This past week, I have been working on my Starting Strength website. A lot of content has been put up, but there’s a lot of topics still to cover. If anyone is interested in making some strength gains at the gym, the website I have created (rather a blog) is a great way to learn all about training. I have read Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength book inside-out and decided to share my knowledge with the world through this site. I’ll keep you guys updated on any new content I put on the site here.
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Vol de Nuit Review
There’s a small bar in downtown Montreal that I like to frequent every so often with my friends, it’s called “Vol de Nuit”, situated at the corner of Prince Arthur and St-Laurent street (next to the Scotia Bank). I was there recently and noticed a decrease in clientèle. While I prefer nights when it’s not as packed, I felt bad for the waitresses who live off the amount of tips they make every night. With that said, here’s a review of the place for everyone’s pleasure. 🙂
First thing you’ll notice is that there is no flashy sign outside (just a small neon saying “Vol de Nuit”) the place is pretty low-key and secluded from St-Laurent. A lot of people seem to miss it when they walk by it, but the place still gets quite a bit of traffic. I think a lot of their clientèle is word of mouth. I only knew about this place after my friend Alex brought me there one night. In return, I brought my other group of friends there and we’ve found it to be quite an enjoyable spot for having a drink or two.
Once inside, you’re usually greeted by the bouncer (who happens to change every time I’m there) who nods firmly and says hello. You should obviously return the greet and smile at the same time. 🙂 Vol de Nuit isn’t a big place, but it can easily pack 100 people from what I can estimate. You’ll find a decent amount of tables and chairs for all your friends to sit. Of course, when it gets packed, you’ll have to either stand at the bar or simply drink standing up (which I oh-so-despise doing). But every time I’ve been there, I’ve been lucky to find a table and some chairs with my buddies.
On one side of the room, there is a jukebox machine loaded with music. For 50 cents or so, you get to choose a song to play over the loudspeakers in the bar. I find it’s a great addition to the place. Fortunately, the songs aren’t blasted in your ears so having a conversation between your friends without screaming and listening to the song is very possible. This type of atmosphere is usually very hard to find in many bars these days, as they usually turn up the music so loudly that your conversations are washed out.
In one corner of the place, there’s a slew of video lottery terminals (VLTs) with keno and some card games. A few of my buddies are junkies when it comes to these machines, and they play on them each time we go there.
The place is decently clean but one must remember that this is a bar. The washrooms aren’t the greatest but they’re better than other places I’ve been to. One thing I’ve noticed is that the soap dispensers actually dispense soap. A rare find indeed.
To conclude this review, I give Vol the Nuit an 8/10. I just wish the place was a little bigger and that parking downtown wasn’t such a chore (good luck finding a spot nearby!). But the latter is not the bar’s fault, so this is a great place nonetheless for some weekend fun with your friends.
Controlled Labs Purple Wraath Review
Last month, I acquired Controlled Labs’ Purple Wraath supplement from the Bodybuilding.com store and implemented it in my supplementation routine. I needed a good EAA/BCAA (Essential Amino Acids, Branched-Chain Amino Acids) supplement and was told Purple Wraath would deliver the goods. Checking out some reviews on the web, I decided to give it a go and ordered a tub. Within a week and a half, I received my shipment from the BB store and tried it out. Here are my results and a mini-review of my usage so far.
First, I need to get it out: the taste is horrible. I mixed half a scoop of the powder into a tall glass of water and immediately took note of the awful chemical smell. Forcing myself to drink it anyway, I must’ve reached half way until I decided to stop drinking it because I couldn’t take it. “Could I have gotten a bad batch?” I thought to mysel. After reading user opinions on the taste issue, I was told to mix the scoop with a lot of cold water and let it sit in the fridge for half an hour before I consume it. I was also recommended to mix it in with some Green Magnitude. I tried the first suggestion and it worked very well. I decided to put it in the free shaker bottle I had received with my order and try it out at the gym. I am now craving for this stuff like mad. 🙂 So, for whoever is having a hard time with the taste, let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes before you consume it. You’ll thank me when you do.
