chrisjs

Welcome to the forum! Some would disagree, but I consider these two slightly different things. If you're having trouble transitioning because of this, break it up. Don't order anything which cheese, ask for the cheese to be not included, etc. but don't kill yourself over the incidental butter and "cross contamination" stuff until you're more comfortable. Consider it microloading.

Welcome welcome

Also, how much are you taking? For a guy, I think you should be doing at least 6 scoops with no more than about 36 oz of water sipped throughout your workout. Try doing it that way to see if you feel any difference. I feel that it gives me extra energy and strength during my workouts even though its primary purpose is for recovery and preserving lean muscle. And just one more small observation... I think you should give it a few weeks before you decide if something is right for you or not rather than just a couple of workouts. I'm 175 lbs and taking 4 scoops, drink about 1/4 of it before and sip throughout. I have an issue with crashing blood sugar when exercising, so the juice helps a lot with that. I was hoping the xtend would help in that regard (hoped it's be better than drinking nothing, at least) but I'm going to try mixing the xtend with dextrose for a few more sessions.

I know which is exactly why I gave that little disclaimer at the end.

I've always heard that high sodium intake is only a concern if you already have hypertension. (Within reason, don't break out the salt licks quite yet.) Anyone know how valid this is?

That's a good point too. I've started eating smaller more frequent meals and won't pig out as much in the evening. I also start the day with a pretty massive smoothie.

But the package says endurance enhancer. I need to mix this with sugar.

Maybe that's where the "fat == jolly" stereotype came from.

As I said, I hope others can give you better responses. I'm only sharing what I know. I do think Rippetoe/Kilgore know what they're talking about. You should pick up their book if you decide to embark on that route. I actually just ordered their "Practical Programming" book the other day.

Have you tried playing with the makeup of your diet? I find with my body that dietary fat and simple sugars (except sugars taken when working out) cause me to gain fat pretty quickly. The way the body metabolizes seems to be different person-to-person though.

Hopefully you'll get some better responses than what I can offer. When I started out I was following Justin Palermo's routine: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/justin2.htm. I wasn't seeing massive gains but you need to start somewhere. Ultimately I think your goal should be to do that beginner stuff long enough to get everything into place then move onto a 5x5 workout. I'm currently having great success with this one: http://www.geocities.com/elitemadcow1/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm. But the 5x5 is way too aggressive for a beginner. You really need some in person to check your squat and deadlift form before you start jumping up with those weights. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

I don't like it either. Bought a single serve packet at the local health food store. Actually I thought it was single serve for $3.25 but it was actually half of a serving. It was Berry Blast, tasted like Hairy Ass. Maybe the chocolate (carob?) flavor is better.

What do you mean by beginner? Do you know how to properly squat and deadlift but can't do much weight?

Probably but xtend isn't really designed that way. It is flavored, has sucralose, and is damn sweet tasting already. I think I have some dextrose as home I'll try adding for monday. From what I remember the dextrose is fairly unsweet for the amount of carbs in it.

For definition I've been doing "needsize situps" recently. Basically you start in the up position on an incline bench, bring yourself parallel for 5 seconds, then back up. Repeat for maybe 8 reps, 2-3 sets. I do it holding a 45 lb plate over my stomach. Of course as others say, defined abs can't be seen under a layer of fat.

I've used xtend for two workouts so far and I am not impressed with the results. Before I was drinking about 20 oz of cranberry blend juice (100% juice, no hfcs) and switched to using just xtend. I find I now get pooped about 30 minutes into the workout, where with the juice I'd keep going strong for at least an hour. Conceptually it makes sense that the juice keeps my blood sugar up and therefore keeps me going. But regardless xtend says it's supposed to increase endurance and to sip during the workout. Maybe BCAAs + juice would work better than juice alone, but xtend's magic sucralose isn't working on me. I can't see myself consuming both xtend and juice. I'll still give it another workout or two before I give it up. People's bodies are different, xtend might work well for others (as claimed). But I figured it's worth me sharing my experience.

You're right that rice protein tastes like crap. Add some maca powder and you have the ultimate in ing smoothie bases. I second the pea protein in terms of taste. Soy is also pretty good, it can have a creamy taste but also tastes dusty if not mixed with something strong enough.

Try a different protein or formulation. I had problems using some GNC crap that was soy+sucralost. soy+sugar or my current pea+fruit+soymilk works much better.

The people are at *McDonalds*. The smell will probably just make them more hungry.

For what it's worth I've only been intensely training for about five months and I'm between novice and intermediate for most of those standards now. I was around untrained for some, but slightly above untrained for others. (So therefore I had a bit of a jump start.) I usually shoot for 3 rep maxes but 1 rep isn't too far off. The intermediate level is a realistic goal for most dedicated lifters, but novice isn't too shabby. So I do consider the intermediate level attainable. But don't get discouraged! This table is specifically geared towards one-rep maxes and you might just have a different workout style. You mention 10 rep maxes. I'm 178 lbs and can just barely do five 165 lbs bench presses, but if I wanted to do ten reps without rest I'd have a damn hard time doing 125 lbs (untrained level). So these standards may just not be applicable to the kind of work you do. I think it's a lot harder to adapt to doing higher weight than higher reps. In the end it's just a table, but if you seriously wanted help setting and achieving goals, this is the forum.

What do I think? I think that soy is great but tofu has a damn lot of fat in it when if you're (I'm) trying to have a very low fat diet. (As opposed to soy protein isolates or soy milks.) The soy makes you gay / have man boobs / whatever thing is bull. Its estrogens supposedly aren't the same as those that encourage feminine qualities and regardless that "problem" overlooks the estrogens in meat and dairy. Look around I think there's been discussions about that here before. What is an "antinutrient"? Sounds like something I'd read on a website with a picture of the bearded author on every page.

How weird, I was going to post today about human breast milk, wondering what it's amino profile is. Of course, the nutritional needs of infants and adult athletes may be different regardless.

Yep yep yep... my problem is the story basically concludes that being 100% vegan failed him, yet it didn't go into enough detail about trying to make it work before giving up.

I wouldn't take it too personally... it seems to me like the reporter kinda gave up about half way through the story. It started off well enough but then started jumping around. I wasn't impressed with the lack of details or inclusion of strange generalizations. For example, did he really switch from cheeseburgers to pasta with tomato sauce en mass? The article makes it sound that way, if he really did something that stupid duh he's going to lose weight. Plus it sounds like the nutritionists he worked with tried more to turn him away from veganism rather than attempting to make it work. But, as I said, the article is too light on details, too little to back up the "And first to fail" statement.

I enjoy (and hate) watching people I refer to as "squat weenies." You know the type... they hog the squat rack, load up the bar with a single big plate on each side, use the padded cover for the bar, and squat down about 3" for 12 reps or so. At least go play quarter squats on the smith machine and let me use the rack! Perhaps even better are the people who'll load 270 lbs onto the bar and proceed to deadlift with the biggest damn arch in their back, screaming or huffing the whole way. I don't know how they manage that without their discs launching out their backs. As someone with lower back problems (from before I ever started lifting) I say it just isn't fair.