Peepingyoda's Designer Supplements NHA stack w/ Lean Xtreme

[peepingyoda]

Since this is my first log, I'll tell you a little about myself and what I expect from these supplements. Last year's bulking diet coupled with a two month layoff while planning my wedding/honeymoon September last year left my physique in shambles. I was 205 pounds with a considerable amount of fat (~25% or more), but I was determined to shed the unwanted pounds. By Christmas last year I was 185 pounds and appoximately 17% BF measuring with a 7 point fat caliper technique. Since then my progress has pretty much stalled. I lost a few more pounds and put some back on when I started taking creatine, but weight loss has been stubborn despite moderate increases in strength over the same time period.

[peepingyoda]

The Stack:
Today I ordered the NHA stack by Designer Supplements. This stack consists of ActivaTe, a supplement for increasing free testosterone though the inhibition of SHBG, and Rebound XT, the popular suicide inhibitor of estrogen. Along with this stack I will take Lean Xtreme, designed to reduce my cortisol levels, increasing metabolism, reducing hunger, and perserving lean mass.

Dosing: I will take 4 caps of Activate and 2 caps of Rebound XT daily for 30 days. I will take 2 caps of LX on weight training days, and 1 cap on non-weight training days.

[peepingyoda]

Stats:
Age: 24
Weight: 185 lbs
Height: 5’ 7”
BF%: 15.2%
Bodytype: Meso-Endomorph
Weight Training Experience: ~ 3 years
Experience with proper diet and supplementation: ~ 1 years

[peepingyoda]

Concurrent Supplementation:
Whey (2-6 scoops daily)
Cytosport Muscle Milk (sparingly, until tub runs out)
Multi Vitamin and Multi Mineral
Fish Oil (8 g daily)
HFS Total EFA (~1Tbs daily)
Universal Storm (3/4 scoop pre, 1 scoop post-workout, none off days)
Univeral Shock Therapy (1 scoop pre-workout, 30-35g creatine weekly)
Universal Uni-liver (4-6 tabs 2 or 3 times a day)
Coffee and Green Tea throughout the day

[peepingyoda]

Weight Training:

All sets pyramid in weight/reps, ex. 12, 8, and 5 reps at 50, 60, and 70 % of 1 rep max
Monday:
Deadlifts 3 sets
Incline DB Bench 3 sets
T-bar Row 3 sets
Weighted Dips 3 sets
Pull ups 3 sets

Wednesday:
Full Squats 4 sets
BB Lunges 2 sets each leg
Leg Curls 2 sets
Standing Calf Raises 4 sets
Sitting Calf Raises 4 sets

Friday:
DB Shoulder Press 3 sets
Cable Lat Raises 3 sets
Loose BB Curls 5 sets
SkullCrs/CG Bench 3 supersets
Rope Crunches 3 sets

[peepingyoda]

Cardio:
2.5 mile walk to and from work Monday through Friday
1 hour elliptal trainer @ 60-70 VoMax Sat. and Sun. upon waking
Tennis once or twice a week (very low intensity, lol)

Diet:
Timed Carb Based Diet:
M/W/F < 200 g carbs, appoximate calories 2400
T/Th/S < 100 g carbs, approximate calories 2000
Sunday < 50 g carbs, approximate calories 1800

Protein ~ 1 g/lb of BW non-workout days (200g),
~ 1.5g/lb of BW on workout days (300 g)

Foods:

Carb Sources: Rice, Oats, Egg Noodles, Granola, Wheat Bread, and Gatorade (post-workout)

Protein Sources: Beef (flank, sirloin, and round), chicken, pork (lean), eggs, cottage cheese, milk, natty PB

[peepingyoda]

Body Fat Caliper Measurements

Triceps 12
Chest 12
Midaxillary 14
Subscapular 14
Suprailliac 14
Abdominal 20
Thigh 24
Weight 185
BF% 15.27
Lean Mass 156.75
Fat Mass 28.25

[peepingyoda]

Here's my pics back in September at my heaviest.

[peepingyoda]

Here is my current pics

[peepingyoda]

Here is a few more

[peepingyoda]

My goals for this stack:
I will try to lose 8 pounds with no significant loss of strength over the next month. I am interest in overall body recomp, so If I dont reach my number goals but gain a little lean mass I'll be happy. I also care a great deal about how this will affect me mentally over the next month. I am currently writing my thesis and trying to meet the annual deadline for grant proposals and abstract submissions to the national meetings. I will be under a lot of stress, so I'll be looking forward to the enhanced sleep from Activate and the cortisol reduction from LX. I cant wait for my stack to come in.

