nitric oxide and muscle growth/pump

[RicPhoenix]

Does nitric oxide work? Anyone have any experience with it?

[DefconX3]

Actually, I have had some positive experiences with it. Last supplement "cycle", I ran it with a bunch of other supplements, and I could really tell the difference when I stopped taking it. There were two real effects that I noticed from it, which you have mentioned in the thread title:

Pump:

I took about a week for me to notice a change in this respect. I then noticed that I began to get pumped up very easily. I would be able to do my warm-up set and start to feel the pump already. After a long workout it would feel great, my muscles felt like they had 3x-4x the normal pump and my skin would feel like it was being stretched by the pump of the muscle. Quite Satisfying indeed :) . The duration of the pump was also greatly improved too, I could still feel the pump 4 hours after my workout. Some people have claimed to have their pumps last for unbelieveable amounts of time, for example, I remember one person who claimed of having worked out mid-day and then still having a pump the next morning. I have yet to experience that type of duration though.

Another interesting thing to note with nitric oxide is that it gives you pumps in other places as well... I noticed that it gives your magic stick quite a pump too, I experience an actual increase in length, which isnt too bad at all. Others mentioned the same effect, and it is worth mentioning that almost all penis enhancement supplements contain arginine (main active ingredient in all nitric oxide supplements). Also, strangely, a bro of mine who was taking nitric oxide would get a pump in his forehead veins, I could always tell if he had worked out reciently because his vain on his forehead would be popping out.


Muscle Growth:

I didn't expect much in this catagory, but I was pleasantly surprised. When I was in the middle of my last legal supplement bulk cycle, I found myself gaining a bit more mass then I expected to. At first I attributed it to my new workout schedual, but then after I stopped the supplementation of nitric oxide, I noticed my gains to begin to slow down signifigantly. Since that was the only noticable change in my workout regimine, I have to conclude that the nitric oxide was giving me gains. It is important to note that, like most things, it is totally dependant on how your body reacts to the product that will determine if you get gains from it or not. Just because I made gains from it, doesnt mean that you will. Some people report gains, some don't.

Conclusion:

I found the pump to be quite enjoyable and the gains to be noticable from using nitric oxide. I am one of the responders, you may be one too, but at the same time, you may not be one. If I were asked if I would recommend it to other people, I would tell them yes, that its worth a try. Though, if you feel a little weary about paying the expensive prices for the nitric oxide supplements, then I would suggest just supplementing arginine powder, which would have almost the same effect, yet at a fraction of the price.

	Supps

[AandF6969]

What kind of doese did you take?

Nice signature by teh way

[DefconX3]

I was taking about 3g a day.

Originally Posted by AandF6969

Nice signature by teh way

WTF!!! Hahaha, that is too wierd, did you see it on divantart.com?

[arnold1980]

. Basically these nitric oxide products contain arginine and nothing more. I saved my money and would take 5 grams of arginine instead of 1.5 or 2 grams (whatever the recommended dose was in pill form otf the nitric oxdied) I noticed no pumps or anything. The only thing i ddi notiec was that i slept like a baby when i was on it.

I was gonna comment on this further but its like 330 and i'm tired

[DefconX3]

Originally Posted by arnold1980

. Basically these nitric oxide products contain arginine and nothing more. I saved my money and would take 5 grams of arginine instead of 1.5 or 2 grams (whatever the recommended dose was in pill form otf the nitric oxdied) I noticed no pumps or anything. The only thing i ddi notiec was that i slept like a baby when i was on it.

I was gonna comment on this further but its like 330 and i'm tired

Yeah, thats the point I was trying to make with my post, its strange that it didnt work for you, were you taking it on an empty stomach, 30 mins before eating anything? If not, then that is a likely reason why it didnt work.

[AandF6969]

I was taking it like it said on the bottle and eating like a horse, just saw a little pump in the gym.

Are you a big TooL fan, defcon?

[arnold1980]

Originally Posted by DefconX3

Yeah, thats the point I was trying to make with my post, its strange that it didnt work for you, were you taking it on an empty stomach, 30 mins before eating anything? If not, then that is a likely reason why it didnt work.

the main benefit from arginine is increase in natural gh levels.
studies show its more beneficial when taken before bed.

here's the link to the complete article...with references
PS @ CJM got his pro card!

Arginine

The ability of oral arginine to raise growth hormone has been investigated in numerous studies with conflicting results. For example, in one study, subjects given 6 grams of oral arginine experienced a 100% increase in plasma levels of arginine without any growth hormone release.(6) Other researchers administered oral arginine to 12 young and 5 elderly non-obese adults, all of whom had a body mass index (BMI) less than 30. The subjects participated in three trials: resistive weight-lifting exercise with no placebo; 5 grams of oral L-arginine only; and 5 grams of arginine supplementation prior to exercise.

When arginine was consumed at rest, it did not significantly raise GH levels, compared with baseline values, in either the young or the old subjects. In fact, GH levels in those consuming arginine at rest were significantly lower than during the exercise-only trial. Consuming arginine before exercise did not significantly raise the GH concentrations in either the old or the young subjects, compared to exercise only. Surprisingly, the amount of GH secreted in the exercise-plus-arginine trial was 20% less than during exercise only in the young subjects, indicating arginine may actually blunt growth hormone production, particularly in the young.(7)

Other researchers drew the same conclusion in a study of 16 young men during an acute episode of resistive weight lifting. After 3 grams of oral arginine and lysine, the subjects experienced a peak GH response to exercise approximately 15% lower than during exercise without supplementation.(8) One group of researchers, after reviewing the evidence, wrote, "These results suggest that oral arginine, unlike intravenously infused arginine, does not appear to be an effective means of enhancing GH secretion."(7)

Researchers suspect that arginine may only act as a growth hormone secretagogue at night, rather than prior to exercise or during non-exercise daytime conditions. When researchers administered 250 mg/kg/day of oral arginine aspartate to five healthy subjects aged 20 to 35 for seven days, the rise in GH that occurred during slow wave sleep was approximately 60% higher in the subjects after arginine aspartate administration than in the control period. These same results were not obtained with a lower dose of 100 mg/kg/day.(9)

Another group of researchers achieved promising results when treating 12 normal adults with one large, 37.5-gram dose of arginine aspartate, administered orally. The treatment caused a small but significant release of serum growth hormone in these subjects.(10)

[DefconX3]

Originally Posted by AandF6969

I was taking it like it said on the bottle and eating like a horse, just saw a little pump in the gym.

Are you a big TooL fan, defcon?

Oh well, I guess some people just don't respond well to it. I do like tool, I find their music interesting, complex, and thought provoking. I get in the mood for it sometimes, but I would not label myself as a hardcore fan.