32 min, 26 sec

In episode 18 of Gear Growth and Gains, host Type-IIx interviews Dr. Umar Nisar of Asylum Sports Performance & Recovery, a chiropractor renowned for his work with Nick Walker who specializes in elite athlete recovery. The episode explores advanced recovery modalities – such as active rehabilitation, cryotherapy, and infrared saunas – and emphasizes the importance of individualized treatment and routine for optimal performance. The discussion transitions to hormone optimization, introducing a guide on interpreting blood biomarkers for enhanced athletes. Key recommendations include regular, comprehensive blood testing and a systems-based approach to hormone balance. The episode provides evidence-based strategies for maximizing recovery, performance, and long-term health in strength athletes.

Disclaimer and Podcast Introduction (00:00:30)

Episode Overview & Guest Introduction (00:01:42)

Dr. Nisar's Background and Philosophy (00:04:05)

Chiropractic and Nutrition Approach (00:07:00)

Active Rehabilitation Methods (00:08:03)

Rehabilitation for Elite Athletes (00:09:34)

Measuring Progress in Rehab (00:10:32)

Cryotherapy, Infrared Sauna, and Passive Modalities (00:11:18)

Cryotherapy and Cold Modalities: Application and Dosing (00:13:04)

Infrared Sauna: Mechanisms and Benefits (00:14:44)

Passive Modalities Explained (00:16:48)

Sequencing Recovery Modalities (00:17:39)

Treating Elite Bodybuilders: Challenges and Evolution (00:19:14)

Key Principles for Elite Athlete Care (00:20:06)

Best Value for Non-Competitors (00:21:13)

Future Modalities and Contact Info (00:22:08)

Transition to Advanced Biomarker Series (00:23:24)

Bloodwork Fundamentals for Athletes (00:24:17)

Best Practices for Blood Testing (00:25:22)

Comprehensive Biomarker Monitoring (00:26:41)

Systems Approach to Biomarkers (00:27:48)

Series Summary and Next Steps (00:29:03)

Bloodwork Service Recommendation (00:29:21)

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:00:30  This show is not intended for the treatment of prevention of disease, nor is a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. No part herein, nor any statement, act or omission made by Cormac Mannion or Ampouletude LLC or its agents or affiliates are to be construed as treatment of any medical condition, medical advice, nor to delay necessary medical treatment. Scientific evidence is discussed for informational purposes only. No patient doctor relationship is formed. Hey guys, Type-IIx here. This is the 18th episode of Gear Growth and Gains, brought to you by Meso-Rx, the leading platform for open and unfiltered discussion on enhanced bodybuilding. Members freely share experiences, hold sources accountable and ensure transparency. No censorship, just real reviews. Visit Meso-Rx at thinksteroids.com/community And start posting. And if you want to subscribe to the Gear Growth and Gains newsletter, visit typeiix.substack.com to subscribe or go to ampouletude.com and click Sign Up for Type-IIx's Newsletter. And don't forget to check out @geargrowthgains One word on Telegram.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:01:42  Are you looking to expand your knowledge on performance enhancement strategies? I'm excited to announce the Clenbuterol Handbook, your comprehensive guide to understanding this powerful compound. This meticulously researched e-book breaks down everything you need to know, from biological effects to protocol design and practical considerations. The best part is completely free for all my Substack subscribers, just head over to typeiix.substack.com. Subscribe to get your copy today! If you prefer a one off purchase, stay tuned! The handbook will be available for sale soon on ampouletude.com. Don't navigate this complex topic with incomplete information. Get the Clenbuterol Handbook and make informed decisions about your performance journey. Subscribe now at typeiix.substack.com/subscribe. Welcome to the Gear Growth and Gains podcast hosted by me, Type-IIx. In today's episode, we dive deep into the intersection of cutting edge recovery techniques and advanced hormone optimization strategies. First, I had the privilege of speaking with Doctor Umar Niar, the soft tissue clinician and chiropractor behind Nick Walker's Elite Recovery and Injury Management. We explore how targeted soft tissue work supports not just pain relief, but also long term performance gains and injury prevention.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:03:04  Then we transition into the first podcast of the Advanced Biomarker eries, where I'll continue breaking down how to read and interpret your bloodwork to optimize hormones safely and effectively. This is essential knowledge for anyone serious about enhancing their physique and performance while protecting their health. Whether you're looking to fine tune your recovery protocols or want to understand the science behind hormone optimization, this episode offers practical insights to elevate your game. Stay tuned for the full interview and an in-depth guide to mastering your biomarkers. All right, let's get into it. Okay, so I am here today with Doctor Umar Nisar, who I would introduce as basically Nick Walker soft tissue guy. But he can tell us a lot more about what he is, what he does. doctor Nassar runs asylum sport performance and recovery in Voorhees, new Jersey, which I'm hopefully pronouncing correctly. But, yeah. Doctor Nisar, why don't you tell us a little about yourself, your introduction here?

Umar Nisar 00:04:05  Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me.

Umar Nisar 00:04:07  I appreciate you reaching out and making this possible. I'm really excited to talk about some of the stuff that we have prepared, and just to hopefully get out to a little bit more of the population that listens to the podcast. but I am a chiropractor by trade and license. I do practice very heavily in manual therapy. I've been doing this now for a handful of years, but three years since having Asylum Sports Performance and Recovery, which is located in Voorhees, new Jersey. I went to grad school in upstate New York, originally went to a community college locally here in South Jersey, and studied human biology and then transferred over to Drexel University, where I continued my undergrad and human bio. And then from there I went on to grad school because I found my way to chiropractic. it wasn't that it was like so much life changing. It was more so just that a chiropractor that I had met had set me on this new path just because of our relationship and conversation, not because of the philosophy of what chiropractic is, but more so just the way that he had communicated to me, which changed, my view on the injury that I had at the time and then put me on this path and then obviously inspired.

Umar Nisar 00:05:14  Yeah, yeah, inspired me. And fast forward us to basically now getting here and being one of Nick Walker's, soft tissue people.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:05:22  Excellent. Yeah. And you can find more about Doctor Nassar's, business and what he does at asylum, ESPN.com and at the Asylum Sport clinic underscore on Instagram. So, Doctor Nisar, what led you to establish Asylum SPR and what does your background in sport performance, how does it influence your approach to treating bodybuilders versus other athletes?

Umar Nisar 00:05:46  So I was never under the intention of like I was going to do my own business anytime soon. I was hoping to work under a family practice located also in South Jersey. But very quickly I realized that, you know what? I want to practice a little bit differently than the traditional Cairo. Most people's interpretation of what a traditional chrio is. I don't know if you've ever been yourself, but a lot of places, just like you get adjusted. You leave, and it's just that, and you're supposed to come back whether it's next week, a couple of weeks or every month, whatever it may be.

Umar Nisar 00:06:14  And to me, that just wasn't the model that I wanted. and being an athlete, ever since I was young and always being in the weight room since I was young, I had my first barbell and bench set in sixth grade. So I always loved the sport of bodybuilding, and I've always loved the act of just working out. I did play sports. but I knew like it sports wasn't going to be my thing long term or career wise. Coming from an immigrant household, it was doctor, engineer, lawyer, one of those. but I will say I found my way into this because I do have a fascination with the human body and sports performance, and that kind of got me into this.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:06:48  There's nothing more hands on than chiropractic work. I've done a lot of art. active of release. You know, and I found it very beneficial. But absolutely, it's like the model is basically going to come in every week to stay on top of these things. So you're just going to get worse.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:07:00  So you've, you've I know you've combined a chiropractic background with a masters in Applied Clinical Nutrition. How does this unique combination inform your approach to treating elite athletes?

Umar Nisar 00:07:11  I think with the Masters in nutrition, I do get a interesting insight on understanding how bodybuilders like handle their nutrition, especially so up close with guys that are super high level and you really get to like break down. Wow. Like this is what these guys do. And then you can then downtrend that to even the general population. Because I have a good mix of both like high level athletes, amateur athletes in general population. But watching the highest level, especially in a sport with nutritionists so so important you learn probably more there. I've learned more from those guys than I probably ever did in my masters. It just allowed me to bring the application together and make the dots connect. And that is what was really cool, because you went from learning from these guys that some of them don't really have higher level education, and just learning how to do this nutritional side of things and because of their sport and then connecting it to the education.

Umar Nisar 00:07:57  And that's where I was able to put a lot of things together, not so much from the actual schooling itself.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:08:03  Sure. So my audience, a lot of my readers and listeners are they want to get into the weeds with this stuff. All right. So let's talk about a couple of these different methods that I know that you specialize in. let's talk first about like, active rehabilitation. Okay. So what's an example of a movement through active rehabilitation that you might apply? Like walk us through it. Assume that we understand the gist of like contract, relax, proprioception, Golgi tendon organs and all that muscle reflex stuff.

Umar Nisar 00:08:30  Sure. I mean, when we talk about active rehabilitation, it's essentially why is it called that is because it's not passive, right? Passive is going to be something like stretching, doing a modality where the client or the athlete just lays there, and isn't really doing anything whereas active we're potentially going to actually be loading. Right. Let's say somebody has, hip rotational issues and we need to actually load that because that's where they're actually having a problem.

Umar Nisar 00:08:52  Just stretching it isn't going to do anything, but maybe doing a hip airplane or even doing some form of banded mobility movement is going to help us access more range of motion because now we have load, we have stability, and we have proprioception being tested, and those are things that we want to work on. So that way when the athlete goes and actually performs, whether it's an exercise or a movement or in whether it's the actual game, there is actual application and crossover and not just somebody stretching them, if that makes sense.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:09:18  It makes sense. So for bodybuilders and strength athletes specifically, how are you programming active rehabilitation? And I know most of your clients are not going to be like Nick Walker. Right. But how would what they do be different from what you do with somebody 270 plus pounds like Nick?

Umar Nisar 00:09:34  Sure. It just depends. Like right now I'm actually working with a one of the strongest guys in the world. and he had a recent injury to severe injuries, torn quad and a torn hamstring while trying to break the world record, in powerlifting.

Umar Nisar 00:09:48  Yeah. and just the active side of that right now we have to take. We have to pull back very heavily from the actual loading of super heavy weights, because obviously the injury is very significant, and we have to kind of move over to a bodybuilding type, training protocol to help rebuild the tiers that happen in the intramuscular regions. Active rehabilitation with especially if we are going to talk about bodybuilders, we have to be very careful depending on where they are in season or off season, and how much you can actually change their routine when you're like in prep. Active rehabilitation is going to be very, very minimal and you're going to take more of a passive approach. But if you're in the off season, that's the best time to go ahead and do active rehabilitation because their recovery is really good. They're resting a lot and there's quote unquote lesser risk for active rehabilitation and related injuries.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:10:32  And what are you looking for for improvement from them. Like what's the pre versus post outcome you're aiming for. Like just improve strength range of motion.

