Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 1497: Five Weird Supplements That Actually Work

Episode Date: February 25, 2021

In this episode Sal, Adam & Justin discuss some lesser known  supplements that actually work. Mind Pump’s history with supplements. (2:30) Five Weird Supplements That Actually Work. (15:00) #1 – Ecdysterone. (16:27) #2 – Cordyceps. (24:12) #3 – Lion's Mane. (28:55) #4 - Horny Goat Weed. (33:20) #5 – Ashwagandha. (38:54) Mind Pump’s stance on supplementation. (43:15) Related Links/Products Mentioned February Promotion: Phase II Bundle Visit Four Sigmatic for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Code “mindpump” at checkout Mark McGwire’s Little Helper: The Androstenedione Debate Superdrol - steroid.com Ecdysterone Explained: The 5 Biggest Benefits Revealed Spinach extract improves athletic performance, study shows 6 Benefits of Cordyceps, All Backed by Science Cordyceps militaris Improves Tolerance to High-Intensity Exercise After Acute and Chronic Supplementation Neurotrophic properties of the Lion's mane medicinal mushroom, Hericium erinaceus (Higher Basidiomycetes) from Malaysia Mushrooms Prevent Alzheimer’s, Study Finds Men’s Health: Does Horny Goat Weed Work for Erectile Dysfunction? How Much Icariin Equals Viagra? Or Are They The Same? Horny goat weed: Uses, benefits, side effects Horny Goat Weed for Women 12 Proven Health Benefits of Ashwagandha The Effects of Ashwagandha in Endurance Exercise Performance An investigation into the stress-relieving and pharmacological actions of an ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) extract: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study Visit Organifi for the exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Code “mindpump” at checkout** Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND We talk about weird stuff. Five weird supplements that actually work. Now here's the criteria for the supplements that we picked. Number one, there had to be scientific study to show that it had an effect. Number two, it had to be a weird supplement. That's super, super popular. And number three, at least one of us have had to try this particular supplement

and also notice that it worked. So that's what we talk about in today's episode. Now this episode is brought to you by ForSigmatic. ForSigmatic makes some of the best mushroom-based supplements you'll find anywhere. In fact, two of the things that we talk about in today's episode, Cordiceps and Lyons main, you can get from ForSigmatic.

Now ForSigmatic is special because they have a dual extraction process. That means that you get more of the active ingredients in the mushrooms than you would if you bought another company's product. Go check them out and then, of course, use the Mind Pump code for the discount. Just go to foursigmatic.com. That's F-O-U-R-S-I-G-M-A- M A T I C dot com forward sash mine pump. Then use the code mine pump and get your 10% off.

Also all month long, we're still running the phase two bundle promotion. This is maps performance, a three month athletic minded workout program combined with maps aesthetic, which is another three-month body builder inspired workout program. In other words, you do both of them. You get the best of both worlds. Now retail, you would pay for both of them close to $300, but with the face to bundle, you get them both for $79.99. That's it. One-time payment. Plus a 30-day money back guarantee. Go check them out. Go to MapsFebuary.com. That's M-A-P-S-F-E-B-R-U-A-R-Y.com. Guys, I am very excited and happy that you guys finally agreed to do an episode on the

weird supplements that are out there that are actually work. Because there are some weird things out there, some compounds that actually do work in our back by scientific study. But before we get into them, I wanna talk a little bit about our history with supplements, because I know especially you Adam, you and I are probably more similar.

Even though I started younger than you, I'm pretty sure you've tried everything under the sun as a kid too, right? Yeah, no, I tried a lot of supplements. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah, so what was that like? If someone said it worked, you just bought it? Yeah, no, okay, so I remember being like my teenage years

going down to the, you know, back then it was max muscle, I think was the store that we go down there. And there was always some jack to do behind the counter, right? And as a 17 year old, this is what I took. Yeah, right, the 17 year old skinny boy. And I think that's what the managers teach those guys to say. It's like when the dumb young kid comes in and asks you questions, just tell him that you take all this shit.

Right here, right? So I was definitely that kid that was a sucker for that. Walk in, dudes jacked, and he's telling me, you go to take this, you go to take this, you go to take that, and I'm like, all right, all of it. So, and I remember back then, I was probably, I'd say spending anywhere between, you know, three to $500 a month, which was a lot of money for a kid.

A lot of money. I was making $5 now. We're wasting money. Yeah, you know, and, you know, when you're that young too and you're experimenting with things like that and you're experimenting with so many different ones, it's actually really hard to tell what is working and what is not working. Because I was trying everything out of the sun.

Yeah, same here. And I think the big problem for me looking back, obviously, because I did the same thing. I took every, I would, I read, I had Flex Magazine, Muscle and Fitness, Iron Man, Muscle Media 2000, Muscle Mag. I mean, I literally had all the magazines. And I didn't know this back then as a kid, I know this now, but these magazines were literally created and designed to be

marketing very fancy marketing pamphlets. So when they put these magazines together, it was very smart marketing, you know, if you think about it, but what they did is we were to put articles together and we're're gonna use these magazines to sell products and they were very effective at doing it. So if I read something in the magazine, then I would buy it and I'd try it out. So I tried all the weight gainers, I tried all the energy boosters to stostro and boosters,

