Introduction

If you have read my other Fish Oil reviews you will remember that I am 37 years old, lift 5 days a week, and have been in the Army for 18 years, and suffered 6 TBI's in the course of time. I say this so you see just how serious I take Fish Oil when it comes to supplements. Some doc's in the Army call Fish Oil the miracle pill because of all of its benefits, so I like to try different brands to see which ones are truly the best. I saw Omega 3 by BioScience Nutrition being sold on Amazon for a cheap deal, so thought I would give it a shot since it is a brand I have never heard of, hoping this was a diamond in the rough.

Ingredient Profile

Pretty standard profile here with 1200mg EPA, 900mg DHA, and 150mg Other Omega 3 fatty acids giving you a total of 2,250mg of Omega 3's. EPA helps lessen inflammation in the body, while DHA is essential for brain health and function. Though this is a common thing, I do not like when companies only list the rest of the Omega-3's as Other and do not explain what fatty acids they truly are. In a world of transparent labels I feel companies should get better at this. Not a dealbreaker as this is fairly common for Fish Oil, just my personal preference. Bottom line here is the dosages of Omega 3's in this product are good.

One thing that really bothers me here though is the fact that on the product page in Amazon it states it is third party tested and those tests can be found on their website. I have scoured the BioScience web site and have not found any third party testing. Their website really reminds me of a cheap company, but that could just be my perception.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

As you would expect these are pills, so no real taste to them. Dosing is just 3 pills per day, which I usually took with breakfast. Easy to swallow, nothing else to really state here.

Effectiveness

This is where the product went wrong for me, and what got me paranoid about their website look and the fact I could not find a Third Party Test. I use a Fitbit Blaze and it keeps track of my resting heart rate. When I switched from Intelligent Labs Omega 3 to this, I noticed within two weeeks that my resting heart rate increased from 64 (I know, not great) to 74. It stayed around the 74 level the whole time I took this Fish Oil. I do have high blood pressure, so I know what it feels like when it gets to the "highish" levels, and at no point during this run did I feel this helped to lower my blood pressure. If anything it either did nothing or made it worse.

The other issue is the memory. If I don't take Fish Oil then my memory sucks and I forget simple words. For example if I want to say I put the dishes in the Dishwasher, sometimes I would say I put the dishes in the washing machine. Simple little things, but this is what happens when you get hit in the head too many times. However, my memory is a lot better when I take a quality fish oil, so another good reason I take this supplement so serious. At no point on my run of BioScience did I feel any memory improvement and like my blood pressure it felt worse.

Cannot say much about joint pain here, since I am also taking a Joint Pain supplement, but given how it did not aid me in blood pressure or memory, this did nothing for me in general.

Value

I picked this up on Amazon for $21.95 for a 40 day supply. The only places this is offered is through their website or Amazon and its the same price. The price was good coming out to 55 cents a day, hence why I wanted to give it a shot. However, I couple value with effectiveness and essentially I felt I paid 22 dollars for nothing. Yes it is cheap, but you get what you pay for here!!

Side Effects

If you do not take this with food you will have the fishy burps, pretty standard for any Fish Oil I have ever taken. Nothing else that stands out.

Conclusion

This was a great deal on Amazon so I thought I would give it a shot even though I have never heard of this company, nor could I find it here on SR. In the end this product did absolutely nothing for me, and likely hurt me in the end. I would not suggest this for anyone, and I am very skeptical of this company in general at this point, and perhaps an investigation into their credibility needs to be in order, because they have a whole lot of products in their line. I could not find any third party testing, so really we do not know what we are getting here.

Introduction

I apologize to TOREM for taking so long to review this. I'm grateful for the opportunity to try an interesting new product.

Ingredient Profile

8.5/10
NecoAdipem comes in packets containing two small capsules. In two capsules there is 250mg of InnoSlim (Astragalus membranaceus & Panax notoginseng root extract), 250mg of PURE Green Tea Extract (98 % Polyphenois, 70% EGCG), 100mg of Garcina Cambogia, 50mg of Advantra-Z , 50mg of Capsimax, and 25mg of ActiGin (Rosa Roxburghi plant extract & Panax Notoginseng root extract). Essentially, there is a range of herb, root, and fruit extract that should work synergistically to help you lose a few lbs.

InnoSlim is a patented herbal combination made by NuLiv that claims to regulate glucose, fat and muscle cell metabolisms, increase fat cell combustion, increase muscle cell glycogen synthesis, and reduce glucose absorption in the intestine. I doubt that some of those effects are possible but for the general goal of fat loss, I buy into at least an indirect effect. I think NuLiv products work to some degree and its no different with InnoSlim. 250mg is the daily recommended dose so it is fully dosed in NecoAdipem.

PURE Green Tea Extract (98 % Polyphenols, 70% EGCG) is a patented green tea extract that contains high amounts of the most beneficial catechins (i.e. EGCG, polyphenols). These catechins, especially polyphenols, have cancer preventative properties as well as protective properties for a long list of organs, notably the heart, liver, and brain. The catechins also have fat-burning properties, mostly notably via the catechin Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), but these effects are only notable at 400-500mg. While this is technically underdosed at 175mg EGCG, it is close to the bottom range at two packets daily. Additionally, a high standardization of polyphenols is always welcome.

Advantra-Z is a patented form of Bitter Orange Extract. Bitter Orange Fruit Extract provides a source of synephrine, a relative and replacement for ephedrine. It is essentially a weaker, legal form of ephedrine and is reported to have similar effects. It is dosed either at 10-20mg three times a day, or 50mg once a day. Clearly, TOREM went with the once daily approach here, and that is probably the most convenient way to take synephrine.

Capsimax is a patented form of cayenne pepper extract. Capismax is supposed to be absorbed better and [after-] tasteless. In short, cayenne pepper contains capsaicinoids, which have a lot of desirable effects. They have been proven to provide metabolic boosts and aid circulatory health. Thus Capsimax's inclusion in a non-stimulant fat-burner is a no-brainer. I only worry that it is a bit under dosed at 50mg.

