creatine, zinc, CAL and caffiene?

[keltoids]

sup wannabe big'ns. I am a soldier currently stationed in kosovo. Whenever i have downtime i go to the gym. i try and go twice a day as long as mission permits. I take 4 supplements. creatine monohydrate capsules 3.5 mg each. Zinc magnesium aspartate, CLA (Conjugated linoleic Acid). then theres this stuff called "thermo power rush". To me it looks like its just straight up caffeine pills.

my goal is to lose fat. keep muscle. i am pretty bulky already. I take creatine after workouts to help recover. I take CAL because i read it helps you lose weight while keeping muscle. caffeine pills are to help energy levels and zinc is just something i take to help keep from getting sick, as this country is dirty as hell.

i just want to know. are these supplements ok to take together? i dont know if one will inhibit the other or be counterproductive towards my goals.

a typical workout day is i wake up. go to gym. lift 2 muscle groups for an hour then do 30-45 minutes of cardio. then come back in the afternoon and do another hour of cardio. in the mornings i'll usually run for 20 minutes and then switch to elyptical for another 20. then in the afternoon i'll do the elyptical and bicycle machine for 20 min each, just so it wont be as hard on my knees.

i eat 3 meals a day. breakfast is usually just grits and 2 links of sausage. lunch and dinner i have a meat and 2 sides of veggies. for dinner sometimes i throw in a small bowl of salad.

if i asked a dumb question, by all means...let me have it! thanks.

[Unreal]

Tons of cardio. You would be better off with more weights. Read the article on the main page "how to do cardio if you must". 3.5mg times 4 is not much creatine at all. Most people take 5g a day. Nothing wrong with the supplements. Diet sounds like it needs help but you may not have much control over that. Sounds like it is low in protein but without the details it is hard to tell.

[jdeity]

3.5mg creatine pills sound unrealistic, I presume you mean 3.5 GRAM creatine pills (which I believe GNC carries and it seems that's where your shopping is done based on the list you mentioned). You'd wanna take 1, 1.5, or 2 of those pills daily depending on your size.

The pills you mentioned are glorified caffeine pills, and the CLA is, as far as I've heard, useless/next to useless. Certainly not worth the price.

The ZMA before bedtime will help you if you had a zinc deficit, but that's unlikely in teh first place. The plus side is those mixes tend to help you fall asleep and are known for giving pretty vivid dreams. I'm gonna go on a limb and assume you mean the GNC ZMA product, and if that's hte case the last time I saw it it had more than zinc and magnesium aspartate, it also had sleep ingredients (hops and valerian if I recall).

[ADT]

sup wannabe big'ns. I am a soldier currently stationed in kosovo.

Thanks for joining.

Whenever i have downtime i go to the gym. i try and go twice a day as long as mission permits. I take 4 supplements. creatine monohydrate capsules 3.5 mg each.

Fine. No problem there.

Zinc magnesium aspartate, CLA (Conjugated linoleic Acid). then theres this stuff called "thermo power rush". To me it looks like its just straight up caffeine pills.

Follow jdeity's advice on the zinc magnesium aspartate (ZMA).

Read this thread about CLA:
http://wannabebigforums.com/showthread.php?t=102889&highlight=cla

Concerning GNC's "Thermo Power Rush" - you were very accurate in your comparison to "straight up caffeine pills". I have only tried samples in packets of three, so I cannot comment on the product's long term potential to effectively burn fat. In my experience with samples, I only felt a limited increase in body temperature and little to no energy boost - even at a full dose.

my goal is to lose fat. keep muscle. i am pretty bulky already. I take creatine after workouts to help recover. I take CAL because i read it helps you lose weight while keeping muscle. caffeine pills are to help energy levels and zinc is just something i take to help keep from getting sick, as this country is dirty as hell.

There simply isn't conclusive evidence to support that CLA has non-catabolic fat burning properties as you mentioned.

i just want to know. are these supplements ok to take together? i dont know if one will inhibit the other or be counterproductive towards my goals.

You should be fine. Follow dosing recommendations.

a typical workout day is i wake up. go to gym. lift 2 muscle groups for an hour then do 30-45 minutes of cardio. then come back in the afternoon and do another hour of cardio. in the mornings i'll usually run for 20 minutes and then switch to elyptical for another 20. then in the afternoon i'll do the elyptical and bicycle machine for 20 min each, just so it wont be as hard on my knees.

