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> Newbie, please critique stack
Posted: Jul 30 2005, 08:29 PM
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Hi,

I was wondering if I could get a little feedback on the stack I am starting. I've got several goals to reach, so I'm planning on a long term addition of a rather comprehensive number of supplements. Besides, they are so damn cheap, and most have been shown to work in complement with eachother.

I am 31, 160lbs, 5'6", moderately out of shape.

My goals:

Diet supplementation

I've been vegan for 3 months, after being vegetarian for 10 years, and I am concerned that my diet is leaving me a little run down: when I first started out, I was pretty sick for a couple of weeks, thanks to some very poor advice I received from a book on Veganism. A daily B complex supplement and a little more attention to my diet put me back on track but I am still concerned that I'm not taking adequate care of myself.

Polyphasic sleep support, nootropic enhancement, and stress

In addition to general stress and nootropic enhancement needs I am in the process of tranfering to a polyphasic sleep, otherwise known as the
Uberman Sleep Schedule. Simply put, this involves taking a twenty minute nap every four hours, instead of sleeping 8 hours every night. This may sound nutty and unsound, but it's been utilised by a great many people: Buckminster Fuller, Leonardo Da Vinci, Salvador Dali and Abrahamn Lincoln are a few. Getting on and off it is a bitch and a half, but I'm so much more alert.

Consequently, I am concerned about growth hormone levels, cortisol and in particular, cardio-vascular health. And, anything that can help me keep my head clear and energy up during the fuzzy first couple of weeks would be useful indeed. wink.gif (I've lived on a polyphasic schedule before, so I know what it's going to be like)

Fitness enhancement

I've had to seriously curtail my workouts and running due to joint pain, back pain, tendonitis and other RSI issues.. So, I'm taking chondritin/glucosamine. Unfortunately, according to the literature, it looks like it will be a few months before this has any effect. Very frustrating, to be out of shape (by my standards, at least) and unable to do much about it. I am, however, walking and jogging slowly every day, doing sit ups, push ups and one-armed push ups: taking the slow, steady route.

To these ends, I'm going to be taking:

- Multivitamin
- Niacin
- B complex
- Zinc
- Creatine
- Soy Protein
- Acetyl-carnitine 1 gram 2x day
- Piracetam 1 gram 2x day
- Alpha-GPC 1 gram / day
- R-ala (kept in the freezer to retain potency)
- Phosphatidylserine 300 mg / day
- Taurine 1 gram 2x day
- L-Tyrosine 1 gram 2x day
- Glucosamine/Chondritin

I say 'going to' because I intend to add them into my diet slowly, to figure out what is which agree or disagree with me. That said, I tried all of these together, and all I ended up with was gas, the shits, and an urge to sleep heavily (At this point, I've trained myself to fall asleep in under a minute, and wake up without an alarm after exactly 15 (I don't know why it's fifteen: that's just when I always wake up) consequently, I was rather surprised to find myself struggling to get out of bed, having overslept my nap by an hour and a half).

Fortunately, the farts were all bark (i.e. carbohydrate farts), and I had given a dose to my girlfriend too, so we scared the dog together wink.gif

So, I've dropped the Tyrosine, Taurine, ALCAR for the time being (these seems include the ones that knocked me out/gave me g.i. distress.) I'm taking the rest either blended in a fresh fruit/soy milk/brown sugar smoothy, or blended into Lemonade. (Except for the Alpha-GPC, which doesn't dissolve well at all, so I just swallow it). Still got the shits though, but I'm not too worried about that.

I've also got a stash of GABA, hoping to increase GH levels, but I am rather cautious about taking it, since I'm sure that it will make me groggy. Also, some Phenibut, but I'm not planning on taking that with any frequency.

Comments welcome. Am I missing anything? Am I going about this the wrong way? What should I be doing instead?

Thanks!
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Posted: Jul 30 2005, 11:49 PM
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Your diet is most likely lacking in protien and EFAs.

Vegan diets are not very helthy unless everthing you are eating is raw and organic. And you need to know how to plan you diet to get the full array of essential nutrients. And you still will probably not be getting enough protien if you are doing intense workouts.

I am guessing your goal is just overall helath, and not body building?

If so than all your supps look fine you just need some diet adjustments.

And no offense but that sleep thing looks dumb.

5'9 202 lbs 22 yrs old
Power Snatch 210 lbs
Bench 365 lbs
Power Clean & Jerk 255 lbs
Deadlift 580 lbs
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Posted: Jul 30 2005, 11:55 PM
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Polyphasic sleep scheduling has been around at least since Da Vinci.

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Posted: Jul 31 2005, 03:15 AM
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QUOTE (CDONDICI @ Jul 30 2005, 11:49 PM)
Your diet is most likely lacking in protien and EFAs.

Vegan diets are not very helthy unless everthing you are eating is raw and organic. And you need to know how to plan you diet to get the full array of essential nutrients. And you still will probably not be getting enough protien if you are doing intense workouts.


That's why I'm supplementing with soy protein. What's an EFA?

I disagree with you regarding the requirements for 'raw' and 'organic' food. In fact, considering that the human body has evolved to digest cooked food, I would argue that such requirements would actually make achieving adequate nutrition more difficult, not less. Best leave the organicly grown water-cress-and-garbonzo-beans to the sandal wearing beardie weirdies smile.gif Eliminating all animal products is not the healthiest decision, but it's not a decision that I made for health reasons.

QUOTE (CDONDICI @ Jul 30 2005, 11:49 PM)

I am guessing your goal is just overall helath, and not body building?

If so than all your supps look fine you just need some diet adjustments.


My diet is pretty much fine right now: avoiding animal products pretty much avoids almost everything unhealthy. It's been a lot easier than I thought, and a lot more delicous too - I had braced myself for a much worse than it actually was.

My goal is overall fitness and mental health, rather than straight muscle growth. As I mentioned, any real training is going to be a ways away, since I've fucked my wrists and knees with overtraning over the past decade, and continue to fuck my wrists on a daily basis, at work and home. Still, slow and steady wins the race.

I'm particularly concerned with cardiovascular fitness, since this is the muscle that receives the most benefit from stage 1 sleep (when GH is released). I usually spend one four houw 'period' of the night lying down, 'chilling', with my laptop. And I'm also doing inversion therapy, to reduce the strain on my back. It's worked wonders.

QUOTE (CDONDICI @ Jul 30 2005, 11:49 PM)

And no offense but that sleep thing looks dumb.


I'm not sure what you think is 'dumb' about getting 20 productive waking hours (plus another 4 hours of almost complete and mostly recallable lucid dreaming) into each day, but it works for me. I come home from my 10 hour/day job, get my chores done, and then have the whole night to do what I really want to do with my life. And, during the day, I'm even more alert, to boot.
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