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Playing with things now but am starting a new log Will be running proviron eq test and hgh Im going to run staright BT labs and will be working with funny man on training. Im curretbly 204 pounds 5 ft 9 and about 10% bf Stay tuned before and after photos comming soon

What’s happening fellas! i see some familiar names around here, I followed a link I got from a friend to this place. Looks good. I haven’t got through it yet, figured an intro would be the proper start. so, I’m RigPig. As the name states I work the oilfield. Currently working in the US. I’ve been on NM, S.com and recently joined CB as well as NL. I’ve always run the same handle everywhere I’ve gone. Been on hiatus from the gym for a little while now. Haven’t run any gear for quite sometime. And that’s it in a nutshell. I’m off to explore this place now.

Well just got some gingerbread man flavor, love the stuff.

Hi Northern Lifters I love bodybuilding and all things related and have been lifting since before my teens and I'm now in my 40's. I recently started back up seriously during this last year and have been working hard. I was an active user on another popular Canadian fitness forum under the same user name (approx. 750 posts) and am still part of another popular Canadian fitness forum under this same user name as well. I'm hoping this becomes a great community and look forward to contributing positively when possible. Thank you, OD

God damn boys and girls its the real and only Talon07 back from the grave. I am offically back and going no where. I am the one that started NM with loin and numb and had to leave the board and was pushed out without any notice. Rather than cause drama i back out and enjoyed the downtime. To lift and spend my time over seas and with family. I am back and ready to go. God its great to be back. I will be starting a log soon. Working with funny man and BT Im currently 5 ft 9 204 pounds 32 inch waist and 17 inch arms at 10% bf im abit tubby atm but am running 3 to 5 k a day 3 or 4 times a week carb cycling and eating extreamly clean

Former NM member here, glad to see a new board for us lifter types !!

http://swole.mehttps://www.eatthismuch.com/Pretty cool. Probably been around awhile but just ran across this.Click “show intro” at top to see instructions

I'm joshinroud from a couple other forums. Been at lifting for 5 years now since I'm sober. Gonna be 36 this year and in the same shape I was when 20 and loving it. Great to be part of the family.

Hey everyone, DeviousD here! Sad to see that NM is no longer but I'm happy to have been told where I can come to rejoin the family! Just looking to get back to where we were, hoping to learn more and better myself and my body. I hope to be able to give any advice where I can and just enjoy the comradery of the same family but in a different place.

Congratulations on your second child coming soon. It may be a little rough at first but once everything settles down I'm sure you'll be able to still find some time - even if you have to work out at home. If not, you can go to the gym more when they are bigger. At least my oldest watches the others while I go to the gym now - finally... I hope you can get some type of Daddy (Parental) Leave or holidays from work (unless Mommy is going to of course). Good luck, OD

I'm gunna give it everything within my power....life gives us obstacles but we just have to manage them and keep pressing on. Life is gunna get a little more hectic in a few months with the second child due.... Work, training, & family are everything for me, I don't have much time for anything else.

Here from NM. Was disappointed when read Northern Muscle was done. Very happy when i got the email about this place. See familiar names and i am sure lots more will come soon.

Hey everyone good to see familiar faces I am also from NM!

Hello Punisher95 & welcome. OD

Thanks very much DeviousD - I'm sure you can do even better... Keep us posted & go for it! OD

Hey man, good to see everyone is finding their way here! I'm shooting to have a recomp as successful as yours @OntarioDude

