners I stand behind at all. (The Cellucor post is coming, soon) no doubt.

5) Practice Mindful Eating. Don’t just stuff your face. Chew slowly, notice tastes and texture as your begin and continue eating it.

That’s the end of my rant on IF. I think it’s a throw away fad diet that will cause more harm in the long term than good.

There are NO SHORTCUTS. Just hard work in the gym day in and day out.

But to do that work… you need food.

Filed Under: Thoughts at Midnight Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

SideKicked!: Building and Strengthening Your Body by John Ingot

June 29, 2012 By 1 Comment

Hi Folks, I’m away for a bit today as professional life outside of blogging is taking precedence. In the mean time, here’s a great guest post on quick easy tips on Building and Strengthening your body! I’ll be back real soon with a post I think you all are really going to like. Stay cool out there, it’s over 100 Degrees in some parts of the country! 

 

Build and Strengthen Your Body
The body starts to lose muscle mass as we age. Taking care of skeletal muscles decreases the risk of weak bones, injuries and even incontinence. Appropriate weight training and exercise can increase power, endurance, and strength

Upper body strength

 

Push-ups are a perfect exercise to work the upper body. Doctors recommend wall and floor push-ups. Try doing 10 on the wall and 10 on the floor every day.

Personal trainer

 

Hire a person to work with you one-on-one. It can be expensive, but you can contract a person for short-term. A trainer can go to your home and create an individualized program that is tailored to meet your needs. He or she can give you great advice as well.

Sculpt the body

 

Try walking lunges with weights. They increase core strength, flexibility and endurance. An additional benefit is they improve your cardiovascular system. Shoulder stabilizers work the rotator cuffs, which are the muscles that keep your shoulders in their sockets.

Fuel your body

 

Fuel your body before and after a workout. You must ingest amino acids and carbohydrates that give you the energy you need to form new muscle tissues.

Change of routine

 

Change your dedicated regimen every two weeks. This prevents you from reaching a plateau. New exercises will help you feel like you are making progress. Options include changing the order in which you do exercises or the types of exercises. Vary your routine.

Water aerobics

 

Deep-water exercises are low impact and you can target several muscles. You can use dumbbells during your routine to develop your muscles through weight resistance. Underwater kicking is a good way to tone the legs. Being in water is therapeutic and relaxing.

Weights

 

You can use free or machine weights. Free weights develop minor and supporting muscles. Machine weights work your core. Play it safe by not using too much weight too soon. Don’t go too fast and target muscle groups.

There are several tips that you can follow to build your body and make it stronger. Start out slowly and change your routine every two weeks. Use your body’s natural resistance or equipment. Have a healthy diet that is rich in amino acids and carbohydrates. Drink plenty of water and avoid sugary drinks. Hire a personal trainer if you can afford it. Another option is to join a gym.

 

John Ingot does his best to maintain a strong and healthy body; he is a contributing writer at www.lifeinsurancequotes.org.

 

Filed Under: Side Kick Series Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Supplement Review: Purus Labs’ Muscle Marinade

June 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Today, we’re looking at Purus Lab’s Muscle Marinade. I’m really excited to try this product and have been for some time!

First things first. What are the good things about this product? I’ll tell you what was really impressive: Say it with me now: NO PROPRIETORY BLEND. You know exactly what you’re getting, which I really appreciate. It also comes with Creatine Monohydrate in it. Many in the Bodybuilding community will disagree with me, but I’m beginning to like PWO that have Creatine in them, provided it doesn’t make me swollen and bloated during my workout.

I also really like their description, which I agree with:

The preworkout category has long been riddled with ineffective, underdosed products lacking scientific validation. Companies do zero research yet pump tons of marketing dollars into convincing consumers their product is the best available. They design lengthy and purposely confusing nutrition panels, haphazardly concoct pixie dust proprietary blends masking their cheap formulas, and load half the container with cheap carbohydrate filler attempting to fool consumers into thinking they are getting more.

This product is versatile in that you can use it as a Pre or Intra-workout but whenever I try Intra Workouts, I just walk around feeling like an idiot.

