SNS X-Gels - Log time!

Supplements Supplement Logs
1

Hey everyone!

I just finished up 8 weeks of Performax MassMax and gained a nice 7.8lbs from it along with a caloric surplus, and I’m now moving on to X-Gels from SNS. I really think MassMax did me well, but I’ve been very curious about ARA supplementation.

OI000152
OI0001522048×1536 1.5 MB

My plan is:

4-day upper/lower split training (Fierce 5 Upper/Lower)
1.5g X-Gels (6 caps)
81mg baby aspirin
6g GMS (from BulkSupplements)

As of right now, I will be taking X-Gels as so (still deciding on the best plan but I think this is pretty good):

  • Wake up, 2 rice cakes, get ready for gym, drink pre-workout with added 6g GMS, take 6 X-Gels + 81mg baby aspirin about 45 minutes later before warm up, then train.

I took my first dose today, just without GMS since that will be here tomorrow. My first two doses will be without GMS unfortunately, but I’m not too concerned about that.

Day 1

I can’t say I have much to report. I will say that my pumps felt pretty intense after lat pulldowns today. I usually get a nasty bicep pump with those, but it’s deload week this week and even at a lighter weight (~50% my max) I got borderline hurtful pumps. I understand ARA needs to build up a bit before I feel its full effects, but I was kind of surprised here.

Anyway - i’m very excited to run this. I’m looking to put on some size at the moment and X-Gels seems like a good path to take. I have some “before” pictures, and will be taking “before” measurements either later today or tomorrow morning. Currently all I know is that my waist is around 33 1/8" at the moment.

2 Likes
2

What exactly are the X-Gels? I get an error when I click on them on their website

1 Like
3

arachidonic acid

3 Likes
4

XGels is Arachidonic Acid

1 Like
5

http://www.seriousnutritionsolutions.com/products/core/X-Gels.php

We are hoping the new website will be done within the next 2 weeks.

1 Like
6

2 small tweaks I’d make. The first is really not necessary, but if you have some, throw in some carnitine when you dose the Xgels. I guess it’s possible carnitine could aid the uptake of fats through the intestines as I recall. Also, it’s ergogenic on its own so it won’t hurt, especially if, like I said, you already have some laying around. The other thing would be I’d separate it from the food more. You want the ARA to drop right in your muscle tissue as much as possible, and any insulin can throw it into fat tissue, at least in theory. Oh, and on a personal note, bulk GMS doesn’t mix into stuff well. I saw a recommendation to just dump it in your mouth and chase it with your preworkout. I tried that and it worked a lot better than trying to mix it.

4 Likes
7

After posting that, I started to think that I sound highly critical. I don’t mean to be, just trying to help if I can. Best of luck! I’ll follow along for sure!

3 Likes
8

From what I understand, baby aspirin can be used in place of carnitine due to its ability to inhibit the COX1 pathway. Is it beneficial to use both carnitine AND baby aspirin?

As for the food separation - that’s a tough one. I can only train in the morning, before work, so my feeding window is tough. I really don’t think I can train without food. Limiting myself to 120 cals worth of rice cakes is about the most I can sacrifice compared to what I was eating for breakfast before X-Gels (usually 500-550 cals of carbs/fat/protein). With that said, this morning I had the rice cakes alongside my pre, then had X-Gels about an hour later before walking into the gym. That’s likely the best i’ll be able to do unfortunately. :confused:

As for the GMS - good note. I will just chase it with my pre. Not like we all haven’t taken a supplement this way before. :sweat_smile:

No worry about the criticalness… I am good at listening/taking advice and I didn’t find it harsh!

1 Like
9

Day 2

Stack: 1.5g ARA, 81mg baby aspirin (GMS is arriving today)

Today was day 2 of X-Gels, day 2 of my deload week. Today was lower body day including some squats, leg press, leg curls, leg extensions, and I threw in some deads to practice form and get a little extra in.

