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Stim break - how long?

wizard12

New member
For how long do you guys take a stim break?

Should 2-3 weeks be enough, or do you need to a full month or so?
 
I usually will do a two week stim break and that's good enough for me.
 
2-3 weeks is fine imo
 
Try two weeks. I'd recommend to taper down the "C" use a week or two before that if possible. You may also want to grab some Rutaecarpine to help, and the guys on Examine like Rhodiola as well (to help with any withdrawal).
 
I wouldn't take a complete break but rather just cut down on the amount of stims for a while. Usually for me this involves drinking less coffee (as I don't use stimmed pre's).
Another option would be to switch to unstim pre's but keep other caffeine usage normal (should get a 200-300mg drop in caffeine this way)
 
Never
 
Taking a complete break meaning staying away from any type of stims for an X amount of time.

For me developing dependency in PWO in order to workout and feeling tired most of the day when not taking stims, are both signs I need a break.
 
I myself have taken close to a month like stim break. What I will usually do is I will grab a non stim pre workout and once I have finished that bottle jumped back into the Stim world
 
Even with moderate stim use take a good 4 weeks off to reset. This is usually a good amount of time.
 
cheftepesh1 said:
Even with moderate stim use take a good 4 weeks off to reset. This is usually a good amount of time.
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I just started a 5 week break yesterday. I don't use stims heavily. The most I have in a day is from a stim heavy PWO (300-350mg) and whatever is in one cup of green tea. I think 100mg after this five weeks will get me going!
 
I usually try to shoot for 4 weeks. Once I hit 6 weeks though, no idea how I did that.

I always run caffein free focus xt on these breaks though so that makes it a lot easier :)
 
Sss23 said:
Does rutaecarpine actually work?
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It did here:

7.1. Caffeine

When rutaecarpine (active indole in Evodia) is fed to rats, the AUC and Cmax values of Caffeine are significantly reduced; meaning rutaecarpine can reduce the exposure of caffeine to the body.[66][67] This also extends to the similar xanthine compound theophylline.[68] These effects extend to consumption of Evodia itself, and combination decoctions such as Wu Zhu Yu Tang.[67]

This effect is rather significant; pretreatment of 80mg/kg oral Rutaecarpine daily for 3 days (a high dose, but its bioavailability is unaugmented) in rats reduced the Cmax to 31% of the control group, the Tmax to 22%, the AUC to 5% of control, and reduced the half-life from 0.73+/-0.07 hours to 0.27+/-0.1 hours.[66] Similar trends were seen for all metabolites of caffeine (paraxanthine, theophylline, theobromine)

Rutaecarpine is able to induce (increase) activity of various hepatic enzymes such as CYP1A2, CYP2B, and CYP2E1;[28][69] CYP2E1 induction is seen at 80mg/kg oral ingestion in rats while only 20mg/kg is needed for CYP1A2.[67] As Caffeine is highly metabolized by CYP1A and CYP2E1, their increased activity causes greater metabolism of caffeine in a shorter time frame and thus limits systemic exposure.

Rutaecarpine appears to potently suppress the circulating levels of caffeine via increasing hepatic and intestinal degradation; a highly antagonistic compound
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It has poor bio-availability in isolation (eating the fruit is better), but I don't know if that matters as far as Caffeine metabolism goes - they just fed it to the rats and it worked.

See Examine
 
Don't see the need for them in you aren't abusing stims or overdoing it with excess coffee, soda, energy drinks outside of the preworkout.

Took a stim break for a couple weeks once, didn't have any withdrawal headaches or anything. Went back to stims and it still felt the same as before I took the break.
 
Robert5891 said:
Don't see the need for them in you aren't abusing stims or overdoing it with excess coffee, soda, energy drinks outside of the preworkout.

Took a stim break for a couple weeks once, didn't have any withdrawal headaches or anything. Went back to stims and it still felt the same as before I took the break.
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This is what always happens to me, but yet I still take breaks.

I guess my consumption of caffeine is not a lot. I train 6 days per week. When I take a pre workout, there is no more than 350 mg of caffeine from that. The only other caffeine I consume daily is that from Green Tea. which is 35-70mg. I guess I don't really need one, but I'm entering the second week of a 4 week break.
 
The_Old_Guy said:
It did here:



It has poor bio-availability in isolation (eating the fruit is better), but I don't know if that matters as far as Caffeine metabolism goes - they just fed it to the rats and it worked.

See Examine
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So helps limit caffeine effectiveness, but what about interaction with the receptors?
 
Jiigzz said:
So helps limit caffeine effectiveness, but what about interaction with the receptors?
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You got me, I don't get paid to wear a white coat all day :D I take it as part of a sleep formula (actually, dosing is recco'd at twice a day, so I take it when I know I don't need any CAF providing alertness - which is usually starting around 3-4PM and then ~1hr before bed). I don't think it'll "Clear" receptors, only time will do that I believe. I don't even abuse CAF, but I definitely build a tolerance. The first Stim break I did (Cold Turkey) was horrible - felt run down and sick for the first week. So I take them twice a year during both my 14 day off "no training except walking" periods.
 
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