Dude, for the two weeks that you can’t lift, you can still be doing bodyweight exercises, plyometrics, and isometrics. I recommend not being completely inactive. Just my opinion. You might even be able to maintain a good portion of your gains if you treat your body right while away.
Guys I need your advice. I weight 200 lb. w/ 25% body fat. Should I lose some weight before starting a Mag-10 cycle? How much? If not, how soon after the Mag-10 cycle should I diet? Thanks in advance for your advice
Using one dose per day. gained from 202 to 214 1/2. Been training over 30 years. Now doing two weeks of tribex and M.
DocT, I’m not a doctor so if you say IBS is a real diagnosis, I’ll take your word for it. That being said, it is a fact that people who are celiac, are usually diagnosed with IBS first before they are finally correctly assessed. I find that a good percentage of doctors treat symptoms before they find out the root of the problem. If you have back or shoulder problems, some doctors would have you in for surgery before they refer you to a chiropractor or ART practitioner. I learned early that you have to take charge of your own health and learn as much as you can about your body and different therapies before just leaving your health in charge of a doctor. I was told I had IBS, and it really was a bunch of BS. When I go to my doctor with a problem, I’ve usually researched it in advance and she just has to do a test to confirm it. I know what drugs and what dosages would be required for any condition I may have.
I would definitely shed some fat before you start. You’d get some results from starting now, but you’l get even better ones if you wait. Read Berardi’s Appetite for Construction in Issue 167, where he talks about the effect of initial body composition on lean mass versus fat gains during a bulking cycle.
Clobro, I absolutely agree with you on most of what you say. Many docs are quick to diagnose certain conditions (i.e. IBS, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome) without fulling exploring the causes of those symptoms. Though I say “many” I certainly don’t mean most docs. It’s an unfortunate reality that any profession, and medicine is no exception, has people who merely do enough to get by. I hope to never be that way.
It's funny too how you mention chiropractors as definitive care (at least that what I think you said..if I'm wrong I apologize). A lot of them are the very epitome of treating the symptoms and never curing the problem.
Oh boy, I’ve opened a can of worms here. Let the flames begin!
I’m a little bit pissed off again today, but it’s not the size of this thread anymore. 
It’s been 4 days, and I haven’t gained a pound. In fact, it’s day 12, and I seem to have lost a pound since day 7. However, my strength is increasing, and I’m getting some comments and stares, in the gym. (You just don’t know how many people know, how much weight you normally lift, until you display something extraordinary.) Anyway, I’m eating 5500 cal/day, doing two-a-days on a two on, one off split, and I lost a pound. Pretty stupid if you ask me. WHY CAN’T I EVER BREAK 190!? OK, I’m done. Thanks to the support group.
I wanted to thankyou and let you know that I share your sentiments concerning doctors treating symptoms instead of determining the cause. I have G.I. problems for a long time now and was told by doctors to eat more fiber (in the form of whole grains) which was only worsening the problem. I believe you have helped me solve what has plagued me for years.
Dr. T., isn’t IBS more of a symptom rather than a cause. I mean, something has to be irritating the bowels, right? Whether it is stress, allergies, viral, or bacterial there must be a cause. Saying a person has IBS seems similar to telling a person whos throat hurts that they have a sore throat. It brings a person no closer to the cause or solution.
Gymnut, the answer to your question is yes and no. IBS is not a diagnosis, but it is a term that encompasses several diseases (yes, actual diseases) including, but not limited to, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. So I guess the point is that IBS can be a diagnosis of symptoms without a known underlying etiology or of known and very real etiology.
I hope people aren't so disillusioned with doctors that they question every single thing a doc does. There's nothing wrong with educating yourself and questioning why diagnoses are made, but sometimes you have to trust that clinical experience, evidence based medicine, and a rigorous medical education usually guides what decisions are made. I'm not telling anybody to have blind faith in their doctor....I just don't want people to be so cynical that they don't trust a word their doc says.
i’m thinking of using mag-10 for cutting effect, similar to how folks use primo while either maintaining their calorie intake or lowering it. i’ve read a lot of the lean muscle gains of folks on mag-10. what about the other androgenic effect: burning fat?
Geo- I’ll let Bill answer your question from the science side, but let me answer from the practical side of what I’ve seen.
I’ve consulted with one person who reported no gains from MAG-10. He was thrilled anyway because he was getting rock hard and as strong as a bull. He sent me a sample of his diet and sure enough he was accidentally eating below maintenance, thinking he was eating above. (He was making good food choices, but just wasn’t eating enough.)
So, although he didn’t mean to, he was one of the first people to diet while on MAG-10 and he was very happy with the way his body was looking.
On a side note, I can’t believe how much food I’m packing away on MAG-10 and not adding fat. And I can normally gain fat quite easily. I’m eating clean with one or two free meals per week. (Hard to turn down a Chinese dinner invite while bulking and on an androgen, you know? Still, I’m 95% clean.)