even though I was a 17 year old kid, couldn't boost my testosterone any more than a while. Yeah, but you know why that sold you? I'm sure it's the same reason I sold me. When you're 17, okay, you're aware of what steroids are. I mean, you like know that steroids exist. And there's a part of you, or there's a part of me, I should say, that wanted to try them,

but it was too scared to do steroids, because that's, you know, you don't want to go for a legal. Right, I don't want to do something illegal, but I want the closest thing to that. So, and supplement companies knew this. And so they would something illegal, but I want the closest thing to that. So, supplement companies knew this, and so they would mark it in some of the names of the supplements I bought. Matter of fact, the ones I spent the most money

were the ones that sounded just like a real steroid. They, some of the ads would have pictures of like, a needle, like beakers, like chemistry, and then they would take like an herb, right? They would take an herb, and every herb, you can give it the chemical name, right? So rather than saying, salpalmetto, it would be like this long chemical name,

and instead of saying salpalmetto, they'd be like this. Like, whoa, what is this new chemical? Trim below nice. Yeah, and it was exactly. They would always have a picture of like a syringe or whatever, but you're 100% right, they were trying to push that. So I started with all the popular stuff, and then eventually I moved the back of the magazine.

In the back of the bodybuilding magazines were these ads, this is back in the 90s now, there were ads that looked shady, and I thought that's where the real stuff is. It's not just like mainstream stuff. I bait you with this weird stuff. I remember in particular, there's this one supplement. It was called, I think it was called muscle mix. And the picture, and it was a small add in the back, and it was a vial. It looked like a glass ampule almost like a vial. And the before and after pictures always sold me. This is going to totally work. And of course it never did. Yeah, I remember it too. I mean, I wasn't like as drawn into to, you know, trying to get like some kind of like phony testosterone

boosting, you know, like supplements, but I remember like one season when I was playing football and I had a few of my friends that were just like, dude, we got to do something else. We don't want it. It was the whole thing. We don't want to go illegal with it. We want to see what we can actually buy in person and they would always have it like on the very bottom shelf that locked up,

you know, at one of those max muscle or GNCs and then the guy behind there was like, okay, you'd like look around like, you know, is anybody looking? Yeah, I got this and it was like some kind of like panther yeah, supplement, you know, like my friend bought it and then I'm like, and see, I was so dumb. I didn't even like wanna continually use it.

I thought that just after a few, like I might be able to feel something from it or whatever. And so, you know, I tried, I'm like, ah, this is even work. And then my friend was just like religious about it. And, you know, kept buying these things that were like, at least like 200 bucks a bottle. Yeah, there was a period of time.

So in the 90s and the late 90s, pro hormones became a bottle. Yeah, there was a period of time. So in the 90s and the late 90s pro hormones became a thing. So these were hormones that your body uses to convert into other hormones. And of course, the idea is take this and you'll have more testosterone. The first one was DHA, which you can still buy over the counter. So DHA is a parent hormone and it's like,

oh, if you take this, then, you know, there's only two or three steps and it becomes testosterone. It's not, it doesn't, it's not how it works. If a guy takes DHA, he's not gonna get higher testosterone. I actually get higher estrogen, but it was the first time you could buy a hormone over the counter. Then the next one was Andrew Stenodown.

Do you guys remember that? I do, remember that. Remember when Mark McGuire, I was just gonna tell that story, I spent it. That was, I spent the most money during that time because I remember Mark McGuire coming back for the A's and he looked like he put on 30 pounds in muscle. He said it was interesting.

And he was sponsored by a company called, I wanna say it was called Pinnacle and it was understood that they were selling or how you pronounce it, but it but that's exactly what it was. And I bought a ton of those bottles, man. I actually thought it really, I felt it though. I thought I felt it. I thought that was one of those ones that, man,

this is absolutely working. I feel like I'm stronger. I don't know how much of it was placebo factor. Yeah, it really does, it was all the creams. I got them that huge. Yeah, it doesn't do much, but that was, there was that that happened in the late 90s. And then in the early 2000s,

they actually figured out a way to sell designer steroids over the counter and that's because the the laws at the time were very specific You know testosterone injectable testosterone illegal or control. I should say you know Stenolz all whatever wind straw, you know, but you know deck.ol, whatever, Windstrawl, you know, Deca, whatever. But if it wasn't specifically illegal, then you can alter the molecule. Right, but now by like one molecule, right? Yes, all it had to be off and then now it's no longer illegal. It's gray market. It would be called gray market, right?

Not explicitly illegal. And so what what supplement manufacturers did in the early 2000s is they actually very smart. They went through all of the discarded tested hormones that pharmaceutical companies had created. So pharma companies would test a new steroid or a new hormone. You always derived off testosterone, but changed to increase its anabolic properties or its angiogenic properties, whatever. And oftentimes they would discard them

because of side effects or wasn't good for the liver or they had a better option somewhere else. And you could get access to what these chemicals were. And so what people did, the supplement companies, is they'd get access to these chemicals and then they just produced them and sell them. And they would sell them as pro-hormones, but they weren't. They were actual steroids.

