[madbullram]

Well, I just moved to Blue Boutique Gym, the offer was 9999 + tax and membership fees waived...just been a week so cant comment much, but looks like a good place

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by nitrous

My current gym is O2 (o2healthstudio1). They just opened a branch about 2 kms from my home and its far better than the Mavericks. I paid Rs.10,450(net) for the annual package.

Are you by any chance in this photograph ? I am inspired !

[SRShrikanth]

@ Shan2nu : Perfectly the exact reason for my past 5 weeks of ordeal at the gym. Reducing the fat content and improving metabolism & muscle mass.

Is your intake based on our own system or can i use this as a tip to try it out myself.

1.5 gms of l-carnitine .....where can i source this please.

You also mention Carnitor 500 tablets - are these the same.

Appreciate your guidance.

Originally Posted by Shan2nu

I take 1.5 grams of l-carnitine, 1 hr before gym.

You can get "CARNITOR 500" tablets at any medical store.

Shan2nu

[vikram18]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Are atheletes allowed to load up on Whey before a competition event? If not, why?

Ok, what are the side effects of using Whey or carnitine? I think I understand the pros.

This is turning out to be really interesting but, sadly, I don't have enough time for the the long detailed post I wish to make.

1. You cannot "load up" on Whey. Whey is a protein. The body does not store protein. If you eat 500gms of Whey at every sitting, the body will still use just 40 - 60 gms and you'll spend most of your day in the crapper! This is why it is recommended that you eat some protein at every meal, so that whenever it is needed, there is some available for muscle tissue repair. Whey is basically "food" and not a "drug" or a "chemical", so there is no regulation for the same.

2. In the case of most supplements, including L-Carnitine, there are very few, mostly none, independent, double blind studies done to record/prove the efficacy of the same. Most data published is released by the manufacturers themselves, so I'd take it with a handful of salt, not just a pinch. L-Carnitine specifically is said to aid in the delivery of fat to the mitochondria of cells for burning and thus, fat is used as an energy source, making you slimmer. To the best of my knowledge, there is no evidence in ONLY Carnitine helping you improve performance in the gym, by taking it pre-workout, as Shantanu does. All they claim is, it burns fat!

As for side effects, an overdose of ANYTHING is bad. Excess protein puts a load on your kidneys and you need to up your water intake in order to flush the excess out. It is important to stick to a dose that your body can handle; higher doses are useless anyway.

Another thing that can happen is the occurrence of Acne. Men, in an anabolic state, have raised levels of testosterone. Working out heavily, supported by a high-protein diet raises testosterone levels and this can cause Acne.

I am not aware of the side effects of Carnitine, but speaking from a performance athlete's point of view, this is ranked so lowly(it doesn't increase strength, speed, recovery or endurance!) that I doubt we'll ever see anyone overdosing on it. Again I have never seen anyone using this long term, so side effects are virtually unknown.

God! This was supposed to be a "small" post. I guess I'm given to ranting when it comes to my fave topic. More on other supplements later.

Hope I helped a bit Samurai.

[Shan2nu]

Is your intake based on our own system or can i use this as a tip to try it out myself.

No 1.5 grams is a very conservative dose. Im doing this to let my body adjust to them first.

If you're a big guy and do very intense and heavy lifting in the gym, you will prob need 3-3.5 grams a day.

L-carnitine has no side effects.

Carnitor has the same l-carnitine (levo-carnitine) we're talking about.

Shan2nu

[s0uljah]

Besides Whey, Creatine & Arginine the only other stuff *I* believe that is worth your money is GMS (Glycerol MonoStearate) and Beta Alanine

[aaggoswami]

I went to gym for two months. He just kept on speaking about weight lifting. Went upto 40kg.

My father scolded me becasue I am already very fat becasue of heridetary, and this will help me put on weight. My father used to lift 80kg and do DAND i.e. hindu pushups.

Well after my experince I observed that as soon as you stop doing excercise with weights, you will gain on weight. I was 76kg at peak in weight lifting. Right now I am 93kg.
But I find pushups very usefull. I have developed my chest muscles like a pro ( yes like what you see in WWE ) and good triceps.

But the best exercise that one can do for a very long period of time with consistency is Walking.

My daily food intake is:
1.2 ltr. milk, 7 cups of tea, 15 chappati (plain ), lots of sabji, dal , rice with a lot of snacks includes a lot of things like fruits.

