My Transformation Log

[saludable24]

So, I'm going to begin a log of my transformation from what I am now, into what I become over the next few months. This log is for me; it is not sponsored in any way. I will, however, give my opinions and reviews of products I have used in the past, or am currently using now. I don't intend to get too detailed with postng my diet or workout stats every day; I may do it periodically though. I'm just a bit lazy anyway.

Now, I'll tell you a little about myself. I'm 5'10" and weigh in at just under 190 lbs right now (morning, before shower). 25 years old. I believe I'm a mesomorph. I'll have to do something to test my body fat % soon. I would guess around 15-18%, but that is just a guess. I honestly havn't been lifting weights or exercising that long. I've probably got measly 8 months total under my belt since I began 2 years ago.

I had some rather difficult health issues that surfaced just before that time wich motivated me to begin getting healthy. I started looking at nutrition and exercise and soon began my journey. Unfortunately I had a nasty pinched nerve put me down after only 4 months of training. But despite that, I found i love how it made me feel and look. I made nice progress in my eyes and have been trying hard to get back to a point where I could return to the gym and pursue my newfound passion. Despite not being able to spend much time lifting over the last year, I have kept up with all the nutrition and supplementation information i could get my hands on by reading this and other boards.

I've done some physical therapy and am now seeing a chiropractor to help get my back into better shape. The chiropractor has really done wonders and is the main reason I've felt good enough to get back into the gym and begin lifting again. I still have pain, but it is much better than it was and continues to improve now that I can strengthen my back muscles through lifting.

I'll post again later with what I am doing at the gym and my current diet and supplements as well as my goals.

Saludable :thumbsup:

 

[Jsouth]

Looking forward to this log man... patience is the key

 

[saludable24]

Thanks Jsouth. Patience truely has been key to me making the progress in my recovery. I just got back from the chiro and boy does my back feel better.

As far as what I'm doing now: I get to the gym about 5-6 times per week. I do a 3 day split with a personal trainer of chest/back, legs, shoulders/bi's; the other days I try to get in and do 30-60 min of cardio depending on how I feel that day. I have a fairly physical job as well, on my feet 8 hrs and lifting stuff ~50lbs constantly. I've been doing this the last week and a half; the 2 weeks prior I was doing 4 days / week upper/lower split, high rep to get back some of my conditioning. I've probably lost 6-8 lbs total weight while gaining muscle.

I drink a good protien shake almost every morning with 3 scoops (protien scooper) of Quaker oats, 1 scoop ON whey, 1 scoop Muscle Milk, and an occasional fruit like banana or frozen berries :food: . The rest of the day is unfortunately not as good as it starts out. I have a hectic job, but whats worse is my housing sittuation is crummy (soon to be fixed) and I eat out a lot. I redeem myself somewhat with decent pre/during/post workout nutrition. I use Xtend+GreenMag pre, whey isolate with xtend and WMS during and post.

My goal right now is really body recomposition. I want to drop the 20 pounds I've put on over the last 6 months while simultaneously building more muscle with a focus on strength. I want to look good physically, feel good mentally, and be strong enough in both areas to take pretty much anything life throws at me without getting injured as has happened previously.

Later this evening or tomarrow I will post about what supplements I'm using and the ones I have tried in the past.

Peace!

 

[saludable24]

OK. I don't have access to the internet as easily as I would like right now so I wasn't able to update until now.

As far as my progress is going: I'm doing well. I'm going up a little bit in weight for each of my lifts. My weight seems to want to just stay fixed at about 193 for the past month no matter what. I am looking better than I was befor as I look in the mirror. So I am getting the recomping effect I desire; I just am looking to drop more in my weight while still gaining muscle. I'll just have to be patient over the next month or two and try upping my cardio.

I've just gone through a two week cycle of ~12 rep/3 set heavier weight routine and am now back on a high rep/low weight routine again.

I did my shoulders/bis today with my trainer, and boy do those high reps make it burn! Ouch. But as I see the results I know that the burning is worth it. I also was able to go up to 150 lbs on the back extention machine after being stuck at 145. YAY!