Mutant always has the best tasting products they always hit it spot on

Hypertrophy-Specific Training An Overview and Sample Program by Bryan Haycock Recently, there's been a buzz about Bryan's new training program called Hypertrophy-Specific Training or HST. According to Bryan, most weight-training programs are based not on principles of muscle growth, but on the outdated and misapplied research of European strength researchers and coaches. In other words, most programs you see today aren't really geared toward what most of us are after: big muscles. Bryan dug into the relevant research, applied what he found to the real world, and came up with a program designed not to increase strength or improve athletic performance (although there is an overlap, of course), but to simply cause muscular growth. Several core T-mag staffers have taken a look at the program and opinions are mixed. However, we all agree that HST is damned interesting and worth trying, so we asked Bryan to come up with an introductory HST program just for T-mag readers. Check it out, and if you want, give it a fair try and let us know how it worked for you. Hypertrophy-Specific Training is a training method designed specifically to cause muscle hypertrophy (growth). Although significant increases in strength are often experienced while using HST, the program is not centered around strength gains. HST is based on principles of muscle growth that have been demonstrated in recent research. In light of current published research, it would be incorrect to say "we don't know how muscle grows in response to training." Yes, we do! The whole point of HST is to present the body of research that explains how hypertrophy occurs and the method of training that we can derive from this research. As we go over these hypertrophy principles, you'll notice that you'll already be familiar with several of them. This should come as no surprise. After all, though our understanding of muscle growth has expanded, our tools in the gym remain the same. When all that we know about how muscle cells grow is laid out on the table, a picture begins to emerge. HST, I believe, is that picture. You might be thinking all this sounds a bit presumptuous, or at least pretty cocky. Well, the principles of hypertrophy were gathered, a method was tailored accordingly, and the results speak for themselves. What's most interesting is that much of the positive HST feedback comes from people who've made serious gains even after years of training. Guys training naturally usually gain about five to eight pounds during their first HST cycle. Let's get down to the nitty gritty. HST is based on the following principles: Mechanical Load Mechanical load is necessary to induce muscle hypertrophy. This mechanism involves, but isn't limited to: calcineurin, satellite cells, growth factors, calcium, and a number of other fairly well-understood factors associated with tissue strain. So, the primary stimulus for muscle-fiber growth is the physical effects of loading the muscle (lifting and lowering a weight), not the "effort" required to lift or lower it. You may be wondering how in the world you're supposed to focus on the load and not on the effort it takes to lift it. To better understand the principle of mechanical load, keep in mind that fatigue (or exhaustion) isn't inseparably linked to the effect of load on muscle growth. Lifting a weight doesn't have to make you tired in order to make you grow; it only has to be heavy enough to strain the muscle tissue a bit. So in the gym, you needn't focus only on how tired you are to judge whether you've had an effective workout. Instead, focus on whether you're lifting more than you did the last time you trained that muscle. If you are, your workout will be effective. High Frequency Principle (Chronic stimuli to create growth "environment") In order for the loading to result in significant hypertrophy, the stimulus must be applied with sufficient frequency to create a new "environment," as opposed to seemingly random and acute assaults on the mechanical integrity of the tissue. The downside of taking a week of "recovery" every time you load a muscle is that many of the acute (immediate) responses to training, like increased protein synthesis, prostaglandins, IGF-1 levels, and mRNA levels, all return to normal in about 36 to 48 hours. So, you spend two days growing and half a week in a semi-anticatabolic state returning to normal. (Some people call this recovery.) Research shows us that recovery can take place unabated even if the same muscle is loaded again in 48 hours. So, true anabolism from loading (proper training) only lasts two days at best once the load is removed. The rest of the time you're simply balancing nitrogen retention without adding to it. With HST you're going to train the muscle every 48 hours. This training frequency is based on research that demonstrates you can train a muscle before it's fully recovered structurally and not inhibit its ability to continue to recover. HST uses this evidence and calls for repeated loading (training) every 48 hours or so to keep the anabolic activity of the muscle high, while trying to stay slightly ahead of the structural recovery curve by constantly increasing the load each workout. Staying ahead of the structural recovery curve is really key in eliciting growth in a person who's lifted for quite some time. Progressive Load The muscle is sensitive not only to the absolute load ("absolute" meaning how heavy it is, as opposed to how heavy it feels), but also to the change in load (up or down). Therefore, you can get a hypertrophic effect from increasing the load from a previous load even if the absolute load isn't maximum, assuming conditioning (resistance to exercise induced micro-damage) isn't too extensive. Over time, the tissue adapts and becomes resistant to the damaging effects of mechanical load. This adaptation (resistance to the stimulus) can happen in as little as 48 hours (known as Repeated Bout Effect or Rapid Training Effect). As this happens, hypertrophy will stop. The load must then be increased consistently and frequently for growth to continue. This means if you aren't increasing the weight you're training with every two weeks or so, you're at best only maintaining your muscle mass. Strategic Deconditioning Strategic deconditioning (taking some time off) re-sensitizes the muscle to weight loads that once were able to promote growth, but since have failed to do so. Once a muscle has grown significantly from the current weight loads, it's necessary to either increase the load (progressive load) or decrease the degree of conditioning to the load (strategic deconditioning). There's a limit to the number of times you can add more weight once your muscle adapts. You'll eventually