C.A. Lang's Blog, page 10

The introvert thing.

 

I hate that I have to use that term, because it’s a loaded one that people think they get but mostly don’t.

In reality, the only difference between introverts and extraverts is that extraverts feed off other people and introverts take responsibility for their own energy to do stuff and have to go home to recharge. Whoa, nobody ever put it like that, did they? Because it’s always biased against the introvert, as if they’re broken or something. But you could totally look at it as if extraverts were psychic leeches. And I find that a lot of the time, they are. They can be exhausting, clingy, and tend to lack any sense of boundaries whatsoever. That might sound a bit extreme but all I’m doing is reversing the kind of language that’s acceptable when talking about introverts. I’m not trying to bash them. Not much, anyway.

The reason I’m thinking about this is that I’ve been stupid busy lately and am a bit exhausted. And the last thing I’d do is try to be the life of the party in this state. I become quieter. I focus on rebuilding my energy by getting enough rest and exercise. And that’s it.

I’m not exactly labelling myself an introvert. On the spectrum I’m close to the middle and have moments of both. Which is why I think I’m in a better position to overanalyze it. But the societal bias towards extravert=more social and therefore automatically better, is probably the most asinine thing ever invented. I think even Nuts & Gum is a better idea than the extravert bias.

Susan Cain has done a lot of research on the subject and wrote a pretty cool book about it, which is where a lot of these newer attitudes are coming from. What people don’t get is that the difference is purely cognitive, not social. There are extraverts with social anxiety and there are introverts who can be the life of the party when it suits.

Research points out that “introverts” process more information about their surroundings than “extraverts.” So when someone, like me sometimes, seems like they’re not interested or have nothing to say because they’re not gushing over a comment or babbling, it’s actually because we’re processing a lot more information than the extravert and are very interested. So while the extravert is taking in smaller amounts of information and exaggerating it, the introvert is sometimes scaling down their reaction to complex information and emotions, as is mentioned in the article I linked to.

This also pertains, in my uneducated, unprofessional opinion, to better judgment. And even that doesn’t get you anywhere socially, besides helping you avoid getting burned and having people waste your time. Personally, I get quite a detailed picture of a person when I meet them. I don’t see as much of a need to “get to know someone.” If I get a good vibe, I’m interested and want to talk to them. Bad vibe = go away. Now. And whenever I’m pressured into NOT listening to my good judgment, I pay for it. But it’s hard because it makes you seem like an ass. It’s not a knee-jerk reaction either–plenty of times I’ll have an initial weird feeling but a minute later pick up on details that change my opinion. And the frustrating part is that an extravert would miss those details and make a decision to exclude that person socially. I’m often in the uncomfortable position of watching close friends involve themselves with sketchy people because they thought having the kind of judgment I use is “mean.” So I shut up and let them do what they will and just hope I can avoid that person. Then months later, I hear about how that sketchy person had screwed over the friend. It’s happened so much throughout my life that I’m tempted to not bother advising people I care about anymore, because mostly they don’t get it and just think I’m being a weird asocial and overly-aggressive guard dog. To be honest, “I told you so” is not satisfying in these cases.

What psychological rant of mine  would be complete without a psychoanalysis angle?

We’re in an extravert-dominated society, yet statistically 51 percent are introverts and 49 percent are extraverts, with equal distribution across gender. So the current situation doesn’t add up. It does make sense if you take into account this: as Zizek mentions, while in the early 20th century the goal of psychoanalysis was to open up a space to enjoy, due to repression and so forth, now the problem is that people are unable to not enjoy. A lot of introverts are faking it, perhaps. And I think faking extraversion for an introvert would lead them to doing stupid things, like drug use and generally unhealthy habits. It might partly explain a lot of those cortisol and alcohol bellies out there. Thanks to the overblown superego of our society, introverts may feel unable to follow their instinct and judgment and do what’s best for them.

Introverts may be quieter and fail to entertain crowds with clownish behaviour, but they get shit done and tend to see beyond the superficial apsects of any given situation. So I don’t know. Maybe it’s time to grow up and rethink these issues. And realize that there are plenty of boring extraverts and plenty of lively introverts. You can’t define these terms as a matter of social aptitude.

 

 

Workaday Reads interview.

 

Just in case my 3 readers aren’t satisfied with the amount of rambling I’ve done here, there’s an interview with me at Workaday Reads.

 

I am that tree falling in the forest. I’m pretty sure I’m still making noise, even though there’s nobody around!