I dont know more about how to increase physical stringht. You are just getting your muscle toned and not actually increasing your physical strength. As soon as you stop toning , weight increases and tones are lost.

I more believe in mental strength that has kept my alive and fighting.

[srishiva]

@aaggoswami
Your weight increases because you are not burning enough calories when you stop exercising (be it running on lifting weights).
The input (the food) should decrease or burning calories should increase. It is always good to have optimum intake(with required nutrients) and combine it with good exercise so that you are healthy and look good too.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by Shan2nu

No 1.5 grams is a very conservative dose. Im doing this to let my body adjust to them first.

If you're a big guy and do very intense and heavy lifting in the gym, you will prob need 3-3.5 grams a day.

L-carnitine has no side effects.

Carnitor has the same l-carnitine (levo-carnitine) we're talking about.

Shan2nu

Originally Posted by tsk1979

A guy in our gym too 2 500mg tabs of carnitine(Normal production in meat eaters is around 200mg), and he could not come to gym for 4 days as he had vomiting and loose motions.
But the tablet worked as promised.
He lost weight

so what is really an acceptable amount for an adult?

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by srishiva

@aaggoswami
Your weight increases because you are not burning enough calories when you stop exercising (be it running on lifting weights).
The input (the food) should decrease or burning calories should increase. It is always good to have optimum intake(with required nutrients) and combine it with good exercise so that you are healthy and look good too.

Partially I agree with you. I basically eat more than 100g biscuts a day and after dinner, I have to eat a lot to sleep.
So at the end, I take in a lot of stuff in the form of taste change and snacks. So much, that if any food item is finished like biscuits, bread, etc, I am the one to be blamed.
Doctors warn me about Hypertension, Diabetes, but I have to eat to survice.
As soon as I have started college I gaining weight because most of my jobs are now on PC. I cant afford Gym, so prefer to have a brief slow but steady walk on terrace at night after 11pm.

[Shan2nu]

Around 2-2.5 grams would be ideal.

Shan2nu

[chetan]

[quote][quote=Samurai;819602]This may be a dumb question, but I gotta ask.

Why do you guys take all these supplements?

well the reason why bodybuilders look so big is once when you start working out your appetite increases immensely so with the help of supplements you can improve your physical looks, you will good, better in what you wear and yeah score with a hot chick .... Its simple the muscle grows to a certain point and then it stops well lets just say it gets tough to increase the inches on your biceps or any body part..... so you kinda start thinking what do i do now , then comes the proteins....supplements works ONLY if you know how to eat and eat healthy food oil less, fat less blah blah blah only then you will see the growth that will amaze you.

Can you stop when the purpose is served?

what i suggest is work out for a year or two or maybe three and then start taking supplements because by this time you would put on lots of muscles and also will have the lifting experience (heavy weights) ....the reason why i am saying this is because if you start taking supplements from day one and you see results in three months and your 1lb protein is over then you'll start wanting more and more supplements so if you do as i mentioned above you will have a better body than what you had after three moths of your initial gymming with supplements ........unless if you are into some serious body building then i think one should stop taking supplements again it depends on the person and what type of body he wants ( mass or lean ) and how big hie ego is.

What happens once you stop?

your muscle will slowly start decreasing but you will have a lil definition still left on your body no matter how much you age .......like i said during your work out days you will fell much hungrier than an average person so you should learn to balance your intake once you quit or else as the saying goes " is it true that once you stop working you become fat "......it will become a nightmare for a person who is losing weight ......if you can cut down on your intake then i promise you will never become fat ......for a person who was taking the supplements and quit gymming i think it will take some time for his muscles to come down as it will be 99% of pure muscle instead of fat

I have never taken any supplements, ever, so when I see all these brand names floating around, I really start wondering

whey is ok and recommended but i have my doubts about creatine ......creatine is a powerful supplement one can see amazing results in just weeks and the power and stamina it gives you in phenomenal it makes you want to life more and more you can keep going such is the advantage you get when you use this but you should also drink lots of water and you shouldn't forget it even by mistake or it can can some problems ......the common side effects are acne , ulcers or decentry is what i have heard .......in creatine well i know a friend of mine who is using it from two years or maybe more his body is amazing it is so less of fat he is 26 and he looks like 36 and his hair is falling off ( sorry i don't the word for it )...i dont know is this is a side effect or not he told me this.

same here in my four years of honest work out i have never taken supplements and totally i think have missed 90 days or so......one my coaches said it is possible to attain 18 inch bicep and i think its true coz mine now is almost 17 ......just when i tot i would reach this goal by taking supplements as i was finding it hard to increase i had a moment in the gym a month ago... the bone in my right shoulder came out of the socket and went back immediately i could literally feel it THAK THAK !!! ....the doc has warned me to quit or risk permanent damage this and bugs me out its tough to quit something that you like to do.....i dont want to scare you guys...so dont stop bending bars !!!

