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Ephedrine - Basic Understanding & Application
What is Ephedrine?
Simply put, ephedrine is a stimulant - THE END. In terms of basic application for fat loss, there is no need to go any further, but pharmaceutically speaking ephedrine is a sympathomimetic drug - meaning it stimulates the release of noradrenaline, which acts as an non-selective adrenergic receptor agonistic... but we can just stick with stimulant – it hypes you up
Physiological effects of Ephedrine
Some more boring stuff - Ephedrine affects the central nervous system as a non-selective adrenergic receptor agonist (agonist = activates). It is non-selective because it activates both alpha and beta receptors (in contrast to clen, which is a strong agonist of beta receptors only). We won’t get into sub-divisions of alpha and beta-receptors and for the purpose of this write-up (fat loss) we will stick with - activating alpha-receptors decreases lipolysis (bad or fat loss) and activating beta-receptors increase lipolysis (good for fat loss). The net activation of these receptors from ephedrine is in favor of fat loss, which is all that matters here. Ephedrine also works (extremely well I might add) to suppress your appetite - if diet is King, EC is the Queen pulling the strings - You will be significantly more in control of your diet due to the the lack of hunger / food cravings
Ephedrine Application
Ephedrine has been shown to be affective by itself through its physiological effects depicted above, but these mechanisms (like many others within the human body) are regulated by negative feedback “loops” that arise from adrenergic stimulation – this is where the notorious ECA (Ephedrine/Caffeine/Aspirin) stack comes into play. Both caffeine and aspirin have shown to aid in fat loss when staked with ephedrine by helping to block signals that would in turn reduce the effects of ephedrine. Not only do they work well with ephedrine, caffeine specifically has been shown to synergistically increase the effects of ephedrine; In this case, ADDING caffeine to ephedrine is like MULTIPLYING their lipolytic effects together e.g. 3 + 2 = 6. From this point forward you should view ephedrine as inseparable from caffeine.
Now while ECA is the original ephedrine stack, ECY has become increasingly popular in recent years. The “Y” of course standing for Yohimbine HCL (make sure you use Yohimbine HCL and not yohimbe bark / herb bullshit) which not only helps with blood flow and used to treat ED, but also is an alpha-adrenergic receptor antagonist. This means it deactivates the alpha-receptors (the ones that are bad for lipolysis).
Ephedrine will always be stacked with caffeine and the addition of aspirin and/or yohimbine HCL is just icing on the cake - Your stack depends on how you tolerate each additional substance, your budget, goals, etc.
Ephedrine Dosing / Cycling
Single dose:
Ephedrine – 25mg HCL or Sulfate
Caffeine – 200mg
Aspirin – 81mg (baby aspirin)
Yohimbine HCL – 5mg
Week / Regimen
1) half dose 2x daily ~8hrs apart (one will be pre-workout)
2) half dose 3x daily ~4hrs apart (one will be pre-workout)
3) full dose pre-workout, 2 half doses spaced ~4hrs apart
4) 2 full doses, leave half dose for evening / closest to bed
5-20) 3 full doses
21-24) Pyramid down
Pyramid down – reverse protocol – start by cutting your evening dose in half. Then cut your other non-pre-workout dose in half. Then cut your dosing to 2 x daily. You want to get down to 2 half doses daily or just one full pre-workout dose before coming completely off the stack.
Note: You can pyramid up faster than what I have laid out i.e. upping dose every 3-5 days, But I would recommend riding the lowest dose possible while you are still getting the thermogenic (stimulatory & appetite suppressive) effects before bumping it up. Also you can go higher than 3 full doses – the half life is about 4hrs so you can easily get in 4 full doses within a day – just keep an eye on blood pressure.
Also, I recommend cycling off ephedrine & caffeine for at least a week once you have built a significant resistance to regain sensitivity in your CNS – beta-blockers can help restore sensitively.
Precautions
Like with all stimulants, long term use will tax the heart and elevate blood pressure - anyone with pre-existing conditions should keep an eye out for any disturbances in heart rhythm, as well as further elevated blood pressure. Also your body will build a tolerance over time, although due to ephedrine being a non-selective adrenergic agonist it will happen much slower than other stimulants like clen. Because of this higher does are needed - this will put unwanted strain on your CNS and will become cost ineffective, therefore pyrmaiding down once 4 (maybe 5) doses start to lose their effectiveness is essential.
Results
The results associated with ephedrine and caffeine use can be tremendous if used in the right way. The first time I ever made it to single digit % body fat was the first time I ran EC. With that in mind always remember the golden rule of fat loss – DIET IS KING. One of the greatest weapons EC will equip you with is appetite suppression. Ephedrine will allow you to control your nutritional intake and restrict calories with relative ease (Note: if you take EC and eat the same food in the same quantity, don’t expect the fat to magically melt away).
One of the first studies (linked below) done on EC to measure its lipolytic effect showed a “significant” difference in weight loss between the EC and placebo groups – the results over 16 weeks was an increase in weight loss of 25%. Meaning 75% came from diet. Outside of DNP, no supplement will have a greater impact on fat loss than diet.
Secondly, EC has shown to increase strength and focus (like most stimulatory supplements), which will equate to better workouts - increased endurance and muscle contractions. This makes EC a great addition to even a bulking diet used as a pre-workout supplement.
With all these benefits contributing to your results, trained individuals should ultimately be looking at 2-4lbs of fat loss per week (without losing muscle or strength) given a proper caloric deficit is in place.
Summary of various studies on ephedrine / caffeine
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1318281
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8384186
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12032741
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8384187
What is Ephedrine?
