Good Stack for My Goals?

So after my Christmas vacation I am looking to start a totally new stack and was wondering how this stack I found here would be for my current goals.

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1518229

It is the 1st stack, the muscle building stack. A little about me real quick. I am 187lbs currently 6’1 and have about a 9-10% body fat. I am looking to add mass, strength, and if possible at the same time make my abs more defined.

I will be taking back some supplement back to GNC tomorrow and I don’t know if they will give me my money back or just store credit so I was thinking I might as well purchase some of these supplements if I can while I am there on their store credit. I will await your verdict.

Thanks a lot for your help. If there is anything that I might have left out that would be helpful in this decision I would be more than happy to ask.

Get store credit and buy protein whey, creatine monohydrate powder, BCAA, and fishoil. Just don’t be fooled by those expensive designer supps and their outrageous bullshit label claims.

I just checked my body fat after maybe a month of not doing it, turns out I’m more of a 7% actually which could seem about right because I am training hard and eating completely clean, now crap food for me. But does anyone else have an opinion on this stack? Are there some things I wouldn’t need to get in here and some I really should get because I would like to bulk up to 200-210 then cut down, unsure to what body weight though.

if money is not the issue, then the stack you are looking at is about as good as you can get.

personally i get my beta alanine in bulk powder and fish oil by the 1000s (i kill up to 900 a month). this would allow me to purchase something extra like Se7en for the same money.

i refuse to purchase protein powder other than Metabolic Drive and Surge. there is no point in trying to save a quarter or two per meal’s worth of protein. the only reason to use something other than Surge is if you are low carbing and go with whey isolate/glutamine/glycine instead.

think of it this way, creatine, beta alanine, BCAA, and Surge will increase performance and provide optimum workout nutrition and recovery, while the Metabolic Drive, Alpha Male, Carbolin 19, and Flameout will provide an optimal feedstock for your body vs. other compounds and food you could have taken in.

add this on top of what you have described as a controlled, planned, and optimum diet and the results should come in soon enough.

don’t worry about the weight you reach and what you cut to. you can easily go by you feel you want when the time comes. if you have been able to get such a tight control of your metabolism as your stats suggest, then it is simply slightly increasing or decreasing your intake to get where you want.

Money isn’t to much of an issue as of right now (yes I am paying for it not parents) But that whole stack is right around $250.00 if I did my math right. And it just seems to me that it wont even really last that long, what a month maybe, if I am taking it correctly according to the servings and serving sizes I am suppose to consume.

I could buy that stack once and maybe once more but I don’t think I can afford to buy it a third time considering college expenses and all those good things. I’m willing to get it at least once but is there anything I could substitute in that would make it cheaper later on or that I possibly could do just as well without it? Thanks for the help.

[quote]Dark_Angel wrote:
Money isn’t to much of an issue as of right now (yes I am paying for it not parents) But that whole stack is right around $250.00 if I did my math right. And it just seems to me that it wont even really last that long, what a month maybe, if I am taking it correctly according to the servings and serving sizes I am suppose to consume.

I could buy that stack once and maybe once more but I don’t think I can afford to buy it a third time considering college expenses and all those good things. I’m willing to get it at least once but is there anything I could substitute in that would make it cheaper later on or that I possibly could do just as well without it? Thanks for the help. [/quote]

Ok in that case money IS an issue. Just remember the law of diminishing marginal returns. The more you spend on supplements per month after a certain point, the less you get back per dollar spent? Where does the curve start to trail off?

If you’re in college, straight away, you can probably lop off Alpha Male for 50 bucks. Second, I’d drop the BCAA and Beta-alinine. You can find those products in powder for less, and that will be a better use of your money. I wouldn’t worry about the Carbolin 19. Plenty of people here have made impressive gains without it, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to either.

