EMISGOD’s BodyBlog

A lot of what’s been going on with me has been captured in some of the previous BLOG entries here. Though 2006 is ending on a high note (work threw a pile of money at me + workouts are going very, very well), it was not the greatest year ever for me. I got sick twice this year (which really derailed one big project and ****ed up my Mass Pack program at the start) and at my brother’s wedding, discovered a lot of disturbing information about my family. I also was forced to terminate a romantic relationship, which has saddened me greatly, though there was really no other alternative. Better things to come in 2007, I guess…my band, gone on hiatus in November 2005, is still on hiatus. I wound up being forced to move, which was not all bad, though I should not have waited that long. I also managed to collect a nice pile of rejection slips for various shorts, though I sold a couple. A good friend of mine moved away without any notice at all as well…
One of the high notes was finally joining the bb.com Forums (and also served as a more than adequate replacement for GNC — 9 orders since joining in August — scared to total how much I spent) and meeting a lot of the great people here. A lot of people think web Forums are all fluff and sort of a "fake" way of meeting people, but to me, it’s all in the way that you use it. bb.com is both educational and highly amusing to me and is often a highlight on even the dreariest of days. I guess if this translates to me not having a "life" or whatever, then so be it…while my brother kick-started me onto the idea of competing, it is this site that has really thrown the hammer down and dialed the needle all the way over.

Anyway, let this serve as my thanks to all of you, reading this or not and I look forward to sharing the journey as we continue on in the future.

All the best.

From the last post, I want to point out that the Gaspari IntraPro is no longer mixing so well. In fact, it is now clumping nearly everytime. I am not very happy with it in general and am going to nix it after it runs out, probably replace with SAN Infusion.

I am not quite a week into my Log, which those of you who know where it is know by now that I am doing Fusion Nutrition’s ZEUS + CEL’s N-Cinerate. Linky: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=987917 Most of the updating I do regarding things will be done there. On to the mini-reviews:

ISS Research Satur8 NO: Didn’t notice anything special during the entire time I was taking it, not in terms of pumps or anything else. I don’t think I am an NO responder as I have never responded to any and this is no exception. I had to cut it a bit short from the full run because of the log, but that’s academic to me, as it was not doing anything anyway, that I could tell. Not sure what I will do with the rest of it next year…probably toss it. I take enough pills as is without taking something that doesn’t work.

Thermolife STIZM: Dito acquiesced to my repeated pleas and begging and sent me some samples. With stims, it’s anyone’s ball game and STIZM did nothing for me, even when I went up to 3 pills. The profile looks good on this, but it didn’t work on me. I am fairly conditioned to chemicals in general and perhaps the formulation was not strong enough to overcome that. I don’t know what the answer to the inferred question in the previous sentence is, but this product has been reviewed well elsewhere and Thermolife is a very solid and reputable company. I am glad, however, that I got samples first.

Twinlab Pro Fuel: Mixed extremely well, tasted like crap. I’ll take a pass in the future.

So what can I tell you?

The workouts have been kicking major ass. I feel quite a lot stronger and bigger than normal, which I am attributing to the Kre-Alkalyn + Satur8 Rush combination. Both of those have tangible effects. I’m not sure if the Satur8 NO is doing anything at all. I guess I’ll find out when I drop it, which will probably be after this weekend.

As some of you may know, presuming anyone reads any of this, I was chosen to be a tester for Cutting Edge Labs’ N-Cinerate. What you don’t know will be coming when I start the log. I don’t want to say anything so stay tuned for that one. This means, though, that the Mass Build will be running through the end of January (actually a little past) for sure now. Once the log concludes, I will take a look at things and decide if I should continue through the projected time frame (end of March ‘07) or start cutting 2 months early. If the Mass Build continues as well as it is right now, it will be very difficult to move to cutting.
As it stands now, the Mass Build is finally starting to come together after a very rocky start. Diet is much cleaner this week, which is making me happier and I’m going to start tossing supplements out so I can make sure I maintain a level of consistency for the duration of the log. Both the ISS products will be leaving, as will Universal Nutrition’s Animal Nitro G. I am finishing testing on that, but I suspect the review I will be doing soon on that will be rather scathing. I am very dissatisfied with that particular purchase. The Animal Nitro G will be replaced with Pacific Nutrition’s Countdown as a PWO recovery shake. Thus far, the Animal Nitro G is sucking hind tit in that department. More on that later.

I also am going to buy a scale and calipers, so I can pin down bf% and actual weight, presuming this goddamn scale is actually capable of holding calibration, as the other two at my gym and (now ex-)girlfriend’s place were not. I will be weighing and measuring everything before the log starts and possibly checking maxes as well, but for sure getting some good, solid control numbers first. It’s also my first log for the bb.com site (I have another secret one elsewhere) and I’m trying to think of ways to get creative and really have fun with it. The plan is to post daily, along with some very general macro and caloric figures, as I’m not too tied into a diet. I will post more info on that in the actual log itself.
I finally got the Gaspari IntraPro Strawberry and ISS Advantage Matrix I was waiting for. I wanted it for my trip, but only got them yesterday, missing by well over a week. Neither tastes particularly wonderful, though neither is bad. The ISS mixes like shit, clumps galore. The Gaspari mixes well, but is a far cry from Syntha 6, which is still the king of tasty protein powders.