HOW TO REBUILD CHARACTER

May 20th, 2012 stevenj

“Dude, what the **** is your problem?? ” I ask myself as I stare at the bar and 235 lbs laying on the floor in front of me. “its been ten months. You somehow think straps gonna help you lift this? The issue is grip. Straps will result in a bar slipping and a serious shoulder injury. Man up.”

this gym, this place. I only see it three times a week now, but i feel like I’m here twice a day lately. My quads are still reminding me that on Monday, five days ago I was here squatting. They remember, so I remember. My chest reminds me that two days ago I was in the same spot, benching and failing, but at the same time succeeding. Succeeding via failure. What a ****ing concept. Only here.

So, last time you did this. Seven Days ago. Remember putting the bar down between reps four and five? Well this time needs to be different. This time for starters its six reps. Same weight. No, that’s a bull****, it’s 235lbs more. The extra rep. The chalk. This is what I will use. It’s from the members board. That place where the 40 year old write cute **** down. It’s green, and shaped like a giant crayon.

What a trip. I feel as though I am in a demented preschool class. There are no teachers here, just some iron on a bar. It teaches me. What I can or cannot do? Yeah, teaches me whether or not everything else leading up to now is in check. Teaches me that it’s not going to get lighter unless I can get better.

Chalk in hand. On palms. Fingers. I’m finger painting, the bar is my canvas. Take my grip. One more rep. Just one more.

Three… (how’s my grip?) two… (how’s my feet? My stance okay?) one… And bang.

Six, five, four, three, two, one and then the most satisfying sound of the day, the metal hitting the. Rubberized ground.

Wash… Rinse.. Repeat. Done.

No grip problems. No excuses?
See you next week, 240.

RPT – Reverse Pyramid Training for Muscle Gain or Retention

May 16th, 2012 stevenj

Reverse Pyramid Training Works - Just ask Martin Berkhan if it does...

 

REVERSE PYRAMID TRAINING – HOW TO SET IT UP AND WHY IT WORKS

Whenever I want to write an article, I find it useful to think of something that I was unable to find readily available online when I first searched for it, and expand upon it by collaborating the information I learned into one concise spot.

Today will be a comprehensive post on RPT, or reverse pyramid training, and how to set this up in any program but more specifically how it pertains to the Leangains training system.

Reverse, It is the Opposite of Forward

First think of the muscle, and how it is worked. If you are tired or have worked your muscle you will not get the same performance from the muscles being trained that you would get if you were starting fresh and rested.

When we work in the gym, we are using stored energy in the muscle tissue itself. We will eventually burn the muscle out (known as going to failure) and have more than one path that can take us to this point.

  • Option 1 – many programs would have you start at lower weights and work your way up to heavier weights as you drop repetitions. This is a very traditional way to train, and it will work to grow and exhaust muscle, but it is the most effective method at working the muscle?

Working Maximum Rested Muscle Fiber at one Time

It would seem that the most efficient way to train would be to put to work the most muscle fiber as possible in the shortest amount of time, thereby getting the end result of intense training done faster. This brings us to option 2, which we will build the theory or RPT on.

  • Option 2 - RPT teaches the trainee to warm up to a close to maximum effort (approximately 80% of 1RM), and start as heavy as he or she can in order to immediately stress and put work on the most muscle tissue as much at the start of the set. You gradually reduce the weight on the remaining sets, and increase repetitions on these sets as well. This ensures you start the set with the most intensity you can and lift as heavy as you can while the most rested.

With proper rest, and nutrition between sessions the trainee should be able to gain strength on most, if not all sessions. If cutting, this will also help to retain size, granted that proper protein requirements are being met. For more on protein requirements see Lyle McDonald’s excellent write-up on Protein Intake While Dieting.

How Intense is Intense

In theory, if you are lifting with the proper intensity, and doing the recommended basic compound movements found here, you should feel exhausted both physically and mentally after a good RPT workout.