 

[saludable24]

suplements

Now on to the supplements I use and have used in the past. I'll start with my staples, with what I'm using currently as well.

Staples:

NOW Adam
NOW Ester-C 100
NOW Omega-3 Fish Oil
CNW Grape Seed Extract
USPlabs Cissus RX (original) (I still have some from the 6 month stash I hoarded, hehe)
USPLabs REM-r3g (from the same stash, w00t!)
ON Gold Standard Whey
Cytosport Muscle milk
Primaforce Substance WPI


Current Supps: (non-staples that rotate in and out)

Control Labs Green MAG
NOW Maca
NOW Tribulus 1000 (befor w/o)
Nimbus Nutrition's POSEIDON
USPLabs Powerfull (upon waking/before bed) (original)

Past Supps:

Get Diesel Diesel Test 2010
USPLabs Symmetry X
Thermolife E-Bol
USPLabs cAMP
Designer Supplements Glucophase XR


I'll post some reviews of these supps another time. Until then, lets all keep focussed on our goals of anibolism and health!

 

[workin2005]

Subscribed! Looking forward to your updates!

Workin

 

[saludable24]

reviews

Ok, time for a review or two.

Poseidon: Very good stuff. I will be buying again. The flushing is kinda cool, but what I really like is the way I feel after dosing it. It seems to lift my brain fog in the morning quite well and put me in a more amicable mood when I dose during the day. I can't confirm this about it or not as of yet, but it seems that my body may be "holding on to" the vitamins in Poseidon longer than from other sources. It could just be the dosing, but when I urinate I almost always have that bright yellow/green color even way after I have dosed, which hasn't happened to such a degree with other B-vitamins. I had a concern about Magnesium overload while using Green MAG from CL, but I have found it not to be anything to worry about as I have dosed 2 servings during/after my workouts after taking my pre WO green mag. I like it. I usually dose first thing in the morning, then afternoon or post WO, and then again before bed. Poseidon seems to help me get my natural energy back faster after I've gone to the gym and done a good amount of exercise, whish is a definate plus. The only thing I can think of that would be an improvement would be to use higher amounts of the more effective/bioavailable vitamins like p5p, more methylC, no mag-oxide, ect.. But then in doing so the price would go up accordingly, so i guess since it is already very effective it's a moot point. Its great to find good products that are worth the money we all work so very hard to earn, and Poseidon seems to be one of the best values I've found. I still have a quarter tub left to enjoy too.

I give it 4.75 stars!

BTW, thanks for your interest Working.

 

[saludable24]

CL Green MAGnitude review

Since I mentioned GreenMAG in my first review, I supose it would make sense to review it next.

As far as value is concerned, I think GreenMAG takes the cake. The taste is out of this world good. The amount of servings in the bucket seem nearly limitless, and it is a very effective creatine product with a few extra goodies. Now I've only taken one other creatine product (BSN Cellmass- to be reviewed later) and it was about a full year ago so I just don't have a lot to compare this to unfortunately. I will say it does help with my endurance and pushing out one or two more reps each set. Between set recovery seems a little better as well when I take it. As far as volumization is concerned, I just don't know. I havn't paid much attention and I just don't have all that much to pay attention to yet :frustrate: . I can't really think of anything that would improve this product, honestly.

I give GreenMAG 5 stars!


I will be giving Nutra's CEE caps a try next as my GreenMAG is finally running out.

 

[workin2005]

Ok, time for a review or two.

