Skye
Well-known member
- Awards
- 1
I have a buddy that is an idiot. He is always adding supplements to his diet to try to compensate for his lousy diet and routine. And nothing I tell him makes a difference so I have stopped trying. However the other day he asked me how I could afford all this stuff and still have money left over. I told him all it took was not being a dumb ass. He countered that the majority of people bought more then he did and that included the people that I thought were smart. He was right (for once 
). A lot of people apparently buy all this crap or they couldn’t keep selling it. So this is in short all about saving money, time, and effort while cycling (or off for that matter). As always this post is for taking up bandwidth only, remember the adage about free advice.
There is a strong belief in the bodybuilding community that more is better. That is higher dosage, more expensive, and newer drugs/items are better then what is cheap and tried and true. That is pure bull****. Cell tech, GNC products, Lion nutrition, and the like are all overpriced and over hyped items. In the case of Lion the products are sometimes dangerous. I can say the same of a lot of steroids. There are dozens of far cheaper products that are in many cases of BETTER quality then the above name brands. The only difference is that they cost about ½ to ¼ of what the above brands do. Jay Cutler can make all the claims he wants to about Muscle tech, the reason he is huge is that his ass is a pincushion.
Steroids and auxiliary drugs. Sense this is going to be posted on AM I am not going to discus the any prices here including the auxiliary drugs just some general observations. First if you really want to save money here make your own. You can easily make a 16 week cycle worth for less then 200 dollars. Even if you buy pre made you shouldn’t be spending your retirement, go for the high bang for the buck items. Testosterone any ester or transdermal, nandrolone decanoate, boldenolone Undecylenate, danabol (if you must have an oral), and the like are all high on gains vs. cost. Like I said in another post: “Bread and butter cycles rock. Exotic steroids, methods, or stacks are not necessary and do not produce better results. There is no reason to run steroids that are known to be very unhealthy. (Mostly orals). The harsh drug I would ever take is trenbolone. If you can’t pronounce it you probably don’t need it.” On the subject of auxiliary drugs your really only have to have one, Nolvadex. It will work for PCT, gyno problems, and help improver your lipid panel results. Did I mention that it is the cheapest? That it is the easiest to find?
Supplements while being “ON”. Lets be real here, if you took everything that people said was good for you it would make you sick not to mention broke. So we need to be a little more selective here. First figure out what you want/need to address with the supplements. Worried about blood pressure or liver values? Both? I used to have a list of things that I thought were important but sense AI has come out with cycle support my list has been shorten by 90%. The link for the information and the product is here anabolicinnovations (Sorry can't post the #$## link with out the website putting some dumb ### %%% in its place) This takes care of the almost all the major items and some others as well for about 33 bucks a month, or a dollar a day. If I really wanted to I might be able to do it cheaper but it is defiantly not worth the dollar or two a month I would save not to mention that I doubt that I could make it taste good. (Cycle support does not taste good but it is drinkable in a protein shake with milk, given what is in it that is quite the accomplishment.). There is only a couple of items that you may want to add to this and they are simple and except one cheap. One is low dose aspirin (people will debate the aspirin, IMO it doesn’t hurt) once or twice a day. Another is some additional Milk thistle on top of the cycle support (they don’t put enough in if you’re using an oral, JMO). The last item is ALA. There are two routes here, first the cheap route and get plain jane ALA (there is a long debate on ALA vs. R-ALA) For this there is no cheaper then Doctors Trust ALA capsules, 120 of them at 600mg for $15.59. There is however growing evidence of R-ALA being much better then ALA and it cost quit a bit more.(R-ALA cost between $1.44 and $2.07 a gram for most places and above ALA works out to 22 cents a gram.) It is also unstable so the better versions are usually the sodium or potassium salts of it. I would stick with the trusted people here and not go for the cheaper product; I am going to suggest Glucophase XR (potassium salt of R-ALA) or the plain salted R-ALA. The Glucophase XR is around 30 bucks a bottle ( a months worth) There are some cheaper ones but if you want to save money and still use the better product look at using the powder itself, 100 doses (25 grams for 19.95). It may be or not be worth it to you given that it’s only a couple of bucks a month savings. Note that I didn’t include the Glucophase XR in the price comparison as it’s a salt and takes more per serving then the unsalted R-ALA.
