Lift me up

[drewan]

Things are moving ahead pretty well with my trainer. My strength levels have been slowly increasing and I'm been gaining muscle.

I ran into one problem over the last week or two. When I was at GNC a couple of weeks ago to pickup from Muscle Milk Lite protein powder (yummy chocolate!), I picked up some Arsenal-X dietary supplement on a whim. My reasoning was that the Arsenal X would help me keep my energy levels up during my work out. This supplement contains 100 mcg of Vitamin B12 and 188 mg of caffeine, plus an "arsenal-x blend" of ingredients like Zhi Shi, Paullina cupana, St. John's wort extract, and more. The GNC sales person suggested taking the supplement about 1 to 2 hours before the workout.

The first couple of times that I used the Arsenal-X I was ok. I took it about 3 to 4 hours before working out. The last two times I've taken it I took it about 2.5 hours before working out, but then I felt very nauseous during my workout. The trainer and I are suspecting that it might be the supplement that is causing the nausea. He suggested I not take it before my workout tomorrow and see how I feel.

Anyone have any good experience and suggestions for a supplement that would benefit my workouts?

I have one more month of trainer sessions scheduled. The plan after that is for me to try working out on my own for a while, maybe with the occasional trainer session to check-in and reinforce the original training.

The trainer suggested a good goal for this upcoming month would be to increase my bench press up to my own body weight, which is about 165 pounds. I am bench pressing 135-145 pounds now, so 165 doesn't seem to far off. This doesn't have to mean that I'd do 8 reps of 165#, but to just get to one bench press at that weight.

Tomorrow is our first session in May, so it will be time to be weighed and measured again. It's nice to have numbers that support the changes that I'm feeling.

Comments

[likethecandybar.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of the vanilla and strawberry muscle milk. I want to try the bluberry but they don't sell it in the light version.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

We dislikes GNC, peddlers of high-priced nonsense. It's hard to believe you would be sensitive to that amount of caffeine or B12, but the other odd botanical ingredients are suspect. One should avoid shotgun products (things that contain lots of different ingredients) generally. If you are looking for boosted energy for the workout, some fruit plus maybe a Red Bull-equivalent drink (generally containing caffeine and taurine, and look for the sugar-free variety. many to choose from) might work. An hour beforehand is about right.

[frstythesnowman.livejournal.com]

The only supplement my trainer said had proven worth was creatine monohydrate. Or I should say legal supplement. :)

In terms of food for workouts: a normal balanced diet of 5 small meals a day. Veggies should be cooked to release water soluable vitamins and uncooked for Vit C.

That's it.

My 2cents worth. ;) Canadian, eh? Almost worth as much as 2 U.S. cents. :)

[frstythesnowman.livejournal.com]

apologies for replying to the wrong post. My reply was to the main post, and sadly it missed. Sorry. I'm tired. Time to run away from the internet!! Run away! (in Brave Sir Robin fashion.)

[frstythesnowman.livejournal.com]

oops. My reply to you went as a reply to someone else.

Please check out my reply in your thread.

Sheepishly yours

F