Grenade .50 Calibre Review

I managed to visit the Grenade stand at the BodyExpo last week and picked up a sample of the highly anticipated .50 Calibre pre-workout supplement. At the stall I was told that it would blow every other pre-workout supplement out of the water! Quite a claim. I am going to be comparing it to supplements I have had experience with, NO-xplode and Jack3d.

The sample I was taking was Berry flavor. The instructions said that those used to pre-workout supplements should use the whole sachet to get the full experience. The supplement was to be taken 30 minutes before exercising.

Firstly I noticed that this powder did not mix well at all. It stuck together in lumps on the surface of the water, much like when you use too much protein powder.After a fair bit of mixing the supplements was sufficiently dissolved to drink, not that I'd recommend it. The flavor was disgusting, even by supplement standards. Even once you had finished the drink (which i reluctantly did) your left with a horrid aftertaste.

Once I started training, the physical effect was much the same as my previous experiences, so nothing much to talk about. The mental edge was missing though. Unfortunately, throughout my workout I kept belching, something I haven't experienced from the other supplements. Each time I belched I got a foul reminder of the taste of the supplement, not a pleasant experience.

I'm afraid to say that this supplement was a disappointment. It is average as a workout supplement, but lacks the kick of some of its more established competitors. Its real downfall is the taste. On that alone I will never consider the product again.

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Good training plan

One of the best and most comprehensive training guides available. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-12-week-daily-trainer-intro.html

New Supplements

After bagging myself a deal at the BodyPowerExpo yesterday, I've started taking a range of new supplements. I'm going to spend the next few days researching and writing  articles about each one. Here are all the new supplements I have.

NRG Zinc complex
NRG Creatine Ethyl Ester
NRG BCAA's

Shoulder/Legs Day

Cardio Training


10 mins running- 1 min fast, 1 min walk

Weight Training


Superset- Shoulder Press (3 sets of 10)
                Lunges (3 sets of 10)
Superset- Lateral Raises (3 sets of 10)
                Front Raises (3 sets of 10)
                Reverse Flys (3 sets of 10)
Superset- Leg Press (3 sets of 12)
                Shrugs (3 sets of 10)

Machine Shoulder Press (3 sets of 10)
Machine Flys (3 sets of 10)

Tricep Extensions (3 sets of 10)
Single arm Tricep Extensions (3 sets of 10)

Abs Circuit

Binary Training

Like most people, its not long till I go on a summer holiday. There's a few parts of my body that I still want to improve, and my fat level needs to drop more. I'm switching my training sessions to include only 2 desperate training sessions to be done on alternating days. While this sounds a bit too intensive, you will see the logic of it when I explain.

Usually, workouts can be split into desperate days for desperate muscle groups. For optimal recovery, you generally need 48 hours between sessions minimum. As I have less time to work with, I'm going to train each muscle group once every 2 days. This doesn't mean destroying the muscle group every other day though. Each training session will have a primary muscle group and a secondary muscle group. The primary muscle group for the session is the one that your going to do a comprehensive workout for. This means covering all the exercises you would usually do for that muscle group. The secondary muscle group isn't going to receive such an intense workout, but should be worked all the same. In the major exercises for the primary muscle group (big pushing and pulling movements) we are going to super set with an exercise for the secondary muscle group. Here's an example set.

Dumbbell Pullovers- 3 sets of 10 (major muscle group exercise)
Incline Chest Press- 3 sets of 15 (secondary muscle group exercise)

The primary muscle group is worked as normal, at a high weight struggling to reach the rep count. The secondary group has a high rep count than usual, prompting the use of lighter weights,causing less muscle tearing and so preventing excessive recovery time. Performing the exercises as a super set increases your heart rate more without increasing muscle fatigue any faster in the primary muscle group.

The super set with the secondary muscle group is only included for 2-3 exercises. This reduces over working the muscles, as they are still not fully recovered from their previous session as the primary muscle group. The result of training in this way is that each muscle group is trained fully once every 4 days, with a top up session part way through to prompt more growth.

This kind of training will only work if performed with adequate intensity. Pushing your body through an extra 9 sets each session will cause your energy levels to drop faster. Reducing your energy levels in this way forces your body to start using your less accessible energy stores (fats).  When combined with interval training before and after the weights session you should end up burning well over 1000 calories in the training session and raise your metabolic rate for the rest of the day, sending your calories burned through the roof!

As this kind of training puts your body under a huge amount of stress you need to make sure that you are looking after the nutrition side of the training as well. Training at a high intensity will cause you to dehydrate, so drinking plenty of water is essential. Keeping your protein intake high will make sure that your muscles can recover quick enough to perform properly in the next session.

Extra Training

Going to be doing some extra cardio tonight, I want to try and get the extra fat shifted. Probably going to go for a swim. Swimming is a great form of exercising as it forces you to regulate your breathing much more than usual, increasing your lung capacity and oxygen efficiency. It puts very little pressure on your joints while still allowing for your muscles to be worked hard. As most of the movements are much more rotational, you strengthen supporting muscle groups that you can otherwise neglect in the gym.

I'll be doing a session along the lines of

200m warm up
5x100m with 1min rest
6x50m with 1 min rest
500m steady continuous

Total 1500m

*Update- been and done the session. Had to skip the last 500m swim, my shoulders began aching from the session this morning, and not in a good way!

Tomorrow's Session

10 mins running (interval training)

Shoulder press- 3 sets of 12
Front raises- 3 sets of 12
Side raises- 3 sets of 12
Reverse flys- 3 sets of 12
Hammer strength shoulder press-3 sets of 20
Hammer strength lateral raises- 3 sets of 12
Shrugs- 3 sets of 12
Tricep press- 3 sets 12
Single arm tricep press- 3 sets 12
Dips- 3 sets to failure

Abs circuit

6x 250m sprints on rowing machine with 1min rest

Cutting Programme

I've got just under a month till a holiday, so I'm trying to cut my fat levels down before I go. Here's a sample week of my training.

Day 1-Chest and Triceps
Day 2- Shoulders and Biceps
Day 3- Back and Legs
Repeat

Each day I am doing 10 minutes interval training on the treadmill, then the weights session for that particular day and am finishing with 5 250m rows. This kind of training should cut my body fat percentage without me losing too much muscle mass.