Dietary supplements. Ok this is where I think I am going to get in trouble here. First off lets be realistic about a few things, your diet, not the supplements you use in it, are what is going to make the difference. That is why we refer to them as supplements; they are in ADDITION to, not replacing your basic foods. Please reread that last sentence. This bull**** about pre/post workout/bedtime/wakeup shakes/bars has been blown way out or proportion IMO. This is the truth of the matter: a high quality diet with the calories coming in the ratios 40% protein, 30% carbohydrates, and 30% from healthy fats will produce better results then all the shakes and mixes you can buy. Also the amount of protein is less important then having high quality protein throughout the day. (Your body doesn’t store it; if it needs it and you didn’t eat it then it takes it from your tissues.) As this is impractical for us working folks (it takes more time then most people have) we often use these things to help make up for our deficiencies. (Protein shake at work instead of full meal is often the only options; the boss looks at you funny for trying to take two lunch breaks). But they do not replace the basic diet. Bran flakes and radical raspberry protein shake make for a good mid morning snack; they don’t replace the steak and eggs for breakfast or in the case of my buddy cold pizza. Like wise the meal replacement shakes should be avoided IMO, if you need a meal replacement shake consider making your own. There are all kinds of recipes for oat and whey protein/cottage cheese shakes. They are much better for you then the maltodextrin/dextrose based shakes. Did I mention that you will save money? Gram per gram whey protein is not that cheap of protein a sources. Inexpensive whey is around $4.50 a pound with most being around 70 to 80% protein by weight making it around 6 dollars a pound of protein. Whey isolate is something like 80 to 85% protein at 7 to 9 dollars a pound. That’s around $9.70 a pound. Compare that to chicken breast at around $6.40 pound of protein. (Chicken breast at 2 buck a pound and is around 31% protein by weight)
Dietary supplements that work. Multivitamins are good. Potassium and magnesium supplements are good if you’re prone to cramps or pumps. B-complex would not hurt. Protein shakes are a good thing. Use between meals or when time does not permit a real meal. I recommend whatever tastes better. As far as what kind protein shakes I would go with the cheapest fair quality protein available. I don’t recommend whey isolate as it far more expensive and no one has convinced me that it is really that much better for you ( outside of using with insulin), at least not for the cost. As far as long lasting protein goes eat real food, or at least combine the protein shake with real food. That will slow the absorption process some but real food is the better option. Creatine is another one that works and is inexpensive. It can be had for 15 dollars a kilogram for the monohydrate version or 30 dollars for the ethyl ester hydrochloride version. (Note that it CEE has a lower dosage recommended dosage then the monohydrate, 2 grams vs. 5 grams. So the per dose cost is 6 cents for the CEE and 7.5 cents for the monohydrate) To which is better I don’t know, for myself I am going to wait and see how the CEE turn out before I jump on the bandwagon. These are really the only dietary supplements that I can see using. Everything else should be covered by eating a good diet.
Eating a good diet. This does not have to break your budget at all. Just a few simple things will reduce the cost by almost half. For instance I don’t pay any more then 2 buck a pound for chicken breast, it almost always comes on sale at some point. The same with lean ground beef, 90/10 and 93/7. The 90/10 I can get regular in bulk for 2.18 a pound, divide it up and freeze it. The 93/7 I can usually find in the little factory rolls for 4 for 10 dollars. Not bad and they freeze well. A lot of people are in to organic foods and that is great but I would be more interested in unmodified foods. The more someone mucked with it the less likely its good for you. There are some exceptions, whey protein, egg whites, low carb milk, and so on. These should not be expensive items, check your local super store or bulk store. Some things don’t do well in bulk and you really can’t do much about them (flaxseed meal) but most items you can. Most people buy their whey in bulk, this is several time cheaper then going to most sport or health stores. Egg whites can be bought by the bucket and so on.
Please note that I am not flaming people that use pre/post-workout drinks or other specialty items rather I am say that they are largely unnecessary, and if your on a budget they should be the first thing to go. If you want to carb up before a workout try orange juice. (Note that anabolic inventions has a pre workout drink that is different then this, it has creatine and other things in it. I am thinking that this would be fun to try but it’s not necessary.) The same with sports drinks. Most of them are sugar water and not close to being a real food.
