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MY PET MONKEY’S EXPERIENCE WITH SEMAX

8/30/2016

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So I have a pet monkey. His name is Jonathan Giuseppe Rigatoni, but I call him Johnny. Unfortunately, he has social anxiety, so none of you will ever meet him. He also goes into an uncontrollable rage when I try to take pictures of him, however, because I love you guys so much, I did manage to sneak one picture of him which you will find below. I’m the best, I know. Because I am such a compassionate and loving monkey owner, I wanted to help him with his social anxiety disorder by providing him with a safe and effective supplemental cure that most of you probably do not know too much about. In fact, after this post, some of you may want to consider using this cure for your pet monkeys that are inflicted with mental health issues. The solution that I decided to try is a compound called Semax. Disclaimer: I do not advocate the use of any substance without thorough research and consultation with a medical professional. Additionally, Semax is a research chemical in America and is made for research purposes only. They are not made for human consumption, so I do not advocate that any of my fabulous readers use Semax.

Johnny would like to share his experience with you. But before getting into Johnny’s experience with Semax, I would like to provide you all with some background information on the compound for all of you interested in the scientific mumbo jumbo. Semax is a nootropic that is administered as a nasal spray or subcutaneously with an injection developed by Soviet researchers in 1982. It’s a heptapeptide nootropic that researchers were developing to treat stroke victims with. This compound is very similar but MUCH more potent than another more commonly used nootropic, noopept. Like Noopept, Semax stimulates the central nervous system, increasing memory, focus, physical performance, and analytical skills. Across Russia, Semax is classified as a “Vital and Essential” drug, and it is commonly prescribed across the nation, especially when physicians are dealing with conditions that require neuroprotective or neurorestorative effects. Semax modulates receptors in the Limbic Reticular complex in your brain, which is the system in your brain responsible for emotional experience. It specifically targets the receptors that handle serotonin, adenosine, histamine, dopamine, and acetylcholine.

At the same time, Semax activates NMDA receptors for glutamate in your central and peripheral nervous systems. Furthermore, Semax also boosts neuroprotection significantly, which means your neurotransmitters degrade less frequently. To boost neuroprotection, Semax increases synthesis of neurotrophins, proteins, and biosubstrates. This protects and repairs active neurons and reduces inflammation throughout the nervous system and brain. So what the heck does that mean for my monkey?
- Increased Memory
- Better Learning Ability
- Increased Reasoning
- Improved Perception and Concentration
- Better Immune System Functionality
- Higher Cognitive Energy Levels

some Russians (and monkeys) also report feeling a better mood while taking Semax – likely due to its effects on your dopamine receptors. Ok, Johnny is getting impatient, he wants to share his marvelous experiences.

Johnny’s Experience:
4:30 – 5:00 PM:** Reconstitution – Johnny, although a monkey is very bright due to his excessive use of nootropics and is able to reconstitute this solution on his own. Johnny is opting to use a subcutaneous injection because it is the fastest method of absorption into the body and mucus does not prevent some of it from absorbing. In the case of a nasal spray, this is very likely so the effectiveness of a supposedly equivalent dosage is less. On top of that, the negative effects on the nasal cavity is not something my monkey wanted to deal with. Johnny takes his 30 mg vial of Semax, which comes in a white powder and adds 3 ml of bacteriostatic water.
5:00 – 5:05 PM: Administration
(Contact me if you have any questions about reconstitution or administration, I will speak with Johnny and answer any questions you may have) Using an insulin syringe, Johnny draws out 400 mcgs of Semax, pinches some skin off of his stomach, and excitedly administers the Semax.

5:05 – 5:30: Acute Effects
Approximately one minute after administration, a very slight but noticeable glow emerges. My monkey’s sensory perception is ever so slightly enhanced, particularly his visual perception. Colors are much sharper, shades of red are slightly redder, and everything in sight seems more saturated. Additionally, a very strange paradox occurs; Johnny attains a laser like focus from a visual perspective but is also more aware of his periphery. He considers whether this is a placebo or not, but due to his excessive experiences with nootropics, the excitement of novelty in trying them, and the resulted “convincing himself of something working phenomena” is very rare. However, this is subjective, so Johnny decides to test whether the effects are placebo or not. It is reported that the effectiveness of stimulants is potentiated while on Semax, so Johnny decides to go downstairs and make himself a strong cup of coffee. Indeed, after consuming the cup of coffee, Johnny is significantly more alert, energized, and verbally proficient much more so than if he were to drink the coffee alone. His thoughts are racing in anticipation of writing his next blog post, but instead of just feeling an “Adderall-like,” dopaminergic, “just got off a roller coaster,” or “murdered a high volume leg workout” sense of arousal, the sentences seemed to fluidly put themselves together in his head.

