M5 Extreme (Cellucor)

[Memoryflaw85]

I started taking this about mid summer, and I've noticed my strength gains increase rather significantly. Now while I was taking this, I was on a 7k calorie diet a day for the length of the summer. I gained 30lbs. (obviously some fat). My question is, was I experiencing a Placebo effect from the product and my gains were solely from my 7k diet or was the product really worth the penny. Below I've listed the ingredients. One of my friends recommended it as a good creatine to take. I told him I did not want to mess with my hormones and he assured me it did not. He has competed in teen strongman competitions since he was 16, so I took his word on it, but I know there are a lot of highly educated people on this forum so I pose the ingredients for your discretion below...

Kre-Alkalyn (buffered creatine monohydrate)
Argenol (arginine ethyl ester)
Argimax (arginine - AKG)
Taurinol (taurine ethyl ester)
Taurimax (L-taurine)
Citrullex (Citrulline)
Glycocyamine
Silica Hydride
Betarol (betaine anhydrous)
GuaniPro (guanidino proprionic acid)
Niatex (nicotinoyl-GABA)
Caffenex (caffeine anhydrous)
Glucorex (glucoronolactone)
Bisovan (oxovanadium)
Vinerol (vinpocetine)


Sorry, they do not give specific quantities of these...

Thanks for the input.

[easpert]

im actually just about to finish up my first container of the m5 and i absolutely loved it...the energy and pumps that i got from it were awesome and ive gained like 10-15 lbs over the course of a couple months or so...since its about to run out, i am gonna try sizeon and see if it compares to m5. its pricey, but worth it imo. i def think that the creatine had a part in all the weight you gained, esp. if you saw increases in muscle size/strength. did you get any of the energy/pumps as well?

[Memoryflaw85]

The pumps were amazing. You know how when you are working out and you feel like you can go on and it is because you just don't have the energy, M5 helped me break through that wall. I felt like I could push the extra weight for a couple more reps for all my exercises. Have you found any resources online about this product? It seems to be an unknown product. I can't find much anyways.

[easpert]

there are a bunch of threads on bb.com that either praise cellucor products or bash them...most of the negative reviews come from when cellucor was introduced and people were obviously skeptical...you can search the forums here or go to cellucor.com to get more info...the reason most ppl havent heard of them is b/c they dont put any money into advertising at all like some companies (BSN, MT, etc.) so thats why their products are pricey.

[koi1214]

I started taking this about mid summer, and I've noticed my strength gains increase rather significantly. Now while I was taking this, I was on a 7k calorie diet a day for the length of the summer. I gained 30lbs. (obviously some fat). My question is, was I experiencing a Placebo effect from the product and my gains were solely from my 7k diet or was the product really worth the penny. Below I've listed the ingredients. One of my friends recommended it as a good creatine to take. I told him I did not want to mess with my hormones and he assured me it did not. He has competed in teen strongman competitions since he was 16, so I took his word on it, but I know there are a lot of highly educated people on this forum so I pose the ingredients for your discretion below...

Kre-Alkalyn (buffered creatine monohydrate)
Argenol (arginine ethyl ester)
Argimax (arginine - AKG)
Taurinol (taurine ethyl ester)
Taurimax (L-taurine)
Citrullex (Citrulline)
Glycocyamine
Silica Hydride
Betarol (betaine anhydrous)
GuaniPro (guanidino proprionic acid)
Niatex (nicotinoyl-GABA)
Caffenex (caffeine anhydrous)
Glucorex (glucoronolactone)
Bisovan (oxovanadium)
Vinerol (vinpocetine)


Sorry, they do not give specific quantities of these...

Thanks for the input.

I got a question for you.I am bulking right now and taking in 4500-5000
calories a day,mostly from milk,oatmeal,chicken breast,steak,etc.How do
you get in 7000 calories a day?Could you post just one day of your 7000
calories meal plan.
Joe

[Memoryflaw85]

You know, when I was bulking, I had the whole spreadsheet typed out that fit into my schedule, and I don't have it anymore, but I'll tell you my tips that I used to hit my calorie intake goal.

My breakfast meal was my biggest meal (I think it was 1200 calories). It might have been overkill, but it got me going on my feet and made all the difference to me throughout the day. Now if I'm getting a nice 8 hours of sleep, that gives me 16 hours a day to eat... Mathematically speaking, one could eat every 2 hours for 8 total meals. (It is a complete pain in the ass, but worth it for bulking) If 8 meals is too many meals to do for you, cut it down to 6, but I wouldn't consider going any less than six. I went with the philosophy that you don't want to starve your muscles at all throughout the day or night. You want to constantly keep them in an anabolic state instead of catabolic state. That is the whole goal of bulking, tilting that scale so that they are moreso in an anabolic state instead of a catabolic.

