I have two more days of Triazole left, but am going to do my review now, since two days should not make too much of a difference re results . . .
So, here is my first experience with - and the first female perspective of - Driven Sports' Triazole . . .
What is it?
* Reduce estrogen
* Boost Testosterone
* More muscle mass
* Anti-catabolic
* Improve in-gym performance
* Antioxidant capacity to help reduce oxidative stress and help recovery
* Anti-inflammatory
* Strengthen the immune system
* Fortify libido
* Anti-depressant effects
For more information, please review Driven Sports - Triazole.
Estrogen Levels: N/A. Although I would have liked to see the changes in my Estrogen levels from pre to post-Triazole, I did not have bloods done. However, I WILL note that I experienced a rare (I say rare, because I usually do not bleed) menstrual cycle during my use of Triazole - whether this is from an increase in Estrogen, or because I have not been training as intensely or with as much volume as I usually do, I do not know.
Testosterone levels: N/A. Although I would have liked to see the changes in my Testosterone (total and free) levels from pre to post-Triazole, I did not have bloods done.
Body Composition: 7/10. Body composition over my time with Triazole was interesting - not because of the product as much, but because of my training, and one must be aware of what my training was like: The week post-competition I did two resistance sessions and four cardio sessions; the second week post-competition I did Maintenance training; the third week post-competition I did four resistance sessions and six cardio sessions; the fourth week post-competition I did Maintenance training; and this last week I did four resistance sessions and six cardio sessions. When I started Triazole, I had just been dieting for a week, training for several weeks at levels well over Maintenance training - which is why I used my body statistics at the end of the first week post-competition as my 'baseline' to go from. 'Baseline' was 111.4 pounds at 9% bodyfat. For two weeks my scale weight and body composition increased, coming out at 122.4 pounds and 10.1% bodyfat at the end of my third week post-competition. The last two weeks of Triazole, both my scale weight and body composition decreased again, finishing with a recomp at 115 pounds and 9.5% bodyfat, leaving me with a final gain of 3.6 pounds at a ratio of 3 to 1 increase in lean mass (+2.7 pounds) and bodyfat (+0.9 pounds) respectively. The lean mass gains, surprisingly, have been made in my shoulders. Interestingly enough, if anyone else had had the lack of training and overabundance of calories that I have had in the last five weeks, they would have gained a LOT more bodyfat than I did, so at least Triazole contributed in minimizing the damage inflicted.
Strength: N/A. My training over the last five weeks has not been about making strength gains. Also note that I started back on creatine just over three weeks into Triazole, after having not used it for ~5 weeks (so my muscle creatine levels were back at baseline), and increasing creatine levels would have helped contribute to any strength gains made from then on.
Recovery: 5/10. Like training, recovery has been all over the place - great some days and other days the training from the day before taking more out of me than it should have.
Joints: 7/10. Knees and elbows noticed this the most. Knees started feeling mechanical after a couple of weeks, and after three weeks my left elbow especially clicked during almost every resistance session that required elbow flexion. Left wrist ached a bit during resistance training sometimes as well, but that occurred BEFORE starting Triazole and will continue after stopping it. There was no pain in my [other] joints - they were just dry.
Libido: 9/10. Libido has been pretty high over the course of my use of Triazole, only fading in the last week because my stomach was in so much pain that I could barely concentrate on anything else. Until then, though, my body was very responsive and sometimes its wants were actually TOO much for what it could handle.
Immune System: 9/10. Everyone else around me has been getting or been sick whilst I've been using Triazole. Add to that the changes in weather with it getting colder and crisper, and the fact that when I decrease my training volume and intensity, that's the time I will get sick if I am going to, I SHOULD have gotten sick. However, despite all that, I have been fine, only having a sniffle for all of a couple of days.
Mood: 5/10. My mood has been highly INconsistent the entire time I have been using Triazole, and my aggression more than anything has been heightened because of circumstances, stress, not training as I want to and feel that I should be, nutrition, etc.