And I remember in the early 2000s, the first one that I took was called superdrawl. And superdrawl was very liver toxic, but it was at steroid. And that really you felt or whatever. And I did a whole stint of that kind of stuff, not really realizing what the deal was. So that's kind of my history,

what those kinds of stuff, I would say the biggest problem with doing all of that, besides the who knows potential damage I did to my body or my hormone system, really the biggest problem was it prevented me, looking back, it prevented me from really mastering exercise programming and diet is what it did. Because I relied so much on supplements thinking that's what was going to do it that I just didn't pay it a good enough attention to my programming and diet and had I done that we got way better games. Well, I think that's the problem even still today, right? I think that even the generation coming up right now that's getting marketed to with supplements, there's just this impression that supplements make such a big difference. You know, because you see the Mark McGuire stories

or you have these massive bodybuilders that are pros, that are on magazines that are saying that they're taking all these steps, and whether they are or they're not, it doesn't matter because what made that body look like that had very, very, very little to do with anything that they were taking supplement-wise, and mostly with their diet and their programming

and their consistency in that. And I didn't get that either. I didn't get that until my late 20s. Did that really come full circle for me. In my early 20s and teens, it was all about trying the latest supplement and trying the latest diet gimmick that was out there. And really I had never strung like real consistency in my training and diet for a long enough period of time

to watch my body change. Later on, and this is what happened to me even with steroids. So I started experimenting with steroids in my early 20s thinking that was the answer. Okay, I've tried all the over the counter stuff and none of that's got me to do it. So maybe the only difference between me

and those guys in the cover of the magazine because I'm smart, I'm a trainer, I know that I thought I knew everything. That must be the only difference between me and those guys in the cover of the magazine because I'm smart, I'm a trainer, I know that I thought I knew everything, that must be the only difference between me and them is they have the real stuff. And that's when I began starting to experiment with steroids. And I had the similar response with steroids

as I did with these over-the-counter supplements. Maybe I felt a little stronger, like definitely the first time I took steroids, there was a huge strength increase. I noticed I got stronger every time I went into the workout, but my body wasn't changing. That was the main reason why I was taking it. I was insecure about how skinny I was. I wasn't getting any bigger though from it. I was getting stronger, but I wasn't getting bigger because my diet and my programming

wasn't in my life. You were feeding it. You know what I find interesting about your story, Adam, is that you're very open about your Annabelle Xteroid use in the past. You took, from the last time we talked, you took higher doses when you experimented in your 20s than you did when you were a professional, when you actually won your pro card as a physique competitor. And you looked phenomenal, and your doses of steroids were lower.

The difference was, it was significantly lower. I did way more steroids in my early 20s trying to figure out, which ended up, by the way, screwing up my hormone profile completely. I mean, by my late 20s, I then had to take a therapeutic dose just to be normal. So even then I have these pictures that are out on YouTube and I've posted a long time ago of when I was 30 years old and I fell out of shape, I was taking test to Ostrone during that time. A lot of people don't know that. A lot of people think I just wasn't working out,

I wasn't eating, I wasn't taking anything, and then I hopped on some gear and I got shredded or whatever. It's like no, I was taking testosterone back than just to be normal, even though I was out of shape and not training. It just wasn't working out. It wasn't working out and eating correctly.

Then I started dieting, getting myself in shape, and then I got all the way down to 7% body fat, not messing with any more testosterone, keeping the exact same levels I was when I was fat. The only difference was I dialed in the diet and the consistency with training. And that got me to that 7%. Then from there, I was like,

oh wow, I got this all this attention from social media, from transforming my body. Let's take it to the next level and compete. That was when I decided, okay, if I'm gonna get on stage and I'm gonna compete with these was when I decided, okay, if I'm going to get on stage and I'm going to compete with these competitors who are all taking antibiotics, I'm going to take my dose up to a higher dose than a therapeutic dose.

That's when I began taking 250 milligrams of tests. Before that, I was taking 125. In your 20s, you were taking way more than that, just the correct, but not good diet, not good. Yeah, and not seeing the results at all. I would see, and you would get a little bit, of course, when you take testosterone, you put on some water weight,

you definitely gained some strength. But what was happening is I'd feel strong, I'd put a few pounds on, and then I'd come off the cycle, and then I would look exactly the same. And what I did, I fell in the trap of, oh, it must be because I took tests. Let me try D-ball now. Oh, let me try Anivar now.

Oh, let me add ecopoys in there. Oh, and I just started going through the whole cycle of, let me try D-ball now. Oh, let me try Anivar now. Oh, let me add echapois in there. Oh, and I just started going through the whole cycle of let me just like I did with supplements. Oh, it must not be that supplement. Let me try this one. And never really getting the physique that I was always desire. Yeah, yeah, I would say,

and this is not one of the supplements that made this list because we're gonna, we're talking about weird supplements that actually have studies that show that they work and they do have an effect on the body, of course, they're not gonna come anywhere close to what you're gonna get with exercise, nutrition, and good sleep, not even come close,

but they will have an effect. Now, this supplement, I'm gonna mention right now, is not a weird supplement, it's super well known, it's creatine. Cratein is one of those that is just very effective across the board, it's also good for overall wellness and health. That's always the number one supplement I would say for urgogenic effects, for muscle, for recovery, for strength, and across the board.

But the next ones that we're going to talk about are the weird ones. These are the ones that either are herbs or they're insect hormones or things that you might not have heard of, maybe you have heard of, but they have been shown in studies to have pretty interesting effects. Also, the only supplements that we're gonna talk about right now, here's the criteria. They have to have studies that support them,

and they have to be ones that at least one of us has tried repeatedly and can say that they feel also, because there are some supplements that didn't make this list, that some studies show that they work. I've tried them, you guys have tried them, and like HMB is one of them. Lots of studies says it works. I never felt anything off of HMB.