Going on that, you need to judge what time of day your workout is. That will judge when your next highest calorie meal is. My next highest calorie meal was prior to my workout. Then my third highest calorie meal was after my workout.

I would decrease the calories in my meals all the way down to my last meal before bed.

Example day: (Workout will be at 3 O'Clock, you need to figure out what pre,during, and post workout supplements you are going to take, if any, I took mostly amino's but then started this product as well)

Also, keep in mind this is a VERY rough idea of what needs to be done, you need to tune it to your daily life style, but it should help put you on track. ( I hope.)

8:00am - 1200 calories
10:00am - 800 calories
Noon - 800 calories
2:00pm - 1000 calories
4:00pm - 1000 calories
6:00pm - 800 calories
8:00pm - 800 calories
10:00pm - 600 calories

Now, that puts you at 10:00pm with 7k calories but you notice you will still be up for a couple hours if you are sticking to an 8 hour sleep schedule, you can choose to have a casein protein which is what I did, before you go to bed so you maintain a slow release protein throughout the night. Unless you have the dedication to wake up in the middle of the night, eat, and go back to sleep, I say this is the best way to go. Another thing I did see is that if you can fit time in the day for a nap, it helps with the release of natural growth hormones.

To continue, I ended up shifting my eating routine to 6 meals a day just because it was too hard to eat 8 meals every day with school and work. Once I shifted to 6, I could maintain calories and more of a life . Keep in mind, that you will bulk up on fat a little bit on this diet. It is expected and should not be feared. I gained some fat, but I am fully confident that it is easier for me to lose fat than it is for me to build muscle. I am also an ectomorph though, so I don't worry too much about fat build up.

As for health tricks to keeping your calories up.

I would mass produce rice one night a week, put them in baggies and eat them for meals throughout the week. Rice is really cheap and fairly healthy for you. It ranks at a moderate level on the glycemic index, so it won't cause you to insulin spike.

Another trick I used was making sure to take advantage of my fats. Not all fats are bad, look for high unsaturated fats, especially high in Omega-3's.

I would always add tablespoons of Smart Balance Olive Oil in my protein shakes. I think the containers are like 3 bucks each and have quite a few servings to last you a while. I would buy three or four containers at a time. I would say that Smart Balance was the best way to keep my calorie intake high with my lifestyle.

The last trick, although expensive, was protein supplements like muscle milk. Muscle Milk already comes with protein, carbs, and fats mixed in it and it is made for a slow release protein, so when you know you won't have time for a meal for a while, take a shake of muscle milk with you so you don't starve your muscles more than you need to.

Also, make sure you keep up on your fiber. I read no more than 40g. a day and no less than 20g a day. I took in about 30g or so a day and made it 50% soluble and 50% insoluble fiber.

Finally, this is not life. One should not commit themselves to this diet for an extended period of time unless they are going pro. It's not just the fact that you will experience bloating during workouts and have trouble getting used to eating this much for about a month, it's the fact that time spent with family and friends will have to be sacrificed not just for your workouts, but for the fact that you are now eating 8 times a day. Go in, do a good bulk and get out is my opinion. If you are going to bulk though, do it right. Eat big, take your supplements, and don't drink alcohol! You want the biggest bang for your buck. Be smart, eat smart and good luck!

[koi1214]

You know, when I was bulking, I had the whole spreadsheet typed out that fit into my schedule, and I don't have it anymore, but I'll tell you my tips that I used to hit my calorie intake goal.

My breakfast meal was my biggest meal (I think it was 1200 calories). It might have been overkill, but it got me going on my feet and made all the difference to me throughout the day. Now if I'm getting a nice 8 hours of sleep, that gives me 16 hours a day to eat... Mathematically speaking, one could eat every 2 hours for 8 total meals. (It is a complete pain in the ass, but worth it for bulking) If 8 meals is too many meals to do for you, cut it down to 6, but I wouldn't consider going any less than six. I went with the philosophy that you don't want to starve your muscles at all throughout the day or night. You want to constantly keep them in an anabolic state instead of catabolic state. That is the whole goal of bulking, tilting that scale so that they are moreso in an anabolic state instead of a catabolic.

Going on that, you need to judge what time of day your workout is. That will judge when your next highest calorie meal is. My next highest calorie meal was prior to my workout. Then my third highest calorie meal was after my workout.

