NO-SHOTGUN and Synthesize get an old man to hit the 70s
On November 30th I blogged about my experience with NO-Shotgun and how l noticed a dramatic manifestation of its effect evinced by the super human pedaling power I seemed to possess one morning while out riding my bike. Well, yesterday, something happened at the gym that – to me – was so profound I felt like I should blog about it. A statement such as the foregoing is usually followed with a “but,” and this is no exception. The "but" in this case is something l wrestled with until l talked to my smoke’n hot fiancé last night who set me straight – not because she’s my fiancée, or because she’s smoke’n hot, but because she’s a lawyer. “Is what you want to say the truth, or marketing hype?" she asked.
- “Well, it’s both,” I replied.…. “Sort of."
- “But is it the truth?”
- “As far as I know, yes, it is.”
- “So, then,” she said, “talk about it.”
Ughhh..0 well, l know in my mind what it is, but to some of your reading this you make a direct connection between whatever l say and my paycheck, especially if said paycheck is written by the manufacturer of the product that is the subject of what I’m talking about. Also, some of you, erroneously, tend to relegate any and all of my training results today to the “copious amounts” of performance enhancing drugs I allegedly consume, especially when I’ve spent a whopping three months in Mexico over the summer.
So, let’s take that last part first. Yes, I spent the summer in Mexico, and yes, I took advantage of the lax steroid laws while down there. Lets even take this a step further; l’ve been using steroids on and off since 1980, and for the last three years I have been on replacement doses of testosterone and GH prescribed by my doctor (and that’s all – with the exception of this past summer in Mexico). From those admissions - no secret to anyone who follows my writing - some people have exacted my dosages, exaggerated them, and subsequently say one of two things: that I have nothing to show for doing all those drugs, or any and all results I may notice from any supplements I’m taking now are from the drugs I took then – never mind that those two ideas cancel each other out! I even had one knucklehead assume that the remarkable biking power I blogged about last month had everything to do with the drugs l used in Mexico five months ago and nothing to do with supplements l’m taking now! Any reasonably intelligent person, or even a logical one, without a shred of endocrine science under their belt, would understand the preposterousness of such a statement. But, this is the internet, so we must filter. If you’ve been paying attention, you’d remember that the strength increase was noticed during those five months! As far as not having anything to show for “all my copious use,” I’ll let these cell phone photos l snapped this morning do the talking. Certainly I could look better, but I don’t think l look too bad for 50.
Now, let’s talk about my motivation. Is it the money? I suppose in this industry the idea of pimping yourself out to the highest bidder is not an alien concept. We’ve all seen big jacked bodybuilders shuffle from supplement contract to supplement contract touting the effectiveness of the wares offered by the company paying them. I mean we all know Jay Cutler and Dexter Jackson became Mr. Olympia because of all those supplements they took from the company paying for their endorsement, right? Obviously, there are enough newbies to bodybuilding, and first time supplement buyers, who fall for such nonsense, but I assure you, for me, that’s not the case. This isn’t Canada. I approach my endorsement the other way around; l try something first. If it works, then l talk about it. Yes, VPX/Redline is paying me. But they are paying me to build their website content and online community, not to endorse their supplement lines; they have real athletes for that. I’m blogging about their supplements because I am truly impressed with the results I’m getting from those I’m using. Actually, posting this blog is taking away valuable time from the other stuff l’m supposed to be doing!
Now that we have that straightened out, let me, finally, get to the point of this blog… what happened the other day in the gym.
I was training arms and super-setting both bis and tris – close grip benches on the smith machine for tris and dumbbell curls for bis. Normally, l get up to the 50s on dumbbell curls and start struggling at about the eighth rep and grind out a few more. As you can see, my arms are a very weak body part on me. Never in my life, not even during the time l was at my biggest and doing the most drugs have l ever repped with more than 50s, nor got past 13 reps with them. This day, however, l got to the 12th rep with the 50s and l had to check twice to make sure they weren’t the 40s. I nearly hit myself in the jaw with the first rep it went up so easily! As magnificent as this feeling was it was just as perplexing. This NEVER happened before.
I went over to the Smith and knocked out another set of close grips and then went back and addressed the dumbbell rack. Should l pick up the 60s? I might as well. And to my utter amazement I cranked out eight clean reps on each side. I racked the weights and looked at them again to make sure l was reading the numbers right – am getting old and my eyesight ain’t what it used to be. But, upon closer inspection l had it right. I just curled 60s At least it appeared that way. Once again l went back over to the Smith and did another set of close grips. Back over at the dumbbell rack l stood and stared in the direction of the 60s again. Hmmmmm…… What should l do? I guessed that if l was feeling strong l might as well go for it. So, as any bodybuilder would in a similar situation, I passing right over the 65s, and grabbed the 70s. Six reps later l put them back. Yeah, ok the reps were sloppy, l’ll admit, but jeez, 70s?? WTF??? I’ve been training in the gym since 1974 and have never, ever, not once ever curled a 60, let alone a 70!
Now, a critical assessment would conclude that l should be my strongest after all those years – if l had done everything right, all the time. But who does that? We go up and down – in weight, in strength, in body fat percentage, etc. Few, if any, continue on an upward slope uninterrupted. I figured my strongest period would have been in my mid 30s. I did indeed lift some decent weight for my size back then, but this right here was a dumbfounding event, not to mention a dramatic increase in strength, especially for a smaller muscle group.
What gives? It has to be what’s different. I am pretty consistent with everything l do. Especially for the last several months l have assiduously followed my diet and my training outline and have not missed days, meals, nor anything else. My drug intake has been only that which was prescribed (200 mg test a week and 2 IU GH a day) and nothing else has been added. The only addition – as l mentioned on Nov 30th - was the addition of No Shotgun before training and Synthesize immediately following. Absolutely nothing else is different.
Granted, this is not transcendental science, but it is, nevertheless, telling. As far as l’m concerned, NO Shotgun and Synthesize are definitely worth a try.
