PumptheIron – Body Building Blog

This article pertains to ingredients found in natural test boosting supplements.

In a previous post, I discussed the topic of: Profile Of Common Ingredients Found In Natural Test Boosting Supplements.

What needs to be examined now, is what ingredients are backed by research. Often times, manufacturers will make up fancy names for ingredients that are of little worth and include them in the advertised supplement. Because we don’t know what some ingredients are or the proven research behind the ingredients used in the supplement, we assume that the supplement will contain only ingredients that are proven to increase testosterone production in the body.

Fact is, supplements are just too expensive for consumers to be making uneducated purchases on products that may or may not deliver the intended results. With natural testosterone boosting supplements, this is an ongoing issue. 

So the best option is to educate yourself on the ingredients that are in natural test boosting supplements by reviewing known research and data, and to learn what to look for in a product.

The following ingredients have been grouped together in categories consisting of whether or not they are:

1. Supported by research

2. Supported by some research

3. Or that there is no documented research supporting the ingredient’s effect on testosterone at all.

Which brings us to the most popular natural test boosting ingredient sold on the market, Tribulus Terrestris.

While Tribulus Terrestris falls into a category with little official research, I do believe that this is an ingredient with merit, when consumed properly. Therefore, I have chosen to leave Tribulus out of all the categories and write about it independently with information coming from my first hand usage and knowledge of the product.

• Tribulus Terrestris

Having taken several Tribulus products personally, I can say that Tribulus definitely does something. However, there are two critical factors that must be taken into account for a Tribulus product to be effective in any manner.

That being:

1. Purity

Tribulus comes in varying degrees of product purity. Examining the steroidial saponins percentage of purity will indicate how pure the product is. I have seen products as low as 20% purity and high of 80% with the most common purity level being 40-45% purity in the majority of Tribulus products.

2. Dosage

As stated in the studies, Tribulus administered in the low doses (under 1 gram) that are seen in the serving amount of many products, is just ineffective. Of course, product purity will also factor into what constitutes and effective dose. Based off of personal experience, I would recommend an average of 3-5 grams per serving, being an effective dose. Anything oral, including anabolic androgenic steroids, must be taken several times throughout the day as well. So when taking Tribulus, I have found that consuming the product  approximately every 4 hours seems to work well. Now what one must consider when supplementing with Tribulus, is product cost efficiency. Since rather large doses are needed regularly throughout the day, this could prove to be an expensive supplement.

Regardless of cost, I believe that Tribulus is a good product that has the ability to provide users with some positive results. However, I would definitely not compare these results to those associated with AAS use. For the natural bodybuilder, Tribulus is a good addition to the supplement arsenal, providing a slight but noticeable increase in aggression, sex drive, and mental state. My summation is that Tribulus, when taken appropriately, does result in a slight increase in the body’s natural production of testosterone; which may help provide the natural bodybuilder with the ability to achieve higher intensity in his workouts, resulting in more gains.

HERE IS A LIST OF INGREDIENTS WITH NO DOCUMENTED PROVEN CLINICAL OR EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS:

• Avena Sativa
• Maca Root
• Flavanoids
• Chrysin, Apigenin, and Hydroxflavones
• Ipriflavone and Methoxyisoflavone
  
• Muira Puama, Catuba Bark, Prickly Pear, Dear Antler, Fenugreek, Forskolin, Passion Flower, Schisandra Chinesis, Horny Goat Weed / Epimedium, Pygeum Bark

HERE IS A LIST OF INGREDIENTS WITH WEAK OR CONFLICTING EVIDENCE OF INCREASING TESTOSTERONE IN THE BODY:

• Acetyl L Carnitine
• D-Aspartate
• Cordyceps Sinesis

 INGREDIENTS THAT HAVE SHOWN POSITIVE RESULTS AS ORAL SUPPLEMENTS IN HUMANS: 

What Ingredients Actually Increase Natural Testosterone Production

• ZMA   
  
• Eurycoma Longfolia (Longjack) / Tongkat Ali

Sub Category: Split Sex-Hormone Binding Globulin and Testosterone

• Urtica dioica (Stinging Nettle)

Sub Category: Aromatase Blockers

• Grape Seed Extract
• Androstenetrione
• Methylated Flavanoids: 7-hydroxflavone and 7,4-dihydroxyflavone (7-methoxyflavone and 7-4dimethoxyflavone)

Sub Category: Estrogen Receptor Blockers

• Resveratrol
• Indole-3-Carbinol and di-indoly l-methane
  
• Methanol Extracts of Red Clover, Chasteberry, and Hops
  
• Calcium Glucarate

Sub Category: Reduce Conversion to DHT

• Saw Palmetto   
• Stinging Nettle

Increasing IGF-1

• Creatine Monohydrate
  
• Acetyl-L-Carnitine
• Colostrum

 Information pertaining to supplement ingredients referenced form MUSCLE FORCE Fitness Research (TM) 

The next time you decide to place an online supplement order, you may want to consider doing it through BodyBuilding.com for many reasons, but a widely unknown secret perk associated with ordering from this company is the inclusion of Free Samples into the order. This is a great way to try supplements without having to commit to a full product purchase. The selection of Free Samples offered is very impressive, as it includes many top brands.

