john i was a guy who asked about the dosage of ast nor-250. I've got a bottle which i will start a cycle in 3days. I am currently training in hit style. if i start a cycle, should i increase my frequency of training? i workout twice a week, including squats,deadlifts,bench press, rows and shrugs. I will be taking 500mg of nor norandrostenedione.

By John ( - 195.97.124.238) on Monday, November 27, 2000 - 12:10 pm: Edit

Good question. Maybe if you were taking gear it would be better to train more often, but since pro-hormones are not even close to them, l don't think is better to do that and l will explain why.
Personally l think that you don't have to increase your workouts, but you have to increase the pounds or the reps that you lift. (Or both). Since you train with HIT, you know that the higher the intensity=the lower the frequency. So with Nor-Dione you will have an even higher intensity but the frequency has to remain the same.
Let me give you a better example with weights.
lf you can bench press 200 pounds for 6 reps (high intensity), and after 3 minutes (frequency) you are able to lift again the same pounds with the same reps, with the pro-hormone help you might be able to bench press 210 pounds (higher intensity),
BUT you would not go for your second set in less than 3 minutes right? The frequency can/has to be the same. The same with the days you will spend in gym. Don't go more often.

By Anonymous ( - 130.132.111.172) on Sunday, December 03, 2000 - 11:04 pm: Edit

Hey John! You've answered a few of my previous questions, and the advice has always been good, so if you know about GHB, then please answer this?

1. When should one take it (before bed, before work out, both, other?)

2. Should one cycle it?

3. Should one not stack it with other particular supplements?

Thanks.

By John ( - 195.97.116.97) on Monday, December 04, 2000 - 10:46 am: Edit

Hi anon. About GHB, from what l remember it was a popular supplement back in early 90s when l started bodybuilding, because it was supposed to increase the growth hormone secretion and possibly to lower the cortisol levels, but it had a serious side effect. lt could make you stoned!
Bill Phillips had said at his book, that GHB could make many people experience a "pleasantly buzzed" state, but too much you get sick, and even worst, you might experience uncontrollable projectile vomiting. So FDA did right and it made it illegal to manufacture it l guess in 1991.
Now from the time that is a substance that can cause you very serious side effects even if you don't abuse it, or/and even if you are the healthiest individual on this planet, l am sorry friend but l can not recommend to you when to take it.
lf you want an "euphoric" mood before or after you train, go and take other stuff such as "Kava". (Kava was valued both for its mellowing effects and to encourage socializing. It was also noted for initiating a state of contentment, a greater sense of well-being, and enhanced mental acuity, memory, and sensory perception).
Or another one good option is to buy "Saint John's Wort", which is a very good antidepressant.
(lt inhibits the re uptake of the neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. By making more of these neurotransmitters available to the brain, St. John’s wort is able to act as an antidepressant).
And the most important thing friend, is that both of these herbs are completely safe. So choose each one of them and l am sure that you will have almost the same good mood, and you won't have to worry about GHB's very serious negative side effects.

And if your case is to increase your growth hormone secretion and decrease your cortisol levels, take the good old L-Glutamine, or GABA, or a stacking combination of L-Arginine + L-Ornithine, and to lower more your cortisol levels, take something that has "Phosphatidyl Serine". (Personally l think that with a good brand of L-Glutamine, and "Cortistat P-S" from Champion Nutrition or with "Cort Block" from Muscle Link, you are fine).
Good luck.