Before starting this program I was doing the excellent Ultimate Diet 2.0 which focuses on low calorie, high repetition depletion workouts and one power workout a week. I could therefore hit the gym practically every day, and managed to do 138 miles of cardio on machines over the course of six weeks.

Comparatively on the RPT regimen outlined below I cannot even fathom anything above minimum intensity cardio the next day of the workout, and even with some time deadlifting and squatting under my belt will still feel sufficiently (and in a healthy way) sore for several days after squats and deadlift sessions.

Martin Berkhan points out that not all workouts will be 100% winners, and some days you need to back off. That sometimes he does not train and must force himself to recover longer between sessions.

I would be lying when I frowned upon seeing that I was seven days between squat sessions. After seven days, I realized that to my amazement, I was still not 100% recovered like I had been in the past!

So in short, you should be ready to lift very heavy with this program.

It goes without saying that you should never ever try to lift more than you are comfortable than moving, and that you should have your form mastered before you attempt to lift heavy.

Two excellent resources on proper form, and how to stay safe while lifting are Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe or Beyond Braun by Stuart McRobert. Both of which are great resources that I turn to on a regular basis.

A SAMPLE SETUP FOR REVERSE PYRAMID TRAINING

So let us assume that you have what you need. Your plan is in place and you want to start the program. First a few fundamentals:

  1. If you are doing leangains remember that generally less is more in most cases. If you are lifting heavy, with proper intensity you do NOT need to do more than what is outlined.
  2. Always warm up. If you try and go into a lift without warming the muscle up then you are heading for disaster. You need to get the muscle to a working state, and in this type of training you will work until you get there.
  3. Always take a day off between sets, and train the bottom and top with a day between. You will see what I mean below.

1. There are four key exercises:
Squats, Deadlifts, Benchpress, and Chins – many add in overhead press

This means you will be doing less work, but getting better results than most guys out there. I hate to say it, but unless you are an advanced lifter with 5+ years under your belt, there is a good chance that you have been doing more than necessary and not getting the best results.

2. You will train three days a week, and will completely push yourself. This is a definitely great way to get into fundamentals, watch your form etc. Expect to tax the CNS and be tired!

3. We will start heavy after a warm up to our first set, and then reduce the weight by 10-15%, and add 1-3 repetitions to the sets.

4. The actual days and order should be as follows
(we will pretend that this week starts on monday, this gives us the weekend to recover and do other things outside of the gym)
Day 1 (monday):

EDIT ON MAY 18, 2012:

It was pointed out to me on reddit.com/r/leangains that my warm up is likely overkill.
Feel free to do less in terms of warm up. Example is that today I did two sets of warm up for deadlifts and then into the primary lifts. So feel free to do less warm up.

Squats:

Warm up to working set (for example):
10 x bar \ 10 x 50 \ 8 x 100 \ 8 x 125

Working set:
8 x 150 (rest 3 minutes) \ 10 x 135 (rest 2 minutes) \ 12 x 120

Overhead press (using olympic bar):

Warm up to working set (for example):
10 x bar \ 10 x 25 \ 8 x 35 \ 8 x 45

Working set:
8 x 50 (rest 3 minutes) \ 10 x 45 (rest 2 minutes) \ 12 x 35
Day 3 (Wednesday):

Flat Bench:

Warm up to working set (for example):
10 x bar \ 10 x 50 \ 8 x 100 \ 8 x 125

Working set:
8 x 145 (rest 3 minutes) \ 10 x 130 (rest 2 minutes) \ 12 x 120

Incline Bench:

Warm up to working set (for example):
10 x bar \ 10 x 50 \ 8 x 70 \ 8 x 80

Working set:
8 x 110 (rest 3 minutes) \ 10 x 95 (rest 2 minutes) \ 12 x 85
Day 5 (Friday):

Deadlift:

Warm up to working set (for example):
10 x 90 \ 10 x 140 \ 8 x 175 \ 8 x 200

Working set:
8 x 240 (rest 3 minutes) \ 10 x 210 (rest 2 minutes) \ 12 x 195

Chin Ups (remember, hands face forward and watch form for complete reps):