ActiGin is a patented Rosa Roxburghi plant extract & Panax Notoginseng root extract. I've taken ActiGin on its own and liked it a fair amount. It is marketed as helping to reduce inflammation and increase endurance/stamina. While I like this ingredient for those purposes, I would have thought AstraGin would have been the better NuLiv product to include here. Still, the anti-inflammatory and endurance-boosting effects indirectly aid fat burning by allowing you to spend more time in the gym. The recommended dose is 50mg so at 25mg it is underdosed but probably still moderately effective.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

10/10
There was no [after-] taste to the capsules. Since mixability is inapplicable, I will replace for "ease of taking" in regards to the capsules themselves. They were relatively small and not hard to take at all.
Similarly, dosing was easy with 2 packets a day before breakfast and dinner. Occasionally, I would take this at lunch of forget a packet due to life happening. Not too hard to follow though.

Effectiveness

7.25/10
Neco-Adipem is marketed as helping boost metabolism, suppress appetite, "amplify your body's burn potential" which I take to mean pretty much the same as boost metabolism, and to "optimize the glucose transportation to muscle and fat cells." I will try and evaluate effectiveness in regards to each of those claims.

I felt appetite suppression to a mild degree. For example, this was difference between having a snack (100-250 cal) a day or not. Nothing huge, but it adds up over the course of a cut. This was a pleasant surprise, as I kind of doubted that there would be much to this claim. It is important to factor this into fat-loss claims because in some sense, appetite suppressants aid fat-loss by preventing its opposite (i.e. fat gain) at the source.

I can't really say for sure if my metabolism increased but I can infer that it likely was by a small amount. For one, I trust some of the basic science behind ingredients like capsaicin (cayenne pepper extract). However, I only trust that there is a small, insignificant increase. Additionally, I can look at my anecdotal experience. I lost about 5lbs since I started using Neco-Adipem. I was taking an assortment of other supplements, but these were largely staple products so I have a general idea of their effects and what to expect as a baseline. I was also doing a fair amount of cardio and just generally putting in the time at the gym. Therefore, I like to think that most of that 5lbs that wasn't water weight was my own hard work. Still, I think Neco-Adipem was approximately 10% responsible for those pounds lost. Anecdotes are inherently difficult to explain scientifically but I feel like Neco-Adipem helped a small amount. For example, I feel that a good stimulant fat burner would produce at least double the results but this was good for a non-stimulant option.

I have no way of knowing if glucose transportation to my muscle and fat cells was optimized or not. I'd assume that, at best it changed a small insignificant amount. I can say that I was able to weather a few large cheat days with minimal negative consequences. I also experienced less bloating than usual. If there was anything to this claim, then it only helped in those cases.

I also felt the endurance boosting effects of ActiGin kick in about 2 weeks into use. The results were on par with when I tried ActiGin as a standalone product. I noticed that longer, endurance-centered workouts were becoming a little easier. How easier? 30 minutes of cardio felt like 25 minutes by the end. Granted, I was also lighter at the end so take that into consideration as well.

Value

6.25/10
I found this on Amazon and TOREM's website for $60 for 60 servings. At $1.00 a serving, the recommended dosing will cost $2.00 a day. That is just too much for an herbal non-stimulant fat-burner. You can buy the raws much cheaper and save yourself a lot. I totally understand the convenience of having everything in 1 bottle and 1 packet, but I would pay at most $45 for 60 servings. This product likely shines over time and therefore, a dedicated user will need a lot of units. TOREM thankfully gives slightly better deals with 180 servings running $138 and 360 servings running $264. That's $0.74 and $0.73 a serving and $1.48 and $1.46 a day respectively. I still think that is a bit high considering how much you're spending to get that deal. If this was a bit cheaper at each price point then I think it could be a serious option for people who don't want to take a stimulant fat burner for whatever reason. At the current value, it is just a bit too luxurious in my opinion.

Side Effects

10/10
I experienced no side effects while taking this product.

Conclusion

7.4/10
I got this score by averaging the "Value," "Effectiveness," and "Ingredient Profile" categories to get a 7.3. I then added a 0.1 for the convenience of having packets. It seems small, and it is, but being able to throw packets [with your daily servings] in your bag is so convenient that it deserves a small nod. After all, it's the small things right? Neco-Adipem is a promising contender for the non-stimulant fat burner category. I experienced some mild results that gave me a small boost over baseline expectations. I believe the results may become more apparent and amplify over time but the value makes it hard to accomplish that. I would recommend this to friends, but I would advise them to buy in bulk and save up.

Introduction

37 years old and I lift 5 days a week. This is going to be a long review, because this product had a lot of good and bad things going for it. I just came off a 30 day run of a Stim Free Weight Loss supplement, and never tried a Thermogenic, so thought I would give Shredder (because of the cool name) a shot to see what its all about. I have not heard or tried TBN Labs before either, so it peaked my curiosity. One thing I would like to say up front is this product is the strongest and most potent supplement I have ever taken, its intense, as you will see in effectiveness and side effects. I highly suggest following the directions carefully on this. On with the review!!!

Ingredient Profile

The dreaded prop blends!! We have 4 prop blends here with a 5th absorption ingredient all totaling up to 750mg, so we have no idea what the dosage is in any of these ingredients. There are a lot, so being the first review, let me break them down.

Shredder's Shred Blend - 750mg

FAT INTO MUSCLE CONVERSION
-Octopamine: Metabolite of Synephrine; Thought to have minor fat burning effects, but not enough testing to prove; 2014 banned WADA list; from googling around it appears 220mg of Octopamine are in this prop blend. Obviously if you are a competitor you want to stay away from this product, as this is a banned substance per WADA.

-N-Methyl Tyramine (NMT): Methylated version of L-Tyramine; may increase energy when used in conjunction with caffeine or PEA; weak by itself.

-Green Tea: We all know what green tea is, healthy antioxidant.

-N-Acetyl L Carnitine: Helps the body to produce energy, and aids in improving blood flow to the brain.

-Raspberry Ketone: The jury is out on this ingredient. There is a lot of debate on what these do if anything at all. Studies show that i can replicate the effects of Ephedrine of Synephrine in the human body, but that has only been seen in vitro (in a test tube), no studies exist for orally taking this. Also recommended dosing here starts at 870mg and ranges all the way to up to 5g, depending on your weight. Its possible this ingredient does nothing at all, if it did its likely under dosed, but we cannot say for sure.

