Hey guys, I promised this review a few months ago, and if you have been following my log, you know I just finished a bottle of this. I was really expecting a lot from R3, mainly because I always expect great things from Cellucor, but maybe I was expecting too much from this. I'll try to keep this short.

This is what I like to call a "special" product from Cellucor. It is supposed to great for immune support, joint support, and be what Cellucor calls a "super antioxidant".

Dosing:(8.5/10)
-1 for needing more than 1 pill(you need 5)
-.5 for needing a specific time for dosing(on workout days)

Ingredient Profile
I won't rate this due to it being a "special" product. I am usually against going over the ingredient profile in depth, but because this has so many ingredients that are not too common, I'll go over some of them.

N-acetyl cysteine(NAC)- good for many things, I suggest looking this one up actually.

Larch Arabinogalactan- great for the immune system, and also good for decreasing ammonia in the body.

Beta-1,3-Glucan- good for the immune system.

pTeroPure- antioxidant, anti-bacterial. Found in various berries.

Curcumin(Turmeric)- some herb used for joint health. Sell plenty of this at my store, so I expected it to work.

R-Alpha Lipoic Acid- strong antioxidant

Piperine- found in pepper and all I really found on it was that it is good for nutrient absorption.

Hyaluronic Acid- good for joints

Finally that's over! The profile looks good to be honest, and because Cellucor makes it, I was expecting a lot from this.

Effectiveness:(7/10)
I'll break this up into specifics, because this is supposed to do more than many other products.

-Recovery(7.5/10)
I noticed slightly increased recovery when I took this. My recovery went down after I stopped taking my beloved Cellucor BCAAs as much, but this def. helped. Soreness was not too much of a problem 2 weeks into this. I also had what I like to call a heightened "central nervous system" recovery. Usually the day after deadlifts I feel like my whole body is in shock for some reason, not when I was using this. Had a good sense of well-being. Maybe placebo or complete broscience, but I decided to report that haha. Def. not the same recovery I get when I take BCAAs everyday, but it the heightened recovery was noticeable.

-Immune Support(9/10)
Hard to really rate this. I usually get sick several times this time of year, and even though there were times where I should have gotten sick(i.e going outside in the cold with no jacket on, no shoes outside, walking home with no sweater from the gym), I didn't at all. No coughs of runny noses. Felt great to be honest.

-Joint Support(5/10)
This is where the product disappointed me most. I actually had achy joints a lot more than I have ever had. In my log, Maxima and I constantly complain about our joint problems. Usually these were problems that no supplement could help, but for the first time ever, I actually had achy knees. I was getting achy joints even outside the gym. I rarely have achy joints(attributed to regular G/C/MSM), but for some reason they just started to really hurt during the day. For the first time ever, I actually had joint pain in my elbows as well. I guess I just don't respond to Turmeric and 'HA' like others do. R3 sucked in this category for me, that was the most disappointing part.

Value:(4.5/10)
This is expensive, even for a Cellucor product. You can find this pretty cheap on Amazon I believe, but I found this at $70 most places I looked. Thanks to my boss at GNC for giving this to me for free, or I don't think I would have ever tried this out.

Overall:(6/10)
If you can get this at a good price(under $35) on Amazon, I would say go for it. It can def. help in terms of recovery and helping you get through the Winter with less colds, but don't expect it to help your sore joints in the long run. I might try this again and run it longer than 1 bottle, but there would have to be a very convincing deal for me to do that. Sorry Cellucor, but this was a moderate disappointment for me.

This worked wonders for me...

This stuff seemed like a life saver to me. Ive seen people say it doesn't work and then ive seen it worked wonders for others... For me it WORKED wonders!!! Within 2 weeks of using it my shoulder started feeling better and after 3 weeks it felt like new. My family got ill while i was taking it and i just kept on going... it must be working. The label says "great for immune support, joint support, and a super antioxidant", Id say it is...


Effectiveness 10/10
As i said before it WORKED wonders for me. I felt great after my workouts. I was ready for my next workout the following day. I seemed to miss the sickness bug a couple times. My shoulder that has been hindering me for months went away.

Recovery 9/10
I noticed my recovery seemed within a few hours when I took this. It helped Soreness in every aspect. Leg day alone proved to me that it is working. Always the day after leg press and squats my whole body is in shock for 2-3 days but not when I was using this. It seemed my central nervous system kicked in more.

Joint Support 10/10
This seemed to help with all my achy joints like my knees, wrist and especially my shoulder. By weeks 2 on i seemed great and i was pushing more weight than usual also. No issues as of now and i feel i can push a lot heavier due to this.