The Pour

This kicks in about 20 min. I had a solid workout. No real pump,but the more PWO I take the more I realize that “Pump” is a bogus way to measure the effectiveness of a PWO. Why be concerned with how you walk INTO the gym? I’d think it’s better to be concerned with how you LEAVE it. That’s when your pump should come. Don’t buy a PWO based on promises of making you look all filled with blood. It’s a silly way to determine if you should use a product or not. I think I’ve only ever walked in with a pump 1 time.  I can’t say that I had any more focus than normal.  It was just a good, clean rush of energy and a solid workout. Shoulders and Tris that day. Now I will say, I did feel nauseated somewhat immediately after ingesting this. 40 minutes into my workout though I was  extremely hungry.

Some time after that, I suffered a head ache as well.  I could tell it affected my mood, too. I wouldn’t say I crashed, but I felt… down about 3 hours afterwards. Like, really sad. Only ever happened once before.

I know people who SWEAR by this product. They say it’s the unsung hero of the PWO world and more people should try it. Maybe it was just me. If you take away side effects, this was as solid a workout as you would get.

With the side effects though, I don’t think I’ll be using this again, at least not paying for it. Possibly if I get in a bind, but it reminds me of a worse experience than I’ve had before so… probably not though.

Still so many people like this supp (it has a 8.5 rating on BB.com) I wonder if it was just a me thing.

Question of the Day: Has anyone else tried this Supp? What was your experience on it? 

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Necessary Building Blox?

June 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This is going to be a different kind of Supplement Review. Today we’ll be talking about BLOX by BPI Sports.

From the site:

BLOX™ - NEW DISCOVERY!

SAAs — the perfect protein that you’ve never heard of …

What exactly are SAAs?

SAAs (Silk Amino Acids) are a remarkable and innovative Amino Acid Sequence just recently discovered by a bold team of scientists. You see, SAAs are a chain of eighteen plus particular amino acids — but, it’s not so much the eighteen that researchers found to be of greatest import … it’s five — yes, five — in a precise sequence and precise ratio that matter! And, when these five SAAs are in this precise sequence and precise ratio … it’s like turning on football stadium lights in pitch black darkness!!!

This Exact Sequenced Composition And Precise Ratio produces optimal pro-anabolic results!

SAAs: more muscle, more stamina, more testosterone boosting…

Sounds good right?

The problem is I think this is total B.S. I’m not the only one, either. I walked into Vitamin Shoppe and asked one of the guys who know me very well at this point, what’s new I could try? He suggested Blox but did so begrudingly. He said, and I quoted, “You can try Blox. It’s new and has these new Amino Acids in it. It’s supposed to work, but it’s probably Bullsh*t, who knows.”

Supposedly you take this stuff then your body will respond great to working out, produce extra testosterone and you’ll be very healthy indeed.

In other words, this supplement is all about the Placebo effect. Coming in around $46.00 for a month’s serving, it’s a little more than a great tasting Gatorade for use pre, intra or post workout.

Strong statement from me: This product is everything wrong with the supplement industry. But hey, it tastes great!

I picked up the Green Apple flavor.

I would drink this stuff everyday if someone else paid for it. Easily the best tasting supplement I’ve ever had, Period. BPI has that going for it. If more companies would use this method in their pre-workouts, man I’d love testing those out for you all even more.

Alas, that’s all I can say about this supplement.

I think this whole SAA, Silk Amino Acids is a fancy marketing ploy to steal your money. For $50 bucks a canister? Why do this, when you can get a protein powder for half the cost? I hate that feeling. BPI are crooks for making and selling this product to you. Did I feel or make any gains in the gym? Nope. Did I gain any significant muscle or lose any significant fat? Nope. Can I run any faster? Is my HR any lower? Not at all.

But hey… it tastes great!

I’ve reviewed a BPI Product before on here, of course, 1.M.R. As great tasting as Blox is, 1MR was horrible. They seem to have learned their lesson. One of my issues was that 1.M.R. almost was a little too powerful for me. But does it work? Absolutely. This product here, doesn’t work at least not without a considerable Placebo effect. But the taste is great.

So I’m left not knowing how I feel about BPI as a company. I kinda recommend 1MR, but don’t recommend Blox at all. That’s not very favorable rating for a company that spends a lot in marketing.

