ccnAbolic gets his (logging) cherry (citrus) popped by L.I.T. UP (Sponsored Log)

[ccnAbolic]

First off, thanks to appnut for selecting me to do this. This is my first log so feedback is always welcome on any aspect including routines, usage, logging style, etc.

My routines vary from traditional lifting to crossfit to a combo of the two. Just depends who I am working with.

Age: 39
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 185

I am not a "bodybuilder" but am always working on building my body and. this started out 2 years ago when I saw pictures of myself at the beach and realized how badly I'd let myself go. I lost 40 pounds and have been hard at it ever since. Call this the "regular Joe" log, as I suspect many if not most of the people buying this are.

Other supps:

Fish Oil
Multi
Intra WO drink (BCAA's, Leucine, etc)
Creatine
Protein
Enzymes



I have been working through some injuries, so some of my routines are lighter than usual, but I will make sure to identify those as well as PR's. Yes, there has already been one!


Initial Review:

Taste: 9/10 This stuff tastes great. A little more candy-tasting than I prefer, but nothing truly negative about it at all. Gos down great.

Energy: 8/10 Nice clean energy. It's not a stimmed out feeling, which I like. The actual energy increase is more like a 7 but the fact that it is so clean and allows me to go to my job after and function without crashing or having my brain in a fog elevates it for me.

Focus: 10/10 See above. I get up at 5:30 and go to the gym, then go to work. My focus is great at the gym and when I get to work. It continues thoughout the day.

Pump: 7/10 I used it without creatine to see and it was decent enough.

Vascularity: 8/10 I noticed sustained vascularity throughout the day which I don't normally see.

GI Issues: 10/10 I hope this continues. I was worried about the betaine as I ususally have issues with it. Perhaps since it's on a completeley empty stomach it doesn't have a chance to irritate me.

Day 1 is up next...

 

[chubbarock]

Awesome initial impressions man, you didn't miss much for this being your first log/review

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 1:

Doing a chest day today even though I did it 2 days ago but I hadn't worked out with my buddies in awhile so I ran with the pack. Wasn't expecting much since I was still sore.

Took 2 scoops about 30 minutes before. Since it was the first thing I consumed that morning, it didn't take long to kick in. Within 10-15 minutes, I felt my sense of awareness and energy increase.

The workout:

Flat bench - 12x185, 10x205, 6x215, 3x225 : Chest is my achiles heel but that's up there with my best and I am happy with the results considering I was not 100%

The rest was just a lighter round of decline, incline, cable flies, and wide - all of these being on the Hammer Strength dumbell machines.

Felt great throughout. Pump was pretty good. Went to work and was crash-free and able to focus very well for the rest of the day.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 2:

Shoulders/Light Leg Split

2 Scoops first thing in the morning. Was pretty exhausted from a lack of sleep but it woke me up pretty well. Energy was again clean and smooth. Focus was great. Flying Solo so using a lot of machines.

Overhead Press(Hammer Strength): 12x140, 12x160, 8x180, 6x180, 5x200 - I don't set out to do this many(or few) reps. I normally just go for failure on each set except the warmup.

Dumbell Press/Arnold Press Superset: 10+10x30lbs(per), 10+10x35lbs(per), 10+6x40lbs(per). Obviously, this is light weigth but from a stamina standpoint, this is a new PR for me.

Cable Raises(per shoulder): 12x15lbs, 12x20lbs, 12x25lbs, 10x30lbs

Machine Overhead Press Superset: 5x140,15x50,5x150,12x60,5x150, 10x60, 4x160, 10x70

Then I did some light legwork as I am nursing a lower back injury.

Felt awesome this workout. Got a pretty good pump on this workout even though I did not use creatine. Felt great the rest of the day at work.

I am starting to get sold on this stuff.

 

[chubbarock]

lookin good in here man

 

[ccnAbolic]

Sorry, been a few days. Will be seeing Sports Medicine guy for my back soon and hopefully he doesn't kill the momentum...

Day 3 - Focusing on Upper back, due to lower back injury.

Pull-ups (wide grip) - 13, 11, 10, 10, 6 minute rest between. This marks a PR for me. In the past I died at ten in the first set and was downhill from there. One thing to note is I was able to do these very intensely while sweezing my lats hard to the very top. I know these numbers are probably nothing to some people but considering 2 years ago I could do ZERO, I am very stoked.

MTS High Row (Hammer Strength) - 12x140, 10x160, 10x180, 10x200, 7x220 - about normal

Seated Dual Pulley Row (light) - 12x105, 10x120, 8x135 - Went light cuz I could feel it in lower back.

