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Core Nutritionals HARD 84 capsules - 28 Servings
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List Price: $63.99
Your Price: $39.99
You Save: $24.00
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Core Nutritionals HARD - Advanced Recomposition and Hardening Agent |
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Your diet is impeccable and couldn't be any more in check – macros,
micros, you have it all down. Your workouts? Get out of here! You have
slaved, grinded, and grunted your way through leg workouts so intense
the gym staff cried – and those were on your worst days. And yet,
something is missing.
It's that "extra" level of shred, "that look." You know exactly what we
mean. That type of leanness and density that makes an arm look twice as
big, a stomach look twice as lean, and a forearm look like a roadmap for
the Italian countryside. It's that kind of elusive hardness that's so
rare, most of us simply chalk it up to genetics, or luck, or steroids,
or whatever excuse we have handy – and yet we all still want it.
The reality? It isn't all that unattainable. Getting "that" look, "that"
hardness, is about balance and recomposition. It's a matter of adding in
that final piece of the puzzle that makes the entire picture come out
perfectly.
To be hard, you need to get HARD. It's that simple.
Core HARD is another product in the Core Nutritionals' lineup to
follow the basic, but indispensable principles that Core Nutritionals is
slowly making an industry standard: create products with effective
ingredients, in effective doses, in a non-proprietary formula. This time
around, we have applied those principles to the problem of softness that
we all despise and have developed the most advanced ultra-hardening and
recomposition agent on the market.
Taking advantage of both the old and the new, Core Nutritionals has
employed both modern, cutting-edge compounds and traditional herbs to
create a balanced approach to delivering hardness. Key ingredients in
Core HARD affect some of the body's critical physiological pathways,
combining sexiness and science in a single, non-proprietary formula. We
have included five powerful ingredients into a full month's worth of
stimulant free, recomposition goodness.
Core HARD can be used alone, or in a stack with other Core
Nutritionals' products. The BURN HARD stack (Core HARD plus Core BURN)
will be the ultimate fat blasting and hardening stack. Men can try the
HARD A.B.s stack (Core HARD plus Core ALPHA plus Core BURN)to
help create that chiseled look that all men want.
PHYSIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES AND EFFECTS:
Phosphatidylserine (50%)
Phosphatidylserine, colloquially known as PS, is a nearly ubiquitous
phospholipid found in various membranous tissues throughout the body.
PS's ubiquity coincides with its necessity for crucial physiological
functions, as the phospholipid is implicated in several components of
cell communication, as well as the mediation of catecholamine synthesis
and transmission in the brain (along with other neuroendocrine
functions). In a fitness-related context, a nascent but growing body of
methodologically-sound research suggests that PS may play a role in
increasing exercise capacity.
Studies administering the compound in both acute and chronic fashion
suggest that PS has a measurable effect on exercise capacity. In a
double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial involving 16 trained
athletes, phosphatidylserine was administered for 10 days prior to an
acute exercise challenge. Exercise markers such as exercise time to
exhaustion, sprint performance, and ratings of perceived exertion, were
measured post-exercise. The authors found that exercise time to
exhaustion was significantly altered. Related studies using similar
serving sizes have found that chronic PS administration increased shot
accuracy in golfers, increased exercise time to exhaustion by 28% in
cyclists, and reduced subjective feelings of stress and soreness in
others.
Overall, phosphatidylserine appears to play a valuable role in the
increase in exercise capacity. PS may therefore play a critical role in
the continued exercise success of bodybuilders in a, "cutting" or
recomposition stage.
KSM-66® Full-spectrum Ashwagandha root extract (5% Withanolides)
Withania somnifera Dunal, colloquially known as Winter Cherry or Indian
Ginseng, is an herb that features prominently in the traditional Indian
medicinal system of Ayurveda. Known as Ashwagandha in Ayurveda, Withania
somnifera is a critical ingredient in various Ayurvedic tonics and
tinctures prepared as a traditional remedy for the treatment of various
ailments.
Recently identified as a potent adaptogenic and target for therapeutic
applications, Ashwaghanda has been the subject of numerous animal,
pre-clinical, and clinical trials designed to examine its potential
effects as an antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, anxiolytic, antibacterial,
antifungal, and immonumodulating compound. Ashwaghanda's broad
therapeutic potential is hypothesized to be the result of its robust
phytochemical profile, including a wide swath of alkaloids,
sitoindosides, and the highly biologically active withanolide group. As
the principally biologically active compounds within Ashwaghanda,
withanolides such as withanone, withaferine A, withanolides A, D, and G
have been identified, isolated, and extensively studied in the various
applications noted above.