Umar Nisar 00:10:39  All of that. So the first thing is always going to be range of motion. Because after injuries that's the first thing that you're always going to lose. For the most part range of motion has to be restored and it has to be almost entirely pain free. A small bit I've gotten with experience. I've learned how to push into pain a little bit without making it detrimental, but almost full pain free range of motion and then start the loading process. And a lot of times it's going to be with isometric, because with bodybuilders, like, our biggest risk is that we don't want to tear anything, especially off the bone, because at that point, you know how that could completely ruin an entire career. So that's the super safe level way of reintroducing rehabilitation for bodybuilders. I love my isometric and just making sure tendon health is good. And then from there loading through full range of motion.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:11:18  Yeah okay. And I know. So besides active rehabilitation you also specialize at your facility in cryotherapy and cold modalities.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:11:26  infrared sauna, passive modalities. now, so you offer all of these for a serious bodybuilder and strength athlete. Like, what's your process for designing for deciding which to use.

Umar Nisar 00:11:37  it all depends on what the person is coming in for, obviously. And like for bodybuilders, you know that like weight is going to be a thing, especially now with the weight caps. Sometimes we can use the sauna to manipulate water, especially towards the end of a prep when you have to make those potentially drastic changes. But I will say that using it throughout the entire prep, and we use infrared ones because they're not overly aggressive, we can control the intensity of the heat and then have the athlete be completely adapted to it, so that by the time we are going to hit them a little bit more aggressively towards the end of prep to make weight, if that's an if, the if that is necessary, it's not a hard adjustment for them. Now, for the powerlifter or strength athlete, you got to be a little careful because you could fatigue the central nervous system a little bit too much.

Umar Nisar 00:12:17  So we'll regulate the intensity of the heat and make sure that the athlete has been accommodated to it all throughout their prep or whatever it may be, if it's a training block going into the competition. So that way it's not just a random spike of stress for them right before a comp. How a lot of guys try to knock out all these modalities right before the comp, and their bodies are not used to it.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:12:35  Yeah, it sounds like you have to be in such deep communication with your guys. I mean, you need to know where they are in their training. You know, you need to know what they're doing and how they are pain wise, too. So let's talk I the things that I wanted to really drill into a couple of the different modalities that you offer. So cryotherapy and cold modalities, infrared sauna, passive modalities. And we'll talk to you about your work with Nick and elite athletes. so with cryotherapy, like let's talk a little bit about it. What's the minimum effective dose for it.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:13:04  How do you assess it's working and what are you looking for there.

Umar Nisar 00:13:09  So for the cryotherapy we use a localized cryotherapy. And that's going to be typically for very acute injuries where we've seen our best and biggest responses. most of the stuff is falling within a 2 to 5 minute range. And then the five minute is a little extensive. So we do have to lay off of it or have a larger distance between our cryo. But 2 to 5 is where we find a lot of the sweet spots. It's usually more towards that too, and it's typically going to be more associated towards our acute injuries. The cold plunge that we use, we use a little bit more. So for chronic issues, inflammatory joint issues or even overall fatigue. That's where we're going to use a cold punch because the submersion of the entire body and we can attack it from that angle. The infrared sauna We use for people who also have very similar issues that can't tolerate the cold, so that can help with inflammatory arthritis, that can help with people with Lyme disease.

Umar Nisar 00:13:53  Very unique in that sense. And it can also be very, very helpful for people that may have cardiovascular issues because it's almost a light form of cardiovascular conditioning due to adapting to that heat and your heart rate going up and down.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:14:05  Great. So is the major difference between cryotherapy and cold modalities like cold plunges, just the degree of cold that you're dealing with. I know, like it's you're probably talking about like liquid nitrogen and that kind of thing. Is that is that what cryotherapy is? It is.

Umar Nisar 00:14:18  Yeah. So cryo is liquid nitrogen. And the thing about cryo is that for people who can't handle full body submersion, it's very localized. You can attack a specific area. So it's in cases where systemic inflammation is not the concern. We can go very specific to that area, whatever it may be. and it's almost always with traumatic and acute injuries. That's where it makes the most sense. Whereas for the cold plunges and the cold, cold water, that's for systemic inflammation and any form of inflammatory diseases.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:14:44  Use I. All right. So let's talk about infrared sauna. Like how does infrared sauna work.

Umar Nisar 00:14:48  So the infrared sauna, the research behind it goes behind is more towards the wavelength of the light. Right. That's why the whole infrared is such a big deal. the research shows that it can penetrate on a more microscopic level, whether it's helping the cells or the skin. Now, as to how far true that is, obviously, it's very hard to prove there is research out there that it's getting a little bit better. It's not too phenomenal. But I will say research for saunas has been around for years. And that's the implementation that I really like for people is that it is very, very beneficial for circulation. It's very beneficial for heart health, and those are the things that we want to focus on. And with these bodybuilders, the biggest thing is, is that we're using it to help decrease cortisol levels, to remove stress, have them just be very, very calm and relaxed during these preps.

Umar Nisar 00:15:29  So that way they're not holding on to unnecessary water stress, fatigue or whatever it may be.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:15:34  That actually sounds like a really good plan. Like I've never thought about that to you. So you're using it around the competition, probably like to use it like pre and post like show.

Umar Nisar 00:15:43  So we love. We actually use it. So a lot of the guys, the pro level guys, the bodybuilders that we work with, is typically 1 to 2 times a week when we're in prep. So they're here almost twice a week, and we split that up based off recovery days and training days or post recovery from their hardest training day. So that way we can compile that damage as close as possible together. And that's when we hit them as hard as we can with all of these passive modalities, because we don't want to hit them all year long during the off season because they develop tolerances to it, especially when they're so large. We want to hit them with these passive modalities very acutely and very sharply when they need it the most.

Umar Nisar 00:16:14  That's going to be during the preps when these aches and pains pop up. So we hit them, with the saunas almost 2 to 3 times a week, depending on how well they tolerate it. And we regulate it very well. So we know exactly the infrared ones. What's cool about then? You can measure things. You can see what the exact temperature was when they got in, how much time they were in, what the intensity of the wavelength was. so that's why I like the infrared ones for me, because there's tractability to it, and we can make sure that we're not hitting them with any two crazy before going into a show, because I've seen guys jump into a sauna that's super aggressive and then not be able to bounce back and peek properly.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:16:48  Makes sense. So you talked a lot about passive modalities. And I just want to make sure that the audience understands what we're talking about here. So what are the passive modalities.

Umar Nisar 00:16:56  So the passive are always going to be like the manual therapy stretching but also the electrical stimulation type of machines that everyone has seen.

Umar Nisar 00:17:03  Everyone's got different variations. We have a pretty high level one. everyone's got a different one. People. Have you ever seen like the newbie? Ours is called the AAP wave, but there's also regular e stim. But those are passive modalities they're supposed to help with like regeneration to a certain extent with especially acute injuries. So when guys tweak something, we want to be able to apply that and hopefully see the response that we're looking for. even infrared saunas and the plunges and cryo all fall under passive modalities. Everything that's not the athlete actually actively loading or moving on their own is considered basically a passive modality. You can even have ultrasound shock wave. Those things will fall under that too.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:17:39  Interesting. So how do you combine these all of these recovery modalities and what sequence yields the best performance outcomes? Is there even a general rule. Or does it depend on the athlete?

Umar Nisar 00:17:50  A great, great question. I have obviously certain people have their routines, have a set way of doing things. We try things a little differently, but we see what works the best for the athletes.

Umar Nisar 00:17:57  For me as a chiropractor, I do use spinal manipulation and decompression. I don't market that heavily. That's just a part of the appointment. I don't, you know what I mean? I don't believe in the whole let me charge you this much money for just doing a quick 22nd adjustment. That's not that's not what I stand for. That's the very beginning of our appointment. Just so we can get, like a little bit more joint mobility and start working on the athlete. From there, we transition to the manual therapy. We spend anywhere between 40 to 60 minutes doing manual therapy. And if there's passive modalities in there, whether we need to use the stimulation machine, things like ultrasound or cryotherapy could be used in that time frame. once that's all done, we usually end our sessions with either the plunge and the sauna or just the sauna. But the sauna really helps. Like believe the athlete in terms of being stressed out or potentially even feeling slightly irritated from all the work. So just go relax in the sauna.

Umar Nisar 00:18:45  Some guys fall asleep.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:18:47  That's a good sign. There's no better sign than that. You can do that on show day. Contest day. That's the best thing to do.

Umar Nisar 00:18:53  It's awesome. Some of them will drop like 4 or £5 between when they walk to their front door.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:18:58  I actually believe it, I believe it, it's just wild to think about. That's like. That might be a small percentage of a nick, but that's still like that's substantial weight, you know for sure.

Umar Nisar 00:19:06  It's recording it a lot more. That's exactly it's the stress that's like leaving their body. But obviously they're going to sweat water and float water too. And that they're here.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:19:14  Sure. So you work with Nick Walker has gotten attention. What unique challenges come with treating a mass monster at his level compared to other bodybuilders? Strength guys.

Umar Nisar 00:19:23  So it's not as much anymore. But I think Nick was my breakthrough and like, not being so nervous anymore, where obviously when you when you make that gap of like working with amateurs and working with athletes that aren't considered.

Umar Nisar 00:19:34  I don't want to sound like that, but they aren't considered high value yet, you know, because at the amateur level, no one really has a value just yet. But when you're working with somebody who everybody is looking at and then their health is in your hand to a certain extent, if he gets hurt, it could be massively my fault, especially after he had that injury. I actually worked on him like pretty closely after the hamstring injury and monitored it slightly, a good amount and it made me very, very nervous, especially following an injury. I was like, man, if I messed this up, there's a lot.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:20:06  That means you care. Honestly, that just means you care. Like, really. So how's your treatment approach evolved based on what you've learned working with Nick and with the elite bodybuilders and strength athletes? What key principles have you refined?

Umar Nisar 00:20:19  For sure. And that's exactly what it is. It's refining of the of the quality of work and understanding how much detail has to go into this and removing a lot of stuff kind of earlier, how you asked, like, how do you like use all those modalities? I actually started pulling things away, which I realized, like going back to like the very, very basics and understanding what like really works for this athlete.

