Review of MHP DARK MATTER, post-workout muscle growth accelerator

The "Anabolic Window" opens the first hour after training; the most crucial period through nutrition to promote muscle growth. Most people over look the importance of their post-workout nutrition, they wait over a hour or more before they consume their protein shake. Another common mistake is when one believes that whey protein alone is all they need to fuel their muscles. They are right that the muscles need to be fed whey protein, but they also need carbohydrates, and amino acids. Most whey proteins on the market are composed of amino acids. Creatine and L-Glutamine can be thrown in as well to enhance channce of stimulating muscle growth. Creatine increases your size and strength, whereas glutamine speeds recovery. MHP DARK MATTER is probally my favorite post-workout supplement and the perfect recipe for the "Anabolic Window". DARK MATTER absorbs faster than whey, spikes insulin dramatically, maximizes creatine uptake and glycogen replenishment. 2007 Mr. Olympia runner-up Victor Martinez credits DARK MATTER for adding 12 pounds of dense muscle to his physique. I took DARK MATTER in the past, and it yielded great results. No other supplement on the market puts your body in an anabolic enviroment like DARK MATTER. If you don't won't to flush your hard earn gains down the toilet, make DARK MATTER your standard like me. Every workout ends with DARK MATTER...Enter the Anabolic Axis for the most powerful anabolic reaction ever experienced!

Syntrax Nectar Protein Review

If the same dull taste of your protein is stopping from taking your protein as much as you should, sit back and let me tell you about this mouth water protein from Syntrax called Nectar. Most protein powders on the market day all have one thing in common: the bland "milk aftertaste". To my suprise, I found this not to be true with Nectar. This protein delivered a sweet fusion of fruit and candy! Another plus Nectar has is the ease in mixing, it only took me three to four shakes in my shaker cup! The reason I chose Nectar is because it is a whey protein isolate. Whey protein isolates contained zero carbs, zero fat, and aspartame free. What caught my eye though was the fact that Nectar contained a whey protein isolate called Promina. This isolate is this fastest digested and the fastest for muscle recovery. Nectar is available in 9 fruitylicous flavors : Twisted Cherry, Fuzzy Navel, Crystal Sky, Carribean Cooler, Apple Ectasy, Strawberry Kiwi, Roadside Lemonade, Pink Grapefruit, Lemon Tea. From here on out, my protein will never be boring. You can do the same too, by using Nectar it will leave your mouth watering for more protein!

2010 Europa Super Show Dallas,Texas

Essa Obaid

Tony Giles

Ed and Betty Pariso's Europa Show in Dallas, Texas proved things are bigger in Texas! The expo floor looked like a Ft.Worth cattle auction, jammed pack! Me and Rodney didn't get much time to walk around the booths. Last year there seemed to be more companies represented, but there were still some major stars like Dorain Yates, Flex Wheeler, and Shawn Ray present. We spent most of our time watching the NPC and Pro Show. The NPC show was loaded with top notch competitors. Lorenzo Jones took the overall and the light heavyweight class. Lorenzo looked great, but to me the real standout was middle weight winner Tony Giles. Tony's conditioning was phenomenal, as well as leg development. This was by far the best NPC show I have seen far as the quality of the athletes. Next up was the IFBB pro show. Cedric McMillan was a favorite to take the number one spot, but unfortunatley things go according to plan. Arnold Amatuer winner Essa Obaid came out of literally nowhere and dominated the show with the same freaky muscularity and freaky conditioning Mr. Olympia bride Branch Warren brought at the 2009 "O". Essa is all the way from Duabi, another one of George Farah's clients. Me and Rodney both thought he was the winner hands down, but Mark Alvisi grabbing the 2nd spot was a gift. Everyone with us had Alvisi placing 4th or even 5th place! The show's favorite Cedric McMillan was given a shocking 4th place. Overall it was an awesome show, gives the fans excitement about the future athletes to come.

