Fiddleman

BCAA may just be enough to help you get through those walls during working out with solid clean energy, strength, stamina and endurance. Catalyst is a good product as is xtend. Do make sure you are wearing a solid well balanced meal before your workout and that you slam a recovery shake afterwards with the amino acids in order to feel like a million bucks the next day. Not sure what your calories are at per day, but you will need to eat up to TDEE in order to have enough energy to fuel your workouts. Your body needs it. I try and eat 7 meals a day, 180 grams protein, around 2000 calories. It really does work.

N.o. Explode is a tough on your stomach because it is a little fizzy (carbonated?). At least that is the experience I had with it several months ago. It might be different now that I am over a year out. I have really enjoyed two other pre work out drinks called c4 and Hyde. I tried jack 3d recently, but for some reason it did not even help me much. Barely felt it. I thought it was weak as a pre workout drink even though I was scooping from the original formula. Everyone else raves about it. I guess we all react differently to these pre workout products. Try out a few different ones to find out which one works for you. It is a good idea to cycle to a different one or take a break every 5 or 6 weeks. You will know when it is time to switch when one scoop turns into two and two scoops turn into three. And so on. Also if you are going to take these, it is a good idea to keep up on your labs every so often.

I just tried some true lime and put 1 packet in 30 oz? Is this sound like the right ratio of true lime to water? It was a little weak, but maybe that is how it is supposed to taste. How much true lime do you mix into water, you true lime experts?

I am now convinced BCAAs are where a lot of muscle gains can be made when combined with lifting and clean diet high in protein. Been drinking a lot of BCAA ( 20 g) before and after cross fit heavy weight workouts this week in addition to on and off on other days. I am noticing today, on my day off, that the circumference of my chest has increased a bit and my t shirt is stretching across the chest where it was not last week. Good stuff. I am going to keep drinking this in relatively high amounts and see how it affects my cross fit workouts this next week. Aiming for an extra 20-30 lbs on deadlift, bench and squat above my max 1 reps. Here is to hoping. creatine has not given me this type of fast progression yet, but has helped overall with increasing strength over last couple months.

Denise- thanks for another good read. These artificial sweeteners are scary stuff! Ever since about February this year, my diet has been a mix of organic and Paleo. No breads, dairy, sugar (except a little in my Protein shake), nada. The physical response to eating this way is enormous in the amount of energy one has and the ability one can apply themselves physically at a workout or mentally at work. I truly do enjoy the benefits of eating this way. I think what I am going to do is switch over to some true lime or similar product and see how well that works with drinking Water. It looks like there is also true lemon and true orange. I wonder if they make other flavor products like true strawberry or true grape. Those would also be good. Or how about true blueberry, true passion fruit, true coconut, etc. lol. The list could go on and on. Thanks everyone for the useful information this morning.

Hi Talley - you are such an inspiration to me and I am sure many others. Thanks for your post.

Wow- 403 average 5 star rating for supple leopard on amazon. That is a killer high rating for a fitness book. I am going to look into this book to see if it compliments or replaces a recent mobility book I just bought called "the genius of flexibility." If you have not seen this book, check it out. It too is very good and forward thinking in the area of resistance flexibility. Thanks again Tally for the book recommendation. Edit - ok, I read through some of the less than stellar reviews, but they are shadowed by the large number of glowing reviews. Still very interested in hearing what dr. Kelley has to say on mobility and have bookmarked mobilitywod for future reference and will read his book. I think my trainer actually mentioned mobilitywod is where she gets her information on mobility, so that really adds credit to using dr. Kelley as a resource for improving mobility and flexibility in my eyes.

I read an article that makes the statement that artificial sweeteners have been linked to increased waist circumference, increased appetite and increased vascular events. Does anyone have additional any information to back this up? I only add artificial sweetener now to coffee, but it is also in my Water Enhancer, which I drink a lot of every day. I will be weaning myself off of the water enhancers because of these health links. Please share what you know or have experience with.

Math is good if she slept in bed all day. However, she walks quite a bit and I am sure does some other exercise. That is why her point of easy gain is so confounding. Maybe it is the case of having a low BMR. Are our stomachs never going to process food like bread, nuts and avocados on a daily basis without turning it into weight gain? This is more of a question from the community and not one that applies to myself (my diet does not include toast).