It's based off of amino acid. Didn't do anything for me. Didn't make the list. So the ones on here that made the list, they're proven to have some effect, and we've noticed the effect when we've tried them ourselves. All right, so the first one is an interesting one. I found out about this particular supplement called Ekti Stereon, which is a little bit

more well-known nowadays, but I found out about it years ago because I was scouring the library, believe it or not. And I found a book that quoted some Soviet era studies on compounds that improve strength and muscle. Now here's what's interesting about this, right? The Soviets, remember this is a very, very communist country. They, it was in their best interest to produce athletes that would win. This is the way they showcase the superiority

of their country. And they spent a lot of money and time on researching all kinds of different things on their athletes. Training methodologies, hormones, there's lots of hormone studies, and then weird compounds. Every possible way that they could increase just a sliver of performance like they experiment with.

We got some great studies for that. Oh yeah, for training in particular. For training, yes. So I found this old Soviet era studies that talked about this compound that they in the study compared to low dose of dianna ball. Dianna ball is a very common old anabolic sterile. It's strong. It's a strong one.

So they compared Ecti sterile and if I recall correctly in this study, they compared it to 10 milligrams a day of dianna ball. Not a huge dose. Nonetheless, if you are naturally take 10 milligrams a day of dianna ball, you're going to feel it. They compared the two. And Ecti sterile actually outperformed it in a short study. I think it was a like a 60 day study or whatever. So that like blew my mind.

And so I read more stuff, all these Soviet studies. And I was able to find Echti sterone back then. It was very, very hard to find. And I tried it. And it actually worked. It actually did work. Okay, so now what's the origin? Like what is it, consist of the compound? Yeah, it's a derived from. So, Ekti sterone is a phyto steroid. So it's a plant hormone. It's actually found in spinach. Spinach is one place where you get it.

You'd have to eat a shit ton of spinach though. Dude, so pup I was right. Yeah, I know, right? Is that interesting? How funny is that? Is that weird? So you find it in plants, spinach has it. Now, to be fair, you'd have to a lot of spinach

in order to get the effective dose of ectastarone. It just wouldn't work that way. But you find it's also a insect hormone. So it's a hormone and insects that produces molting, you know, when insects molt or whatever. So this hormone causes that to happen in insects. So it is a hormone, it's just not a human hormone. When we take it and they've tested it, lots of studies, right?

They've tested it to see, does it change testosterone levels? Does it lower estrogen, like what's happening? Because the effects... You can't even... Insect-like effects. Yes. Don't like the fly. If you take it, you feel it and it feels like your testosterone is going up, you feel

like your libido is going up, that kind of stuff. Doesn't affect hormones, doesn't raise testosterone. In fact, that's how they marketed it back in the day. They marketed it as a testosterone booster, but it doesn't raise testosterone. Now, I wasn't familiar with this one, so when did it actually hit the market and become popular? It wasn't popular until recently where it's starting to get a little popular. The reason why it's starting to get a little popular

is because there was another study that was done, that showed that, up until this point, there were just Soviet studies and animal studies. Animal studies consistently showed you give this to sheep, they grow more wool and they get bigger and stronger. You give it to pigs, they get stronger, you give it to rats, mice, they get stronger. The human studies were like not that good, except for the Soviet ones, which sometimes we don't trust, because we think maybe they were bullshit or whatever.

What else were they on? They did a study on athletes, and they found that it reliably built muscle and strength, and accelerated what's called protein synthesis, right, where your body's taking protein and turning it into new muscle. Because of that the organization, what's the testing organization for the Olympics? Is it not water? Something like that. Yeah so the band supplement, they reviewed it because they were potentially going to ban it. Then it got attention. If, yeah. If the Olympics banned something, people are gonna go buy it.

So did it? Did it get banned? Did not get banned. Okay. But that doesn't mean it won't get banned in the future. But they did review it because they said that is that recent? That they just reviewed it?

It was like a couple of years ago. Okay. And since then, and here's a deal, real, empty sterone is relatively hard to find, easier to find today than it used to be. But still, there's a lot of crappy stuff that's out there and you've got to take the right dose and whatever. But you can find more of it now in better quality or whatever.

Like I said, it's hard to find. But because they said they were going to be banning and they're reviewing it, it started to get more popular. But what it does is it accelerates protein synthesis. It actually improves cholesterol profile. It speeds up the production of keratin. So you'll notice nails will grow faster. Your skin will start to, you know, feel like it's, you know, feeling better or whatever. And some people can cause gut issues. Very weird, interesting supplement has a little bit of

growth hormone effect too. Almost, right? Almost. Now, here's a thing, and this is my experience, you take it for two months and then it doesn't really do anything after that. So it's not like you just keep taking it. I feel like whatever, however it's working, your body starts to adapt and then you start to get no effects from it.

When you go off, you do lose some of the gains you have. Now, do you find this, I find this common in a lot of natural supplements. I feel like if you've never taken, in fact, some of those things will go in the list and I'll share my experience with some of the other ones. I actually haven't taken this one, but I have taken some of the other ones we're going to talk about. And that is something that I find common with a lot. Yes. I'll notice like, Oh, wow, I'd never noticed this. And then I'll feel it for a while and I'll start taking it consistently.