Warm up to working set (for example):
10 x bodyweight \ 10 x bodyweight \ 8 x bodyweight

Working set:
8 x 20lb (rest 3 minutes) \ 10 x 10lb (rest 2 minutes) \ 12 x bodyweight

How to Progress in Weights

This is a good question that I also had, and from what I have read and been told, you can progress weights in two different ways, and it may not always be at the start of your heaviest set. For example, both of these are progressive:

Week 1: 8×150 / 10×130 / 12×120
Week 2: 8×160 / 10×140 / 12×130

Versus an increase at the end in weight, keeping the same repetitions:

Week 1: 8×150 / 10×130 / 12×120
Week 2: 8×150 / 10×135 / 12×140

And in this case, you would want to try to increase your start weight on the following week, to ensure you are setting STRENGTH gains as well as endurance gains.

ANOTHER Example of progression:

the user Baddo on reddit pointed out that Martin himself shows a progression for chin ups which looks like this:

  • Week 1: 4×100 / 5×70 / 6×50 (the last two sets weren’t that hard so let’s increase them for next week)
  • Week 2: 4×100 / 5×75 / 7×55
  • Week 3: 5×100 / 6×75 / 6×60
  • Week 4: 5×100 / 5×80 / 5×65

Remember to track everything

I cannot stress enough how you will never have an idea where you are going on where you are heading without tracking. Be sure to write down your progress. A cheap workout log can be as cheap as as we notebook that you can jot notes into. Not everything is made better in the digital age as I have yet to use a GOOD app for logging progress, and sometimes real life pages work best when creating a log and journal.

Lest you wind up with a case of FUCKAROUNDITIS…  And that is the very last thing you should want.

Happy lifting!

Faith and Success or Failure

May 16th, 2012 stevenj

FAITH AND STAYING WITH IT

I thought that I would take a moment to touch base on a major reason why so many fail at health and nutrition plans.

Every day people decide to make changes in their lifestyle. Many of them take time to research problems. They take a moment to read the basics. What is a calorie? How many of these calories do I need to lose a LB of bodyfat, and how to formulate a plan to take action and accomplish these goals.

Unfortunately, as quickly as many people start their programs they fall prey to a very important factor that plays into ultimate success or failure. They fall prey, simply to a lack of faith.

Faith, it shouldn’t be blind and needs to be based in facts

The diet and nutrition industry is worth BILLIONS of dollars every year. Each year, countless millions of people spend hard earned money and effort using products designed to burn extra calories, tighten, tone, and help them get into the same shape that a sound diet and good gym schedule can deliver for much less money.

The lack of faith and believe in the basic tenants of the science behind the industry leads them far from where they should be, taking the time to learn the basics about the how/why/and when of how they can lose fat and get fit.

These individuals are preyed upon by self proclaimed “gurus” make a mint off many of these, while those who write books filled with absolute garbage about scientific theories that in the end simply trick you into eating less.

As Lyle McDonald puts it in his “Introduction to Dieting”

A more frequently occuring idea revolves around carbohydrates. Diets such as SugarBusters and others paint refined sugar as the enemy, while more extreme diets such as The Atkins Diet, Protein Power and the South Beach Diet paint all carbohydrates (vegetables excluded) as the enemy. Since carbohydrates typically make up a rather large (50% or more) of total daily energy intake, restricting or removing them has the potential to cause rather large scale caloric reduction.

The truth is that anything that causes you to move more and eat less are plans for success in the battle of fat vs fit, but so many miss the mark, and lack the basics it will take to see any progress at all.

JUST THE BASICS – BELIEF IN WHAT YOU ARE DOING. 

It’s important to have some basic beliefs when it comes to fat loss.

In particular:

  1. If you can make an educated guess at what your daily energy requirements are (your basal metabolic rate combined with the activity you do on a daily basis), you will be able to build a successful fat loss program.
  2. If you find the above number, and create a caloric deficit you will lose body weight, and eventually fat mass.
  3. If you follow this advice, and do it long enough, the results will come so long as both points 1, and 2 are covered.

If you can hold the basics in the back of your mind, and give things enough time, you will eventually find yourself set up for success in an area where most people are constantly struggling.

Faith + A plan + Massive action = REAL RESULTS

Along with faith comes the need for a plan, as mentioned above. The last piece of the puzzle comes to taking action.

As I have noticed and I am sure many others have as well, there are plenty of message board forum threads, tweets, and various facebook updates made by folks brand new to weight loss and body recomposition.

Many that come asking for help are given the basics and then reject them. They are told “eat less, move more, read this article and do this research,” only to decide that what they are reading is not exactly what they thought it was, but that the tv infomercial said they could do was instead only fifteen minutes per day, which will get them exactly the dream body they want.

Taking a glance at an article, failing to take action and follow though is not taking action, it is throwing out random questions to the universe. Always follow through, or else watch all the effort you made go through the cracks, down the drain and to waste.

GET HELP, IT IS OUT THERE IF YOU NEED IT

The final realization to make is that no one person is an island. If you feel you can venture out and do it alone, then best of luck. The rest of us find that it really does help to ask for help.

Grab the basics, and then join into a discussion. Ask questions with good intentions and a little bit of research, and be prepared to possibly not get the answer you wanted, but hopefully a good answer nonetheless.

I am helping people who ask*, but there are countless others out there that are doing the same. Just be sure to find someone who has proven results, and put some faith in what they have to tell you. If you smell a rat, run in the other direction, and never just blindly give money to someone who claims more than what seems reasonable in a given time frame.

Just some food for though, and perhaps this makes people think, makes them angry, or makes them laugh. To me however, a person who used to start and stop every few months, who has finally been on track after finding faith in the science behind fat loss can tell you, anything is possible with the correct amounts of research, believe and hard work applied to it.

*quick disclaimer:
I am absolutely not charging you anything. If you do ask me for help, I will do my best to take some time and give you advice. I am repaying the universe, helping folks who want it, and in time the universe will balance out and karma will always come back in spades. 

A Basic Heavy Workout

May 13th, 2012 stevenj

Sweet simplicity

This is a basic starting workout that involves basic lifts, and is perfect for a starting lifter.

I am currently doing a variation of this via Martin Beckham and LEANGAINS RPT or reverse pyramid training.

I will cover RPT at a later time, but this will work to get people familiar with the basics.

Complicated BS is killing you

First of, when I started I did it all. You know that guy who spends two hours a day in the gym all the time, four or five days a week? That was me.

There are however huge pitfalls in spending too much time in the gym, chiefly you get very little intense work accomplished, and over time feel frustrated and possibly even stop altogether.

Never Lift to Burn Calories

Another mistake I made was lifting weights to burn calories.

If you lift intensely enough you will use muscles that you possibly never knew that you had.

The point of a workout should never be calorie burning, that is an unknown. Exactly how many calories are expended in an intense lifting session? Unless you are wearing an expensive gadget like a bodybug this should not be relied upon.

The calorie deficit should be left to your diet, because you can always know what you are eating, vs what is burned via lifting.

Do Not Isolate Yourself

When I say basics, I mean big movements. Better known as compound movements, these exercises are performed with barbells and work multiple muscles with each repetition.

I dare anyone to do chinups properly and not feel beaten down a day later

Isolation movements are what you see those aimlessly wandering through the gym doing on machines, they include anything that works just one muscle but can also be performed with dumbbells.

The BIG Movements

What are the only exercises that a beginner needs?

1. Bench Press
2. Dead lift
3. Overhead press
4. Squats
5. Chin ups

That is all you will need.

A basic Setup

How would one set this workout schedule up?