Umar Nisar 00:20:38  And what they need a lot of times is really just what they think that they need is what they what you should probably give them, because it plays such a large mental, aspect for them. And you don't want to mess these guys up from their routine because their routine is so, so important, especially at that level. Like they don't budge. They don't skip a beat. For Nick, one of the coolest things is we'd be working on a session and we'd be almost like an hour deep into a session. His timer would go off. It'd be mid session. I would be working maybe on his back or something. Timer would go off. He would sit up, walk over to the chair, sit down and start eating his meal. Oh yeah, say a word. And then as soon as he'd be done, he'd be right back on the table.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:21:13  It's the most important aspect. It's the hardest one to the diet. So yeah. Yeah. So for listeners who train hard but aren't competing, what service that asylum would give them the biggest performance improvement for their investment?

Umar Nisar 00:21:25  I think it would be really information.

Umar Nisar 00:21:27  And that's where a lot of people don't realize, like what people get out of here, like the general population when they walk through these doors and the amount of like attention and information and care that they get, not even from a hands on standpoint. That's what's lacking so much is actual good information, because a lot of times I don't have the answer, but I can refer you to the right direction. And I think that has given me a lot more credibility than my hands on work ever has. Even though, like, yes, you can come in, you can get your service. I do practice manual therapy really heavily. I work with a lot of like professional athletes, especially in the bodybuilding world, so they would get a high level service in terms of that. But I want people to know, is that what they would get when they walk through these doors is a community of people that has a lot of information and direction to give.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:22:08  Okay. Are there any new treatment modalities or approaches you're looking forward to implementing at asylum in the near future? Anything in the pipeline tech wise, anything like that?

Umar Nisar 00:22:17  I would definitely like to potentially get into hyperbaric and the oxygen, and or grade four lasers, both of which are extremely, extremely expensive.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:22:27  Yeah, yeah, that's interesting stuff. I know a little bit about the first topic, but the laser stuff. No, that sounds pretty out there. That's pretty interesting though. I mean, you got to keep on the edge with this stuff because there's a lot of this stuff has benefit. Like the infrared to me was totally novel. I had to look into it. And basically everything you said corresponded with my research too. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's I think that's super interesting and it works. So for. Yeah. So for our listeners who might be interested in working with you, what's the best way for them to connect with asylum SVR?

Umar Nisar 00:22:55  So honestly, just our Instagram is probably the easiest, easiest, most direct way people do contact me through email. That's another way that people can contact me at a doctor, [email protected]. And then obviously you already said our Instagram, but that's going to be probably the two best ways to get to me. And then on our website has my direct phone number.

Umar Nisar 00:23:14  So people could easily just call me.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:23:16  Great. Thank you, Doctor Nisar for being here today. We learned a lot. And thank you for your time. All right.

Umar Nisar 00:23:21  Have a good one I appreciate it man. You too. Thank you. All right.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:23:24  Listen.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:23:24  Up all you enhanced fucks! The Meso-Rx forum at thinksteroids.com is your go to source for everything enhanced. We're not just another board with a most trusted harm reduction community in the game, you should be looking only at unfiltered reviews where members don't bullshit at Meso they definitely tell it like it is. Don't waste time with shills. Visit. thinksteroids.com and stop posting now. In this second section of Gear Growth and Gains. Episode 18 I'm kicking off a new hybrid written article and audio podcast series, culminating in an e-book focusing on advanced biomarkers, how to understand and use them to optimize your hormone profiles, boost performance, and safeguard your health. This episode serves as an introduction to crucial topic for any serious athletes or enhance bodybuilders.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:24:17  Reading and interpreting your blood work. Bloodwork is the cornerstone of any scientifically sound hormone optimization protocol. Without it, you're essentially flying blind, relying on subjective feelings rather than objective data. The problem is, many athletes get blood test results back and see a bunch of numbers and reference ranges, but don't know how to make sense of them. Or even worse, they just jump around and get different biomarkers without knowing how to use them. That's where this series comes in. The guide I'm referencing today, which you can read in full at typeiix.substack.com is from my article titled How to Read Bloodwork for Hormone Optimization An Athlete's Guide: Key Advanced Biomarkers for Enhanced Lifters breaks down the critical biomarkers. You need to know how to prepare for testing, and how to interpret your results in a way that supports both performance and long term health. Here are some of that articles. Key takeaways. First, comprehensive testing matters monitor total and free testosterone estradiol the sensitive or ultra sensitive assays only IG-1, lipids, liver markers and inflammation indicators at least every six months.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:25:22  Second, timing is everything. Respect compound specific washout.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:25:27  Periods ranges from two days to 84 days before testing to avoid false readings. Third and fourth track trends, not snapshots. Maintain 18 plus months of chronological blood work data to identify meaningful patterns and hormone relationships, and finally, optimize ratios over individual values. Focus on testosterone to estradiol balance and marker interaction rather than maximizing single hormones. If you'd like my help with this, you can visit Ampouletude.com for my professional, custom, and individualized protocol design for you with continuous bloodwork. Monitoring of relevant biomarkers. So hormone optimization isn't just about hitting normal lab ranges. Those ranges are statistical averages based on general populations, often sedentary individuals, and don't necessarily reflect what's optimal for an athlete pushing the limits. Instead, optimization is about finding your individual hormone balance that supports muscle growth, recovery, metabolic efficiency, and overall Performance. Key hormones to monitor include total and free testosterone, estradiol, measured with the sensitive assays and ultra sensitive and IGF-1, which is a marker for growth hormone activity.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:26:41  But it doesn't stop there. Cardiovascular risk markers like LDL and HDL, apolipoprotein ratios, and inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein are essential to track as well. Liver and kidney function tests, including gamma glutamyl transferase that get help ensure your organs are handling the stress of training and any compounds you might be using. One of the most important points in the guide is respecting washout periods. Before testing different compounds, clear your system at different rates from a couple of days for some oral steroids to nearly three months for long acting testosterone esters. Testing too soon after a cycle of protocol change can give you misleading results, which could lead to poor decisions about your health and dosing. Another critical concept is longitudinal tracking. One off tests are snapshots. They don't tell the full story. This guide recommends maintaining at least 18 months of chronological blood work data. This allows you to identify meaningful trends and patterns, such as how your testosterone estradiol ratio shifts with training, diet, or protocol adjustments. It's these trends, not isolated numbers, that provide actionable insights.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:27:48  This guide also emphasizes a systems approach instead of obsessing over individual values. It's about understanding how biomarkers interact. For example, changes in SHBG can affect free testosterone bioavailability even if total testosterone looks normal. Similarly, balancing estradiol with testosterone is crucial to avoid side effects like gynecomastia or cardiovascular risks for athletes using enhanced protocols. Regular monitoring every six months, at least during maintenance phases, is essential, with more frequent testing when adjusting dosages. Annual heart scans and liver and kidney imaging are recommended to catch any early signs of complications if you're navigating complex biomarker interactions is seeing unexpected results. Professional consultation is invaluable. Specialists can help tailor your protocols and interpret subtle patterns that might otherwise be missed. In summary, this guide is a must read for anyone serious about hormone optimization, provides a comprehensive guide work for using blood work as a dynamic feedback system, guiding your decisions to maximize gains while protecting your long term health. To dive deeper into all these topics and get the full details, visit typeiix.substack.com. It's packed with actionable insights to help you take control of your hormone optimization journey.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:29:03  That's it for today's introduction to the Advanced Biomarker Series. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes where we'll break down individual biomarkers, testing strategies, and protocol adjustments in more detail.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:29:21  Hey guys, I don't know what you're doing for yourblood work, but if you're using anyone besides Fitomics your lighting money on fire and probably not getting the right biomarkers to boot. This is especially true if Labcorp's within driving distance to you, because they're literally one third the price of the competition. Use coupon code type-iix. That's type E hyphen II, x. It's not case sensitive. You'll save 10% if all you have nearby is. Quest is still the best option because while there's like one cheaper company, they don't offer as many biomarkers and they end up not being worth it. So sign up for the Research Labs Insider at Fitomics.org. That's Fitomics for by far the best lab work options available in the US, except for New York, new Jersey, and Rhode Island with self requisition of blood work isn't legal, at least not yet.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:30:13  If you're confused at all, the best thing to do is visit my site at Ampouletude.com, click Sign Up for Type-IIx's Newsletter, sign up and when I send out my occasional, valuable, Never Spam newsletter, I include the steps to sign up and use Fitomics.

Gear Growth and Gains, Type-IIx, advanced recovery techniques, hormone optimization strategies, bodybuilders, strength athletes, Dr. Umar Nisar, chiropractor, soft tissue clinician, Asylum Sport Performance and Recovery, Voorhees, New Jersey, Nick Walker, elite athletes, performance enhancement, Meso-Rx, Clenbuterol Handbook, active rehabilitation, manual therapy, sports nutrition, injury prevention, cryotherapy, cold plunges, infrared saunas, electrical stimulation, ultrasound, shockwave therapy, passive recovery modalities, training phase, routine in recovery, mental discipline, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, grade four lasers, advanced biomarkers, blood work, testosterone, estradiol, IGF-1, lipid profiles, liver markers, inflammation indicators, cardiovascular health, hormone ratios, systems approach, lab testing, Fitomics, Quest Diagnostics, personalized protocol design, continuous blood work monitoring, athlete health, performance optimization

Press Prerelease

The Clenbuterol Handbook by Type-IIx

Subscribe to Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter

Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter | Archives

Communities ❯ Telegram › Gear, Growth, and Gains | Team Ampouletude | Type-IIx

48 min, 02 sec

In episode 17 of Gear, Growth, and Gains, Peter Magic (Janoshik) discusses the science and ethics of peptide and anabolic steroid testing. Peter, who leads a major Czech testing lab, details analytical methods (HPLC, LC-MS, GC-MS), market trends, and the prevalence of counterfeit products. He addresses peptide stability, endotoxin risks, and manufacturing advances, emphasizing that most peptides are more stable and safer than commonly believed. The episode highlights the need for rigorous, transparent testing and warns against unreliable labs, underscoring the importance of scientific integrity in the enhanced bodybuilding community.

Podcast Introduction and Disclaimers (00:00:30) Host introduces the show, gives disclaimers, and promotes Meso-Rx and related platforms.

Type-IIx Insider Program Launch (00:02:06) Details about the new premium content program, symposiums, ebooks, and a limited-time discount.

Guest Introduction: Peter Magic / Janoshik (00:02:55) Host introduces Peter Magic (Janoshik), his background, and his company’s focus on testing peptides and steroids.

Origin of the Janoshik Name (00:03:16) Peter explains the significance of the Janoshik name and its Slovakian roots.