July is almost here. I’m considering trying RoxyLean, their fat burner supplement. It could be the make it or break it product for me. Correction: I was considering using RoxyLean. But after looking at a few different reviews on different websites and having extended conversations with a few people that used it, I don’t believe I’ll be trying that product, and I will leave it at that. A man has to have a certain standard of what he’ll put into his body. I’ve had bad experiences before and sometimes you can see the danger before it happens.  I need to lose some fat in my lower back and abs. I may go all out with pictures and what not to do a full body transformation that I didn’t chronicle with Sub Q. I’ll be leaving my work soon, so I feel a little more comfortable posting those sorts of pics. We’ll see.

In the mean time, BPI seems like a company with good intentions. I just haven’t found a product that would keep me coming back for more. 1MR for me is like Hemo Rage…I would only use it if I hadn’t slept in like a week but NEEDED to get a workout in. Blox just seems like a colossal waste of your hard paying money.

I regret buying this product, even to review it for this blog.

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Muscle and Fitness Should Rethink their Standards on Beauty

June 20, 2012 By 7 Comments

I’ll give you a bit of context. Here’s the latest issue of Muscle and Fitness Magazine.

It’s a Swim Suit issue. I usually don’t read this magazine, I prefer their body building sister magazine, Muscular Development. It’s just a more fun magazine, with way more information on exercises, bodybuilding industry news and of course the latest supplements. M&D, you’re welcome for the free plug.

Not going to get on any soap boxes, especially since we like to keep things fun and light around here. We’ve dealt with things of a racial matter before Once or Twice . Overall, I think racism, discrimination and the like is a dying phenomenon. Overall. Attitudes are changing and although we have a really long, long way to go, we are so close to getting there. But that makes the instances of it when it does occur that much more visible.

I’m not posting any images of the latest issue because first, that pushes the upper limit of fair use laws, plus I think to get the full effect of what I’m saying, you need to actually pick the magazine up and look through it.

What will become painfully aware to you if you are 1) Not American 2) Objective 3) Not Caucasian or 4) Find women sexier if they weigh more than 103 pounds (I kid…kinda) is that women in the current issue of Muscle & Fitness (July) magazine represent the standard archetypal beauty in America. Very thin, and as one of my inspirations, Genevieve, wrote, not very if at all muscular. There’s no definition, no vascularity…and no diversity.

America has long been a hodgepodge of different cultures, religions, ideals and ways of living. Far from perfect, true, but still the ideal society where our differences allow us to learn from each other and grow. So why is Muscle and Fitness pushing an ideal of beauty that is based in 1950′s America? Especially when the women from that era actually were better looking thicker?

No Seriously, when did it?

That just the first problem with M&F’s latest issue.

There’s also the diversity issue. They couldn’t find 1 African American, Asian or Arab fitness model to place in their pages?

I found a few. You really need not go any further than Twitter to find healthy, muscular women with exotic beauty, both inside and out. This was a simple case of lazy journalism by Muscle & Fitness. They got magazines to sell, so they went with the old tried and true method instead of being a leader in changing ideas of women’s beauty.

I challenge Muscle & Fitness to stop resting on their laurels and to go beyond the usual homogeneous images of women and to make their fitness spreads both more inclusive and more diverse and actually…more healthy. I shudder to think of the diets some of this month’s models had in order to fit into the magazine. Overall health should include great dietary choices which to me, it just looks like the women aren’t making.  We are well beyond the antiquated ideas of what makes women attractive today.

And will someone please get the word out… muscle on women is HOT. One of my favorite blogs demonstrates this daily. It’s okay if women lift iron and do more than just run 13 miles daily.

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Supplement Review: The New MuscleTech: Neurocore Pt. 5

June 15, 2012 By 2 Comments

Well it has been quite a week of supplement reviews looking at NeuroCore. But we’re not done just yet. I wanted to be sure to get another opinion on this particular supplement. So of course it was time to get on the horn and call an old SideKick from before… None other than Scott Crawford from 11 Squared! He’s stopped by our blog before to aid with an excellent Supplement Review. Recently he tried NeuroCore himself and I thought he would be the perfect person to ask for further opinions.

With out further ado, here’s Scott on his experience with Neuro Core. Take it away, Scott!