You are simply overdoing it in the cardio category. I would read over this in my spare time:
http://www.wannabebig.com/article.php?articleid=292

i eat 3 meals a day. breakfast is usually just grits and 2 links of sausage. lunch and dinner i have a meat and 2 sides of veggies. for dinner sometimes i throw in a small bowl of salad.

Go to the Diet/Nutrition section of this forum. Read the posts that are stickied at the top. You are currently not eating enough calories

if i asked a dumb question, by all means...let me have it! thanks.

This wasn't a series of questions that I would classify as "dumb."

We are glad you joined the forum.

Best,
ADT

[jdeity]

to everyone telling him his cardio's too high, are you taking into account he's currently a soldier? That's the sole reason I had not recommended a decrease in cardio, if I were a soldier gpp work would be my bread and butter lol.


ADT - what happened to that MHP rep from that other thread? I had asked around about that pea at a more chemistry heavy place (not bodybuilding related - I'm sure you can deduce one of the places it may be :) ) and really wanted to keep the discussion rolling on that one because, if it's real <word over where I asked seemed to be that pharmacological activity would be mild, if even present, w/o modification>, that would be something awesome! (and by awesome, I mean something I want to go buy boxes and boxes of before it's eventually banned, because if it does what they say with the chem structure it has, its legality is dubious at best - which further leads me to believe it's just a BS added chemical that isn't active in any real ways). <<OP sorry off topic - you haven't responded yet so I feel it's kidn of a free for all topic til ya reply :) >>

[ADT]

ADT - what happened to that MHP rep from that other thread?


He is busy - he's a trade show coordinator, in charge of regional sales and is also an online representative for the company.

I had asked around about that pea at a more chemistry heavy place (not bodybuilding related - I'm sure you can deduce one of the places it may be :) )

Hmm... I can only imagine - knowing your reputation... :clown:

and really wanted to keep the discussion rolling on that one because, if it's real <word over where I asked seemed to be that pharmacological activity would be mild, if even present, w/o modification>, that would be something awesome! (and by awesome, I mean something I want to go buy boxes and boxes of before it's eventually banned, because if it does what they say with the chem structure it has, its legality is dubious at best - which further leads me to believe it's just a BS added chemical that isn't active in any real ways). <<OP sorry off topic - you haven't responded yet so I feel it's kidn of a free for all topic til ya reply :) >>

Why would it be illegal? It has to be "substantially similar" to another illegal controlled substance chemical structure to be illegal. Care to define "substantially similar"?

ADT

[jdeity]

my reputation lol?! Hopefully that wasn't meant as a negative!

I'm no lawyer, nor am I a chemist - so I'm likely to miss something here. <<Do you know the analogue act and are just asking me why I think it's not gonna be legal, and you already know? Haha don't play with me if you already know!>>

The analogue act is a very broad catch all for drugs to beat the so-called 'designer drugs'. For instance, 2CB is a great party drug - and it's illegal. So, people made 2C-f;jae;8o me;fijd;iame and a million other things on that skeleton and now all are illegal. I believe they first enlisted the act to combat opiate analogues (when fentanyl and some of it's analogues, which were like 6,000X as potent as morphine, were being created). This generally covers anything that gets you high/has recreational value and has a structural similarity to anything currently illegal.

Again, I'm no chemist nor am I a lawyer - but I'm willing to bet that if this beta phenethylamine stuff actually is a 'feel good' chemical, it will be able to be put under the act.

If you're playing devil's advocate with me then just tell me why it'd be legal!






Also, regardless of whether it'd be made illegal under the analogue act, it will STILL be made illegal if it's fun, I promise you that. Just look at what happens to any novel compounds that come out of the woodwork and cannot get close to anything else's structure, so they get their own legislation - salvia divinorum being one coming to mind (although there are some more - some that actually work on mu-opiod receptors, that are still just under watch and not quit banned yet - given their generally inconspicuous status right now I won't mention it publicly but if you <nobody else! just ADT> pm me I'll tell you what I'm talking about if you don't already know what it is).

But yeah, if something is made, created, found, whatever - and it gives you a chemical way to get euphoria/enjoyment/visuals/etc, it is all but guaranteed that the US gov will make it illegal rather quickly, unless of course it's in our currently allowed roster of nicotine and ethanol.