precontest supp thread

Wanted to note one thing as well (in keeping with the thread's theme re. supps): I've always been a huge BCAA fan, as anyone following this log can tell. Usually use Beverly Int. for my straight-BCAA purposes. Well, when I decided I was going to run this fasted-state training I decided to switch my BCAA source to MNT's Nitro-E8. If anybody is familiar with Dr. Eric Serrano (who has some input in the development of Beverly's formulas), he put together a BCAA formula called NitroMine a number of years back -- this was by far the best pure BCAA formula I have ever done, bar none. Only problem was, the way Serrano recommended to use them, it got pretty pricey, and then they just disappeared (prob. for this cost reason I imagine); but there was no doubt these were the cream of the crop.
Apparently, Paul Burton (MNT) bought the formula from Serrano, and now they're back out under the name Nitro-E8. Cost factor has been contained (still not cheap, but a lot better), and I picked up some to run specifically during this temporary training protocol I'm running. I get the same effect from these as I did the old NitroMine, and I'm extremely pleased with the results.
Heck, I'm extremely ecstatic with the whole stack I'm running at this point; I may have stumbled upon the best all-natural stack of supps ever created!! :drunk: :thumbsup: :head:
 
Protocol looks damn solid man! Gots to love the time period where you notice changes in your physique on a daily basis! Good things are coming your way!
 
semper27 said:
Protocol looks damn solid man! Gots to love the time period where you notice changes in your physique on a daily basis! Good things are coming your way!
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YEA! YEA! Feeling it! Feeding off your energy too.. things are coming together!
Thanks for dropping in bro!
 
Brother!!! We can do anything we put our mind to! I've never claimed to be a mass monster (just wait until this fall) but can guarantee that the conditioning that I'm bringing will definately be somethin special. I'm pushing past my limitations and will have animals stop and stare!!! :D It's time for us to crank this thang up a couple of notches starting NOW!
 
semper27 said:
Brother!!! We can do anything we put our mind to! I've never claimed to be a mass monster (just wait until this fall) but can guarantee that the conditioning that I'm bringing will definately be somethin special. I'm pushing past my limitations and will have animals stop and stare!!! :D It's time for us to crank this thang up a couple of notches starting NOW!
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Duuuude, understatement of the year there, your conditioning is off the charts!
Let's do this!!!
 
Just wait... You are gonna be there as well!!! 8.5 weeks bro... 8.5!!! Plenty of time to bring some pure sickness to the stage.
 
Last day of fasted weight training today, will run fasted cardio tomorrow, rest Sunday, then come back Monday w/ more traditional training method. Weight at 191.8 upon rising.
ZAP continues to impress, and has DEF. aided me in my low-rest protocol to keep energy flowing. I thought I'd push the envelope this morning and have my morning cup of java along with everything else; I expected to suffer some jitters, but again was surprised to find this wasn't the case.. must be getting really tolerant to the caffeine these days.. it's a small cup of joe that I drink tho.
Back was still a bit tight from Tuesday's lower body w/o, decided to forego deads today & mixed things up a smidge..
Sweat again was just stupid..

Lower Body:
4x15-20 Narrow-Stance Squats
2x20 Leg Extensions
3x15 Inner Quad Pulleys (non-stop, no rest)
3x15 Outer Quad Pulleys (non-stop, no rest)
4x15 Leg Curls
4x20 Standing Calf Raises (toes straight/out/in/straight)

60 seconds rest except where noted.
 
All right, mission accomplished. My run of fasted-training has tightened me up, brought bodyweight down to 191.0 as of this morning; time to get back to some normalcy.
Dropping back to 6 meals per day. Here are my macros:
Mon/Thur: 240/330/52 @2750 cals
all other days: 265/235/55 @2495 cals
About 13.5 weeks out.. FOCUSED!
 
Solid work here Steve, dedicated as always.

Also just want to clarify, those macros are in p/c/f order correct?
 
OCCFan023 said:
Solid work here Steve, dedicated as always.

Also just want to clarify, those macros are in p/c/f order correct?
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Thanks OCC. Yes, macros are in that format.

Switched things up to reverse-pyramid protocol for the week, hella pump today, major sweat, energy & focus THRU THE ROOF! I'm still all revved up as I type this..