Janoshik as a Folk Hero (00:03:46) Discussion about Janoshik as a real-life Robin Hood figure in Slovak folklore.

Starting the Testing Business (00:04:17) Peter describes how and why he started his testing business around 2012-2013.

Transition to Building a Team (00:05:10) Peter discusses moving from solo work to hiring staff and scaling the company over the last five years.

Lab Equipment and Analytical Methods (00:06:29) Overview of the lab’s equipment, including HPLC, LCMS, and GCMS, and their uses in compound identification.

Novel and Unlisted Compounds (00:09:07) Peter talks about encountering novel compounds not found in standard databases, including experimental cannabinoids.

Personal Accomplishments (00:10:11) Peter shares personal achievements, including his children and powerlifting milestones.

Most Egregious Fake or Underdosed Products (00:12:13) Discussion of recent trends in fake or underdosed products, including steroids replaced with other substances.

Current State of the Anabolic Steroid Market (00:14:45) Peter describes the decline in quality and availability of anabolic steroids and raw materials, especially from China.

Peptide Market Trends and SLU-PP-332 ("Sloopy") (00:17:48) Discussion about the peptide market, SLUPP 332, and issues with its formulation and solubility.

Testing NAD+ vs. Peptides (00:20:45) Comparison of testing methods for NAD+ and peptides, and challenges in purity assessment.

Challenges Testing hCG and HMG (00:23:26) Explains difficulties in testing hCG and HMG due to molecular variability and manufacturing differences.

IGF Peptide Authenticity (00:26:32) Peter discusses the rarity of authentic IGF-1 samples and issues with degradation and market quality.

Price vs. Quality in IGF Peptides (00:29:15) No correlation found between price and quality in IGF peptides based on testing data.

Endotoxins in Samples (00:29:53) Overview of endotoxin testing, its relevance, and the impact of manufacturing methods on contamination.

Manufacturing Methods and Endotoxin Risk (00:33:12) Differences between E. coli and mammalian cell line production, and their effects on endotoxin contamination.

Injection Safety and Endotoxin Risks (00:34:33) Discussion on the relative safety of subcutaneous injections and minor risks associated with endotoxins.

Peptide Stability and Degradation Experiments (00:36:16) Peter shares findings from informal experiments on peptide stability, agitation, and thermal stress.

Bribery and Maintaining Independence (00:39:24) Peter recounts experiences with bribery attempts and how company growth ensures independence and integrity.

Other Testing Companies and Industry Ethics (00:40:55) Peter critiques other testing labs, highlighting issues with legitimacy, transparency, and accountability.

Importance of Team and Employee Recognition (00:44:58) Peter emphasizes the contributions of his team and wishes for more recognition of their work.

Podcast Wrap-Up and Final Promotions (00:46:00) Host thanks Peter, wraps up the episode, and promotes related forums and lab bloodwork services.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:00:30  This show is not intended for the treatment of prevention of disease, nor is a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. No part herein, nor any statement, act or omission made by Cormac Mannion or Ampouletude LLC or its agents or affiliates are to be construed as treatment of any medical condition, medical advice, nor to delay necessary medical treatment. Scientific evidence is discussed for informational purposes only. No patient-doctor relationship is formed. This is the 17th episode of Gear Growth and Gains, brought to you by Meso-Rx, the leading platform for open and unfiltered discussion on enhanced bodybuilding. Members freely share experiences, hold sources accountable, and ensure transparency. No censorship, just real reviews. Visit Meso-Rx at www.thinksteroids.com/community and start posting if you want to subscribe to the Gear Growth and Gains newsletter, visit https://typeiix.substack.com to subscribe or go to ampouletude.com and click Sign up for Type-IIx's Newsletter. And don't forget to check out @geargrowthgains one word on Telegram. I am also offering my most valued subscribers early access to the Type-IIx Insider Deal, a special offer for premium content via Substack, the Type-IIx Insider Program that includes not only premium exclusive articles not found anywhere else that delve insanely deep into important drug and training topics, but also exclusive ebooks that I'll distribute through Substack and access to symposiums, my notorious live presentations, and Q and A's.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:02:06  This is all happening at https://typeiix.substack.com/typeiixinsider And to celebrate the launch of this Type-IIx Insider Program, premium content, symposiums, ebooks, and premium articles, I'm giving away a limited time 20% off deal for all new Type-IIx Insider signups. So check it out. It's a few bucks a month and again, that's https://typeiix.substack.com/typeiixinsider To sign up for the Type-IIx Insider Program.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:02:55  We're on.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:02:56  Yes, Peter. Nice to meet you. Thank you for coming here, Peter. So I'm here today with Janoshik. Okay, so everybody knows him as Janoshik. He is the biggest company involved in this space for testing peptides. Peter Magic is here. He's Slovak now in the Czech Republic. Is that correct? You're actually from. You're Slovak? Yeah, yeah. Slovak.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:03:16  Yeah, yeah. I was born in Slovakia. I actually used the name Janosik to distinguish the fact that I'm from Slovakia. It's like the national hero over there. And many, many years ago, we just roamed the anonymous boards online.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:03:32  but we sort of wanted to get distinguished. So we set up some nicknames, like the Italian Janacek, etc., etc. and it sort of stuck with me, you know?

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:03:46  Yeah. From what I understand, Janoshik is like the real life Robin Hood, from what we hear over here. He was like a highwayman, but actually existed. Is that true?

Multiple Speakers 00:03:54  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:03:56  That's true. and he's really well known in Slovakia. They made a couple of movies about him. And it's a folk legend.

Multiple Speakers 00:04:04  Basically, I can't like. I can't believe we don't know who it is. Like, it's just. Yeah. First. First I've ever heard of Janoshik is your company. So when did you open up business on janoshik.com for the international online market?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:04:17  Well, I've been around since 2012 or 2013. I would have to check. and I'm not really confident. You know, I didn't keep too many records from back then, but it was just walking with friends.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:04:29  You know, I had many friends in the bodybuilding and powerlifting and weightlifting communities in general, and they had this issue that they were using stuff and they didn't have a slightest idea what they were using. There were some companies like Semic in Switzerland and so on. we did the test, but they were incredibly so expensive. Wrong all the time. So they weren't accepting private people, private person business, and I figured I might try it out to help my friends at a local university. So we did just that.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:05:10  Yeah, that's pretty cool. I mean, to be able to help your friends out like that. So at what point did you transition from handling testing yourself to building out a team? And how is that scaling process altered your day to day involvement?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:05:22  Wow. I did all the testing myself until, like five years ago when then I hired some help for. So it's only.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:05:34  Been five years. Really? Okay, yeah, but you've been around. You started doing this, like, a decade ago, and in the last five years, you've really grown.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:05:41  Yeah. Yeah, that's that's. I was handling it all myself for quite a while. That's been real difficult. But I started building a team roughly five years ago when I hired a girl to help me out who was studying chemistry in Prague. So she helped out at the lab and she was a great help. She actually was working here until this summer when she left for maternity leave for so. And she might she might be coming back after that. And over the time I hired my now CEO Jakub and other help. And right now, right now, there's like 30 people, over 30 people involved.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:06:29  Are you over 30 people? That was my next question. I was going to ask how many people you have. Wow. So you've grown tremendously. That's great. Tell us about the equipment that you actually use. Like just in broad strokes. Like what different types of machines do you need for all this analytical chemistry work?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:06:44  Well, we do have a lot of machines. We are mostly liquid chromatography HPLC lab.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:06:49  That's what's more what I'm specialized at. That's what I'm by. So that I can do everything from, setting up the machines, maintaining them, creating new methods, doing the analysis and quality assurance and quality control, which which is really great. So we focus on that mostly. it's great for routine screening and many of the tests, most of the tests we do are routine ones, like we repeat the same test all over again. but of course, we do have more advanced equipment like LCMS. Which is great. It's, it's a mass spectrometer coupled to the HPLC. So you can see the molecular mass of what you are seeing. It's great for confirming that what you're seeing really is what you think it is. sometimes we can use it to identify unknowns or degradation of the of the target compounds and stuff like that. We also have GCMS, which I adore. For the qualitative testing, for identifying stuff, you know, many anabolic steroids, they're not quite. Not quite well visible in the UV spectrum, which is what most of the HPLC use.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:08:08  They use UV detection ultraviolet. So we confirm the presence of the steroids or the amount with the GCMS, for example. We prefer to have, confirmation from a different source. So we do that. And the GCMS is really good for identifying complete unknowns. If the compound of interest, if we receive something and we don't have the slightest idea what it is. we try to dissolve it. And if it is volatile, we can test it with the GCMS and the GCMS has a library. this library, which has a couple of hundred thousand compounds in there, and it can compare. The results with the library. So even if it's something we've never seen before, we can identify it. So that's that's really great.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:09:07  What's something we've had within the last like within the last few months, like, what's something that wouldn't have been in that database. Like what would be something that was like, totally novel that you ran into?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:09:16  Well there's a whole lot of stuff that's totally novel. That's not in the databases where we see a lot of uncommon esters with steroids.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:09:24  We see, novel peptides that are database. It's a couple of years old, and it cannot be used for peptides because they're not volatile. But, while we're saying experimental cannabinoids, which, which only been developed a couple of months ago or weeks ago, even so, they, they cannot be listed in any database in the world that. But we do, we do research work as well, so we can confirm even a compound that never, ever been tested before. No. While we we we can work on that and figure it out. So we do a lot of interesting stuff like that, even if it's not in a library. If we know what we're looking for, we can confirm it.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:10:11  That's great. Okay, so besides, besides building your business, Peter, what are some other accomplishments that you're proud of?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:10:19  Well, I'm pretty proud of my three kids and dealing with that before I've been 30.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:10:26  That's the first we've heard of this. Nice.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:10:29  Yeah, it has been. This band has been a rough time studying med school, dealing with the business, and dealing with the kids who refuse to sleep at all.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:10:38  That's been. That's been a very rough time for me. My first kid, he didn't like to sleep for more than 10 to 15 minutes, in a row, so I was not quite far away from throwing myself under a train, but I persevered. Other than that, yeah. And I'm still pretty proud of the fact I used to deadlift 270 kilos.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:11:02  270 kg! I thought you were going to say pounds. And I was, like, going to move on to the next. But yeah, that's pretty good. That's like that's like 600.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:11:10  Yeah.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:11:11  That's solid. Well close. Yeah. Very strong.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:11:15  I'm not sure how it is in pounds.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:11:17  How much did you weigh in KG at the time.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:11:20  Yeah it's roughly 600. Yeah. Well well I was 110 kilos, so it's pretty strong.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:11:27  No that's very that is an achievement. That's that doesn't that's that's you're much bigger than you are now.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:11:33  Yeah. Yeah, yeah I was, I was I was rather huge. Oh, you know, I actually felt one year at the med school, so I only took some classes for a year, so I had like tempers and the schedule I was used to.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:11:49  So I took on heavy lifting and, I got really big.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:11:54  that's really big. Yeah. That's good. yeah. Only plants grow naturally. We know. All right, so what's the what's. Let me ask you this. Peter. So in the last few years, let's say in the last 2 to 3 months, even, what's the most egregious under dosed or fake product that you've encountered?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:12:13  Wow. Way to say a lot of stuff that turns out to not be the stuff it claims to be at all. That's right. A common occurrence with anabolic steroids. In recent months, we're seeing a lot of pretty much everything except anabolic steroids. We see a lot of vitamin E being sold, tocopherol acetate sold as steroids. We see, acetaminophen being sold, steroids with floor being sold. Steroids. That's all we we see a lot of Viagra being sold steroids, which is funny because a couple of years ago there was, the market dried up for Viagra. Pardon me. so. And you could see steroids being switched for Viagra.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:13:00  Now is the other way around.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:13:02  So, yeah, Viagra used to be expensive, too. All those Pde5 inhibitors were, like, really expensive when they first came out on the market. Pharmaceutical. Yeah.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:13:12  And like 5 or 6 years ago. if I'm correct, there was a huge bust in China and all the Viagra sources disappeared. And right now, it's so abundant and cheap that people do sell it as steroids because there is no steroids on the market. So we see a lot of that. of course, we often see the more unique and rare compound is the higher likelihood of it being something else entirely or compound molecule with similar effects. We see that with hair loss drugs a lot. We've seen I posted about it on Meso recently. We've seen there's the tirzepatide that actually contain contain no tirzepatide, but it only contains contained what we strongly believe was insulin. Or at least this we think it was insulin glargine. Again, if I'm pronouncing it correctly, I have no idea.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:14:13  I've never actually said it out loud in English. And that is long insulin. So it's the likelihood. Yeah. Yes. Likelihood it will kill you is not quite high. But a year or two ago we've seen other fake Ozempic which were like insulin aspart, which if I recall correctly was is fast insulin, which actually can kill people. So that I, I've been right on happy to see stuff like that on market. We actually send a warning story.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:14:45  Do you think things have gotten worse recently?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:14:49  That way with steroids. Yeah. By far the the raw powders, they basically disappeared of the market. We used to see a lot more samples coming in from China about a peptides being roughly the same. For a while. We had an explosion of interest in peptides since like 2022. And usually the switch ups there, the quality issues that are not so pronounced in the market, there's been random switch ups, like the people use same abbreviation for two different compounds, and they switch up the samples or the same color stopped while they'll switch for each other.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:15:28  the quality decreased a little in recent months.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:15:32  But it has increased recently like decreased decreased.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:15:36  It got.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:15:37  Worse.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:15:37  Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. But it's it's it's only slight.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:15:41  So all the anabolic, all the anabolic are in a bad state. Now you're thinking like you're seeing actually you're actually seeing this. You're seeing that the anabolic steroid market. I've heard a lot about Masteron being basically unavailable, but you're saying that across the board a lot of this stuff is actually low quality and replacement product.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:16:01  Well, we don't really know what the sample is supposed to be. We test anabolic steroids blind, so we're not really sure what it was supposed to be. Most of the time, funnily enough, we're seeing a lot of good quality drostanolone, Masteron. usually when there's, when the when it's fake, as it switched for something else, everything is switched. but we're not really seeing we're not really seeing a compound switch for, like, we're not seeing anything notable to be happening with the drostanolone or methenolone which is either common on.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:16:40  Oh. Come on. people say that it's just around and that it's fake the most often, but we're not really seeing that.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:16:49  Yeah. Are you. Are you getting any samples of it recently, or have they gone down with the steroid market? I thought that there was a shortage. Like, people are having trouble getting Masteron. So are you seeing that come in less frequently to you that you've noticed?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:17:03  We're seeing a lot less steroids coming in in general. Really?