And then it seems to kind of trails off. Yeah, and then it fades off. Is that normal? Yeah, it just like anything, I think, whatever receptor it attaches, this happens with caffeine, right? So the first time you have caffeine, it's like, oh my god, I'm energized. And you need more and more.

Your whatever receptor it attaches to, your body's always trying to be in balance. And so it starts to shut down or shut off receptors or it'll stop producing the chemicals that it's making you produce more of or whatever to balance you out. So you do get a bit of withdrawal when you go off. In other words, you start to, you go off,

you're libido's low for a week or two, you lose some of your gains, and then you come back to normal. Overall though, if you cycle it, you do end up better. I would say overall. And do you recommend taking it with anything else, or is there, like, is it less beneficial if you're not hitting protein and takes what are you talking about? High protein.

Yes, because it increases protein and your appetite goes up. That's right. You take ectesterone, you get hungry. So you do want to increase. So great for the hard game. Now, they think that it's mediated by the estrogen receptor, which is kind of interesting. So I don't know if this is a good one for women to take. And I don't know if there's any studies that were done on women, it's all men.

You know who I've had to try acne sterile on several times? I heard you talking to Doug with it. Doug, Doug's actually had, Doug, what was it? Yeah, this is your experience. Yeah, I definitely felt like my appetite went up, vivid dreams. Yeah, that's another one. That's another one. And yeah, I felt like my appetite went up, vivid dreams. Yeah, that's another one.

That's another one. And yeah, I felt like I got some benefits in the gym as well. Like sexual vivid dreams or just vivid in general. Could be sexual, maybe not, okay? Did you notice a boost in libido? That's what I would always notice from it. Well, yes.

Okay. Okay. I became ravenous. Boy, I know how. Wow, a ravenous. Boy, I know. Oh, wow. Wow. A ravenous dog is pretty scary. So that's the first one.

The next one is one of my favorite supplements of all time because I get health benefits from it as well. And this is one that I'll throw in relatively consistently, meaning that I'll take it, you know, for a few months, and I'll maybe stop for a month or two and then take it again. And this is cordiceps. And I've had you guys all try, cordiceps in the past.

So what's your guys' experience with cordiceps? I feel like I have more energy in my workout. And it's very subtle. It's not like caffeine, it's not like the sodium in boost that we're doing recently. I've noticed, I literally just feel like I have a little bit extra gas in the tank. That's about it. Yeah, I tended to supplement with that when I was doing more long bouts of cardiovascular

type training and workouts and it definitely helped give me that stamina in my workouts and stuff. It actually had a massive benefit to it. Yeah, quarter-step is a weird one too, by the way. It's a fungus that grows in, I think caterpillars, it like takes over the caterpillar. The mushroom, yeah. It's the same one that turns it into a zombie.

Yeah, it kills them, it like comes out of them, and then that's where you can't tell. You get that we benefit from that. So you wanna know when this became a thing in the US, the, when was the Olympics were China hosted the Olympics, the Summer Olympics? Is that 2000? Okay, so it was, now refresh my memory.

So this, the women's team, yes. Okay, and this is where it almost, or it did get banned because it was so effective with their, it was either their track and field team or I forget which ones were caught. You said it was the female swim team, Apple swim team.

And they were crushing. And they came out and said, here's why they're crushing. It's because they're taking cordisps. And then it started to gain some popularity. My first experience with cordisps was when I was doing Jiu-Jitsu. That's where I noticed the biggest difference.

Corticeps in studies has been shown to improve VO2 max over placebo. So your VO2 max gets better, reduces inflammation, and in men with low testosterone, it can reliably raise testosterone. So if you have low testosterone as a guy or you struggle with that, yeah, corticeps will raise testosterone levels. Only if you're low though. So that's like struggle with that. Yeah, cortiseptal raise testosterone levels. Only if you're low though. So that's like a lot of these herbs, right? Yeah, very, it's hard to find an herb that'll raise high testosterone.

You know, but if you have low testosterone, yeah, exactly. It's in that it has adapted genic quality, meaning it helps the body deal with stress. For me, I'll take cortisept when I want to do a long hard work. If I'm going to do like 20 reps on the squat, I'm gonna take cordo-seps. If I'm gonna do a lot of volume, I'll take, you're less sore. If you take cordo-seps, you'll notice you're just less sore,

less damage, less concentration. It's all the work capacity type workouts and like phases I would get into. This paired beautifully with that. Yeah, now here's something else that's interesting about this. So I noticed this when, you guys, remember when I had the sauna in my house, I had to get rid of it because obviously it's in the baby's room so we had to get rid of it.

But I had bought like a sauna and I was doing sauna regularly. I took cordiceps in my heat resistance exploded. Remember you saying that? Yeah, like I could sit in the sauna way longer. Strange. So I talked about it on the podcast a long time ago because one of our sponsors, Four Sigma makes, it has cordiceps. Actually, it it's the best not just because we work with them They have one of the best

Core steps supplements because they have what's called a dual extraction process and I was talking about how it improved my heat tolerance Well, anyway, I got a bunch of DMs from construction workers roofers People who work outside in the sun. And they were like, dude, this is a game changer. Like I'm working, I'm not dying on the sun. Do you think there's got to be something to that? Because that's usually when I notice the most fatigue

is when I get really, really hot, you know, towards the end of the workout where I'm just, I've been running hills or whatever and I'm just like, doggin' it at that point. But when I was supplementing with that, it was definitely like, I could feel that I was still hot, but I didn't have that same like, you know, I didn't feel like I was being pressed down like my body was shutting down.

