Many natural supplements claim a guarantee that they will help you add muscular size, strength and endurance. I’m sure you have most of them and most with disappointing results. Well, in reference to the title, when I rave about something as old fashioned as liver, you probably think I am stuck in the oily sands of Muscle Beach, circa 1960. Indeed, most of the various supplement reviewers, those ‘Gurus’ of Bodybuilding with their 18” quads, argue that desiccated liver is simply another source of protein and that there are more efficient protein supplements available to today’s athletes, and besides, liver’s old school. Of course, most of these dimwitted gurus have, at one time or another, touted single species WPC (whey protein concentrate), CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), inosine, dibencozide, AKG and OKG, pyruvate, and a host of other less than effective supplements. In fact, the most notable guaranteed product has been androstenedione and its derivatives. Now, did any of these revolutionize bodybuilding or pan out in the real world as the best of the best? No, and the reason why they did not was that they were never bodybuilder tested in the real world of hardcore gyms, Beverly’s world. Let’s really look at liver, a bodybuilding supplement that’s been tested in the laboratory and more importantly in the real world for more than five decades.
Liver has been a training secret used by thousands of bodybuilders. In factual truth, more Mr. America, Mr. Universe, and yes, Mr. Olympia winners have used liver to build their championship physiques than any other supplement in the world with perhaps the exception of a pure protein powder.
At the 2001 Arnold Expo we had two former IFBB Mr. World/Universe winners, Dave Draper and Bill Grant, seek us out for their “liver fix.” Draper actually tore into the jar right there on the spot to give him extra energy to get through a long day of meeting fans and autographing his book, Brother Iron – Sister Steel!)
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Dave
Draper, former Mr. America, Mr. Universe, Mr. World...
Brother Iron, Sister Steel |
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So what has happened since the heyday of bodybuilding, since its golden era (Draper, Scott, Oliva, Pearl, Park, Schwarzenegger, Colombu, Ferrigno, etc)? Well --- as professional bodybuilders became more and more dependent on chemicals (steroids, insulin, GH, IGF) fresh raw liver has taken a back seat. Its no longer considered a mainstream bodybuilding supplement – not for lack of results, but because results from steroids come much quicker. One of the ironies here is that liver extract is used in clinical settings to treat not only a number of physical ailments like anemia and diabetic neuropathy, but also for drug detoxification and to support liver function. So, liver is as important to the steroid user as it is to the non-steroid user.
The fact remains though – Liver is not the edgy ‘supplement of the month’, it is in fact the proven supplement of the last 50 years.
Eating liver, however, is not one of the most pleasant culinary delights in the world. Even if you like the taste, the liver you can get at the market has a fairly high cholesterol and fat content. Unfortunately it may also contain residue from pesticide-laden cattle feed, anabolic hormones and other toxins. A much better route is the old bodybuilding standby – liver tablets. Stories from many from the golden era, tell of phenomenal gains made on 50-100 plus liver tablets a day! Such use was common. In fact, two Mr. Olympia’s, Larry Scott and Frank Zane often used in excess of 100 tablets per day in preparing for their titles.
Strength, size and endurance increases are always reported when an individual gets on a good quality liver supplement. Liver tablets were traditionally simply dried liver. The method of drying required that all the connective tissue and fat is first removed resulting in a much cleaner product and four pounds of whole liver resulted in about one pound of desiccated liver. Beverly has really taken liver tablets to a new level! Beverly’s Ultra 40 formula is a concentrated extract derived from vacuum drying at low temperatures. One Ultra 40 tablet contains forty-five times the nutritional value of an equivalent amount of whole beef liver.
Beverly starts with the "best of the best" pure Argentinean grade AAA liver because the Argentine government will not allow their beef herds to be contaminated with DES steroids, growth hormone or pesticides. Then after selecting the most premium grades of liver, Beverly adds a whopping 75 mcg of B-12 per tablet for even higher growth essential B vitamin content and greater energy production.
While Ultra 40 has already proven itself in the “real world” of bodybuilding, so has research. At the University of Southern California, an independent research study with rodents swimming to exhaustion was done. B. H. Ershoff, Ph.D., demonstrated that liver extract significantly boosted muscular strength, endurance, performance, and resistance to stress and disease. Astonishingly, with all other factors controlled, the rats on liver swam more than 5 times as long. As far as we know, no other supplement has even come close to liver in improving muscular endurance.