 

Interesting fact: still haven’t bought any coffee.

 

 

Hyper FX Review

 

Another sample packet gone from my overburdened cupboard.

I used this before a 5k tempo run at 6am. The reason I did this is because I have been out of coffee for 2 weeks now (too lazy/stupid/distracted to buy more) and ran out of caffeine pills, and this was the only thing I had lying around that showed any promise of jacking me up after a 5am wakeup that had followed half a bottle of wine the night before.

Again this is juicemonkey douche stuff full of chemicals, but in this case I almost don’t mind. The stuff fizzed and you’re not allowed to shake it, according to the package. Caffeine mixed with synephrine worried me slightly, but also intrigued me. I’ve never taken bitter orange befoe. Yet I like what it has going on. Bitter orange, caffeine, huperzine–a nice mix of uppers.

Unfortunately this hit me late in my run. I didn’t drink it early enough. I felt a definite norepinephrine boost though, and when used properly I could see how this would be a useful preworkout drink. It tastes dreadful but that has nothing to do with anything, since if we’re being tough weight lifters, we certainly can handle things that don’t taste that great, right? We don’t need everything to tastes like cookies and cream, and fruity fruit fruit punch. Erm. Anyway it tastes, as my princess would say, “heinous,” and has some chemicals you don’t need or want, but since nobody “natural” is making something loaded with so many wonderful uppers, I’m forced to overlook that.

4 bean-shaped cats out of 5.

 

Also: it’s hilarious that people are now googlemachining “bean shaped cat.” I may write more about the bean shaped cat later on.

Oops. How’d this get here? Ah well.

 

Workshops and signings. Plus rambling.

 

Every day I come home with a sense of dread. It’s because I haven’t yet finished polishing the workshops I’ll be teaching in less than two weeks. I dread this because it will either help me gain credibility I so desperately need as a first-time author nobody writing in a niche genre, or expose me as a complete fraud. And I have no idea if what I’ve got is going to fill two hours.

Nevertheless, here’s the poster for the adults’ workshop I’ll be doing in addition to the youth ones. All I have is a poster. I can’t seem to find any info on the googlemachine about it besides a poster.

 

As I’m typing this, I’m trying to eat perogy and sausage because I have no time to cook real food, listening to messages from my mortgage broker, and hoping to not be late for some real estate showings I need to get to tonight. Then when I get back, I get to face that demon workshop thing again. Then get up at 5 tomorrow, run more, work more, write more.

It sounds like a “poor me” situation but I do remind myself that having such ridiculously bourgeois/bohemian problems is probably something only a brat would complain about. “Oooh, I’m worried about my author event and can’t decide which condo to buy.” Get real.

Also: Book signing at Mosaic Books in Kelowna on July 15th. I’m working on Vernon and Kamloops. Nelson would be nice, but I’m not sure when I can get the time for it.

Oh yeah. I’ll be at When Worlds Collide.

Shit, when am I going to find the time to move?

Anyway, yes. Conventions will be a new thing for me because I’ve always been unable to tear myself away from my obsessions long enough to attend anything like that.

I had a bunch more to type about my insecurities and sausage, but I have to get going… so in that case, I think you should just listen to this:

 

 

 

Clockwork Angels Rush-gasm

Normally I’m against extreme fan behaviour of any kind. But I’m not immune to it when it comes to Rush. I cannot put into words how much I love this band or how much it’s influenced me.

So I’m just a little bit thrilled to be listening to their new album, Clockwork Angels. What’s even more Rush-gasmic than that? It’s a concept album that’s going to be a steampunk novel written by Kevin J. Anderson. I mean. How. Is this much awesomeness. Possible.

I mentioned last week that I saw Henry Rollins. In his talk he joked about old bands who have their guitars up high and are fat and that are kind of pathetic. I kind of get that, although to be honest in the Okanagan we love and adore washed-up Canadian 80s bands in the summer. We’re all too drunk to care whether or not they should still be playing. But though it’s probably valid in a lot of cases, Rollins is dead wrong when it comes to a lot of bands. Yes ended up making some really neat music when they shouldn’t have. And of course Rush . . .

People who only like their old stuff have brain damage. This band has made three great albums in the last 12 years. I don’t care that they don’t sound like 2112. Why the hell should they? I also don’t care how old they are, or about their weight. Some of my favourite Rush songs aren’t on some 70s album, but Vapour Trails. Whoa, I just said that. Yes. Sue me.

