NO2 - Nitric Oxide

NO2 (nitric oxide) is a great supplement for energy, focus, and longevity when working out.  Nitric Oxide is not to be confused with Nitrous Oxide (N2O), which is used as laughing gas, or Nitrogen Dioxide (also NO2), which is an air pollutant.

The most common active ingredient is L-Arginine (in the form of Arginine Alpha-Ketoglutarate), one of the 20 most common amino acids.  NO2 is a vasodilator, which means that it widens the blood vessels allowing more blood, and with it more oxygen, to travel through the body.  This puts more oxygen into your muscles, allowing you to work harder, for a longer period of time, without fatigue.  This influx of blood to the muscles also helps to increase the "pump" of your muscles generally received from working out.

Nitric Oxide side effects include:

• Slight tingling feeling in the hands and face (usually goes away after 20 minutes)
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Allergic Reactions
• Asthma can be made worse
• If you have herpes, this can make it worse.  The herpes virus uses L-Arginine to multiply.
• Most of these seem to be temporary, and should go away after a week or so of use.

Always make sure to check with your doctor before starting to use any supplements, even a multi-vitamin.  This is not a complete list of nitric oxide side effects, but these are the most common.  Take it from me, if anything feels wrong, get to the doctor.  If it turns out to not be from NO2, oh well - better safe than sorry.  I almost died because I didn't go to the doctor when I first started having stomach problems (from my Crohn's) because I was too damn stubborn and macho to go.

I have used other brands of nitric oxide before (and absolutely love it), and have recently heard some great things about Jack3d, by USP Labs.  I just ordered it, so I will let everyone know what I think of this particular brand in a few days.  If it is as good as everyone is telling me, then this is probably the one that I will stick with from now on.  I'll let you know.

CoQ10

I received an e-mail about this stuff a few hours ago, and after doing some research, I've decided that I'm going to try it.  Most of the sales pages that I've seen say that anyone 30 and over should take it to keep their heart healthy and I am 30 years old, so I guess that means me!

CoQ10 is short for Coenzyme Q10.  According to Wikipedia, the name means this:

coenzyme Q, and abbreviated at times to CoQ₁₀ /ˌkoʊ ˌkjuː ˈtɛn/, CoQ, Q10, or Q, is a1,4-benzoquinone, where Q refers to the quinone chemical group, and 10 refers to the number of isoprenyl chemical subunits in its tail.

Uhhh, sure.  If you say so.......

For those of you wondering exactly what coenzymes are, click here.  Chemistry is not my strong suit, so I'll let them explain.

CoQ10 is said to help with high blood pressure, macular degeneration (very common in Crohn's patients), Alzheimer's, Asthma, exercise performance, and a host of other things.  Most of these statements need to be further researched, but the initial trials have been positive for many of these.

I am buying mine from Amazon, as they are one of the most reliable sites on the Internet.  Here's the link in case you want to check it out.

February 1st

Well, its finally February.  Time to start busting my ass.  I've decided that I will use the next month to get into good enough shape that I can really start pushing myself for the 3 months after this (March- May).  I will probably have to have another surgery this summer, so I need to get into the best shape possible to reduce the recovery time.  I DO NOT want to sit on my ass AGAIN for 6 months, so this time I plan on being prepared.  I have to build muscle so that I can move around easier, and I need to lose weight so that my scars don't look so bad this time (I gained a lot of weight before the last surgery, so they look weird right now).

I have been doing a lot of research on this topic, and plan to start including the best of what I find here to help those of you who are also looking to get in to shape.  If there is anything that you would like for me to write about please let me know.  I have been working out and playing sports all of my life so I am already knowledgeable about many aspects of this topic, and can easily find out anything that I don't already know.