ALA is a great supp. If I could afford it I would take lots of it every day!
With all due respect, MS notice that therefore you have not actually tried the amount in question, and therefore have no basis to say that it would not work. I have, and it has worked for me and several others
If you've tried that amount/day for 2 weeks and it doesn't lead you to better fat loss, or leaner muscle gains, then I'll concede that there are some people that may not get this benefit. This is leading edge stuff, and there are few studies as to what happens in humans or rats if given high amounts of ALA for extended periods of time, and made to exercise and eat properly. All we have are testimonials from some people. It seems to yield favorable results in most people, based on testimonials on this newsgroup, as wells as some (non-scientific) EF poll data.
You speak from theory I speak from experience. And yes ALA is expensive. But, prices are going down. I would not have been able to afford at all this amount several years ago..But if used properly, for me it's worth it. I will never cycle to bulk or diet down without it again. Ever.
But a lot of people take their results from keto dieting and assume it works just as good in all situations...BUT a lot of people take their results from keto dieting [with ala] and assume it works just as good in all situations.
My experience is that it is great for both dieting down or bulking up. When you diet with ALA you can be in a ketogenic state, eat a decent amount of carbs, have your muscles reasonably full of glycogen and lose mostly fat.When bulking up (especially during a real cycle) with 6g+ ALA/day you can shift the balance to all LBM gains and zero fat gain, or even experience fat loss simultaneously.
There's nothing WRONG with taking ALA on a high carb, high calorie diet.
Yep, probably one the best things you could ever do for a bulking cycle.
If you're insulin resistant or using lots of gear it's a good idea to use it in this sitch.
Yep I agree with you again. Again highly recommended.I speak from experience. We gotta stop this!
BUT, those carb calories don't magically disappear just because you've taken ALA.
Again I agree with you. They haven't magically disappeared! The unused glucose is converted to glycogen and stored in muscles, instead of adipose tissue to a greater degree than it normally would without ALA.
If you eat above maintainance on ALA, a greater portion will be soaked up by skeletal muscle. Since it gets first dibs to soaking up nutrients, very little gets to the adipose tissue. ALA is clearly changing the degree of over-compensation that can occur. It's a true nutrient partitioner. This has been my experience. Sure, it is possible to get fat while you take ALA, but only because you're not taking the right amount, and are not synchronizing with your workouts properly.
.. Once your muscles are full of glycogen, they are full.
Yes, but that's exactly what I'm talking about MS. ALA changes how full they can get before it spills over into fat. I'm beginning to think that it's proportional to the amount of ALA taken, and perhaps to also having ALA circulating in your blood constantly.
Even with over-compensation from carb-depleting/loading/ALA, your muscles cannot realistically take up more than 300g of carbs unless you're Ronnie Coleman.....
MS, I have 220gms carbs just as a preworkout drink (with ALA of course). I also have carbs in the morning, noon, and night as well, not to mention as a postworkout drink. I'm sure I have more than 400-500gms carbs/day. I'm not Ronnie Coleman, and I'm only 187 lbs, 5'11" (@3.5%bf)...
so those extra carbs will get burned or stored depending on your energy balance. ALA will help you store them more quickly!
No argument with you there. I submit that ALA allows the extra carbs and other nutrients to just be partitioned more into your muscles rather than fat. This is only because muscle tissue takes the first shot at soaking up the stuff. It is possible to modulate how much is soaked up, by increasing/decreasing the amount of ALA. This has also been my real-life experience.
In your case pact, the benefits you get from ALA will depend on your health and what kind of diet you're on. It's a good antioxidant and liver aid no matter what. But if your young, with good slin sensitivity and on a moderate to high carb/low fat mass gain diet, then the chances are it won't make a big diff to your gains.
I think that often people will either not take enough ALA for fat loss purposes or lean gain purposes because they are afraid to, or can't afford it, or can't handle the initial lethargy, and then come back and say it does not work.When you do that you have no basis for criticizing a fat loss tool in which requires a certain amount of ALA to yield visible results.
I also used to take 600-900mg ALA/day with 0 visibly noticeable effect. Upped that amount to 3+g for fat loss and 6+g for bulking up, and it's effect became highly visible.
If you said no to any of those three criteria then it may help ya. Maybe try using it just with your post workout carbs and creatine and see how that works? But honestly, my only objection to ALA is the same I have to drugs like hGH. They're both good, but to me they do not have a good cost to benefit ratio.
If you have 50 gms of *good* quality ALA it will cost you X amount of money. Used it at an iffective amount/day for fat loss purposes and you have wasted/lost all your money. Increase the amount to the proper magnitude, and you'll notice the effect, and have actually gotten something that worth it out of it.
If I were type 2 diabetic or on a CKD, then I would spend the money, otherwise no. My body already has a very efficient system to get carbs into my muscles and reduce post prandial blood glucose.
I'm very happy for you. However most people when they do a bulking cycle will gain some fat even on steroids. Quite a few people have some degree of insulin resistance. Especially the olrder bros. And we're all getting older every day.. Even you MS. This is anabolic board, and it should be of interest to most that the possibility for even better lean gains and greater fat loss can be achieved by the addition of ALA to their cycle..
Plus it is not necessarily a given that only people that have insulin resistance, or type 2 diabetics can achieve great results!
I'm quite sure that it can help people with great innate insulin sensitivty even more. Think about it. You increase your muscle cells insulin sensitivity as you workout, which is why post workout drinks are so effective. Doesn't your lack of insulin resistance make that even better for you? What if you juiced? That also increases nutrient uptake to muscle cells. In your case won't that just allow you to hold even more glyclogen in your muscle?
Regards,
rangerx83