-White Willow Bark Extract: This can act like an aspirin and aid in headaches and such as well as treating lower back pain. Early research suggests that taking willow bark in combination with ephedra and kola nut might cause slight weight loss in overweight and obese people. However, ephedra is banned in the United States, so not a great combination. Perhaps this is here to work with the Octopamine, otherwise seems like a filler.

-Yohimbie: Pretty bad ingredient at higher doses around 100mg. Increases depression and PTSD if you suffer from it; This suppresses appetite and ignites thermogenesis; I wish i knew the exact dosing in here. Seems important!

-Chromium: Known as an essential trace element (meaning humans only require small amounts of this) is said to help in blood sugar levels and to treat depression. It may be effective for athletic performance improvement, but not enough evidence exists, like everything else. 35mcg is the daily dose on this, however, adults can tolerate up to 100mcg a day with no issues for up to 6 months.

-20 Hydroxyecdysterone: Form of a test booster; a Ecdysteroid which is a class of hormone that are the androgens of insects; insufficient evidence to suggest it aids in muscle building and athletic performance; 200mg daily is deemed safe (examine.com); lack of trials, in vitro studies on human muscle fibers show enhanced growth rates; interesting page on examine.com

THERMOGENIC
-Phenylethylamine: Nootropic, trace amine and influencer of many of the "happy hormones" such as Dopamine and Serotonin. Works in concert with NMT.

-Theobromine: Alkaloid substance found in chocolate. It is chemically related to caffeine and other stimulants, and this gives you a mild version of an energy boost.

-Cayanne (40,000 HU): Pepper there to heat you up! I wonder about this, my OCD, because it is spelled CAYANNE on the label, but I think they meant CAYENNE as i see the spelling is corrected on a sample pack label of Shredder. Wondering what version I got of this formula...

APPETITE SUPPRESSENT & ENERGY BOOST
-Hordenine HCL: Currently under researched and can be used as a stimulant and fat burner due to its association with tyramine and noradrenaline. Not enough studies exist as usual. Heads up though, this can give you a false positive for opiate drugs in urine testing. So if you are in the military like me or are subject to random drug testing, save that bottle just in case!!

-Caffeine Anhydrous: We know what Caffeine is, the Anhydrous just means "without water" so a powder form. Typically this absorbs faster for people.

-Glucomannan: Possibly effective for constipation, diabetes, and high cholesterol, but insufficient evidence for its use in weight loss.

-White Kidney Bean: dietary carbohydrate blocker sometimes used alongside carb containing meals to reduce the absorption of carbs. It does appear to work, but its potency is quite unreliable and relatively subpar (Examine.com). This is probably thrown in to be a nutrient partitioner of sorts for the product.

-Guarana Extract: Similar to caffeine with stimulants containing almost twice as much caffeine found in coffee beans. Energy, Energy, Energy.

FAT BLOCKER
-Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA): Personally, I am a fan of CLA, and it may help to reduce body fat deposits and improve immune function. This is under dosed here as most CLA are taken at 800mg 3 times a day. Either way a nice addition here.

-Black Currant Oil: Not enough studies to truly know its effectiveness, but it contains Gamma Linoleic acid (GLA), so I am assuming this works in concert with CLA to improve the immune system and reduce body fat deposits.

ABSORPTION
-Bioperine: Just here to absorb, pretty standard!

Okay, so that was a lot of ingredients, end of the day there is 1 x banned substance as per WADA (Octopamine) and 1 x ingredient that will give you a false positive on opiate urinalysis tests (Hordenine). There is a lot going on here, and we will cover the effects down below on each of these, but this vast variety of ingredients is what caused good things and bad things for me.

Label Confusion

So I started this section as I see there are two different versions of Shredder out there. The version I received to review was the 750mg version with all ingredients listed above. This is also the label that is found on the TBN Labs website.

I received a sample pack of Shredder when I requested TBN Labs T Boost, and noticed that the overall ingredients were 630mg with some ingredients missing. The 630mg label is also found on SR website. Here is a breakdown of the ingredients in this version (its different)

FAT INTO MUSCLE CONVERSION
Removed the following ingredients: Octopamine, Green Tea, N Acetyl L Carnitine, Raspberry Ketone, White Willow Bark Extract, Yohimbie, Chromium and 20 Hydroxyecdysterone.
Kept NMT
Added Methyl Synephrine, Sulbutiamine, and Salicyclic Acid

THEROMGENIC
Removed Theobromine, kept the rest, no new additions

APPETITE SUPPRESSANT & ENERGY BOOST
Removed Glucomannan, White Kindey Bean and Guarana Extract
Kept Hordenine HCL and Caffiene Anhydrous
Moved 20 Hydroxyecdysterone from the Fat into Muscle Conversion blend

FAT BLOCKER and ABSORPTION stayed the same. So I am just curious, because this appears to me this could dramatically change the product. Of course, I cannot know for sure unless I test both versions, but hopefully TBN Labs can let us know which version is New and which is Old, or whats going on here.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

No Taste here as they are pills. They swallowed very easily with water, no issues there and were of average size. For Dosing the instructions state "Take one capsule in empty stomach one hour before breakfast (consume some food if having trouble taking in empty stomach). Always consume 1-2 glasses of water after every serving of SHREDDER. If needed 2nd and 3rd capsules can be taken one hour prior to each meal there after. KEEP 4.5 HOURS GAP BETWEEN SERVINGS. Avoid consuming alcohol while taking SHREDDER. DO NOT EXCEED 3 CAPSULES PER DAY"

Interestingly enough, the 630mg version directions state "Take 1 capsule with breakfast. Always consume 1-2 glasses of water after every sewing (yup not serving, sewing) of SHREDDER. DO NOT EXCEED 3 CAPSULES PER DAY. Non-Training days: For best results, consume 1 capsule of SHREDDER with breakfast. Take one with lunch if needed. KEEP 4-5 HOURS GAP BETWEEN SERVINGS."

So, at first I dosed 1 pill for the first 2 days then moved to 2 pills per day until the end. I would time it so I would eat within the hour of taking Shredder, or just take it with a meal. My suggestion is to always start to take Shredder with meals, take 1 pill per day for the first week, let your body build up a tolerance to it, then move to 2 pills per day (1 at breakfast, 1 at lunch). I found if I did not eat 1 hour after taking this, I would start to feel very sick. So this is important in such a potent product. We will cover effectiveness and side effects below.

