I decided to join a gym for a few months and work with a personal trainer... it was either that or crossfit and I guess i flipped a coin and wound up at the gym..haha. I am coming back to exercise after significant time off from major plastics...

Anyway, first session was today and my goals are to strengthen and tone, reduce body fat percentage and (nice to have) build up some more butt since mine is quite skinny. Trainer recommended taking aminio acid supplements when doing aerobics to keep body from burning lean muscle - if I understood correctly. I am curious if this really makes a difference... i know some of you have researched this stuff alot.

My bodyfat is about 29% but i really wonder how accurate the pinch tests are on the formerly obese. Anyway, he laid out a plan of how to get to like 20% bodyfat and I told him I thought 25% is good enough for a 49 year old (I didn't mention my fear of my butt disappearing entirely..haha)

The compliment he paid is that even though i have been off exercise for awhile... just started back up recently, my strength and flexibility are really good. My form is good too. I credit my Julian Michael's DVDs I learned alot from them. I laughed when he said I could kick the butt of the 30 year guy he just worked with who claimed to be athletic.

I will be most interested to see if in a month I can drop 2% body fat down to 27 since I didn't see that kind of movement working out on my own (well, I didn't have a good way to measure either, just going by my scale that supposedly measures body fat%).

In truth, as expensive as CrossFit is, I bet by the time I pay for personal training, cross fit is an affordable option. I am just doing month to month at the gym so thought i would re-evaluate after a month but I am liking it there - good group classes, trainer was really good and it isn't too crowded.

Anyone use Isagenix Ionix supreme? It isn't an amino, its a granule supplement you add a scoop to Water, it is full of B's Zinc and Folic Acid.

No haven't tried that.

Creatine has been researched over and over and everyone comes back that it is by far one of the best muscle and performance building supplements you can use. It is an energy source, it bloats muscles (helping move nutrients to the muscle) allows itself to be burnt first before the muscle is burnt and on and on and on... Monohydrate bloats the muscle but is easiest to absorb. HCL does not bloat but is harder to absorb. Combo of both would be best with the Aminos pre and post.

Okay, I will look into buying Extend as well. I think I can use this as a before and use the extend as an after workout supplement.

One some level I think it is crazy I am doing this, but i have not been able to understand how after all the working out I did in 2013, which included strength training, and you can see visible muscles on me that my body fat still measures at 29% on the caliper test. I want to get to about 25%.

No haven't tried that. Creatine has been researched over and over and everyone comes back that it is by far one of the best muscle and performance building supplements you can use. It is an energy source, it bloats muscles (helping move nutrients to the muscle) allows itself to be burnt first before the muscle is burnt and on and on and on... Monohydrate bloats the muscle but is easiest to absorb. HCL does not bloat but is harder to absorb. Combo of both would be best with the Aminos pre and post.

One thing I have been curious about is id creatine is effective to take on off days. I have been under the impression that the answer is yes in order to keep muscles "loaded, " but gave also read it does not help. What are your thoughts? Thanks!

CGJ - so long as that fat isn't around your middle, an indicator for heart disease vulnerability, it doesn't matter if your body fat is a bit higher, except for vanity percentage.

How much should I be paying for the extend? and what is a good CLEAN creatine brand?

CGJ - so long as that fat isn't around your middle, an indicator for heart disease vulnerability, it doesn't matter if your body fat is a bit higher, except for vanity percentage. How much should I be paying for the extend? and what is a good CLEAN creatine brand?

For xtend I typically pay a little more than 50 for the 90 portion on Amazon. It is not cheap and wish I could find it for less. Again, expect to pay 20% more if you order this retail from GNC or a store like that. Retail typically carries the 30 portion version which runs out too fast for me.

A well respected brand is AST for creatine monohydrate.

http://www.amazon.com/AST-Science-Micronized-Creatine-Monohydrate/dp/B00117ZSOO

Stuff is cheap and will last forever. It is a well respected brand in the body building community for a clean pure source of creatine monohydrate. The consistency is like powdered sugar and doesn't mix too well in my opinion. I switched to NOW brand because I was getting nauseous from the AST for whatever reason. The consistency of the NOW brand is like table sugar, mixes well and does not make me nauseous.

One thing I have been curious about is id creatine is effective to take on off days. I have been under the impression that the answer is yes in order to keep muscles "loaded, " but gave also read it does not help. What are your thoughts? Thanks!

I use it on off days in the morning with my protein shake. Just keep it in the system. I don't take a double dose as I do on training days.

I get nauseaous from weirdo stuff so i probably would jump right to the NOW.

so, this is all a bit over my head but given that I bought a product similiar to Extend (the Amino Boost from the gym) sounds like I should add the Creatine. When I run out of the Amino Boost I will replace it with the Extend. Even with the extend, you add the Creatine, right?