reach your maximum voluntary strength. This is why once your muscle is as tough as shoe leather, all the work in the gym serves only to maintain what size you already have. Strategic deconditioning primes the muscle to respond once again to the training stimulus and allows growth to resume. Once growth has stalled, a period of about one to two weeks should be taken where no training is performed to let the muscle decondition and become sensitive to the effects of training again. In summary, to apply the principles of hypertrophy just explained, you're going to: � Train each body part every 48 hours, or basically three times per week. � Increase the weight each and every workout. � Decrease the reps every two weeks. � Decondition the muscle before you do it all over again. Sound pretty simple? It is, but don't let that fool you into thinking this is for beginners. HST applies the most-potent growth stimulus of any method you can use. HST Guidelines With all that out of the way, let's talk about how to set up your own HST program. Determining weights for each workout Find all your RMs (repetition maximums) for each exercise you're going to use. You'll need to know your 15 rep max, your 10 rep max, and your 5 rep max for each exercise, and you'll need to know these numbers before you start the first HST cycle. Your maxes will determine what weights you'll use throughout the entire cycle. For the second cycle, simply add 5 to 10 pounds to all lifts where necessary. (This may sound complicated, but I'll provide charts and examples later on in this article.) There's an obligatory increase in weight in increments of 5 to 20 pounds each workout from beginning to last. Your last workout of each two-week block will be your max weight. This means that at times you'll be working with less than your maximum weight for any given rep scheme. This is by design. You'll reach max poundages for a given rep range on the last workout of each two-week block. Assign your max weights to the final workout of each two-week block. Then, in 5 to 10 pound increments, assign weights in decreasing fashion starting from the last workout working backward to the first. So, for example, if your 10-rep max on a given exercise is 200 pounds, assign 200 pounds for the last workout of the 10-rep block, then assign weights that build up to your max in six workouts (two week's worth of training sessions). For our example, using five pound increments, the weights for the whole two week block of 10 reps would be 175,180,185,190,195, and 200. Do this for each exercise and for each rep scheme. Reps Repetitions will decrease every two weeks in the following order: 15 reps for two weeks, 10 reps for two weeks, 5 reps for two weeks, then continue with your 5 rep max for two weeks or begin two weeks of negatives. The decrease in reps simply accommodates the increasing load. However, the high-rep workouts serve an important purpose. Higher rep sets that really burn benefit the tendons and muscle by both increasing resistance to injury (i.e. promotes tendon healing) as well as increasing functional capacity respectively. Here's an example of what your weights might look like for your HST cycle. This particular chart is just a sample of a 10-rep block of HST. Keep in mind that your choice of exercises and maxes might be different. Click image for larger version If necessary, you can adjust any of the weights for each workout as you go, but try to stick with a constant progression in weight from workout to workout. Sometimes, due to lighter weights for high reps (e.g. lateral raises), it might be necessary not to increase the weight every workout, but instead use the same weight for two consecutive workouts. There will only be a few exercises that will be appropriate/practical to use for negatives. For those exercises that aren't practical to use for negatives (like squats, legs presses, and the like) simply continue an additional two weeks using your 5-rep max each workout for those exercises. Sets Sets will be limited to one or two work sets per exercise. There's no problem with a single work set per body part as long as the frequency is sufficiently high and the progression in weight is consistent followed by an appropriate period of strategic deconditioning. There's nothing wrong with doing more than one or two sets, it's just more taxing on the central nervous system without significantly contributing to growth. Frequency Each muscle group should be trained three times per week. This adheres to the frequency principle. A loading stimulus for hypertrophy must be frequent enough to create a consistent "environment" for the muscle to adapt to. This frequency is also based on the time course of acute anabolic effects of training (see "High Frequency Principle" above). Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are rest days. Light cardio (20 to 40 minutes) may be performed on rest days. Incline treadmill (brisk walk) should be your first choice. Adequate rest is important. Although it's fine to experience some accumulation of fatigue, adequate and regular rest is important to avoid injuries and control central fatigue. Other � Complete each workout using designated poundages, even if your muscles are slightly sore from the previous workout. It's important to know the difference between an injury and ordinary muscle soreness. Never train a muscle that's at risk of injury. Always warm up sufficiently and use correct form to avoid injury. Listen to your body. � Following each 6 to 8-week cycle, a nine day period of strategic deconditioning should be taken during which no training should be performed. � The whole workout can be split into a morning and afternoon session if you want. It can likewise be doubled, performing the same workout morning and evening. Keeping volume (number of sets and exercises) low is critical if doubling the workout. To summarize, you'll do fifteen reps per exercise the first two weeks and train the entire body three times per week. You'll only be performing one or two work sets per exercise in this full body workout. In the second two week block, you'll increase the weight and drop the reps to ten. In the next two week block you'll do the same, only this time dropping the reps to five. Finally, you perform only negatives where appropriate (continue using five reps where not appropriate) and then take nine days off for the strategic deconditioning period. During this off time, you can perform light cardio. Here's another sample program: Note: In the program above, you're alternating between squats and leg presses, hence the "0's". Again, this may all seem complicated, but if you study the charts for a few minutes, it should all become clear to you. Try it and you'll see why HST is getting so much attention!