Effectiveness

Okay, if you though the review was long at this point, its going to get longer from here. I kept a weekly log of this while taking it to get the true effects, so I will cover that first, then we will talk about the product claims on the label. This was my first experience on a Thermogenic Fat Burner so was not sure what to expect, but like I did with Size Slim review, I took my weight and measured my belly every Thursday morning upon waking up. Here we go:

Day 1 (19 July): Starting weight was 242.6, with belly measurement of 42.75". I decided to take a pill on an empty stomach since I can handle some pretty potent supps (so i thought), but that was a mistake. Within the hour, I was walking my dog and started to dry heave for about 10 minutes. it freaked me out and once I got back inside, I ate some food and was fine. Lesson Learned, follow the instructions carefully.

27 July Weigh In: 238 pounds, and 42" belly. Started to really feel all the side effects here, was a pretty miserable first week. I will cover all the sides below in detail, but I would pretty much feel pretty jacked up during the day. I was motivated I saw some improvement already in the first week, so continued on.

3 Aug: 238.8 pounds, 42" belly. No real changes this week, but from this point on the side effects started to mellow out. I was taking Shredder with breakfast and lunch at this point, think that helped to counter a lot of the side effects.

10 Aug: 234 pounds, 41" belly. Minimal side effects, but I did notice that I would just feel ill by mid afternoon every time I took this.

17 Aug: Final Weigh In time, ended at 235 pounds, and 40.5" belly. So at the end of the day the product was highly effective because I dropped 7.6 pounds (prob water weight) and 2.25" off the belly. I noticed my love handle are and belly were looking tighter which was great. Somehow this product truly does target the abdominal region, you can see it. My diet was not the greatest for a couple of the weeks on this, I had a week where I was traveling all week so I ate like crap, and another where I attended a few parties so I drank more than normal. But still saw improvements. Its hard to say that this is the greatest product ever because I felt like I was going through hell most days with the side effects. As i am writing this, this is the first day I have not taken Shredder and I feel immediately better. So, in my opinion its worth the price you pay, because not everyone will experience the crazy sides like I did.

Now lets talk about claims:

Burn Fat & Calories: Yup, sure did lost weight and belly fat.

Suppress Appetite: After the first week on this the appetite suppression kicked in for a solid 10 days. I had to force myself to eat since I did not want to drop a ton of weight, just fat. Around the 3 week mark this was not as bad, and I ate normally with no issues. So this came and went, but it did exist.

Enhance Mood: For the first 2 weeks taking this I did get a nice "well being" feeling, as I would on a test boost. I would attest this to the Phenylethylamine. After 2 weeks that feeling did go away, so likely my body adapted but it did exist.

Increase Body Heat: This did happen, I definitely warmed up. Not to the point where I was sweating at work just sitting there, but I was warm all the time.

Define Muscle: Not sure about this one, I did tighten up in the abdominal region, maybe if I was truly cutting then this would be more prevalent in the abs. Other muscle regions, not so much.

Boost Energy: This definitely gave me an energy boost, along with it came some crashes. If I took this too close to another source of caffeine I would be way too wired, so this became my morning and afternoon energy boost.

Carb Control: Not sure, but I can assume yes with the presence of White Kidney Bean. Possibly this can be attributed to weight and fat loss.

Block Abdominal Fat Cells: This did work for me. I do not understand how this product specifically targeted the ab region, but you can see I did lose 2.25" of belly fat in a 30 day period, which is pretty awesome! So yes.

So bottom line is this product has no wild claims that are unfounded. It is a highly effective product that worked very well for me, but due to the massive side effects I experienced I would not run this for more than 1 bottle (30 - 35 days). It just becomes too much. But yes it does work!

Value

The only place I could find this for sale is the TBN Labs website itself. One bottle (60 capsules) will run you $44.75. Since I ran 2 pills a day it lasted me 30 days, so it would cost about $1.49 per day. If you ran 1 pill per day it would cost you 75 cents a day. So this really comes out to how you run it. If I had to do it all again, I would run 1 pill a day for 60 days to see the effects, then I think the value is good. Its not horrible with 2 pills per day in my view, because it was very effective. Yes this is a bit more than the average price point for thermogenics, but you get what you pay for.

Side Effects

Now this is the important part when it comes to this product, and your experience will vary I am sure, but there are quite a few to note here.

- The most prevalent side effect was I would start to feel very warm (the thermogenic properties) for a few minutes, then my body would transition to be cold and I would be almost freezing right after (an effect from Yohimbie). This in total would last about 5 minutes, and would happen after every dose. I would feel all jacked up at work. If I took a serving with food this would be less, but still exist. Typically this happened 30 minutes after each serving. This was the most common side effect I felt consistently.

- Sick feeling, or ill. Usually after second dose in mid day I would feel sick, like I was coming down with the flu. This occurred almost every day. This did go away for the third week, but came back during my last 5 days on this. This was the most miserable side effect, and I can tell you I feel 1000 times better today after not dosing this at all.

- Dry Heaves. I would get this if I did not eat food within 1 hour after each serving. Literally 60 minutes on the dot, no food, no good!

- I did have an Energy crash in the afternoon during my first week on this, but I think that was due to caffeine overload. After a week this went away. If you do take another source of caffeine (coffee or whatever) too close to a serving, you will feel very wired up and will have shaky hands. Just an FYI.

This is not here to be all doom and gloom and scare you away, but this highly effective product came with a price to me. As I keep saying, I feel I put my body through hell. I am glad I saw results, because I would have quit this by week 2 if not. Like any other supplement you will react differently, not real sure if the 630mg version is calmer since it does not have Yohimbie in it, but who knows.

Conclusion

All in all, I was very happy with this product and I do recommend it. I would caveat that recommendation with understanding to take each serving with food and to follow the directions closely to lessen the side effects. I had some great results, the side effects can be miserable. I am going to take a long break after this from Thermogenics, but this is still worth a shot. I actually had a hard time on how to rate this, due to great effectiveness and massive side effects and some sketchy ingredients. Hopefully I gave it a fair mark, at least in my eyes I did. As people have said on SR before, sometimes you have to pay to play, and its not always financial!

