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Useful Stuff
Edgy and applicable info on just about everything
by Brock Strasser
Like most Testosterone contributors, Brock Strasser is a well-rounded guy who has a lot more to offer than just advice on steroid usage. In this column, Brock, in his own charming way, dishes out the latest useful info from various fields.
Rollin' in Ecstasy
For those of you who don't know, "rollin'" is club scene slang for tripping out on Ecstasy or X (3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine or MDMA). Although it has nothing to do with building muscle or losing fat, many bodybuilders use it and at least one pro-bodybuilder has been jailed for selling it, but we won't mention Craig Titus' name 'cause that would be rude.
I honestly hate talking about a drug like X in my column. This crap has no place in bodybuilding. Recreational drugs are also the number-one reason why law enforcement types bring heat down on steroid users (because they're using or dealing X, coke, smack, Nubain, etc. in addition to roids.) But I'm also a realist and I know X is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Ecstasy is about the worst of the recreational drugs you can ingest. Aside from potentially causing fatal hyperthermia in many people, the stuff rots out your brain…literally! X's effects on serotonin and serotinergic mechanisms in the brain are deleterious and permanent.
The information I'm about to describe should not be misconstrued as a tacit approval of X use by bodybuilders or anyone else. I don't think anyone should ever use X — period! However, if I can help reduce some of the deleterious side effects of X by passing along some info, I'm going to do such. So here we go:
• Women don't handle X as well as men do. Women are far more susceptible to becoming seriously depressed after using X than men are. However, men are much more susceptible to increases in aggressive behavior a few days after rollin'. (1)
• According to one study, ALA (alpha lipoic acid) taken at roughly double the dosage of X you're taking (and thirty minutes before you roll) can fully prevent serotonergic defects caused by X. So anyone using X should make the investment and buy a bottle of ALA. (2)
• Most people realize that X absolutely croaks serotonin levels in the central nervous system. Repeated and frequent usage can lead to a serious and continual lowering of brain serotonin. Thus, the supplement 5-HTP, a serotonin precursor, might be a good idea to incorporate two to four hours after you've used X to help ameliorate this decline in serotonin. (3)
Want to know the best way to prevent health problems associated with X use? Don't use it!
Fun with Anal Emissions
Okay, you're serious about your training which means you're serious about your supplementation. You've saved your nickels and are out to purchase the best, newest, ultra high tech, cross-dressing filtered, amino proprietary, bionic whey protein shake to "maximize" muscle growth potential by giving your body the best building blocks you can. There's only one problem and it's a noxious one: protein shakes make you fart.
I'm not talking about little squeaky farts that stink for a minute or so. Oh no, some protein shakes make you float some of the nastiest air biscuits this side of a greasy diner in Tijuana. It doesn't happen to everyone, but if the rancid smell of your own flatulence practically peals the skin off your face, then you may be wondering what you can do about it. And if you're not wondering what you should do about it, then you should be. Air pollution is bad enough without your stinky butt adding to it!
The answer to your gaseous nightmare is a compound called simethicone (aka Phazyme or Gas-X). Simethicone acts on the surface of "big bubbly farts" by reducing the surface tension and thereby disrupting or breaking the gas bubble. A cool trick is to place a few drops of simethicone onto the head of a glass of beer and see how quickly the beer loses its foam. This is a great thing to do on a first date. Also, try to use the term "fart bubble" as few times as possible during dinner if you want to have any hope of getting laid.
Now, simethicone doesn't prevent the formation of gas from swallowed air or from being created by intestinal bacteria. It doesn't make intestinal gases dissolve or disappear. It'll just make the farts bigger and fewer which means you can expel much more gas in much less time. This means fewer (albeit bigger) farts with "farting fits" lasting much less time than normal.
I have the misfortune of having inflammatory bowel disease and I've discovered that 125mg of simethicone taken ten to fifteen minutes before a large protein shake significantly helps me with regard to both cramping and fart fit duration. It's a cheap and easy fix.
Sterility and Clenbuterol
I've always hated clenbuterol. I think I mention this every time I write a column. The stuff is dangerous, its benefits are minimal and very transient, and (at least with me) it causes serious migraine headaches at sub-therapeutic dosing.
Now it seems clenbuterol causes profound testicular damage, at least in pigs. It might cause a small transient rise in Testosterone, but the expense is that it can possibly make you unable to father kids someday. Check out this study:
The morphological consequences of anabolic clenbuterol treatment on the testicular parenchyma were investigated in 30 pigs at morphological and ultrastructural levels. Clenbuterol was given with food (1 ppm).
In the first group (n=10), treatment was maintained until slaughter (experimental period three months). In the second group (n=10), clenbuterol was withdrawn two weeks before slaughter (experimental period 2.5 months). A third group (n=10) of pigs not fed with clenbuterol served as controls.