Seated Dual Pulley High Row (light, wide handle) - 12x90, 12x105, 12x115

Reverse Flies - 12x90, 12x105, 10x120, 6x135

Pretty pumped about the pull-ups. Granted, I have bene focusing a lot on these but around a %20 increase from previous week has me pretty pumped.

As before, pump was decent. Energy was crash-free and focus continued for several hours. NO GI issues at all to this point. By day's end, I could really feel the pull ups I'd done right between my shoulder blades which has always been a tough spot for me to get sore.

One thing I would like to note is the intensity while using L.I.T. UP. I don't mean mental intensity like a 1,3 product. I am talking about focused muscle control and making that muscle flex and squeeze just a little bit more at the end of a rep, like when I was doing pull ups. Not sure if that is descriptive enough but it's a little hard to explain...

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 4 - Saturday. Was going to work on arms and do some cardio. GYM WAS CLOSED!!! WTF! They ended up opening late so I just went home and did what I could with my 30lb dumbells and got a run in.

Nothing changed from a focus, endurance, energy standpoint. Good to go.

Sorry appnut, was hoping to post some good numbers on that one...

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 5 - Sunday : REST

Question: Since this has DAA, should it be taken on off days as well? I did not but seems logical to do at least the first couple weeks...

 

[AZMIDLYF]

Nice log bubba. I also notice a better mind/muscle connection with Lit Up. I can't remember where I read it but I only take it pre-workout.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Nice log bubba. I also notice a better mind/muscle connection with Lit Up. I can't remember where I read it but I only take it pre-workout.

Mind-muscle connection...That's what I was looking for. Ha!

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 6- Monday: REST

Went to Sports Medicine Doc. Told me to go to PT but I could continue working out (yippee!) but lay off squats, deadlifts, the power snatches that caused it, etc. Start Thursday.

 

[chubbarock]

Dude you are killing it! Congrats on the pullup PR!

As far as the DAA goes, its really your choice, to reap the max benefit of DAA and max elevation in test levels than it wouldn't hurt to take LITup on off days, even if its at 1 scoop - However, its not neccessary, and completely up to you

One thing I would like to note is the intensity while using L.I.T. UP. I don't mean mental intensity like a 1,3 product. I am talking about focused muscle control and making that muscle flex and squeeze just a little bit more at the end of a rep, like when I was doing pull ups. Not sure if that is descriptive enough but it's a little hard to explain...

I feel the exact same way, thats actually a great description :biggthumpup:

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 7- Tuesday: Chest and Triceps

Draggin' a$$ this morning after only 4 hours sleep. Took 2 scoops of L.I.T. UP and got a good wake up and cleared most of the cobwebs.

Flat bench - 10x185, 8x205, 6x215, 3x225 All were to failure. I am satisfied considering the exhaustion and surprised it was pretty close to a fully rested day.

On Hammer Strength I am only counting the weight of the plates I load because I am not sure how much each arm adds...

Decline(Hammer Strength) - 12x140, 12x180, 10x230

Incline(Hammer Strength) - 12x90, 12x140, 8x180

Wide grip flys - 12x105, 12x120, 12x135

Am going to try to do some dumbell work this coming week if I can wrangle up a spotter.

Triceps:

Rope- 12x70, 12x80, 12x90

close grip handle - 12x80, 12x90, 12x100

Unassisted Dips - 2 sets to failure: 14, 11

Some lighter weight that usual but felt VERY effective nonetheless. That "mind-muscle connection thing I suppose...

Felt pretty good rest of the day.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 8 - Wednesday: Upper Back (PR ALERT)

Decided to hang, literally, with my buddies doing crossfit. Weighted pullups were the special of the day. They did some other stuff but I stuck to these. The routine called for 15@35lbs, 21@25lbs, and 36 unweighted but I screwed it up in a good way. If I pulled even close to any of this it would smash all pr's.

1: Did 11 before I had to drop for a breather(10 seconds), then finished. If you compare to last week, this is a PR considering the added weight...Big time!

2: I messed up and kept the 35lbs on. Did 9 and dropped for a breathe(10 seconds), then did another 5. Stopped there since my buddy pointed out I had too much weight.

3: Unweighted. Did 8, dropped. Another 6, dropped. Then another 4, then 3. I was spent.

I continued to do some high rows, cable pulley rows, etc. but honestly, it really wasn't worth logging because I was so pumped about the pullups. I wonder if I can even duplicate that next week...

Right now, I can say I will definitely buy this product once I am done logging it.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 9 - Thursday: Rest

Went to physical therapy for my back. Worked on some stretches and got a nice massage. Was told to do all seated legwork for now but to keep working out. Happy about that!

