Probably should be posted in the steroid section.  And I am no expert so any folks more learned the I ... please feel free to correct.  But I think you can check their product on the website.

http://www.britishdragon.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=authenticate&Itemid=52

Hope that helps.

Yeah and just think how much more fun it could be if the stupid government would make all AAS legal again like before 1990.    

Ultra nice Jag! Wish I could afford it.  ha ha ha 

I would suggest avoiding the supplements altogether.  Most of them aside from vitamins, minerals, and some good protein supplements are crap.  Key word is they are supplements and not anything to completely rely on.  Instead figure out how your body responds to cardio and different types of foods. 

For example, you said that you do cardio 3 days a week.  But are you doing cardio for 20 mins?  45 mins?  an hour?  Also what is your heart rate?  You need to keep an elevated heart rate for your age range for at least 20 mins to get any good effect.  Search the net and you will find lots of information on heart rate ranges by age, etc.  Also in general if you want more of an effect do more cardio activity.  Maybe try 4 or even up to 6 days a week.  Or if your doing 20 mins up it to 40 for your 3 days.  I hope that makes sense.

Also your calories seem pretty low.  I think you need around 1200 for women and about 1500 for men just to function.  It is also possible you are taking in too little by eating 1600 then creating a deficit further by working out.  You don't want to go into that starvation mode or your body will try to hang onto everything it can.  The only time this seems to not be true is when you are very overweight / obese.  It seems the body will do ok when in obese mode as there is way more than enough fat reserves.

Lastly look at where your calories come from.  Everyone responds a little different to various foods.  So track what you eat and weigh yourself regularly.  I hope that helps.  Good job on coming down from 260!

 

Thanks!  I am doing better now days.  I just have to be a little careful because one of the lower disks was slightly damaged.  (around L5 I think).  So I have to make adjustments to things like using a leg press instead of squats to help remove that vertical spinal compression.  So far it works ok 

Ahh he will be fine.    I take 6,000mg a day for the past 4-5 years and I'm healthier than ever.  I use that big amount because it seems to help with allergies.  It actually works better than prescription anti-histamines.  No joke!

 

No clue if there is a link to steroids and painkillers.  I would guess that there is no link and it has more to do with the persons individual preferences, personality, etc.  After all why do some people go out and drink a crap ton of alcohol and wake up with a hang over?  Beats me!  That whole idea sure doesn't sound like fun to me being sick the next day.  But that is their choice, personality, preference, and so forth.

I went to see a chiropractor after a car accident and as a result of the regular MD's response.  I had bad pain in my left hip area.  I went to the MD first and he wanted to prescribe narcotics (Vicodin I think) to ease the pain.  I felt this was a band-aid and not a cure.  Something had to cause the pain so what was that cause?  The MD didn't want to run any further tests so I went to a chiropractor.  Mostly at the urging of my wife, because I thought those guys would be weird and probably a bunch of quacks.  (knew nothing about it at the time).

After some x-rays at the chiropractor it turned my hips was jarred off center by enough (maybe 5+ cm) and my spine was tweaked enough (looked all crooked) and that made the muscles tense up.  Mostly this caused bad charlie horse type cramps because until the bones were set strait the muscles cramp up to try and compensate.  Once adjusted a nice warm sensation went down the leg and spine.  I had to repeat adjustments for a while until the muscles would relax and hold in place.  

Now days I go back every 2-3 weeks and the chiropractor keeps me lined up.  Sort of like brushing your teeth to prevent cavities.  It is more of a general health prevention to keep alignment correct.  Seems to work well so far.  

I would assume natural or not that everyone has a different threshold for pain.  So to put people into categories or boxes and say "hormone users = x and non-users =y" may not apply.  For example, I get sinus headaches that often turn into bad migraines.  I got checked out by my MD to make sure nothing was wrong.  My doctor wanted to prescribe narcotic painkillers.  I choose to say no because I know that narcotics are not good for you for several reasons that I won't bother to list.  The doc was shocked and said, "what will you do?".  I told him "the same thing before I came in for a check up."  Let it hurt, take some aspirin, use hot damp rags on my face and wait for it to go away.  But my pain threshold might be different compared to someone else.

Another example, at my chiropractors office they use electronic stimulation for people with irritated muscles.  Some folks can barely handle a low setting and others can max out the machine.  My idea is that a pain threshold is just a independent personal thing.  So the choice to alleviate that pain is probably also a personal thing relative to the threshold of the individual.  But... I dunno... I"m no doctor so it is just my silly idea.

 

 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=296jHs4im-U" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=296jHs4im-U</a>

Bill Pearl – 60’s
Roby Robinson – 70’s
Lee Labrada – 80’s
Lee Priest – 90’s
Zack Khan – more present-ish. 

 

 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgCrY8Mezd4" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgCrY8Mezd4</a>

The honorable way for a watermelon to go...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdP8CU_JRxw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdP8CU_JRxw</a>


 

Another Myth to add:

"Cardio stops or reduces muscle growth and or gains." 

I have read this in books, magazines, and in my younger days had coaches tell me this too.  I disprove this myth everyday by doing 60-90 mins of cardio with no adverse effects.     If anything I feel better and have more endurance as a result. 

 

Glad I already ate lunch.    