That's what I noticed in Jiu-Jitsu. I would take it before Jiu-Jitsu, and I would just roll and not, and sweat and feel like I was totally fine versus when I did in, I would get that feeling where you feel bogged down by the heat or whatever. So interesting supplement also has some anti-cancer properties in some studies. So that one, that one's one of those supplements, I would say, it's cool to take on and off kind of all the time.

Now, and that one is matter nutritionally what I'm pairing it with or what my desired outcome is. I don't think you need to change your nutrition to take it. Where's it with ectosterone on you probably want to bump your protein? Definitely not as pronounced as Ecti. Ecti-Stare on you feel, but you also feel when it drops off. Cortisep just kind of feels good all the time when you take it. The next one, I've actually given this one to you guys with, so for the audience, it

doesn't know. This is one of my favorite things to do, right? Well before we do a podcast, a lot of trust in this relationship. Oh, it's great. Or before we create a new program, or we're gonna go do something that requires some creativity, I'll do like a supplement stack or mix for Adam and Justin. And they just take whatever I go on, right?

So literally, I'll hand them some pills, some powder, and I'll rush and roulette. Yeah, and I'll be like, here, try this. Let me know what you think. Well, Lion's Main is one of the things that I'll give you some pills, some powder, and a Russian roulette. Yeah, and I'll be like, here, try this. Let me know what you think. Well, Lion's Main is one of the things that I'll give you guys sometimes with caffeine. And you guys know now, we'll talk about it. Lion's Main is a, is a Neutropic study show

when people take it over a few weeks or six, eight weeks, I think some of the studies show. It improves cognition. It's got some inzealetic property, so it's good with anxiety, helps with depression. I love Lion's Main just for, again, for the mind, I mean. Yeah, this is one of those like I've been taking before our podcast and noticing that the longer a span I've been taking it, the more effective and the more I've actually noticed its benefits of, you know, the sharpness and me being able to recall information and things like that.

Now this is a supplement space as it exploded in the last, I'd say, five years or so. Is this one of the most common ingredients that are found in all these neuro supplements out there? Yes, because it's got some of the best studies. So there's a lot of stuff out there that promises to boost cognition. Right. But there's not a lot of science behind them. Like for example, I pull up a study here.

This was a study published in Phytotherapy Research in 2009. They took 30 older adults with mild cognitive impairment to take either lion's main extract or placebo every day for 16 weeks. In the cognitive test given at weeks eight, 12, and 16 of the study, members of the Lyons main group showed significantly greater improvements compared to people with the

placebo. So they see that it also, there's another study, check this one out, this was in biomedical research in 2011. They did a study and they found that Lyons main protected against memory problems caused by the build up of amyloid beta, which is what causes Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's. Yes. There's also a neuroprotective effect against ischemic stroke in the brain. There was another study with post-menopausal women that showed that they helped with depression. And then cancer, here's another thing about it. It helps reduce the size of cancer as colon tumors in mice. And in Chinese medicine, lion's mane is a, it's one of those anti-cancer,

or you know, plants or whatever, it's a mushroom. Now back to my point about all these neuro supplements that are out there. Now what makes the difference between like this lion's mane and some of the synthetic stuff out there that claims to do the same thing? You know, people confuse stimulant with something that improves cognitive function.

So a stimulant can improve cognitive function if the reason why your cognitive function is down is due to being tired, right? So if I'm like, dragging ass and I drink coffee, I will have improved cognitive performance. But a real, like if we're gonna be more specific, for a supplement to improve cognitive function, it has to do it all the time,

not just because you're tired and you're waking up. Like there's that famous study that was done on, I think it was Adderall or ADHD medication. People who take ADHD medication think that it makes them sharper or smarter. I remember saying this. And they did a study and they found that it didn't do that at all. What it did is it made people think

they received that you're smarter. Yeah, because they're more focused than they enjoy what they're learning, versus not taking it, but it really didn't improve any cognitive function. Lines may have been shown to have a positive, actual real deal positive effect on cognitive action. So how would you describe these as like more of like a vitamin or a nutrient, you know,

that made the brain may benefit from in a different way that it's not getting? Yeah, so I wouldn't say it's something you take and feel right away, although I do enjoy it with caffeine. It's what you said, Justin, you take it kind of on a regular basis. Yeah. And after about six weeks, eight weeks or so, you're just, you just remember things a little easier, a little bit sharper. I noticed a better verbal fluency. I can grab words easier, right? Otherwise, I would have to think a little harder. So it's one of those

the same things. But again, it's backed by, by studies in our experience. The next one, this one's really interesting. The, the, the, the name that you'll find it sold under is horny goat weed. You guys know why they call it? It's right to the point. It combines my three favorite things. Do you know why they call it horny goat weed? Well, let me guess.