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:17:07  Okay. People want to make sure it's real then. Okay.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:17:09  And, we've seen it. We've seen a massive decrease of the samples coming straight out of China. The raw samples coming from China. It's mostly people testing, I think all the warehouse stuff, because the purity is lower than it used to. So we're assuming those are old stocks or something. Yeah. But yeah that's that's about it. There's there's still some, some stuff coming in but we don't have Chinese factories contacting us directly for the testing, which I assume is that there is no production at the moment, or at least not from the people we've been used to.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:17:48  Yeah. Makes sense. I mean, I think there's been arrests and things, but we don't really know. Actually, we really don't know. It's just people have just disappeared. Kind of, So there's a lot of talk about peptides. So one peptide that's been on the market a lot of people are interested in now is SLU-PP-332 "Sloopy", now it's a highly experimental peptide from a new class of drugs called ER alpha or ER pan agonists. They're estrogen-related receptor alpha agonists. Have you seen this. And if you have what's your impression of the purity of this drug.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:18:22  Yeah. Well we're seeing it a lot. It's not a peptide. it's a regular compound. It's not a peptide. Not not composed of amino acids. well, about the effects, I don't really know nothing about it. We just test set stuff up the purity. It is not not notable. It is a small molecule. It is not difficult to make. So, okay, there's nothing there's nothing notable coming happening with the purity. But the issue we're seeing often with this is that people, they try to put it into the peptide vial, you know, like life light back and into the peptide.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:19:07  Well, but then you have this major issue with the fact that mannitol, which is used to create the light in the vial, is water soluble. Right. And then you have SLU, whatever. How it's, I haven't done my spelling bee in a while. it's not water soluble. It's soluble in alcohol, it's soluble in DMSO, but it's not soluble in the water. So if someone creates the peptide vial. with Sloopy is. And there's a nice bug with mannitol. They probably dissolve that in the water, which they then freeze dried off. But that means, given it's not the actual compound, it's not soluble in the water. It means it crashed somewhere on on the manufacturer during the manufacture, and it never made it to the vial actually. And we're seeing that a lot. So if you have a nice sweet vial of this product that dissolves, that has a perfect pack of mannitol, dissolves perfectly in water, then the likelihood that there's SLU-PP is close to zero. You're only going to get trace amounts from that.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:20:20  Very interesting. I didn't I thought it only came in vials, too. Interesting. Yeah. Okay, good. So, let me ask you.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:20:28  Supposed to be orally active, I believe. Okay, I'm not sure, but we're still in tablets of it, and we're. Well, those are usually not problematic in regard to those, but the injectable vials, they just don't work. You cannot expect people to inject DMSO or mannitol.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:20:45  Yeah. Okay. Now NAD+ is another one. NAD+ is not, strictly speaking, a peptide. It's a dinucleotide. I think what's the difference between testing this and testing a vial of GH?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:20:58  While not too much. In fact, we just dissolve. We just dissolve it and test it with HPLC. A different method, of course, but with peptides you can determine purity, like the general consensus in the scientific community. If something is a peptide, every peptide is a bunch of amino acids that are connected via the peptide bond. So and the peptide bond, it has a common property of absorbing UV light at a certain wavelength.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:21:29  So if you have two peptides, you can be sure that you can see both. Or if you have an unlimited amount of peptides, you know you will see it in the UV region where the peptide bond can be seen, because without that they wouldn't exist. So you can measure purity of peptides. it's a rough idea. It's not 100% correlated. But if you take a look at the UV light and you see your target compound, it absorbs 99% of the light, in the UV region and then some impurity, it absorbs 1%. You can get you can be rather sure, rather confident that your peptide really is 99% pure, given the peptide purity like target peptide over total peptide and the impurities with the g, h, you know, it's oxidized gh, they are mediated g h. some switched amino acid variant. So when you take a look at the graph at HPLC, you can be sure you're seeing all these impurities. And you calculate the purity from that one with known peptides. It doesn't work like that because the impurities, they don't have to share the same property.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:22:43  So you cannot really use there's no general consensus for the purity testing of compounds other than peptides in the scientific community. So for example, in your NAD+, it degrades in something that doesn't have the same absorbance at the same particle wavelength. And your graph is showing 50% of NAD+ and 50% of some impurity. But you cannot just make the claim it's 50% pure. It might just well be 95% pure or just 5% pure because the shared property, it's just not there. So you cannot really use the percentages on the graph to tell the purity of it.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:23:26  hCG and HMG. I think those are also challenging for testing too, since they're difficult to pin down to a reference standard. That's what you've written before from my memory, and might be derived from human or different animal sources. Is that correct?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:23:41  Well, hopefully not. Animal source is that they can be human sources or they can be recombinant technology and not really sure animal sources would work, and I've never seen that one. But HCG and HMG, there's a couple of issues with them.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:23:59  One of them is that these molecules that have an extreme variety, like you have this peptide amino chain, and then you have all sorts of weird glycoproteins and other stuff bound to them which influence it. physical characteristics like molecular mass, like you have the peptide ball, let's say it's 1000 long, and then you have random line glycoproteins bound to it, but they increase and decrease the mass of the the mass itself of the compound. So for human or many recombinant forms of the ACG, one milligram is not equal to one milligram of a different form of this. So the margins of error on testing this are rather huge. It's more difficult to tell with the human derived forms, but you're not seeing those anymore because, you know, human derived it means involves a gathering pee of pregnant women. And that's a tad more difficult at this point than recombinant technology, which is getting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper. So I don't think that's, there's a black market for pregnant women urine going on in China. I think it's mostly recombinant technology like GH.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:25:21  Yeah, yeah. Of course the peptide is quite complicated. So with the manufacture and everything, the purification, there is a major differences between the manufacturers. also, HCG seems to be very sensitive to the quality of manufacture, like from one manufacturer. You see the the batch lasting years without any significant issue from other manufacturers. It degrades rapidly within months, to the point that it's hard to even detect the original hCG about HMG. Again, the it has much more variance in the activity, like one milligram of one form of HMG. Human menopausal gonadotropin might be equal to 500mg of different one. But so you need factory data on the bioactivity. We provide these results in the detected amounts. But to tell you the IU the international units of activity, you actually would need to do bio equivalence tests, which are usually done on by cultivating cell lines or by injecting Thing. Castrated mice or rats?