5:30 – 7:00 The Hour After
Johnny takes after me and he is a very passionate writer. He decides to make his way and get started writing his blog post. About 15 minutes into writing, he feels a little overstimulated, so decides to meditate to calm down a little. He does not describe this sensation as anxiety, but just a little too much energy to be objective or as cohesive as he wants to be. He believes that his reality is a manifestation of his thoughts and so just as his mind is overly fluid and not able to fragment itself, his resulted writing would come out this way. When Johnny closes his eyes and starts reciting his mantra, he transcends quicker than normal, but an hour later, finds himself waking up alarmingly, realizing he has dosed off. The baffling part of this hour is that he went into the meditation very alert, yet managed to doze off very quickly. What Johnny describes as even more surprising but pleasant is the fact that upon waking up, he felt the peaceful clarity that he normally experiences after a full meditation session. Additionally, Johnny is quickly able to immerse himself right back into his writing with an uninterrupted flow.

7:30 – 11:00 PM: Gym Time
Johnny, just like his owner is a personal trainer. If your monkey has fitness goals, Johnny will get your monkey there. Johnny also works with other animals and has experience with hamsters, fish, lions, gorillas, porcupines, beavers, squirrels, skunks, kangaroos, scorpions, and more! He heads to the gym around 7:20 PM and notices the effects of Semax slightly wearing off, but his enhanced sensory perception, improved verbal fluency, and overstimulation remains. This actually remains all the way until bedtime.
Johnny recounts how alert and engrossed into the sessions he was. His energy is high, he is able to think of the right things to say at the right time, but he is also a little bit less filtered than normal. His judgement is not altered, but he is just simply less inhibited which is actually what many Semax users report; less inhibitions, and consequently less social anxiety. Unfortunately, because his mind is working a little quicker than normal, compounded by the fact that his clients are tired, he finds himself on edge in his interactions as his clients take time to communicate with him. His irritability has him finishing sentences for his clients which he knows is rude and hates doing. Fortunately, he is contemplative enough to recognize that he is doing this and is able to change his behavior.
From 10 PM – 11 PM after he has finished training his clients, Johnny decides to take half a scoop of pre-workout, Enraged Xtreme by Innovapharm (go to www.motivationalmuscle.com to read what Andrew Black has to say about it. If interesting in purchasing it, please message me). Now normally Johnny takes a whole scoop, but mindful of the fact that he is on Semax, a stimulant potentiating nootropic, he wisely refrains from doing so this time around. Johnny reports that the onset of the pre-workout’s effects are quicker than normal, he feels very energized, and not only hits a very intense workout, but is able to make a sharper neurological connection to the muscle which is very important for his bodybuilding style training. Overall, he enjoyed his experience in the gym supplementing with Semax.

11:15 – 1:00 AM: The Final Hour and 45 minutes
Johnny returns home, eats his post-workout meal, still feeling the effects of the Semax, goes upstairs, cleans his room, talks to his girlfriend, sets up shop for the next day, and reads for a bit. He has no issues going to bed.

Final Comments:
Overall, Johnny rates this nootropic an 8.5 out of 10. The overstimulation could make some monkeys very anxious, and the irritability and restlessness was not something he was totally fond of. However, the energy, verbal proficiency, heightened sensory perception, and lack of inhibitions could be good for treating symptoms of ADD, help with writing, provide a better experience in the gym, generate inclinations towards music and creative tasks, and prevent social anxiety. Monkeys, if you are not cool with subcutaneous injections, nasal administration is the way to go. Johnny recommends this nootropic to more experienced users after he or she carries out his or her own research.

Happy brain hacking people :) (monkeys)

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STUDIES SHOW THAT ALCOHOL IS REALLY NOT AS BAD FOR YOUR PHYSIQUE AS YOU THINK (JK)

8/24/2016

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Just a disclaimer, this will be a somewhat long but worthwhile post. This topic fundamentally impacts everyone since we all either consume alcohol ourselves or are at the very least somewhat close to someone who does or has. The only agenda behind this post is to inform; I do not directly advocate the consumption of alcohol, but what I do advocate is a moderate lifestyle. Let’s get to it.