By Joe on Monday, December 04, 2000 - 10:56 am: Edit

Hello John,
I have been reading this message board for a few weeks and greatly enjoy reading your posts and articles. As a user I appreciate the amount of time that you and Big Red spend answering questions. I have a few questions and am looking for some advice. I am currently 25 years old, 6'4", 218 lbs, 12% BF. I had been working out for about a year with minimal progress. Before that I was pretty much inactive. I could probably bench about 110 lbs. Well I decided to get serious about getting in shape 12 weeks ago and did the BodyforLife program. I started the program at about 230, 18% BF. I was able to bench about 115. I have been taking a lot of supplements. Started with EAS Riboforce HP (1x daily) right after workout, EAS HMB (3 x daily), EAS ZMA - HP (1 x daily - right before bedtime), and staring my 3rd week I started taking EAS Betalean HP (2 x daily). After my 7th week I switched from Betalean to Dymetadrine Xtreme and took that until week 10. I have also been taking flax seed oil and drinking tons of water.
As far as excercise goes I have been doing 3 days of cardio for 20 minutes of high intensity and 3 days of weight training. I am alternating upperbody and lowerbody. I did all of my cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.
I have made a lot of progress during the 12 weeks am pretty pleased. I can now bench 175 and feel a lot better in general.
My diet has been great - 6 meals a day - lots of protein. EAS Simply protein, EAS RTD, Chicken, Ground Turkey, Rice, Potatoes, fish, lettuce, whole wheat bagels.
Well, after reading what is on this board it seems like I have probably been doing some things that haven't been helping very much. Even though I am not extremely strong right now (by bodybuilding standards), I really am happy with my strength. I really want to loose some weight. I want to be at 7% BF. So I would probalby weigh about 207 if I didn't lose any muscle. What do you think I should change to get to this? I have been stuck around 218 for the last 5 weeks. Should I increase the cardio? I am thinking bumping up the cardio to everyday 40 minutes. I stopped the ECA stack because I didn't want to do it for more than 10 weeks (I did it 5 days a week and skipped the weekend). I read your article #10 and am planning at starting an E/C/A stack and taking Guggulsterones starting in 2 weeks. So here are my questions:
If my goal is to lose weight and drop to 207 lbs, should I stop taking the creatine, ribose, HMB, and ZMA?
Should I stop all are just some of the above?
Should I increase my cardio? If so, how much?
Do you think my 4 weeks off of E/C/A is long enough?
Do you think I should change my diet?
How many total calories do you think I should be eating?
How long should it take to get down to 207 lbs?

Again, thanks for your time and effort.

Joe

By John ( - 195.97.116.97) on Monday, December 04, 2000 - 11:45 am: Edit

Hi Joe. First of all, l am happy that you did not continue use E/C/A for a longer period of time. What l always suggest is never to take E/C/A for more than 8 weeks but at least you learned now for how long time is the maximum time you can use it.

1 & 2) About what to stop taking, l would suggest you to skip Creatine, Ribose and HMB, but l think is fine to continue taking ZMA before you go to sleep, BUT don't exceed the recommended dosages.

3) About your cardio, you should not go from "20 min for three times per week" to "40 min for 7 days per week" from one day to the other!
l would suggest you to read my 6th article with the title "The Best Diet For Fat Loss", where l am explaining in detail how you should increase progressively your frequency, duration, and intensity at your cardio training as your fat-loss weeks are passing.

4) l think that 4 weeks off of E/C/A is a sufficient time, but since your cycle stopped after 10 weeks, l would suggest you to take one more week off. (ln a totall of 5 weeks).

5 & 6) Again about your diet, don't change the healthy foods that you eat, but change the total quantities that you eat every day. l mean by that you should keep protein almost the same but to reduce carbs progresivelly. You should not do dramatic chances from one day to the other. Not even from one week to the other. The more weeks are passing, the less calories you should eat. (Having as a limit, 1000-1100 cal at your last week).
Read my 6th article as l told you and you will understand better how you can "plan" perfectly your diet.

7) l will give you just an estimation ok? So if you do everything fine, and you don't have any "exogenous" factors to affect your weight and cardio training, as well as your nutrition, supplementation and recuperation, (you see many factors are getting involved, that's why l don't like to estimate), l would say around 6 weeks.

By Nael on Monday, December 04, 2000 - 09:50 pm: Edit

Hi John,
I have a few questions if you don't mind; How does sodium intake influence muscle definition and water retention? How much of it should a bodybuilder consume in order to have the best definition?
I usually mix 5 grams of prolab's creatine powder with a Myoplex, Ny-Tro Pro 40 or Labrada Lean Body MRP after my workout (I also add a banana for high GI carbs); the problem is that these MRPs all countain a certain amount of glutamine, and I've heard that glutamine and creatine compete for absorbtion. What do you think?
Also, I haven't found Zero Carb Isopure at Nature's Best website. Does the product still exist? And do you definitely recommend Perfect Isopure as an MRP?
Thanks a lot.

By John ( - 212.120.195.93) on Monday, December 04, 2000 - 10:51 pm: Edit

Hi Nael. About sodium, like potassium, is very soluble and, therefore, is easily absorbed from the stomach and small intestine: nearly 100 percent of the sodium consumed enters. Sodium enters the blood and is circulated through the kidneys, which can reabsorb or eliminate it in order to maintain stable blood sodium levels. About 90 percent of the sodium consumed in the average diet is in excess of body needs and must be eliminated in the urine. Therefore, urine levels reflect dietary intake. Sodium can be lost with excessive sweating and with vomiting or diarrhea. When this happens, we naturally crave water and salt.
Sodium helps to regulate the fluid balance of the body, both within and outside the cells. Through the kidneys, by buffering the blood with a balance of all the positive or negative ions present, this mineral help control the acid-base balance as well.
Since sodium is needed to maintain blood fluid volume, excessive sodium can lead to increased blood volume and elevated blood pressure, especially when the kidneys do not clear it efficiently.
And about how much sodium to take every day, there is no specific RDA for sodium because almost everyone consumes more than needed. The Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs suggests about 5 grams of salt, which provides about 2 grams of sodium, per day. We really need only about 0.5 gram to maintain the body's salt concentration and probably 1-2 grams to be safe, unless we perspire a great deal or are active exercisers.

