P. E. D.
yes, P.E.D. performance enhancing drugs. i'm officially joining the ranks of lance and the rest of the peleton on the TDF as i train for the SSaP next month. the difference is that i'm telling you all i'm doing it.
a philosophical question
if there was a pill that would allow you to become superman, would you take it?
a brief history of me and P.E.Ds
i've taken all manner of things to get bigger and stronger so i figure why not apply that same philosophy to the SSaP. there is a small caveat to this whole thing: nothing i'm taking is technically illegal. in fact, i have never taken anything illegal. grey area? sure, but all OTC. it's widely known by the regulars here on the site that i'm a former full-on gym rat/power lifter/meat head. while it's kind of an exaggeration to say i was a wide as i was tall, it really wasn't. at 5'8" and 250lbs, well, you get the picture. at my peak my combined dead lift/squat/bench was 1,475 lbs on a single rep max. i'm nowhere near that now, but in the cycling world, at 192 lbs. and arms larger than pipe cleaners, i'm classified as a mountain gorilla...or maybe just a gorilla. i think mountain gorillas are good climbers. i'm just good a moving heavy sh!t. just to give you a glimpse of some of my buddies from back in the day, here is a recent a picture of a very good friend of mine that i used to workout with:
he's in decent shape for an old man.
he was always more cut than i was but size wise and for a little while strength wise, he couldn't touch me. he is also the one that provided me with my supplements for this experiment. the company he works for is bpi and they make big people WAY more bigger.
ok, but why? and why tell us you're doing it?
i'm an average bike rider guy. i drink beer (a lot), eat pretty much whatever i want and use the bike to bring it all close to par. my best finish at the SSaP, or any real race for that matter, was last year when i got 14th in the NJ & South Division. what i'm hoping to show is with the correct supplementation and some hard work that P.E.Ds can benefit even the most average of riders. the thing is, and this is my personal experience, taking supplements alone will NOT give you what you don't have. you have to put in the work. you can't just show up.
why am i telling you? well, a few reasons:
1. i'm an honest guy. always have been, and many times to a fault.
2. IF i win (and i'm not saying i can or will), i don't want any rumors to circulate about possible use of P.E.Ds. i want there to be an internet TRAIL documenting every step of what i did.
quick stats
weight: 193
miles ridden in '13: 890.8
hours ridden in '13: 59 hrs
miles run in '13: 74.4
the supplements
round 1:
this is a creatine supplement. i've taken creatine before with good results. i'll take this for 30 days starting today.
round 2: the BIG gun
i'm not even 100 sure WTF this stuff does. the label says it's a testosterone booster which, if that's the case, i'm gonna go straight past gorilla to savage. i'll take this AFTER the creatine stuff listed above. i'm not a huge fan of "stacking" new supplements. i like to know how i'm going to feel on each individual thing first.
so, you're gonna just ride a bike?
nope, i'm not. the plan is simple: ride four/five days, run one/two days, toss the savage kettle bell two days and chop wood two days. some days will be hard, some days won't.
wait, did you say chopping wood?
yeah man. i like chopping wood. i don't know of a better (and more productive) full body workout.
the last part of this equation is to dramatically cut my alcohol consumption. the last month has been a bit dicey so i may have been drinking far too much. even for me. and that's saying something. considering i've been eating lean 80% of the time since january, cutting the beers should, at least in theory, drop me down to the 182/3 range which, while still big by cycling standards will be the least i've weighed since college.
so there ya have it. i'm going try and update this regularly while i have time (remember that whole 'i've been drinking a lot' thing) and post my workouts for whomever is interested. my cycling stuff will all live on Strava which again, i'll try to update somewhat regularly. i'm really interested to see how this all shakes out and if i can actually get to a point where i beat mattyb. because really, that's all this is about.
yes, P.E.D. performance enhancing drugs. i'm officially joining the ranks of lance and the rest of the peleton on the TDF as i train for the SSaP next month. the difference is that i'm telling you all i'm doing it.
a philosophical question
if there was a pill that would allow you to become superman, would you take it?
a brief history of me and P.E.Ds
i've taken all manner of things to get bigger and stronger so i figure why not apply that same philosophy to the SSaP. there is a small caveat to this whole thing: nothing i'm taking is technically illegal. in fact, i have never taken anything illegal. grey area? sure, but all OTC. it's widely known by the regulars here on the site that i'm a former full-on gym rat/power lifter/meat head. while it's kind of an exaggeration to say i was a wide as i was tall, it really wasn't. at 5'8" and 250lbs, well, you get the picture. at my peak my combined dead lift/squat/bench was 1,475 lbs on a single rep max. i'm nowhere near that now, but in the cycling world, at 192 lbs. and arms larger than pipe cleaners, i'm classified as a mountain gorilla...or maybe just a gorilla. i think mountain gorillas are good climbers. i'm just good a moving heavy sh!t. just to give you a glimpse of some of my buddies from back in the day, here is a recent a picture of a very good friend of mine that i used to workout with:
he's in decent shape for an old man.
he was always more cut than i was but size wise and for a little while strength wise, he couldn't touch me. he is also the one that provided me with my supplements for this experiment. the company he works for is bpi and they make big people WAY more bigger. ok, but why? and why tell us you're doing it?
i'm an average bike rider guy. i drink beer (a lot), eat pretty much whatever i want and use the bike to bring it all close to par. my best finish at the SSaP, or any real race for that matter, was last year when i got 14th in the NJ & South Division. what i'm hoping to show is with the correct supplementation and some hard work that P.E.Ds can benefit even the most average of riders. the thing is, and this is my personal experience, taking supplements alone will NOT give you what you don't have. you have to put in the work. you can't just show up.
why am i telling you? well, a few reasons:
1. i'm an honest guy. always have been, and many times to a fault.
2. IF i win (and i'm not saying i can or will), i don't want any rumors to circulate about possible use of P.E.Ds. i want there to be an internet TRAIL documenting every step of what i did.
quick stats
weight: 193
miles ridden in '13: 890.8
hours ridden in '13: 59 hrs
miles run in '13: 74.4
the supplements
round 1:
this is a creatine supplement. i've taken creatine before with good results. i'll take this for 30 days starting today.
round 2: the BIG gun
i'm not even 100 sure WTF this stuff does. the label says it's a testosterone booster which, if that's the case, i'm gonna go straight past gorilla to savage. i'll take this AFTER the creatine stuff listed above. i'm not a huge fan of "stacking" new supplements. i like to know how i'm going to feel on each individual thing first.
so, you're gonna just ride a bike?
nope, i'm not. the plan is simple: ride four/five days, run one/two days, toss the savage kettle bell two days and chop wood two days. some days will be hard, some days won't.
wait, did you say chopping wood?
yeah man. i like chopping wood. i don't know of a better (and more productive) full body workout.
the last part of this equation is to dramatically cut my alcohol consumption. the last month has been a bit dicey so i may have been drinking far too much. even for me. and that's saying something. considering i've been eating lean 80% of the time since january, cutting the beers should, at least in theory, drop me down to the 182/3 range which, while still big by cycling standards will be the least i've weighed since college.
so there ya have it. i'm going try and update this regularly while i have time (remember that whole 'i've been drinking a lot' thing) and post my workouts for whomever is interested. my cycling stuff will all live on Strava which again, i'll try to update somewhat regularly. i'm really interested to see how this all shakes out and if i can actually get to a point where i beat mattyb. because really, that's all this is about.
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