Immune Support 9/10
I felt great while on this. I can think of at least 2-3 times i was surrounded by ill people and i didn't catch a thing, no runny nose,scratchy throat or anything...

Dosing 8/10
It does require you to take 5 gel caps but with the "other guys" ive had to do between 8-12 at a time so this wasn't a bother to me. Take after workout on lift days and before bed on off days.

Value 8/10
This is expensive but if it fixes a problem then it was worth it. I found this local between $50-70 most places I looked but If you do your research you can find this pretty cheap online.

Overall 8/10
If you have a weak immune system or some sore joints id say go and get it. It made me feel like i was ready to keep on going and nothing was gonna stop me.

After trying this product I was blown away by the recovery I got from this. The pill form is great for on the go and so simple to keep right in your gym bag or car without all the mixing etc. I like the added anti inflammatory and joint support added into a recovery product. Very big fan of the R3 and will purchase this again.

Alright, i am finally getting around to reviewing this product. When it comes down to it i will always use fish oil and super cissus as my main joint support supplement. I had the chance to try two bottles of this for free, and everyone likes free, so I tried it out.

R3 is supposed to support your bodies natural immunity, aid in joint relief, and aid in recovery of muscle tissue.... this was not the case(for the first month). I did not see any improvement in joint health while on cycle 1, especially when i was lifting. in fact i felt as if i was in more joint discomfort while on this product for the first month. the second month however was amazing.i was in the gym longer and working out harder, and my joints seemed to be doing the lifting. they felt amazing! On top of the amazing feeling coming from my joints, my recovery time was just as amazing.

When it came down to taking the product the pills tasted funny, not a good or bad thing IMO.

The reason i am giving this product an 9 overall is for a different reason. SLEEP.

The sleep that i got from this product was ridiculous! i always got a full nights sleep and it was a restful sleep. you wake up ready to take on the day and whoop a**. lol. the thing that really made the sleep enjoyable though was the dreams. the cellucor rep told me i would have some weird dreams if taken at night before bed and he was not lying. The dreams i had on this product were vivid and relaxing, and made me look forward to taking these pills at night.

overall, still going to stick with my fish oil and super cissus, but still a good product.

When it comes to joint support, I'm a Super Cissus RX and fish oil guy. That combo has worked wonders for my bum shoulder and aching knees. But these past couple months I have upped my training intensity and unfortunately, that combo just wasn't up to the task. I had tried a few Cellucor products before (M5, C4, Super Sport) and though they are expensive, to me it's worth it, because they work. I was able to find R3 on Amazon for $40, so I decided to try it. It was a good decision

R3 is advertised as a 'Recovery/General Health' supplement. It claims its a super antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immune support, joint support. I'll go in detail w/ the last 3 in this review, as it's tough to describe the feelings of taking a 'super antioxidant'

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/cellucor/r3-extreme.html

^^There is a link to view the ingredient profile. Some of the ingredients I am unfamiliar with, though the ones I do know about do help w/ inflammation, joints, and immunity (VitC, NAC, quercetin, curcumin, Alpha Lipoic Acid). For the 5 pill serving you do get good amounts of everything listed, with the exception of the blend, but its a 675mg blend and that it a lot considering how much you normally take of quercetin, Alpha lipoid acid, and curcumin.

Effectiveness
Anti-inflammatory-10/10 I have had a shoulder that constantly pops and is always sore and inflamed, within 2 weeks of taking this, that inflammation went down sharply to the point I can shoulder press heavy weight w/o pain.

Joint health 10/10 Due to it reducing inflammation, my shoulders and knees feel a lot better, even after a hard workout.

Immune support 10/10 I have yet to get sick while taking this product. Im also currently taking the GNC Mega Greens Vitapak for Men, so the combo of the 2 have kept me healthy, even when I'm surrounded by people coughing and being sick.

Value 7/10 BB.com has it listed for $70, as does GNC. I would never pay that price for it, as I can get it off Amazon for about half that. That being said, this product does work exceptionally well, so to me the price isn't that big of a concern. I can pay a little extra for something I know will work.

Overall this product comes highly recommended from me, I have yet to be disappointed by Cellucor and this product is no exception. It has drastically reduced the pain in my joints, and has allowed me to recover faster between workouts. Normally my legs would be tender for 2-3 days after a hard leg day, now I feel like I could do it all over again in 2 days. If you have any nagging pains from lifting or old sports injuries, try a bottle or 2, it has helped me out tremendously.

