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Research Chemical SciencesUGFREAKeudomestic
napsgeargenezapharmateuticals domestic-supplypuritysourcelabsResearch Chemical SciencesUGFREAKeudomestic

is ALA all its cracked up too be?

ala

  • yes it works

    Votes: 28 50.0%
  • no it does not

    Votes: 4 7.1%
  • I can not tell

    Votes: 17 30.4%
  • its the best supp since creatine

    Votes: 7 12.5%

  • Total voters
    56
2400 calories from carbs on refeed days. so I guess that is 7200 mg ALA split throughout the day.

What is your cutting diet like and what do you think of refeeds?
 
Hey ranger, good to see a thinking bro posting on this board. I understand your evangelism because you've seen such great benefits from very large doses of ALA.

To correct one of your assumptions, I HAVE wasted a large amount of money on ALA at high doses. And I AM an older person, but due to a lifetime of eating in a GI friendly manner, I have good insulin sensitivity. So maybe I'm just lucky???? Or maybe there's a lot of paranoia floating around these days about slin sensitivity, and folks who needn't worry about it are getting all confused. It is not a big deal to have a glucose tolerance and insulin test. I do these regularly because type 2 runs in my family. JUST as an FYI (since you like to talk about real life experience) I had a glucose tolerance 6 months ago (just before Christmas) which was normal. I had another one a few weeks ago where the only thing I changed was taking 1g of ALA 30 minutes before the test began. My glucose clearance rate was actually slower with the ALA, though it was a very slight decrease and still well within the normal range. I attribute this to my menstual phase being luteal and therefore my glucose tolerance being slightly reduced. Certainly in my real life experience, ALA made less than no difference to my ability to dispose of glucose in a timely manner.

I assume by your results that you have some problems with getting the glucose preferentially into your muscles, which is why you're seeing good results with high dose ALA. How much dose the ALA cost you?? Have you had your glucose tolerance and insulin tested? If not, I think you should. Of course, as we both agree, large doses of AAS stuff up your sensitivity anyways, so I would be surprised if you DIDN'T have some reduced insulin sensitivity.

In fact you've touched upon a topic that I am very interested in (just because it's unknown territory). My suspicion is that juiceheads benefit from high dose ALA more than just about anyone else on this planet. You take someone who's muscles are already in a superphysiological state of anabolism but with reduced insulin sensitivity, and you boost their insulin sensitivity to take advantage of their already highish insulin levels, and VOILA, you have all the benefits of shooting slin without any of the risks, not to mention it's also improving your health instead of taxing it further. Add to this the liver protective effects for those taking orals and high protein diets and you have a supp which is worth the money if you're gonna cycle.

It still comes down to cost for me. I'm not a juicer, and my insulin sensitivity is good. I saw no noticeable benefits from taking ALA as a nutrient partitioner except possibly coming out of and into ketosis on CKD. This board is all about getting others inputs and experiences, which this thread has been great for. There are clearly many people for whom ALA is a worthwhile investment. But there's no way of knowing on an individual basis without trying it for yourself.
 
barnidge said:
Ranger what formula do you use for setting calories while cutting?

I didn't count calories of what I was eating. I counted calories of what I cut out. This is because the rate that I was eating at was my maintanance phase, since I was neither gaining nor losing weight.

I took my favorite late night snacks, calculated how much of it came up as 500 calories and cut that out. I think that added up to 2 yogurts at night..

That plus the ALA, 5-6 days/week weights, zero cardio, and a small amount (i do mean small 40mg tren/50mg prop every 2 days) and I got the best results ever. (start 01/01/02 206 @ 12%bf, now 05/30/02 [email protected]%bf). Notice that I've gained some LBM there. That was NOT due to the ALA, that was due to the anabolics. However, the quality of the gains were the best, ever.
The ALA helped the juice work even better for me....

regards,
rangerx83
 
Last edited:
MS said:
Hey ranger, good to see a thinking bro posting on this board. I understand your evangelism because you've seen such great benefits from very large doses of ALA.


Thanks, I'm glad you can appreciate it...


To correct one of your assumptions, I HAVE wasted a large amount of money on ALA at high doses. And I AM an older person, but due to a lifetime of eating in a GI friendly manner, I have good insulin sensitivity.