Clockwork Angels sounds like a logical evolution from Snakes and Arrows. I find it more upbeat. Not that this is either good or bad to me–I don’t shy away from dark music. But I got a certain world weariness from Snakes and Arrows, and this album somehow has a youthful glow to it.

Right now some of my favourite tracks are BU2B, Clockwork Angels, Headlong Flight, and Wish Them Well. It’ll take a few listens to really get it though. I had to update this just now after having been obsessed with the album for a couple days. Just like their last two albums, I needed to listen to it a few times to really get what was going on. This is probably just because I’m a musician and overthink the music I listen to. But then again, who listens to Rush but other musicians? Anyway there’s a lot of groove-oriented riffage here. The time signatures prog nerds love are there, but personally they were so subtle that on the first listen I figured they’d backed off on it a bit. But it just took a while to pick them out. And lyric-wise I always love Neil Peart’s writing. There’s never any stupid shit in his lyrics and I daresay they’re always either thought provoking or inspiring. We’ll ignore the first line of Nobody’s Hero because the rest of the song is so damned awesome.

And if my own readers end up going to Amazon and clicking on my book just to appreciate it for a moment, then go check out Clockwork Angels in the same sitting, and Amazon puts my book in the “users who viewed this also viewed . . .” thing? I can’t say I’d complain about that situation. IfyouknowwhatImean.

GH Activ-Fuel + update

Just adding some more on that review I did of Genuine Health Activ-Fuel +. I’ve just hopped out of the shower after a 13km run. 13kms in some serious heat. And I haven’t done this in about 2 weeks due to my dillhole of an ankle.

I used this product as my electrolyte drink during the run. I like that the directions urge you to play with the dosage, because this can be a tricky product to use properly. It will take some experimenting, moreso for endurance sports than gym workouts.

The inulin wasn’t a problem, so that was good. All in all I think it’s a decent product that does many things. I question whether hardcore endurance athletes are going to ditch Hammer or Gu for this, but those likely aren’t who GH is targeting anyway.

Your experience is going to depend on how you mix the stuff. I used 1.5 scoops this time, which was probably too much. This stuff gets thick very easily. Also, for endurance sports this MUST be chilled as much as possible. I used room-temperature water because I never have the foresight to throw it in the freezer for a few hours beforehand, and I keep my drinking water outside the fridge because I’m paranoid about fridge-taste. God forbid I just clean the flippin’ fridge once in a while. Ehhhhh. Anyway the point is that on a hot day like this, the stuff warmed up pretty fast. After 7k it was like throwing back a warm fruity milkshake in the middle of a run. I don’t know how many of you reading this do much running, but that’s pretty serious. As in serious bad news for a runner’s gut. This is not something that happens with standard drinks like Gatorade when they become warm.

Again, not necessarily a fault of the product but just an idea of how versatile it is.

So I think this is worth 4 out of 5 bean-shaped cats. It’s simple and could be the perfect easy workout supplement for the average exerciser. The BCAAs and creatine make me see it especially appealing to say, bootcamp or crossfit people, since it’s going to do more for explosive activities than it is for a marathon. I definitely will keep it in mind for next time I do plyometrics. And as I mentioned it noticeably impacted my weight training workout. It’s possible that if you found the right ratios it would make a good endurance drink, especially for those who don’t want a cupboard full of overly specific products. It really is one of the better all-natural pre-workout drinks out there.

The technology thing.

 

 

I wrote Blightcross years ago. At the time I hadn’t seen any reference to Dieselpunk besides some obscure reference to the Dark Sun universe.

So there wasn’t a whole lot to go on, at least that I knew of. I admit I spent way more time writing than reading or being part of the scene. So maybe something went over my head. At any rate, I remember debating with myself over technology in that novel. I wanted to get away from traditional fantasy–far away–but still retain a lot of those elements and play with a modernist-era setting.

Oh, by the way–the fact that I wrote this novel years ago and it’s only just now seeing the light of day gives you an idea of how fast this particular trade moves for unpublished authors. For most it doesn’t even begin to start once you’ve finished the novel!

Anyway, I considered doing a direct transplant of what we had around 1920. But beside being too easy, I figured that while my world ended up with good artillery, flying boats, and electricity, the weapons you’d expect (rifled barrels, machine guns and so on) would possibly lag behind on account of the magic issue. Since much of the conflict in that world existed due to who had control of certain populations with those abilities, the development of infantry weapons wasn’t of much concern. They certainly would be right when the novel takes place, and there will be much more about that in the next installment. Actually there are some hints about that in my short story Tidal Tantrums, since the main character is the head of one of that world’s first corporations that would form a military-industrial complex.