Introduction

37 years old and I lift 5 days a week. I spent the last 18 years in the Army so far, and am unable to run at this point due to previous injuries, but I have learned the importance of hydration in all my trips overseas and in day to day life. I typically will drink a Gatorade after each workout to replenish those electrolytes, but I always hated the sugar content and other junk in the Gatorade. I saw Reload being offered by a company founded by veterans, so I figure this could be a viable replacement for Gatorade, and I definitely have to see what this company is all about. Lets see just how Reloaded I felt.

Ingredient Profile

0 Fat, 0 Sugar, and 0 carbs, so we are already off to a better start versus Gatorade. Fully transparent ingredient profile, which we all appreciate, no matter what type of supplement its in. I am going to talk about the important ingredients here that truly make this a hydrator. Mind you this is all based off each pack.

Mezotrace (Trace Mineral Blend) 100mg: Trace Minerals are a blend of essential minerals to support nutrient metabolism and cellular function throughout the body. The Meoztrace itself is a 100 percent natural and unique mineral rich carbonate compound with abundant calcium, magnesium, and trace elements. It contains 11 of the known 17 essential minerals for optimal health, and 80 minerals altogether.

Electrolytes:
Sodium 75mg - Helps keep the water (the amount of fluid inside and outside the body's cells) and electrolyte balance of the body. 2300mg is the RDA for sodium, so this nice addition keeps your diet supplemented and does not go overkill.

Potassium 130mg - Plays a role in many body functions including transmission of nerve signals, muscle contractions, fluid balance, and various chemical reactions. 149 - 298mg is the RDA here, so this is a nice diet addition as well.

Calcium 326mg - Strengthens your bones and teeth, we all have heard the importance of Calcium since we were kids. Too much Calcium is a bad thing and 1 - 1.3g a day may be linked to an increase risk of a heart attack in adults. Recommendation are to stay around the 1g mark per day.

Magnesium 150mg - This also aids in bone structure. RDA here is 400mg (men 19-30 years), 310mg (women 19-30 years), 420mg (men 31+), and 320mg (women 31+). A nice addition to your daily multivitamin here.

Chloride 667mg - Very important for your blood. Maintains proper blood volume, blood pressure, and pH of your body fluids.

Hydrogen Phosphate (phosphorus) 250mg - This helps to build and repair bones and teeth, help nerves function, and make muscles contract.

There is also Vitamin C (500mg), Sulphate (10mg), Vanadium (3mg), and Zinc (10mg) included. All in all a decent ingredient profile in my opinion, so you are basically getting all the benefits here without any of the junk such as carbs, sugar, or fat.

**One complaint I do have, its not that big of a deal, its just confusing to me. The Micronamin Website for Reload states each pack is 6.5g, while the box itself states each pack is 3.2g, while the packs themselves state 2.8g. Not real sure if there are various sizes or what, but this is something Micronamin should look into and fix if it is indeed an error.**

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

Taste: I received a box of Lemon Lime. I thought it tasted pretty close to Gatorade, not quite and sweet, but thought it was pretty good. I also am testing out 12 Gauge via the Trooper program and got free samples of the Orange and Pink Lemonade Reload flavors. The Orange I found bland, easy to drink, but boring, while the Pink Lemonade was delicious. So it really comes down to flavor preference, as in my eyes they are all drinkable and enjoyable (even the boring Orange). They also offer a Grape flavor, but I have not tried that yet.

Mixability/Dosing: Pretty easy, just pour one packet into 16.9oz of water or in a water bottle, shake it up and you are good to go. I did find some residue on the bottom when I mixed this in water bottles, but no big deal. When I mixed this in shakers, I would not get any residue, so it likely comes down to the size of water bottle, amount of water, etc.. I would take one packet post workout (usually about an hour later) to replenish my electrolytes and to rehydrate. On hard workout or hot days out, I would take a second packet in the afternoon, since I work out first thing in the morning. I even took a packet on off days, because this truly gave me a hydrated overall better feeling.

I did enjoy having this in packets as I travel a lot for work still. It made it easy to pour a packet in a water bottle and shake it up and drink it on the go, and not look weird being on the streets of Portland drinking a shaker cup. Convenient for travel and ease of use.

Effectiveness

Bottom line here is I found this product to be very effective for me. There are no crazy claims to this product it does exactly what it states it will, it will replenish or Reload your body. The best product I have ever taken for hydrating is Intra Blast by NutraBio and I do believe Reload comes in a close second if not a tie for the most hydrated I have felt after taking it. It would make me pee a lot but that is a good sign in my book as it shows I am hydrated. I even verified hydration by urine color (ya know, clear good, dark yellow bad). So I was very happy with how this product digested and replenished me, it truly did give me that overall wellness feeling of hydration when I took it. After Gatorade it would be too sweet and I would have a slight stomach ache, but not here, just felt like drinking delicious water that works to hydrate.

At my size of 6'2, 235 pounds, I need a good amount of water daily, especially because I keep Creatine in my stack almost always and was on a thermogenic fat burner during this run that did me no favors in hydration. This did supplement some water intake for me and was a good change up than just drinking tap water out of my Yeti all day at work. That gets pretty boring! So good work here Micronamin!

Value

It looks like you can grab this product from Micronamin website itself for $29.99 (currently on sale), from Amazon for $32.16 +free shipping, or get a Groupon for $19.99 all for a 50 pack. Taking the average of these 3 prices, each packet comes out to around 55 cents each, which is good in my book. As Smashley pointed out you can get Bulk Powder Electrolytes for cheaper and flavor it yourself, but I am going to compare this to what's normally in my diet which was Gatorade. Depending on where you buy it Gatorade bottles and powder will be around the 1 dollar per serving price point. So we get a more transportable and cheaper option here, which is a good value in my book as I found this product to be highly effective for me.

Side Effects

You will probably be pee'ing more due to being hydrated!

Conclusion

This is the first product I have tried from Micronamin and I was pretty impressed. Honestly, when it comes to electrolyte packets you never know what you are getting, the market is saturated with cheap junk, that is just flavored water and no nutrients, so I was pretty happy to find this product to be effective. If I could offer up one suggestion, from one vet to another, please offer a variety pack of 50. People like me love variety, and I would love to have all the flavors in one box. This is something I will likely continue to keep in my stack moving forward, so bye bye Gatorade. Finally, I would like to thank Micronamin for their participation here on SR, and SR and the TROOPers program for the opportunity to enjoy this amazing product. Highly recommend!