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 10 - Friday: Shoulders

Skipped legs because I am fairly sore from PT. Took 2 scoops about 15min before working out and it showed. Felt good but I didn't really see improvements over previous week until the superset because of the timing, I would imagine.

Overhead Press(Hammer Strength): 12x140, 12x160, 8x180, 6x180, 3x200 - about the same

Cable Raises(per shoulder): 12x15lbs, 12x20lbs, 12x25lbs, 12x30lbs

Machine Overhead Press Superset: 5x150,15x60,5x155,15x70,5x160, 15x80, 5x165, 15x80

20 minutes of stretching...

Felt good throughout day. have yet to see a crash.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 11 - Sat: REST

Took 1 scoop to keep the DAA in my system. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it!

Rested rather than do arms and cardio to just let everything settle. Determined to make next week a great one.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 12 - SUN: Rest

Took a scoop. Woke me up.

 

[Outside Backer]

very detail thus far. you shouldn't see any crashes that has been the biggest feature yet with everyone

 

[AZMIDLYF]

This supp is the perfect stim. Plenty of energy and focus with no negatives.

 

[drooks10]

How did Monday's workout go?

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 13 - Monday: Chest

Went pretty well. Similar workout to previous ones but I worked out with a crew that included of a former Canadian League Football Player and a fromer NFL player. So although my numbers are similar to the week before, the intensivy level was higher as I was being coached throughout the process and they were controlling my motions a lot more. Just about everything was 10,8,6,4 on reps with weight going up...

Running late this morning. Took 2 scoops. Still wakes me up!

Flat bench - 8x195, 8x205, 6x215, 2x225 All ended at failure. Those guys really made me slow it down a little more than I had been and work on my control.

Incline (hammer) - 10x140,, 8x160, 6x180

Flat Dumbell Press(close grip) - 10x110, 8x120, 6x140...This was a new one for me. I normally hold the dumbell much wider but they had me holding them with the inside dumbell parallel with the outside of my pec. The goal was to work the inside of the pec and a get a little more tricep into it as well.

I have a good pump going right now and I even forgot the creatine this AM...

Wide Grip Flies - 12x105, 10x120, 8x135, 6x150

Had to cut the workout short so just finished on some dips.

15, 12(failure)

Solid workout. Still unable to locate a crash Although this was a less than I normally do, I am sore as heck from the intensity of the workout this morning.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 14 - Tuesday: Cross-Fit

7 rounds

5 Toes to Bar (did 7 per round to make up for box jumps)
7 Push Ups (did 10 for same reason)
9 20" Box Jumps ( due to aforementioned back injury substituted for some seated high rep leg press to get heart rate up)

All went well. I was still pretty sore from chest day and by the time I was done, I had reached critical mass on my chest.

Another good workout. Felt really strong, controlled focus on the Toes to Bar. Endurance was good. Will have to trying out next week on one of the tougher workouts.

Once again, I will say: NO GI ISSUES AT ALL taken on an empty stomach. No heartburn and no blowin up the camode either. That is an absolute miracle for me as it related to pre's.

Have already started recommending to preworkout newbies (adults, of course) because it is so well-balanced and effective.

 

[chubbarock]

Crossfit has always intrigued me, glad to see LITup pairs well with it

 

[drooks10]

Awesome to hear you are so pumped about the product that you are willing to tell your friends about it! Thank you.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Crossfit has always intrigued me, glad to see LITup pairs well with it

It's good stuff. Some of the local football teams are even doing it now. Even though there is the cardio/endurance aspect to it, it also has a lot of explosive strength aspects to it and L.I.T. UP seems to cover both bases.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 15 - Wed: Back

Took my usual 2 scoops. Again, felt pretty good. Continuing to lay off lower back.

Weighted Pull-Ups: 6x45(never attempted), 8x35, 6x35, 6x25, 12(unweighted). Very happy since 45 was anew one for me. I'm sure that had an impact on the rest of the numbers though.

MTS High Rows(Hammer)- 12x180, 10x230, 8x250, 6x270. From a weight/reps standpoint, this is a PR.

Seated Row (Hammer) - 12x90, 10x140, 6x160 - normal

Pullover (Hammer) - 12x185, 10x210, 8x235 - On the high side

Seated Dual Pulley Row - 12x90, 12x90 - light

Reverse Flies - 12x120, 10x135, 7x150, 4x165 - On the high side

Noticed a pronounced pump in my forearms and biceps after the weighted pullups, moreso that usual.

Very, very happy with this workout. L.I.T. UP seems to really help my back workouts more that the others. All are good, but the back workouts seem to improve. Felt a good, evenly spread soreness this night in places that are usually not sore.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 16 - Thu: Crossfit

Draggin a$$ again from a late night... L.I.T. UP gave me a good wake up...

