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I have recently bought a box of Dextrose, which i've been mixing with water, and salt (very small amount) to help especially on days that are scorching, it does have a noticable effect - being faster recovery times, a little more juice left in the can and it helps to keep your energy levels up after you've done whatever exercise you were doing.

Its very cheap, and you only need to put 10-15g in a pint bottle of warm water with a pinch of salt to feel the difference, and i guarantee you will.

I've been wanting to try the protein supplements to help build muscle bulk for my upper body, but i was advised against it, as said above, the side effects can be rather unwanted... and in my personal opinion, not worth the risk.

All in the right places luckily haha
Arms, chest, back and abs are the most noticeable.

I've been using creatine called Creatamax 300 from Maximuscle and I didn't use a loading dose as it says on the tin to use half the doseage and no loading dose to see improvements in endurance.

And no side effects so far apart from a boosted ego with the shirt off in front of the ladies :

Mike The Sceptic wrote:All in the right places luckily haha
Arms, chest, back and abs are the most noticeable.

I've been using creatine called Creatamax 300 from Maximuscle and I didn't use a loading dose as it says on the tin to use half the doseage and no loading dose to see improvements in endurance.

And no side effects so far apart from a boosted ego with the shirt off in front of the ladies :

Good lad

I have been working hard on the pull ups, bench presses and flys... the women think I am a fit rugby player not a fat one anymore LOL

mfat_man wrote:Sarastro

Point taken about this, but when I was doing some sprint triathlons (Really you should all be considering tri's for fitness ) I was using a basic energy drink and it certainly helped with recovery afterwards - it's maybe not the perfect solution but it was certainly helpful.

I've been doing triathlon training all summer mfat I agree it has serious benefits general fitness wise, but at the same time it's not so helpful if you need to improve one area specifically as I have (running), as you simply don't have anything left in the tank.

As for sports drinks, I did a usual tri bit (1.5 mile run, 50m swimming sprints, 20 mile cycle best time) this afternoon to see how the heat affected my performance. Took me 20 minutes longer (ie about 33%) than usual on the cycling, found it very, very hard to push myself where I normally can, severe lack of energy. Was somewhat surprised at how much it affected me, as it's only 4-5 degrees more than what I've been used to so far this summer (christ knows how those guys in Iraq do it at 50 degrees, wearing combats, kit and body armor). This, of course, was just taking on water, so perhaps sugar-laced drinks would have helped.

Having said that, 30 minutes later I managed to cycle up and down hills for 6 miles to the pub, then back again when pissed without much problem, and I'm not dead yet...so perhaps that's the benefit you get from not relying on replacing vital sugars, salts, ketchups and so on.

**** WARNING: This post contains humour. It may be bad for your health if taken seriously or while pregnant ****

digitalfreefall wrote:I think Powerade is the best for training, Lucozade for me is just too thick, leaves my mouth sticky and actually makes me more thirsty.
You can always just make your own with water, sugar, salt and diluting juice.

Yes, i think your quite right there, if any1 recalls the blue peter episodes earlier this year, and in particular the 30 miler, i noticed one of the recruits was drinking orange powerade and were eating bananas! so sarastro your beliefs of just boiled sweets and chocolate are not 100% true.

digitalfreefall wrote:I think Powerade is the best for training, Lucozade for me is just too thick, leaves my mouth sticky and actually makes me more thirsty.
You can always just make your own with water, sugar, salt and diluting juice.

Yes, i think your quite right there, if any1 recalls the blue peter episodes earlier this year, and in particular the 30 miler, i noticed one of the recruits was drinking orange powerade and were eating bananas! so sarastro your beliefs of just boiled sweets and chocolate are not 100% true.

The only time i switched to BBC at that time and Blue Peter was on, and some BBC accented bloke was training with the RM and he passed out at 6 miles. did he do any of the tarzen course or complete the 30 miler in the end

the_trainee wrote:i noticed one of the recruits was drinking orange powerade and were eating bananas! so sarastro your beliefs of just boiled sweets and chocolate are not 100% true.