Thinking about this also got me thinking to how writers always skip that hilarious few hundred years of our own history when war consisted of absurd, formal gatherings. You know, like 18th century type fighting. Stand everyone in a line, perform drill properly, and hope that one of those lead balls doesn’t hit you in the face. This is something I want to tackle in a fantasy novel. So maybe a prequel might happen someday. I mean I suppose once they closed the distance between the two sides, there might have been a lot of stabbing going on, but for the most part I think a lot of that type of battle scene would be hard to make interesting. War of 1812 but with people who have funny names, weird creatures, and other fantasy idioms. I’m so there.

What the hell would you call that, anyway? Musketpunk?

Another way I was thinking science would lag behind due to not being necessary would be medicine. If you have widespread use of healing magic, biology is likely not going to progress as fast. So that’s another thing I have to consider. In the Blightcross world, I think it would take some really bad epidemics to get people into studying medicine more deeply and figuring out vaccines and so forth.

This is the kind of thing I’ll be discussing in my upcoming workshop. To be honest, I’m terrified but excited. I can pull this stuff out of my ass in writing very easily, but we’ll see if I can do it verbally and not bore the audience to tears! I’ll have more details on when and where this will be soon hopefully. For some reason it’s not up on the writing group’s website yet.

And just in case nobody knew, I’ll reiterate that Tidal Tantrums, a short story of mine that appears in the anthology Ride The Moon, is sort of a Blightcross spinoff. The main character in that story will be a major player in the next book.

 

 

Henry Rollins, writing, and the idea of saving the world.

So I saw Henry Rollins here last night. To me it was a pretty big deal. This guy is one of the few major role models that I can consciously identify. Even being a stable (relatively speaking) well-adjusted adult, I still get so much of a boost from listening to Low Self Opinion or Alien Blueprint during a weight training workout or hill sprints. It’s not exaggerating when I write that without growing up with the Rollins yelling at me to stop being such a self-loathing pussy I likely wouldn’t have done any of the stupid things I’ve never been qualified to get into, like writing novels, teaching writing workshops, teaching guitar lessons, running, or pretty much all the random shit that interests me.

I mean, it still took forever–way longer than it ought to have–for it to sink in, but nevertheless eventually it did.

At the same time, I was a little taken aback by how I’d changed. Before, I’d have accepted every single word Rollins said in his talk. But now? I’m a little confused because I disagreed with some of it. I mean this guy is one of my greatest heroes. How is this possible?

Specifics are probably not all that useful. But Rollins spends a lot of energy cozying up to the college hipsters and vegetarians and young axe-grinders. He does put a premium on  youth that I believe isn’t exactly warranted. And youth love the idea that they’re saving the world. I did. I still do. But it comes out in different ways now. I got over my ultra-leftist anti-authority phase quite a long time ago. So I totally get where the hipsters and activists and Rollins are coming from, but have been co-opted by the “be sensible, get married, and have kids” idea. And it’s such a weird thing for me to be now disagreeing with all the things I used to believe in passionately. For fuck’s sake, last year I was moving along nicely through the RCMP recruiting process until I was lured by other opportunities. Nowadays, that’s my idea of making a difference. Nurses, firefighters, cops (gasp!), soldiers . . . anyone who actually puts themselves on the line for real in order to affect society in a positive way. Are protesters? Honestly, if you ask me, nope. Would a protester clean up shit and vomit in a hospital? Would the average protester run into a burning building (RCMP have been doing this a lot lately too, not just firemen)? Would the average protester be able to stomach caring for people who knew they were dying?

Nope.

The worst thing a protester faces is a bit of pepper spray (which the RCMP, or any police recruit, gets to experience firsthand during training, by the way) or being arrested and released a short time later. Or being punched a few times. But then again, these same people think being punched and kicked in a punk mosh pit is a good time, so what’s the issue?

And that stuff, now that I’m 29 and my life is almost over, is the real “saving the world.”