Other Effects: 7/10. I did not lose my breasts, and if anything, they are fuller than they were before I started using Triazole. I did not get acne. I did not grow facial hair. I did not start looking like a male. All indicators that Triazole is very much ok for female use - for those who questioned and thought that I shouldn't be using such a product . . . On a more serious note, I noticed a difference between when I did and did not dose Triazole pre-bed - when I was only using two caps daily, I did not dose pre-bed, and sometimes when I was dosing three caps daily, I passed out before the time planned for my 'pre-bed' supplement doses. Dosing pre-bed meant no water retention the next day from that day's food consumption, often looking drier in the morning and midsection not bloated or puffy, which is great, considering that most often, my largest meal of the day was pre-bed (also note that I was started using Shred Matrix pre-bed as well though, so this effect would have been a combination result of both products) . . . Another effect I have noticed is that my vascularity has been pretty strong throughout my use of Triazole, especially through my anterior deltoids and biceps (why couldn't it have been like this for competition?!) . . .
Overall: The last five weeks have been very UNcharacteristic of me, and I have been UNcommonly inconsistent, with my training and nutrition unusual and all over the place. NOTHING has gone as planned and everything has been readjusted and readjusted again over this period from what my goals, etc. were at the start. Because of this, I do not feel that I gave Triazole a fair trial, and therefore cannot assign it an "overall" score.
Would I use again? Yes. Because of how things have been over the last five weeks, I feel and know that I did not really give Triazole a decent chance at showing me what it was capable of doing, and I want to do this, because Triazole has a brilliant formulator, an interesting ingredient profile, and bloodwork/data that undisputedly backs it up. I would also dose Triazole at 4 caps daily, instead of 2-3 caps daily.
Would I recommend? The science, bloodwork, and others' results would give me cause to recommend Triazole if it was relevant. I would probably also recommend stacking it with something like Activate Xtreme and/or Lean Xtreme. Otherwise, I would need to give it a fair trial before I could recommend it from a personal perspective.
So, here is my first experience with - and the first female perspective of - Driven Sports' Triazole . . .
What is it?
* Reduce estrogen
* Boost Testosterone
* More muscle mass
* Anti-catabolic
* Improve in-gym performance
* Antioxidant capacity to help reduce oxidative stress and help recovery
* Anti-inflammatory
* Strengthen the immune system
* Fortify libido
* Anti-depressant effects
For more information, please review Driven Sports - Triazole.
Estrogen Levels: N/A. Although I would have liked to see the changes in my Estrogen levels from pre to post-Triazole, I did not have bloods done. However, I WILL note that I experienced a rare (I say rare, because I usually do not bleed) menstrual cycle during my use of Triazole - whether this is from an increase in Estrogen, or because I have not been training as intensely or with as much volume as I usually do, I do not know.
Testosterone levels: N/A. Although I would have liked to see the changes in my Testosterone (total and free) levels from pre to post-Triazole, I did not have bloods done.
Body Composition: 7/10. Body composition over my time with Triazole was interesting - not because of the product as much, but because of my training, and one must be aware of what my training was like: The week post-competition I did two resistance sessions and four cardio sessions; the second week post-competition I did Maintenance training; the third week post-competition I did four resistance sessions and six cardio sessions; the fourth week post-competition I did Maintenance training; and this last week I did four resistance sessions and six cardio sessions. When I started Triazole, I had just been dieting for a week, training for several weeks at levels well over Maintenance training - which is why I used my body statistics at the end of the first week post-competition as my 'baseline' to go from. 'Baseline' was 111.4 pounds at 9% bodyfat. For two weeks my scale weight and body composition increased, coming out at 122.4 pounds and 10.1% bodyfat at the end of my third week post-competition. The last two weeks of Triazole, both my scale weight and body composition decreased again, finishing with a recomp at 115 pounds and 9.5% bodyfat, leaving me with a final gain of 3.6 pounds at a ratio of 3 to 1 increase in lean mass (+2.7 pounds) and bodyfat (+0.9 pounds) respectively. The lean mass gains, surprisingly, have been made in my shoulders. Interestingly enough, if anyone else had had the lack of training and overabundance of calories that I have had in the last five weeks, they would have gained a LOT more bodyfat than I did, so at least Triazole contributed in minimizing the damage inflicted.