I would decrease the calories in my meals all the way down to my last meal before bed.

Example day: (Workout will be at 3 O'Clock, you need to figure out what pre,during, and post workout supplements you are going to take, if any, I took mostly amino's but then started this product as well)

Also, keep in mind this is a VERY rough idea of what needs to be done, you need to tune it to your daily life style, but it should help put you on track. ( I hope.)

8:00am - 1200 calories
10:00am - 800 calories
Noon - 800 calories
2:00pm - 1000 calories
4:00pm - 1000 calories
6:00pm - 800 calories
8:00pm - 800 calories
10:00pm - 600 calories

Now, that puts you at 10:00pm with 7k calories but you notice you will still be up for a couple hours if you are sticking to an 8 hour sleep schedule, you can choose to have a casein protein which is what I did, before you go to bed so you maintain a slow release protein throughout the night. Unless you have the dedication to wake up in the middle of the night, eat, and go back to sleep, I say this is the best way to go. Another thing I did see is that if you can fit time in the day for a nap, it helps with the release of natural growth hormones.

To continue, I ended up shifting my eating routine to 6 meals a day just because it was too hard to eat 8 meals every day with school and work. Once I shifted to 6, I could maintain calories and more of a life . Keep in mind, that you will bulk up on fat a little bit on this diet. It is expected and should not be feared. I gained some fat, but I am fully confident that it is easier for me to lose fat than it is for me to build muscle. I am also an ectomorph though, so I don't worry too much about fat build up.

As for health tricks to keeping your calories up.

I would mass produce rice one night a week, put them in baggies and eat them for meals throughout the week. Rice is really cheap and fairly healthy for you. It ranks at a moderate level on the glycemic index, so it won't cause you to insulin spike.

Another trick I used was making sure to take advantage of my fats. Not all fats are bad, look for high unsaturated fats, especially high in Omega-3's.

I would always add tablespoons of Smart Balance Olive Oil in my protein shakes. I think the containers are like 3 bucks each and have quite a few servings to last you a while. I would buy three or four containers at a time. I would say that Smart Balance was the best way to keep my calorie intake high with my lifestyle.

The last trick, although expensive, was protein supplements like muscle milk. Muscle Milk already comes with protein, carbs, and fats mixed in it and it is made for a slow release protein, so when you know you won't have time for a meal for a while, take a shake of muscle milk with you so you don't starve your muscles more than you need to.

Also, make sure you keep up on your fiber. I read no more than 40g. a day and no less than 20g a day. I took in about 30g or so a day and made it 50% soluble and 50% insoluble fiber.

Finally, this is not life. One should not commit themselves to this diet for an extended period of time unless they are going pro. It's not just the fact that you will experience bloating during workouts and have trouble getting used to eating this much for about a month, it's the fact that time spent with family and friends will have to be sacrificed not just for your workouts, but for the fact that you are now eating 8 times a day. Go in, do a good bulk and get out is my opinion. If you are going to bulk though, do it right. Eat big, take your supplements, and don't drink alcohol! You want the biggest bang for your buck. Be smart, eat smart and good luck!

Great post.I have been on a clean bulk for the last month and I'm +8lbs.
My first meal is about 1100 cals.and the next 4 are 600 cals,with my last meal is 1100 cals.So if I fit another 600 cal meal.That would give me a total of 5100.I also like you idea about Olive Oil I add 1tbl to my protein shakes and my "homemade"weight gainer shakes.I really don't rely on supps with the exception of whey protein powder, multi,fishoil,ZMA, extra Vit C (500mg/2xday),creatine(Clout or Sizeon) and Syntha 6(I see you like Muscle Milk)They are almost about the same.I was thinking of running X-Factor for 50 days.I've read alot of positve info on it. Have you ever tried it?

[Memoryflaw85]

My stack over the summer was:

Muscle Milk
Isopure (zero carb)
MRM BCAA+G 1000
Purple Wraath
Animal Flex
Mega Mens Multivitamin (I am now using Animal Pak)
GNC Calcium Complete
Golden Flaxseed Meal
M5 Extreme
Maltodextrin
Dextrose

I think that's all of it, some of it isn't really supplements technically, like the flaxseed meal, but I consider them to be because they go out of my normal diet. The flaxseed meal was an easy way to get some healthy fats in too. In regards to X-factor, I have not had a chance to try it. How is it working for you?

[Memoryflaw85]

Wups, noticed you actually haven't tried it yet... My bad. Misread the post. I guess let me know how it runs if you do try it.