Gymnut, my problem plagued me for years as well. I had to read a lot about digestive disorders to figure it out my problem for myself. I think I read somewhere that 1 in 200 people are allergic to wheat/gluten but most don’t know it. I’m glad the info helped.
DocT, if my post above implied that I thought chiropractic was a “definitive” treatment in any way, I’m sorry because that is not what I believe. My chiropractor is also an ART provider who has done miracles for my shoulder. I was almost to the point of giving up training because it was too painfull. He also had me do some physio to balance out a muscle imbalace. So my chiropractor doesn’t just treat the symptoms (but the several I had before him did). Interesting that you say that IBS is NOT a diagnosis but a term compasing several other diseases. This is the first time I have heard a doctor say this. Most doctors I have spoken to, either refer to a condition as IBS OR Crohn’s, colitis, etc. I do believe that those are separate and very legit diagnosis’. You mentioned IBS as an diagnosis of symptoms. I think that is a great way of refering to it instead of it being a condition itself (if the real underlying condition is Crohn’s or something else). Anyway, I am happy to see a doctor refering to IBS in these terms. Most doc’s that I’ve spoken to (I live in Toronto) don’t seem to have a clue about digestive disorders. It’s great to have a forum like this to bounce ideas around. Though I feel bad we are so off topic from the original Mag-10 post. By the way this stuff is awesome. I am so pumped all the time on this stuff and am up a few pounds in my first week!
I hear you on th slingshot idea. But I didn’t feel like I was overtraining. In fact, I felt like I had to work harder than usual (and did so) just to take full antvantage of the decreased recovery time. It fact, it couldn’t have been from overtraining, because I hadn’t had a rest day yet–no time to slingshot. I will say that I have lost weight, though. Down to 165 from around 170. This is what I heard, that you’d loose about half of what you gained. On the other hand, I don’t feel I have lost any strength. I bench 200 (not a novice, though, just a shitty bench–been training about 3.5 years), missed 210 with a shirt about two weeks ago, but then made a 190 close-grip bench press with no shirt, so I’m still considerably stronger than before my two weeks of Mag-10.
I returned my purchase of Mag-10 because once I saw that 2 servings a day may be best, I didn’t want to find out $300 later that 1 a day just didn’t cut it. Anyways, how are the bigger guys responding to Mag-10? And, in particular, is 1 serving cutting it. I am 5’11, 250 with some fat (36 waist), and have used boat load of androsol in past. I am just not sure if 1 serving is going to help me gain a whole lot more. Any 230+ guys getting great gains from 1x a day? Let me know-Thanks.
PS- Bill, any thoughts on servings per day versus bodyweight?
Eric I read the article. I did the calculations, and with a 1 lb. weight loss per week - through lifestyle changes as suggested by Mr. Berardi - it would take me 54 weeks to reach 10% body fat. Now I know the meaning of delayed gratification. Thanks for the info.
CORRECTION! It would take me 49 weeks, not 51, to reach a bodyweight of 151 with 10% body fat. According to Mr. Berardi, only at this level should you attempt to bulk up to gain mostly muscle rather than fat.
According to the original stats you listed, if you lost a pound of fat a week for 54 weeks, you would have NEGATIVE 4 pounds of fat. Might want to check your calculations:
200 lbs. x 25% bodyfat= 50 lbs. fat (with 150 lean body mass). From here, hold your lean body mass constant at 150 and find out what it is 90% of. In this case, your weight at 10% at the same lean body mass would be 167. In other words, it’s 33 weeks and not 54. Other things you might want to take into consideration: If you are new to weight training, there is the chance that you can add lean body mass and reduce fat simultaneously, which would shorten the time it takes to reach 10%. However, if you have been training for a while, this is not likely to occur. Instead, you can probably count on losing some lean body mass in the process, which makes reaching your goal even tougher. Hope this helps. Remember-“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
i was wondering if you could answers this for me briefly. i am planning to use mag 10, and am aware that the consensus is to use a high calorie diet to get optimal results. however, i cannot afford to put any added fat tissue on, since i am competeing in a local bodybuilding contest in 13 weeks. could doubling up on the doesage be effective to offset the lack of extra calories in my diet while usuing the product?
hi. the bottle warns against using if you have diabetes. Since I am diabetic, I’d like to know what the risks are. Thanks.
Choad, while for the great majority keeping
fat low and letting calories be mostly carbs
and protein gives best results – since if they get optimal amounts of carbs and protein AND have plenty of fat too, they’ll pack on fat – there are some exceptions and you might be one.
If you’ve been on a low fat diet in all this,
try adding fat.
Also, it might be (pure speculation) that digestive enzymes may help you. Perhaps while you’re eating 5500 cal, it’s not all getting into your system.