That leaves you with:
Flameout, Creatine, Surge, and Low-Carb Metabolic Drive for 97 dollars total. To get free shipping, I’d order a second Surge and either another Metabolic Drive or Metabolic Drive Complete (you’re a bit skinny so the Metabolic Drive Complete may serve you well). In the end, if you can’t assess your own supplement needs yet, I highly doubt you’re at the level where you need Alpha Male, Carbolin 19, and such. Learn and figure out what’s going on with your body and the eating patterns you need.

Get big now!

Thanks for that recommendation I’m thinking I will do that then I believe I can still afford to add one of the products that were crossed off and just by reading about them would BCAA or Beta-7 be a good one to add in there or am I just trying to add unnecessary supplements than what I really need right now? I know I will have to buy 2 or more Metabolic Drive Complete because that wont last me to long.

[quote]hockechamp14 wrote:
Dark_Angel wrote:

Ok in that case money IS an issue. Just remember the law of diminishing marginal returns. The more you spend on supplements per month after a certain point, the less you get back per dollar spent? Where does the curve start to trail off?

If you’re in college, straight away, you can probably lop off Alpha Male for 50 bucks. Second, I’d drop the BCAA and Beta-alinine. You can find those products in powder for less, and that will be a better use of your money. I wouldn’t worry about the Carbolin 19. Plenty of people here have made impressive gains without it, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to either.

That leaves you with:
Flameout, Creatine, Surge, and Low-Carb Metabolic Drive for 97 dollars total. To get free shipping, I’d order a second Surge and either another Metabolic Drive or Metabolic Drive Complete (you’re a bit skinny so the Metabolic Drive Complete may serve you well). In the end, if you can’t assess your own supplement needs yet, I highly doubt you’re at the level where you need Alpha Male, Carbolin 19, and such. Learn and figure out what’s going on with your body and the eating patterns you need.

Get big now![/quote]

This post is dead on, I couldn’t agree more. Metabolic Drive Complete, Flameout, Creatine, and Surge should be staples in your supplement arsenal. I also use Grow! Whey as a basic protein powder throughout the day. It’s good quality, and has about 75 servings for $29.99, that’s tough to beat. Throw in 2 tubs along with hockechamp14’s recommendations, and that puts you at around $156, which gets you free shipping ($150+). Plus, the Grow! Whey will last you a while.

BCAA, Beta-7, Carbolin 19, and Alpha Male, as already stated, aren’t necessary at this point. Make sure you nail a solid diet, use supplements to ‘supplement’ your needs, train hard and smart, and you’ll do fine.

Alright thanks a lot for your great advice I will purchase Flameout, Creatine, Surge, and Low-Carb Metabolic Drive (2) and Grow! Whey. What would I do without this place haha

[quote]Dark_Angel wrote:
Alright thanks a lot for your great advice I will purchase Flameout, Creatine, Surge, and Low-Carb Metabolic Drive (2) and Grow! Whey. What would I do without this place haha[/quote]

One more thing I forgot to mention, is that although 250 dollars may be available this month, your goal is to make sustainable gains over time. What good is it going to be 6 months from now, if you load up on stuff only to not have enough money to say, maintain your gym membership? (I’m guessing that is included in tuition, but trying to give an example) So while being conservative is boring right now, figure out the sort of stuff that works for you, and expand from there.

You said you are a 7% bf and you want more defined abs? You need to forget that and focus on 1 goal at a time.

Above post…Hockechamp14 also is correct in what he had to say concerning $$.

I understand what you mean and yes my gym membership is included in my tuition which is nice. I know that I will be able to afford $250 6 months from here without a doubt. I dont have a job during college but I have one now during break that is making me a nice sum of cash and I also have work every weekend if I choose to work because I like working (go figure).

But I understand what you are trying to say and I know that what my end goals are will take years to accomplish and even when I meet those goals I will make bigger higher goals its a never ending journey ya know. But yes I will be able to afford these supplements later on.

As for what you said, andruw_doucette I know what you mean and since I made this thread I’ve given it a lot of thought and basically my state of mind it to hell with my 6-pack lol hello belly (not to big though :)) I will still do my ab routine at the end of my workouts though just to strength my core.

