OK, out in the field off and on for the last month with ZERO lifting and below maintenance cals has brought me down to 175. Have been using DRIVE at 4-6 caps daily. RPM I only use sporadically. NeoVar has run out.
Surprisingly, I don't think I have lost much muscle at all during this time and I attribute that to the DRIVE. The SARM-like properties of the Icariin coupled with the test boost from the forskohlin and dodder likely preserved much of my muscle despite some pretty catabolic conditions.
It would be interesting to see some logs using DRIVE on a cut.
Did my first WO yesterday in over 1.5 months. It brought the noise and pain, omg.
Shoulders/Back/Bi's went very well despite major protestation from my muscles. Felt like muscle fibers were splitting during deadlifts, yet oddly I retained most if not all strength on this key excercise. Pulled 460 on the HammerStrength Shrug/Dead machine which is my norm. Felt I could have gone higher but opted not to push it.
Same reliable pump from DRIVE, same great focus and intensity from the RPM. After not having a pump for a month, I looked like a different person at the end of the WO..which felt very good.
So, final impressions...
DRIVE: A solid 9/10 for me.
Strength: 7/10 which is great for herbal product
Endurance: 9/10 fantastic and more noticable in cardio/endurance
Pumps/Vascularity: 10/10 muscles stay full all the time
Recomp effects: 9/10 keeps me looking solid even without a solid effort on my part. Anything that can keep muscle on me all through grueling field work is a HUGE deal to me.
RPM: 10 out of 10
My favorite preworkout stim by far. Love it.
NeoVar: 7/10
Delivers a little more than the average creatine product..which is actually saying a lot. I'm not a huge fan of creatine though I recognize it's place and understand it's limitation quite well. NV seems to be able to deliver consistency with it's CEE formulation that I haven't experienced before. Effects are subtle..but they are there and they keep going unlike plain CEE. Normally, for me at least, CEE works well for a week or two then fizzles but NV keeps the pump and recovery going longer. How long? Well, at least one bottle's worth-long.
Special thanks to Applied Nutracueticals for supplying me with these products. Dirk has been especially generous in this regard and deserves props for his mastery in formulating Drive and RPM as well as taking suggestions from little old me seriously.:clap2: