Results...

...I has them.

last week:

The show I've been preparing all of July for is The Queensryche Cabaret, that is the same Queensryche that's been king of operatic rock since circa 1981. It is such an honor to share a stage with these guys, so you see, hence the experiment to be the strongest I could be the fastest (healthy) way possible.

Last weekend was four days of epic shows and constant travel. I had to be careful to sleep at any opportunity I got to keep my muscles resilient, and not, in fact, party like a rockstar. Some pictures anyway:

San Francisco, trying to figure out how the heck to avoid a head on collision of aerialists and legendary musicians. The same stage I was thrilled to share with the Vau de Vire Society two years ago for Edwardian Ball, and incidentally the same stage Janis Joplin appeared on in yesteryear.


Vegas baby:

A helpful note left under my aerial fabric:

To my immediate delight, I've been added to the next two legs of the tour also, so I'll be leaving tomorrow in the early mornin for New Orleans, to be followed shortly by Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Shedangy!

After the first bout I came home and did nothing for about 4 days, then got right back on the horse.
And now.... The results of the experiment!

Creatine Ethyl Ester (CEE)- allowed me to train hard almost every day without the residual tearing apart of tissues that I would have normally had to let heal. After four weeks on, it did start to lose its effectiveness. So, four weeks on, four weeks off. If I feel the need to take it again after the off period, I wouldn't hesitate.
I got a lot of texts, messages, comments urging me to be careful with this stuff, most of which I probably didn't respond to (sorry) but nonetheless were heard. Some helpful advice I got was to double my water intake, which I didn't think was possible, but when I upped it to almost 2 gallons a day there were no cramps. Also, I'm huge. I was watching a video of my performance at the Pink Door last night and I am decidedly lumpier than I was a month ago.

Whey Protein Powder- metabolizes right away to bring you immediate energy instead of waiting for food to break down. Also, I got pretty tired of it. When I drank it 1.5 hours before performing that was a mistake, as I had to immediately start warming up. Combine that with a belly full of liquid and the pre-show nerves, and instead of energy I got nauseous. 2.5 hours before show yielded high energy and no grossness.

MSM- I'm sure it helped, but I can't tell how because I took it in conjunction with everything else. Now I've taken to taking it before stretching. More accessible to the body than glucosamine. More accessible to the body than glucosamine. That bore repeating.

NO2 (nitric oxide)- speeds up recovery time and dilates blood vessels. The second day of the last 4 day stint I was TIRED and sleep deprived. NO2 got the sluggish blood moving, felt like a blush all over and gave me the extra push I needed to warm up fully.

I can see easily how someone without their best interests in mind could do bad things to themselves with creatine and NO2. For example if you are using these things for cosmetic purposes, you're going to fuck it up. So, just don't. I mean it now.