Is this the correct NOW product? They also have capsules but i hate pills even more than powders..haha

http://www.amazon.com/NOW-FOODS-CREATINE-POWDER-PURE/dp/B000WSIQEM/ref=sr_1_3?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1389974164&sr=1-3&keywords=NOW+Creatine

I get nauseaous from weirdo stuff so i probably would jump right to the NOW. so, this is all a bit over my head but given that I bought a product similiar to Extend (the Amino Boost from the gym) sounds like I should add the Creatine. When I run out of the Amino Boost I will replace it with the Extend. Even with the extend, you add the Creatine, right? Is this the correct NOW product? They also have capsules but i hate pills even more than powders..haha http://www.amazon.com/NOW-FOODS-CREATINE-POWDER-PURE/dp/B000WSIQEM/ref=sr_1_3?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1389974164&sr=1-3&keywords=NOW+Creatine

yes, that is the NOW product I use. I typically mix together xtend, creatine and beta-alanine into the same drink in the morning when I wake. 1-2 scoop of xtend, 5 g of creatine and 4 g of beta-alanine. Sometimes I will also add my 5 g of magnesium powder into this drink (relaxes muscles and improves flavor a tad).

Then sip just Xtend during workouts and then drink same concoction 30 minutes after workout with 20gr of protein.

I've been fringing the xtend before workouts for a while now. In the last week I started drinking it during my runs instead of water with electrolytes. I ran a half marathon yesterday and it was the best one I've ever run. I don't know if it's all the extend bit I'm certainly going to keep drinking it during my runs. When summer comes I may have to add in some electrolytes as well, but the BCAAs definitely work during workouts.

I've been fringing the xtend before workouts for a while now. In the last week I started drinking it during my runs instead of Water with electrolytes. I ran a half marathon yesterday and it was the best one I've ever run. I don't know if it's all the extend bit I'm certainly going to keep drinking it during my runs. When summer comes I may have to add in some electrolytes as well, but the BCAAs definitely work during workouts.

I agree BTB. Amino acids before combined with caffeine and carbs really make a difference. Big time.

Just finished running a 9.5 mile run on my treadmill averaging between 7.5-8 minute mile.

Comments:

1. It took about 20 minutes, even after a 5 minute warmup run, for my body to get in the running groove. Before then it was really rusty.

2. A slight dehydration became noticeable around 35 minutes. Did most of my sweating up to 25 minutes.

3. I did not bonk at 45 minutes. Still lots of energy.

4. I still felt really good at 70 minutes and was able to sprint the last 5 minutes 6-6.5 minute mile) to the end

5. My core felt phenomenal around 30 minutes to the end. All the aches and pains of beating myself up @ cross fit vanished (endorphins?), especially around the hip region.

6.i feel really good afterwards (now). A little tired, but nothing much.

The treadmill is great because you can make micro adjustments to speed and incline as you go. Boring to stare at a white wall though. I had muse pumping in my ears.

I say the xtend, caffeine and carb combo works well. I just did not like feeling dehydrated 1/2 way into race. This time I ate two spoonfuls of a lentil bean salad my wife made about 10 minutes before running and xtend / caffeine about an hour before. This morning I drank my usual ton of water and also had a big bow of oatmeal, Protein powder and Fiber one carb heaven in anticipation for running this afternoon. Slurped on bcaa for a lot of that water this morning. I drink a lot of that stuff. And it helps not only in running, but in the cross fit stuff also.

Is there anything I can be eating in the pace of aminos? I just won't be able to get them until I get Stateside or somebody sends them to me, I really need to do this extend stuff, over a week after my "ab" day and it still hurts to sneeze!

Is there anything I can be eating in the pace of aminos? I just won't be able to get them until I get Stateside or somebody sends them to me, I really need to do this extend stuff, over a week after my "ab" day and it still hurts to sneeze!

BCAA are just the building blocks of Protein that specifically contribute to protein synthesis in the muscles and aid in recovery. Your body breaks down food protein into these amino acids as part of the digestion process.

For this reason, you could just focus on eating clean protein like chicken, game, etc. Just a suggestion though. I am not sure it word yield the same results as taking BCAA directly. My guess is that the effective net result would not be the same because there is definitely a large market for amino products.

The nice fact about BCAA aminos is that your body knows exactly what to do with them and will transport them to the muscles before other aminos that come out of the digestive process. For this reason, I always drink BCAA Water first in the morning before eating my first meal and first after a workout before eating a recovery bar or drinking a Protein shake.

Many protein shake powders also have extra amino acids, but it depends on brand. I am not sure if nectar protein (is that what you are currently taking?) has the extra amino in it, but other brands like ON hydrobiilder, BSN syntha 6 and a plethora of others do. Glutamine is probably one of the most important aminos for recovery, but luecine and a couple others are key.

Another product I have tried in the past, but was not that impressed with, is BPI blox. It uses a relatively new researched SAA (Silk Amino Acids) in very specific ratios that are supposed to help more than BCAA (Branch Chain Amino Acids).

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_amino_acid

I may not have given it enough time (3 weeks), but it was too expensive for the little feedback I got from it. That was 6-8 months ago. Best tasting amino drink I have ever had though.

Edited January 20, 201412 yr by Fiddleman

Okay somebody who knows I want aminos just gave me a tub - ON Essential Amino Energy. Reviews?