Hmmm....

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvzTr1VOK90" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvzTr1VOK90</a>

and think of all the preservatives, colorings, etc that is also in food.  No wonder all of us get sick with strange diseases that my great grandparents and grandparents never heard of.  Just some more info to think about.

Still looking amazing!  Nothing wrong with old school methods.  If it worked before it can work again.   

I saw your thread got viewed a bunch of times and no response so ... here goes.  Overall, it all depends on what you want to achieve.  For example, if body fat % reduction is a priority then maybe you need to incorporate some form of cardio into your work outs with a caloric restriction.  This is of course assuming you require that type of effort for fat loss as some folks can get away without it.  Or if your goal is strength gains then you may lift differently than someone just wanting to stay in shape.  See what I mean?

There is no set "this formula works best" because everyone is different.  You mentioned that you have worked out since 1992, so what worked well to help you get where you want to go?  For me I like to focus on strength more than appearance so I lift in the 4-6 rep range with heavy compound movements.  I do a three day split with day 1 pushing movements, day 2 legs, day 3 pulling movements.  I also do cardio for at least 1 hour every day plus walk 30 mins in the afternoon.  This works for me and what I want but it may not be for everyone.

Also what is your diet like?  For instance it is often stated 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.  While that is a decent general guideline it can be adjusted for your body type.  (How efficiently you can absorb nutrients, etc).  For me I actually go with around 0.7 grams of protein per pound of LEAN body weight and that works great.  More than that amount just = extra calories and then I have to increase activity. 

I hope this helps and maybe can get you to think about diet, exercises, goals, etc. 

 

At 35 I have more strength now then when I was younger.  I figure it is because I have more knowledge of how to eat better, train more effective, etc.  The only difference I have noticed is I recover slower and you gain fat easier.  For example...

In the teens I worked out 6 days a week and could bounce back just fine.  Plus eat anything and never got fat ... cardio what is that?
Age 20 - 25 lifted 5 days a week and had to eat better.  Cardio was an after thought but 20 mins or so every other day worked well.
25 - 30 lifted 4 days a week and metabolism slows down more.  Cardio needed every day for at least 40 mins.
30 - present.  Currently lift on a 3 day split and cardio for one hour every day plus 30 min walks. 

I just figure as I get older I increase activity and give more time to recover from heavy weight work outs.  So far it seems to work.  I still make gains.

 

It is all due to global warming ... 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOjfxEejS2Y" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOjfxEejS2Y</a>

ha ha ha 

If you like year round nice weather SD and surrounding area's are great.  If you can afford it.... anyplace west of I-5 near the beach is awesome!   

Hey guys, I haven't posted in 8 zillion years  but, I came across something about estrogen's in the environment from pesticides, plastics, and all sorts of stuff.  It seems like the chemicals that cause this are everywhere unless you can live in a bubble.  I did a search for this topic and didn't come up with much on getbig.

Some starter info on Xenoestrogens:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenoestrogen

This was mostly just a post with some food for thought.  Especially since I couldn't' find much on it.  I figured minimizing excess estrogen like this can not be a bad thing.

Does anyone have any good tips on avoiding this junk?  I just try to just eat organic foods (when possible), use filters on my shower and drink distilled water, etc.  I also do a good detox once in a while.

Take care,
JAM

… on the oral note, yeah I also think that some of the hype surrounding it is also a bit over the top.  Certain ones are probably not too bad.  I am thinking like Primobolan where it is not a 17a configuration, or mild like Anavar.  But I think most folks want a more immediate effect...not gaining only 4lbs of muscle or just leaning out.

I agree there are some genetic factors for sure.  One fellow I work with is off the charts and he is only in his mid 40’s.  He has 6 stints in his heart, and has had a quadruple bypass surgery.  Even with medications the doctors are baffled by how far out from the normal he is.

You are right about getting tested it is the only way to know for sure how something will affect you individually.  Everyone will react different to medications, food, hormones, vitamins, etc.  I just wonder is there any form of AAS in general that is known to reduce bad cholesterol levels? 

I haven’t found anything yet.

Hey and 1G a week… I bet you felt good.  Heh heh.   

Thanks,
JAM

Hey guys I know I have not posted in a very long time.  But I was thinking about how as a blanket statement most forms of steroids cause bad cholesterol levels to increase.  I am sure that this cannot hold true for ALL of them.  So the search began…

I did find literature indicating that when your natural test levels increase that it actually creates more of the good cholesterol levels and diminishes the bad.  I have also read that cholesterol rich foods cause your body to naturally produce more test.  Interesting how nature tries to balance stuff out.

However I also found articles indicating that even though various forms of test maybe chemically identical for unknown reasons synthetics seem to have the opposite effect.  That is they typically increase the bad levels.  I just found all this interesting…

Help me out…are there any versions that will be good for cholesterol levels?  So far in all my searching I have not found any.

P.S.  I did some searching on here and didn’t find any answers to what I am thinking of.  Found lots of posts though asking if orals are good, and crap like that.  LOL

Thanks,
JAM

Hey I finally found the "natural bodybuilding & fitness" one mentioned.  You can sign up for a subscription at :

http://www.exercisegroup.com/index.html

I have the August issue.  Good magazine!