Right? A goat was just roaming around the past year and just started to eat one of those and was just randy on everybody. Yeah, so there were goat herders. Actually, this is a, I believe it's an erivetic supplement, but they, there were goat herders noticed that the goats would eat this particular plant and then they'd go just have sex all the time

and they're like, what's going on here? So they named it, so that's what they called Hornigoteweed. It consistently and predictably will raise libido in people. So I have the most experienced with this one and the last one and this one, I used before I had my big coming off testosterone crash

and then I used more recently when I was coming off testosterone. So I never know, we had teas that were going to go wheat. I never really noticed anything seven, eight years and beyond when I tried this. When I really noticed the effect on this was when I came off a testosterone and back in what it was just now been three and a half, four years, maybe a little bit longer now, right around four years on the podcast

when I shared all that, I mean, I went through like depression over, like coming down, I mean my... Lebedo was gone. Yeah, Lebedo was gone. My, I was just, just, energy was low, didn't want to train. It was a really tough time for me for about three to six months

there. And I would, you were sending me all kinds of different stuff to stack. I was taking this and ash, ashwaganda and some other tongue cattie and some other things you had me on. And I did notice a big difference in this. I noticed it would now it didn't take me from a guy who had like no libido at all to all sudden I was wanting to have sex twice a day or something.

But I went from somebody who like felt like their sex drive had completely gone away to at least wanting to have sex multiple times a week, which was a very big deal for me and in my relationship, because that was one of the things that was tough was, you know, here I am, I've been in this relationship for, at that time, seven years with Katrina, and because I'm coming off this testosterone all of a sudden, it's affecting our sex life, and I don't care who you are, that's never good for the relationship. And so I was using that supplement during time, and it really helped mitigate that.

I noticed it then. I didn't notice it before when I had normal testosterone or high testosterone levels. Yeah, is there a reason for that? Yeah, so in the studies they show that it will raise testosterone in men with low testosterone. Okay.

So if you have normal testosterone, or especially if you're on anabolic and they're high, it's not going to do anything for you. Now, the compound in, there's a compound in hoarding goat weed, and I hope I'm pronouncing right, I care in, I believe, as what it's called, is a PDE5 inhibitor. Again, I hope I'm getting this right. Now, this is a similar action to Viagra. Now, it's nowhere near as potent as Viagra, but in a similar way, it helps reduce the enzyme that breaks down nitric oxide. So, not nearly as strong as prescription Viagra or, you know, psialis, whatever, but it's a natural boner pill.

And this is legit. They actually test and show that men's What they say in the studies cracks me up erection quality I don't know how they test the reaction quality. Yeah, this is a good one. This is a good one, Sal I can hang three rings on this one Yeah, I can just see scientists Yeah, your last owner can only hold one ring Yeah, five on her up the dose. So increases erection quality. It's also good for fertility in some cases.

And it is consistently raised libido in men and in women. And in women, so check this out, right? So horny goat weed like other, you know, adaptogenic type supplements tends to balance out hormones. So in men with low testosterone, it raises testosterone. In post-menopausal women, guess what it does? Raises estrogen. So post-menopausal women will take it and then notice a rise in estrogen, they'll start

to feel kind of better as well. Now again, this is one of those supplements that you'll take, you'll feel it for about 45 to 60 days. And then it feels like it's not doing anything for you more and you got to go off. Well, again, I actually felt it consistently when I was going through the coming off. You did? Yes. Cool.

I did notice that with that. It was one of those supplements that, again, in the past, I messed around with, didn't think anything. When I was a kid, I remember hearing about it and hearing that it could raise testosterone levels and thinking that at, you know, 19 years old, I could take it and I would feel a difference. And I was like, this is trash. I don't feel anything. It wasn't until much until later in my life and in my 30s, when you recommended it to

me when I was going through that. And I noticed a big difference. I mean, I was a consistent supplement that I took in that last year that I felt like at least helped me have sex sometimes during that process. Yeah, that's cool. Because it helps with nitric oxide theoretically, it could be a supplement that helps with the pump. And theoretically, it might even lower blood pressure in people with high blood pressure

because it helps open up and relax the blood vessel. That's interesting. Yeah, but again, it's backed by studies and it's one of the more consistent libido boosters. So if you're dealing with libido issues or whatever, I would say try this one out and it'll probably work for you. All right, the last one is, it's got a lot of studies supporting, you actually mentioned it, which was ashwaganda.

Ashwaganda is a staple compound in eryvedic medicine. I believe the name means horse or something like that, is a staple compound in eryvedic medicine. I believe the name means horse or something like that or it might even be worse, like horse piss or something like that. Stinks, if you've ever smelled Ashruganda, it doesn't smell. I've taken it, I've never like, you know, just smelled it individually. No, it's awful in liquid form.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. If you get the powder or pill form, if you can, it tastes terrible. Now, Ashwaganda is one of my favorite other supplements. Why? Well, isn't it up there with like creatine as far as one of the most researched herbs? As far as herbs are concerned, I would say, I mean, ginseng is super, super researched, you know, but Ashwaganda's lately, there's a lot of studies coming out supporting.

When I take Ashwaganda, here's what I notice. I get way faster recovery. I get way faster recovery and I seem to feel better with less sleep and feel better when I'm stressed out. It does help manage cortisol in people. It's definitely one of those if I'm feeling like a lot of stress and I'm carrying a lot with me like and I'll take it.

It helps to alleviate that quite a bit. Yeah, there was a study that showed that increased power output with athletes. You'll notice you'll get stronger by taking ashwaganda as well. Now, is it matter how with the dose is on something like this? Is this something that you have to take a good amount for it to work? You would take the amount that's done in studies. Here's a thing with all these compounds that we're talking about. You're going to, if you, when you look them up, you, you'll see in the studies that they

use the particular dose and that there's a recommended dose. This does not mean if you take more, it's going to be more effective. In fact, taking more sometimes makes them less effective or can cause problems. So don't make that mistake and I'm speaking from personal experience, taking more doesn't make it more effective. Definitely take the recommended dose, nothing more. And this is also something that is found in our organic green juice, right?

