A little butt hurt that they discontinued my Xtend, I really enjoyed it. Anyone here take any intra-workout supplement? Read good things about Purplewrath and intrabolic, anyone have experience with any?

SciVation Xtend is still available, maybe not the old one though.

I just got Starchem Labs Evolution X7 in a few days ago, I'll let you know when I try it today.

I can say AminoX had no effect for me at all.

Hmm, thanks Bill. I wonder how similar that is to Xtend.

For sure it tastes great, watermelon flavor tastes like a watermelon Jolly Rancher. I'll try it out again Friday but right now I feel like I didn't work out. We'll see about the AM, I took it mid work out. 1 scoop only needs 8 oz's of water, that's nice.

Gave it another trial run today. Got in a very good workout, but it being the only intra/post workout I've tried I can't really say "buy it, buy it". It does work though for me, and taste good too. I'll probably try Xtend next month and see which I like better.

put up 175 for 3 on incline today nice and smooth... felt great!

holy crap... bodybuilding.com is really awesome! I typed in tricep workouts and got taken to this massive repository of exercises with pics and videos. Found some really cool stuff... did the same for quads today.

Right now (meaning for the last week or so), I'm trying to do only one muscle group a day and I like it a lot. Now all I need is a diet plan... hahaha.

I'm strongly considering some PFT certification (AFAA or ISSA) mainly so I can learn more.

Yes that is a great site. In the nutrition forum there is a sticky that tells you how to calculate caloric needs including macronutrients needs. After reading that I realized that I was totally clueless.

Anyone here use resistance bands for their workouts? I want try and incorporate the bands with a few of my chest exercise. Any recommendations/tips?

Forgot to update but yeah Evolution X7 does help you mid work out but the next day you still feel like sore. It's not bad if you want to work out longer to take it midway. I didn't notice too much of an effect post work out. Especially on a very large muscle group like legs.

Just got in some nitric oxide boosters (Top Secret Nutrition Astravar) so I'll be giving those a shot. Hopefully all my preworkouts get a nice boost.

Bought Muscletech Neurocore as well, that 2 for 1 was a nice deal.

I have with some good gains. Primarily reverse band bench press. Allows you to use more weight and work on being explosive out of the hole.

Using them for added resistance can be good if used the right way. One of my favorites is adding bands to the iso machine bench presses and really burning out my chest. You can do drop sets with them on there or do a set with full reps then get 4-8 reps doing the top half only. I've found doing just the top portion (limited range of motion) really pumps up your chest.

As far as on benching with them I would be careful. You want to remain explosive on the lifts. If you are grinding it out with the bands on there it is no better than just having that much weight on there.

Thanks! And that's what I pretty much seen at the gym and thought it was a pretty interesting. Never heard of reverse band bench press. I'll look this up

Woke up and weighed myself this morning... 152.9!!! Yesterday it was 149.8, but still... I finally woke up and found myself over 150. That's the first time that has ever happened. I'm not delusional, though... I know I'll poop and be right back to 148... :-)

Never poop again! :-)

Won't that make me full of sh1t? :-)

Never, Dan! :-)

Brutal bsck workout today. Started with pull-ups with 30 pounds added for three sets, then 3 more sets with just bodyweight.

Then supersetted heavy wide barbell rows with heavy t-bar rows for 4 supersets.

3 supersets of wide grip pulldowns and narrow grip cable rows.

Finally 2 more sets of pull-ups for 11 and then 10 reps.

Didn't feel very energetic after a late hockey game last night and limited sleep the last two nights, but I bulled my way through and got a great workout in. Hockey again tonight, I am guessing I sleep like a baby afterwards.

I woke up that was the start of my workout....

It is now 12:55 so I only have about 7 more hours before my workout ends....

Rob :-)

The Snow Globe Workout....it's the toughest of all, Rob.:-)

Trying to take a week off from weights to let my shoulder and wrist get a little better (hurt my wrist doing reverse curls and my shoulder about a month back when I lifted a bit too much without a spot off the seated military bench). It is very difficult to stay away... did some Ab Ripper X (from the P90X thing) just to do something. That hurts.

How often should one take breaks from the gym and for what duration?

Barring injury, I usually let my herf and vacation schedules dictate my time off from the gym, Dan. Usually leaves me a couple full weeks and 3 or 4 four to five day breaks a year. Besides that, if my body is telling me to take an extra day off here and there, I do that too.