Simply put, ephedrine is a stimulant - THE END. In terms of basic application for fat loss, there is no need to go any further, but pharmaceutically speaking ephedrine is a sympathomimetic drug - meaning it stimulates the release of noradrenaline, which acts as an non-selective adrenergic receptor agonistic... but we can just stick with stimulant – it hypes you up
Physiological effects of Ephedrine
Some more boring stuff - Ephedrine affects the central nervous system as a non-selective adrenergic receptor agonist (agonist = activates). It is non-selective because it activates both alpha and beta receptors (in contrast to clen, which is a strong agonist of beta receptors only). We won’t get into sub-divisions of alpha and beta-receptors and for the purpose of this write-up (fat loss) we will stick with - activating alpha-receptors decreases lipolysis (bad or fat loss) and activating beta-receptors increase lipolysis (good for fat loss). The net activation of these receptors from ephedrine is in favor of fat loss, which is all that matters here. Ephedrine also works (extremely well I might add) to suppress your appetite - if diet is King, EC is the Queen pulling the strings - You will be significantly more in control of your diet due to the the lack of hunger / food cravings
Ephedrine Application
Ephedrine has been shown to be affective by itself through its physiological effects depicted above, but these mechanisms (like many others within the human body) are regulated by negative feedback “loops” that arise from adrenergic stimulation – this is where the notorious ECA (Ephedrine/Caffeine/Aspirin) stack comes into play. Both caffeine and aspirin have shown to aid in fat loss when staked with ephedrine by helping to block signals that would in turn reduce the effects of ephedrine. Not only do they work well with ephedrine, caffeine specifically has been shown to synergistically increase the effects of ephedrine; In this case, ADDING caffeine to ephedrine is like MULTIPLYING their lipolytic effects together e.g. 3 + 2 = 6. From this point forward you should view ephedrine as inseparable from caffeine.
Now while ECA is the original ephedrine stack, ECY has become increasingly popular in recent years. The “Y” of course standing for Yohimbine HCL (make sure you use Yohimbine HCL and not yohimbe bark / herb bullshit) which not only helps with blood flow and used to treat ED, but also is an alpha-adrenergic receptor antagonist. This means it deactivates the alpha-receptors (the ones that are bad for lipolysis).
Ephedrine will always be stacked with caffeine and the addition of aspirin and/or yohimbine HCL is just icing on the cake - Your stack depends on how you tolerate each additional substance, your budget, goals, etc.
Ephedrine Dosing / Cycling
Single dose:
Ephedrine – 25mg HCL or Sulfate
Caffeine – 200mg
Aspirin – 81mg (baby aspirin)
Yohimbine HCL – 5mg
Week / Regimen
1) half dose 2x daily ~8hrs apart (one will be pre-workout)
2) half dose 3x daily ~4hrs apart (one will be pre-workout)
3) full dose pre-workout, 2 half doses spaced ~4hrs apart
4) 2 full doses, leave half dose for evening / closest to bed
5-20) 3 full doses
21-24) Pyramid down
Pyramid down – reverse protocol – start by cutting your evening dose in half. Then cut your other non-pre-workout dose in half. Then cut your dosing to 2 x daily. You want to get down to 2 half doses daily or just one full pre-workout dose before coming completely off the stack.
Note: You can pyramid up faster than what I have laid out i.e. upping dose every 3-5 days, But I would recommend riding the lowest dose possible while you are still getting the thermogenic (stimulatory & appetite suppressive) effects before bumping it up. Also you can go higher than 3 full doses – the half life is about 4hrs so you can easily get in 4 full doses within a day – just keep an eye on blood pressure.
Also, I recommend cycling off ephedrine & caffeine for at least a week once you have built a significant resistance to regain sensitivity in your CNS – beta-blockers can help restore sensitively.
Precautions
Like with all stimulants, long term use will tax the heart and elevate blood pressure - anyone with pre-existing conditions should keep an eye out for any disturbances in heart rhythm, as well as further elevated blood pressure. Also your body will build a tolerance over time, although due to ephedrine being a non-selective adrenergic agonist it will happen much slower than other stimulants like clen. Because of this higher does are needed - this will put unwanted strain on your CNS and will become cost ineffective, therefore pyrmaiding down once 4 (maybe 5) doses start to lose their effectiveness is essential.
Results
The results associated with ephedrine and caffeine use can be tremendous if used in the right way. The first time I ever made it to single digit % body fat was the first time I ran EC. With that in mind always remember the golden rule of fat loss – DIET IS KING. One of the greatest weapons EC will equip you with is appetite suppression. Ephedrine will allow you to control your nutritional intake and restrict calories with relative ease (Note: if you take EC and eat the same food in the same quantity, don’t expect the fat to magically melt away).
One of the first studies (linked below) done on EC to measure its lipolytic effect showed a “significant” difference in weight loss between the EC and placebo groups – the results over 16 weeks was an increase in weight loss of 25%. Meaning 75% came from diet. Outside of DNP, no supplement will have a greater impact on fat loss than diet.
Secondly, EC has shown to increase strength and focus (like most stimulatory supplements), which will equate to better workouts - increased endurance and muscle contractions. This makes EC a great addition to even a bulking diet used as a pre-workout supplement.
With all these benefits contributing to your results, trained individuals should ultimately be looking at 2-4lbs of fat loss per week (without losing muscle or strength) given a proper caloric deficit is in place.
Summary of various studies on ephedrine / caffeine
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1318281
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8384186
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12032741
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8384187
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