[peepingyoda]

Forgot my tape measures

L Bicep 15.5
R Bicep 15.5
Chest 41.5
Waist 35
Hip 34
L Thigh 26
R Thigh 26
L Calf 16
R Calf 16
Neck 16.5

[peepingyoda]

The Big Three, Current Maxes:

Squat 275X5
Deadlift 275X5
Benchpress 235X5

[peepingyoda]

Mental note: The cheaper the website, the slower the service.... I am going to call this customer service tomorrow if they have not shipped my order yet. I order priority USPS so it could get to me as early as monday if they ship it ASAP. Sorry for the delay guys

[peepingyoda]

Grrr... Activate is on back order at the site I ordered from. I can't stand sites that dont show when an item is out of stock. They should get their shipment earlier this week.

In the meantime, I decided to make this thread a little more interesting. Since uhockey, 40, and robbie have been interested in Beast's altered dosing scheme, I thought I might play with mine as well. Beast talked about running ATD at only 1 dose per day (I think he may have changed this) in order to reduce the loss of libido and allow the user to extend the cycle. After reading a post by Dr.D,
http://anabolicminds.com/forum/suppl...-levels-3.html
the test production from AI could have a dose threshold, so I'm not sure I want to mess with it. I think a five on/2 off protocol might be more productive. They have been used with test boosters as an effective means to prevent down-regulation of LH and FSH. In the NHA stack's case, could this also pervent up-regulation of SHBG? Let me know what you think. I would like to be able to run the stack for an extend period of time.

[uhockey]

Hmmm, how'd I miss this?

[40-Yard Dash_2]

I'm running late for class, but I'll definitely be following your log and progress. I'll check back in later.

[uhockey]

Grrr... Activate is on back order at the site I ordered from. I can't stand sites that dont show when an item is out of stock. They should get their shipment earlier this week.

In the meantime, I decided to make this thread a little more interesting. Since uhockey, 40, and robbie have been interested in Beast's altered dosing scheme, I thought I might play with mine as well. Beast talked about running ATD at only 1 dose per day (I think he may have changed this) in order to reduce the loss of libido and allow the user to extend the cycle. After reading a post by Dr.D,
http://anabolicminds.com/forum/suppl...-levels-3.html
the test production from AI could have a dose threshold, so I'm not sure I want to mess with it. I think a five on/2 off protocol might be more productive. They are used have been used with test boosters as an effective means to prevent down-regulation of LH and FSH. In the NHA stack's case, could this also pervent up-regulation of SHBG? Let me know what you think. I would like to be able to run the stack for an extend period of time.

First of all, congratulations on your progress so far, you should be proud.
Second, I apologize for missing this log until this point, thanks to 40 for pointing it out.
Third, I like your idea and definitely see some validity to it. I'm always curios to see people run the stack in new ways to see what they can get from it.

From now on, I'll be around to bug you and answer any Q's you might have.

[peepingyoda]

I've been toying with several dose schemes, but its all speculation until I see what effect the products have on me. I'll start at 4/day of Activate, 2/day of RXT 5on/2off for a minimum of 2 weeks. I'm considering ramping up Activate and ramping down RXT biweekly or triweekly (ex. 4, then 5, finally 6 on the Activate; 2, then 2/1 alternating, and finally 1/day on the RXT) anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks if I purchase another bottle of Activate. Who knows what I'll decide by the time they ship my products :P I called today and they should have the product in by Wed, so hopefully the log will start this weekend.

[40-Yard Dash_2]

I've been toying with several dose schemes, but its all speculation until I see what effect the products have on me. I'll start at 4/day of Activate, 2/day of RXT 5on/2off for a minimum of 2 weeks. I'm considering ramping up Activate and ramping down RXT biweekly or triweekly (ex. 4, then 5, finally 6 on the Activate; 2, then 2/1 alternating, and finally 1/day on the RXT) anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks if I purchase another bottle of Activate. Who knows what I'll decide by the time they ship my products :P I called today and they should have the product in by Wed, so hopefully the log will start this weekend.

Sounds interesting man. Hopefully you can begin on Wednesday.

[peepingyoda]

Weight: 183

Picked up the stack from the post office this morning and took 1A/1RXT/1LX with fishoil (4g), borage/primrose blend (8g), and L-carnitine (5g) with vegetable glycerine. Nothing to report yet. I will take 2 activate before my leg workout this afternoon, and another 1A/1RXT/1LX before bed.

[peepingyoda]

Didn't think today was gonna be a stellar workout walking into the gym. I had to warm up on machine cause the power racks were taken. I completed one of my machine circuits as warm-up, then jumped on an empty power rack. I'm glad I decided to test my 20 rep squats today. Last Wednesday, I struggled to get 5 X 275 in a semi-depleted state. This week I opened my workout with a personal record of 20 X 185 pounds !!! The rest of my workout I'll spare the details cause weights are more a function of rest time which varies in a crowded gym. The rest of my workout was:

1 X 20 rep Squat
Giant Sets: 4 X {Leg Press, Rotary Calves (Seated Donkey), Leg Extension, Ham Curl, Weighted Crunch}

BTW, I've modified my workout split to Upper/Lower 3 times a week and slightly lowered the volume on each exercise. I will be 2 for compounds unless I decide to do a lot of isolation, then the set will be higher for that workout.

