L-Arginine Not Working? Try this.

[remek]

Before I go into the main reason for this thread, I want to make a clear point even clearer: PE makes your penis healthier and harder. If you PE and you are not experiencing harder erections, then there's a big chance you aren't doing it properly. There's also a big chance you're overlooking your Kegels.

That said, a lot of guys use L-Arginine to improve blood flow to their penis, in a hope that it helps with PE. This isn't a bad idea, as increased blood flow increases Nitric Oxide (NO) and other essential nutrients to the penis. It's uncertain whether this helps PE, as there haven't been any studies done just yet. IT IS, however, certain that increased blood flow increases hardness.

So if you're interested in increasing blood flow to your penis, then you may want to try L-Arginine, a natural supplement found at nearly every drug store (and even Wal-Mart). But if you do try L-Arginine, don't be surprised if something odd happens: Nothing. L-Arginine, many men claim, helps their erection strength and penis blood flow. Some men say it helps a lot. But for one reason or another, many men report that L-Arginine doesn't do anything for them. There might be a way to change that.

In The Hardness Factor, Dr. Steven Lamm might offer a way to dramatically enhance the affects of L-Arginine. His suggestion: Take a herbal supplement called Pycnogenol. Lamm says that Pycnogenol battles free radicals, decreases blood pressure, protects the endothelium, increases production of NO, and improves blood flow.

Does it work? I'm not sure. I haven't tried it out myself yet , but I plan on it. A study conducted by Lamm showed that out of 50 men who took Pycnogenol regularly, 85 percent of them "significantly enhanced their sex lives." Maybe it will help some of the guys who are taking L-Arginine and want an extra boost.

Lamm's suggested L-Arginine/Pycnogenol program:
Pycnogenol: 80 mg, daily
L-Arginine:
Start out lightly with the L-Arginine for the first 2 days: Just 1 g of L-Arginine a day
On day 3 bump it up to 2 grams a day.
On day 7 bump it up to 3 grams a day and keep it at that.

Note About Lamm: He appears to be a legit doctor and is often featured on the television show The View.

[fitboy]

I use 2000 MG of L-Arginine daily and as soon as I started taking it the first thing I noticed is my flacid plump up and become more vascular. It happens within a half hour of taking it, and lasts about 4-5 hours as far as I can tell.

I may try that Pycnogenol for the heck of it to see if it reacts any better. Thanks Remek!

Fitboy

[beavertaffy]

seems interesting remek. Keep us posted on how it works for you. how much does the stuff cost?

[bigjohn]

seems interesting remek. Keep us posted on how it works for you. how much does the stuff cost?

This website here charges a little less than $40 for 60 capsules

Pycnogenol

[soody]

Latest theories emphasize the role of pycnogenol together with arginine.
Currently pycnogenol is quite expensive. As it becomes more well known more manufacturers will come into market and price may drop because of the competition.
I exactly do not know how pycnogenol works but I must say that it will be too simplistic to say that It is just arginine which helps on it's own or pycnogenol. Most of the body chemical processes involve a series of chemical reactions involving a number of chemicals, enzymes, catalysts and other factors such a availability of certain amount of energy and certain nerves signals. Hence the mechanisms are mostly complex and do invole your mental state as well; body and mind theory.


1 Hydrogen molecule and one Oxygen molecule will not react, you will need two molecules of hydrogen and one molecule of oxygen and you will get two molecules of water. Simply combining them will not produce the reaction, you will have to pass a certain level of electrical current/ energy. The ratio of hydrogen to oxygen is 2:1. What if you have 200gms of hydrogen but only 2 gms of oxygen you will not get 100 gms of water. a lot of hydrogen will be redundant. Just keep pumping arginine is not going to increase the results after a certain level. Probably with pycnogenol you can have a bit more. Similarly with certain other amino acids such as taurine you may have a bit more. Zinc and Copper which act as catalysts in the reactions in sexual functions can improve it a bit more and so on.

The best pragmatic approach will be to provide your body and penis with all the nutrients it needs, gradually build it's strength by PE with suitable rest in between for recovery and gain. No matter what depth of knowledge one has there is no replacement of a common sense approach and I got covinced with PE not because of far fetched theories but just on common sense approach after joining how does human and animal tissue, blood vessels, smooth muscles etc work.

soody

soody

[remek]

Latest theories emphasize the role of pycnogenol together with arginine.

Yea, Lamm was adamant that the combined effects of L-Arginine and pycnogenol is what really does the trick.

[fitboy]

Ok guys, I just wanted to take a second and expand on this.

I have been into bodybuilding for most of my life (12 years straight then took a 7 year break due to a back injury in the gym), and just restarted 21 months ago. Due to muscle memory my mass came back pretty quickly.

I have tried every supplement from Anabolic steroids in my younger years to over the counter GNC or other health food brand supplements. I have had varied results from the over the counter stuff. Creatin, proteins, amino acids, multi vitamins, and the bacics work to keep you healthy but none of them seem to give that 'jump' in strength and size we are all after in the gym. And NOTHING compared to the ‘juice’. Just like PE it's a SLOWWWW process, especially if you do it without drugs.