No Rest For Chest

Here lately my chest has made some great gains, I've developed more outer and upper. So all day yesterday I was envisioning another great workout that lead to further gains in my journey of building my body. Got to the gym normal time, quarter til eight. Before I start even warming up I hear someone complaining about how cold it was in there. First exercise flat barbell bench. I get under 225 for the first warm up set, everything felt great. Next, I got under 315 for the second warm up set . . . . 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 BLOOOOP felt a warm sensation run in my left out pec towards the armpit, well I thought I just might of popped it so I did a few more reps but I felt a burn each rep I did so I had to admit to myself I had a little problem and racked it. In denial, I told myself well maybe its just the angle, so when we moved on to incline dumbell I banged out a set with 110lb dumbells which would be a extremely light weight for me. It honestly didn't burn as bad as the flat position but still enough to get in my head. So I faced reality and chose not turn a minor injury into a severe one, so I ended my chest workout and told my partner to go on without me. At this point I was angry as a grizzly bear who got their picnic basket jacked! I've delt with numerous injuries in my short journey so far, so I'm pretty happy with the way I handled this one. Bodybuilding's great Arnold Schwarzenegger said it best :

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."

I found this quote when I thought I dang near tore a tendon in my knee over a year ago hack squatting. This quote can't be more true, the adversity I faced made me stronger not only in my training, but also my character in life. Whatever task I'm going to do I give 100%, whatever obstacle comes at me I overcome. This was running through my mind when I was about to lose it, so I told myself time to hit some calves. I worked my calves til they mooo! By the time I was done, my partner finished working chest, and we began abs. In abs we did another drop set on the decline sit ups. Starting with a 60lb dumbell, 50lb dumbell, 45lb plate, and then finally body weight all counting as one giant set. We also used a "shock" method by using different weight in a different order. This method has your muscles asking "which way did he go!?" Surprisingly I had my partner beat on this I went til I could not do a situp with my own body weight. Next we moved on the lower ab leg raise machine and banged out 3 sloppy sets. We were both beat from the giant "shock" sets we performed, so we called it a night. In conclusion, I must practice what I preach: "you got to do workouts that work for you, just because they work for one, does not mean they will work for you." Some reason for me incline barbell has never bothered me, and every time I do flat barbell it does more damage than good. If you ask any bodybuilder what they use to build their chest very few will say flat barbell bench. In an article in Flex Magazine, on Phil Heath's 2008 Olympia prep, his trainer Hany Rambod (who is also trainer of present Mr.Olympia Jay Cutler and many other pros) said he never encourages any of his clients to perform flat barbell bench. Next week I plan just getting blood to the area using the machines with light weight. Then hopefully in two weeks of trial and error of what I can or can't do I will go back into using dumbells and hammer strength equipment. If things go well after that I will be back doing barbell work, flys, dips, but the barbell will only be incline.

Back In The Groove

Last night me and Carlos pumped up the biceps. In our split, we train biceps alone. He thinks that when paired with triceps, your the pump you get opposes the muscles. I myself don't like to pair back with biceps, because I feel that when you train both together you put too much work on the biceps and lead to overtrain. I've noticed in the past when I got a solid back workout and tried to tack on biceps towards the end, it just got sloppy. So we come to an agreement on working biceps alone. If we do hit any other muscle it would be our hamstrings, abs, or calves. In this workout we chose to finish with abs. Starting out we warmed up on the preacher with an ez-curl bar. We love this bar because it takes the pressure of the elbows and wrists. First set was shy of 100lbs, we both curled the weight 12-15 reps. We grinded out a total of three sets. The last set was performed to failure, we added a few scraps of iron to get us to 135lbs. Carlos had the with ease, pumping it out effortlessly about 10-12 reps. I myself, went to battle for 7-8 reps. Next we did the same exercise but this time we used dumbells. Dumbells allows you to get a better contraction on the muscle. First set we start off with 60lb dumbell, then next set 70lb, and the last set with 75lb. The 75lb one I had drop setted with a 25lb dumbell to failure. At the moment the 25lb dumbell felt as heavy as the 75lb one. Next exercise we did something different for a change, we use the hammar curl bar. The hammar curl bar is a rare species to find in most gyms, but fortunately our gym has one. In this exercise we leaned over a hair and place our knees slightly on the bench forcing more work out of the targeted area. Finally to put a fork in our biceps thrash we did the high cable curls or some call "super man''. This one brings out a sick nasty mountain top peak on the biceps plus stretches them out intensely. In this exercise we like to keep our reps high and concentrate on the squeeze. Carlos said he wanted to hit abs hard the night before, so that we did! We did declind situps with 45lb plate to failure and then 35lb plate to failure as one set, we repeated this three times. Then the last one after the 35lb plate we did our bodyweight to failure. I was very suprised my abs weren't cramping up due to the punishment because it was intense, I gave each set my all. Then we moved on to oblique cruches on the back extension equipement while holding a 45lb plate. Three sides on each side to failure. A lot of times people do a good job on hitting abdominals but tend to neglect their obliques, so we make sure each week we hit them atleast twice. To wrap the evening of fun up we concluded with the antique ab machine. This one I really feel in the upper abdominal region. Believe me I know so because right now I feel like an army of ninjas beat me in that area with ninchucks!

