Energy Shots (catabolic hormone releasing products)

These are the products that you see right on the counter of the qwikie marts and wawa's and 7 eleven's. Sold in like a 3 oz little bottle. These are nothing more than caffeine drinks with each one containing different dosages and different nutracueticals to make one stand out from the rest. They all suck if you are looking to build muscle and lose bodyfat. Nothing good comes from caffeine. Its a catabolic supplement. Using caffeine will force the body to release cortisol which eats away muscle mass and helps you store fat. I would not use these products.

Funny because I see some supplement company's that sell their so -called muscle building products sell these products. Thus it just puts them in the category of "sell anything to make a fast buck".



I found a study that shows how caffeine increase cortisol

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum

Alex,

What about all of the Fat Burning supps that use caffeine? I personally don't do caffeine but am wondering why it's used in so many supps?

with the supplement industry its all about the marketing of course. So caffeine is a highly used supplement in everything from protein bars, to N.O. supplements. Supplement company's have the philosophy if customers "feel" the supplement working than the customer thinks the supplement "works". The great supplement guru dan duchaine used this formula when he made the first ever preworkout drink Ultimate Orange. What he did was combine high gi carbs with hydrolyzed protein....plus then he added caffeine or maybe even ephedra. Theres no doubt that caffeine will increase your performance. Its been proven in research. It will make you run faster and lift more weight. But in the long run its like taking 1 step forward and than 2 steps back...because eventually the caffeine will release catabolic hormones and your body will start to become adjusted to the caffeine. But to answer your question, theres no weight loss supplement that works significantly. they are all very, very weak products. Meaning this.....take for example CLA. you can find 1 billion legit research studies that say it helps you lose weight. But the weight loss is so little and the duration you need to be on the supplement so long, (like 12 weeks) the laymans result is that it doesnt work. Other nutraceuticals like Advantra Z, citrimax, forslean, are all research proven fat loss products but they are just waaaaaaay to weak. so the supplement company's know this so they add the caffeine to give you the feeling that the supplement is "working". Pretty dumb, but what are you going to do. the best weight loss supplements is protein, (yea im biased) but think about it. It fills you up. doesnt spike your insulin, is anti-catabolic, builds mucle, which help you burn more fat, and when combined with carbs and other foods, help those foods get used up as energy. So when trying to get ripped, just increase your protein and you'll get leaner. Its simply really MORE PROTEIN = MORE MUSCLE= LESS FAT... Your a girl so take this into consideration. Have you ever seen a too muscular lady in your gym (that wasnt using steroids of course)? I personally work out at one of those fofo, franchise gyms, with all the soccer moms and cardio queens, none of them has what I call decent muscle mass. They all just work the cardio machines and get even more saggier looking. If they all just switched to a high protein diet and picked up the free weights with some intensity they would see results.

Alex you said it perfectly. With most women I train even those you want to compete you need to convince them to cut down of the Cardio and eat Protein every three hours which goes against everything they have learned in the past . The ones that do see great results.

Nevermind the fact that increased muscle mass increases your BMR where the potential catabolic effects of cardio can decrease it. There are two types of people who are lean on 4000+ calorie a day diets, body builders who workout one hour a day and endurance athletes who workout 2-3 hours per day at a much higher heart rate.......enough said. And chances are that the body builder will eat that every day instead only when he works out simply because that is what his body is burning through. The endurance athlete will only eat that on training days. It's very hard to eat 4000 calories one day and 2500 the next, consequently it is much easier to stay lean with a higher muscle mass (i know from experience), and it is much more comfortable.

Originally Posted by AlexRogers

with the supplement industry its all about the marketing of course. So caffeine is a highly used supplement in everything from protein bars, to N.O. supplements. Supplement company's have the philosophy if customers "feel" the supplement working than the customer thinks the supplement "works". The great supplement guru dan duchaine used this formula when he made the first ever preworkout drink Ultimate Orange. What he did was combine high gi carbs with hydrolyzed protein....plus then he added caffeine or maybe even ephedra. Theres no doubt that caffeine will increase your performance. Its been proven in research. It will make you run faster and lift more weight. But in the long run its like taking 1 step forward and than 2 steps back...because eventually the caffeine will release catabolic hormones and your body will start to become adjusted to the caffeine. But to answer your question, theres no weight loss supplement that works significantly. they are all very, very weak products. Meaning this.....take for example CLA. you can find 1 billion legit research studies that say it helps you lose weight. But the weight loss is so little and the duration you need to be on the supplement so long, (like 12 weeks) the laymans result is that it doesnt work. Other nutraceuticals like Advantra Z, citrimax, forslean, are all research proven fat loss products but they are just waaaaaaay to weak. so the supplement company's know this so they add the caffeine to give you the feeling that the supplement is "working". Pretty dumb, but what are you going to do. the best weight loss supplements is protein, (yea im biased) but think about it. It fills you up. doesnt spike your insulin, is anti-catabolic, builds mucle, which help you burn more fat, and when combined with carbs and other foods, help those foods get used up as energy. So when trying to get ripped, just increase your protein and you'll get leaner. Its simply really MORE PROTEIN = MORE MUSCLE= LESS FAT... Your a girl so take this into consideration. Have you ever seen a too muscular lady in your gym (that wasnt using steroids of course)? I personally work out at one of those fofo, franchise gyms, with all the soccer moms and cardio queens, none of them has what I call decent muscle mass. They all just work the cardio machines and get even more saggier looking. If they all just switched to a high protein diet and picked up the free weights with some intensity they would see results.

You are right again! Right now my ratio is 50% Pro, 30% Carb, and 20% Fat...I see better results with higher protein and lifting weights. If I do more cardio than weights, it almost feels like I gain weight I go to 24 HR at the crack, I have seen only one older lady who looks like she might have been a builder, but still looks good.

I just got my lean whey this week, so I'm excited to see how it works for me!