Cocoa: Energy, Weight Gain and Pump

After new year i gave up smoking and started drinking cocoa.

I was researching natural ways to increase follistatin and therefore muscle growth. Cocoa increases nitric oxide which in turns increases follistatin levels.

So i have been using pure cocoa in shakes about 125 grams a day:
I have gained 11lbs in two weeks.
I have amazing increase in energy, especially for cardio.
My pumps have been extreme and painful, my biceps when pumped felt like they were going to rip out of the skin.

Next week i am going to try and up the dose and see if gains continue to come.

Sidenote: I do realize also that much of the weight gain may have been due to giving up smoking.

Caffeine?

Exactly what kind of Cocoa were you consuming?

[quote]Serd wrote:
Exactly what kind of Cocoa were you consuming?[/quote]

Cocoa powder (cocoa butter 20 percent minimum)

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
I take it this was combined with your ‘self wrestling’ program and your 4kilos per day of broccoli?

BBB[/quote]

No broccoli gave me the shits. Big suprise there, plus it left a bad taste in my mouth the next day.

Garlic was my next experiment. This like broccoli could increase follistatin. So i tried extreme amounts, took to long to chew so i made a shake which burnt my mouth, throat and stomach and i threw it straight back up.

So with further research i came across cocoa. Seems to be doing something, possibly a lot.

My self wrestling was only ever used in combination with weightlifting. I grew tired of it and will only use it very rarely now when i can’t get to the gym, or it’s too cold to workout outside where my weights are.

I love lifting weights and am pushing it hard.

[quote]big balls wrote:
bushidobadboy wrote:
I take it this was combined with your ‘self wrestling’ program and your 4kilos per day of broccoli?

BBB

No broccoli gave me the shits. Big suprise there, plus it left a bad taste in my mouth the next day.

Garlic was my next experiment. This like broccoli could increase follistatin. So i tried extreme amounts, took to long to chew so i made a shake which burnt my mouth, throat and stomach and i threw it straight back up.

So with further research i came across cocoa. Seems to be doing something, possibly a lot.

My self wrestling was only ever used in combination with weightlifting. I grew tired of it and will only use it very rarely now when i can’t get to the gym, or it’s too cold to workout outside where my weights are.

I love lifting weights and am pushing it hard.[/quote]

No offense, but why don’t you just focus on eating a lot and lifting?

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
I take it this was combined with your ‘self wrestling’ program and your 4kilos per day of broccoli?

BBB[/quote]

Don’t forget the green tea…

I’ve made hot cocoa with milk and about 4 heaping tablespoons of cocoa, sans sugar, and it had me more wired than any amount of coffee I’ve ever drank. (I drink a lot of coffee too)

My lesson learned was that this is NOT a good bedtime drink.

I’d attributed it to the caffeine, personally. It was incredibly delicious though and I occasionally dump the cocoa into my coffee when I think of it.

[quote]big balls wrote:
bushidobadboy wrote:
I take it this was combined with your ‘self wrestling’ program and your 4kilos per day of broccoli?

BBB

No broccoli gave me the shits. Big suprise there, plus it left a bad taste in my mouth the next day.

Garlic was my next experiment. This like broccoli could increase follistatin. So i tried extreme amounts, took to long to chew so i made a shake which burnt my mouth, throat and stomach and i threw it straight back up.

So with further research i came across cocoa. Seems to be doing something, possibly a lot.

My self wrestling was only ever used in combination with weightlifting. I grew tired of it and will only use it very rarely now when i can’t get to the gym, or it’s too cold to workout outside where my weights are.

I love lifting weights and am pushing it hard.[/quote]

Could I interest you in an idea called “moderation”?

The basic idea is that if a little bit of something is good, several kgs/day are not necessarily better.