Training Solo

Saturday I had to hit legs at the gym solo because me and my partner Carlos were on different schedules. I had moments of doubt creep in my mind when we discussed we were not going to be able to train together that night. Mainly because I was so pumped that week looking forward to bang out five plates on squats! I knew now that I wasn't going to do this because I won't have Carlos there to assist me if something went wrong. The time came for when it was time for me to hit the gym. Excuses ran through my mind to take the day off : "I didn't eat enough, my knees were still tender, I haven't even took my pre-workout yet!" Instead I knew there was work to be done, so I got in my truck and headed to the gym. Once I entered the gym, I saw one of my good friends who is preparing for the Northwest Arkansas tearing it up, you could tell each and every rep matter. That there was more than what any pre-workout, it reminded me why I do what I do. First I started off with front squats. I wanted to go heavy, so I kept each set 5-6 reps. I supersetted with leg extensions. My main goal on leg extensions was getting a good contraction at the top, each set I turned my toes at different angles to hit all parts of my quads. Last set of front squats, I threw 365 on there and banged it out 5 times. The weight was slightly uneven on my shoulders, it kind of looked like a sea saw, but still I managed! Next was unilateral leg press supersetted with standing leg curls. Standing leg curls are probably one my favorite exercises for hamstrings. Then I moved on to the lying leg curls supersetted with the hip abductor machine. The hip abductor has really helped my leg development out quite a bit. I've seen major growth in my inner quads. This exercise is incorporated in all of my leg workouts now. Finally to put the icing on the cake, I did walking lunges with the dumbells. Lunges hit my glutes better than any exercise. A lot of people think lunges are for girls but believe me if eight time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman does them, I would keep that opinion to yourself! The lunges drained every drop of energy I had left. Training solo wasn't so bad, next week I'll be back in the groove.

Biceps Tonight

Tonight at the gym me and my boy Carlos going to hit biceps. We usually start out with preacher e-z bar or preacher dumbell. Going preacher style forces you to use strick form. I prefer using the dumbell because you seem to get a better contraction on the muscle when you squeeze. Next exercise we do is standing barbell curls. Standing barbell is one of the best mass builders for the bicep. We generally go fairly heavy, while the last few reps are usually force or cheat. Then we move on to hammer curls. Hammer curls hit the outer head, and plus the brachialis. Some reason these are one of my favorite exercises for biceps, I think probally because it's my strongest movement for the muscle part. Last but not least we usually finish up with any kind of cable curl to force the most amount of blood in the muscle. Another rule of thumb we follow is cutting the rest time down. This allows us to sustain a pump and also burn fat because our workout is on par with doing cardio. I think we are going to throw hamstrings in tonight too, if we do I'll keep yall posted. Until then train hard or go home!

The Attack On Back....And Triceps

Last night was the attack on back, and not to forget triceps. We started off with one of the lifts you never see performed in the gym...DEADLIFTS. There is no better exercise than deadlifts for back other than lat pullups. Deadlifts give the back a rugged look and adds dense layers of muscle as well. We kept our reps moderate, anywhere from eight to ten, and super setted with reverse cable pushdowns. The next movement was hammer strength rows. In this exercise we alternated grips wide to inner to hit our back at different angles, and we super setted with one arm over the head tricep extensions which hits the long head on the tricep. This part was pretty tough considering we racked out the row machine and going back and forth from end of the gym to another with no rest in between. Next on the agenda was lat pulldowns, which was super setted with the dip machine. On the dip machine we used one arm because the machine the machine was too light when we used both. Finally we finished our brutal attack with low cable rows super setted with tricep pushdown with the rope. Back workouts are pretty draining next to legs, we were already fatigue from the night before, we went super heavy on chest and kept the intensity to the max the entire workout. Right now I can feel my lower back got a lot from this, I'm already sore down there...and it's the right kind of sore, not the oh crap sore I think I slipped a disc in my back sore!