Hey All- I am in the processes of trying to drop about 10% BF before my wedding in October. I am currently 210 at 20% BF. I was wondering If I could use Mag-10 (I have one of the Uber Bottles) to help maintain (or even gain) muscle mass while hitting Red Bands and some serious Cardio/GPP. Any thoughts ?? Here is what I was planning on:
Mon- Powerlifting Bench/Tris/Delts
Tues- Powerlifting Squat/Other Leg stuff
Wed- GPP, then 30 - 40 mins Treadmill
Thurs- Deadlifts/Back Stuff/ maybe Bis
Fri- GPP, then 30 - 40 mins Treadmill
Sat- GPP and 5 - 6 sets jumping rope
Sun- OFF
I tried Hot-Rox several times but never got any results. I’m hoping Red Bands will work better but that the Mag-10 will help me hold onto the muscle. I appreciate any and all insight. Thanks!
lothos, I’m wishing you all the best in achieving your goals!!!
My recommendation is that you use Mag-10 or 4-AD-EC to preserve LBM and save the fat burners for later. 4-AD-EC is actually my first choice because you can do longer cycles.
I cannot emphasize strongly enough that you need to get your diet perfectly/precisely dialed in, and that that is what’s going to ensure your success. So keep a food log and count, weigh, measure and record what you’re eating. Get your BF tested and have it tested every couple of weeks. Otherwise you won’t know if weight lost (or gained) is muscle, water or fat.
Macronutrient recommendations are as follows:
Protein: 2g x LBM
Fat: Keep it as low as possible when you’re “on” because carbs are going to be a bit higher when you’re “on.” But do make sure you get in your EFAs.
Carbs: 2g x LBM, going as low as 1.5g x LBM. I prefer the 2g number over the 1.5g number. Eat GOOD carbs; oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes. If you find you’re hungry, pick up your green veggies a bit.
Cardio: Limit it to 2 sessions of HIIT per week, on days you don’t lift. Sessions shouldn’t be any longer than 20 minutes and should not be fasted state.
If you go with Mag-10, make sure you don’t try to diet on the two weeks that you’re “off.” Eat at maintenance and solidify your gains.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat. If this isn’t what you’re looking for or if you need a clarification, let me know.
Tampa Terry –
By the way, you kick ass. T-nation is lucky to have you.
Let me say first and for most that TT always gives expert advise and I have learned much from her.
Right now I am trying to do something like you: lose body fat while gain musle just like almost every other person on this board.
Right now I am cycling Mag-10+M1T for 2 weeks, then 3 weeks of anti-e’s and an ECA stack. This combo has helped greatly, at the start I was 174lbs and could see only my top pair of abs. Now 3 weeks into this I am 180lbs and can see 2 pairs of abs. I will continue to get back to eating the way TT told me to along time ago and continue to train like crazy till the end of summer when I will be able to see a six pack and go back to bulking for a few months.
I would tell you to take TT’s advise with diet and and the Mag-10 but, when you are in between Mag-10 cycles to use the stimulant you have to boost your metabalism and maintain your muscle.
Hope every thing works out for you and you surpass your goals.
DA
[quote]Tampa-Terry wrote:
lothos, I’m wishing you all the best in achieving your goals!!!
My recommendation is that you use Mag-10 or 4-AD-EC to preserve LBM and save the fat burners for later. 4-AD-EC is actually my first choice because you can do longer cycles.
I cannot emphasize strongly enough that you need to get your diet perfectly/precisely dialed in, and that that is what’s going to ensure your success. snip
[/quote]
Tampa-Terry: Thanks for the advise but I have been lifting for 14 years now, I got all the diet down. I’m not trying to enter a bodybuilding contest here, but just wanna be leaner for my wedding. Since shifting to more of a powerlifting style, I have been doing alot of triples and 1 RM while eating everything in site. I’ve made some good progress w/ a 350 bench, a 415 Squat (no wraps) and a 450 deadlift. I want to keep as much of my newfound strength and size as possible. Every other time I diet down I can’t lift crap. I don’t want it to happen this time. Basically my question centers on if using Mag-10 would take away from some of the fat burning effect of Red Bands. I just want to make sure that the Mag-10 /Red Bands stack won’t confuse my body.
BTW - There seems to be some confusion that because I wanna look good in my tux at my wedding I’m a chick but I am, as a matter of fact, a guy. This event is a good thing for me to focus on trying to cut down on some of the gut I have gained since shifting to a more powerlifting training program. Just wanted to clarify.