Don't they have that in this? Green juice does have some ashwagon in there. It's just, it's one of those, it's a great overall, you know, makes you feel kind of better, you know, supplement. It raises HDL, it lowers HDL. It's great for infertility. In men, it'll improve. So I have a friend of mine who's trying to, who's trying to conceive with his wife and his sperm count was a little low. So he asked me like, what he could take. And there was other things I had recommended,

but I also recommended Ashwagandha. And it made a big difference, and they got pregnant. And this falls in the category of adaptogens, right? Adaptogenic. Now explain that again to the audience on exactly what that means. Adaptogenic herbs or compounds are compounds that help the body deal with stress.

So think of all the negative things that, okay, think about it this way. Imagine if you have a bucket, it's like one gallon bucket, and that's your stress bucket. So every stress that you have, you know, bad sleep, argument with the wife, y'all men traffic, you know, whatever,

all the stress fills up that bucket. Once it overflows, now you're, now you're gonna feel like shit, no matter what. Like, now your workouts are too hard for your body because you've already got too much stress. You're not feeling good, cortisol goes up, testosterone drops, and women progesterone estrogen, kind of get messes up, and you just kind of feel crummy.

What these type of compounds do is they make the bucket bigger. So now your body can deal with more stress and you get less of the negative effects. Now, that makes a lot more sense why it's in the green juice. Since the green juice is something that you take on a regular basis for you to do that to be able to handle more stress. So how would I use Ashruganda? I would use it like this.

If you're going to go through a period where maybe it's finals week, you're just had a baby, or you just had a baby like I did, right? Or you're about to go into a phase of training where you're gonna do a lot more sets, a lot more volume, maybe pre-contest. Pre-contest for competitors is very, very stressful. It's not super common for them to get sick, pre-contest, they're doing so much cardio,

and working out, and diet, or whatever. So anytime you see yourself going into a period like that, Oshoganda would be a good supplement to help your body handle those types of things. Right. I think it's also important right now too that you address kind of our stance on something, because we're getting a lot of new people that are following mind pump, especially through YouTube and stuff now, and address our overall stance on supplementation in general. I know when we first started the podcast,

if you've been listening since day one, you kinda know what that is, but if you're tuning in right now, and it might sound like we're like, oh, all these supplements are a big billboard for supplements. Yeah, so to give you an analogy, if diet, exercise, and sleep, and lifestyle,

where the engine to your car, supplements would be the air filter. So that's the difference that they'll make, right? So if I have a car and it's maxed out and souped up and I'm trying to squeeze one more horsepower or whatever, you know, my, it's more like a decal. Yeah, my can in air filter might make it,

you know, a little bit better, or like an exhaust or something like that, right? Or downpipes, but it's not a turbo. It's not a supercharger, you know, those you're talking about, anabolic hormones, even steroids are probably not like a turbo or, you know, so when you say, when you say diet, sleep, programming,

I mean, those are the bigger, that's like 90, 80, 99% that's the the bigger, that's the A and G. That's the nitrous, that's the turbo. All these other things are like the little bolt-ons, like you were just using as an analogy. Yeah, so I, you know, I use these, first off, I probably have a bit of a supplement problem. So I like to mess with things,

just to see what they do. But here's the reality, if I'm being totally objective. I'll use these supplements like a Swiss Army knife. So, oh man, next week I'm going to be doing a lot of extra work or it's going to be really stressful. So maybe I'll try to start taking some ashwagandha, right? Or, hey, I'm going to go on vacation with the wife next month. I'm going to start taking some horny goat weed so we can have fun. So I'll do that kind of, that would be the way I would say to use these things.

If you're really dialed in, you'll notice, if you're not that dialed in, you might have trouble noticing that they're gonna do anything. But I think it's fun to talk about. No, it's very, I think it's fun and I love to hear you go deep on all these things, but I think it's important, and that's why I think we shared the story at the beginning, right, of like our journey of trying

all these, this is no different, right? If you're some young kid that's trying to build muscle, the answer is not in these five weird supplements that's gonna give you, you know, pack on five or 10 pounds more muscle, or if you're somebody who's struggling with fat loss, this is not the, nor is any other supplement over the counter.

These are not the answer to your problem. Like you've got to take care of the big rock stuff. It's just fun to explore once you have all your ducks in a row. And you've done all the work and, you know, the consistency is there. And, you know, you're accounting for nutrition, sleep, and exercise and all that's kind of working out. So it's a fun thing to explore.

Totally. Look, MindPump is recorded on videos as well as audio, confine us on YouTube, MindPump Podcast. You can also find all of us on Instagram. You can find Justin at MindPump Justin, me at MindPump Salon, Adam at Mind Pump Adam. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy,

and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbundle at Mind Pump Media.com. The RGB Superbundle includes Maps and Obolic, Maps Performance, and Maps Esthetic, maps performance and maps aesthetic. Nine months of phased, expert exercise programming designed by Sal Adam and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels and performs. With detailed workout blueprints in over 200 videos, the RGB Superbundle is like having

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