Day 1.
Squat / overhead press

Day 3.
Flat bench / incline bench

Day 5.
Deadlift / chinup

Day 6/7.
Rest or light cardio.

Intensity should be heavy if cutting.
Additionally if you have not worked out with weights you should either hire a personal trainer to show you proper form or the book Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe to help you stay in proper form and be safe.

Do Not Waste Your Time

Remember, your time is valuable. Make the best of it and avoid the same mistakes many (including myself) have made when starting.

Learn to lift heavy, lift smart, and watch results come with time.

February 05, 2012 – Training Log

February 5th, 2012 stevenj

Back To Basics

Today marks the knees feeling much better. Colder dry weather means the joints feel better.*

Back to squats. Today was 140lbs, which is 5lb+ my last squat.

Deadlifts also felt lighter at 180lbs so thankfully I will be increasing the Deadlifts next session to 185lbs.

Strangely my military press today lagged, i may take a few days off and replace it with an alternative movement.

Diet

Today I will start rolling my calories back to 3000-3100 to see how my body reacts. If i lose weight or strength and stall I will of course move back up.

I am just concerned with fat gain. I do not subscribe to the school of thought that you must gain 1:1 fat and muscle.

I’m not a competitor, hence I do not need to gain as much muscle as possible in an “off season,” erego I will choose to slowly progress over time.

Today’s Log:

image

Superbowl sunday.
I will eat as normal and find food to fill my gaps I’ve been filling with ice cream.

More later
-SJC

*as a kid I banged up my knees playing hockey and basically being a rough tough little guy. A surgery on my left knee often feels bad during humid weather.

Rest Periods. How often to Train for Maximum Growth?

February 4th, 2012 stevenj

Traditional bodybuilding mindset preaches that we must wait between five to seven days between training to ensure proper rest and recovery, but what if that long wait period has you simply doing nothing at all while you rest. No recovery, no growth but just a resting muscle, patiently waiting to be trained again?

Recovery Time: 48 hours / 72 hours / …or even more?

I am currently lifting on a 48 hour rest period, with full body workouts. I am also considered a beginner lifter with only about a years total experience under my belt and less than eight months straight gym time in the past year.

I have decided that a 48 hours between lifting, with a full body workout is currently the best for me. After reading up on Bryan Haycock and his theory of HST, and doing the Ultimate Diet 2.0 which also incorporates many of the same principles, it seemed like a natural progression I could make on a tight schedule to see my weight go up and muscle gain hopefully follow.

Needless Recovery time. Being Efficient. 

You need to ask yourself if you want to be efficient or not. I have friends who insist that training one body part, one day a week is the only way that they can recover sufficiently and grow. However if science and research has shown that the rest period required is far less, they are limiting their growth potential and would in theory be taking several times longer to achieve the same state as someone who lifts 2 or 3 times as frequently.

Do you believe you need to do only chest on a particular day? Or that it makes more sense to split your training with 2 or three days between, alternating to attain your goals?

Blending what fits your lifestyle with what fits your body can often times ensure the fastest way to your goals.

What Determines Growth and Recovery?

So if 48 hours, or even 72 hours is determined to be the time needed to recover between workouts, what other factors determine how fast and efficiently you can recover and be able to work again? If resistance training stresses, tears and breaks down the current tissue with the weight stimulus then the healing process is aided by very important factors, chiefly:

  • Rest. Giving the muscle time to heal and resting between workouts.
  • Nutrition. Feeding the muscle what it needs to rebuild and get stronger in the shortest possible time.

Given proper nutrition, rest, and other factors such as proper form and adherence to a regular lifting schedule that progressively adds weight you should stimulate growth throughout your sessions.

Training While Sore

Although some lifters feel that lifting weights while sore is proof that you are overworking or overextending the muscle, it has been demonstrated that working a sore muscle does not mean that the muscle has not recovered enough to attempt to stimulate more growth.

Beware the difference between training a sore muscle, and training an injured or overworked and over extended muscle. Pain should not be present when lifting, but a dull ache would be acceptable at any point.