Neurocore… where getting on your nerves is a good thing.

To put things into context somewhat, I am a 36 year who starting lifting/bulking, really at the start of the year.  I have never been too much into supplements other than protein and daily vitamin packs.  However, since I don’t make it to the gym until about 9:30 at night, I need something to get me over the heavy eyelids humps to get me to the gym and be productive there.  This is the reason that I have started trying preworkout supplements.

MucleTech’s Neurocore is the third PWO that I have tried.  Like many other before me, I have heard all of the negative comments about MucleTech in the past, but when I saw Neurocore being offered on a BOGO sale at www.bodybuilding.com, and I was running out of my PWO, I figured why not give this preworkout a shot.

I will leave the fancy pictures to TheOrangeMask and give Neurocore a no nonsense review.

Gratuitous Fancy Picture of NeuroCore

I went for the Blue Raspberry flavor, which to my surprise was very tasty!  Of course after trying GNC’s Ravage… anything is tasty!  I did notice however, that the first couple of sips were full of flavor, about the last half of the drink had an almost medicinal taste.  Everything dissolved great, so there was no residue, but the taste of it was there.  It is a little weird.  Nevertheless, I give the flavor an 8 out of 10.

As TheOrangeMask has noted, it does take 3 scoops!  My tolerance for stimulants is pretty high.  I did not feel any “surge” or “rush” of energy, but I did notice that I had energy and was raring to go.  The energy was great I was able to get an hour of lifting in, run a 5K on the treadmill and feel like I could do more.  The energy was clean and jitter free, however, this could attribute to my tolerance level.  I did not experience any sort of crash coming down from it either.  I was able to fall asleep shortly after returning home from the gym, which was about 2 and half hours after taking my 3 scoop dose.

Now, I have tried a couple of supplements (PWO’s and others) that have Beta-Alanine in its blend.  I never once have experienced the tingles or the itchy skin that others have.  The same holds true for Neurocore.  I have read other reviews of Neurocore, TheOrangeMask’s included, where folks experienced severe tingling in their extremities.

With regards to pump, I did experience a decent pump from this product.  I also, noticed some vascularity that was not previously there.  I cannot directly attribute this to Neurocore, as I am leaning up as well.  However, I think it helped some of those veins to perk up a little.

Now onto focus… The focus that I experience while taking this supplement is superb, and this is where Nerocore really does it for me.  Once the headphones were in, it is almost like it’s just me in the gym and I really get into a zone, pounding out rep after rep…. set after set!   The focus was even better than I got from SAN Launch… and that is saying something.

Many reviews will give reviews on strength and strength gains…. I have a hard time attributing all of the strength gain to the PWO.  While I did experience strength gains and a lot of personal bests for 1 rep max’s, I think most of it comes from my personal drive and always upping the weight, forcing my muscles to work harder.  Yes, focus and energy level play a role in strength gains so I will concede those two to Neurocore.

After all of that said, there was one side effect that I experience with this PWO that I have not had with others.  Let me set the stage….  I take Neurocore right before I leave my house to drive the 10 minutes to the gym.  By the time I get to the gym and get my stuff into a locker, I have to make an immediate visit to the bathroom.  That’s right, for whatever reason it forces an immediate bowel response…. Every time!

All-in-all, I like this PWO.  I do have to agree with TheOrangeMask regarding its value.  Taking 3 scoops only gives you 15 servings… so you do the math.  If you are only working out 2 or 3 times a week, then it may be fine for you, but I am currently doing doubles 4 days a week and take a PWO before each session.  At this rate I will blow through a tub of Neurocore in 2 weeks.  That just won’t do!

I think TheOrangeMask’s “mixed review” is fair.  I would rank it 7.5 out of 10.  I will use this product again and it will likely have a place in my PWO rotation.

 Well, there you have it folks. Neuro Core Week comes to a close on the blog. Overall, the feeling is this is a decent workout though there is the question of value given that you need 3 scoops. Also, you need to be near a bathroom taking this stuff as our good friend Scott found out. But all in all, this is a decent product. 

Questions: What are your thoughts about NeuroCore? Have you tried it? How has NeuroCore week influenced your decision? 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts
%d bloggers like this: