Chasin Numbers With USP's Prime: 10 Weeks with Before, After, & Midpoint Pics

[Salaam86]

Alright, everyone already knows the type of claims USP is making with this new product, so I won't go into all the hype. I want to do the best i can to show everyone interested in this product whether or not its worth their money and whether it will have positive effects on my strength and body composition beyond that found with proper and consistent diet and exercise.

Im going into this log with NO expectations whatsoever, im not taking the pills to feel anything or for extra pumps. I just take the pills three times a day and forget about them, because the last thing I want is to have Prime become a mental crutch. I think this attitude has the potential to screw up a lot of people's assessment of a product so hopefully I can keep that from screwing with my judgement of Prime. I'll just let the numbers i put up in the gym and the pictures tell the story of whether or not prime is all hype or the next big thing its touted out to be.

I will be taking Prime Everyday with no breaks at Meal 1, Meal 3, and Meal 5.

About Me:

Morning Weight: 151
Height: 5' 6.999999"
Age: 25

Training History:

In the past two years I have gone down from being over 230 lbs to my present weight of 150. For the first year i was only running and doing push-ups and other bodyweight exercises. I have been lifting weights for 11 months now and for 90% of that time i have been in a calorie deficit. I've still got some fat on me but my metabolism is shot and i need to put some mass on before trying to get seriously lean again. During this log I will be SLOWLY upping my calories and trimming back my cardio depending on how i look in the mirror and what the weight on the scale is. For the past month i've re-done my diet and training and feel like i've finally found what works for me. Hopefully the results in these next 10 weeks will confirm this feeling.

Diet: I weigh and measure and track everything I eat everyday. As of now im eating 2800 calories on the weekends, 2300 calories on my rest day, and 2400 calories a day during the week when I workout as well. The amount I eat is based around my estimated activity level each day via bodybugg.

Other Supplements:
NOW Super EPA
Nature Made Evening Primrose Oil
Glucosamine & Chondroitin
Lutein Ester
Xtend
Vendetta
Coenzyme Q10
USP Cissus
USP Anabolic Pump
USP P-Slin
NOW Beta-Alanine
Micronized Creatine
L-Tyrosine

Beginning Pics (All Shots Are Taken Cold):

Quad Pic:



Back Double Bi:



Triceps:

[Salaam86]

Chest Relaxed:



Biceps:



Most Muscular:

[Salaam86]

Hopefully these pics are of good enough quality, if there's any other pics i should of took let me know and i'll do my best to put them up.

Hamstring and Calf:



Edit: I'll try to get a pic of a front double bi as well as soon as i can.

[dexterium]

awesome man I will be following this log!

[borobulker]

Best of luck buddy... Can't wait to see your progress!

[Peter LeDrew]

Here's hope for an honest log and one to depend on... I think increasing your calories and adding other supps may not be the ideal way to go about judging Prime as you will get some awesome gains just by doing that without Prime... I guess we'll see how things go nonetheless.

Good luck.

[Salaam86]

Originally Posted by dexterium

awesome man I will be following this log!

cool man, glad to have you along for the ride.

[Salaam86]

Originally Posted by borobulker

Best of luck buddy... Can't wait to see your progress!

thanks man, im hoping i make some great progress in these coming weeks.

Originally Posted by Peter LeDrew

Here's hope for an honest log and one to depend on... I think increasing your calories and adding other supps may not be the ideal way to go about judging Prime as you will get some awesome gains just by doing that without Prime... I guess we'll see how things go nonetheless.

Good luck.

I see what your saying, I probably won't increase my calories then beyond what im eatng right now but I want to decrease my level of cardio, because im doing ridiculous amounts still.

Just for information purposes I have been taking Prime everyday since Tuesday, so this is actually Day 6 for me. Sorry bout not starting earlier, but i was flip-flopping between even doing a log. I'll post yesterday's workout as well as todays and if y'all want i can post the workouts from last tuesday onwards for the sake of completeness and continuity.

[Peter LeDrew]

Originally Posted by FormerFatBoy86

I see what your saying, I probably won't increase my calories then beyond what im eatng right now but I want to decrease my level of cardio, because im doing ridiculous amounts still.

