Well, I've spent years trying to reach a 6 pack. Seems like every year as I get close something (vacation, injury, etc) derails me as I get to the 12% bodyfat range and I can't quite make it there. This year, I'm starting at pretty close to as lean as i've ever been and no vacation till june, and minimal business travel the next few months. That and i've got fat free from applied nutraceuticals to help.
Fat free is an interesting product
One of its main fat loss mechanisms is the Ursolic acid, which is gaining populatiry/momentum as an ingredient. But what also stood out to me is the DHEA. Lets do some math for a second here. Each cap is 700mg. The caffeine has to be more or less 100mg to be meaningful/relevant, and also i'd guess that the hordenine is around 50mg so that sort of amount for caffeine makes sense. Remember that the ingedients are listed in order of amounts, greatest to smallest. And 150mg (maybe more) for ursolic acid makes sense, as thats the dose used in Ursabolic. But what that also means is the DHEA is somewhere in the 100-150mg range per cap, or 300-450mg a day. Although thats high for general DHEA dosing, its still below what AX used in Superdrol NG (170mg/cap). its definitely intriguing.
As for me, I'm 44, previously obese, started in the gym at 39 having not looked at a gym or exercise seriously since high school. Here's a current pic
My workout routine varies, but I think i've hit on a new schedule to make it work more consistently. That has been my biggest weakness, and I think it is for many people, consistency. General plan is working as a split of chest/back/legs with arms done every workout if possible. I shoot for 3-4 major exercises for each body part, 4 sets of relatively high reps most of the time (10-15), with sets 3+4 done to failure. Not particularly looking for much more in size other than maybe arms.
Diet is more interesting I'm using Lean Gains/Intermittent fasting, but with a lower carbohydrate level than is normally used for it. I'm at a level that would put me ketogenic on burn days, and just barely above that on build days.
For those not familiar with IF or Lean Gains, its a protocol where you have 8 hours eating, 16 hours of not eating every day. So I don't start eating till 12 noon, and I stop by 8. I work out at 7-8am most days, so not only do I have nothing preworkout, but don't eat postworkout for 4 hours. On the normal lean gains eating, you have protein stay close to the same all days, with build days being high carb and moderate to low fat, on burn days you have low carb and moderate to high fat. Particularly for fat loss, build days are meant to be at or slightly over maintenance, and burn days 30% or so below, which is right about where I am. Protein sources are mixed, chicken, beef, fish, eggs, and dairy. Fat sources are mostly nuts and cheese.
What did I leave out? My cardio schedule. Why did I leave it out? because I don't do any. I've had arthritis since 25 so it sucks and is painful, its boring, the positive value to fat loss is somewhat questionable, and I don't really have the time. its already hard enough to try and get in 4 hours for strength workouts, adding another 2-3 hours past that is impossible. With a wife, 3 kids, job, etc there aren't enough hours to go around.
On the positive value of cardio being somewhat questionable, the bottom line boils down to it being easier to clip 400 calories out of my eating than to do 400 calories worth of cardio. Although there are other benefits to cardio, I do get regular blood tests and everything is nice and clean so i'm not concerned with it at the moment.
Other supplements I'll be using - not a whole lot. I'll use preworkouts occasionally, switching between a few different ones. I use RecoverPro BCAAs during my workouts. outside of that, fish oil, multivitamins, glutamine peptides, added taurine, and l-carnitine l-tartrate.
I started with one cap this morning, weight on the scale was an even 200. And so it begins, lets hope I reach 6 pack this year finally!
Fat free is an interesting product
One of its main fat loss mechanisms is the Ursolic acid, which is gaining populatiry/momentum as an ingredient. But what also stood out to me is the DHEA. Lets do some math for a second here. Each cap is 700mg. The caffeine has to be more or less 100mg to be meaningful/relevant, and also i'd guess that the hordenine is around 50mg so that sort of amount for caffeine makes sense. Remember that the ingedients are listed in order of amounts, greatest to smallest. And 150mg (maybe more) for ursolic acid makes sense, as thats the dose used in Ursabolic. But what that also means is the DHEA is somewhere in the 100-150mg range per cap, or 300-450mg a day. Although thats high for general DHEA dosing, its still below what AX used in Superdrol NG (170mg/cap). its definitely intriguing.
As for me, I'm 44, previously obese, started in the gym at 39 having not looked at a gym or exercise seriously since high school. Here's a current pic
My workout routine varies, but I think i've hit on a new schedule to make it work more consistently. That has been my biggest weakness, and I think it is for many people, consistency. General plan is working as a split of chest/back/legs with arms done every workout if possible. I shoot for 3-4 major exercises for each body part, 4 sets of relatively high reps most of the time (10-15), with sets 3+4 done to failure. Not particularly looking for much more in size other than maybe arms.
Diet is more interesting I'm using Lean Gains/Intermittent fasting, but with a lower carbohydrate level than is normally used for it. I'm at a level that would put me ketogenic on burn days, and just barely above that on build days.
For those not familiar with IF or Lean Gains, its a protocol where you have 8 hours eating, 16 hours of not eating every day. So I don't start eating till 12 noon, and I stop by 8. I work out at 7-8am most days, so not only do I have nothing preworkout, but don't eat postworkout for 4 hours. On the normal lean gains eating, you have protein stay close to the same all days, with build days being high carb and moderate to low fat, on burn days you have low carb and moderate to high fat. Particularly for fat loss, build days are meant to be at or slightly over maintenance, and burn days 30% or so below, which is right about where I am. Protein sources are mixed, chicken, beef, fish, eggs, and dairy. Fat sources are mostly nuts and cheese.
What did I leave out? My cardio schedule. Why did I leave it out? because I don't do any. I've had arthritis since 25 so it sucks and is painful, its boring, the positive value to fat loss is somewhat questionable, and I don't really have the time. its already hard enough to try and get in 4 hours for strength workouts, adding another 2-3 hours past that is impossible. With a wife, 3 kids, job, etc there aren't enough hours to go around.
On the positive value of cardio being somewhat questionable, the bottom line boils down to it being easier to clip 400 calories out of my eating than to do 400 calories worth of cardio. Although there are other benefits to cardio, I do get regular blood tests and everything is nice and clean so i'm not concerned with it at the moment.
Other supplements I'll be using - not a whole lot. I'll use preworkouts occasionally, switching between a few different ones. I use RecoverPro BCAAs during my workouts. outside of that, fish oil, multivitamins, glutamine peptides, added taurine, and l-carnitine l-tartrate.
I started with one cap this morning, weight on the scale was an even 200. And so it begins, lets hope I reach 6 pack this year finally!