I was talking about issued stuff mate

Bitty wrote:The only time i switched to BBC at that time and Blue Peter was on, and some BBC accented bloke was training with the RM and he passed out at 6 miles. did he do any of the tarzen course or complete the 30 miler in the end

That was his little taster session you saw, and he didn't pass out. The guy (Gethin Jones) did complete the 30 miler in the end but just outside of the 8 hours. Still pretty amazing.

I've been wanting to try the protein supplements to help build muscle bulk for my upper body, but i was advised against it, as said above, the side effects can be rather unwanted... and in my personal opinion, not worth the risk.

Hughser, what side effects do you mean from protein supplements?? i think you mean creatine???? protein will help the recovery process but not sure about side effects. The only side effects are from the possible carcinogenic effects of the artificial sweetners in there aspartame, aculsfame etc etc. As it is believed they have cancerous propertys, but if this is true then everyone will get cancer because there everywhere you look! As for the home made sports drink how much orange juice do you put in? and do you have to have warm water

Darren

Maybe the drinks are also for the mental side aswell. I have heard some tablets in hospitals do very little good to the patiant but because he has taken it, he believes it will do him good and so he get better a little fast so I'm told.

Nutty wrote:Maybe the drinks are also for the mental side aswell. I have heard some tablets in hospitals do very little good to the patiant but because he has taken it, he believes it will do him good and so he get better a little fast so I'm told.

it's called the placebo effect. Used only in cases where the illness is psychosomatic. Not so good for treating cancer i imagine.

And Nutty, spellcheck please.

Sonne

darrenrugby18 wrote:

I've been wanting to try the protein supplements to help build muscle bulk for my upper body, but i was advised against it, as said above, the side effects can be rather unwanted... and in my personal opinion, not worth the risk.

Hughser, what side effects do you mean from protein supplements?? i think you mean creatine???? protein will help the recovery process but not sure about side effects. The only side effects are from the possible carcinogenic effects of the artificial sweetners in there aspartame, aculsfame etc etc. As it is believed they have cancerous propertys, but if this is true then everyone will get cancer because there everywhere you look! As for the home made sports drink how much orange juice do you put in? and do you have to have warm water

Darren

darrenrugby18

You can look up on the Internet for possible side effects of creatine, and protein etc but to be honest if you are taking what the reccomend you take I don't think there is a problem as long as you don't over-do it.
I think it;'s like anything you need to try some different things and see how your body reacts, whether it's to a carbo or protein drink.

As you know there is little point in gettin huge muscles because military work is going to be mainly CV based for you at this stage, unless you want to get really bulked up and join the SEALs

mfat_man i know its off the subject but who did you serve with? was it the Royal Hampshires / tigers (i think it was)? or after they joined - princess of wales royal regiment?

darrenrugby18 wrote:

I've been wanting to try the protein supplements to help build muscle bulk for my upper body, but i was advised against it, as said above, the side effects can be rather unwanted... and in my personal opinion, not worth the risk.

Hughser, what side effects do you mean from protein supplements?? i think you mean creatine???? protein will help the recovery process but not sure about side effects. The only side effects are from the possible carcinogenic effects of the artificial sweetners in there aspartame, aculsfame etc etc. As it is believed they have cancerous propertys, but if this is true then everyone will get cancer because there everywhere you look! As for the home made sports drink how much orange juice do you put in? and do you have to have warm water

Darren

Sorry for the late reply mate, you are right, when i say protein supplements i mean any kind of help getting muscle weight gain, the side effects described to me were gaining fat, instead of muscle if used wrong - which can make pressups and pullups alot harder.

As for mixing a Glucose drink up, stick 15g of Dextrose Powder in a pint of hot water (because it disolves the powder) and a bit of salt, stir it until its all gone, and theres your drink. I didnt add any juice, the taste isnt really important - and to be honest its not really that bad.

The drink actually tastes like water with sweetners in it, thats all. But when it starts to go cold it will taste a bit like coffee. I supose you could put juice in if you wanted, but make sure you dont put huge ammounts of Dextrose Powder in.