Injuries Suck!

It's been a couple of weeks since I have posted anything so I'm glad to be writing again.
In the last couple of weeks my right shoulder has been bothering me. Nothing terrible but I was keeping an eye on it. As time was passing by I was having totally hardcore and strong workouts. I seemed to be having personal bests with everything. The problem is I think I had too many personal bests because my shoulder really started to bother me. I was at my Chiropractor for my regular tune up, he said to be careful with it. He cracked my back but put more effort into relaxing my shoulder. It was after that visit that I decided that I need to take action. My first step was to make a Dr. appointment to really get it checked out. I was able to get an appointment for Oct 29th. I also knew that I had to take things into my own hands. I kept going to the gym but I worked out smarter to guard the shoulder. I also started to do some major shoulder stretches, I applied ice on a daily basis and I started to do some basic physical therapy movements for the shoulder. As the week went on my shoulder was starting to feel much better. I was still stoked for my Doctor's appointment, I was feeling that the appointment would be the perfect icing on the cake. Unfortunately I was unable to go to the Dr. on Friday. Ya see, Slomin's came to repair the house alarm but when they did that they also took out my DSL internet connection so I had to wait around for them ALL DAY to repair what they screwed up so I ended up missing the appointment. I did plan on doing a light shoulder workout that day but it got late and I decided to skip it. Looking back it was probably a good thing. By Friday night my shoulder was feeling pretty good. I did go to the gym for a chest workout out and my shoulder did very well. When we got home I was up on the ladder cutting down tree branches overhead, this caused me some discomfort in the shoulder but overall it was nothing. I'm very pleased with the way my shoulder has progressed in the last week but I also know that I need to be very careful with shoulder issues so I have decided to to skip my workouts on Tuesday (heavy chest and back), Thursday (bi and tri) and Friday (Shoulders, traps and forearms). Monday I am off and Wednesday is abs so I will still do that work out. My goal is to return to the gym on Saturday. Since I got back from Olympia all the workouts have been solid so I don't feel too bad taking some time off. Rest is good for healing and it's also important component to building muscle. The great thing about all this is that through this injury I have never lost any range of motion. I'm pretty sure that I don't have any tears but I know for sure that I have inflammation and maybe some Bursitis (Inflammation of the bursa sack in the shoulder). So that's the story of my shoulder, I hope to see you at the gym on November 6th!

Superpump 250 vs. Amino Energy

It's been two weeks since I have been home from Olympia. This also means that I have had plenty of time to start to try new products. For those who may not know, the expo center portion of Olympia is a blast. There are tons of companies giving free samples of their products both old and new. So in the future I will be comparing products. Today I'm going to compare Superpump 250 by Gaspari Nutrition and Amino energy by Optimum Nutrition.

At Olympia I taste tested the grape Flavor Amino Energy. That was yummy. So I grabbed myself some sample packs. I was pretty stoked to try this stuff, I have never dabbled in N.O. energy drinks but I'm up for it. So when I got home I tried the Amino Energy and I was blown away. I ended up with Fruit Punch flavor. I drank it down and about a half hour later I worked out. I had a slammin' work out and also got an amazing pump. This pump was visible for hours after I worked out. I had such a great time on the Amino Energy that I of course had to try one of my sample packs of Superpump 250. Once again I had an amazing workout and a great pump. The pump didn't last as long as the Amino Energy pump but it was a great pump none the less.

Now I will compare these products side by side.

Flavor : I used fruit punch for each brand. Amino Energy Fruit punch is OK. Nothing fantastic but it's OK. Superpump250 seems to have a bitter taste. I found it tough to drink. I could take the slight bitterness but it gave me small felling of nausea as it settled in my stomach.

Stability: Both of these products are powders. Amino Energy is very dusty. What I mean by that is when you put the powder into your shaker a lot of powder goes into the air. That also happens when you open the container. Amino Energy is messy that way. Superpump 250 is much more stable. You put the contents into the shaker and it all stays in the shaker.

Positive Effects and Negative effects: 2 scoops or one sample pack of Amino Energy gave me an awesome workout and a pump that lasted a long time. I felt like I had good clean focused energy and strength. I loved it. The same dose, 2 scoops or one sample pack of Superpump 250 was a bit much. One packet (2 scoops) scared the hell out of me. My heart was racing far too fast, I thought my heart was going to bang through my chest. I had a good workout but it was a scary workout. At times I lost focus because I was scared of the adrenalin that I built up. There was no way that was good for you. I had a great pump, but that was way too scary for me. I also didn't like that I got got red in the chest (that what I was working out that day).The redness means that my blood pressure shot up. That's not good. I didn't feel too good that night or the next morning. I counteracted this by drinking a lot of water and flushing my system. I did try the Superpump again using one scoop or half a sample pack. That worked much better.

Ingredients: Both products pretty much have the same ingredients. They both have the BCAA's that are needed but Amino Energy doesn't have Creatine in it and Superpump 250 does. I rather not have the Creatine in my drink because I take my Creatine with my protein shakes. Optimum Nutrition only has 25mg of caffeine per scoop. Gaspari doesn't state what the amount of caffeine their product has. When I called Gaspari to ask them they said each scoop contained about the amount as a up of coffee. To that I say hogwash. They may put that much caffeine in the drink but I think it's loaded with a lot of other stimulants.

Safety : My experience tells me that Amino Energy is safer.

The winner is: Optimum Nutrition's Amino Energy. Amino Energy is safer and smoother and it gave me awesome results. With the right dosage Superpump 250 gave me great results but I suggest taking the product with caution. Only take one scoop. So I will give the nod to Amino Energy. I have always been partial to Optimum Nutrition products and once again I think O.N. has come through with another awesome and safe product.

Drink up, lift hard and stay focused.