During my college graduation ceremony this year, I had the privilege of seeing and hearing president Barack Obama speak. Being that it was Rutgers’ 250th graduation ceremony, our commencement speaker had to be someone special. The word special is an understatement to describe the most inspirational, intriguing, thought-provoking hour of my life. While president Obama spoke, the Rutgers football stadium, which included the entire class of 2016 along with the families of all 11,000 graduates was absolutely silent. The one idea that he touched on was that of “confirmation bias,” and although he warned against it in a political context, it got me really reflecting on all the instances where I apply this dangerous bias in my own life. I realized that I was very guilty of using it to convince myself my flawed and subjective beliefs are true. I also realized that a lot of my clients attempt to utilize to convince me and themselves that their false intuitions and beliefs are true.

Let’s define confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs or hypothesis, while giving disproportionately less consideration to alternative possibilities. An example, which will actually be the fundamental topic that I discuss in this blog post has to do with the effects of alcohol; many clients of mine send me scientific studies that support their use and in a few cases (what could be considered clinically) abuse of alcohol. While I do appreciate the research and I do not doubt the validity of the studies I am sent, and furthermore have the integrity to read the studies sent to me in their entirety most of the time, I do sit and wonder how many articles that client had to go through or skip over that did not support his or her preexisting beliefs before finding one that did. I also sit and wonder what the actual search was. For example, it would be relatively objective if a client searched “Effects of alcohol on the brain,” but would be highly biased if the client searched, “Positive effects of alcohol on the brain,” or on the flip side “negative effects of alcohol on the brain.”

Truly, we can never know the cost of drinking alcohol vs. the benefit that it provides because of the many nuances that we can apply to the scenario. Between the dosages people consume, the marginal benefit of each unit of alcohol consumed in a period of time (i.e. one shot may provide few harms and lots of benefits to overall happiness, whereas ten shots may provide many harms and few benefits to overall health and happiness), physical differences between individuals (genetics, current body types, brain composition, ability to metabolize alcohol, etc…), how it is integrated into one’s life (business, religious), and more, it would be overstepping my boundaries as a fitness professional and business person to make a blanket statement about whether one should drink alcohol or not. Before I continue, I want to clarify one thing: exactly what this post will be talking about. This post will only cover the effects that alcohol has on body composition. I will NOT be talking about how it impacts the internal organs, the brain physically, the psychological impacts of alcohol consumptions, any cultural/religious/social issues associated with alcohol, or really anything else other than the physique. Some of these topics will be covered in future posts, particularly the effect of alcohol on the brain. Let’s proceed.

Drink a few glasses of liquid courage, and BOOM, you are breaking it down for hours at a party. That counts as extra cardio, which means excess body fat gets shed off, right? That’s probably the strongest argument I can make in favor of alcohol in regards to its positive effects on the physique.

Unfortunately, alcohol has seven calories per gram and impacts fat storage greatly. Your body is a brilliant machine that’s complexity is derived from the simple concept, that it’s number one priority is survival. It adapts specifically to imposed demands (SAID – Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand). When you decide to line up birthday shots and start pounding them, your body decides to adapt to this demand placed on it. Alcohol is essentially toxic material and your body knows this very well. All it’s nutrient regulation shifts from processing what you eat to simply processing the alcohol. So while you’re slaying it on the dance floor, (if there are any shufflers reading this, please hit me up, I’ll out jersey shore you), your body is trying to slay that poison you put in it.

After consumption, the body breaks alcohol down into acetaldehyde and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), by the enzyme (ADH). The end product of alcohol breakdown is acetyl-CoA, which is a molecule that is heavily involved with fatty acid synthesis which is the creation of fat molecules. When there is an excessive build-up of acetyl-CoA, there will be an excessive formation of fatty acids. More fatty acids mean more fat storage. Your body is smart, and it adapts. Once it gets used to operating in a certain way, it wants to continue to do so. When your body gets used to storing fat, it will become more inclined to do so.

Furthermore, studies show that even small amounts of alcohol will decrease fat oxidation for up to four hours (in some cases more). This is not saying that if you choose to drink, you may as well binge drink (all or nothing thinking is very dangerous, to be discussed in a later post), but what I am saying is that you may not necessarily be much better off drinking small amounts of alcohol vs. large amounts when it comes to reducing body fat. It is simply the consumption of alcohol in the first place that signals to your body to shift its attention from the metabolic processing of food, to the breaking down of alcohol.