Animals were slaughtered at nine months of age and samples of testicular parenchyma were collected for light and electron microscope studies. In the clenbuterol-treated groups, the interstitial cells showed a considerable increase in the organelles involved in Testosterone production, with an increased development of the mitochondria, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and lipid droplets compared to the control group. The seminal epithelium displayed many lipid vacuoles and evident signs of tubular involution, such as degenerating and multinucleate germ cells. Sertoli cells gave evidence of metabolic alterations such as large lipid deposits and cytolysosomes. (4)
For now, it might be a good idea to skip the clen if you want to be a dad someday. There are better, legal fat loss supplements on the market anyway.
Double Strength Clen?
Yep, it seems that a company in China is now making 40mcg clenbuterol tabs for us bodybuilder types. The Hubei Huangshi Nanshang Pharmaceutical Company just came out with this new product. Now you can make yourself sterile twice as fast!
Low-Carb Diets Increase Muscle Mass
One of the biggest complaints about keto diets (next to "this diet sucks and I miss donuts") is that people claim that in addition to profound fat loss, they lose a ton of muscle mass. I don't agree, especially if you take a goodie like MAG-10 or 4-AD-EC while keto dieting.
I was always pretty sure folks didn't lose any appreciable muscle mass while keto dieting, but this next study demonstrates that people actually can put on muscle mass while losing fat during ketosis! Check it out:
The few studies that have examined body composition after a carbohydrate-restricted diet have reported enhanced fat loss and preservation of lean body mass in obese individuals. The role of hormones in mediating this response is unclear. We examined the effects of a six week carbohydrate-restricted diet on total and regional body composition and the relationships with fasting hormone concentrations.
Twelve healthy normal-weight men switched from their habitual diet (48% carbohydrate) to a carbohydrate-restricted diet (8% carbohydrate) for six weeks and eight men served as controls, consuming their normal diet. Subjects were encouraged to consume adequate dietary energy to maintain body mass during the intervention.
Total and regional body composition and fasting blood samples were assessed at weeks zero, three, and six of the experimental period. Fat mass was significantly (P </=.05) decreased (-3.4 kg) and lean body mass significantly increased (+1.1 kg) at week six. There was a significant decrease in serum insulin (-34%), and an increase in total thyroxine (T(4)) (+11%) and the free T(4) index (+13%).
Approximately 70% of the variability in fat loss on the carbohydrate-restricted diet was accounted for by the decrease in serum insulin concentrations. There were no significant changes in glucagon, total or free Testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), cortisol, or triiodothyronine (T(3)) uptake, nor were there significant changes in body composition or hormones in the control group.
Thus, we conclude that a carbohydrate-restricted diet resulted in a significant reduction in fat mass and a concomitant increase in lean body mass in normal-weight men, which may be partially mediated by the reduction in circulating insulin concentrations. (5)
Quality Vet?
A number of people have been asking me directly and through the T-mag Forum about a relatively new Mexican vet company called Quality Vet. What's my opinion? Like the majority of Mexican vet pharmas, Quality Vet has started off with some top notch products, at least according to user reports. Products are clean, apparently dosed correctly (or nearly so) and inexpensive. I don't have assays back on all their stuff but I do have some.
Let's just hope they don't go the way of some other Mexican companies and start making garbage once their business picks up. A kind reader sent in these pics of Quality Vet gear and the assay is courtesy of someone who wishes to remain "behind the scenes."
Valor in Valopharm?
I've routinely trounced Valopharm (a bootlegger) for making crappy tren. Well, that's not entirely true. I've bashed VP specifically for mislabeling their tren.
So "someone" elected to run their products through the ringer and get some assay work done on one of them (see scan below). I suppose, at least with regards to the Valotest 400, there's some "valor" in Valopharm. It's still off quite a bit from label claim but at least it has whopper dose of Testosterone enanthate in it, along with benzyl alcohol, also in a whopper dose. Look out Valopharm because your stanozolol and oxymetholone are off to the laboratory next…
More Lab Tests!
Check out the assays below on Denkall's version of nandrolone decanoate. Way to go, Denkall! And, just to silence the doubters, check out the "Red Star" version of trenbolone acetate.
More lab tests to come in future columns!
References
1) Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2002 Apr;161(1):23-31
2) Aguirre N, Barrionuevo M, Ramirez MJ, Del Rio J, and Lasheras B, School of Medicine at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain
3) Neuroendocrinol Lett 2002 Jun;23(3):259-61
4) Vet J 2002 May;163(3):292-8
5) Body composition and hormonal responses to a carbohydrate-restricted diet; Volek JS, Sharman MJ, Love DM, Avery NG, Gomez AL, Scheett TP, Kraemer WJ. - Human Performance Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology, University of Connecticut.