In recognition of the potential physiological benefits of withanolides,
Core Nutritionals selected KSM-66® to include in its HARD formula.
KSM-66® is a full-spectrum Ashwaghanda extract, standardized for 5%
withanolides – meaning that KSM-66® not only includes the full range of
biologically active compounds within Ashwaghanda, but also that it
contains the highest currently available concentration of the
principally active withanolides (5%).
The high concentrations of withanolides within KSM-66® has resulted in
encouraging results in a number of human, clinical trials – particularly
considering many of these trials were conducted using the methodological
gold standard of randomization, double-blind delivery, and placebo
control. Amongst the most impressive results contained in these trials:
- A 27.9% reduction in serum cortisol levels, measured over 60 days in a
trial featuring 64 chronically stressed adults.
- Statistically significant increases to endurance and stamina, as
measured by VO2 max, in a clinical trial featuring 50 healthy,
exercise-trained adults.
- Increased measures of well-being as reported by self-assessment scales,
included in both the clinical trials mentioned above.
- Statistically significant increases in serum testosterone levels in a
clinical trial featuring 68 infertile men.
Though each of these results is impressive, perhaps the most significant
is the 27.9% reduction in cortisol seen in the 60 day trial. As detailed
above, cortisol possesses a multitude of potentially degradative
physiological effects, including: inhibiting glucose uptake, causing a
constriction of the vasculature (vasoconstriction), the breakdown of
glycogen, and inarguably the result most would desire to avoid,
proteolysis (the breakdown of muscle tissue).
To put it the simplest way possible, cortisol's chief functions involve
either turning on, or shutting off, the very things we as fitness
enthusiasts want to avoid or turn on, respectively!
N-Coumaroyldopamine
N-Coumaroyldopamine is a natural analogue to the phytochemical N-Caffeoyldopamine,
itself found prominently in various plants, including cocoa (Theobroma
cacao L.). N-Coumaroyldopamine, its parent compounds, and other analogs
that derive from its parent compound, have recently been the subject of
phytochemical analyses due to their chemical similarity to
sympathomimetic amines known to couple to the beta-2-adrenergic
receptor.
Phytochemical analyses were subsequently designed to assess the potency
of N-Coumaroyldopamine and N-Caffeoyldopamine as beta-2-adrenergic
receptor agonists – or, in simpler terms, their ability to "turn on" the
fabled beta-2-adrenergic receptor. In these trials, the phytochemicals
were shown to be as potent as several well-known beta-2-adrenergic
receptor agonists (salbutamol, procaterol, and fenoterol). You read that
correctly: N-Coumaroyldopamine and N-Caffeoyldopamine were found to bind
as tightly to the beta-2-adrenergic receptor as well known synthetic
compounds!
The desirability of activating the beta-2-adrenergic receptor arises due
to the critical role that beta-2-adrenertic receptors play in both
skeletal muscle and fat metabolic function. In particular,
beta-2-adrenergic receptors have been shown to induce dilation in the
vasculature (vasodilation – the process involved in a "pump"), increase
oxygen uptake and nutrient transport to skeletal muscle, regulate
thermogenesis (the production of body heat), inhibit the pro-adipogenic
(fat constructing) effects of other adrenergic receptor types, as well
as directly increase lipolysis and the oxidation of fatty acids – the
literal burning of fat tissue.
Beta-2-adrenergic receptors achieve these effects via one of the body's
key chemical messengers, known as cAMP (cyclic adenosine monophosphate).
cAMP works as a sort of cell-type translator and foreman: it receives an
input from, say, a receptor such as the beta-2-adrenergic receptor, and
then communicates and directs the types of cells that the
beta-2-adrenergic receptor would like to target.
Just within the context of beta-2-adrenergic agonism, this amounts to
cAMP increasing resting metabolic rate and caloric expenditure (the
amount of calories you burn), improving peripheral sensitivity to
glucose and glucose utilization, reduction of gluconeogenesis, induction
of AMPk (adenosine monophosphate kinase) release, triggering of
lipolysis (the literal burning of fat tissue we spoke about earlier),
the inhibition of lipogenesis (the creation of fat tissue), and
vasodilation.