In my new quest for penile fitness I started researching and mostly talking to the guru's of the industry to see what experience they've had with supplements. Most have touted L-Arginine as the 'one' that helps. One PE'er suggested I try AAKG (Arginine Alpha-Ketoglutarate) in replace of just L-Arginine tabs.

I picked it up at a GNC under the name 'NO2'. My intention was for the supplement to complement my PE routine. I've been on it for about 4 days now and although since I've already been taking L-Arginine for about 2-3 weeks and I like the 'plump' appearance it seems to give my Penis, I cant quote on the difference so far as compared to taking JUST L-arginine. BUT there were some serious unexpected results from the NO2 (AAKG) product in the GYM....

My strength suddenly went up, my pumps are unbelievable due to the increased blood flow, and my energy level is up. Keep in mind that just before I started this supplement I decided to cut out all caffeine products including the high caffeine energy drinks I consume 5 days a week before every workout. I read that Caffeine is a no-no for PE due to it's vasoconstriction effects to your blood vessels...so to me it was counter productive.

My fear was that cutting out the Caffeine filled energy drinks was going to kill my workouts. I switched to a product called 'Zipfizz' which contains very little trace caffeine from guarana seed. On the contrary the effects of this AAKG have been so unexpected and incredible that I told myself that I almost have to be more analytical about it and see if I’m ‘placebo effecting’ myself on this. I usually start a new over the counter supplement with expectations that I am about to waste $$$ and it wont do anything for me. That way if I’m right (like most supplements I tried) I wont be disappointed.

This morning I weighed myself and I’m up 3 lbs while at the same time looking leaner and more vascular. It’s very difficult for me to put on lean muscle mass due to my fast metabolism, so this to me is the tell tale sign that that ‘something’ is working. Sometimes we’re just deficient on a supplement in our daily intake and by replenishing that, it can kick a new growth spurt or energy level into effect. This may be my case and therefore it may not have the same effect on everyone. For me I have used the ‘real’ stuff in my younger years...and the ‘has been’ over the counter supplements that don’t work, so I’m in tuned enough with my body and results in the gym to say what is kicking in for me and what is just hyped up BS. This AAKG seems to be the real deal for me...hopefully I didn’t speak too soon and jinx myself!

I decided after reading Remek’s article about Pycnogenol that I’m going to pick that up and piggyback it with the AAKG to see if causes an even greater effect...especially in the PE department!

I’m pretty excited about this stuff and I’ll keep you all posted on the results.

Fitboy

[soody]

fitboy

It was a delight to read your thread. What a balanced approach in thinking and analyzing!

I am sure you had good results with PE, probably better than many because you had been ino body building and restarted it. You were likely to have good results in penile smooth muscles and blood vessels.
Once our body achieves a certain level and been on it for a while and een after loosing that state it goes back to it quickly than otherwise once conditions allow. Many obese people say that as they lax in dieting very quickly they put on lost weight back. This mechanism of our body applies to most areas I am aware of. I am sure that this will be true for PE gains as well.

As I said in one of my e-mails, just pumping one chemical more and more will not continue to produce more results because a lot of chemical processes and a series of them are usually involved to produce as certain result. I have still to read in detail about pycnogenol; what is the active ingredient in your pill?

You are very right, we try to provide our body with all the necessary nutrients we think it needs when weight training because deficiency of even one ingredient can slow the process at some level. Our approach of taking multi vitamins, minerals and protein supplements is pragmatic in body building but it appeals to the common sense when you are trying to boost the effects of weight training. I believe the same principle can hold true for PE but not a lot is know about the special chemical needed and there are a lot of claims in the big market out there with expensive products on the market.

At the age of 53 I do not want to go into real weight training but I think some of these activities will prepare my body to have better outcome with PE.
Could you advise me how to start at my age first time ever a milder version of weight training and muscle building. I do not suffer from any health problem which could be a bar apart from my age.

soody

[fitboy]

Thanks Soody,

With weight training you want to approach it just like PE. Start slow with a few days rest in between workouts and gradually increase the intensity.

For many years I found the best program that worked for me was to do 2 body parts a day (1 major and 1 minor), and in 5 days (mon-fri) I have completed my entire body and I take the weekend off to recover. So in essence you are directly working each muscle group once a week.

That being said, how many days per week are you willing to commit to weight lifting?

I went to the health food store today and picked up a bottle of Pycnogenol capsules. Keep your fingers crossed!

Fitboy

[remek]

Fitboy: Great post. I think you're our resident bodybuilding expert

About NO2: A guy who use to be really big in the PE community, Big Girtha, swore by the stuff. He gained over 2 inches in girth and 1.5 inches in length. Let's hope it can help provide the same results for you!

I bought my Pycnogenol last night for 16 dollars at CVS. How much did you get yours for, fit?