Poseidon: Very good stuff. I will be buying again. The flushing is kinda cool, but what I really like is the way I feel after dosing it. It seems to lift my brain fog in the morning quite well and put me in a more amicable mood when I dose during the day. I can't confirm this about it or not as of yet, but it seems that my body may be "holding on to" the vitamins in Poseidon longer than from other sources. It could just be the dosing, but when I urinate I almost always have that bright yellow/green color even way after I have dosed, which hasn't happened to such a degree with other B-vitamins. I had a concern about Magnesium overload while using Green MAG from CL, but I have found it not to be anything to worry about as I have dosed 2 servings during/after my workouts after taking my pre WO green mag. I like it. I usually dose first thing in the morning, then afternoon or post WO, and then again before bed. Poseidon seems to help me get my natural energy back faster after I've gone to the gym and done a good amount of exercise, whish is a definate plus. The only thing I can think of that would be an improvement would be to use higher amounts of the more effective/bioavailable vitamins like p5p, more methylC, no mag-oxide, ect.. But then in doing so the price would go up accordingly, so i guess since it is already very effective it's a moot point. Its great to find good products that are worth the money we all work so very hard to earn, and Poseidon seems to be one of the best values I've found. I still have a quarter tub left to enjoy too.

I give it 4.75 stars!

BTW, thanks for your interest Working.

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed review saludable24. I'm glad to hear you'r enjoying the benefits of Poseidon! Have you noticed any improvement in your skin tone? I look forward to your log my friend! :thumbsup:

Workin

 

[saludable24]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed review saludable24. I'm glad to hear you'r enjoying the benefits of Poseidon! Have you noticed any improvement in your skin tone? I look forward to your log my friend! :thumbsup:

Workin

I have actually, unfortunately not so much in my face. I've noticed the rest of my upper body and my flabby behind have begun feeling smoother to the touch. I assume this has to do with the niacin flushing effect? It seems my face rarely flushes, and if so only slightly, despite the rest of my body from the neck down glows bright pink at times.

I may try a double dose first thing in the morning to see if I can really get my face to flush; my only concern would be spontaneously combusting from the rest of my body heating up so much .

 

[magx]

good luck sir. I am going to follow your progress.

 

[saludable24]

DT 2010 review

Ok, time for another review or two. I'll start off today with Diesel Test 2010.

I've used 2 bottles of DT2010 at two separate occasions. For the most part I used them leading up to and during my physical therapy last year and then again 2 months ago as I got back into the gym.

My experiences between the two bottles were fairly different and I will explain my theory as to why. Both times I found 3 tabs/day to be the most effective protocal after dosing from 2 all the way to 5 tabs/day. My first time seemed to be the better of the two experiences. I weighed in at around 174 (about 20 pounds less than the secondtime). And I also was using DS's Glucophase XR at the same time.

The first go round was great. I could deffinately feel a much more positive attitude all day long. I was definately more motivated (which is a huge problem for me at times) and was less stressed. I felt much more assertive, but not negatively agressive. More energy was also notable. For these effects alone my perchase was worth it.

As I did my PT and a little in the gym I felt very good and saw some gains. My strength went up a bit faster than I was used to, but nothing super natural. Recovery was also quicker which helped immensely.

I'll also say that it gave me a raging libido, which was unfortunately missing the second time. The DIM also dried my hands quite a bit during winter.

My second time was a similar experience, just to a lesser degree in all aspects. I can only postulate that body weight differences and the absence of the quercetin and its analogs from the Glucophase to make things more bioavailable are to blame. The only thing that doesn't fit with this theory completely is that upping the dosage did not induce the previous response. Perhaps the quercetin only makes a few things more bioavailable. If it only made the test and free test boosting properties more powerfull without making the estrogen reducing effects of DIM more potent that could explain it. Anyway, thats just me thinking out loud; I love supplement science. Both times were good experiences though.

Overall it wasn't a bad product for the price, but as far as I am concerned the effects can vary widely which is a downside. It is effective at what it claims to do.

I give DT2010 3.75 stars

I will be trying some other test booster products in the future. I have two bottles each of USP's TNA and Alpha Drive XL waiting for future use.

 

[saludable24]

the coming week

This week I am planning (key word) on getting to the gym at least 4 times. Last week I only made it for my 3 sessions with my personal trainer ($$$).

My plan is to do an hour of cardio Monday evening, do chest/back Tues morning with my PT, legs/tris Wed evening with PT, and shoulders/bi's Fri morning with PT. If I can get everything done I need to this week I will also get in an hour of cardio Sat morning. This is my plan. :head:

 

[workin2005]

I have actually, unfortunately not so much in my face. I've noticed the rest of my upper body and my flabby behind have begun feeling smoother to the touch. I assume this has to do with the niacin flushing effect? It seems my face rarely flushes, and if so only slightly, despite the rest of my body from the neck down glows bright pink at times.