Now let’s talk about building muscle. Studies have found that the consumption of alcohol DOES REDUCE PROTEIN TURNOVER, which is the sum total of the creation of new proteins, minus the breakdown of old proteins. If you have more new proteins (as a result of protein synthesis), then old proteins (protein degradation), your muscles will grow. About midway through protein synthesis, alcohol has an inhibitory effect. Furthermore, alcohol’s effects impact type II muscles fibers (fast-twitch muscle fibers), more so than Type I muscle fibers. The former type of muscle fibers are more inclined to grow than the latter and seen more in explosive athletes like football and basketball players. Type I muscle fibers are considered more functional in some ways and seen dominantly in endurance athletes; they are not inclined to grow as rapidly as type II muscle fibers.

Alcohol is also proven to reduce the secretion of growth hormone which gets released heavily at night, so if you fall asleep while drunk, say goodbye to muscular repair or fat loss while asleep. Lutenizing hormone which is also important in muscular repair (more so in males than females) is also decreased by the consumption of alcohol. Last, cortisol, which is stress hormone is proven to spike whenever one consumes alcohol. In reference to the physique, increased cortisol has negative effects on the reparation of injuries, causes increased water retention, reduces the rate at which we burn fat, and some studies even say that increased cortisol levels cause fat to store particularly in the abdominal region.

Conclusions: If you want to burn fat, don’t drink alcohol. If you want to build muscle, don’t drink alcohol.

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EAT FAT TO LOSE FAT.

8/24/2016

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YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT.

Let us start by assuming (Yes, when I tell you to assume please just assume. For me? At least till the end of the post? Please?) that for us to achieve our fitness goals (or any goals for that matter) or at least effectively pursue them, we need to start applying the *inside out approach**. We must intrinsically change ourselves and the way our body responds to the plethora of stimuli that impact it each and every day.

To be effective, our focus must be on making positive changes in the way we respond to food, cardiorespiratory and load training, sleep, and all the other variables that effect our overall level of fitness. To clarify, we should NOT be focused on directly impacting or dictating the output, but instead, we should be focusing on improving our responses to inputs and this progressive improvement in responsiveness will not only provide us with results more efficiently, but will provide more longevity in our results and better overall health.

Okay cool, but now tell me how I can eat Twinkies and lose fat like the title claims, you might be thinking. Stuffing your face with saturated fats may not be the best thing, but I stand by the fact that you should eat healthier fats in order to lose fat based on the application of the principle of metabolic responsiveness. Our body is an adaptive organism that will change and adjust its secretion of hormones and enzymes based on what you put into it. Eat carbs, the body will decide to utilize them and effectively store them away. Eat proteins, the body will make the decision to break the long chains of proteins into smaller blocks to rebuild muscle tissue. Wait a second…. So if you eat more fats… you guessed it; your body will become more efficient in burning fat!

If you eat less fat, the body will hoard whatever it has and become incredibly ineffective in burning it which is NOT what we want. But be careful. You are not going to lose fat if you start eating avocados and peanut butter all day; you also have to be conscious of your other macronutrients* (Carbohydrates, and protein). We will not get too much into the science, but let’s scratch the surface a bit.

Let’s start with these two chumps that are impacted by carbs and protein: LPL – Lipoprotein Lipase and HSL – Hormone Sensitive Lipase. These chumparoonies decided to make this whole diet thing more complicated than it has to be. So we play out a few scenarios. Let’s start with a diet high in carbohydrates and fat. What happens if you eat a lot of both? Well, the carbohydrates will cause insulin to release which causes body tissue to grow due to the mechanism of action of LPL and HSL. When insulin levels rise, LPL increases in fat cells and decreases in muscle cells; so fat gets sucked into the fat cells, and the muscle cells cannot utilize fat as an energy source. What happens to this fat within the muscle cells? Well, you store the fat for a little later when it needs to be used. HSL, which functions to remove fats from fat cells by breaking triglycerides down into fatty aids also gets shut down by this intake of insulin. Not sure if you followed that, but the conclusion is that a high fat and high carbohydrate diet is no good.

Ok, so then high proteins and high fats has got to do the magic. Not quite; carbs spike insulin (which is bad), but guess what else does in high quantities; PROTEIN! Proteins are necessary for rebuilding the muscles, and increased muscle tissue means increased resting metabolic rates, which means decreased body fat. So now let’s draw another conclusion – moderate protein is good. You want to consume enough protein to maintain and rebuild the muscles, but not too much where your insulin spikes. So now what about carbs? I heard they were bad? Let’s all chill with that. At times we NEED Carbohydrates. If your carbohydrates remain low for too long, your metabolism will slow and that is a universal fact. Your T3 (Thyroid hormone), which is probably the most effective hormone at burning fat will go down, and that could be catastrophic for fat loss. You absolutely do not want to deplete yourself of them for too long.