Introduction

A special thanks to TBN labs for their participation here on SR.com. Today, I discuss my experience with their testosterone booster Bionic Test. Lets face it guys, testosterone is king. It gives us the alpha drive we need in order to perform both in the gym and in the bedroom, among other functions. At the same time, our levels of testosterone are influenced by nearly every factor in everyday life from what we eat, daily living activities, age, etc. It doesn't hurt to give our test levels a little help every now and then from a natural aspect. I've used some test boosting products in the past and when I do I look for efficacy in libido, drive, aggression, and potentially anything else that may carry over to gym performance.

Ingredient Profile

The ingredient profile starts consists of not one, but two prop blends (UGH!!!), and a separate ingredient dosed independently.

The first blend is Red Blood Cells Volumizing Blend dosed at a total of 50mg containing wheat greass, folic acid, Vitamin B12, dried spinach, and chlorophylls and oyster shells. I've seen these ingredients in some pre workouts and pump products I've used so I can vouch for their benefits. Only problem is that at a blend of only 50mg, clearly, these are all under-dosed significantly.

The next blend is the Libido Volumizing blend dosed at a total of 500mg Leuza carthomoides (herb extract believed to have adaptogenic properties), Bulbine Natalensis (5:1), Horny goat weed (20% Icariin), Tribulus, Mucuna Pruriens (l-dopa), Maca extract, Ant extract and Xanthopamellia scabrosa extract, and piperine. Again, we've got some significant under-dosing here.

Finally we have 7-methoxyflavone (Anti Aromatase Properties), at 75mg. Probably the only properly dosed ingredient in this profile.

Plenty of promising ingredients, but sadly, at inefficient dosages for most of them.

Dosing

TBN Labs recommends 1-3 capsules a day depending on your goals. One capsule is recommended for cutting phases while 2-3 caps for bulking phases. Though, given the profile and the dosages of the ingredients I think any user regardless of goals would want at least 2 caps.

Knowing that the product wouldn't last long if I immediately went to the max dosage I tried one capsule on the first two days. One capsule did next to nothing for me so I bumped it up to two capsules for the next few days. I got a little bit more of a boost, but still nothing significant. Finally I went up to the max three capsule dosage and that seemed to be the sweet spot effective wise.

So my dosage protocol was 3 caps spread through the day.

Effectiveness

I will give the product the benefit of the doubt and predict that had I been able to run it for a longer duration I would've seen more benefits. Nonetheless, at max dosage of three capsules, I saw very few effects.

Libido (7/10): I did get a relatively good boost in my libido. I had more frequent erections and had a stronger overall sex drive. This seemed like the only significant area Bionic Test shined.

Aggression (2/10): I did not see much in the line of aggression. I had occasional modest boosts during some of my workouts, but for the most part, I didn't have any increased "alpha dominant" feel or mindset.

Pump/Vascularity (1/10): I experienced next to nothing when it came to pump. Vascularity was pretty much unaffected and I saw a very slight improvement in overall pump and muscle fullness that was limited to only drop sets and extended I volume sets. Even then though, the improvement was short lived and occurred seldomly.

Strength/Mass (0/10): I saw no increase in strength and muscle mass to compliment any gains that I may have gotten from my general routine workouts. I never expect huge gains in this area from a test booster, but at the very least I usually get some increase in recovery and endurance allowing me to crank out more intensive sets. Bionic test however, gave me no such benefit.

Value

This is where the product loses significant points. Bionic test is currently only available via TBN labs own website for 57.75. For a product with little effectiveness and will only potentially last a couple of weeks, unless you take only one capsule a day, that is far too steep a price. For a similar price, it would be a better investment in other OTC, more effective test boosters or perhaps even just some standalone herbal test boosters like tongkat ali or fenugreek.

Side Effects

none

Conclusion

The major things that I believe can be improved with this product include the following:

1. Larger bottle size to last at least a month if a full three capsules is to be taken

2. A higher dosage quantity of ingredients or at least of the overall prop blends

3. A lower price

With this in mind, Bionic test simply was not significantly effective for me. The libido boost was nice, but if that is all you desire from a test booster, much cheaper options would be a better investment. Other than that, I would not recommend Bionic test over other t-boosters I've used. Should the product be improved based on the flaws I listed above, I would consider it worth a try, but until then, try something else.

WARMACHINE OUT!!!

GO RED SOX!!!

Introduction

Thanks to BELDT Labs for sending this out. I really appreciate their patience and generosity.

Ingredient Profile

8/10
Each capsule contains a 341mg proprietary blend of Caffeine Anhydrous, N-Acetyl-Tyrosine, Green Tea Leaf Extract, Bitter Orange Fruit Extract, White Willow Bark Extract, Verbsacum Thapsus Leaf Powder, Theobromine, Elecampane Root Powder, and Bioperine Black Pepper Fruit Extract.

While I appreciate the range of ingredients and lack of useless fillers (e.g. raspberry ketones), I hate the use of proprietary blends. That being said, if proprietary blends are used then I prefer that the stimulants at least be disclosed. Thus, I am not overjoyed by this profile at a glance, but it could be a lot worse. Time to look at the ingredients more closely.

Caffeine Anhydrous is perhaps the cheapest and most simple form of caffeine available. From a chemical standpoint, it is caffeine lacking water, which makes it more potent on a gram to gram basis compared to other forms. Caffeine helps increase metabolism (fat oxidation), energy, endurance, and strength [output]. It is also a nootropic due to its effect on the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine, acetylcholine, and serotonin. If you had to pick one ingredient as a must for fat-burning, this is probably it. In short, caffeine will help: boost your metabolism, give you the energy and frame of mind to hit the gym, stay in the gym for longer periods of time, and push more weight. All of these benefit weight loss goals tremendously. Granted, this may sound like a miracle drug from my description so it is important to note that some of these effects are rather mild, but it is still an ideal ingredient for a fat-burner. Additionally, [caffeine] being dosed at 110mg per capsule allows for some tailoring in dosing so that both stimulant-sensitive and stimulant-tolerant individuals, like myself, can safely use the product. That's a huge plus in my book.