Been using Jeff longs like a pro supps peanut butter cookie lately, really tasty stuff, very clean too

Hello DeviousD OD

hiya sir and welcome,your knowledge and contribution is definitely valued and appreciated

Basic Information on Commonly-used Solvents: Benzyl Alcohol (BA): A fairly potent solvent, whose main function for our purposes is keeping a solution bacteriostatic. It's presence as low as 0.9% is enough to prevent practically all microbial growth in solution. Benzyl Benzoate (BB): A co-solvent that serves several functions: helps dissolve the hormone, helps keep it in solution in depot (injection site), and thins the gear so it is easy to draw and inject. Ethyl Oleate (EO): A relatively new solvent in the realm of bodybuilding, EO is Oleic Acid with an ethyl ester. EO is an excellent solvent for lipophilic compounds in injectable preparations. Its oxidative stability helps extend the shelf life of compounds, and its low viscosity provides for easy injections. What causes pain? Short answer: A complex interaction between the hormone/ester, the concentration of hormone in solution, and the solvents and ratios of solvents used. BA, itself: High enough levels of BA are sufficient to cause pain, per se. What level depends on the individual. 5% - perhaps, but perhaps not; 10% - most likely. I have heard some say that BA does not cause pain at all. I cannot agree. While I haven't yet injected straight BA just to gauge the pain, I did inject straight BA with IGF-1 LR3 back in the day, albeit in very small quantities. Just a few ius had a very decent bite to it. If you don't believe me, grab a syringe, pull a little BA, and go to town. The soreness can be impressive with even just a tiny amount of BA injected. Hormone Concentration & Crashing in Depot: There is another problem with BA, though - it is very water soluble. So much so, that once gear is injected, the BA will flee the solution and dissolve into aqueous fluids inside the body. What result? Depends. Let's assume for whatever reason, BA was your only solvent. What happens, most likely, is some of the hormone crashes in the depot, crystallizing in your muscle, causing irritation and near-crippling pain. The severity will depend on the hormone/ester and concentration (which affects the total amount of hormone crashed.) This is where BB, and other, newer solvents such as EO come in. These solvents are better at holding the hormone in solution in depot, thereby preventing a crash. You can see why a high BA % would correlate with a crash in depot: if BA is being utilized as a solvent, rather than just a bacteriostatic agent, there's a chance there's not enough other solvents to hold all of the hormone once injected and the BA has leeched out. But it may not have been the BA that caused the pain at all, you see?? It was the hormone crashing, and the cause of that was a poor recipe. Here's a guideline that I don't know 100% to be true, but in my experience, it has been. BA pain (caused by irritation from BA itself) may have a somewhat quicker onset, and fade more quickly than hormone pain. If you inject straight BA, you'll feel it immediately, it will do some tissue damage, and it will be out of the system relatively quickly. In an oil solution, it will not take effect as quickly, as it's still in the oil. As it leeches out, it does some tissue damage and causes some pain. On the other hand, I've never known hormone/ester pain to onset within 24 hours, and often it lingers for 48-72 hours as the crystals continue to irritate muscle fibers as they are slowly broken down. The distinction is a fuzzy line though, and probably will not give a conclusive answer in most cases as to the cause of injection pain. Bottom line: I think we tend to blame painful gear on BA too often. I personally do think that 10% BA is definitely high enough to cause a good amount of pain on it's own, though some have sworn it's painless. Others maintain that 4-5% BA will cause injection pain on its own. Just remember how many factors are at play here, and that will help you understand why there are so many conflicting opinions and theories on injection pain and ideal solvent ratios for different compounds and concentrations. I think it would be a mistake to try to finger just one of them as the culprit.

Great to see you joined the site

That's a cool diet generator. Thanks for posing that Olympic. peace Hog

welcome MD,we did what we had to for everyone but we are back at it again and much better aswell ?

Hardgainer? Can't gain weight? READ THIS!!!

Hope you are full recovered,welcome to the board ?

Welcome Eazy,this board will definitely stay. Thanks for joining us ?

Great to have you on the new site.