On to the supplements efficacy: this stuff seems to be working, but it’s hard to say whether it’s the Purple Wraath or Green Magnitude giving me the energy. I consume Purple Wraath over the period of my workout, from start to finish. Halfway through my workout, I can say I feel more energized than I first started, but that can also be the adrenaline rush going through my body. It hasn’t been that long since I started taking Purple Wraath, so perhaps I’m talking a bit too early when it comes to results. So for now, I should probably stay neutral on whether it works or not. I will be posting my final results this supplement within a month or two.
Update: check out the free samples of Green Magnitude and Purple Wraath!
Rockstar Energy Drink Review
I have been reviewing quite a few things lately, so I decided to review my all-time favourite energy drink: Rockstar. I have been drinking this stuff for about 2 years now and love it to death. Before drinking Rockstar, however, I had just started with RedBull and liked the effects of the caffeine on my body. I felt awake and pretty alert, not to mention energized. This got me into energy drinks, and hence fueled my quest for finding something stronger. I heard that Full Throttle by Coca Cola was decent, so I grabbed one at my local convenience store to test it out. I decided to try it out while watching a movie with a few friends one night. The initial effects of Full Throttle kicked in, but they didn’t seem to last long as I was pretty tired at the end of the movie we were watching. The taste wasn’t all that great either.
Now before I could get myself addicted to RedBull, Rockstar showed up like finding a 20$ bill in your couch. I recall one night when going to Aria Afterhours with my friend Alex and his girlfriend, I was recommended to try out Rockstar to stay awake. Alex drank his can along the way to Aria, but he had saved me a can. While waiting in line, I cracked open the elixir and started drinking its sweet, delicious tangy carbonated juice pretty quickly. Within ten minutes, Mel (Alex’s girl) commented on how I was literally trembling. I looked at my hands and noticed I was shaking the can like crazy. Right then and there I knew this would be my drink of choice for years to come. That night, I partied straight from 2 AM to 7 AM fully awake and felt pretty good. At the end, however, I started to crash because of the caffeine’s come-down.
Summarizing this small review, Rockstar energy drink is hands down THE energy drink that everyone should consume. Put away the pansy RedBull, Real Men drink Rockstar. None of this “Tab” crap that I see on television these days, and please put away the Guru and Hype, they’re trash. Monster? Uh huh, whatever. The only thing stronger out there than a Rockstar is probably injecting caffeine and taurine directly into your system, or amphetamines (but let’s not go there).
Circus Afterhours
I was at Circus Afterhours this Thursday to see my friend Wiktor (aka Viktor Destin) spin. He entered a contest run by the owner of the nightclub and was in the quarter finals. Since I’m a big fan of Wiktor’s music, I decided to participate and support his gig. I was in the line-up at Circus at around 2 AM and waited till 2:45 AM. Since I was on the guest list thanks to my friend, I didn’t pay any cover charge (I got in for free!). Last time I was at Circus must’ve been at least 3 years ago and not much has changed from what I can recall.
Anyway, once in, I met up with Wiktor and a few of the Tranceaddict guys and pretty much listened to house music the whole night while drinking vodka (sneaked in!) with energy drinks (crappy Base, no Rockstars). I was having a pretty good time and got to see a lot of talent play, such as Blake, Driss and Allied Nations. Finally, at about 6 AM, Wiktor was up to spin. He took over the decks and for the 45 minutes I was there, he delivered some sick tracks. He knows how to build up his sets and it really shows. From what I heard that morning, Wiktor definitely has his stuff together and it wouldn’t surprise me if he wins this contest. The club definitely could use his energetic style.
At about 7 AM I had to leave since I was dead tired and had to go to work the next day (but luckily it snowed in so I didn’t go to work). If I had known that I wasn’t going to work that day, I would have stayed longer till the place closed down, but I don’t know how I would manage to stay up longer!