N-Acetyl-Tyrosine is a form of L-Tyrosine with acetic acid. L-Tyrosine is metabolized to produce the neurotransmitters dopamine and adrenaline, giving it both nootropic and stimulatory properties. However, it appears that simply supplementing with L-Tyrosine does not directly increase neurotransmitter levels thanks to our bodies' knack for homeostasis. It also structurally related to thyroid hormones which may give it some fat-burning (i.e. metabolism increasing) properties of its own. I haven't found anything definitive that says for sure that supplementing with L-Tyrosine will increase thyroid hormone levels, but it is a theoretical possibility that cannot hurt if fat-oxidation is the goal. Additionally, L-Tyrosine helps relieve acute stress, but this occurs in studies at 100-150mg/kg bodyweight, or 7-10 grams for a 150lb person. Clearly, that is a lot of L-Tyrosine to take. A comparison to anecdotal doses may be fairer, but those amounts range from 500mg-2g. Seeing as N-Acetyl-Tyrosine comes after caffeine, which is listed as 110mg, we can infer that it is dosed at <110mg. Granted, the inclusion of acetic acid is purported to help bioavailability, but this is still underdosed.

Green Tea Leaf Extract contains catechins. These catechins have cancer preventative properties as well as protective properties for a long list of organs, notably the heart, liver, and brain. The catechins also have fat-burning properties via the catechin Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), but these effects are only notable at 400-500mg. Since, green tea leaf extract is listed after N-Acetyl-Tyrosine, we can infer that it is dosed at

It'd been a while since I'd run any type of protein other than standard whey concentrate, so when UXO offered up several tubs of their Pro Blend, I figured I'd give it a shot. I was fortunate enough to be able to try three UXO products at the end of the day - thanks to UXO for participating in the Troopers program.

Ingredient Profile

This protein is built on a solid foundation. 24g of protein from seven protein sources. Obviously the most prominent protein in the profile is whey concentrate, but overall Pro Blend hits you with three extended release, two medium release, and two immediate release proteins. Carbs (12g) and sugars (4g) per serving are slightly higher than I normally like to see, but are still comparable to other products. And aside from the protein, this is a clean, no frills ingredient profile which I personally prefer.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

I believe I actually requested the Cappuccino flavor but ended up received Strawberry Milkshake. Now, if you read any of my other protein reviews, you'll read that I am chocolate protein purist through and through. It's been years since I've had a fruit-flavored protein powder so I'll admit, I was skeptical. Boy was I wrong. This protein is DELICIOUS. Even when mixed in water the taste was light and creamy. Amazing. And honestly this tasted like a legit store-bought strawberry milkshake when blended up with a banana, ice, and some almond milk.

Actually, all three of UXO's products that I ran tasted incredible. These boys have got taste and flavoring nailed down tight. As for mix-ability, this powder is very fine and just LOOKS high quality. Mixed easily with almost no clumping or foaming.

I recently resumed an Intermittent Fasting eating protocol and thus used Pro Blend as my bridge "meal" between lunch and dinner.

Effectiveness

I think my last two protein reviews I've quoted Petey on his stance on protein effectiveness as it mirrors my own. I'll do so again here: "I would strongly challenge someone to give a valid reasoning for saying that one protein is more effective than another in how much they gained from it. The minuscule differences that are noted by a user outside of a lab environment are overblown by saying a certain protein is more effective than another."

In my opinion protein powder is a staple of a well-balanced diet and should be used in conjunction with a solid exercise regimen. And that, provided the product is not total garbage, you'll see results regardless of the product you're using provide the diet and workout plan are dialed in.

What I will say about Pro Blend is I absolutely noticed a difference in my hunger and appetite levels on days when I did have a shake vs. those when I did not. I was far less hungry in those late afternoon hours on days when I had a shake, which I directly attributed to the medium and slow release proteins in this product. This was honestly really helpful me in re-adapting to the IF protocol, and proved to me that the product did indeed meet its claims of providing a longer period of protein synthesis.

Value

Pro Blend is not widely available. I was only able to find it on UXO's site at $40 for 30 servings - $1.33 per serving. This is the same price as NutraBio's Muscle Matrix, and is comparable to RC's Pro-Antium and ON's Pro Complex. Now, the profile of Pro Blend isn't quite as flashy as some of these other blended protein supplements, but unless you really want extra creatine or BCAAs in your protein, I don't see this as a negative.

Side Effects

None.

Conclusion

Overall I really enjoyed Pro Blend. It's one of the best tasting proteins I've had in a long time and, judging based on my feelings of fullness, it was effective at releasing protein into my body over an extended period of time - exactly what you want from a protein blend. The price point is fair and I really appreciate the mission of UXO as a company. High marks from me all around.

It's no secret EvoMuse arrived to Supplement Reviews "Guns Blazing"! They've been on the scene for a minute, and most people swear by their products. I've never used a Topical Fat-Burner before, so of course I was intrigued by this one. Big thanks to EvoMuse for bringing so much to the table, and HUGE apologies on my behalf for taking so long to get this review posted!

PROFILE- 6
Prop-Blends are a nuisance here at SR, but if the product is to be rubbed on your body, is it still a problem not knowing what the doses are? Serious question actually, since I do not know the answer! But it is a prop-blend, and a kitchen-sink one at that! I won't get into every ingredient listed on the label, but just imaging every fat burner on the market and toss those ingredients into a bottle (including caffeine)! All the Heavy-Hitter TRoopers did a great write-up on the ingredients panel, so I won't waste your time here. A major issue I had was that the label doesn't list a serving size is, and also doesn't say how many total servings are in each container! Do I have a weeks' worth? A month? I don't even know.

The instructions say to shake very well, and apply a "silver dollar" amount on your midsection. I vaguely remember what a silver dollar even looks like. The liquid came out a dark "orangish-brown" and was very gooey and sticky. It had some small little clear "gummy bear" bits floating around. And smelled like spicy Sriracha chili mixed with Vicks! It felt a lot like Icy Hot at first, eventually settling into a warm feeling around the midsection.

