Workout goal for the next 16 weeks is 8 weeks of cutting fat, building endurance, and cardio. Get really lean and all that ****.

After that, I want to 8 weeks of building size and strength.

However, supplements are fucking expensive, and I already wasted a good portion of a bottle of NO2 ($60 CDN, bought it at a health food store) by being lazy and stupid with dosage. I have enough for about 5 days left, decided to stop being stupid and just save it. It's the only supplementation I've ever tried outside of a couple protein shakes from the caf while I was at college.

So basically, I want to time this **** right and not waste another $70 (it's $10 more at the Popeye's here. Lame.)

From what I understand, you're supposed to cycle on and off of supplements (plus, who could afford to take this **** all the time?) and I heard a good bracket is 6-8 weeks. This is two bottles of Nitrix that I was using to reach 6 weeks, but I'm pretty sure they offer a double-size one for less than the price of two so obviously this would be the smart idea. This would take me to just over 6 weeks, which is totally cool with me.

Also picking up some whey protein for shakes and such. They've got some sale on where they're giving away a $15 bottle of Glutamine with the protein they're selling. I assume you're supposed to cycle on and off glutamine like other supplements.

So what I'm looking at is starting to take:
Glutamine
NO2 (BSN's "Nitrix," specifically, since I already have some)
Whey protein

My questions: Protein is clearly fine all year round, right? Don't need to stop taking it for a while? So I can start drinking protein shakes and all that **** and just keep doing it, not worry about time off?

When should I take the NO2 and the glutamine to get the most out of the effects?




EDIT: Sorry, this may be misunderstood. I'm specifically asking for when I should take these as in, weeks 2-8 of cutting/1-6 of bulking, etc., I've already found plenty of information as to what time of day.

There is no metion at all regarding your current diet and workout habits. You need to have that clarified before you even consider supplements. You don't cycle protein. It's a form of nutrient that you need in your everyday diet. The fact that you are confused about this fundamental thing tells me you should get familiarized with the basics of nutrition first.

If you haven't read this already and/or if the content of that thread is new to you, I strongly suggest you do before going any further.

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=53351

Basically, what do you eat? How do you work out? How old are you and what's your height and weight? All these factors will determine if your goals are realistic or not.

Also, check this recent thread on protein supplements: http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=56110

And also read the following posts (and the threads in them) - they are on my sig btw:

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1221859&highlight=amino+acids#post1221859
http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showpost.php?p=1221384&postcount=22
http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showpost.php?p=1221394&postcount=24

Feel free to ask questions, BUT you really need to read those threads and posts first.

I was 99% sure about protein, but it seemed like a bad idea to start using something that I wasn't absolutely positively sure I knew what seemed like pretty fundamental questions..but yeah, I've read through those (only had read the sticky before, most I hadn't seen -- thanks a bunch, that's some dead useful stuff.)

I'm 19, 5'9, ~168lbs. My workout is usually Mon-Chest/Biceps, Tues-Legs/Triceps, Wed break, Thursday-Back, Friday-Shoulders with cardio on almost every workout (didn't have enough time this week.) If I have to work somewhere in there, something gets displaced -- for instance, I'm doing back and shoulders today with 30-40 minutes of cardio (depending on how I feel at the gym, right now I feel pretty good and energetic.) Crunches everyday, usually throw in some calisthenics (various kinds of pushups, leg raises, looking to add some stuff from this bodyweight tutorial site (http://beastskills.com/index.htm)) most nights.

My lifting for the past little while has been between 3 and 4 sets on most things, starting around 65% one rep max and moving up each set.

I'm looking to change my workout routine though, with less of a split like I've been doing, as well as lighting lighter and with higher volume -- looking to raise muscular endurance and to help with the goal of cutting, as well as lots of cardio (30min, 6 days a week.) I found this workout program called The EDT Fat Loss Solution (http://staleytraining.com/articles/the_edt_fat_loss_solution_lose_1_2_fat_per_week_wi th_no_dietary_changes/) that seems fairly interesting, but I was also scrolling through the "low weight high reps" thread you linked to and saw the suggestion you made about doing HR/LW set directly after doing a regular set. If you're doing this, do you do that after every set? I used to do something similar, a buddy of mine called it pyramids -- on curls, 1 regular set, and then we'd do reps until failure with a lighter DB, then keep moving down, going from 35lbs down to 10lbs and stopping after the set with the 10lb one. We didn't repeat the process though, just moved onto something else.

My eating has been sporadic in quality for ages, but I've been making gradual changes of cutting out junk completely, eating lean meat (lots of chicken) to get my protein, drinking lots of green tea. Veges have been an occasional thing, I enjoy eating fruit (apples, grapes, pears) and drinking juice much more. I've been eating too much in the way of bread/carb-rich food, bringing that down too. I've generally been doing the small-meal-every-couple-of-hours deal, but I'm reading stuff from bodybuilding.com and here to try and figure out what exactly it is I should be doing with my diet.

It can be a pain in the ass because I'm living with my parents again until August (changed schools, going from college music to university for psych) and they have a habit of buying lots and lots of crap food. Healthy food has never really been a priority in the house (why I was fat until I first started doing basic cardio at 17) so that's why the nutritional knowledge wasn't already here. I'm heading the grocery store tonight to pick up some good veges/fruit.

Also, right now, I'm not training MA because I can't afford the combined cost of training, equipment, and transportation in addition to what I'm already paying for (university and living 35-40 minutes away from any legitimate MA school until September kind of does that) but I'm looking to join the school's wrestling team when the summer's over.


Hell, maybe I should just back off of the idea of supplements until I've been eating with a really, really good diet for a few months. Still definitely picking up the protein though, but should I even bother with the glutamine before I've developed consistently very good eating habits?