About Glutamine and Creatine, most supplement companies now contain Glutamine Peptides instead of the usual L-Glutamine (ie. VP2, or Designer Protein), and it seems (l am not 100% sure but that's what l believe), that it does not compete with Creatine for absorbtion.

About Zero Carb lsopure, and lsopure Drink Mix, l defenitely recommend them.
l am not living in USA to tell you if they stopped to produce them, but l have not heard something like that. Also this site sells both of them at:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/nb/nature.htm

By Nael on Monday, December 04, 2000 - 11:05 pm: Edit

Thanks for your time John, hope to keep hearing valuable info from you,
till' next time,
Cheers

By Joe on Monday, December 04, 2000 - 11:44 pm: Edit

John,
Thanks for the reply. I read your article #6 and now have a plan ready. I have been eating about 2500 calories per day so I am starting today at 2200 calories. I will drop 300 calories per 10 days and that puts me at 1000 calories per day on day 41. I am going to start cardio at 3 x 35 minutes and then follow the directions in the article. I should then be doing 45 minutes 4x at the end of the plan. I am going to wait to start taking E/C/A until the 18th of December so that will give me 5 weeks off. I will update you with my progress. Thanks for the help.

By Kam ( - 64.210.248.135) on Saturday, February 03, 2001 - 12:39 pm: Edit

Hey John

Can you tell me when I should take these supplements:
L-Glutamine (5 grams per teaspoon)
Protein which contains 22 grams of serving
and ZMA (recommended doses 3)

I weigh 135 lbs and workout 3 times a week. Thanks for your time..

Kam

By Anonymous ( - 38.31.46.58) on Sunday, February 04, 2001 - 07:28 am: Edit

Kam:
John is not entering here anymore. He is busy with his job and writing for the site. However, you can ask him your question from his e-mail:
giannis@musclemail.com
Good luck dude.

By Anonymous ( - 63.121.54.5) on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 07:08 am: Edit

Hi John,
First, I would like to say thanks for your willingness to spend so much time answering questions here.
This question goes to you and whoever else cares to answer that might have some suggestions. I travel alot for my job , and I have a problem finding the right foods on the road. Also, I am looking for good easily transportable snacks, preferably non-perishable. I have been eating pure protein bars for about a year. They have been the only protein bar that I have been able to stomach because of the taste. I dont think they taste good however, but they taste good enough to be able to get down my throat. But now, I am sick of them and cant even eat them. Like I said, I travel alot for work, and rather than pull into some 7-11 and buy a butter finger bar to hold me over to my next meal, I would rather snack on something healthy.
Any suggestions on healthy, high protein meals, snacks I could find on the road, or take with me without having to carry a cooler, would be very much appreciated.

Thanks again!

By Anonymous (203.195.159.11) on Monday, May 28, 2001 - 03:36 pm: Edit

hi john
iv been reading your article since about a week, found them realy interesting John ,
im 6ft 2 i weigh 168 pounds ,my body fat is 13%
idesperately want to bring my body fat to 7%.
iv been doing cardio 40min thrice a week,and have been having ripped fuel from twin lab 4 tab a day
the problem is since ihave started ripped fuel my COLD has realy increased .
im 21yrs of age .
when iwas a kid i had bronchitis ,
however now its gradually come down to aperpetual cold my noes is blocked however i use nose drops so thats taken care of .since riped fuel my cold has increased alot and the medicine also doesnot help me so much im very allergic should i stop taking ripped and if so please suggest me a good alternative,i desperatly want my body fat down definition on my abs .. thanx for ur time

By Anonymous (203.195.159.11) on Monday, May 28, 2001 - 03:36 pm: Edit

hi john
iv been reading your article since about a week, found them realy interesting John ,
im 6ft 2 i weigh 168 pounds ,my body fat is 13%
idesperately want to bring my body fat to 7%.
iv been doing cardio 40min thrice a week,and have been having ripped fuel from twin lab 4 tab a day
the problem is since ihave started ripped fuel my COLD has realy increased .
im 21yrs of age .
when iwas a kid i had bronchitis ,
however now its gradually come down to aperpetual cold my noes is blocked however i use nose drops so thats taken care of .since riped fuel my cold has increased alot and the medicine also doesnot help me so much im very allergic should i stop taking ripped and if so please suggest me a good alternative,i desperatly want my body fat down definition on my abs .. thanx for ur time