Lothos, depending on your goals, the numbers are a bit different when using Mag-10 than “normal,” meaning when you’re not using a PH. In fact, you’ll find the numbers vary depending on the GOAL. The heck with whether you’re using a PH or not. (grin)
The 3 possible goals are 1) Put on as much weight as possible, 2) Put on some muscle, but drop some fat, and 3) Drop as much fat as possible while preserving LBM.
When I gave you numbers to hit, I wasn’t trying to teach you how to diet, but was rather trying to give you numbers that would get you good results if your goal was something halfway between Options 2 and 3 above.
If you continue to eat everything in site while doing a cycle of Mag-10, your strength and LBM should increase substantially. Unfortunately, your BF (and even BF%) will most likely go up, too. Mag-10 isn’t a steroid, as we both know, but even people doing cycles of AAS often end up getting bigger and fatter if they don’t optimize their diet for the cycle and for their specific goal. Dieting down and how you eat is just a bit different when you’re “on” (i.e., when you’re using PHs/PSs/AAS) than when you’re not.
Where I might recommend not using thermogenics while “on,” DarkAngel has gotten good results doing so. And that’s the beauty of the forum. Hopefully lots of knowledgable/experienced people will reply, and you get to pick and choose what you think might best help you achieve your goals.
There is no reason you can’t use Mag-10 and Red Bands or Hot-Rox at the same time. Feel free to do so if that’s what you want to do. However, the combination of eating everything in site, using Mag-10 and Red Bands or Hot-Rox is likely to be hit or miss as it relates to your stated goal of dropping 10 percentage points of BF.
As I said in my other post, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. One way to drop your BF% is to increase LBM while keeping the amount of BF (in pounds) exactly the same. Another way of saying the same thing is that if you were to keep scale weight the same, work out like a fiend, put on LBM, BF and your BF% would drop concomitantly.
Take a look at some of Chad Waterbury’s programs. He’s an advocate of working at higher percentages of your 1RM. However, because he uses a higher volume, say 8x3, you get the benefit of hypertrophy AND strength.
Anyway, it’s nice talking to you, and once again, I wish you all the best!!!
Eating everything in site was what I was doing during the past couple of powerlifting regimes. Obviously I plan on cutting my calories: To start down to 2500, then 2300, and maybe phase it a bit lower depending on how I respond. My biggest problem is everytime I try to diet (no matter how clean I eat) I just feel like I lose too much strength in comparison to BF. I’m giving the Red Bands a go but would like to use Mag-10 to help maintain the LBM and strength. I’m just afraid that using em together will confuse my body telling it to grow and lose at the same time, with poor results all around. Has anyone tried Red Bands (or Hot-Rox) with Mag-10 ?
It’s common for people to use androgens to help retain lean tissue while dieting so there’s no reason to worry about your body being “confused” while using MAG-10 and Red Bands.
The only thing that might confuse your body is your diet.
Darkangel, why are you useing Mag-10 and m1t at the same time?
lothos, thanks for the explanation re eating everything in site. I understand what you were doing; you were bulking, though an unstructured approach to bulking can result in an unfavorable ratio of fat to LBM gain.
Re dieting down, how have you dieted down in the past? How much protein, carbs and far were you getting per pound of LBM (or TBW)? How were you timing your carbs in conjunction with your workout? Were you taking in starchy carbs PWO and did you have you PWO nutrition optimized (i.e., something like Surge)?
Additionally, how long were your workouts and how many days a week were you in the gym?
The answer to the above questions would give us the information that would help us to help you…or at least give you some ideas.
The final question is: When you dieted down in the past, were you doing any cardio? If so, what kind and how much?
Lothos: bro once again listen to TT about diet and training both, she knows her stuff. Reread my early post and try out my dosing protocal minus the M1T. MAG-10 will both give you new muscle and help you burn off fat all by itself, it is strong as hell. In reguards to your worrys about strength, trust me when I tell you that you will actually gain strength when dieting and using MAG-10. You will even keep it post cycle.
No Mercy: I found this stack works awsome. MAG-10 does have both 1T and 4AD in it. So you would think that M1T wouldn’t do much but, every alteration to any prohormone’s structure not only makes your body absorb it diffrently but also turns the drug into a whole new creation. In this case the 2 diffrent ph’s compliment each other very nicely. I take the MAG-10 during the day for the energy/anobolic effects and the M1T right before bed to help me go to sleep and keep my body in an anobolic state all night long.
DA
Litespeed - Thanks for the concise and direct answer to my simple query. That was my thoughts as well just wanted to get another couple of other “T” opinions.
You’re welcome!