It’s still tough to judge what’s going on with X-Gels as I feel it’s too early to tell and it’s a deload week. I’m really excited for next week though since my lifts will be back to normal (going for 5lb upper and 10lb lower PR’s since that’s what is programmed for next week) and 4 days worth of ARA will be in my system.

1 Like
10

You are correct.

It is also suggested to take Arachidonic Acid either completely fasted or 45 minutes Pre-workout. The reason for this is that both scenarios favour the depositon of Ara into skeletal muscle which is what we want (for its effects on building muscle). Pre-workout is favoured even more as eicosanoid biosynthesis begins when a body cell is activated by mechanical trauma, or in this instance, exercise. Ara also has the ability to act as a vasodilator which further solidifies its use pre-workout. Avoid taking with food as insulin will deposit Ara in adipose tissue and the effects of the compound will be wasted.

Carnitine dose recommended: 2g of either LCLT, PLCAR, ALCAR or other forms of carnitine salt
GMS dose recommended: ~6g
Aspirin dose recommended: <81mg. Note that you use EITHER aspirin or Carnitine as they both do the same thing.

11

Thank you for confirming! I was hoping that was the case.

I’m going to attempt a fasted workout on Thursday. We’ll see how this goes… If I don’t report back, I may be in my grave LOL. I really want to ensure my X-Gels run is done most optimally and this is the last part I need to nail down.

1 Like
12

Working out fasted really isn’t as hard as you might think.

Working out HUNGRY is the bigger issue, but in my experience, you usually don’t struggle too much with hunger until you start eating for the day.

13

I’d have to double check on the details but I recall someone saying that coingestion of carnitine can increase intestinal absorption of fats. As I recall the primary benefit of the aspirin is to reduce platelet aggregation? It’s been a long time since I read up on it. Anyway, I’m a fan of carnitine, so I do know I leaned that way for my own use.

It can take some getting used to for sure. Personally, I’m not really hungry when I first wake up, so it’s never been a big issue. I follow something of an intermittent fasting type of diet partly due to the fact that I think it can have benefit, and partly due to the fact that that’s just kinda how I eat!

1 Like
14

I normally do LCLT with xgels. Have you read the The Arachidonic Acid Help Guide?

15

This is from it

Q3: How can I maximize my Ara cycle?

As explained above, Arachidonic Acid allows for the production of eicosanoids which also includes amplifying an increase thromboxane formation. The idea of inhibiting this pathway is to allow for more Ara to be converted to prostaglandins and prevent/limit platelet aggregation and vasoconstriction bought upon by thromboxane production. To counteract this, a low dose aspirin (81mg) or Carnitine salt is often suggested. The reason a low dose aspirin is used over a higher dosed aspirin is because the lower dose will not affect the CoX-2 pathway in which Arachidonic acid works but it will deactivate Cox-1 and thus reduce thromboxane formation.

It is also suggested that Ara be taken with Glycerol Monosterate (GMS) to emulsify the Ara (breakdown fat globules into smaller, more uniform particles).

It is also suggested to take Arachidonic Acid either completely fasted or 45 minutes Pre-workout. The reason for this is that both scenarios favour the depositon of Ara into skeletal muscle which is what we want (for its effects on building muscle). Pre-workout is favoured even more as eicosanoid biosynthesis begins when a body cell is activated by mechanical trauma, or in this instance, exercise. Ara also has the ability to act as a vasodilator which further solidifies its use pre-workout. Avoid taking with food as insulin will deposit Ara in adipose tissue and the effects of the compound will be wasted.

If a pre-workout meal is part of your routine; supplementing with Ara after a decent warm-up may be the next best option.

Carnitine dose recommended: 2g of either LCLT, PLCAR, ALCAR or other forms of carnitine salt
GMS dose recommended: ~6g
Aspirin dose recommended: <81mg. Note that you use EITHER aspirin or Carnitine as they both do the same thing.

A basic Ara set up stack:

1-2g Ara + 6g GMS or 15g Soy Lecithin granules + 2g Carnitine salt or <81mg Aspirin is a great starting point.

