Hey pepes, I have a question. I am the typical type A personality, and tend to run high on stress. Especially around finals time. This qtr is rockin me already, so I know finals time is gonna show me who is daddy. I was wonderin what everybody thinks is the best means of retaining muscle mass through times of high stress and far too little sleep. I was thinkin methoxy-7 or 4-AD-EC. Just cant figure which would be better. Any opinions welcome. thanks.
Glutamine and PS (phosphatidylserine). I’ve read of people taking 40 grams of glutamine a day in 5 gram increments. I’m not sure of the PS dosages. I’ve read that too much is a bad thing, giving you sore joints. Hopefully someone can chime in with more info.
best thing to do is to cut down on training volume, per workout and or number of workouts. When you see that you are not able to recover enough, your body gives you the signals, then you need to cut back a little. Signals include poundages in the weights and muscle soreness. You might just want to maintain your muscles for that period of time or actually take some time off and then hit them hard after finals. I’m a full time grad student with a part time job and i know how hard things can get. I would save the 4-AD to bulk when you have low stress levels. Start planning now. laters pk
What about Glutamine?
thanks guys. I guess I never thought of glutamine. I went right for the big boys cuz I drop 10-15 pounds in a couple of weeks on avg. It is a vicious cycle, i manage to put on a couple during the qtr with eating that would kill a normal human, and then lose all of it and usually more during finals. It is really beginning to piss me off. I think I will give Glutamine a shot this qtr and see if it helps. I will also draw back on the training. Thanks a lot for the suggestions.
I know that you want to maintian muscle mass, but what about something that will help you cope with stress? Especially if you have finals to do.
I find that a mix of “Power Drive”, glutamine, vitamin C and E is fantastic to help the body and the mind cope with stress.
I had a friend of mine on this "stack" to help her study for her Chiropractic Board Exams (they have to study 5 years worth of material in 3 weeks! And it makes or break them ... talk about stress!). Plus, she was a competitive cylist. Well, with the stack she was able to ace her exams, perform great on the road AND get her ART certification, which is also very stressful and hard to accomplish (you need a 90% grade to pass)
SOLD! I have some power drive, bought specifically for hard times in the qtr. Looks like I am gonna be puttin it to use. Thanks.
Read the “Microcurrent Revolution” article at T-mag too. That could be another option if you can afford it.
L-Theanine is great to deal with stress.
reishi mushroom extract would be in this catoegory, but the amts to take remain a mystery. go with PS by prosource.
in terms of maintaining mass you need protein shakes. there is really no excuse. Eat whenever is possible and go with protein shakes the rest of the time. biotest has some good stuff, grow, and you can get your own blends from protein factory. laters pk
Never did i say i didnt eat. I still lose mass, in spite of my eating. I continue monstrous eating habits all the way through, and still end up dumping wt. it blows goats, royally.
I feel your pain. I went through the same thing you’re going through during May, when I was studying for my degree. I’d sleep for 1/2 hour each night, and I lost about 11 lbs in total and didn’t know what to do to maintain. Maintaining by constantly eating high proteins and moderate carbs would interfere with my studying since I had to get up off my ass to cook food. Then I thought ‘F**ck it’, and started eating 2-3 meals a day like a normal person. I did lose an additional 2 lbs throughout, but it meant I was able to give 100% in my studying. Your body does in return go into ‘survival mode’ and your metabolism slows down, and stops eating into your muscles. After my exams, the stress totally disappeared, and I gained not only my 11 lbs back in only 3 wks, but i added another 3 lbs the following week. My advice to you is this: Stop adding stress by worrying about maintaining. Understand what you are giving up in the quest for better grades, and go buckwild on your studies KNOWING you are giving 100% mentally, not 70% studying, and 30% worrying about maintaining. Also, your body and digestive system will appreciate the break you are giving them. Another benefit is that you will save on your grocery/supplement costs. If you did not perform as well as you thought you would, you may end up blaming yourself for spending wasted time on maintaining, but if you devote everything into your studies, you have no excuses. Regaining lost muscle is soooo much quicker than building new muscle. REMEMBER, you can always re-visit the gym, but you won’t be able to re-visit the examination hall.
does your strength drop also? Do you really see a difference in your body? How long is your finals week? Usually it was 1.5 weeks for me. allright say 2 weeks for study time. It’s good that you eat, maybe you need to just cut back on volume tremendously or do some HST training. laters pk