I may try a double dose first thing in the morning to see if I can really get my face to flush; my only concern would be spontaneously combusting from the rest of my body heating up so much .

Be careful, a double dose can cause a pretty intense flush...it's harmless, but many would find it unpleasant. Keep up the great log!

Workin

 

[saludable24]

update

Well it's a good thing it was only a plan for this week. I ended up going out for pizza and watching Spiderman 3 monday after work instead of cardio. It was a very enjoyable evening and worth it. Sometimes it's good to take a break and chill. Today I got to my session late, but we did a quick circuit, full body.

I have to admit my workouts have been pretty crappy for various reasons the past 2 weeks. I just don't have the intense energy I did when I first came back. A lot of it has to do with stress from work and how physical it gets at times. Another thing is that I'm not quite geting the quality or amount of sleep I need. I'm moving soon so I hope I find a quiet place to stay. Work unfortunately will only get more demanding as the summer arrives and heats up. I eat plenty of food for my caloric demands I'm sure, and I also supplement well. I just don't know if there's anything else I could do to get back on track. Better diet will come with the move for sure.

My new tub of Lemonade Xtend arrived, hopefully it will assist me in better recovery which could help turn things around. Next time I can post I'll do a review of Xtend as this is my second bottle. I'm also finally getting one of the last major kinks in my spine fixed that has been nagging me for months. My chiro popped it monday and it feels better, but it still bothers me a lot.

I tried a scoop and a half of poseidon yesterday and my face did light up finally. The rest of my body felt even hotter than before. I though I had the Sun sitting on my shoulders for a while. Today I did my normal morning scoop and my face lit up pretty well, but the rest of me was no pinker than normal.

Tomarrow I should be doing pretty well. I don't work today or tomarrow and can sleep in a bit longer.

Onwards and upwards!

Saludable

 

[workin2005]

Well it's a good thing it was only a plan for this week. I ended up going out for pizza and watching Spiderman 3 monday after work instead of cardio. It was a very enjoyable evening and worth it. Sometimes it's good to take a break and chill. Today I got to my session late, but we did a quick circuit, full body.

I have to admit my workouts have been pretty crappy for various reasons the past 2 weeks. I just don't have the intense energy I did when I first came back. A lot of it has to do with stress from work and how physical it gets at times. Another thing is that I'm not quite geting the quality or amount of sleep I need. I'm moving soon so I hope I find a quiet place to stay. Work unfortunately will only get more demanding as the summer arrives and heats up. I eat plenty of food for my caloric demands I'm sure, and I also supplement well. I just don't know if there's anything else I could do to get back on track. Better diet will come with the move for sure.

My new tub of Lemonade Xtend arrived, hopefully it will assist me in better recovery which could help turn things around. Next time I can post I'll do a review of Xtend as this is my second bottle. I'm also finally getting one of the last major kinks in my spine fixed that has been nagging me for months. My chiro popped it monday and it feels better, but it still bothers me a lot.

I tried a scoop and a half of poseidon yesterday and my face did light up finally. The rest of my body felt even hotter than before. I though I had the Sun sitting on my shoulders for a while. Today I did my normal morning scoop and my face lit up pretty well, but the rest of me was no pinker than normal.

Tomarrow I should be doing pretty well. I don't work today or tomarrow and can sleep in a bit longer.

Onwards and upwards!

Saludable

Keep us updated on your progress Saludable!

Workin

 

[saludable24]

Been a heck of a week. So work is really kicking my butt; it's trashing me physically. I'm taking next week off from the weights, only a little cardio so I can recover all the way I hope. Sorry for the lack of updates, this week has just been brutal.

I'm having some more nerve issues in my right arm and hand. Very annoying. The chiro thinks it's in my neck and elbow. I just want it gone. I'm pretty frustrated because crap like this always comes up and gets in the way of my goals. I know life's not fair, but damn it would be nice if things would just go right once in a while.