© 1998 — 2002 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Useful Stuff
Edgy and applicable info on just about everything
by Brock Strasser
Like most Testosterone contributors, Brock Strasser is a well-rounded guy who has a lot more to offer than just advice on steroid usage. In this column, Brock, in his own charming way, dishes out the latest useful info from various fields.
Rollin' in Ecstasy
For those of you who don't know, "rollin'" is club scene slang for tripping out on Ecstasy or X (3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine or MDMA). Although it has nothing to do with building muscle or losing fat, many bodybuilders use it and at least one pro-bodybuilder has been jailed for selling it, but we won't mention Craig Titus' name 'cause that would be rude.
I honestly hate talking about a drug like X in my column. This crap has no place in bodybuilding. Recreational drugs are also the number-one reason why law enforcement types bring heat down on steroid users (because they're using or dealing X, coke, smack, Nubain, etc. in addition to roids.) But I'm also a realist and I know X is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Ecstasy is about the worst of the recreational drugs you can ingest. Aside from potentially causing fatal hyperthermia in many people, the stuff rots out your brain…literally! X's effects on serotonin and serotinergic mechanisms in the brain are deleterious and permanent.
The information I'm about to describe should not be misconstrued as a tacit approval of X use by bodybuilders or anyone else. I don't think anyone should ever use X — period! However, if I can help reduce some of the deleterious side effects of X by passing along some info, I'm going to do such. So here we go:
• Women don't handle X as well as men do. Women are far more susceptible to becoming seriously depressed after using X than men are. However, men are much more susceptible to increases in aggressive behavior a few days after rollin'. (1)
• According to one study, ALA (alpha lipoic acid) taken at roughly double the dosage of X you're taking (and thirty minutes before you roll) can fully prevent serotonergic defects caused by X. So anyone using X should make the investment and buy a bottle of ALA. (2)
• Most people realize that X absolutely croaks serotonin levels in the central nervous system. Repeated and frequent usage can lead to a serious and continual lowering of brain serotonin. Thus, the supplement 5-HTP, a serotonin precursor, might be a good idea to incorporate two to four hours after you've used X to help ameliorate this decline in serotonin. (3)
Want to know the best way to prevent health problems associated with X use? Don't use it!
Fun with Anal Emissions
Okay, you're serious about your training which means you're serious about your supplementation. You've saved your nickels and are out to purchase the best, newest, ultra high tech, cross-dressing filtered, amino proprietary, bionic whey protein shake to "maximize" muscle growth potential by giving your body the best building blocks you can. There's only one problem and it's a noxious one: protein shakes make you fart.
I'm not talking about little squeaky farts that stink for a minute or so. Oh no, some protein shakes make you float some of the nastiest air biscuits this side of a greasy diner in Tijuana. It doesn't happen to everyone, but if the rancid smell of your own flatulence practically peals the skin off your face, then you may be wondering what you can do about it. And if you're not wondering what you should do about it, then you should be. Air pollution is bad enough without your stinky butt adding to it!
The answer to your gaseous nightmare is a compound called simethicone (aka Phazyme or Gas-X). Simethicone acts on the surface of "big bubbly farts" by reducing the surface tension and thereby disrupting or breaking the gas bubble. A cool trick is to place a few drops of simethicone onto the head of a glass of beer and see how quickly the beer loses its foam. This is a great thing to do on a first date. Also, try to use the term "fart bubble" as few times as possible during dinner if you want to have any hope of getting laid.
Now, simethicone doesn't prevent the formation of gas from swallowed air or from being created by intestinal bacteria. It doesn't make intestinal gases dissolve or disappear. It'll just make the farts bigger and fewer which means you can expel much more gas in much less time. This means fewer (albeit bigger) farts with "farting fits" lasting much less time than normal.
I have the misfortune of having inflammatory bowel disease and I've discovered that 125mg of simethicone taken ten to fifteen minutes before a large protein shake significantly helps me with regard to both cramping and fart fit duration. It's a cheap and easy fix.
Sterility and Clenbuterol
I've always hated clenbuterol. I think I mention this every time I write a column. The stuff is dangerous, its benefits are minimal and very transient, and (at least with me) it causes serious migraine headaches at sub-therapeutic dosing.
Now it seems clenbuterol causes profound testicular damage, at least in pigs. It might cause a small transient rise in Testosterone, but the expense is that it can possibly make you unable to father kids someday. Check out this study:
The morphological consequences of anabolic clenbuterol treatment on the testicular parenchyma were investigated in 30 pigs at morphological and ultrastructural levels. Clenbuterol was given with food (1 ppm).
In the first group (n=10), treatment was maintained until slaughter (experimental period three months). In the second group (n=10), clenbuterol was withdrawn two weeks before slaughter (experimental period 2.5 months). A third group (n=10) of pigs not fed with clenbuterol served as controls.