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:26:32  All right. So your perspective on IGF peptide specifically would be valuable. I've heard you've had so much to say about this on, on meso I've seen so what percentage of IGF-1 samples you test actually contain what they claim to contain?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:26:45  Well, IGF-LR-3 they usually test.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:26:49  Well, as far as I can tell, about the DES, roughly one out of ten samples actually does. Okay. And most of it we don't attack nothing. I'm not really sure how how it's supposed to work, but it's a rather rare sight to see a real one.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:27:10  And it's a rare sight to see a real IGF-1?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:27:15  It's a rare sight to see a real IGF-1 or IGF-1-DES again, not haven't done my spelling bee. the LR3. It's usually good when we're seeing it. It tends to be great faster than other peptides, but. Yeah. about the IGF-1, like mecasermin. we've only seen a couple. 4 or 5 real samples, actually.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:27:45  Oh, interesting.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:27:46  Yeah. Yeah. I'm not really sure. Why is that? Because there's not much difference between that and LR3. I've been I've been thinking it might be because it's more sensitive. Like, by the time it gets to us, it degrades to the point. It's untestable, like it's sensitive to storage and temperature and everything.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:28:12  And by the time it gets to, it just sort of aggregates and doesn't dissolve anymore. Or it's simply not being sold on the black market. Well.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:28:23  I mean, if it's the first, if it's the first reason, you would think I mean people it's going to it's the same issue if people are getting it shipped to them, if they're buying it online, it's getting shipped to them. It's probably no good by the time it gets to them either. If it's degrading.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:28:34  Yeah, we don't know. We're usually not seeing that with the peptides. They they hold up. They're much less prone to degradation than people online claim. But with the mecasermin we've only seen we've tested it like we've had or we've been. It's been ordered to test like 30 or 40 times, but we've only seen 3 or 4 real ones over the entire time we tested. As far as I can remember, I'm not checking the entire database right now, but it really is like that.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:29:06  Yeah. No. So there's a bunch of different I mean, you mentioned there's at least 3 IGF peptides that you see, right? Like LR3, there's DES and there's IGF-1.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:29:15  Like I mean from your testing data, is there any correlation between price and actual quality?

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:29:21  Oh no no no no no I.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:29:23  I've been testing LR three a decade ago, and it was. There was a certain provider.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:29:33  Yeah,

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:29:35  Was selling that, and it's been a rather cheap and rather high quality to start with. And we've seen it. basically, in my experience, there's zero correlation between price and quality in this regard for the IGF peptides.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:29:53  Yeah. Now we had a conversation. I spoke with a guy last week, Tom Jeffers. we discussed endotoxins and samples, and you have discussed this a little bit as well before. I want to say, what can you say about endotoxins in samples? Like, if it's if something not reconstituted. Have you encountered any levels that exceed the standard toxicity?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:30:16  We do an insane amount of endotoxin tests right now. We actually have three people dedicated to that in the lab because it involves a lot of, hand work, like pipetting and stuff. well, the endotoxin is mostly issue with the recombinant peptide.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:30:38  A recombinant proteins were a while ago. The only way to get a bigger, peptide or protein manufactured was to have a gene engineered and insert the gene into E coli bacterium, which is a gram negative bacterium, which means it has endotoxin in its cell wall. And the bacteria grew. And along with them, your target compound multiplied. They created it your target peptide or protein. And then you basically extracted it from the 11 bunch of bacteria which you killed beforehand, hopefully. But if you didn't do your cleanup properly, you end up with a lot of cell walls from those bacteria, and your immune system is like, oh, hey, this part. This molecule is on the cell wall of bacteria. Well, I better go haywire over this. So if there was not proper cleanup, there was high endotoxin levels and it caused issues. But right now, once the peptides, they're not manufactured in recombinant manner. They are manufactured by something called solid phase synthesis, which means that there's no significant level of bacteria.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:31:52  It's not literally growing inside bacteria. so there's no significant levels of endotoxin involved. But people like to stay cautious with endotoxin testing. And there's an interesting. What's interesting, we're seeing, levels, for example, when we see levels over 5 or 6, endotoxin units in a while. And the client, They also ordered sterility testing. Like to see whether something is actually alive and growing inside while, it usually turns out positive. We measure more than five, endotoxin units in the wild. So we have almost 100% correlation between higher endotoxin measurements and the sterility testing, which is great because it means that my team, my people, they're doing a great job and they're not screwing up because we have actual confirmation from two different tests or that they come from each other.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:32:57  Yeah, it makes sense with the E.coli method, which is what they use to make. GH still usually isn't it?

Multiple Speakers 00:33:03  Yeah, they do.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:33:04  Because they have to. So you're saying they have to clean up during the manufacturing process or it can end up with endotoxins.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:33:10  Okay. That makes sense.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:33:12  so the more skilled the companies that want to distinguish themselves, the the modified mammalian cells or fungi cells, fungi cell lines, or how it's called candidus. I'm not sure. That don't have endotoxin on their cell walls. And they use different organisms to produce the human growth hormone so that there is no risk of endotoxin contamination at all because it's not in the manufacturing process. I think Sarah's team, maybe they did it. I think there's Sarah's team that use recombinant DNA technology. It's produced by a mammalian cell line of C1 two seven. So they do this so they avoid, risk even risking the, the endotoxin contamination. They also might do it to save up on the cleaning up, which is rather expensive, but it's pretty interesting. There's most of them that are still done with this E.coli because it's the easiest and cheapest and some, some manufacturers distinguish themselves by producing it in a different organism, which really helps with endotoxin risk. So that is about the risk. I keep talking about endotoxin risk.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:34:33  Well, what I think a lot of people wonder what it means for them, right. what were the peptides? They're mostly injected subcutaneously. So what? The risk in the mouth is some local irritation. Like if you're getting a tiny bit of bacteria or bacterial cell walls under your skin, it's no different than scratching yourself, too. So it's not like something that's going to kill people. It's just most likely caused some minor inconvenience of redness, itching and so on. So the people that don't have to be worried to death about something not being perfectly sterile, there's been publications that people might as well, you know, the diabetics, they might as well inject the insulin over the cloth, or the dirty clothes. Without any cleaning up. And the risks are barely notable. If at all. Which. It's been an interesting publication. It's just to show that people with the subcutaneous injection is exceedingly safe route of administration compared to intramuscular or intravenous, which.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:35:41  Means.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:35:41  Not not much, not not recommended for anything anymore that can work in any other different manner of injection.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:35:50  Yeah. I mean, people get injections, pretty people get infections pretty often with intramuscular especially like the quad. Like certain certain sites, people who do have issues, it might be 1 in 100, but that's kind of a lot, you know like.

Multiple Speakers 00:36:01  Yeah, yeah.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:36:02  So if people can avoid issues into into the mass injection into the muscle and can do it subcutaneous, which they can do with peptides, it's best done that way because it's the least risky way of administration.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:36:16  Thracian. Now I know you. I know you've ran some not strictly controlled experiments to answer a lot of bodybuilders questions and your own curiosities, like some that come to mind, was like degradation with GH and hCG. you did that, that you also did like stability versus agitation. Shaking LR3 IGF-1 I think it was. And heat, thermal stress like you stuck G.H. outside the window one time and saw what happened there. Can you can you kind of talk about some of these experiments or any others you've done and what you learned from them?

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:36:52  Well, I've done a.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:36:53  Lot of experiments, but many of them are classified. You know, I'm not free to talk about the results of our clients that they paid for. And there's been their massive peptide testing groups like tens of thousands of people with which is which is astonishing. And they work well. They got they paid for a lot of experiments and Degradations, etc. but what we generally find is that the peptides. They are much more stable than people claim. for example, your G.H. probably can handle years.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:37:29  Of.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:37:29  Abuse before it breaks down to the point it's not. Working anymore, it's not it's not really sensitive to shake and drop in anything we've tried. We've run. I've run tests on that out of my pocket. So to just confirm, because I was getting set of people claiming, like, if you inject water too fast into your peptide, you're ruining it and it won't work. It's mostly something that's been claimed by people selling empty vials for a while. So. So I wanted to disprove this sort of thing, even if, if I had to do it out my own course and about.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:38:08  Of course, some peptides are more sensitive than others, but generally they're rather rare. They can handle a lot. We've seen what we've seen with the huge amount of testing of peptides we've done in recent years, is that a lot depends on the manufacturing quality. Like I said, with the HCG, between different manufacturers, you see, you could see a sample degrading many times faster with the bad quality manufacturer than with a high quality manufacturer. Or we've seen interesting stuff like probably from leftover oxygen or leftover something in the wild. Like you could see the peptide degrading very fast from the 99% to 97. And then it stopped. Then it started degrading in the usual manner of unnoticeable, degraded and noticeable degradation. But something for the first couple of weeks. Maybe the leftover oxygen? Who knows? Leftover moisture? I have no idea at all. It made it a great much faster in the first couple of weeks. So we've been seeing interesting stuff like that. And with the great amount of, with the great amount of tests, we've been able to get stuff like this.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:39:24  So let's switch gears and talk a little bit about the industry you work in, in ethics here. So have you ever faced pressure from like manufacturers or sources attempting to influence your testing outcomes? If so, how have you maintained independence?

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:39:38  Well, we.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:39:39  Of course, we've had people try to bribe me. I think it might have been hundreds, if not thousands of times at this point. it's been mostly well, it's been mostly maybe an a proud person refusing that, you know, many, many years ago when $1,000 was actually a lot of, money for me, I refused it because of my of my being a proud person. And then at some point, it simply stopped making any sense.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:40:10  Like that.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:40:14  Even a $10,000 bribe. The bar is no white anymore for us, where a company of 30 people are, monthly budget is in millions of dollars. So there's simply the people that cannot afford to bribe us anymore.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:40:32  There you have it. That's good.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:40:35  We're just. We're just far too expensive now.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:40:39  and it's not really possible anymore. There's too many people at the company. there's multiple rounds of check ups. there's multiple rounds of check ups. for every result, it usually needs to go through at least two.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:40:53  So what do you.

Multiple Speakers 00:40:54  Think about.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:40:55  What do you think about other testing companies? Like, for example, when we were talking last week about endotoxin and stuff? I mean, I saw I saw a lab report that was showing crazy endotoxins in a sample, and it was a different testing company. I can't even remember their name. but like, what do you think about these other companies that are out there? Like, do you think there's like companies that are like just frauds, scammers or criminals? Who do you.

Multiple Speakers 00:41:18  Know?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:41:19  Most of them.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:41:19  Are.