CHEST:
Flat BB Bench 5x6-15
Incline BB Bench 5x6-15
Flat DB Flyes 6x6-20
Explosion Push-ups 1xreps

A little pic after the workout..
 

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semper27 said:
Wow!!! Talk about LBM gains!!! Unreal progress! You've definately put in some work!
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Thanks bro! Just trying to figure it out, get my cut on like you! The tricky part is getting it all dialed in w/o losing my mass.. you've done a great job w/ conditioning, I'm just hoping to be able to come CLOSE to your shape! Lot's of time tho (unlike last prep)..
 
Wow.. impact of dietary changes never cease to amaze me. Here I've been on lower-cal (@2200-2400 daily), low-carb (@100-120g) run for 10 days, ramping up my workouts, sweating like a madman from ZAP/Recreate, and I lost about 4 pounds..
Yesterday I eat @2750 cals, 330g carbs -- and I wake up this morning at 189.4, a loss of 1.6 lb. overnight. Crazy..
Resetting my metabolism seems to have done its job, and it felt pretty damn good to eat all dem carbs! :D
Thought I'd throw a little wrinkle in the diet plan; will keep above posted macros, but on true "off" days (no cardio or training of any kind, which will typically only be 1 day/week) I'll run this: 265/160/50 @2150 cals
This just kinda popped into my head last night, we'll see how it goes..
 
I like the tweak that you are dropping the carbs down on a "total" rest day. Looks like a very solid approach to me!
 
Wellll.. Took one step back yesterday, on the way to taking two steps forward shortly..
Yesterday my wife & kids took me out to eat for Father's Day mid-afternoon, food was tasting good so I decided to have a blow-out cheat day. Let me explain my cheat days.. because I'm pretty structured on diet 95% of the time, I have a handful of days thruout the year where I'll chow down on 10k+ cals. These are usually planned out for optimal use, but yesterday just kinda happened. Anyway, I consumed at least that many yesterday, so today I ran some fasted-training upon waking (format I used previously in this log).
Felt strong as an ox, big as a house (felt like I could bench press my house, lol), and the ZAP/Recreate combo had me humming away. Pushed the limits with weights, PR's on incline bb press, flat db press.. was in the zone! Also did incline db flyes, 1-arm low-pulley crossover, abs, 15 minutes steady-state cardio..
Will make some alterations to my diet for the next few days,
compensate for the intake, and by the end of the week will have surged forward with some leaning out again.. I know, not the best time to have one of these cheat days, during prep, but I'll use it to my advantage! My self-imposed deadline for the update pic was this Saturday (12-week out mark) - it's still on!
 
Happy belated Father's Day bro! I'm certain that it's not too much of a set-back! If anything... it probably spiked your metabolism in high gear. Not saying that I'm an advocate of such "cheat day's" while in prep but we all are different! :D NOW is the time to nail this down and get after it! You've been quite an inspiration and I do appreciate your support. Let's both kick this thing in to high gear and take it to another level!
 
semper27 said:
Happy belated Father's Day bro! I'm certain that it's not too much of a set-back! If anything... it probably spiked your metabolism in high gear. Not saying that I'm an advocate of such "cheat day's" while in prep but we all are different! :D NOW is the time to nail this down and get after it! You've been quite an inspiration and I do appreciate your support. Let's both kick this thing in to high gear and take it to another level!
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You got it bro.. back on track, and there WILL BE no more slip-ups! I'm not an advocate of such days during this time either, but it happened, gotta take as much positive from it as possible!
Appreciate the words, and the FD wishes as well man..
 
Who needs to wait till tomorrow for an update pic?? LOL! Feeling pretty good with what I accomplished this week, altho I'm feeling & looking a bit flat today. This doesn't bother me - I needed to eliminate the HUUGE amount of water I was carrying after my FD blowout, and it took some drastic measures, but I accomplished what I set out to do. Now I can go back to the business of "normal" training and dietary intake.
To recap what I did for the week: fasted training every day, first thing in the morning, running the ZAP/Recreate combo; after training I'd consume a shake comprised of Beverly MassMaker/ WMS/ whey isolate, grapefruit and 2 egg whites (following P-Slin), macros roughly 40/85/1 (p/c/f) @ 510 cals. That would be it for my carb intake for day, other than broccoli, salad, and the 5g carbs in my ff cottage cheese. I would divide the 1500 other daily cals over 5 remaining meals, and my macros during this time were 280/100/55 @ 2000 cals. Now I can get back to the original game plan & get ROCKING! 12 weeks out tomorrow.. YEAH!
 