So you may be wondering then, what macronutrient ratio is best? There is a lot of debate on this topic, and everyone is impacted by a wide array of factors so the answer to that question is NOT cut and dry. Between the variance from person to person in terms of goals, genetics, differences in supplementation, consumption of alcohol, use of recreational and performance enhancing drugs, sleep, workout intensity and volume, cardiorespiratory training, hormonal levels, etc... I cannot give one definitive answer. However, in my opinion, what seems to work for a large majority of people is a diet high in healthy fats, with moderate levels of protein, and low levels of carbohydrates for most of the week, and one or two days of moderate to above moderate levels of carbohydrates with low fats and proteins remaining moderate.

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Hack Your Brain, Hack Your Life

8/22/2016

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The Magic of Nootropics

As a personal trainer, competitive bodybuilder, fitness model, former collegiate athlete, pickup basketball super-star, and most prestigiously, gym badminton legend it is safe to say that I am heavily involved in the fitness industry and athletics in general. Furthermore, I have worked within the supplement industry for a few years, and when it comes to anabolic enhancement, the industry is getting progressively more saturated, the products are becoming progressively more pointless, and the marketing is become progressively more intricate and strategic.

The priority is NOT serving a consumer with a better product. Money is not being spent on research and development although these massive supplement companies may try to fool you into thinking so. Instead, the consumer’s money is being taken and allocated towards flashy ads and shinier packaging. (Look up “Shredz” and you will know what I am talking about. Yes Arvin, shots fired.)

Along with personal training and my own athletic endeavors, I have academic, financial, entrepreneurial, spiritual, and social goals as I am sure many of you do as well. It can certainly be overwhelming to live such a multi-faceted life with goals of all sorts. This goal-oriented nature has led me to have a fascination with safe, sustainable performance enhancement, particularly in the realm of cognitive enhancement simply because I am a firm believer that THE QUALITY OF YOUR LIFE IS DICTATED MOST HEAVILY BY THE HEALTH OF YOUR BRAIN.

What I have found is a direct inverse correlation between efficacy and safety when it has come to anabolic performance enhancement. Additionally, and more significantly, I have found that all aspects of success including athletic success have more so to do with the optimal performance of the mind; positive and negative bodily responses are simply just manifestations of optimal or sub-prime cognitive performance.

“Nootropic,” also called smart drugs or cognitive enhancers—are drugs, supplements, or other substances that improve cognitive function, particularly executive functions, memory, creativity, or motivation, in healthy individuals. In 2015, the nootropic industry grew to over $1 Billion. Yup, certainly worth paying attention to. Whether you know it or not, you most likely take a nootropic every single day of your life: Caffeine. Substances like caffeine are more well known, but there are thousands of compounds that you most likely have never heard of that some of the most successful people in the world are using that could help you with increasing your short term performance, and decreasing age-related cognitive decline.

For the record, Obama takes a powerful nootropic every day (Provigil), Dave Asprey (Wharton Graduate and CEO), takes up to 15 supplements a day for a cognitive edge, Barry Bonds took nootropics, Timothy Ferris has admitted to using them, and allegedly according to some sources, Elon Musk uses nootropics regularly.

Along with posts that have to do with health and wellness, I will slowly be putting out content related to different nootropics and nootropic stacks that could really change your life.

Have a healthy and productive week to all of my future brain hackers! :)

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Forward>>

NEAL THAKKAR

MY PET MONKEY’S EXPERIENCE WITH SEMAX

STUDIES SHOW THAT ALCOHOL IS REALLY NOT AS BAD FOR YOUR PHYSIQUE AS YOU THINK (JK)

EAT FAT TO LOSE FAT.

Hack Your Brain, Hack Your Life

The Magic of Nootropics

"All men dream: but not equally..."

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NEAL THAKKAR

MY PET MONKEY’S EXPERIENCE WITH SEMAX

STUDIES SHOW THAT ALCOHOL IS REALLY NOT AS BAD FOR YOUR PHYSIQUE AS YOU THINK (JK)﻿

EAT FAT TO LOSE FAT.

Hack Your Brain, Hack Your Life

The Magic of Nootropics

"All men dream: but not equally..."

Archives

Categories

STUDIES SHOW THAT ALCOHOL IS REALLY NOT AS BAD FOR YOUR PHYSIQUE AS YOU THINK (JK)