Zinc Megadosing Public Service Annoucment
I've been lifting weights since I was a freshman in high school, so I'm approaching my 15 year anniversary with the gym. I've never taken off more than 3-4 weeks at a time, and I've lifted heavy (by my standards), often to failure, 2-5 days per week the entire time.
I'm just under 5'9" and about 185. You can definitely tell that I work out, but not for as long or as hard as I have. I think a lot of it is due to having testosterone levels on the lower side of the normal range. I haven't had a significant increase in strength in the past 5 or so years.
I've tried megadosing zinc before, but stopped after a few days because it made me so nauseous. I decided to suck it up and give it a shot again - I took 225-250mgs daily (4.5-5 50mg Zinc Gluconate pills) for about 2.5 weeks. Very noticeable strength results. My body is also recovering much faster, plus my general aches, pains, and injuries are no longer ruining my progress.
Pre-zinc stats
Bench 5x5 180lbs 195 1RM
Squat 5x5 245lbs 275 1RM
Deadlift 1x5 235lbs 265 1RM
Post Zinc
Bench 3x5 195lbs 225 1RM
Squat 5x5 275lbs Not sure about 1RM, but I did 295x2 after a full 4 full sets at 275. I could probably get 315 with good form.
Deadlift 1x5 265 305 1RM
I've broken a 5-year plateau and feel like I have a lot more in the tank - needless to say I'm extremely happy that I can finally participate in the bench rep test at the NFL combine
Note: I stopped 10 days short of the planned 4 week megadosing cycle because I was starting to feel a little ill despite my definite strength and test gains. I felt like I was starting to poison myself so I took a couple days off from supplementing before moving down to a 50mg maintenance dose. I feel great now - I definitely advise you to listen to your body and to be careful.