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Glad to hear that you're back on track! I didn't think you went too far off course as it was...lol The pics are phenomenal Steve! You WILL be on the money in 12 weeks!
 
Dang 12 weeks out! Your looking good man keep it up. I can't wait to see how sharp you come in for this next contest :cool:
 
Thanks fellas! Those words of encouragement are most definitely appreciated!
Ben, I've been trying to follow your pace - I like the idea that you are gonna be ready like 5 weeks out, and can "add back" to your frame rather than still being in deplete mode. It was horrible, horrible timing to do what I did when I did it..
But it's done with, and I do feel back on track! Here's a little better pick of the wheels, see what few cuts I've got going on down there to this point.. They're on the way!
 

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Awesome workout today, even tho it was just bi/tri/calves day. One last time of fasted training to complete this cycle; I really do like this protocol, but I do miss eating right when I wake up. I think the main reason I enjoyed today's workout so much (other than the great feeling the ZAP incurs) is that I'm in the "recomp" zone right now, body changes daily. Diggin it..
After w/o and breakfast, went down with the wife & kids and played some tennis. Courts were full, so we ended up playing on the crappiest one with grass growing thru the cracks, but it was still good times, GREAT sweat..
I'm feeling photogenic today, so here's some pics from the tennis court. The last pic is me & my boy - we took on my wife & daughter (we won of course, ahahaa).
 

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Lookin MONSTEROUS in the pics bro! You are well on your way to FREAK STATUS in the next seveal weeks! Keep rollin'!!! Again....WOW!
 
Thanks for dropping by Joe! :D
Everything's coming together well right now guys.

Trained this morning with P-Slin, a bowl of Ezekiel cereal with small banana, 8 oz. skim milk & 1.5 scoops isolate prior to w/o (@ 55/70/2 split). Holy wow! Switching gears again (dietary-wise) had awesome impact on training, and the ZAP/Recreate I popped an hour later just kicked it to another level.
Several PR's this morning, including the format flat BB bench 305x6/285x8/265x10/245x12/135xreps, followed by inc. DB press 110's x6/100's x8/90's x10/75's x12. Also had PR on my 1-arm hi cable crossover pulls. I have never completed all reps at this amount of weight across the board - and with short rest (30-45 sec.) - at any time before, and really felt I still had some left in the tank. Endurance was just stupid today. My chest felt like it was going to burst open, literally, I was so pumped. I loved it!!
 
Im a big time tennis guy (playing wise) and thats that greatest image on a tennis court ever. You look like the friggen hulk with the racket. One day maybe I will be able to do that lol. Oh and legit calf vascularity dude, thats like my dream ahah.

Oh and if thats flat, I am officially the Pillsbury dough boy.
 
OCCFan023 said:
Im a big time tennis guy (playing wise) and thats that greatest image on a tennis court ever. You look like the friggen hulk with the racket. One day maybe I will be able to do that lol. Oh and legit calf vascularity dude, thats like my dream ahah.

Oh and if thats flat, I am officially the Pillsbury dough boy.
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Been awhile OCC, appreciate the words.
Tennis is great. I gotta say tho, the hulk image (and another forum where a guy compares me to a rhino charging around the court) doesn't do my game justice! These images just don't promote gracefulness out there, LOL!
 
Yea man, summer job started up and friends are back so I have a lot less free time on my hands. I'll keep checking in on the progress though.

Lol Ill have to see your gracefulness to believe it. The brute force approach as opposed to the graceful route was the instant light bulb in my head. It's awesome when big dudes are limber/athletic though. No point in my mind of sacrificing stuff just for size, so thats awesome that you are in the former.
 
I got game like Federer! Okay, I exaggerate slightly, actually my game's probably more like Nadal - without all the sliding around on the clay courts. Roger is my boy tho.
I've always prided myself on being a good athlete - I play basketball & baseball too. I've never wanted size to impede my flexibility. Guess that's why I've never been into powerlifting. Too hard on the joints & stuff.
 