Just for information purposes I have been taking Prime everyday since Tuesday, so this is actually Day 6 for me. Sorry bout not starting earlier, but i was flip-flopping between even doing a log. I'll post yesterday's workout as well as todays and if y'all want i can post the workouts from last tuesday onwards for the sake of completeness and continuity.

ok, cool!

I wish you luck and if you really want to judge Prime try and keep everything as close to pre-prime as possible... it may be hard, but appreciate you doing your best.
Anything noticed yet?

[obmas]

Will this log also determine if "fish get thirsty"?

[Salaam86]

September 6, 2008 Day 5 on Prime

Chest, Front Delts, and Biceps Power-Focus

12 Minute Warm-Up on the Eliptical (Low-Intensity)

Incline Dumbbell Press (Super-Set with Standing EZ-Bar Curl then Close Grip EZ-Bar Curl)
(All Reps done with 3 Second Negatives and 1 second pause at the bottom)
25x5
45x3
65x2
75x8
75x6 (could have hit 8 except i screwed up on the 5th rep and lost my rythm)

EZ-Bar Curls (3 second negative, 1 second squeeze at top, and 2 second concentric)
50x6
80x8
80x8

Weighted Dips (Slow and controlled) (First Set Super-Set with Last Set of Close-Grip EZ Bar Curls and following sets Super-Set with Cross body hammer curls)
BWx6
45x8
45x8
BWx12

Close Grip EZ-Bar Curls (3 second negative, 1 second squeeze at top, and 2 second concentric)
80x8
80x7

Cross Body Hammer Curls (Slow and Controlled, Minimal Swing)
40x8
45x8

Flat Machine Press
180x8
180x6

A-Trainers (Super-Set with Shoulder Machine Press)
25x12
25x12
25x12

Shoulder Machine Press
100x8
100x7
Left Arm Focus 50x8 (My right front delt is bigger than my left so im trying to correct that with real slow negatives and slight assistance from my right arm on any sticking points)

60 Minutes on the Eliptical (Low/Med Intensity)

Thoughts: This was a real great workout, there is just something about training while there is a crazy ass storm outside. I feel like I kinda tapped into that display of power outside and used it to fuel my workouts, especially on the weighted dips. The last set with 45 just felt easy, I guess the feeling I had was similar to watching powerlifting videos before working out or having a training partner much much stronger than you. It just kinda pushes you and motivates you and reminds you how powerful things can be. I'll be moving up in weight on certain exercises next go around so we'll see how i've progressed till then.

Also my workout ended at 2:00 pm and i went back to the gym again around 7pm for another 50 minutes of cardio on the eliptical (yea I know, you can call it fatboy paranoia).

Nutrition:
2805 Calories
Protein: 231.5
Carbs: 380.6
Fat: 51.4

Estimated Calories Burned Via Bodybugg: 3402

[Salaam86]

Originally Posted by Peter LeDrew

ok, cool!

I wish you luck and if you really want to judge Prime try and keep everything as close to pre-prime as possible... it may be hard, but appreciate you doing your best.
Anything noticed yet?

thanks pete, my calorie intake, cardio level, and supplement will stay as close to base-line as i can make it. You wont see any crazy weight gain reports like 5 lbs in one day because of glycogen and water super-compensation. My carbs have been at quite high levels for a bit now. I weigh myself every thursday and saturday morning at the same time on an empty stomach as well so I will make no deviations there either.

As far as feeling, I can't really say that anything different is attributable to my Prime supplementation. My body temperature is becoming markedly warmer throughout the day, but I think this is more of a factor resulting from my increased carb intake and hopefully the normalization of my bodies leptin and ghrelin. I noticed this occuring somewhat last weekend as well before even starting prime.

As far as pumps and all that, I always get amazing pumps in the gym, even on semi-low carbs.

I want to really be careful of attributing any feelings to prime until they are either markedly pronounced or subtle but consistent on a day to day basis. Hopefully that makes sense.

Originally Posted by obmas

Will this log also determine if "fish get thirsty"?

lol, that might be asking to much but if i can i'll make sure USP gives me credit for that if they put it in their Prime Ads.

[Salaam86]

September 7th, 2008 Day 6

Legs and Triceps (Hypertrophy-Focus)

12 Minutes on the Eliptical (Low Intensity)

Squats (Ass to Calves with a 3-4 second eccentric and 2-3 seconds in the hole that feel like forever)
Barx8
115x5
155x10
175x8

Narrow Stance Hacks (Deep, painfully deep)
90x6
180x10
200x10

Iso-Lateral Leg Press (Super-Set with Close-Grip Flat Machine Press)
180x12
180x12

Iso-Lateral Leg Xtensions (Super-Set with CG Flat Machine Press)
70x12

CG Flat Machine Press (I put a bar across the handles of the machine to achieve the close grip)
105x8
135x3
165x10
165x8

Glute Ham Raises (these are so hard) (Super-Set With Charles Glass Style Tricep Pushdowns)
BWx7
BWx7

Tricep Push-downs (Real slow and no back involved all tri's)
120x12
140x12
150x12
150x12

Stiff Legged Deads (Watchin Dan John's video on fitcast has finally shown me how to do these things right.)
95x5
115x3
135x8 (grip failed a lil)
135x10

45 Minutes on the Eliptical (Low Intensity)

Thoughts: I am expecting some major gains in my legs in these coming months now that my left knee is starting to recover from all the dumb **** i've done to it. I love these slow squats with a pause in the hole, they scare the **** out of me even at this weight. Sitting down in that hole feels like forever and keeps you from getting comfortable. Your always down there long enough to worry about being able to get back up and it doesnt help that im short so i gotta walk the weight far out from the rack to be able to squat low enough without the safety bars hitting the weight.

I only had 5 hours of sleep this morning and felt like crap earlier but once I got the blood flowing it was on like donkey kong and I still feel great even now. Don't know if prime played a part in this or if it was the carbs i ate for breakfast finally hitting my system. I'll let everyone draw their own conclusions from that since things are still real early in the game as far as prime goes.

At 5:15pm I went back to the gym and did 35 minutes of Low intensity Cardio on the eliptical. Interesting note, my body is hotter than a mother****er right now and my ears are burning which is definitely out of the ordinary. I think i might be experiencing a little bit of primes enhanced recovery because I feel like i could of done a lot more cardio but the gym closed at 6:00pm. The real determinant will be whether this occurs consistently throughout the log or whether this was just an isolated incident.

Nutrition
2813 Calories
Protein: 186.5 grams
Carbs: 443.9 grams
Fat: 26.9 grams

Estimated Calories Burned Via Bodybugg: 3294

[dark_man812]

Looks good so far. I'm in on this.

[Salaam86]

I got a pm from someone asking when I was fat and basically asking for proof, so im gonna post the only pic I got from my fat days just to show how far i've come. This was in early 2006 before I went to federal prison, I was released from Petersburg Federal Correctional Institution on Sept. 25th 2007 and I weighed a skinny fat 160 lbs. Thats the reason why in the about me part that I put that I've only been lifting for a little less than a year. I did all my running and bodyweight exercises while I was in prison and then hit the weights once I was free. I wasn't to in to taking pictures back then and I sure as hell wasn't doing no half nekid shots like now but I think the difference is quite evident. And also on another note, I am randomly drug tested every month for everything so hopefully this will keep people from asking me about steroids or pro-hormone use (im only 150lbs but you never know with people)

[Salaam86]

Originally Posted by dark_man812

Looks good so far. I'm in on this.

cool man, thanks for stopping by.

[Salaam86]

September 8, 2007 Day 7

Well today marks the end of my first week and things should be starting to get interesting before not to long I hope. The only thing I have to report is i've been having strange dreams the past couple nights. I didn't say anything about it earlier because i thought it was an isolated incident, but its happened for three days straight and I hardly ever remember my dreams. Especially **** where im doing lat pulldowns with a 2-story high weight stack. Back day is tomorrow (tuesday) so maybe it was on my mind. My hammies are sore from yesterday which makes me really happy because I used to have trouble hitting them right in the past.

One thing i realize is that i've kind of neglected going into detail on the most important factor in any body composition change and thats my diet. I'll post up my diet for today and tomorrow i'll post up what I ate as well so you guys can see exactly what im eating. I eat pretty much the same exact thing on Mondays and Thursdays and the same exact things on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The weekends have a little more variety due to the fact i have more calories to play with. Also, like I said before I weigh and measure everything so i know exactly what im eating. I pour my egg whites in a measuring cup as well as milk when i use it and weigh my rice down to the gram on a digital scale and I count the fat grams and protein in my supplements like fish oil and Xtend towards my daily calories as well.


Todays Diet:

Meal 1:
NOW Super EPA (4 Softgels)
Scivation Sesamin (1 Softgel)
Primaforce CLA (1 Softgel)
Nature Made Evening Primrose Oil (2 Softgels)
2 Scoops of Apple Xtend
1.5 cups of egg whites
3 Trader Joes Blueberry Wheatbran Muffins
Prime (2 caps)

-An Hour before Meal 2 have a serving of Xtend (2 scoops)

Meal 2:
1 Cup of Egg Whites
3/4 Cup of Trader Joes Marsala Sauce
Trader Joes Basmati Rice (60 grams)
1/2 Cup of Green/Red/Yellow Peppers
Scivation Sesamin (1 Softgel)
Primaforce CLA (3 Softgel)
Prime (2 Caps)

-An Hour before Meal 3 have a serving of Xtend (2 scoops)

Meal 3:
3 Oz. of Alaskan Cod
3/4 Cup of Steamed Green Beans
3 Trader Joes Blueberry Wheatbran Muffins
1 Tsp. of Macadamia Oil

-An Hour before Meal 4 have a serving of Xtend (2 scoops)

Meal 4:
1 Cup of Egg Whites
3 Oz. Grilled Chicken Breast
3/4 Cup of Trader Joes Marsala Sauce
Trader Joes Basmati Rice (60 grams)
3/4 Cup of Green/Red/Yellow Peppers

Meal 5:
NOW Super EPA (4 Softgels)
Scivation Sesamin (1 Softgel)
Primaforce CLA (1 Softgel)
Nature Made Evening Primrose Oil (2 Softgels)
3/4 Cup of Egg Whites
3 Oz. Grilled Chicken Breast
3/4 Cup of Trader Joes Marsala Sauce
Trader Joes Basmati Rice (60 grams)
3/4 Cup of Green/Red/Yellow Peppers
Prime (2 Caps)

2316 Calories
Protein:192.3
Carbs: 337.5
Fat: 28.4

Estimated Calories Burned Via Bodybugg: 2354

*Besides my Xtend all I drink is water and drink about 2-3 gallons a day. I drink Xtend in between meals in the hope that the leucine content causes a spike in protein synthesis and space it out between meals so it does not overlap my protein ingestion that i get from my meals and cause an occurence of protein synthesis refraction. This probably just being anal but if it has a possibility of helping i'll do it. One of these days im gonna find out the exact leucine content of all the types of food i eat and do my best to optimize each and every meal to take advantage of a post-prandial protein synthesis.

[papagunz]

No offense, but your fat is effin low.

[Salaam86]

lol, i was wondering when someone was gonna bring that up. I lowered my fats to these levels about a month and a half ago after reading through jeff rodriguez's journals and i haven't felt any ill effects from it. All the fats I do get are EFA's and i figure the rest gets covered from whatever extra carbs im eating that get converted to fat anyways.

Also no offense taken whatsoever on your question papagunz, im on this site to learn as much as I can and im still trying to figure out whay my body responds to best. I tried the high fat low carb diet for a couple months and felt like ****. I found that I needed to have carbs in all of my meals or else i get this sick type feeling. Actually I ate my 2nd meal an hour later then I usually do and I was starting to get that feeling today.

According to Layne Norton in his faq he says this about fats:

Layne , what % of total calories do you feel should come from fat so you don't have a deficiency over load in your diet?

I don't like %s because they don't hold up over many different calorie ranges. For example. If you are doing 10% of your kcals from fat I'm sure everyone would say that is deficient. But if you are taking in 4000% kcal/day thats about 45g of fat which is certainly not deficient, especially because you have so many total calories to spare fatty acids. However, if you are on 1800 kcal/day that ends up being only 20g of fat which is less that optimal; especially at such low calories (unless you are a 100 lb figure girl, then you're probably ok) So I don't think there is a % you can put on it. It depends on weight, age, activity level, bodytype, caloric intake and other factors. I think for your average sized adult male bodybuilder with a mesomorphic bodytype who's in a caloric deficit, 45-60g of fat does the trick. When bulking you can actually go with the same amounts or less due to the increased kcals; however, that means you have to eat a ton of carbs as energy fillers and I like a balance so I suggest 55-75g of fat. These are just general guidelines, I hope they made sense.


-Im assuming that an averaged size bodybuilder is somewhere around 200lbs and if 45 is the low end for someone like that I dont think 30 grams will be that detrimental for me (but not necessarily optimal either). I don't feel like my testosterone production is being negatively effected by my fat intake, my joints are fine and my mental processes are nominal. I might get some blood work done in these coming months, I guess that'll be the only real way to find out anything substantive.

[papagunz]

If it's working for you, that's great. Not everyone responds the same to any diet, blah blah blah, ect ect.

Personally, I'd drop carbs a tab and up fat, since your carbs are well over 300, but that's just me. This also coming from a ffb too.

[Salaam86]

Originally Posted by papagunz

If it's working for you, that's great. Not everyone responds the same to any diet, blah blah blah, ect ect.

Personally, I'd drop carbs a tab and up fat, since your carbs are well over 300, but that's just me. This also coming from a ffb too.

that makes sense, i actually made some small changes to my diet plan tomorrow based on your advice. I figured i could use some more omega 9's in my diet so I added an extra tsp of macadamia oil and a tbsp of peanut butter too. I'll post if up tomorrow along with my back workout.

[Patrick Arnold]

Originally Posted by obmas

Will this log also determine if "fish get thirsty"?

wow i never pondered that

do fish even drink? or do they just absorb water

[Patrick Arnold]

Originally Posted by FormerFatBoy86

I got a pm from someone asking when I was fat and basically asking for proof, so im gonna post the only pic I got from my fat days just to show how far i've come. This was in early 2006 before I went to federal prison, I was released from Petersburg Federal Correctional Institution on Sept. 25th 2007 and I weighed a skinny fat 160 lbs.

you were at petersburg in virginia? did you know Raymond Washington? a short stocky black guy that was super strong? He was my roommate for a while at morgantown. he transferred there from petersburg and has since gone back there

[Salaam86]

Originally Posted by Patrick Arnold

you were at petersburg in virginia? did you know Raymond Washington? a short stocky black guy that was super strong? He was my roommate for a while at morgantown. he transferred there from petersburg and has since gone back there

the name kind of sounds familiar, do you know if he was in the camp, the medium or the low? i just talked to a good friend of mine over the weekend whose been in petersburg for the past 8 1/2 years. If anyone would know he would. I heard Morgantown was sweet as hell, I wonder why he transferred back to Petersburg? Is he Muslim or Nation?

[Patrick Arnold]

Originally Posted by FormerFatBoy86

the name kind of sounds familiar, do you know if he was in the camp, the medium or the low? i just talked to a good friend of mine over the weekend whose been in petersburg for the past 8 1/2 years. If anyone would know he would. I heard Morgantown was sweet as hell, I wonder why he transferred back to Petersburg? Is he Muslim or Nation?

he was in the camp. He is very christian. he transferred back because they did not let him get into the drug program at morgantown, which is why he went there in the first place

Raymond actually liked Petersburg better. The only good thing about morgantown is that it was a large grounds that were well taken care of and the scenery was nice. Other than that it stank. the weights were terrible and so crowded you could not really lift. i heard petersburg had decent weights

[Salaam86]

Originally Posted by Patrick Arnold

he was in the camp. He is very christian. he transferred back because they did not let him get into the drug program at morgantown, which is why he went there in the first place

Raymond actually liked Petersburg better. The only good thing about morgantown is that it was a large grounds that were well taken care of and the scenery was nice. Other than that it stank. the weights were terrible and so crowded you could not really lift. i heard petersburg had decent weights

i should be getting a kite from my friend some time this week and when i write him back i'll ask him if he remembers your friend. I kept my circle real tight when i was doing my bid and pretty much only stayed around other Muslims. I was in the SHU then the medium for a quick minute but did the majority of my time in the low. I heard the camp was straight ass though, a lot of people were saying it was filled with snitches and back-stabbers and even though you could get cell phones and outside food you were just as likely to get snitched on and transferred out of there.

The low actually did have a real good open air weight pile, the only problem was it was rusty as **** and I was a germaphobe behind those walls. When I was in the SHU there was guys with aids pissing in cups and trying to throw it on the guards and that made me real paranoid about catching something like that or like hepatitis. That **** and snitches were my only major concerns while i was doing my time (thats why i dont have any prison tats either).

I'll let you know if i hear anything about him. My friends in Louisiana right now but he's being transfered back up here, but I won't know where until he's designated.

[smalls21]

whatd you do to get locked up? if you dont mind me asking of course.

[Salaam86]

September 9, 2008 Day 8 Beginning of Week 2

Back Medial Delts & Traps (Power)

12 Minutes on the Eliptical (Low Intensity)

Deadlift (Slow Negatives)
115x8
135x3
225x3
275x6
295x5

Barbell Rows (Yates Style [Double Overhand])
135x5
185x3
205x8
205x8

Low Rows (2 Second Squeeze)
135x5
185x8
190x8 (PR)

Behind The Neck Pulldowns (2 Second Squeeze) (Superset With Machine Laterals)
85x6
130x7
135x8 (Easy) (PR)

Machine Lateral Raises (Kept my ass planted to the seat and minimal trap involvement) (3 second negatives)
65x5
110x3
115x8
120x8
125x8 (PR)

Behind The Back Barbell Shrugs (Super-set with machine laterals and rear delt machine) (full stretch at the bottom while standing on platform and 2-4 second squeeze at the top)
135x8
245x8
265x8 (PR)

Back Xtensions
Bodyweightx12
115x8
135x8 (PR)
135x8

Rear Delt Machine
80x8
100x8
100x8

Dumbell Pullovers (New Exercise for me, but i loves it)
50x6
60x8
65x8
70x8

Bodyweight Hangs
Bwx30 sec.
Bwx30 sec.

45 Minutes on the Eliptical (Medium Intensity)

Thoughts: Damn this was an awesome workout. My level of focus was ridiculous, I mean im always intense when I lift, but I was getting the bug-eyed "he must be on something" looks and I think this one kid called me a freak. I was in to good of a mood to give a ****, but my workout was like circuit training with no rest in between super-sets. The only time i rested was for like 30 seconds in between sets of my deadlifts. I can guarantee next week ill be deadlifting for reps for twice my bodyweight easy and I hope to match my pr of 325 but with so much better form before the end of this log. I now know what people were talking about when they were referring to a feeling of euphoria from Prime, it kind of reminds me of an experience I had before but im not gonna mention that until i know for sure this isnt an isolated incident where i just had an amazing workout. I was itching to get in the gym all day and it felt like forever since i had been able to lift (did I mention that I hate rest days?). Everyday I've been dreaming about lifting and I just have this feeling like everything clicked into place today.

I got my new shoes in today and cardio was so much more enjoyable now that I have shoes that are made for my arch. I ice my left knee and calves every night because they've took such a beating this year but hopefully with the right shoes they'll have a chance to heal properly and I can even start training calves again sometime soon (i only use these shoes for cardio, I lift in my chucks). I'll be seeing my deep tissue massage lady sometime in early october so we'll see how my body is doing by then.

Cliffs:
I honestly believe Prime is evincing noticeable effects on me
-Higher Than Normal Level of Focus and Aggression
-Definite Feeling of Euphoria
-Pumps were the same as always and so was vascularity (but im genetically gifted in these areas anyways so i think its hard to improve on)

[Salaam86]

Originally Posted by smalls21

whatd you do to get locked up? if you dont mind me asking of course.

no i dont mind, I wont go to into detail but I was charged with various counts of drug importation, for whatever reason homeland security and immigration and customs enforcement and the DEA thought I was worth the effort of a sting operation. Despite all the stress and pain this situation put my family through Im proud to say I went into the situation a man of honor and came out as one. My case started and ended with me and no one did time because of me, I never took the stand on anyone and I was one of the few people who wasnt afraid to show his PSI (Pre-Sentence Investigation) to anyone who had any questions about my integrity. Honestly going to prison was a great experience of growth and strength for me and I have no regrets. lol some people thought I was crazy in there because I refused the offer of a halfway house and the chance of later home confinement and stayed in prison an extra couple of months because i didnt wanna be stuck in a jail without the chance to exercise.

[DJMctits]

Subcribed, curious to see your progress