Some of you might remember I made a thread in the past about getting these strange muscle spasms and cramps that tend to begin towards the middle of the cycle and always get worse towards the end of my cycles. This has been happening ever since I started AAS use, and it happens every single cycle i'm on. See the initial thread I made on it, here:
http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...ycle-and-input!
Another member did post a little later on concerning the exact same thing, experiencing the same types of cramps and symptoms, see the thread here:
http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...07362-Cramping
Just to clarify, the symptoms of these particular types of cramps are as follows:
- When any muscle is in a contracted position for an extended period of time (all it needs to be is even just 3 minutes), if the muscle is quickly extended, it spasms/cramps up. Think of being on the phone for a good while, your arm in that position while you talk. The call ends and you go to hang up the phone or put the phone down and BAM, spasm!
- It seems to be fast movements whereby the muscle is extended. If the muscle is extended slowly, it doesn't occur.
- The spasms are not random - they occur only in response to fast extension of the muscle.
Now, not everyone gets cramps on cycle but I do believe that in some of us (myself being one of these people), AAS seems to deplete levels of certain minerals and nutrients. This could be perhaps due to the intensity of training, or by factors unknown. I believe it is factors unknown. I ruled out dehydration, as I drink a ton of water while on cycle as well as off cycle, and the cramps still occur on cycle. I thought perhaps it could be insufficient electrolyte replenishment as well, but what I need to nail down first through trial and error are the big 3: Taurine, Potassium, Mangesium. One of these must be deficient.
I am at the end of my 8 week high dose Trenbolone cycle, and as per usual, the spasms began at about week 5 and have steadily gotten worse. And I say spasms because these are more like spasms than cramps. It is at the point now (end of week 8) where the spasms are so bad as usual, that it acts up when doing things like sitting down too fast (hamstrings and glutes spasm and cramp up), etc. So, this is definitely my perfect time to nail this down and see what exactly it is. I have attempted to try Taurine supplementation to no avail (this works only for cramps caused by Clenbuterol depleting Tuarine levels). I have then tried megadosing Potassium (upwards of 1g per day) to no avail either. I have now attempted Magnesium supplementation (1g per day now, 500mg twice per day) and this seems to be working!
1g per day so far for 3 days and the spasms/cramps have steadily become far less severe, and are occurring far less frequently. If I keep this up, it should eliminate the cramps/spasms all together. At one point the spasms got so bad that I was performing a set of bicep curls on the curl machine (single sets of one arm at a time before switching to the next arm). I completed an intense set to failure of my right arm, and switched to my left. In the middle of the set, my right arm cramped up SO BAD, the whole arm locked up and I couldn't move it for a good 15 seconds. It was kind of scary, considering I had no control over it, but I knew what was going on.
Anyhow, I am informing anyone with cramping issues on cycle - ESPECIALLY if the cramps/spasms are of the same nature that I listed just now - to supplement with Magnesium. I guarantee that is your culprit. Try 1g per day (500mg twice daily) of Magnesium, and I just take mine all at once. The only issue with administration is to make sure that you don't consume your Magnesium with Calcium, or any Calcium containing foods. This is because Magnesium and Calcium compete fiercely for absorbtion in the body when taken together. You may not end up absorbing all of the Magnesium.
EDIT: I wanted to clear something concerning the different Magnesium supplements out there, and I should have mentioned this when I created this thread. One can walk into a Walmart or drug store and spot several different types of Mangesium on the shelves and wonder what to buy. There are primarily 3 types of Magnesium you will commonly find: Magnesium Oxide, Magnesium Citrate, and the more rare Magnesium Glycinate (chelated Magnesium, which is Magnesium bound to an animo acid). So,
Magnesium Oxide: This is the most commonly found Mg supplement out there, but the problem is its EXTREMELY POOR ABSORBTION AND BIOAVILABILITY. It is perhaps the worst out of all of them. This is what I was using at the time of writing this thread. I was using 2g per day at most, and then dropped down to 1g per day. The MgO I was using was supplied in 500mg tablets.
Magnesium Citrate: Also extremely common and has a far better absorbtion and bioavailability than MgO. It is, however, still considered not that great but MUCH better than MgO. I am currently using this as of writing this edit to this post. I am currently taking 450mg per day, and the brand I use supplies the Magnesium Citrate in 150mg capsules, so I take 3 per day. This is of course a lesser dose than when I was using MgO, but I figure it is a fair trade-off since far more Mg is being assimilated in the Citrate form than the Oxide form, therefore I don't need to ingest as much.
Magnesium Glycinate (chelated Magnesium): Rarely found in common drugstores, and this is why I don't use it, otherwise I would be using this variant. Can be found online or in specialty health food / vitamin shops. This is the Mg variant with one of the highest absorbtion rates. If you have easy access to this one, I would reccomend using it over the other two types.
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