Or, in other words, cAMP is involved in nearly every beneficial
physiological process that a lifter, runner, hiker, jumper, runner,
tumbler, and fumbler would want. cAMP is involved in:
- Increasing bloodflow ("pump").
- Reducing muscle protein usage (catabolism).
- Increasing muscle protein synthesis.
- Increasing adipose utilization.
To say that cAMP is a desirable compound to increase the release of –
which activating the beta-2-adrenergic receptor does – would qualify as
the understatement of the year!
3,3'-Diindolylmethane (DIM)
What we typically refer to as "Estrogen," is in fact a group of three
biologically distinct hormones – estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), and
estriol (E3), each possessing different activities in different cell,
tissue, and receptor types. When experts refer to either the benefits or
downfalls of "estrogen," they really mean to (but probably cannot)
identify a specific estrogen.
These specific estrogens, in turn, metabolize into even more specific
estrogen sub-compounds, such as the 2-hydroxyestrogens (2-OHE's),
2-methoxyestrogens, 16a-hydroxyestrone (16-OHE1), and 4-hydroxyestrogens
(4-OHE's). As their parent estrogens, these estrogen metabolites exert
different effects depending upon the tissue and cell one is examining.
In fact, two estrogen metabolites in particular, 16-OHE1 and 2-OHE, have
such contrasting cellular activities that 2-OHE is an estrogen
antagonist. Yes, that is correct: there is an anti-estrogen, estrogen.
In recent years, so-called "phytonutrients" have become the focus of
clinical research, as these natural compounds have shown the ability to
increase the ratio of good, estrogen decreasing estrogens (such as
2-OHE), to bad, estrogen increasing estrogens (such as 16-OHE1). One of
these phytonutrients, a dietary indole known as indole-3-carbinol (I3C),
is the bioactive phytochemical and a presumed modulator of reduced
cancer risk in areas with high cruciferous vegetable consumption.
Unfortunately, despite its potent antiestrogenic activity, I3C is highly
molecularly unstable, and therefore unsuitable for use as a therapeutic
agent or dietary supplement.
Luckily, however, I3C readily metabolizes into the secondary indole 3,3'
diindolylmethane, or DIM for short. When used in a supplemental fashion
in clinical trials, DIM appears to possess all the positive effects of
its parent compound with respect to antiestrogenic action – promoting
the metabolism of beneficial estrogens that themselves reduce estrogenic
activity.
Aside from its healthy-estrogen promoting abilities, DIM also exerts its
own direct physiological effects, including:
- Promoting pathways of internal estrogen metabolism that favour the
production of anti-estrogen estrogens.
- Adjusting the activity of certain cytochrome enzymes, reducing the
activity at the estrogen receptor site.
- Limit the cell division and growth of certain estrogens.
Despite the bodybuilding community's single-minded crusade to eliminate
estrogen wherever it lie in wait, compounds such as DIM show us that
estrogen is a very diverse set of compounds – and that we should
actively pursue increasing certain estrogens that have beneficial, and
ironically, anti-estrogenic effects.
L-Theanine
Though the literature surrounding L-theanine is still emerging, the
amino acid is slowly building a reputation as one of the most
interesting and exciting compounds being targeted for therapeutic use.
L-theanine is an amino acid found almost exclusively in tea,
constituting approximately 1-2% of the dry weight of tea – resulting in
a 25–60 mg theanine load per 200 ml serving of liquid tea.
First identified in green tea and in the mushroom Xerocomus badius, L-theanine
readily crosses the blood-brain barrier in a dose-dependent manner, and
it is thought to influence the central nervous system (CNS) through a
variety of mechanisms, including:
- Increasing the release and concentration of dopamine.
- Inhibiting glutamate reuptake and blockade of glutamate receptors in the
hippocampus.
- Increasing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA –a neurotransmitter associated
with the regulation of responses) concentrations.
- Increasing levels of serotonin.
In addition to these more well-demonstrated effects, emerging
electroencephalography trials on theanine suggest that the amino acid
may exert a positive effect on alpha waves – a type of brain wave
implicated in restful relaxation. Alpha activity has also been
associated with increased creativity, increased performance under
stress, and improved learning and concentration, as well as decreased
anxiety.* |
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| *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug
Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or
prevent any disease. |
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List Price: $54.99
Your Price: $49.99
You Save: $5.00
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