by Lionel Weathers
If you've been using or reading about body building supplements for any period of time, you've probably heard of the idea of cycling them. This is a commonly used practice where you use a supplement for a period of time, but then go off of it for a period of time. A lot of people question whether this is really necessary. To answer this question, let's talk about why you should do this with certain supplements and which supplements you should do it with.
What is Cycling All About?
If using body building supplements can help you get a better physique, why should you go off them even for a short period of time? The problem is that if you have used certain supplements for a long period of time you may have noticed that they tend to have less effect as more time goes by.
That's why people cycle - to reduce the effect of your body building tolerance or reliance on the supplement. In other words, you'll get more benefit from the supplement for a longer period and you won't become fully dependent on the supplement to maintain your physique. Sounds great right!
Non-Cycling Supplements
Before we talk about ideas on cycling, let's talk a little bit about the supplements that you don't need to worry about cycling. These would include fish oils and EFAs, multivitamins, antioxidants, and protein. Glutamine is another supplement that falls into this category. Don't worry about cycling these, just take them consistently for their benefits.
Supplements to Cycle
You should consider cycling anything that really does make a difference in your physique. This would include (but are not limited to) creatine supplements, NO2, and fat burners.
Creatine Cycling
Here are a couple of standard strategies suggested for cycling creatine. One is the standard loading phase followed by a maintenance phase, then go off completely after 6-8 weeks, then start the cycle again. Another idea is to load for 3 days, don't take any for 3 days, repeat. And a third technique is to take 10g per day for 6 weeks, then take 2 weeks off. Do some experimenting and see what works for you.
NO2 Cycling
As I've been searching around for a technique to cycle NO2 I haven't found any really concrete advice on it. It seems that some people (and apparently books) recommend that you don't have to cycle it at all. But you'll also find that a lot of people have found the effect wearing off over prolonged use.
I have seen a few suggestions to use NO2 for no more than a month, and I think that this makes good sense. Use it for a month, and then go off for 2-4 weeks. This will keep your body developing a tolerance for the NO2 supplement.
Fat Burner Cycling
Don't take fat burners or other thermogenic products for a long period of time. It would be a good idea to follow a similar routine of one month on and then a few weeks off on this one as well. This much caffeine for a long period of time can't be good!
In Conclusion
To get the most out of some body building supplements for a prolonged period of time you should cycle them in some way. There are a lot of different ways that you can do this and so the best thing to do is to try different cycling techniques to see what your body reacts to the most. Do this effectively and you'll continue to reap the benefits of your favorite supplements!
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