ZAPped abs & cardio this morning. Thought I'd shake things up for a day & run with fasted upon-waking training. (4) ZAP, (1) AP, (3) PowerFULL, (3) SuperCissusRx, 7g BCAA's upon waking, (2) Recreate 15 minutes later, started sipping on (2) scoops Core ABC 15 minutes after that, and began ab training 10 minutes following that. 12 sets abs (4 diff. movements, 3 sets each) followed by 35 minutes moderate-pace steady cardio. 10 minutes before cardio was finished I took P-Slin w/ 7g more BCAA's. Post w/o shake was 55/60/2 @480 cals. It will be a low carb (less than 100g), low cal (@2100) day today..
Focus & intensity weren't quite up to snuff this morning (did I mention I don't like cardio??), but I don't feel this was ZAP related. More likely the fasted format combined with some business issues that were rolling around in my mind. I was still wiping sweat out of my eyes however, despite the moderate pace of cardio..
My w/o schedule takes a hit tomorrow, as I'll be on the road for meetings and won't be able to hit it. Not too sad about it tho - my shoulder still has some kind of impingement going on in there, so I'll utilize the rest day nicely. I'll be back for Friday's session, no worries..
 
Worked with a Doug Miller-inspired protocol this morning, awesome results..
(4) ZAP, (1) P-Slin upon waking, 105g carb breakfast 15 minutes later; then 1 hr. later, (2) Recreate, (3) PowerFULL, (3) SuperCissus, (4) caps N30 (just busted this out today); 20 minutes later began training, using Core ABC as intra-w/o shake along w/ my BCAA's. Holy geez.. incredible back pump! Had the food-pump going on in addition to the supp-pump, was definitely a double-whammy! Sweat was nuts (hot humid day helped me sweat the most I have so far I think), energy, endurance, incredible focus.. just an unreal training session. I'm getting sooo spoiled.
The only negative with this format was getting antsy about 1/2 hour after I ate; the ZAP wanted to be released, and it was tough waiting to get started. Did not want to disrupt the timing of the other supps tho.
Chin-ups, bent-over rows, rack pulls, straight-arm pulldowns, and D-grip seated pulleys were the order of the day, followed by 12 minutes HIIT. Scheme was combination of reverse-pyramid & straight sets..
Today is a hi-carb day; post w/o shake was 40/80/2, and I'll get another 170g carbs over my next 4 meals.
 
Miscellaneous Entry

Ooooh, sh!t's gettin ready to hit the fan! Just saw they unveiled blood-testing for the Olympics.. does this mean they're testing for HGH now too? If so, things could get real ugly, real quick. Hell, they might not have anybody participating this year!
Bulgaria already had to pull out from weightlifting comp - I guess they had 11 (!!) guys nailed for using some illegal steroid. A Chinese swimmer was banned for life for flunking a test. Me thinks this could be just the tip of the iceberg..
 
Everything is still looking like its moving along smoothly. Keep up the good work.
 
bolt10 said:
Everything is still looking like its moving along smoothly. Keep up the good work.
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Hey Bolt! Yep, cruising right along.. looks like you didn't have too smooth a ride yesterday w/ your car problems and all. That sux dude. At least you're making good jack like you said, that always helps! :)
 
11 week out mark today. Not a lot of leaning out progress this week, and my hi-carb day yesterday left me feeling a little watery this morning. I see some minor incremental improvements tho, and strength continues to be up. Weight holding at 189.2 upon waking..
A bit more of a concern for me is my lingering shoulder pain. This has been going on for about 4 weeks now, and I have restricted range of movement on the left side. I've dealt with minor aches & pains before, but this is something different. I keep waiting for Cissus to wipe it out! Ah, I'm so spoiled..
Didn't let this minor issue affect my shoulder training this morning tho. Last day of ZAP - it was on! Military press, DB front raises, bent-over cable lateral (here was where my shoulder was at its tenderest), bb shrug, and 1-arm DB shrugs (stole this idea from Doug Miller - WOW, good stuff!)
Format was reverse-pyramid for last time. Am switching things up; I've got the itch to superset and might just bust this scheme out. My first thought was it's still a bit early for this, but upon talking with others the feedback is pretty positive for this approach. I'll sleep on it..
 