). A lot of people apparently buy all this crap or they couldn’t keep selling it. So this is in short all about saving money, time, and effort while cycling (or off for that matter). As always this post is for taking up bandwidth only, remember the adage about free advice. There is a strong belief in the bodybuilding community that more is better. That is higher dosage, more expensive, and newer drugs/items are better then what is cheap and tried and true. That is pure bull****. Cell tech, GNC products, Lion nutrition, and the like are all overpriced and over hyped items. In the case of Lion the products are sometimes dangerous. I can say the same of a lot of steroids. There are dozens of far cheaper products that are in many cases of BETTER quality then the above name brands. The only difference is that they cost about ½ to ¼ of what the above brands do. Jay Cutler can make all the claims he wants to about Muscle tech, the reason he is huge is that his ass is a pincushion.
Steroids and auxiliary drugs. Sense this is going to be posted on AM I am not going to discus the any prices here including the auxiliary drugs just some general observations. First if you really want to save money here make your own. You can easily make a 16 week cycle worth for less then 200 dollars. Even if you buy pre made you shouldn’t be spending your retirement, go for the high bang for the buck items. Testosterone any ester or transdermal, nandrolone decanoate, boldenolone Undecylenate, danabol (if you must have an oral), and the like are all high on gains vs. cost. Like I said in another post: “Bread and butter cycles rock. Exotic steroids, methods, or stacks are not necessary and do not produce better results. There is no reason to run steroids that are known to be very unhealthy. (Mostly orals). The harsh drug I would ever take is trenbolone. If you can’t pronounce it you probably don’t need it.” On the subject of auxiliary drugs your really only have to have one, Nolvadex. It will work for PCT, gyno problems, and help improver your lipid panel results. Did I mention that it is the cheapest? That it is the easiest to find?
Supplements while being “ON”. Lets be real here, if you took everything that people said was good for you it would make you sick not to mention broke. So we need to be a little more selective here. First figure out what you want/need to address with the supplements. Worried about blood pressure or liver values? Both? I used to have a list of things that I thought were important but sense AI has come out with cycle support my list has been shorten by 90%. The link for the information and the product is here anabolicinnovations (Sorry can't post the #$## link with out the website putting some dumb ### %%% in its place) This takes care of the almost all the major items and some others as well for about 33 bucks a month, or a dollar a day. If I really wanted to I might be able to do it cheaper but it is defiantly not worth the dollar or two a month I would save not to mention that I doubt that I could make it taste good. (Cycle support does not taste good but it is drinkable in a protein shake with milk, given what is in it that is quite the accomplishment.). There is only a couple of items that you may want to add to this and they are simple and except one cheap. One is low dose aspirin (people will debate the aspirin, IMO it doesn’t hurt) once or twice a day. Another is some additional Milk thistle on top of the cycle support (they don’t put enough in if you’re using an oral, JMO). The last item is ALA. There are two routes here, first the cheap route and get plain jane ALA (there is a long debate on ALA vs. R-ALA) For this there is no cheaper then Doctors Trust ALA capsules, 120 of them at 600mg for $15.59. There is however growing evidence of R-ALA being much better then ALA and it cost quit a bit more.(R-ALA cost between $1.44 and $2.07 a gram for most places and above ALA works out to 22 cents a gram.) It is also unstable so the better versions are usually the sodium or potassium salts of it. I would stick with the trusted people here and not go for the cheaper product; I am going to suggest Glucophase XR (potassium salt of R-ALA) or the plain salted R-ALA. The Glucophase XR is around 30 bucks a bottle ( a months worth) There are some cheaper ones but if you want to save money and still use the better product look at using the powder itself, 100 doses (25 grams for 19.95). It may be or not be worth it to you given that it’s only a couple of bucks a month savings. Note that I didn’t include the Glucophase XR in the price comparison as it’s a salt and takes more per serving then the unsalted R-ALA.
