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