Strength: N/A. My training over the last five weeks has not been about making strength gains. Also note that I started back on creatine just over three weeks into Triazole, after having not used it for ~5 weeks (so my muscle creatine levels were back at baseline), and increasing creatine levels would have helped contribute to any strength gains made from then on.
Recovery: 5/10. Like training, recovery has been all over the place - great some days and other days the training from the day before taking more out of me than it should have.
Joints: 7/10. Knees and elbows noticed this the most. Knees started feeling mechanical after a couple of weeks, and after three weeks my left elbow especially clicked during almost every resistance session that required elbow flexion. Left wrist ached a bit during resistance training sometimes as well, but that occurred BEFORE starting Triazole and will continue after stopping it. There was no pain in my [other] joints - they were just dry.
Libido: 9/10. Libido has been pretty high over the course of my use of Triazole, only fading in the last week because my stomach was in so much pain that I could barely concentrate on anything else. Until then, though, my body was very responsive and sometimes its wants were actually TOO much for what it could handle.
Immune System: 9/10. Everyone else around me has been getting or been sick whilst I've been using Triazole. Add to that the changes in weather with it getting colder and crisper, and the fact that when I decrease my training volume and intensity, that's the time I will get sick if I am going to, I SHOULD have gotten sick. However, despite all that, I have been fine, only having a sniffle for all of a couple of days.
Mood: 5/10. My mood has been highly INconsistent the entire time I have been using Triazole, and my aggression more than anything has been heightened because of circumstances, stress, not training as I want to and feel that I should be, nutrition, etc.
Other Effects: 7/10. I did not lose my breasts, and if anything, they are fuller than they were before I started using Triazole. I did not get acne. I did not grow facial hair. I did not start looking like a male. All indicators that Triazole is very much ok for female use - for those who questioned and thought that I shouldn't be using such a product . . . On a more serious note, I noticed a difference between when I did and did not dose Triazole pre-bed - when I was only using two caps daily, I did not dose pre-bed, and sometimes when I was dosing three caps daily, I passed out before the time planned for my 'pre-bed' supplement doses. Dosing pre-bed meant no water retention the next day from that day's food consumption, often looking drier in the morning and midsection not bloated or puffy, which is great, considering that most often, my largest meal of the day was pre-bed (also note that I was started using Shred Matrix pre-bed as well though, so this effect would have been a combination result of both products) . . . Another effect I have noticed is that my vascularity has been pretty strong throughout my use of Triazole, especially through my anterior deltoids and biceps (why couldn't it have been like this for competition?!) . . .
Overall: The last five weeks have been very UNcharacteristic of me, and I have been UNcommonly inconsistent, with my training and nutrition unusual and all over the place. NOTHING has gone as planned and everything has been readjusted and readjusted again over this period from what my goals, etc. were at the start. Because of this, I do not feel that I gave Triazole a fair trial, and therefore cannot assign it an "overall" score.
Would I use again? Yes. Because of how things have been over the last five weeks, I feel and know that I did not really give Triazole a decent chance at showing me what it was capable of doing, and I want to do this, because Triazole has a brilliant formulator, an interesting ingredient profile, and bloodwork/data that undisputedly backs it up. I would also dose Triazole at 4 caps daily, instead of 2-3 caps daily.
Would I recommend? The science, bloodwork, and others' results would give me cause to recommend Triazole if it was relevant. I would probably also recommend stacking it with something like Activate Xtreme and/or Lean Xtreme. Otherwise, I would need to give it a fair trial before I could recommend it from a personal perspective.