I've found this week though that my old combo of 400mg mag-cit with the 30mg opti-l-zinc is better for my sleep than Poseidon, but I'll still be using it for wake-up and during the day.

I'm going through my stash of supps and have started taking my bottle of DS Lean Extreme to combat some of the cortisol issues from all this damned physical and mental stress. Hopefully this with my new Xtend bucket will help me alot.

 

[saludable24]

update

Sorry I havn't posted more regularly, but I moved and have almost no internet access. I'm saving up my pennies to resolve this issue.

I just went today and my PT took my weight and measurements from when I started in January with him at the gym. I'm up over 16lbs in weight and only went up about 1.7% in body fat to 17.7% from 16%. Most of my measuements are up an inch except my calves which were super anabolic and went up almost 5 inches and my waiste which was down less than an inch. my weight now is about 194 lbs @ 5'10"

w00t! :head:

Saludable

 

[saludable24]

Haha. so after I wrote that, I began thinking that 5 inches would be a lot for any part, especially calves. I must have heard something else, maybe .5 inches or something.

I'm still in the gym and have been upping the cardio a bit each day. It's paying off.

 

[saludable24]

WOW! So I've been gone for quite a long time. I'd almost forgotten about my log. Anyway, now that I'm back online I have a few more reviews and some status updates on my personal progress. All this coming shortly.

 

[saludable24]

WRAAAHHHHH!!! That's how I felt at the gym today. :woohoo:

My workouts during the week are now lots of cardio, low weight, high rep routine. Mainly because of my continuing nerve issues in my right arm, my time away from the gym resulting from that, and my want to drop the fat I have.

I usually do 15-20 min cardio to warm up, then do weights, then do 30-45 min more cardio afterwards. Non weight days get 60-90 min of cardio. Weight routine has been back one day one week, chest the next week, rotating every other week. 1 day/week I do abs/lower back. w/o 5 days/week. I'm about 205 lbs now and despite one month of this my weight is the same, but I do look a bit better and feel great.

I hadn't done chest in about 3 weeks and was itching to go at it. Now that I'm back on 5% cissus the problems in my wrist and arm are much, much more manageable, and I can tolerate the lifting. I did 5 sets of 30 reps at 30 lbs of incline/normal press on the machines, 5 sets of 10 reps on assisted dip, and 5 sets of decline flies at 40 lbs + 3 more to burn out completely. Last 2 sets of presses I had to split, hehe.

I'm going to be so sore, and I'll love every minute of it.

 

[saludable24]

My review of USPLabs Supper Cissus RX.

In a word? Ineffective. Sorry, but that's how it was for me. I got 3 bottles and tried varying dosages from 2-8/day for 2 months and nothing worked even remotely as good as the original 5% I had been using for 9 months previously. 5-8 seemed too strong and I hurt worse in my knees, arm, and wrist. 3-4 seemed to give slight relief, better than what I've gotten from NSAIDS, but not enough for me to be comfortable walking around on the sales floor or lifting at the gym. I know some people like it, but I was disappointed.

As soon as I picked up my last bottle of the original 5% I experienced near instant relief again of my pain and subsequently bought 2 bottles of AN's Osteobolin-C. I will be trying it next week when this last bottle runs out.

 

[saludable24]

Xtend and original Trib Test by Get Diesel

So, I know that some of my reviews aren't on the hot new stuff like RPM/Drive, Shred XS, Leviathon, ect., but they are my reviews on what I've used recently. Take them for what you will.

Xtend: After using 2 tubs of this stuff, I can honestly say it rocks. This stuff is really making a difference in recovery for me after my workouts and endurance during. The flavoring is great in both the watermelon and lemonade I've tried, but I like the lemonade the best so far. It doesn't clump, but I have to wait a bit for it to stop floating on the top of my shaker cup. I don't care so much for the large amount of B6 in the formula. I feel I get enough through my multi and other sources (food, other supps) that it isn't necessary and with the very good recomendation of taking 6 servings total, I can be put too close or even past the upper limit on B6 intake.

