EMISGOD’s BodyBlog

Just for fun:

Highest weight 2007: 252

Lowest weight 2007 : 217

Weight as of 12/31/07: 219

Mini-Reviews to date: 62

Full Reviews to date: 75

Product Logs to date: 9

As to the year itself, it’s been a rather crazy one, plenty of ups, but also many downs. I wrote, shot, directed, starred in, scored, produced and completed my first movie this year. However, I have also cut loose two long-time associates who I felt were abusing my friendship. I have known both of them for 10 years and in that time, it would be accurate to say that I on and off considered them friends. My band is back together, but we have not reached a consistency in playing.

As to me personally as regards bodybuilding, the 219 is +9 from my desired goal of 210 by year’s end. I believe I would have made it were it not for the very late in the year attack of a pair of viruses that sidelined me for 2 1/2 weeks. However, I emerged considerably stronger than ever before and set numerous PRs this year. My cardiovascular conditioning, however, is not yet at the peak it once was. That, among the continued reduction of bodyfat, is paramount among my goals for 2008.

Also, for those of you following along in my Logs, you already know, but for those not, I will be trying my hand at formulating a PWO recovery shake next year sometime in January.

This is mostly a catch-up post…

First up is Prolab’s ThermoFire. This reminds me a lot of MAN Scorch, which has been one of my favorites for a while. ThermoFire does not seem to have any of the sides that Scorch sometimes does. The dosing is also very similar. This needs to be run at 3 caps or there is not much effect. This is a very smooth supplement and very enjoyable. If the sides of Scorch are troublesome, this presents an excellent alternative.

Next is 5 Hour Energy. I had both of these recently. The berry flavor was not very good, but the Lemon-Lime was very tasty. Both were good for somewhere between 2 -3 hours of energy, with an initial spike lasting for roughly an hour and then a rather linear downgrading line after that. These are also more expensive than they probably should be, which does not make them very useful, particularly considering that Twinlab’s Energy Fuel, which acts very similarly, can be obtained for about 1/2 of the price (or less). I also tried the Extra Strength version, which yielded a slightly higher amount of energy initially but was ultimately extra shitty and not worth the bother.
Nitro2Go’s Instant Energy is fairly similar, though it packs a ridiculous amount of stimulant-related material into that very small bottle. The taste is also pretty decent. This is a fairly new entry into the market, having a release date of August 2007. As much as they jam into the bottle, the price is acceptable, depending on where you buy it. 6 hours of energy is claimed, but, of course, there is nowhere near that. I’d put it around 3 hours, maybe a touch more. It’s definitely stronger than either 5 Hour Energy (the main target market) or Energy Fuel, but a large part of this results in an elevated heart rate, basically a spike in heartbeat, which does not necessarily translate into actual energy. Given how this acted, I have some doubt as to the safety of this particular drink, particularly if persons are stupid and take it either to wash down more stim pills or have a bunch of them in a row…

Xyience Xenergy: I got around to trying the Cranberry flavored one. This one resulted in no real energy gain whatsoever, though it tasted better than the "Clear" flavored one. I am not inclined to try Green Apple. This product is essentially worthless.

Resident Evil T-Virus Antidote: Capcom has moved their evil corporation "Umbrella" into the energy drink sphere, perhaps to compete with the Mario Power-Up drink (which I have not tried and probably will not). This tastes like a very, very cheap version of Redbull, albeit considerably more expensive (at least at FYE). I’m not sure who is bottling this for Capcom, but the cheapness in the taste is probably a reflection of the cheapness in ingredients. I say this because I notice that the cheaper energy drinks nearly always inevitably give me a headache and this one bordered right on the verge of that. There was approximately zero energy boost, even on an empty stomach after I hadn’t eaten for 4+ hours. Very cool looking can and nice tie-in. Too bad the product is junk.

The next one is Scivation Dialene 4. This is the same thing as Primaforce RAGE, so the comments from that posting in the BodyBLOG post before this one (I believe) applies here as well.

I also tried Stacker2’s Yellow Jacket energy shot the other day. It is by far the most noxious and disgusting-tasting shot I’ve ever had…it has to almost be experienced to be believed, but it is purely awful. This worked the fastest of almost anything I’ve ever used, but was only good for about 90 minutes…