It has been quite a few years since ephedrine was banned from dietary supplements, the ban upset a lot of people since many of the studies have shown ephedrine to be safe when used properly. Most of the reports I have read about deaths due to ephedrine relate to people who took more than double the recommended dosage. There is a great site that has a ton of information on the EC, here is the link hotnfit.com. I am not a health professional, nor am I condoning the use of ephedrine, what you do with your body is your decision I am just providing some info on the subject.

So why are you writing about the EC Stack when it is no longer available?

Many people believe you either can’t get ephedrine any more, or you have to pay outrageous amounts to get ephedrine. Which is true in the dietary supplement realm. You could be looking at $60-$70 a bottle for a proprietary EC Stack. But what if you could buy ephedrine and caffeine separately and then just take them together? Well you can! Ephedrine is available in asthma medicine. The most common brand used is Bronkaid, you can buy it from any drug store (CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, etc) for about $10 for 60 tablets. Each pill of Bronkaid provides you with 25mg of ephedrine sulfate which is perfect for 1 dose of the EC Stack. Caffeine, again can be bought from any of these places for about $4 for 30 200mg pills (again perfect dosing). I found caffeine online in bottles of 100 for $5 also 200mg a pill.

Dosing and Cost

Most followers of the EC Stack agree that the proper dosing should be 25mg epherine sulfate (20mg ephedrine hcl) with 200mg caffeine about 3 times a day or every 4 hours. Now lets look at the cost of this supplement:

60 ephedrine pills / 3 times a day = 20 days ~ $10

100 caffeine pills / 3 times a day = 33.333333 days ~ $5

You can see that this stack if fairly cheap, I bet you can’t find an ephedrine free diet supplement for cheaper!

Like I said earlier people have died from taking too much of the stack, so take it at your own risk. One thing that should be monitored is your BP as this can increase while taking these two drugs together.

Generally you want to start dosing gradually until you can achieve the 20/200 dose 3 times a day. Check out the dosing chart on hotnfit.com

Combating Side Effects

One of the most common side effects is an increase in BP, most people will recommend you take omega 3′s to help stabilize this along with EGCG or green tea extract. This will help maintain the proper BP but you still should monitor and stop taking the stack immediately if your BP is getting to high. Another side effect is dehydration, caffeine is a diuretic so it will pull water out of your body, you need to drink a lot of water while taking this stack. I would recommend 6-8 bottles of water a day which is leaning towards a gallon a day. You also want to avoid any extreme cardio that raises your HR, pretty much avoid doing HIIT. You will experience a loss of appetite, which could lead you to feel like vomitting if you eat too much. If you are doing this stack you should be on a solid diet anyway…finally, try to avoid using this stack in the heat, as it is a thermogenic you will need to keep extra hydrated.

Check out the information on hotnfit.com.

Use and Results

This stack has been proven in 24 week long trials to be one of the most effective weight loss supplements when combined with proper exercise and diet. The results vary but you expect some of the best weight loss you have probably ever seen if you have a solid diet and work out routine. Generally people will cycle this stack every 6-8 weeks, by taking 2 weeks off of it. then gradually building back up to the full dosage.

If you are unsure about taking the stack, then don’t. If you body is telling you to stop taking it, then stop! Always listen to your body and follow what is healthiest for you. Dropping some extra pounds is not worth hurting yourself.

When taking this stack it also isn’t really necessary to hit cardio that hard. You can just lift and still see results since you are still increasing your energy usage, your just not shooting your HR through the roof for long periods of time. HIIT and other intense cardio should not be done while on the stack (even sports!) since your HR will be up much higher than normal for extended periods of time which could like to problems like heart palpitations. Be smart and be patient and you will see results.

I hope you enjoyed this article, if you have any questions/comments/concerns feel free to leave a comment!

The point of this article to help consumers find the best deal, and keep themselves from being ripped off. Enjoy.

Are You Ready to Step Up Your Game?

Although many people today do use supplements to help them in achieving their ultimate goals, there are a few important things to remember. Supplements are only meant to enhance and already well designed diet/fitness plan. If you aren’t done mastering your diet/fitness plan, you will probably won’t see the results that a lot of people report from supplements. If you have your plans nailed and are ready to step up your game then enjoy this guide, which will hopefully save you some money!

What to Look For

You should already know what category of supplement you are looking for (think creatine, protein, etc.) the next step is to know what to look for from companies. Remember one of the most important things you can do when picking a specific brand of product is research, research, research.

One more time, research, it will be the best way to filter out company advertising from actual results. That being said, make sure you are reading from a credible source, you can get tons of research done here. I have used the forums over at bodybuilding.com for a long time, there are logs, and all sorts of other information on results from supplements with some good background.

The sites you want to look for should have cheap shipping, price matching, or super low product prices. Don’t forget to make note of what each sites product price, and shipping are. The research aspect also helps to find a trustworthy site, do some research on a potential site.

What to Avoid

You really need to avoid supplement retail stores. I don’t have anything against the stores, or the people that work there, but the prices in stores are simply outrageous. If you have always bought supplements from a store like this then the savings you will see by following the above method will be huge. Another great reason to avoid the retail stores is the fact that there are sales people in the store, yes sales people, meaning they want you to buy things, and they may tell you whatever you want to hear to get you to buy something. I have seen people give information that they may have thought was true about a product, but in actuality was completely false. This kind of misdirection and over pricing will not help you get great results and save money on your supplements. If you want to talk to sales people then stop in and learn what you can from them but try to order things online, it is almost always cheaper.