BodyBuilding.com’s

Free Sample Page

1. Shipping: BodyBuilding.com has very fast shipping for low prices. For rates click here, but prices usually average from $5.99-$9.99
2. Price Matching: BodyBuilding.com will also price match your order, should you find it cheaper anywhere else. It is important to note that shipping rates must also be part of the price matched order. Also, you have to price match all items being orderd, and not just certain items in the order; so put your order together wisely.
3. Free Gifts: Spend $75.00 or more on your order (which is all to easy to do) and pick a free gift to add to your order. Gifts range from protein shakers to t-shirts and gym bags.To view the entire list of free gifts, click here.
4. Free Samples: The often overlooked perk to ordering from BodyBuilding.com is the addition of Free Product Samples. Simply put together your order, then add any free samples that wish to be included in your order. The trick is finding the free samples, so I have done the work for you! Simply click the following link and you will be guided to the free sample listing. Enjoy!

William Llewellyn’s ANABOLICS has been the most trusted anabolic steroid information resource for more than a decade. Considered the definitive reference manual on physique- and performance-enhancing drugs, this book includes an extensive review of the history, availability, clinical application, and practical use of anabolic/androgenic steroids, human growth hormone, insulin, anti-estrogens, diuretics, reductase inhibitors, thyroid hormones, stimulants, and a variety of other performance medications. The latest (9th) edition has been fully updated since the 2007 edition.

Remember the $20 million dollar, highly anticipated, Mitchell Report and all the testimonies in front of Congress on the illegal use of steroids and other performance enhancing substances by players in major league baseball? Well, Congress seemed to like Anabolics 2007 enough to site it repeatedly in the Mitchell Report, which was essentially a Major League Baseball witch hunt, but discredited the author, William Llewellyn, by unfairly and inaccurately identifying him as an advocate of illicit steroid use by professional athletes.

According to the report there is no such thing as a steroid user – only abusers – and apparently this categorization applies even to those who write about steroid use in sports.

Anabolics 2007 is cited four times by the Mitchell Report in this context.

Molecular Nutrition is offering an online ordering price of $59.00 -which is discounted from its retail price of $79.99

BodyBuilding.com is posting an article series titled, 5 Days of Dorian which will provide readers with depth interviews and training Q&A straight from The Shadow himself, 6 time MR OLYMPIA – Dorian Yates.

Here are some note worthy excerpts from the series:

The PUMP is just extra blood flow to the muscle. Just because you pump it, it doesn’t mean you are going to create any growth. I can increase blood flow to the area with a 20-pound dumbbell but it’s not going to make me grow

I always trained like that (High Intensity with its emphasis on few sets and maximal effort) so there wasn’t a huge difference. I just cut back a little bit from ’92 onwards. Generally, before that I was doing two sets to failure. A lot of people get confused because it has been put out in the magazines that Dorian does one-set training. I never did one set per exercise: what I did was one set to failure.

I did the warm up sets before that and how many I did would depend on the exercise and where it was in the routine. The idea was to warm up and prepare that muscle for the maximum set because that was the one that counted, where you are overloading it and you are putting stress on your body that it is not used to and it is going to react by growing slightly bigger and stronger: that’s the idea. Prior to ’92 I was doing two sets to failure, so I would do maybe a couple of warm-up sets and then one set to failure, then probably drop down the weight probably five to ten percent for the next set to failure. Obviously, if I’ve been to failure with 100 pounds and I have six to eight reps, then if I did 100 pounds on the next set I wouldn’t get those six to eight reps because of the fatigue, so I would have had to drop down.

But actually you can do more training and more volume as a beginner because you are not generating that much intensity. Let’s say that you are just starting bodybuilding and you do three sets of squats to failure with 100-pounds. That’s going to place a certain degree of stress on your body.

Moving forward, you have been training for six years and you are doing 400-pound squats. That is four times the weight and a lot more stress on the body, but your nervous and immune systems, your recovery systems, haven’t changed from day one. So as you get bigger and stronger and more advanced you are able to generate a lot more intensity and stress, but the ability of your body to recover from it – unless you bring anabolic steroids into the equation – hasn’t changed.

So one set of squats with 400-pounds is probably more stressful then three with 100-pounds. Therefore as you get more advanced you should be doing less volume, provided the intensity is high.

I would always pre-exhaust before I got onto the compound exercises, but I did leg press, and hack squatting, or squatting on a Smith machine instead of going to squats. And I found I got much better development from these exercises than from just heavy squatting. It depends a lot on your structure, but it (the squat) didn’t suit me. So hack squats, leg presses and pre-exhaustion with leg extensions.
For calves I did standing calves raises and seated calve raises, very heavy with full range of motion, controlled.

[ Q ] Clearly nutrition and training are the most important bodybuilding aspects one needs to consider. If a young bodybuilding aspirant asked you whether he should add steroids to this mix, what would you say?

I would say no because at the beginning you are going to grow anyway, as you have a lot of potential there. The body is not used to exercise. You need to learn what effects your diet has on your body and how to train properly. You won’t learn these things as well if you are taking something that will do the job for you.

And if you are overtraining it will mask this. So you are going to get some results anyway and you need to learn how to train and eat properly and get the most from these things. And you will grow anyway over the first couple of years.

Actually, it also seems that steroids work better on someone who has been training over a longer period, maybe because they are able to generate more intensity.

It gets to a point where it’s hard to recover, so for a beginner I definitely wouldn’t recommend them. I don’t recommend them to anyone but for someone who is just starting it would be especially detrimental. It wouldn’t be doing them any favors.