Supplement adaptation and cycling

Joe Hart · 09-02-2008, 12:24 PM

How long would you have to be off a supplement to ensure you are not adapted to it? 1 week two. I am going on the assumption that your body can adapt to a supplement and you will not see the benefits then.

Steven Low · 09-02-2008, 06:17 PM

Look up some creatine cycling articles off google. That should give you a rough estimate.

Allen Yeh · 09-03-2008, 05:43 AM

What supplements are your referencing?

Joe Hart · 09-03-2008, 06:24 AM

zyflamend, gingseng. Nothing more performance enhancing than that. I saw GE's comment about caffine and that got me to thinking. Also the parts in that Russian Training and Recovery book that Coach Rut mentioned.

Kelly Frankson · 09-03-2008, 06:34 AM

What is the Russian Training and Recovery book called?

Joe Hart · 09-03-2008, 01:55 PM

That would be this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Soviet-Trainin...5105012&sr=1-1

It is pretty interesting.

Arden Cogar Jr. · 09-03-2008, 02:56 PM

In my experience, and with my skeletons in my closet, I've found that equal time on/off a PE supplement works best to avoid the adaptation that you describe.

To date, the only supps I do this with on my current regimen is creatine.

The remaining supplements I use (dha/fish oil, cla, carintine, whey protein, glutamine) are "life changes" that I incorporate into my daily routine. In otherwords, my potentially misinformed belief is that such supps are for overall general health and not PE. If that makes any sense?

As I've aged, and my goals have changed, PE is less important. Getting fitter and leaner day by day. Slowly and surely.

All the best,
Arden

Joe Hart · 09-03-2008, 07:48 PM

Arden-

do you cycle the supps that you do take? Would there be benefit to it? I take at multi vitamin daily. I also take Chondritin/glucosmin(sp?) and zyflamend for my joints. I wonder if taking one and not the other and then vice versa would be beneficial? Read an article about creatine that recommends 4weeks on and 4weeks off. Wonder if that would work for others?

Tony Ferous · 09-03-2008, 08:14 PM

I have taken ZMA for about 3 months now, i think i need the additional mag and zinc, but wonder if getting it from a different source might be beneficial, ie take mag citrate and zinc citrate/picolinate for a month, vs the mag/zinc aspartate.
Anyu ideas? theres always the black box...

Allen Yeh · 09-04-2008, 02:07 AM

ZMA was one of the first thing that popped into my head when I first opened this thread and was curious as to what Joe had meant. I'd say try different brands and see where it takes you. Although if you like a brand there is something to be said about staying with quality and not changing things for changes sake. ZMA is what I would consider one of the things Arden listed as "life changes." Another reason not to change is you might find you react differently to different types. I know the first brand I took (in my recent ZMA experiment) was an arginate and I did not like it and didn't like the way it made me feel. I've since tried the Biotest and the NOW foods brand and liked both which are monomethionine and aspartate. The only reason I went from Biotest to the NOW foods was that Biotest went up in price slightly.

Joe,

I can't see the benefit of cycling off chondroitin and glucosamine, with those supplements in particular it takes a bit of time before becoming effective, I use to remember they said 4-6 weeks? I could be way off but that is what I recall. Never heard of Zyflamend.

Things I would personally consider cycling:
Caffeine
Creatine

Things I wouldn't consider cycling:
fish oil - dha/epa stuff
zma
whey protein