Warming up with a light set can help to prepare the area for your heavier lifts, and will prime you for the best lifts you can make, which will in turn of course incorporate more muscle fiber, and better growth.

Beware Common Mistakes to Aid Recovery and Limit Injury

One common mistake often made by those who want to lift heavy and get big is going heavy without proper conditioning. By conditioning we mean building not only the working muscle but also the tendons and tissues that support the muscle. If you bench an increasing load over and over, but are lifting with poor form you may find your front deltoid bearing the brunt of the weight, which can in time lead to an injured rotator cuff or other shoulder related injuries.

Remember to learn your movements, prefect their form and do not attempt more than you can take on.

Sylvester Stallone had trained hard for his role in Rocky II. He worked out with two time Mr. Olympia Franco Columbo and lifted so heavy that he tore a pec muscle, requiring over 160 stitches and a four hour surgery.

Subsequently, Stallone has had a lack of symmetry for the remainder of his career, and this obviously set him back severely in his training for his role in the film.

Be Perfect, and Recover Sufficiently

In short, take whatever amount of time you need to recover. I have found that 48 hours is sufficient, but if you need 72 then take 72.

In short, find whatever works for you and do not fall into an inefficient trap that may set you back several times over ask you aim to meet, exceed and set new goals for yourself.

Have any suggestions? Like or hate?

Sound off below!

Feb 03, 2012 Training Log

February 3rd, 2012 stevenj

I’ve never lifted heavy before this last two weeks. My form must be terrible as I woke up with sore shoulders today.

My bench press form was lacking. I tucked my arms in slightly and could lift more as well as felt very little pressure on my rotator cuff area.

Nutrition:
Today is an ear big day but big for me is a measly 3300-3400 kcal.

Lifting Log:

image

Bulking Now

February 2nd, 2012 stevenj

I should add that since 1/20/2012 I have been bulking.

I thought that by bodyfat was around 15.5% which was not correct. I am after a biometric impedance scale and skinfold caliper test told me, about 13%. Good news.

Vitals:

Age: 31
Weight: 171
Height: 5’9″
Bodyfat: 13%

Maintenance Calories:

I am on my feet all the time. Currently my vehicle is in another city so I am walking everywhere. I also lift every other day, full body workouts as well as have a job that has me at least on my feet most of the time.

Based on the Katch Mcardle method and an activity factor is 1.55, my maintenance calories come out around 2800 kcal/day.

Bulking Calories:

My new bulk diet is shooting for 3200-3300 kcal/day. This means I will be intentionally overeating around 400-500 kcal a day. I will start here and watch the scale every few days to see which way things are going. Time will tell and I will adjust as I go.

Based on my vitals and my daily maintenance, I have decided that the diet I will eat will contain:
(all weight is total bodyweight, not lean mass)

  • Protein: At least 1.4g/lb of body weight.  This equates to 240g/day
  • Fats:  At least 0.50g/lb of body weight. This equates to around 90g/day
  • Carbohydrates:  At least 1.75g/lb body weight. This is around 300g or more/day

However, my carbs will be higher, as will my protein in most cases. Before you jump all over me this does only bring me up to 2970/day.

I am constantly looking at my diet. I am using mynetdiary.com and their corresponding Android app to be sure that I hit my macros. Its a free service that I would never ever want to do without.

If I find my macros low, I eat something to bring them up. Very much “If it Fits Your Macros” which works for me.

My main priorities are in this order:

  1. Protein is met
  2. Carbohydrate met
  3. Fat met.
Fat is the easiest thing in the world to eat. Need some? go drink some chocolate milk. No problem there.
In a days time I will add my actual workouts as a log. Until them, no more Ultimate Diet for me. I was looking scrawny on the diet and cheating too much anyhow.