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by vikram18

To the best of my knowledge, there is no evidence in ONLY Carnitine helping you improve performance in the gym, by taking it pre-workout, as Shantanu does. All they claim is, it burns fat!

I am not aware of the side effects of Carnitine, but speaking from a performance athlete's point of view, this is ranked so lowly(it doesn't increase strength, speed, recovery or endurance!) that I doubt we'll ever see anyone overdosing on it.

Thanks Vikram, that was very useful.

Originally Posted by srishiva

The biggest drawback is that supplements are not regulated. You don't know what other substances might be present in the supplements.

Researchers are not even sure about the effects of Vitamin supplements. Some of them are supposed to cause premature deaths. Liver, Heart and Kidneys might be affected (there are more organs that can be affected too).

Wow, that doesn't sound good.

Originally Posted by chetan

what i suggest is work out for a year or two or maybe three and then start taking supplements because by this time you would put on lots of muscles and also will have the lifting experience (heavy weights) ....the reason why i am saying this is because if you start taking supplements from day one and you see results in three months and your 1lb protein is over then you'll start wanting more and more supplements so if you do as i mentioned above you will have a better body than what you had after three moths of your initial gymming with supplements

Actually I am an old dog, working out since 1984 mostly using BWC, I was briefly into body building in the early 90s, but gave that up since it didn't agree with martial arts. So I am not into body building these days, just functional muscle building.

Originally Posted by chetan

whey is ok and recommended but i have my doubts about creatine ......creatine is a powerful supplement one can see amazing results in just weeks and the power and stamina it gives you in phenomenal it makes you want to life more and more you can keep going such is the advantage you get when you use this but you should also drink lots of water and you shouldn't forget it even by mistake or it can can some problems ......the common side effects are acne , ulcers or decentry is what i have heard .......in creatine well i know a friend of mine who is using it from two years or maybe more his body is amazing it is so less of fat he is 26 and he looks like 36 and his hair is falling off ( sorry i don't the word for it )...i dont know is this is a side effect or not he told me this.

Again it sounds like NOS of the body, and it has to be used carefully.

Thanks everybody, I think my questions are answered. I think for my fitness needs, I don't need anything other than normal food. I generally don't feel weak even after 1-2 hours of workout, unless I am sick. Yes, I can get quickly tired since my stamina is normally on lower side these days, but I can usually build it back within couple of weeks of intense cardio workout. After buying a treadmill recently I have been doing that, my stamina has really improved in the last 10 days.

[s0uljah]

Originally Posted by chetan

the doc has warned me to quit or risk permanent damage this and bugs me out its tough to quit something that you like to do.....i dont want to scare you guys...so dont stop bending bars !!!

Its unfortunate regarding your injury. Seems like your a very dedicated lifter too but liek the doc has said better to now wait it out patiently rather then stress out your injury. Meanwhile you can still do cardio and stretching to stay supple.

Regarding Creatine it will not make your hair fall. Im not advocating its use but there is close to 30-40 years of independant research backing this product unlike many new substances out there.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Thanks everybody, I think my questions are answered. I think for my fitness needs, I don't need anything other than normal food. I generally don't feel weak even after 1-2 hours of workout, unless I am sick. Yes, I can get quickly tired since my stamina is normally on lower side these days, but I can usually build it back within couple of weeks of intense cardio workout. After buying a treadmill recently I have been doing that, my stamina has really improved in the last 10 days.

Good to hear that, fast progress!

Yes no need for supplements! At most if your supplementing just get a good vitamin complex for adult males and maybe some fishoil (omega 3) to boost your daily diet. Even these are not needed if you have a nutritious diet.

[Shan2nu]

To the best of my knowledge, there is no evidence in ONLY Carnitine helping you improve performance in the gym, by taking it pre-workout, as Shantanu does. All they claim is, it burns fat!

True, carnitine is usually taken for fat loss. Even though it helps convert long chain fatty acids into energy, the diff in performance is not that great (as compared to other substances like creatine).

Shan2nu