I received this as part of a stack from Cellucor to use and review for my YouTube channel. Something happened inside my container (a pill must have broken), b/c when I opened it everything had a yellow tint and an awful smell to it. I was told by a Cellucor rep that the product was still good despite this. I didn't see any Boost in recovery on this. Others claimed it help heal injuries too (I had a painful shoulder at the time), however it didn't help me here either. I can't say I noticed but of anything from this product.

Now as you can see by the score what this review will be.

My rep gave me 2 bottles to run for not only muscle recovery, but for my shoulder issues.

now while on this i'll note that i'm running a g/c/msm from Natures Purest.

Now this is a $45 Product in my store. Now for that price i was expecting something, anything. But It was just not there. He told me i'd feel less pain in the shoulder within 2 weeks - I ran this for 2 months, no noticable differece.

Muscle Recovery:
Compared to Nothing, I noticed a little better.
Compared to Glutamine AKG (either by sci-fit or Reaction Nutrition) This didn't even come close.
Compared to BioRhythms AfterGlow, Ya - NO - Glow works about 100% better for a $75 a month Product.

Dosage:
I ran 6 daily spacing it out as reccomended.

Value:
Neg - $45 I expect much more out of a recovery product.

I would say if looking for joint recovery, Natures Purest G/C/MSM or Sci-fit's Joint enhance plus MSM.

If looking for Muscle Recovery, Stick with a good Glutamine AKG - AfterGlow - anything but this.

Now he also said this could be used for immune system, well - I didn't get sick?? So maybe it's good for that. Maybe i'll run this again in the winter to see.

Well I used the old R3 formula about 6 months ago and I was not impressed at all with it. But about 2 months ago (December 1st to be exact) I had known for a while they reformulated it and I decided to give it another shot since I wanted added recovery along with AfterGlow and I had some extra money. 

Effectiveness: well on the first R3 I couldn't feel any less soreness when adding this to AfterGlow post workout because I use AfterGlow after each workout for the past year and so Originally it was like I was just drinking my shake post workout and the R3 had no extra benefits or help for me. But I can certainly not say the same with the new formula. I'd finish my workout go down stairs to the locker room drink my shake then take the R3 and the first few times I would keep telling myself how sore I was going to be the next day because I could tell how hard I worked out and I pushed myself harder then I ever had on each body part. But I was amazed by the lack of soreness the next morning especially after my intense leg day I just knew getting up I was going to get out of bed and attempt to stand up and just fall over but that wasn't the case at all. I got up and was amazed that I had very minimal soreness that almost made me doubt that I truly worked out as hard as I Originally believed. And I maintained this feeling during the entire 30 servings, and it helped my body recover much faster so it was great. Also R3 helps improve your immune system which wasn't the reason I bought it although it helped because I went up north to visit family over Christmas and I'm not use to the cold and 4 of the 6 people in my family that I traveled with got sick and even when we came back home it got worse but being around them I still didn't get sick and I do honestly believe the R3 had a big role in keeping me healthy.

Taste: obviously with it being pills there is no taste but the pills are pretty big, and also when you open the can it has an unpleasant/odd smell, but I got use to it quickly.

Value: We've probably all seen and complained about Cellucor's prices because I certainly have. But it's starting to not bother me because the quality is very high. I got this 30 servings for 56 bucks but I'll certainly be buying it again soon because of how helpful it was!

Other benefits: I was having some very stiff joints in my elbows and knees and while on this it helped me out alot the pain got very bad and now it's almost non existent along with the Cissus quadrangularis I got from taking the after glow my joints now have no pain. 

Bottom line: If you want extra recovery to go with your protein shake I would certainly recommend this. The R3 makes a regular whey protein into a great post workout protein!

Again sorry for any typos as I'm reviewing off of my phone.

This product is incredible. I have tried many Cellucor products and they are all very effective. However they are also very expensive, so it may be a while til I try their stuff again. R3 Extreme is absolutely incredible. It totally eliminated any and all post workout soreness. After I finished my bottle, I could tell the difference big time between being on it and not being on it. My muscles are sore again after workouts. Not incredibly sore, just annoyingly sore. And the soreness has been known to last a couple days. While on R3, I felt no soreness at all. My workout partners actually envied me for my lack of post workout pain. I'd recommend it to anyone, the only reason I give it a 7 for value is I believe Cellucor's products are way too pricy.

After I had been taking two other Cellucor products, M5 and P6, for about a month, I tried this for a month. I saw very little difference when I added R3. I will admit, I was a little less sore after my most intense workouts. However, the difference was so small, and the price of R3 so high, that this was not worth it.