Where to get Arachidonic Acid:

Ara is found standalone in the supplement “X gels”

References: (in no particular order)

  1. Contribution of meat fat to dietary arachidonic acid. [Lipids. 1998] - PubMed - NCBI
  2. Comprehensive evaluation of fatty acids in f… [J Am Diet Assoc. 1976] - PubMed - NCBI
  3. Arachidonic acid - Scientific Review on Usage, Dosage, Side Effects | Examine.com
  4. Eicosanoid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  5. http://eurheartjsupp.oxfordjournals…D/D42.full.pdf
  6. Mr.Cooper69 ( used as a base for how Ara works and what to use with it)
  7. IronFist / neuron (the 'god father’of the new dosing strategies - all the dosing, science and other bits of info can be traced back to neuron)
    8.http://ajpcell.physiology.org/content/271/6/C1781.short
16

Thanks for posting that, like I said it’s been a while since I read up on it. I’ll have to double check on carnitine increasing intestinal absorption of fats, forget where I read that, but I thought neuron had mentioned it in one of his old threads in which he describes the protocol.

17

Day 3

HUGE shoutout to @SNS for hooking me up with a 2nd bottle of X-Gels for this log. This was 100% out of their own generosity. Ballin’ on a budget as a recent college grad, working a cheap paying job at a small company in a broke city is not easy, so such generosity is appreciated beyond belief. Thank you very much guys!!

Added a picture of the stack to the first post because pictures make threads nicer. :slight_smile:

Stack: 1.5g ARA, 81mg baby aspirin, 6g GMS

Today was day 3 of X-Gels, day 3 of my deload week, my first fasted workout test, and my first day dosing 6g GMS with X-Gels. Needless to say, this was a very different approach for me this morning. Normally I’m slamming down a good amount of food pre-workout, a full serving of Re1gn, and off I go. This morning I didn’t eat (was a little hungry), didn’t have caffeine (used Carbon Prep, stim free pre), and used straight GMS for the first time. I’m mostly just taking a break from Re1gn while deloading this week, but lack of stims pre-workout kinda sucks.

Before I get into the better part of this day’s review, let me just say - downing GMS was VERY weird. I chased it with my pre-workout drink and the stuff was clumping in my throat before I even swallowed one mouthful of pre. Otherwise it was tasteless as far as I could tell.

As for my workout, training fasted wasn’t so bad. I think next week once I’m back to my usual schedule, Re1gn will make my body forget that I’m fasted lol.

Today was upper body day consisting of standing overhead press, pendlay rows, and some isolation work. Something very interesting happened by the time I was done with my 4th/final set of overhead press… my triceps were in pain. Not a bad pain, but a pump-like, sore type of pain… hard to describe. I have a feeling this may have been some ARA action taking place because I’ve never felt this before and I didn’t tweak anything because they feel fine now, a few hours later, and they didn’t limit the rest of my workout in any way. I was actually pretty excited by this being that the weight was fairly light (about 55% of my 1RM, 75% of my 3x6) yet this new feeling still came to me. My triceps hardly ever get any sort of pump as they’re one of my weakest parts unfortunately, so this was very cool.

Otherwise, not a whole lot else to report. I’m feeling kind of sick like a head cold is trying to get me, and being on a deload week is keeping my intensity down a bit. Next week I should have lots of great things to report I’d imagine. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
18

regarding taking the ARA Fasted, does this mean that intra-workout supplementation - carbs, protein, etc - would also blunt the effects of ARA getting to the muscle in the same way that taking it on a full stomach would?

1 Like
19

That is a great question. I typically have been using Olympus Labs Endur3 as my intra, containing electrolytes, VitaCherry Sport, Velositol and BCAA’s. I ran out of that so I’ve been using another BCAA containing SerinAid, Coconut Water Powder + BCAA’s in the meantime until I get more Endur3. Technically I think BCAA’s break a fast, but I’m not sure they’d blunt ARA like food would.

20

Yep

They cause an insulin response so they likely would, to a degree

If I had to guess, yes but to a lesser degree then if you took it with the ARA.

1 Like