[uhockey]

This week I opened my workout with a personal record of 20 X 185 pounds !!! The rest of my workout I'll spare the details cause weights are more a function of rest time which varies in a crowded gym.

[peepingyoda]

Weight: 183

Sleep: Last night I slept the complete night all the way through without pissing for the first time in recent memory. Some of this was undoubtably due to the Nyquil I took for allegies, but I occassionaly take nyquil, benadryl, and melatonin and they do not keep me from waking in the early morning for a piss break. Hopefully my allergies will be a little better today.

Appetite: I ate a bit more than I usually do after I work out but the increase was not significant enough to attribute to the NHA stack yet. I'm actually hoping I dont get this side. The 240mg Psuedoephedrine I take daily for allergies hopefully will counter this.

Post-workout soreness/DOMS: None, zilch, zero, nada ... I don't really feel I took it that easy yesterday. I'll bump it up next workout. Last week's squating/lunging left my ability to walk impaired for 3-4 days. We'll see Friday when I hit legs again.

[peepingyoda]

Weight: 181

Sleep: Only woke up once to piss. This is pretty much in line with a regular "good" night of sleep.

Acne: I've never really had acne before but my face is a bit more oily, particularly in the area on both sides of my nose. I now have 1 pimple.

Libido: I find I have a little more "stiffness" than usually do, but my actual drive is less than par. Not really a problem, I'm usually too much for my wife anyway. She will welcome the break.

[peepingyoda]

I started strong and ended a little nauseous. Its been a recurrent theme in my recent workouts. I've actually been cutting down my shock therapy to half the dose preworkout, the stims may be the culprit. Nonetheless, I'm pretty happy with my dip and pull-up numbers today

Workout time: 45 minutes

T-bar Row: 12 X 90, 6 X 135
Weighted Dips: 10 X BW+45, 6 X BW+70
Widegrip Pullups: BW X 9 (PR), BW X 6
Incline DB Bench: 10 X 75, 7 X 85
Upright Rows: 16 X 70, 8 X 90
BB Curls: 8 X 80 DROP 5 X 60
V-bar pushdowns: 9 X 100 DROP 6 X 70

I'm thinking of investing in a body composition bathroom scale. The consistancy may outweigh any accuracy issues with them. I'm not really confident in my caliper measurements. They may quote them at 1mm/1% accuracy but that is assuming that you measure in the EXACT same place. If your uncertainty in location of the measurement is about 1/2 a centimeter, the overall measurement uncertainty is MUCH higher than 1 %. Besides, I think its pretty shady that the zero of my calipers is 6mm. I've still got room on my gift certificate to Bed Bath and Beyond from my wedding gifts, so it doesnt really cost anything for me to pick one up. I've noticed the Tanita models are pretty popular. Let me know your opinion.

[peepingyoda]

Well I went ahead and bought a nice scale... The tanita puts me at a lot higher body fat percentage, 22%. On the upside, I have that much more potential to look even better I'll use the scale daily and remeasure at the end with fat calipers just so we can get a consistant comparison

[40-Yard Dash_2]

Well I went ahead and bought a nice scale... The tanita puts me at a lot higher body fat percentage, 22%. On the upside, I have that much more potential to look even better I'll use the scale daily and remeasure at the end with fat calipers just so we can get a consistant comparison

Hmm...I've never used one of those scales before, so I have no idea how accurate they are. Do you think you are 22%?

[peepingyoda]

Well, the electrical impulses are sent through your feet. They will travel the path of least resistance. This means across your thighs and buttocks and possibly some through your lower abdomen. I tend to carry nearly all my fat there, hence the reading should be higher. I've always wondered about those caliper tests. A 7 site test with only one site on the lower body !? Lucky me, Seriously, I saw scale in a bodybuilding book the other day at Borders, for rough bodyfat estimate based off a single caliper reading from any site. My 24 mm caliper reading(picking the spot of least amount of fat on my anterior thigh) puts me at 20%+ bodyfat. This would support my theory that the impedence measurement weights your lower body disproportionately for the body fat measurement. If I had to guess my true body fat percentage I would probably split the difference, maybe 18-19%. The one cool thing about measuring with the tanita is that since I do not carry body fat much on my upper body and fat loss will be primarly in the upperthigh, buttocks, lower abdominal region, it will grossly overestimate my fat percentage losses.

[uhockey]

They're decently accurate, but water retention will give you major variance in # from time to time.