How to get the Best Deal

When you have narrowed down your category and brand it is time to start shopping. You can google, or even froogle (http://froogle.com) for cheap brands, but you have to pay close attention to the actual price of the items, and the shipping. Many sites will lure you in super low prices and huge shipping charges that pretty much eat up your savings.

A common practice I have used which has helped me on my savings journey is the following; I search and search for the absolute lowest product cost, I then go to a popular supplement website that price matches (again a simple search will show you which I mean) they price match by 5% so you pick the same item and paste the URL, and the price they have the product for. Generally this will slow your order by a very small amount of time and can save you money. Now you need to check your price matchers shipping against your super low price websites shipping. Who is cheaper? It generally depends on the product however, you can check other sites and see how much money you just saved.

Finding the best deal is generally a somewhat time consuming practice however, the money you save may well be worth the extra time and research.

Best Places to Shop

Here is a small list of some of my favorite sites for supplements:

• Supplement Warehouse - this would be your price matching site, they are very fast and always have accepted my price matches
• BodyBuilding.com - a great site to price match, usually they have very cheap shipping, and very fast shipping
• Supplements101 - usually have some low prices that may not need to be price matched, generally free shipping

Beginner Supplements

Some good beginner categories are as follows:

• Protein – you should always use protein when building mass, it helps speed recovery
• Creatine – a great, inexpensive way to increase strength and endurance
• Vitamins – I hate retail stores, but I love GNC’s Mega Men Sport
• Glutamine – another supplement to increase recovery

More advanced categories will be added in later articles.

Final Concerns

Some concerns that a lot of people have with shopping online is the thought of identity theft, make sure you are using sites that have secured payment options. Most websites show you who has checked their site and approved it, this is a great way to find legit sites.

If you still don’t feel comfortable purchasing things online, you can always buy an American Express, Visa, MasterCard gift card to use online, since when it is empty you can toss it.

I hope this article helps everyone in the supplement market save some money and get ripped!

What is creatine?

Creatine generally is sold as a powder or a pill. The use of creatine extends back many years and has been found in the human body as a naturally occurring substance. Creatine is store in our bodies, and our muscles, as energy. The creatine helps to generate the muscle contractions, which take place when working out. Creatine helps to provide burst muscular activity, or more simply said, creatine allows our muscles to have a burst of energy. There is a very scientific reason for this, but that is the general idea behind creatine.

Types of Creatine

Although there are many different forms of creatine (ethyl ester, monohydrate, methyl, etc.) I will only be covering the two most popular, and the two I have the most experience with. Ethyl Ester, one of the newest forms, was seen as a breakthrough in creatine that allowed our body to more easily uptake the creatine we ingested. The EE transport was supposed to allow our bodies to uptake more creatine from our digestive system. Monohydrate is your old school creatine and has been around the longest. The problem many people have with mono is that it creates a bloated look, and requires loading. (more on loading later)

CEE Controversy

There have been many accusations made by various consumers, as well as companies as to the existance of CEE. Consumers have sent products to labs for testing to receive the result of no creatine ethyl ester, and companies have gotten certified labs to prove that their product containes CEE. This however is only the beginning of the controversy, there have been studies that show CEE is mostly converted into Creatinine (note spelling, an unhealthy chemical) in the stomach leaving about 20% creatine and 80% creatinine. There have also been numerous studies that show creatine uptake from CEE is vastly superior to monohydrate. 

My Experience

When I began taking creatine I used creatine monohydrate powder. The powder required a loading phase in which I had to take ~25g of mono a day for 5 days to get the muscles saturated with creatine. After the five days of loading I continued the powder at a 5g/day uptake. The results were mixed. Did my strength improve? Yes it did, not as drastically as many people make it out to be but I did see noticable gains. Side Effects? Oh yes, the dreaded ‘creatine bloat’ caused by the body being unable to pull all creatine into cells. When creatine is in a cell it helps to draw water into that cell, when cells are filled and there is extra creatine, it lies dorment out side of the cell and pulls water around the cells. This effect lends itself to the bloated, water filled, muscle appearance. Although at the time I thought the bloat was a wonderful effect, I had no idea about tone at the time I just wanted size, and it gave me size. When I began researching Creatine more, I learned of CEE and began taking CEE pills the pills required no loading and also provided great strength gains. The creatine helped me in the gym, both mentally and physically, I was more motivated to try heavier weights. 

My overall experience makes me feel that creatine benefits are dependent on the user. Both kinds of creatine have been ‘proven’ to work with your body to increase strength and endurance. However, one product seems to be getting more hype and therefore has become more popular. I think that the effects of creatine are beneficial to most anyone looking to increase strength, I also believe that people should try the different kinds of creatine to find something that works for them. 

Some words of advice:

I would recommend trying Monohydrate first as it is generally cheaper then CEE. Both creatine forms can be purchased in powder or pill form. However, let it be known that the pills usually require taking a lot of pills, think 6-8 pills a day. Once you find a product that starts giving you good results stick with it! Also the  internet is full of helpful information on specific products, always do your research before making a purchase.

I will provide some links to products I have found successful.

Remember to dedicate yourself and to motivate yourself to reach your goals!

BSN – Cell Mass this product worked great, especially when stacked with NO-Xplode. This is a CEE powder.
Controlled Labs – Green Bulge this product was decent, but required a lot of pill taking. This is a CEE pill.
Twinlab – Creatine Fuel this was a decent product but didn’t last long, only 60 caps. This is a Monohydrate pill.
Prolab – Creatine Monohydrate this product was decent, but require a ton of pill taking, 10 pills a day for the loading phase! This is a Monohydrate Pill.
Universal Nutrition – Micronized Creatine this is the first creatine supplement I tried, and thought it was great except for the bloating.