This also reminds me an essay I read a long time ago by Robert Heinlein. Heinlein, believe it or not, was/kind of still is another major role model for me. I don’t agree with everything he said either. Anyway, in some omnibus I have of his there was an essay in which he wrote about the idea of writing to save the world. Basically he said that you can’t and that trying to do so makes you a shitty writer. Now, I read that when I was about 16 but didn’t actually understand it until like 5 hours ago. Of course that’s exaggerating. But you know what I mean. And at least in his case, it was blatantly true. His first novel was just a thinly-veiled rant for social credit and was a difficult, pointless read. On the other hand, it did get me interested in social credit and other ideas outside the mainstream. It’s hard to believe that this paranoid freaky right-wing libertarian once pimped social credit and was responsible for me eventually reading Marx. But then again, maybe it’s not all that surprising, and that’s kind of the point of this long, boring post.

I spent a lot of my million-words-of-crap apprenticeship writing to save the world. This despite having read that Heinlein essay well before starting any novels. Being a kinesthetic learner, it probably would never have made sense to me had I not spent way too much time actually doing it and seeing why it was such a bad way to write. Not the most efficient way to learn, but it certainly makes an impact. Eventually.

Back to Rollins–I just find it hard to be supporting, as he did in a very diplomatic way, protesting bourgeois students who have the lowest tuition in North America based on the romantic ideal that they’re fighting for  . . . what, exactly? Rollins supported the idea that they deserve free education. In the same presentation he vehemently bashed nations that have free education because the apparatus that provides such education requires copious amounts of authority. You can’t espouse anarchism and free education in the same breath. It’s just not feasible. The idea behind his support is sincere and logical–if higher intelligence/education among the population would equal more fulfillment of leftist utopian dreams, it would make sense to support any action that would move that forward. And I believe that’s where he’s coming from. Yet it bothers me.

Rollins seems like an individualist to me. An individualist approach to education would or should be this: fuck the institution, fuck being entitled to going through their silly hoops and earning a degree by pure formality. We are free to educate ourselves in any way we want. Fuck tuition, fuck universities. Not this bullshit about middle-class kids being upset about not being able to fuck around and get drunk in college for bargain-basement prices based on some vague sense of entitlement. Nobody is stopping those students from learning anything. Learning has never been cheaper. Go war-driving (or to a fucking Starbucks) and log on to Khan Academy and take responsibility for your own education instead of being a whiny bitch and basically wasting entire semesters of productive time. There is no excuse, no way to justify such destructive, unproductive activity like protesting when it has never been easier to teach yourself everything you could possibly want to learn. Rollins himself is the perfect example of this idea in action. He’s got nothing but high school but was smarter than any of the college hipsters in the auditorium. Guaranteed.

I don’t think young people right now need to be told they are the saviours of the world. My generation was told this and re-assured and un-challenged. My generation has a high rate of living with their parents at 35, smoking pot, and generally being useless. Youth in itself has no value unless the generation passing the world to them has enough sense to make sure youth is going to un-youth itself in the right direction. And we’re not doing that. All we’re doing is making them addicted to the reek of their own flatulence. Youth are being exploited by everyone with an agenda. On the surface it might seem positive that youth are finally getting excited about this or that piece of identity politics, but how did they arrive there? They were told to and guilted into it, or talked into it because it was cool. In reality, all they need is to be physically strong and to be critical thinkers. If ideas are any good, they’ll survive the rigour of critical thinking. They don’t need to be shown documentaries about factory farming to gain critical thinking skills.

On the other hand, I can see why Rollins is as polarized he is. The USA is not Canada, and let’s face it, we’re pretty centrist and cool here and can’t comprehend the retarded shit that goes on down there on both sides. Also, being immersed in the punk thing comes with its own obligations. Personally I’m not really into that, or any scene in general, and was only into the more personal views that characterize his solo stuff, rather than the silly Black Flag stuff. Let’s face it–I was the only guy there with a good haircut and a polo shirt. Rollins ridicules guys who play perfectly, but his sidemen have always been awesome players and I never got that shitty 80s punk vibe from his music. And that makes it a bit confusing.

This also could touch on my worship of Michael Moorcock, since Elric bounced between Chaos and Law throughout the whole series. But this is already getting way too long. In all three of these hero-worship issues, I’m left confused by the way all of them are full of contradictions, and by my own contradictions. Then again, being a dialectical thinker, it does make perfect sense.

It’s complicated.

Anyway, despite the previous 1000 words of ass-talking, seeing Henry Rollins in my town was awesome and he continues to be one of my greatest heroes. If he’s coming to your town, go see him.

Blightcross review by Lindsay Kitson.