Wow, thanks everyone.

One drink is usually enough for me. Two just makes me a little sick and adds no benefit in buzz factor. Started drinking again at 6 months or so and have on average two drinks a month. Really just had them when out with wife for dinner or on weekend chilling out with bro. I had my last drink about 2 months ago, just don't have the desire any longer because it does not really offer any health benefits ( at least for the hard drinks I had like Long Island or even fine white wine). I don't know, I just lost the desire for it. Maybe it will come back, maybe it will not. It was kind of a waste to get buzzed for like 2 minutes only. I want to eat and drink foods that are going to contribute to optimal health. Unfortunately, alcohol is not one of them. Just my opinion.

You are always welcome.

Hehe, you do not know the secret code word.

That sounds really tasty. How about adding some coconut and macadamia nuts!

Oh now I get you. The chalk tablet o death. Hated those. Made me puke all the time. I eventually switched to trader joes adult chewable tablet which tasted much better and did not make me puke. If I recall correctly, I think the TJ tabs had 100 percent RDA calcium in them. I took two of them daily to hit 200 percent RDA daily as recommended by nut. Now i take Optimen for fueling my workouts with good energy. BA needs to discontinue those Choc o nasty tablets prompto.

Oh man! Sick of the BA chewable??? How is that possible?? I love them for a year now in caramel flavor, giving me a little guilt free "candy treat" every single day. Mmmmm , caramel... If you really must give up this treat, then I have also found Costco to have good calcium tablets however, they do tend to beon the horse pill side of size, so do consider if you are ready to take those. After about 6 months, I could take just about any size pill, even the really huge ones they have in animal pack vitamins (think: horse pill size x2)

Could it be from sciatica pain caused by pinched nerves in back? I struggled with this all the time when heavier and it mostly had to do with ergonomics of sitting in a bad posture all day, day after day, year after year for my computer work. Since you mention you are sitting on a low couch, it is also possible that your legs are bent at an acute angle and they are " falling asleep", leading to the pins and needles sensations in the legs. If neither of those, I would get the advice of your doctor (PCP or surgeon). These are just my theories; hope they help in some way.

Canned wild salmon from trader joes is a really good purée / soft food item. You can mush it up pretty well with your fork. I remember that was the food I ate mostly (and shakes) until real food.

Hey wls4me- it could be your form or that you are using muscles that have not really been used in this way before. For the latter, feeling sore is perfectly normal. Rest a day if you need to. Do some stretching, take some bcaas and Omega 3 to help your body out with healing process. I take 4 g omega 3 daily, 2 g in the morning and 2 g in the afternoon. the product i like to use is either nutrigold triple strength omega 3 gold or stronger fitter healthier Super omega 3. nutrigold is definitely cheaper than sfh where nutrigold 2 month supply of gel capsules is about 30 and sfh 2 month supple is about 60. sfh is better, in my opinion, because it is in pure liquid form. however, the capsules are sometimes more convenient to take when i do not have a measuring tsp available. You did not hear it from me, but take some ibuprofen or Advil if you really need to. Sometimes I need to after a hard cross fit workout where I am sore the next day. Taking ibuprofen really helps take some of that soreness away. If you are sore from the former ( incorrect form), then what I can say is this: make sure your back is slightly inverted, butt out, with your chest up, head point forward. When you are swinging kettle balls, all the "power" comes from your hips. Not from your arms, not even from your back, but from your hips. As you bring the kettleball up from between your legs, thrust your hips forward fast, almost a twitch. If you do it right, the thrust will give the kettleball the momentum it needs to finish the upward arc. Depending on if you are doing American kettleball swings or Russian kettle bell swings will determine if you finish the upward arc above your head or at eye level, respectively. Do not hold it up for long at the top of the swing before letting the kettleball fall back down the arc. Always keep a strong inverted back with chest up and head looking straight forward to prevent the lower back issues. A good stretch you can do after kettle bell swings is to splay your fingers and lean into the wall, feeling the stretch in your hands and forearms. Second good stretch is to bend your hands at the wrist, palms down and lean into the walls. Doing a lot of kettle bell swings is hell on your fore arms so be sure to stretch it out afterwards. It is exciting to hear about your adventures in cross fitting. Keep it up!