Animals were slaughtered at nine months of age and samples of testicular parenchyma were collected for light and electron microscope studies. In the clenbuterol-treated groups, the interstitial cells showed a considerable increase in the organelles involved in Testosterone production, with an increased development of the mitochondria, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and lipid droplets compared to the control group. The seminal epithelium displayed many lipid vacuoles and evident signs of tubular involution, such as degenerating and multinucleate germ cells. Sertoli cells gave evidence of metabolic alterations such as large lipid deposits and cytolysosomes. (4)
For now, it might be a good idea to skip the clen if you want to be a dad someday. There are better, legal fat loss supplements on the market anyway.
Double Strength Clen?
Yep, it seems that a company in China is now making 40mcg clenbuterol tabs for us bodybuilder types. The Hubei Huangshi Nanshang Pharmaceutical Company just came out with this new product. Now you can make yourself sterile twice as fast!
Low-Carb Diets Increase Muscle Mass
One of the biggest complaints about keto diets (next to "this diet sucks and I miss donuts") is that people claim that in addition to profound fat loss, they lose a ton of muscle mass. I don't agree, especially if you take a goodie like MAG-10 or 4-AD-EC while keto dieting.
I was always pretty sure folks didn't lose any appreciable muscle mass while keto dieting, but this next study demonstrates that people actually can put on muscle mass while losing fat during ketosis! Check it out:
The few studies that have examined body composition after a carbohydrate-restricted diet have reported enhanced fat loss and preservation of lean body mass in obese individuals. The role of hormones in mediating this response is unclear. We examined the effects of a six week carbohydrate-restricted diet on total and regional body composition and the relationships with fasting hormone concentrations.
Twelve healthy normal-weight men switched from their habitual diet (48% carbohydrate) to a carbohydrate-restricted diet (8% carbohydrate) for six weeks and eight men served as controls, consuming their normal diet. Subjects were encouraged to consume adequate dietary energy to maintain body mass during the intervention.
Total and regional body composition and fasting blood samples were assessed at weeks zero, three, and six of the experimental period. Fat mass was significantly (P </=.05) decreased (-3.4 kg) and lean body mass significantly increased (+1.1 kg) at week six. There was a significant decrease in serum insulin (-34%), and an increase in total thyroxine (T(4)) (+11%) and the free T(4) index (+13%).
Approximately 70% of the variability in fat loss on the carbohydrate-restricted diet was accounted for by the decrease in serum insulin concentrations. There were no significant changes in glucagon, total or free Testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), cortisol, or triiodothyronine (T(3)) uptake, nor were there significant changes in body composition or hormones in the control group.
Thus, we conclude that a carbohydrate-restricted diet resulted in a significant reduction in fat mass and a concomitant increase in lean body mass in normal-weight men, which may be partially mediated by the reduction in circulating insulin concentrations. (5)
Quality Vet?
A number of people have been asking me directly and through the T-mag Forum about a relatively new Mexican vet company called Quality Vet. What's my opinion? Like the majority of Mexican vet pharmas, Quality Vet has started off with some top notch products, at least according to user reports. Products are clean, apparently dosed correctly (or nearly so) and inexpensive. I don't have assays back on all their stuff but I do have some.
Let's just hope they don't go the way of some other Mexican companies and start making garbage once their business picks up. A kind reader sent in these pics of Quality Vet gear and the assay is courtesy of someone who wishes to remain "behind the scenes."
Valor in Valopharm?
I've routinely trounced Valopharm (a bootlegger) for making crappy tren. Well, that's not entirely true. I've bashed VP specifically for mislabeling their tren.
So "someone" elected to run their products through the ringer and get some assay work done on one of them (see scan below). I suppose, at least with regards to the Valotest 400, there's some "valor" in Valopharm. It's still off quite a bit from label claim but at least it has whopper dose of Testosterone enanthate in it, along with benzyl alcohol, also in a whopper dose. Look out Valopharm because your stanozolol and oxymetholone are off to the laboratory next…
More Lab Tests!
Check out the assays below on Denkall's version of nandrolone decanoate. Way to go, Denkall! And, just to silence the doubters, check out the "Red Star" version of trenbolone acetate.
More lab tests to come in future columns!
References
1) Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2002 Apr;161(1):23-31
2) Aguirre N, Barrionuevo M, Ramirez MJ, Del Rio J, and Lasheras B, School of Medicine at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain
3) Neuroendocrinol Lett 2002 Jun;23(3):259-61
4) Vet J 2002 May;163(3):292-8
5) Body composition and hormonal responses to a carbohydrate-restricted diet; Volek JS, Sharman MJ, Love DM, Avery NG, Gomez AL, Scheett TP, Kraemer WJ. - Human Performance Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology, University of Connecticut.
© 1998 — 2002 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