Today's routine is 20 stroke pace rows for 5 minutes, max pushups 5minutes(third time on chest this week), 20 stroke pace rows for 5 minutes, 3x5 sets bodyweight bench press.

Got through it just fine. Endurance was good. On the rows a 20 stroke pace is pretty slow but the point was to explode on each stroke. Only did 2 of the bench sets since my chest has just about had it this week. I probably did around 60 or so push ups because I was still sore from mon/tue. Don't wanna jack anything up.

That's one thing about crossfit: There are weeks where a muscle group gets worked hard 2-3 times and it goes against conventional training. If so, I just take it a little easier or shorted intervals. I see the guys doing it and can't argue with the results though.

As mentioned before, this product does match up well with crossfit if anyone is interested.

 

[chubbarock]

Nice updates man, keep em comin

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 17 - FRI: Shoulders

Overhead Press(Hammer Strength): 12x160, 8x180, 6x200, 4x210 Little heavier than last week but less reps.

Cable Raises(per shoulder): 12x15lbs, 12x20lbs, 12x25lbs, 12x30lbs

Machine Overhead Press Superset: 5x155,15x80,5x160,15x70,5x165, 15x60, 5x170, 15x70 - again, a lil better

20 minutes of stretching...

Decent workout. Felt like I could have given it a little more but still trying to protect the gimpy back...

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 18 - SAT: REST

1 Scoop. I am finding myself looking forward to this even on off days...

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 19 - Sun: REST

1 Scoop

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 20 - Mon: Chest and Dips

I decided to stack 2 scoops with 6g of GMS. Let's see what happens:

Flat bench - 10x135(second warm-up set), 8x190, 6x210, 8x155. This was weird. Perhaps the extra warm-up set did me in. Not happy with this at all

Incline(Hammer Strength) - 12x90, 12x140, 8x160 - weak

Decline(Hammer Strength) - 12x180, 12x230, 12x180 - decent, but not great.

Wide grip flys - 12x120, 12x135, 12x150, 12x165 - Guess I closed strong because I was so pissed about the rest...

Push-Ups to failure

3 sets of Dips to failure - nothing spectacular here...

I am thinking maybe GMS and this counteract each other. No way of knowing without doing it again but I don't plan on it...

Energy was good and all else felt the same. Stamina was there but didn't have that explosive strength. Anyone else stack this with GMS?

 

[drooks10]

I have not stacked them, but now you know that maybe it isn't a great combo for you. Was there anything else different that made you have a sub-par workout? Was your diet different, sleep, etc.?

 

[ccnAbolic]

I have not stacked them, but now you know that maybe it isn't a great combo for you. Was there anything else different that made you have a sub-par workout? Was your diet different, sleep, etc.?

Not really. I don't want to overthink it because sometimes there are just crappy days and the days after that I will be posting up were great...

 

[ccnAbolic]

Good Sidenote: Not sure which component of L.I.T. UP is responsible for this, but I have been feeling pretty "swole" as of late...I can really feel my shirt around the pec and shoulder region. Should have taken measurements

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 21 - Tuesday: Biceps/Triceps

Was going to do some crossfit, BUT a buddy of mine was there and he needed some motivation(ie he cheats on his routines A LOT), so I did his thing with him. Thankfully, I didn't do much with triceps yesterday.

Seated Machine Curls/Arm Extension(triceps) Superset:

12x40/12x60, 12x50/12x70, 12x60/12x70, 12x70/12x80, 12x80/12x80

Preacher Curls: 12x55, 12x65, 12x75

Incline Dumbell Curls: 12x30, 12x40

Hammer Curls(last five in each set palms down): 12x30, 12x30

Nosebreakers: 15x50, 12x60, 12x65, 12x70 ---Ha, this one cracks me up. It's new to me.

Rope Tricep Pull-downs: 12x80, 12x90, 10x100

Not to beat a dead horse but I was instructed to keep any free-standing exercises to a minimum for now.

Had a great workout. Energy was good, pump was phenominal, vascularity persisted throughout the day.

 

[drooks10]

Not really. I don't want to overthink it because sometimes there are just crappy days and the days after that I will be posting up were great...

I agree. Some days just plain suck in the gym.

Day 21 - Tuesday: Biceps/Triceps

Was going to do some crossfit, BUT a buddy of mine was there and he needed some motivation(ie he cheats on his routines A LOT), so I did his thing with him. Thankfully, I didn't do much with triceps yesterday.