 

 

Controlled Labs Purple Wraath White Flood Stack Review

January 31st, 2012 stevenj

Controlled Labs Purple Wraath White Flood Stack Review

Why has it been so hard to write this piece? For whatever reason, I have been saying since Christmas time that I would finally get around to my very first Controlled Labs stack, and each time I sit down to write one it ends up blocking me mentally somehow.

With that being said, here is a proper attempt at a good review of two great products that ever single athlete should try at least one time in their lives.

The Controlled Labs White Flood and Purple Wraath Stack Review:

If you haven’t read my other Controlled Labs reviews, or are unfamiliar with the product category that Purple Wraath and White Flood fall into, you might want to check them out (White Flood Here and Purple Wraath Here)

First of All What is A Stack

Let’s assume that you are new to supplements. You know all about Whey (or you think you do) but you are relatively new to the game. A stack is just what it sounds like, essentially you are putting supplements on top of one other, or “stacking them” to provide a better reaction and result in the gym.

That being said, why should we stack these two particular products, and what will this bring us in terms of gains.

A word of Warning on Stacking

If you do not research your stack, you could find yourself in a bad spot. An example would be ephedrine and any product such as White Flood. The caffeine in White Flood, plus the pump it creates will create a rise in blood pressure that a product like Ephedra can push to if not unsafe (very possible) at least uncomfortable levels.

You can hurt yourself if you combine the wrong products. Use caution. I take zero responsibility on how you use these products.

Dose Timing

If you are going to try this stack, I recommend that you start with mixing the White Flood and Purple Wraath and the same time approximately 45 minutes before your workout.

You will want to put the Purple Wraath in the freezer until you work out to chill it, and drink your white flood within thirty minutes of your training.

You will be using the Purple Wraath during your workout. The chilling in the freezer merely helps to chill it and enhance the taste marginally, but is in my finding an unnecessary step overall.

Flood + Wraath = Effective

If you read through my past reviews of these two different products, you will see that Controlled Labs has used very effective ingredients to create two very different products which on their own work well.

The pump and energy levels increased with the White Flood are present for the first half of your workout. This lies in the caffeine, beta alanine, and l-tyrosine, which are all in small part responsible for the energy that Flood creates.

Wraath on the other hand has a different uptake altogether. The mix of essential amino acids is intended to give you sustained energy throughout your workout. This indeed works as the broken down EAA’s ensure speedy uptake into the muscles which helps to aid the nutrients fed to them.

I found myself pushing more weight and feeling amazing during my sessions on Wraath alone, but White Flood helped to energize me on slow lazy mornings when I might had otherwise had a poor first workout half.

Pump, Endurance and Speed

The pumps with this stack are great. Throughout the workout I felt as though I was in control of every single rep and often times wanted to do more reps than were in my routine.

Many other pump type products have always left me with an unsatisfactory pump in many parts of my body. If I were to do my legs first I would get a great pump in my legs, and the rest would lag behind. If my shoulders came first and legs last I would get a great pump in my shoulders and back but little else.

When using White Flood this was never a problem, and when using Purple Wraath, the uptake seemed even better, and I felt powerful pumps everywhere.

The stack also takes almost no time to work. Within minutes I felt a great energy rush from the White Flood, and the warm tingling sensation from the EAA’s in the wraath after I started drinking it.

I have taken 4g of BCAA since then pre workout in liquid pill form and I feel the same warm feeling that Wraath gives me, a nod to the amount of and quality of the aminos in the Purple Wraath product.

Overall Rating

This stack is great. Aside from the individual mixing issues with White Flood, I would give it a perfect 10. In all if in a perfect world I could have an idea pre/intra workout drink this would be close.

That is of course until Controlled Labs changes the formula for the better again, which they tend to do every so often.

 

Log – January 19, 2012

January 19th, 2012 stevenj

Cardio day.
Today’s weight 169.5 lb

A work meeting had my schedule different so early morning fastest cardio.

Up hill, nothing too intense. After this was another 2.5 miles of transportation walking.

Tomorrow is a full body lifting routine, back to my Ultimate Diet 2.0 Phase.

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