Multiple Speakers 00:41:20  Yeah.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:41:20  Well, for most of the companies you cannot even find. Well, first, if they even have registered LLC, then you find out that LLC limited liability company is registered in an office building where there is no labs at all.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:41:35  If they even have one registered, if you check the testing labs, most of them are have no official documents. even if they have an official company, you find they have no paperwork for actually dealing with the chemicals. There's only a couple of companies that are actually do have the paperwork in place, like peptide tests, I think, or lab for docs. They're, they're they're one of the few actual real companies in the field for the others. Well, I will let people to make their own opinions. But if you can't even find a company registration, they're anonymous. They're not accepting anonymous payments. well, what.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:42:20  In this country? I think it was chromate or something like that. Does that sound familiar to you?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:42:25  Yeah, he was he was on Meso. and every single blind test or every single interweb comparison, they failed. Hot. So so so so they sort of fled the forum and, well, for most of these companies, well, most of the manufactured distributors, they just won't report with the nice number to slap on them.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:42:46  So if you just copy the number of the of the vial and put it and put down some sort of a graph, it's, it's enough for these companies. But it's up to people to decide whether they will accept it or not. Like if someone is anonymous,

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:43:03  Because the report or the report looks almost good, like it looks like it's like scintillating, you know, like they it's like colorful. It's got that. But it's just somebody, like using. Using software to make it look good. It might not even be tested. That's very interesting. All right. So if.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:43:18  If, if they have no paperwork or anything. No LLC. What accountability do they have and what what is actually pushing them to do their work. Honestly for us where government supervised because we're by far the biggest importer of scheduled compounds by the amount of packages in the European Union. So we cannot really just excuse my French, but we cannot really fuck around because we would get shut down hard and along with me, it would also, influence the lives of all my employees.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:43:54  There's over 30 of them. So we're not really, so we're we really, really have good incentive to keep on doing this very profitable business that has given the living hurt to many people. But about the other labs. Well, there's been a lot of interweb testing done by the huge testing groups, and for most of the tests, they're using me. If there is independent testing groups, they're mostly using us, which kind of is telling something not not to be too full myself, but I'm very proud of that. The fact that.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:44:34  You should.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:44:34  Be we passed that. We passed all those, reviews and comparisons and everything.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:44:42  Yeah. I mean, you've built substantial trust in the community for a reason. So what question do you wish interviewers would ask you that they'd never do? Before we get before we get going and wrap it up, it's been almost an hour here. What question would you what question would you love to hear from somebody asking you a question on a podcast?

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:44:58  Well, I would love to ask the people ask about my employees because at this point, it's not just me.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:45:04  It was a one man show for a while, and up until a year ago I did most of the analytical work actually, but right now it's mostly it's mostly my team handling analyses, and I'm supervising them and dealing with the stuff they cannot handle anymore. And I would love to underline that most of them are doing a really great job. Like I have to name girls like Elisa, Torres, Katarina Bara. a lot of them are girl names. We have a lot of, we have a lot of girls in my company, and they're doing a great job. And I don't feel they're. I'm getting a lot of emails from people about how much they love me. I love my work, love my interviews, but a lot of that is actually them now. So it would be great if people asked about them and told them they're doing a great job. But because, you know, they're not dealing with the emails, they're not communicating with the clients, they don't have the public face.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:46:00  And I hope they hear this and listen to this because their boss is very happy with them.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:46:05  That's good to hear. All right, I'm gonna. We're gonna wrap this up. Peter, thank you for talking to me. thanks for taking the time. I hope Janoshik continues to grow. And. And everybody trusts Janoshik. So just use Janoshik. Don't use chromate or whoever they are. All right.

Peter Magic (Janoshik) 00:46:21  All right. They didn't want to put it like that, but sounds about right. Thank you so much. I hope I hope you have a great weekend.

Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) 00:46:29  All right. Thanks a lot. Take care. Listen up all you enhanced fucks! The forum at thinksteroids.com is your go to source for everything enhanced.

Multiple Speakers 00:46:38  We're not just another board we're the most trusted harm reduction community in the game. You should be looking only at unfiltered reviews where members don't bullshit at meso they definitely tell it like it is. Don't waste time with shills, visit thinksteroids.com/community and start posting now. Hey guys, I don't know what you're doing for your bloodwork, but if you're using anyone besides Fitomics, you're lighting money on fire and probably not getting the right biomarkers to boot.

Multiple Speakers 00:47:05  This is especially true if Labcorp's within driving distance to you, because they're literally one third the price of the competition. Use coupon code type-iix. That's type E hyphen II x. It's not case sensitive. You'll save 10% if all you have nearby is. Quest is still the best option because while there's like one cheaper company, they don't offer as many biomarkers and they end up not being worth it. So sign up for the Research Labs Insider at fitomics.org That's Fitomics for by far the best lab work options available in the US, except for New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island where self requisitioning bloodwork isn't legal, at least not yet. If you're confused at all, the best thing to do is visit my site at Ampouletude.com click Sign Up for Type-IIx's Newsletter, sign up, and when I send out my occasional valuable Never Spam newsletter, I include the steps to sign up and use Fitomics.

peptide testing, steroid analysis, Janoshik, Peter Magic, laboratory quality control, HPLC testing, LCMS peptide analysis, GC-MS, liquid chromatography, analytical methods, lab equipment analysis, anabolic market trends, Meso-Rx, enhanced bodybuilding, drug use, anabolic steroids, peptide stability, endotoxin testing, IGF peptide authenticity, IGF-1 peptides, NAD+, hCG, hMG, performance enhancement testing, drug authenticity, counterfeit products, underdosed substances, raw steroid powders, quality control, transparency, accountability, user experiences, Type IIx Insider program, Substack, Slovakia, Czech Republic, testing peptides, novel substances, experimental cannabinoids, recombinant DNA technology, solid-phase synthesis, injection safety, peptide degradation, manufacturing quality, ethical challenges, testing integrity, bribes, reliable testing services, harm reduction, bodybuilding community, product authenticity, Gear Growth and Gains

Press Prerelease

Janoshik | Chemical Testing

Subscribe to Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter

Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter | Archives

Communities ❯ Telegram › Gear, Growth, and Gains | Team Ampouletude | Type-IIx

50 min, 04 sec

Join Type-IIx and guest Tom Jeffers as they dive deep into the world of enhanced bodybuilding, focusing on critical topics like fatigue management, the hidden dangers of endotoxin contamination in peptides, and effective weight-cutting methods. This evidence-based discussion highlights the importance of rigorous endotoxin testing and quality control, especially in underground labs, to minimize health risks. Discover practical strategies for managing fatigue, appetite, and post-competition recovery, while exploring safe and science-backed peak week protocols involving water, sodium, and carbohydrate manipulation. Tune in for an episode dedicated to transparency, scientific rigor, and harm reduction—empowering athletes to prioritize safety and performance.

Podcast Introduction and Disclaimers (00:00:30)

Guest Introduction and Episode Overview (00:02:57)

Enhanced Testing: Community and Methods (00:03:47)

Enhanced Testing: Key Sources and Endotoxin Focus (00:04:48)

Endotoxins: Risks and Testing (00:05:36)

Endotoxin Failures and Safety Thresholds (00:09:36)

Manufacturing Risks: Water vs. Oil-Based Injectables (00:12:21)

Symptoms and Detection of Endotoxin Exposure (00:14:18)

Heavy Metals Testing in Enhanced Products (00:15:45)

Coach’s Corner: Cutting Weight and Fat Loss Rates (00:16:35)

Preventing Muscle Loss During Cuts (00:20:42)

Carbohydrates and Training Performance (00:21:27)

Health Risks During Contest Prep (00:21:54)

Diet Breaks and Individualization (00:22:46)

Micronutrients and Macro Approaches (00:23:05)

Fat Intake and Carb Manipulation Strategies (00:25:35)

Managing Fatigue and Training During Cuts (00:29:11)

Strength Loss and Recovery Signals (00:31:18)

Disordered Eating in Bodybuilding (00:32:18)

Peak Week Strategies (00:34:18)

Water Manipulation and Diuretic Use (00:38:10)

Carbohydrate and Sodium Management in Peak Week (00:42:32)

Health Monitoring Post-Contest (00:46:27)

Episode Wrap-Up and Future Content Teasers (00:47:48)

enhanced bodybuilding, Gear Growth and Gains, Type-IIx, Tom Jeffers, drug use, training, nutrition, transparency, scientific evidence, peptide safety, endotoxin risks, quality control, underground labs, cutting weight strategies, Type-IIx Insider Program, coaching tips, High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, heavy metals detection, endotoxin testing, residual solvent assessment, endotoxin exposure, health risks, peptide contamination, muscle loss, carb cycling, energy management, fatigue in training, disordered eating, peak week strategies, post-show recovery, health monitoring, supplements, evidence-based approaches, individualized plans, athlete health, performance optimization, nutrition strategies, micronutrients, macronutrients, carb manipulation, sodium manipulation, diuretics, bodybuilding community, accountability, scientific rigor, harm reduction

Press Release

Enhanced Testing | Meso-Rx

Subscribe to Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter

Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter | Archives

Communities ❯ Telegram › Gear, Growth, and Gains | Team Ampouletude | Type-IIx

21 min, 15 sec

Get a Free Sneak Peek into Bolus – the ONLY GH book you'll EVER need!

Subscribe to Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter

Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter | Archives

Communities ❯ Telegram › Gear, Growth, and Gains | Team Ampouletude | Type-IIx

In this episode of the 'Gear Growth and Gains' podcast, host Type-IIx dives deep into the world of chemical enhancement among elite strongman athletes. Discover the real dangers and surprising benefits of Gregg Valentino’s infamous 'Get the Bucket' leg press routine, including its high risk for muscle damage and rhabdomyolysis. We break down a compelling case study on the impact of various anabolic regimens in top-tier strongmen, exploring both performance gains and side effects. Plus, get an evidence-based comparison of berberine, metformin, and GLP-1 agonists for blood glucose management—complete with practical advice for enhanced athletes. Tune in for a critical, harm-reduction approach to bodybuilding and performance enhancement.