Seated Machine Curls/Arm Extension(triceps) Superset:

12x40/12x60, 12x50/12x70, 12x60/12x70, 12x70/12x80, 12x80/12x80

Preacher Curls: 12x55, 12x65, 12x75

Incline Dumbell Curls: 12x30, 12x40

Hammer Curls(last five in each set palms down): 12x30, 12x30

Nosebreakers: 15x50, 12x60, 12x65, 12x70 ---Ha, this one cracks me up. It's new to me.

Rope Tricep Pull-downs: 12x80, 12x90, 10x100

Not to beat a dead horse but I was instructed to keep any free-standing exercises to a minimum for now.

Had a great workout. Energy was good, pump was phenominal, vascularity persisted throughout the day.

Nice workout. Good to see you had a good pump, too! I'm hitting arms tomorrow. I bet I get my swole on, too!

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 22 - Wednesday: Crossfit/Shoulders/Misc.

2 Scoops of L.I.T. UP...Felt the BA more than usual. Maybe it settled to the bottom. Perhaps I should have shaken it up before the first use...I felt the stim kick in really well too today, most likely from being well-rested.

Today's routine is 3 sets of 5 on shoulder press @ 140, 180, 230 - it was a short round/set but 230 is the highest I have tried, so I am proud.

Then Takata: 4 rounds of air squats/situps(I did leg raises) 20 seconds each, with 10 seconds rest between rounds.

Seemed like an easy routine, so I decided there was way more than enough fuel in the tank to keep going.

Then I did stair calf raises, 10 steps @12reps with the last three being single leg. Hope it makes sense.

Machine calf press: 230x12, 250x12

Next was 3 sets of shoulder raises (up, front, down, up, back, down --dont know what this is called) with 15lbs dumbells.

Finished with Machine shoulder press superset:

5x155/15x70, 5x170/15x80, 5x185/15x70


A little different from a number of sets standpoint, but this is the heaviest I've ever been able to work shoulders. Maybe the crossfit got me warmed up. I have been following the guidance of the seasoned gymrats at my gym on alternating heavy and light during shoulders and/or arms. Figured I'd listen since they are all huge and cut. Seem to be paying off.

Felt pretty swole throughout the day. Pretty impressive since I forgot my creatine today...

I figure there are only a couple more workouts left in this tub and I miss L.I.T. UP already...Time to restock!

 

[chubbarock]

Dude glad to hear about the swole feeling because I thought it was just me lol! And I haven't supplemented with creatine in a few months so I know it has nothing to do with that!

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 23 - Thu: Back

2 Scoops L.I.T. UP. As usual, got a nice surge of energy from it.

Weighted Pull-Ups: 6x45, 5x45, 6x35, 8x25, 12(unweighted). 45x2=PR AGAIN!

MTS High Rows(Hammer)- 12x180, 10x230, 8x250, 6x270. Same as last week. Not bad since I worked hard on the pullups.

Seated Row (Hammer) - 12x90, 10x140, 6x160 - normal

Pullover (Hammer) - 12x185, 10x210, 5x235 - Less on last set.

Seated Dual Pulley Row - 12x120, 12x120

Reverse Flies - 12x120, 8x135, 6x150, 12x120 - Was pretty spent by this point.

Extremely happy with the pullup results. Even had a small audience for that part. Not able to do as much when the lower back is involved still, so I am happy with the rest as well. Solid workout for me. Energy level was awesome all day and the swoleness ensued...Great pump in my arms,forearms, and lats.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 24 - Fri: REST

Unexpected rest but probably not a bad thing. Have hit all muscle groups, some twice. Took a scoop cuz now its just a habit that I enjoy.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 25 - Sat: Rest

Took a scoop. Busted out 60 push-ups on my fingertips and 60 on my fists, Takata style. just cuz I felt like it. Probably not the greatest idea for growing my chest(my achiles heel)...Oh well.

Guessing I have enough for a scoop on Sunday and Monday's workout...

 

[chubbarock]

Nice updates bro, gj on those pullups!

 

[FW Friedel]

Day 18 - SAT: REST

1 Scoop. I am finding myself looking forward to this even on off days...

LOL, that good huh?

 

[ccnAbolic]

Yup. That good.

 

[ccnAbolic]

Day 26 - Sunday: Rest

1 scoop. Have exactly 2 scoops left. Hope tomorrow will be awesome...

 

[chubbarock]

with LITup you dont have to hope

 

[ccnAbolic]

Sorry guys. Final day and review coming tonight I hope. Been a crazy week.

 

[chubbarock]

Sorry guys. Final day and review coming tonight I hope. Been a crazy week.

Its all good brotha Thanks for checking in