You’re a college student who likely has high cortisol levels — if you’re truly 7% b/f and unhappy with your abs. Figure out what kind of things you know you “should” be doing but aren’t. Usually by doing those things it helps your body out. (Getting to bed early, writing papers AHEAD of time, using your time well instead of spending loads of time browsing the forum)

I think that I dont have the abs I want is because I just dont have enough muscle for them to turn out how I like. The way I measure my body fat % is with a OMRON Fat Loss Monitor that I have so I am not sure how accurate it really is.

But as far as having a high cortisol level that is possible but it is not from school work, I am an honor student who gets papers, homework, ect. done long before they are due so I dont have to worry about them. What could be causing them is with my last relationship that has gone badly lately but getting over it.

I do have a very healthy and active lifestyle so its no that i just sit on the computer all day and read up on stuff and call that my workout for the day lol. Its just that when I have nothing better to do that I can think of which hardly ever happens thanks to guitar I jump on here and read up because all of this stuff just fascinates me to no end :slight_smile:

BTW is there anything I can do to lower my cortisol levels or is it just something to do with my thinking pattern? Should I possibly get tested for that?

Hockeychamp…dead on bro!

I would also recommend ZMA. At $9 a bottle for a MONTH’S supply it’s tough to beat and most people are deficient. The effects on sleep are profound.

Personally, I am a firm believer in REZ-V, so I order that, too. Otherwise, I second what hockeychamp recommended: Grow! Whey, Metabolic Drive x 2, Creatine, Surge.

minus ten points for all of us that forgot ZMA, except maybe hockeychamp.

there is a reason i gave that qualifier about money.

i am going to reassess the supplements, based on your new constraints and particular needs.

Surge, creatine and beta alanine powder will suffice for your workout supps. you may choose to add BCAA during and after workout, this will keep cost inline vs superdosing all day (5-10g before each meal).

ZMA, Flameout, and in your case i would consider Metabolic Drive Complete for the protein source. the REZ-V would probably be your best bet if you were shooting for something extra.

as for cortisol and stress, just chill. you can get tested all you want. you may even find someone that will diagnose you with something if you look hard enough. the best way to keep it down is to regularly (3 hours or so when awake) eat well, the supps listed above will help greatly and the lifestyle recommendations made by hockeychamp especially the going to bed early and keeping drinking down - pretty much say your prayers and take your vitamins, except you can skip the praying and take ZMA instead.

it is very possible that your relationship was affecting you and still is. don’t worry about such things, past is the past, hang with friends, meet new people, but most of all, don’t rush into another relationship for the sake of being in one, just try to deal with things as straightforward as you did with the supplement quest and you will do fine.

The only reason I didn’t recomend ZMA is because:

a) I don’t know how it affects non-competitive athletes who aren’t on a team or such. - Team sport athletes usually training over 7 hours a week making ZMA a no-brainer for them.

b) It’s out of stock, and I didn’t want to give the guy a reason to procrastinate his order, and thus his diet, goals, etc.

I looked up the prices for everything suggested and it is very do-able for me to consistently purchase these supplements. What would you suggest for a good beta alanine powder?

So here is what my stack looks like thus far

Surge (2) $60.00
creatine $13.00
beta alanine powder ???
Flameout $27.00
Metabolic Drive Complete 28.00
ZMA $10.00 (If I can possibly find another location to buy it or if it is restocked soon)

And if it seems necessary (looking for opinion, I can afford it slightly)

REZ-V $35.00
Grow! Whey $35.00

So how does this all look? I also have a little more time until I need to order this because I still have some of my other supplement stack left that I want to finish off before I start this.

You have all been a major help and money savers for me :slight_smile:

So here are the pictures the I said I would post awhile ago… I just got don’t eating so I look a little bloated I guess. I am just going by what the machine says my boy fat % is, yes I know I am a skinny punk, no I’m not trying to act tough if some people might somehow see that lol. Also could someone please look at the post I had right before this one and make a recommendation. Thank you :smiley:

another pic…