Okay, I stand corrected. Btw, how long did you do it for, and how many grams of carbs did you have with the ALA? Did you try to time the ALA/massive carb intake with your workouts?


.....I assume by your results that you have some problems with getting the glucose preferentially into your muscles, which is why you're seeing good results with high dose ALA.

I think that in the bb world you may be the exception to the rule. Maybe even in the 'real' world. I'm sure most bb'ers have that problem, whether they are on juice or not. Most juicers gain some fat while bulking, (just like me) and I assume that they would also get better results if they added similar amounts of ALA to their cycles.

...How much dose the ALA cost you?? Have you had your glucose tolerance and insulin tested? If not, I think you should. Of course, as we both agree, large doses of AAS stuff up your sensitivity anyways, so I would be surprised if you DIDN'T have some reduced insulin sensitivity.

Hey, if I have my reduced insulin sensitivity to thank for giving phenomenal results while using ALA+juice, all I have to say is thank you Jeezus! :)

Seriously though, I'm now at 3.2%bf 190lbs. When I was doing 150mg/day tren, I never even came close to this type of result. Certainly I did not lose body fat. I'm now doing 80mg tren every other day, and am seeing far better results.


In fact you've touched upon a topic that I am very interested in (just because it's unknown territory). My suspicion is that juiceheads benefit from high dose ALA more than just about anyone else on this planet.


I totally agree. While I do think that there will be benefits for a lot of people who don't juice and take mass quants of ALA, I can only vouch for fellow juice head, since my experimentation was done under those conditions. However, the juicing for me is a constant. \Actually it's a reduced constant since less juice is giving me better result with the ALA than huge quantities of just juice...


You take someone who's muscles are already in a superphysiological state of anabolism but with reduced insulin sensitivity, and you boost their insulin sensitivity to take advantage of their already highish insulin levels, and VOILA, you have all the benefits of shooting slin without any of the risks, not to mention it's also improving your health instead of taxing it further. Add to this the liver protective effects for those taking orals and high protein diets and you have a supp which is worth the money if you're gonna cycle.

Hmmmm, you may be right on this one...


It still comes down to cost for me. I'm not a juicer, and my insulin sensitivity is good. I saw no noticeable benefits from taking ALA as a nutrient partitioner except possibly coming out of and into ketosis on CKD. This board is all about getting others inputs and experiences, which this thread has been great for. There are clearly many people for whom ALA is a worthwhile investment. But there's no way of knowing on an individual basis without trying it for yourself.

On your last point, I couldn't agree with you more. People need to try it for themselves. And then decide if it's worth it.
If the majority of people have good experiences with it, then it'll just spread by word of mouth, and it'll be the next great supplement since creatine. Now, don't ya feel a bit left out for not being insulin resistant? :p

I've noticed that the majority of people who have tried mass quantities of ALA have had great success. If they were insulin resistant, then that is the norm, and I'm happy to have contributed to some extend to helping them achieve their goals.

regards,
Rangerx83
 
barnidge said:
Thanks Ranger. Keep us updated on your progress.

What carb foods do you consume other than postworkout?

Fruits, cereals, pastas, nuts, yogurts, etc.I'm currently bulking up.

When I was cutting up, I basically had my carbs just before and just after my workout (with ALA).
Yes, I did have cheat days where I INHALED pasta with cheese sauce, ice cream, rich desserts etc. But these were the exception to the rule. I do feel however that sporadically cheating actually contributed to my fat loss (probably reset my metabolism)...

regards,

Rangerx83
 
barnidge said:
Ranger,

What do you think the benefits of combining glucophage and ALA would be?

I'm sorry, but just like with insulin + ALA, I cannot recommend the combo, since the additive effect may be hypoglycemia induced death.
ALA alone, unless taken in ridiculously high amounts (like 100 300mg caps in one sitting) is perfectly safe. It has such a short half life, that taking even 3 gms in one sitting will bring you to extremely low safe levels within 2 hours (under 150mg in your blood stream).

Add insulin or glucophage, and the results may be un-predictable. You may not be able to correctly calculate the carb amount you need to take to stop the hypoglycemia.

Then again, Fonz mentioned that adding ALA to insulin is a great idea, since it would minimize fat gain. He's stopped posting on the ALA subject matter. I would not risk it, and am perfectly happy with the goals I've achieved using ALA alone as a glucose disposal agent.

regards,

rangerx83
 
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