Podcast Introduction and Disclaimers (00:00:30)

Premium Content and Symposium Announcement (00:01:41)

Symposium Topics Overview (00:02:55)

Episode Structure and Topics Preview (00:04:20)

Gregg Valentino’s Introduction (00:05:08)

Get the Bucket Program Explained (00:05:20)

Host’s Critique of Get the Bucket (00:09:37)

Risks and Muscle Damage Discussion (00:10:19)

Section Two Introduction: Strongman Case Study (00:12:33)

Strongman Athlete Profile and Stack (00:13:41)

Performance Results and Side Effects (00:15:00)

Blood Work Sponsor Ad (00:15:47)

Section Three Introduction: Blood Glucose Management (00:16:38)

Mechanisms and Effects of Berberine and Metformin (00:17:42)

Comparing Berberine, Metformin, and GLP-1s (00:19:06)

Summary and Decision Factors (00:21:51)

Meso-Rx Community Promotion (00:21:51)

Book Advertisement: "Bolus" Guide (00:22:16)

Gear Growth and Gains, Type-IIx, bodybuilding, enhanced bodybuilding, chemical enhancement, health topics, newsletter, premium content, symposiums, Get the Bucket program, leg press program, muscle damage, rhabdomyolysis, hypertrophy, eccentric tempo, training volume, chemical enhancement protocol, elite strongman, testosterone, Dianabol, Anadrol, Trenbolone, Halotestin, blood glucose management, Berberine, Metformin, GLP-1 Agonists, insulin sensitivity, nutritional supplement, hepatoprotective, AMPK activation, appetite suppression, muscle hypertrophy, performance optimization, risk management, evidence-based approaches, Fitomics, bloodwork, harm reduction

Ep 015 Release

GET THE BUCKET - IT'S LEG DAY!!!...GREGG VALENTINO'S LEG VIDEO

Subscribe to Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter

Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter | Archives

Communities ❯ Telegram › Gear, Growth, and Gains | Team Ampouletude | Type-

32 min, 26 sec

In episode 14 of "Gear Growth and Gains," Type-IIx discusses evidence-based practices in enhanced bodybuilding. He debunks myths about peptide reconstitution, emphasizing normal saline as the optimal solvent. The episode reviews emerging clinical data on combining GLP-1 agonists with myostatin inhibitors for improved muscle retention during weight loss. Type-IIx explains why oral 17 alpha-alkylated steroids pose greater cardiovascular risks than injectables due to their effects on lipid metabolism. Finally, he clarifies that excessive training volume impairs hypertrophy, stressing the importance of quality, intensity, and recovery for muscle growth.

Introduction and Episode Overview (00:00:30) Type-IIx introduces the podcast, outlines the four main topics, and provides disclaimers and promotional info.

Peptide Reconstitution: Myths and Best Practices (00:02:56) Explains misconceptions about peptide reconstitution, debunks bro science, and emphasizes normal saline as the best solvent.

History of Bro Science in Peptide Use (00:04:07) Describes the origins of peptide reconstitution myths in early bodybuilding forums and how misinformation spread.

NAD+ and Solvent Confusion (00:06:33) Discusses the rise of NAD+ injections, their ineffectiveness, and confusion about which solvents to use.

Normal Saline vs. Bacteriostatic Water (00:08:02) Clarifies why normal saline is preferred for reconstitution, and addresses misconceptions about bacteriostatic water.

Properties and Safety of Normal Saline (00:09:05) Explains what normal saline is, its isotonic properties, and why it’s safe and widely used.

Risks of Bacteriostatic Water and Solvent Regulation (00:10:24) Compares the risks of homemade bacteriostatic water to normal saline and explains regulatory reasons.

GLP-1 Agonists and Myostatin Inhibitors: New Data (00:11:32) Introduces the COURAGE trial and the rationale for combining GLP-1 agonists with trevogrumab.

Strategies to Preserve Muscle on GLP-1 Drugs (00:12:38) Outlines three strategies to maintain muscle while using GLP-1 drugs, focusing on drug interventions.

Myostatin Inhibitors: Mechanisms and Trials (00:13:48) Reviews the history, mechanisms, and clinical trials of myostatin inhibitors, including new combination therapies with trevogrumab.

COURAGE Trial Results and Drug Synergy (00:14:59) Details the COURAGE trial’s experimental groups, results, and the synergy of combining the myostatin inhibitor trevogrumab with GLP-1 drugs.

Molecular Pathways in Muscle Growth (00:15:59) Explains the molecular signaling pathways involved in muscle growth and how different drugs interact.

Safety and Side Effects of Myostatin/Activin-A Inhibitors (00:16:14) Discusses the safety profile of new myostatin inhibitors like trevogrumab and the side effects of anti-activin A drugs.

Oral Steroids and Cardiovascular Risk (00:17:31) Explains why 17 alpha-alkylated oral steroids like Anavar are more harmful to heart health than injectables.

Mechanisms of Steroid-Induced Dyslipidemia (00:18:47) Describes how oral steroids negatively affect lipid profiles and increase cardiovascular risk.

Estrogen’s Protective Role and Specific Steroid Effects (00:20:08) Covers the protective effects of estrogen on lipids and why certain steroids are harsher on the heart.

Summary: Why Some Steroids Are Safer for Lipids (00:21:20) Summarizes why Dianabol is less harsh on lipids and why Trenbolone is still risky despite being injectable.

Book Promotion: Bolus Guide (00:21:20) Promotes the Bolus guide for practical bodybuilding drug protocols and research interpretation.

Bloodwork and Lab Testing Recommendations (00:23:07) Recommends Fitomics for blood work and explains how to sign up for lab testing and newsletters.

Coach’s Corner: Training Volume Myths (00:24:10) Explains why more sets, reps, or sessions are not better for muscle growth and can be counterproductive.

Mechanisms of Hypertrophy and Recovery (00:25:25) Discusses the science of muscle growth, the importance of recovery, and the difference between strength and size.

Effective Reps and Optimal Training Volume (00:26:35) Emphasizes the importance of effective reps, diminishing returns of excessive volume, and the inverse dose-response curve.

Conclusion and Outro (00:26:35) Wraps up the episode and promises more regular content in the future.

Gear Growth and Gains, Meso-Rx, enhanced bodybuilding, peptide reconstitution, peptides, broscience, normal saline, GLP-1, trevogrumab, GLP-1 agonists, myostatin inhibitors, COURAGE trial, semaglutide, muscle retention, fat loss, oral steroids, cardiovascular risk, 17 alpha-alkylated steroids, dyslipidemia, hypertrophy, training volume, mechanical tension, anabolic steroids, effective reps, bloodwork, ACE-083, IGF1-LR3, recovery, strength gains, peptide myths, clinical trials, muscle growth, fitness podcast, bodybuilding community, health and fitness, performance enhancement

Press Release

Emerging Data About Combining GLP-1 Agonists with Myostatin Inhibitors | Article | Cormac Mannion (Type-IIx) | Substack & Ampouletude

Subscribe to Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter

Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter | Archives

Communities ❯ Telegram › Gear, Growth, and Gains | Team Ampouletude | Type-IIx

Preventing Thrombotic Events, Hemoglobin Insights, and Biomechanics in Strength vs. Muscle Gains—Plus the 2025 Peptide Guide for Women

Press Release

In Episode 13 of 'Gear Growth and Gains,' presented by Team Ampouletude and Meso-Rx, host Type-IIx dives deep into three essential topics for enhanced bodybuilding. Discover how to manage blood viscosity and lower your risk of thrombotic events by closely monitoring hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, with practical advice on using milk thistle, aspirin, and phlebotomy. Explore the science behind why some athletes build strength without significant muscle growth, focusing on biomechanics, neural adaptations, and muscle fiber recruitment. Finally, get the latest on peptides like BPC-157 and TB-500 for tissue repair and inflammation—especially what women should know in 2025. Tune in for actionable strategies and informed decision-making to elevate your holistic training approach.

Type-IIx, Gear Growth and Gains, Meso-Rx, enhanced bodybuilding, blood viscosity management, hematocrit, hemoglobin, erythrocytosis, androgen use, thromboembolic events, deep vein thrombosis, DVT, testosterone replacement therapy, TRT, silymarin, milk thistle, iron chelator, aspirin, phlebotomy, muscle hypertrophy, strength training, neural adaptations, training methods, muscle fiber recruitment, genetic factors, nutritional considerations, peptide landscape, GHK-Cu, angiogenesis, wound healing, collagen synthesis, skin regeneration, BPC-157, Body Protective Compound-157, TB-500, Thymosin Beta-4, tissue repair, inflammation management, recovery, fitness enthusiasts, performance optimization, harm reduction, blood work, healthcare professionals, training goals.

Events | Symposium IV (The 4th Symposium): Growth Hormone (GH) vs. GH Secretagogues: Why? When? How? | Apr 12 2025 | Archives | Substack

Subscribe to Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter

Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter | Archives

Communities ❯ Telegram › Gear, Growth, and Gains | Team Ampouletude | Type-IIx

Cycle Analysis of Ben Pollack’s Bodybuilding Contest Preparation – Inside 3 Contest Prep Cycles with John Meadows vs Justin Harris

Host Type-IIx delivers a no-nonsense cycle analysis of Ben Pollack’s real bodybuilding contest preparation, revealing how top pros design their contest prep cycles. Dive deep into the science behind John Meadows’ and Justin Harris’ approaches—comparing Masteron, Tren, and Anavar stacks to the so-called 'consensus' prep methods. Discover why some athletes fall short while others excel, and get actionable insights to upgrade your own contest prep cycles. If you’re serious about bodybuilding contest preparation, this episode is your blueprint for success.

utben's USAs Writeup/AMA in r/bodybuilding

Subscribe to Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter

Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter | Archives

Communities ❯ Telegram › Gear, Growth, and Gains | Team Ampouletude | Type-IIx

36 min, 43 sec

Press Release

In Episode 011, we tackle three major topics that serious bodybuilders need to know about. First up, we break down the truth about sleep medications - from basic supplements like magnesium and melatonin to prescription options like trazodone and Z-drugs like Ambien®. Learn which ones actually help muscle recovery and which ones might sabotage your gains.

Next, we dive into how genetics shape bodybuilding success, revealing key markers like ACE and ACTN3 that influence muscle growth and training response. Using real research from Russian sports scientists, we explain why some lifters need just 5% of the volume to make the same gains as others.

The show wraps with an insider’s look at Russian weightlifting methods, including their controversial use of dexamethasone for recovery. Plus, don’t miss our announcement of Symposium IV covering growth hormone vs. secretagogues, and a preview of next week’s special guest - a veteran homebrewer from Meso-Rx sharing the ins and outs of steroid brewing.

The Meaning of "Genetics" for Bodybuilding

Subscribe to Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter

Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter | Archives

Communities ❯ Telegram › Gear, Growth, and Gains | Team Ampouletude | Type-IIx

00:14:51

Title

Order Bolus – the ONLY GH book you'll EVER need, or Get a Free Preview

Subscribe to Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter

Type-IIx's Gear, Growth, and Gains Insider Substack Newsletter | Archives

Communities ❯ Telegram › Gear, Growth, and Gains | Team Ampouletude | Type-IIx