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Thanks bro! Oh I have no doubt you're gonna get freaky large come off-season. The way you're hitting it, you're not even close to peaking that physique!
 
BTW Semp - you just inspired me to hit a 2nd w/o today, did some ab work & 30 minutes cardio. Time to get this thing DIALED IN!
 
Wife wanted to play some tennis, so she ran me around the court for an hour this evening, just got back awhile ago. So that's a tri-split routine of sorts for today! YEAH! Other than my afternoon dose of Recreate, I'm still running on ZAP from this morning.. man, I'm gonna miss that stuff. Got a few partial bottles of stims I need to run out first, but that will be the next one I order for sure. Wasn't planning on an off day tomorrow, but I think I'll make it a total recovery day now..
 
Hey man!!! Stepped out of my comfort zone this evening as you also inspired me to bang out some low intensity elliptical cardio! I still have Y-RD and would like to get a hold of ZAP at some point. Perhaps off-season time! Let's do what we KNOW we can do and grab some hardware in the weeks to come!
 
Damn.. woke up yesterday having difficulty raising my left arm above my head, think I aggravated it by sleeping on it wrong. It got better thruout the day, and tho still a bit tender this morning upon waking it wasn't any worse than it had been thru last week. I'll bulldog thru it..
So I hit a big breakfast again this morning, this time stacking P-Slin+AP for my 615 cal (105g carb) breakfast. It's the first time I've stacked these two together - figured I needed the extra boost for my first post-ZAP training session. Also used P-Slin for post w/o shake (425 cals, 70g carbs).
Training was incline bb, flat db, incline flyes (combination reg. pyramid/straight set scheme), 1-arm cable crossover supersetted with dips, then some explosion incline pushups. Shoulder was an impedance but I got my work in. Ended with 12 minutes HIIT, 12 minutes steady-state cardio.
Diet structure for the remaining 4 meals will be between 300-350 cals, dividing my remaining 80g carbs thruout, and I'll finish around 2300 total cals for the day.
 
Product Review

Core ZAP Summation

Okay I've had 3 workouts without ZAP now, and the results are confirmed as I thought they would be..
I've used Y-RD, Leanfire, and Speed respectively in these 3 training sessions, and none has come close to providing the mental focus, physical endurance, or thermogenisis (read: sweat!) that I experienced on ZAP. Speed this morning was the closest; however, just like I previously experienced on this product, I had shaky, jittery energy with mind-racing during training, no focus whatsoever, just kamikaze energy.

ZAP Effects:
As noted thruout log, thermogenesis was profuse. There was not a single workout where I was not drenched with sweat. Combined with a clean diet (precontest prep), I tightened up immensely. A 10 on a 1-10 scale.

Energy was enhanced thruout usage. This was clean, focused energy that just made me feel good, not jittery or out of control. A 10 on a 1-10 scale.

As well, muscular endurance on this product was something special; I set a couple endurance PR's during my usage, and fatigue never came into play during any training session. A 10 on a 1-10 scale.

Tied into endurance was the intensity and focus level of my workouts. I felt I could reach any goal I set for myself, and just destroyed the weights each session. Even cardio sessions took on new levels - which is saying a lot because I am very much not a cardio fan. I can only compare this effect to Prime; while Prime was a bit more extreme, this is the only other product I've used that has given me these type of results, over a consistent period of time. I got great singular workouts from different things in the past (NOExplode for example), but these effects were not repeatedly observed following prolonged usage. ZAP was strong thruout the entire run. A 9 on a 1-10 scale - only because I reserve the 10 for Prime.

I also noticed enhanced libido during my run. If I thought this might just be coincidence, I am now convinced it was not: the effects I noticed while I was running the product have not been there the last 2 nights. :(

If it's not apparent, I am thoroughly pleased with ZAP. I'll throw in a plug for the entire Core line, as I have tried everything now and have been extremely pleased. The quality is outstanding.

Altho I did not purchase any more ZAP as of yet (due to my having some other stims on hand that need to be used), I will say emphatically that this will be my next purchase when I go shopping for a w/o stimulant again. Good stuff.
 
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