Check out this review by fellow dieselpunker Lindsay Kitson. I know not to comment on reviews, but I’m very happy with this because she seemed to get exactly what I was doing.

One of my friends said it should have a spoiler alert, but I’m not so sure.

 

Now I go see Henry Rollins with my princess. So excited.

Supplements: “Mutant Rehab” and Genuine Health Activ-Fuel +

I tried a couple of different supplements during the last few weight workouts. I’ve been doing more of these lately due to not being able to run. It’s driving me bugshit crazy.

Even worse: I wrecked my back doing deadlifts today and had to stop the entire workout halfway through. Not impressed. When I drive home from the gym, it’s always through my high-maintenance, overpriced soccermom neighbourhood, which I love because everyone around here runs. But in this case it was torture to see the gaggles of runners. All I want to do is be able to run, damn it! And now I may have even disqualified myself from at least working on my upper body until I can run again.

“Mutant Rehab” I write in sarcastic quotes because it’s such a dumb name. When I read it, I think of something entirely different to the cokehead drug dealer tattoo juicemonkey Kelowna dudes to whom they’re trying to appeal. Actually, now that I think of it, what I think of when I read the word “rehab” is actually pretty close to the latter. But all that aside, I thought it was a useful recovery drink. There are things in it that don’t need to be there, like sucralose. Not sure if the improved recovery I felt was due to the decent calorie content, or the other junk in it. More “natural” recovery drinks like the Vega Sport Recovery Accelerator do work pretty well but I find they lack raw materials. They are far too low in calories to support any real gains, and you’d think that being targeted towards vegans, they’d be even more concerned with providing enough protein and carbs.

So I don’t know. It’s one of those crap GNC-type things full of silly buzzwords and sketchy ingredients, yet I did notice a difference yesterday after bench press day at the gym. Maybe it’s something to use during a short part of your mesocycle, but not something I’d use all the time. On the bean-shaped cat scale, I’d give this 3 cats.

Genuine Health Activ-Fuel + is new and sort of interesting. In contrast to their competitor, they’ve opted to make a product that you have to use before AND during the workout, betting on users going through twice as much, as opposed to needing to use 5 different products for one workout. This is something that interests me. But the thing that really interests me is that they’ve loaded it with beet powder. And I’m fairly serious about beets. There are BCAAs, which is a huge advantage over its competitor. There is a little bit of creatine too. Another huge leap over Vega. That’s the one thing that’s always disappointed me with Vega. Again, vegans get zero creatine in their diet. You would think Sequel would want to help these poor people find some way to be strong, not encourage their deficiencies.

Back to GH–it comes in caffeinated and caffeine-free versions. They gave me the caffeinated version, but on second thought I rather would have taken the caffeine-free one. Oddly this is because I do use caffeine. I need a lot more than what’s in this product. The dose in this product is far below what most studies have shown to affect performance and metabolism. So for me it would be better to leave caffeine out of pre-workout drinks so I can control the caffeine dosage by using my trusty generic drugstore brand caffeine pills. If you’re the type to believe that “natural caffeine from the kola nut” somehow has different or better physiological effects to my trusty cheaper-than-borscht generic drugstore brand caffeine pills, it’ll be a different story. But I’d highly encourage anyone with such an opinion to reconsider it, because caffeine is caffeine. When the sales pitch tries to appeal to that romantic ideal of a “natural” caffeine that is “released more evenly” and “doesn’t cause a spike,” what they really means is that 50mg of caffeine does absolutely nothing. Caffeine only does anything when you use enough to cause a “spike.” That’s the whole point of it–you want a manic episode to get the most of your workout. So in my opinion, you’re better off using it in effective doses in a cyclical way than you are trying to get any benefit from chronic use of low amounts of “natural caffeine.”

So I used it for today’s workout, both as a pre-workout drink and for during my back and biceps thing. I did notice a difference. Now, I had taken a bunch of arginine as well for some reason, so I’m not sure what it was. But it has beet in it, which already makes it a winner for me. My deadlifts were a bit more explosive than usual and I had also increased the weight. That’s probably why I killed my back.

I don’t like that they added fibre to it. Why does everyone put inulin in everything? This makes it sketchy for long-distance runs.

It does do what it says it does, despite a couple things that bother me. But beets and BCAAs are pretty much all you need in a workout supplement, so I give this one 3.5 bean-shaped cats.

Click here for an update on my experience with Activ-Fuel +.