Our bodies aren’t machines – they are adaptable organisms that can change very quickly to adapt to the stimulus around us. When we lift heavy weights, our muscles grow to accommodate the heavier workload. Unless that workload keeps increasing, we stop growing. This is why so many bodybuilding training manuals emphasize continually increasing resistance as imperative. Along the same lines, change is important too. We use the same routine all of the time, and we stop adapting. This is why many experts advocate changing up the workout style every 2 to 4 months, never quite allowing our bodies to get used to a training regimen or style of system. We have to keep changing things up, or we will always look the same.
The same rules apply to everything else in bodybuilding. If you choose to enter the ‘dark side’ and engage in the use of steroids, then you run a cycle of supplemental testosterone for 10 to 14 weeks. You don’t take steroids year-round. Doing so would quickly burn out your receptors and leave you unable to make or maintain any kind real gains in terms of muscle size and strength. Instead, you CYCLE your steroids, taking them for 3 months then taking at least 3 months off. Just as you cycle your training methodologies.
And of course, this rule applies for supplementation as well. If you use the same supplement stack year-round, then it begins to lose its effectiveness. You stop seeing the water gains that lead to new size from using creatine, no matter how much water you drink. Taking NOS supplements year round results in a situation where you can’t find the energy or maintain a pump without the supplements for the required blood flow. Taking ECA, the very useful combination of ephedrine (25 mg), caffeine (200 mg) and aspirin (350 mg) twice daily can result in amazing fat loss, appetite suppression, and metabolic increase – but it won’t last forever. Take breaks from ECA every two months for at least one month. Aside from the fact you’ll stop feeling the positive side effects after using the supplement for months at a time, you also need to give your blood pressure and kidneys a break from such negative side effects.
This doesn’t mean you have to stop using supplements – you just have to mix them up! Move off creatine and try Mesobolin. After you’ve enjoyed a week off ECA, use another fat loss supplement. Just as your goals change throughout the year from getting lean to adding mass, your supplements should change too! Knowing it is important to cycle off certain supplements is only an opportunity to try new and different effective supplements!