CREATE YOUR OWN SUPPLEMENT

Gym-created products are the best at fitting the gym's needs. Any time you have a dedicated staff that is in your facility working out as much as they are there to work, you have the opportunity to develop a giant think tank.

Of course a huge topic in all meathead circles is supplements... when to take it, what to take, how much to take, etc. Obviously you should not be soley dependent on supplement powders and pills, food comes first. Supplements are supposed to be just that, a "supplement" to your diet of nutritious whole foods.

However, liquid protein shakes for peri- or post-workout nutrition are a nice additive if you are not able to get to solid food within a two hour window after training. Other supplements are easier taken in powder/pill form, like creatine, because in order to get enough creatine daily you would have to eat a lot of fish and/or red meat. For some people, that just isn't in the budget. Others supplements are great energy boosters prior to a training session, like caffeine. Some staples for me are glutamine, creatine, protein, and caffeine. Of course BCAAs are a plus that's why I choose a protein that has them mixed in with it.

Luke Beggs is a PhD student in applied physiology at the University of Florida and I had the pleasure of having him as a graduate assistant for the last year and a half at the University of Kentucky. He threw out the idea of just making our own pre-workout supplement... and then the rest of us started salivating on the possibility.

Luke started looking into buying the no frills version on the staples we wanted to include in our first Underground Labs Inc. concoction. There was five of us that jumped on board to fund this product. Here is what we came up with for the ingredient list:

We ended up having to add some more sugar free flavoring to it since the flavor wasn't the best... BUT it has given all of us a ridiculous pump when working out. Luke was also able to modify how many milligrams of caffeine each of us wanted, due to tolerance levels. I wanted 200 mgs of caffeine in mine.

I ended up naming it INCREDIBLE HULK for obvious visual reasons, but also named for how disturbedly hyped I was during my workouts on it.

Have you ever thought of creating your own supplement? If so, what would you need in yours?

The Arnold Classic 2009

I finally can say I have attended the Arnold Classic... I paid pennies to get into a fitness expo from 9am-6pm with a short supplement intoxication break in the middle to eat something not in a protein package.
This shows my intensity from 530am on when some buddies and I left Lexington to go to Columbus...

Tons of freaks of nature, both male and female just walking around. In their heads I know they were thinking the same thing I was... just a constant yelling of a one rep max oging through my brain.

Freak

One of the biggest backs there

The Arnold himself... taken with my terrible camera

Jay cutler

Any place that huge guys pick up women, literally, for fun is heaven

MR large arms

I don't know if this is my favorite picture or the one below... I took a shot with her right after some guy flexed next to her AND actually thought he was bigger than her.... what an ass

Animal pak had a cage in the middle of the convention center where they were lifting heavy weight and I just wanted to be a freak on display... I am about to send them my resume with my max out numbers and ask them what I need to do to be big enough to be in the cage

I was able to get some supplements, see plenty of freaks of nature, decide on probably never missing the arnold ever again, and take home some autographs and other free stuff shown below... well worth the $10 to be there for 9 hours

Lastly, what would the Arnold experience be without a girl painted like a cheetah

The Mecca of Meatheads

Recently several fellow push big weight enthusiast friends of mine made arrangements to go to the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio. For those of you unfamiliar with The Classic listen to my incredible description of it below or check out the following website http://arnoldsportsfestival.com/

This is a three day body building, marathon thinking-absent weekend of tons of muscle piled upon the 700 fitness, health, "here try this supplement" booths that also has featured freaks of nature, figure competitions, strong man events, weight lifting, and just an overall supplement explosion

IF you had to read that paragraph multiple times just realize that it is pretty much the closest thing to heaven besides the real thing.

I had heard about this event during undergrad from a bunch of buddies from Ohio. Knowing my unnatural intensity level and ridiculous fascination with muscle, it blew their minds that I had never been. Here I sit three days from going to the event and I don't think I am going to sleep until the weekend is over.

Plan on seeing my picture with every ripped piece of human tagged on here after this weekend.

On a side note I take half of my exit exams next week... and the weekend before I am going to experience the Arnold Sports festival.... I have my priorities straight. I have been in the books, still in the gym, and now I have the opportunity to yell for no reason around of bunch of meatheads

I think I might just stay