All in all though, I think it's a great product and well worth the money. I ordered another 1kg lemonade, but will be trying to make my own concoction with bulk powders in the future.

I give Extend a 4.5 out of 5.

Trib Test (old version, not the Extreme) by Get Diesel:
Very god stuff. Taking this deffinately helped get me in that alpha male attitude, get me aggressive and assertive, and have energy and an all around good mood. I deffinately have had more drive in the gym with this. I've definately got some breaking out on my face and upper back.

I took this with some time released DHEA (25mg 3/day) when the DHEA didn't really do anything for me for over a week. The DHEA may have contibuted a little, but I had a large and noticable difference with the Trib test using 1 in the morning and one pre w/o, 5 days on, 2 days off.

The feeling is different than DT 2010, I would speculate that it is the larger amount of free test because I feel more aggressive throughout the day. The DT gave me some aggression, but more of a great mood/possitive outlook.

Overall the price was great, the performance solid. It was not made to be the all around, every angle Test booster that Diesel Test is, but it was made to effectively elevate and free lots of testosterone and did just that at a good price.

I give it a 5 out of 5. :thumbsup:

I now have 2 bottle of TTE on their way from The Planet and will review those in the future.

 

[saludable24]

Reset-A.D. and NOW Thyroid Energy

Reset-A.D. by Palo Alto Labs:

I'm not a stim junky, nor do I use them that often. I do however deal with high amounts of stress at times and get worn down. I had been using DCP for a month with some cAMPH from USP, and despite all the nice stuff RPN put in to keep the TTA from making people sluggish, after the first month I was really dragging around all day long. I was also dealing with some very difficult and rapid transitions in my life, ie. mucho stress. I started my second bottle of DCP, but was looking for a non-stim product that would help my body recover its own energy levels.

I found P.A.'s Reset-A.D.. I saw that it had bovine adrenal extract and thought to myself "how can that really do anything, I'm not a cow - SNAKE OIL/Marketing Gimmick!" But Palo Alto had a good reputation from Paravol, and after reading about Reset-A.D. and looking at the amazing reviews it was getting, I put aside my doubt and decided to try it.

I dosed it 2 caps/day as directed. The first day I didn't really get anything from it. The second day I felt just a bit better, but that could have been almost anything. The third and fourth days kept that feeling and built upon it further. By the second week I had regained some (but not all) of my pep (energy), felt more able to deal with stress, and was generally in a better mood. There were and now still are times that I feel "the butterflies in the stomach", ie. the adrenal glands getting hit and being told to respond to a stressor. That sensation was somehting I hadn't felt in over a year honestly. I was now a strong believer in this product. I ran two bottles and it helped all the way through.

I give Reset-A.D. a solid 5 for the price and for being very effective at what it does, despite wierd extracts being in there. :lol:

So everyone knew about Reset-A.D already, but do you know about NOW's Thyroid Energy?

I stated above that the Reset-A.D. only help me get back part of my energy, well NOW's Thyroid Energy helped me get back the rest.

NOW's Thyroid Energy has Kelp and Irish Moss wich both supply Iodine, free form Tyrosine, Guggul, B6, B12, and support minerals. If the Reset-A.D. jump started me, this really got my energy motors rev'ed and firing on all cylinders. I only used one bottle at half the suggested dose too!

I believe this was very helpful to me because TTA can act like thyroid hormone in a small way and eventually suppress thyroid activity to a degree. (Sorry, I don't remember the studies that were cited, but someone brought it up here on the boards; besides, this is MY theory, I can offer no scientific proof anyway.)

I believe this supplement to be a little diamond in the rough. It has a cost of less than $10, was very effective at only half dose, and comes from a very reputable company. What more can a person ask for?

I give NOW's Thyroid Energy a 5.

Both of these product, together or alone could be combined with almost any sort of stack to give natural, stimmulant free energy, stress and mood support, and potential leaning up and lean mass building. I will definately be buying both of these again when the budget permits.