Dietary supplements. Ok this is where I think I am going to get in trouble here. First off lets be realistic about a few things, your diet, not the supplements you use in it, are what is going to make the difference. That is why we refer to them as supplements; they are in ADDITION to, not replacing your basic foods. Please reread that last sentence. This bull**** about pre/post workout/bedtime/wakeup shakes/bars has been blown way out or proportion IMO. This is the truth of the matter: a high quality diet with the calories coming in the ratios 40% protein, 30% carbohydrates, and 30% from healthy fats will produce better results then all the shakes and mixes you can buy. Also the amount of protein is less important then having high quality protein throughout the day. (Your body doesn’t store it; if it needs it and you didn’t eat it then it takes it from your tissues.) As this is impractical for us working folks (it takes more time then most people have) we often use these things to help make up for our deficiencies. (Protein shake at work instead of full meal is often the only options; the boss looks at you funny for trying to take two lunch breaks). But they do not replace the basic diet. Bran flakes and radical raspberry protein shake make for a good mid morning snack; they don’t replace the steak and eggs for breakfast or in the case of my buddy cold pizza. Like wise the meal replacement shakes should be avoided IMO, if you need a meal replacement shake consider making your own. There are all kinds of recipes for oat and whey protein/cottage cheese shakes. They are much better for you then the maltodextrin/dextrose based shakes. Did I mention that you will save money? Gram per gram whey protein is not that cheap of protein a sources. Inexpensive whey is around $4.50 a pound with most being around 70 to 80% protein by weight making it around 6 dollars a pound of protein. Whey isolate is something like 80 to 85% protein at 7 to 9 dollars a pound. That’s around $9.70 a pound. Compare that to chicken breast at around $6.40 pound of protein. (Chicken breast at 2 buck a pound and is around 31% protein by weight)
Dietary supplements that work. Multivitamins are good. Potassium and magnesium supplements are good if you’re prone to cramps or pumps. B-complex would not hurt. Protein shakes are a good thing. Use between meals or when time does not permit a real meal. I recommend whatever tastes better. As far as what kind protein shakes I would go with the cheapest fair quality protein available. I don’t recommend whey isolate as it far more expensive and no one has convinced me that it is really that much better for you ( outside of using with insulin), at least not for the cost. As far as long lasting protein goes eat real food, or at least combine the protein shake with real food. That will slow the absorption process some but real food is the better option. Creatine is another one that works and is inexpensive. It can be had for 15 dollars a kilogram for the monohydrate version or 30 dollars for the ethyl ester hydrochloride version. (Note that it CEE has a lower dosage recommended dosage then the monohydrate, 2 grams vs. 5 grams. So the per dose cost is 6 cents for the CEE and 7.5 cents for the monohydrate) To which is better I don’t know, for myself I am going to wait and see how the CEE turn out before I jump on the bandwagon. These are really the only dietary supplements that I can see using. Everything else should be covered by eating a good diet.
Eating a good diet. This does not have to break your budget at all. Just a few simple things will reduce the cost by almost half. For instance I don’t pay any more then 2 buck a pound for chicken breast, it almost always comes on sale at some point. The same with lean ground beef, 90/10 and 93/7. The 90/10 I can get regular in bulk for 2.18 a pound, divide it up and freeze it. The 93/7 I can usually find in the little factory rolls for 4 for 10 dollars. Not bad and they freeze well. A lot of people are in to organic foods and that is great but I would be more interested in unmodified foods. The more someone mucked with it the less likely its good for you. There are some exceptions, whey protein, egg whites, low carb milk, and so on. These should not be expensive items, check your local super store or bulk store. Some things don’t do well in bulk and you really can’t do much about them (flaxseed meal) but most items you can. Most people buy their whey in bulk, this is several time cheaper then going to most sport or health stores. Egg whites can be bought by the bucket and so on.
Please note that I am not flaming people that use pre/post-workout drinks or other specialty items rather I am say that they are largely unnecessary, and if your on a budget they should be the first thing to go. If you want to carb up before a workout try orange juice. (Note that anabolic inventions has a pre workout drink that is different then this, it has creatine and other things in it. I am thinking that this would be fun to try but it’s not necessary.) The same with sports drinks. Most of them are sugar water and not close to being a real food.
