Originally Posted by gangst Hi, I'm pretty lean I do about 4 hours cardio a week and am physically very fit.at the moment but theres a bit of fat I cannot shred no matter what. I'm thinking about buyin this stuff http://www.lamuscle.com/docs/product...ct=fatstripper I've seen it in quite a few mags and it looks pretty impressive, anyone tried it or is it ****? cheers

I have been referring to the beta-adrenergic system all throughout this article and I know a lot of you are dying to find out what the hell I’m talking about. Most of you who know the term beta-adrenergic have heard in relation to certain fat loss supplements. And that will be a key part of what we discuss here. But beta-adrenergic stimulation offers both catabolic benefits (lipolysis in adipocytes) and anabolic benefits (increased protein synthesis in muscle tissue). Naturally our high calorie diet will prohibit us from losing a great deal of fat and in most cases we may not lose any. But if we can prevent adding fat, the consequent increase in lean muscle tissue will lower our body-fat percentage favourably.

I will explain the mechanism of the beta-adrenergic system in a minute, but first we need to understand that we have beta-adrenoreceptors on fat cells, that will initiate the release of fatty acids for oxidation (fat loss) and that we also have them on muscle cells, where they will increase protein synthesis (20). That means muscular hypertrophy will be greater with adequate caloric intake while restricting fat loss. The combination should result in a lower body-fat percentage since lean body mass will increase and fat storage remains status quo.

Imagine the end of a nerve, then a space and then a fat cell (adipocyte). The space between the nerve and the adipocyte is called the synapse or the synaptic space. The nerve stimulates the adipocyte via electrical charges (ion streams) or neurotransmitters. Among the neurotransmitters is a hormone called noradrenaline (NA). When NA is released into the synapse, it has several receptors it can bind to on the adipocyte. They are classified into two categories, alpha and beta. The alpha receptors will inhibit fat loss (or protein synthesis in the muscle cell) while the beta receptors will increase fat loss (or protein synthesis in the muscle cell).

When a beta-receptor is engaged it will release a stimulatory G-protein into the cell, the alpha variation will release an inhibitory G-protein into the cell. These proteins will activate or deactivate the enzyme adenylate cyclase which splits ATP molecules into cyclic AMP (cAMP) molecules. cAMP is what we call the second messenger, the transporter of the signal in the cell. Without cAMP stimulation would not occur. cAMP activates the catalytic subunit of protein Kinase A, which activates Hormone sensitive Lipase (HSL) by phosphorylating it to HSL-P. HSL-P in turn will initiate a three step process by which it removes fatty acids that are bound to an alcohol function (normal storage of fat is triacylglycerides). These free fatty acids can be transported outside the cell by certain proteins and then used as fuel for the body, completing the oxidation of fat.

In muscle cells the process is similar, with stimulation, cAMP etc, but will obviously differ in the last few steps, leading to protein synthesis.

The main regulator of the system is insulin, which has the exact opposite effect as noradrenaline. So obviously we will have to keep insulin under control as much as possible. That will allow us to use the beta-adrenergic system to its maximum potential. Now noradrenaline has been touted as anti-catabolic, but this effect is observed because it causes protein synthesis and thus less protein is released from the cell to be burned. The effect is in other words anabolic. Which is why it may serve us as far as increasing lean muscle mass, especially since we have demonstrated effectively that testosterone and most likely boldenone will upregulate beta-adrenoreceptors. By using beta stimulators later in the cycle and post-cycle (provided adequate calories in diet) we can insure maximum muscle gain and muscle maintenance post-cycle, while keeping the fat off.

Because we need to eat a certain amount of calories to grow it is unrealistic to expect a great deal of fat loss capacity from the use of these products. But it should go a long distance in preventing the addition of further fat mass, which, combined with a significant increase in lean body mass, will decrease body-fat percentage. However, some fat loss is not unthinkable, since we are eating a high protein diet and the body will prefer the available free fatty acids, especially if we can bring them into circulation.

Our first goal in this endeavour should be to have a product that stimulates noradrenaline. Now some may think it is wiser to opt for other methods of fat loss, but DNP, T3 and corticosteroids will make it increasingly difficult to preserve lean mass. Other still may profer that the use of stronger specific beta-2 or beta-3 agonists like clenbuterol, salbutamol, albuterol or octopamine should be used, but because of their potency they will quickly render the beta-adrenrgic system useless, and only make use of part of the available systems to us (either beta-2 or beta-3 instead of both). The beta-2 receptor is most certainly the prime mobilizer here, where the beta-3 only has minimal if any activity, but has been deemed crucial to continuation of cathecholamine responses under sustained sympathetic activity (21). Most likely it maintains a certain amount of beta-adrenergic stimulation, but without increasing metabolism, so as to spare calories but continue the use of fatty acids for survival. As much as 40% of the activity of ephedrine has been attributed to the beta-3 stimulatory effects (22).

Since ephedrine acts by increasing natural noradrenaline release, it serves our purpose the best. It is also the more natural approach and less taxing on our system than some other fat loss preparations (T3 causes rebound by TSH shutdown, clenbuterol is very strong in increasing heart rate, and the list goes on). As opposed to more specific beta-2 agonists such as the likes of clenbuterol, ephedrine actually seems to have improved effects on thermogenisis after continual use (23). Ephedrine Hcl is our best choice here, although some will no doubt opt for standardized preparations using ma huang. This herb, depending on preparation will contain more or less than the actual 8% ephedra from dose to dose and is hence unreliable. If this is the only thing available to you, it is better than nothing however, but pure ephedrine Hcl should be preferred.

Yohimbine is quite critical in the equation. It acts as a potent alpha-adrenoreceptor blocker (strong on alpha2, mild on alpha1). The alpha receptors inhibit adenylate cyclase activity in the cell, increase its breakdown and thus prohibit fat loss. In normal people with normal diets, there is a certain level of adrenergic action. But noradrenaline seems to have greater affinity for alpha receptors, so not enough beta receptors get filled to cause fat loss / protein synthesis. By increasing the noradrenaline release we have already filled all alpha receptors and a greater number of beta-receptors. But if we could block the alpha receptors, then that would lead not only to more potency from the existing noradrenaline / beta-latches, but it would create MORE noradrenaline / beta-latches since less NA is taken up by the alpha receptors. Thus a major strike in the right direction.

A second factor we need to consider is the alpha-2 receptor concentration on our nerve as well, which, when activated, will increase the re-uptake of noradrenaline into the nerve. By blocking this receptor we prevent re-uptake and again, more NA is available to us. So yohimbine interferes with the NA’s auto-regulated negative feedback loop by acting as an alpha receptor antagonist, pre-synaptic and post-synaptic.

This is also very crucial in fat loss or prevention of fat gain in predisposed areas (abdomen and obliques in men, gluteo-femoral region in women), because these area’s have adipocytes that are extremely rich in alpha receptors, but rather poor in beta receptors (ever tried getting rid of those love handles ?).

Originally Posted by Tatyana Where is the chub? What is your current bodyfat? x x x T

Originally Posted by gangst Just want to be leaner so more muscle definition can be shown in my abs when not tensed, and to shave some fat off my backside, which has always been a bit large lol. Cheers though hacskii