EFFECTIVENESS- 6.8
Well, after a few weeks I broke from my long-standing plateau of 240lbs and dropped down to 236! This hasn't happened in years. My waist did shrink maybe an inch and half, but I didn't see as much detail in my stomach as I wanted. Strangely, this worked more like an oral fat-burner meaning I lost total bodyweight, and the slimming mid-section was just a byproduct of that. I did sweat while taking this, and I mean a LOT! No changes in energy, or workout intensity from taking this. Towards week 3, I noticed a stall in weight loss. This leads me to believe this has strong diuretic properties. Actually, I'm sure of it; based on the frequency of urination and leg cramps. Towards about week-5 is when the bottle ran out, and I didn't see much difference at that point.

SIDE EFFECTS-4.5
Now for the bad; towards the middle of week-3 I developed a painful rash around my naval area. It would actually sting, and I'd skip application every couple of days. This may be the reason for the stall in weight loss. This stuff smells like a hot-wing challenge! There's no hiding the fact you have this on. It's MESSY!!! It's a sticky Orange liquid you rub all over your stomach. It sticks to your clothes but luckily it doesn't stain. Also, frequent Urination and leg cramps.

VALUE-4.5
50$ and up, is what I found this for. Like I said, the amount of servings is a mystery to me. Maybe I didn't dose it right, maybe it has a lot. This product is very expensive if you get a months' worth out of it. I got more, but I'm unsure if I dosed it correctly. At this price I would only consider this if I had a summer vacation cruise, or Vegas pool party in my future.

OVERALL- 5.8
For me, this product worked great as a short-term "quick results" product. But in my case, the price, side effects, and inconvenience make it a tough sell for me. I will say this; for someone who already has low bodyfat, I have no doubt this would get them stage ready in short time!

Introduction

Hey guys! This is my first supplement review as an SR Troop. Want to say Thank you to SR.com for hooking me up with this opportunity to sample products i might not every buy on my own either because of price or another reason.

Ingredient Profile

Nutrex did an excellent job by clinically dosing all of the ingredients with no "prop" blend. With 3.2g of beta-alanine i get just enough tingle to "feel" that is working. 8g of citrulline malate really gets my muscles pumping. The 350mg of caffeine citrate & anydrous combined with 50mg of teacrine hits the spot with the energy. I want to say this was my first time trying a supplement with Teacrine and i can definitely tell the difference. It helps to extend the energy to last during my full 1.5hr workout. My favorite part is the 750mg of N-ACETYL-L-Tyrosine because it allows me to really focus on my workout to keep the pump going and sweat flowing. it also has 2.5g of betaine anhydrous to help with the blood flow to muscles and 2g of creatine magnapower which is supposed to create a higher level of absorption than regular mono.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

Serving size is 1 scoop and not to exceed more than 1-scoop per day. I started out with taking a 1/2 dose for the first few days then bumped up to the full dose. I would recommend the same for others. It states to drink 30-45 minutes prior to working out. Typically things hit me a little quicker (15 min) but this was pretty spot on with the 30 min.
Mixability was great! I only had to swirl my cup around a few times to get it to dissolve before it was ready to drink with no chunks or leftover powder.
Now to the taste, this is one of the best parts. I had the fruit candy, and let me tell you, it taste just like candy.

Effectiveness

Outlift Amped was effective in all areas of my workout. Energy/Endurance/Pumps/Strength. I workout on average for 1.5 hrs and it last my entire workout. I was able to keep the same energy throughout the full 1.5 hrs and it helped me knock out a few more reps than normal. It gave me just enough pump to see and feel the fullness without the cramping and cutting my reps too short. As for strength, i showed an increase in strength and i could really tell this by the end of my workout. Going up in weight and/or knocking out more reps.

Value

This is the only issue i have with this product. I did not buy this product so i looked up the prices. $40 for 20 servings, that is just too much money for me to spend personally. I like to stay around $1-$1.50 per serving. So at $2 a serving, I would not purchase unless their was a good discount offered or if i had some extra money to burn.

Side Effects

As for side effects, I only had one and it was hit and miss. I workout in the morning at 4am, so with nothing on my stomach I had to hit the bathroom a sometimes. No nausea, just would make me have to go.

Conclusion

In conclusion, i found Nutrex Outlift Amped to be a great product and I would recommend this too others as long as they do not mind spending the money. This has everything you would want in a pre and at clinical doses it would be one of my top picks. Just wish it was a little cheaper so i could take on regular basis.

Introduction

After having a good experience with VITAL 4U multivitamin, I wanted to give their ready to drink (RTD) energy supplement a try. I am always looking to try different products especially RTD ones such as this. Here is the review.

Ingredient Profile

Each package of Screamin Energy Ultra comes in 12 ready to drink (RTD) pouches. Each pouch is a single serving. I will note that this product does contain 13g of carbohydrates from sucrose. I originally missed that it had the sucrose but after tasting it, I noticed a sugary aftertaste and saw it on the ingredient panel. So, just be aware of it, those 13g of carbohydrates equate to 50 calories. The first vitamin ingredient is thiamin at a 1.5 mg dosage, which is 100% daily value. Thiamine can help with metabolism, immunity, and cardiovascular support. The next vitamin is niacin at 10 mg, which is 50% daily value. Niacin can aid in ED, skin health, brain function and improve cholesterol levels. The next ingredient is vitamin b6 at 2 mg dosage, which is 100% daily value. Vitamin B6 can improve mood, support the brain and eye health, and help with high blood pressure. The last vitamin ingredient is vitamin b-12 in the cyanocobalamin form at 24 mcg, which is 400% daily value. The main benefit to vitamin b-12 is increased energy levels, mood boost, and digestion aid. The vitamin ingredients in this product were pretty well dosed.

After the vitamin ingredients, you have alpha-GPC at a 25 mg dose. This particular ingredient can aid power output, an acute increase in growth hormone, and reduction in cognitive decline. The main issue here is that the 25 mg dose is way below effective dosages. The most common dosages used are 300-600 mg with 1200 mg being used for cognitive decline. I have to doubt that this will be much at a 25 mg dosage. The proprietary "Ultra Power Blend" follows this ingredient at a 551 mg dose. This consists of taurine, caffeine, L-Arginine AKG 2:1 and yohimbine HCL. The main issue with the proprietary blend is half of it is underdosed. There is 185 mg of caffeine in the product, which leave 366 mg left in the proprietary blend. At 366 mg the only other ingredient that could be close to clinical dosage is yohimbine HCL. As for the taurine and l-arginine AKG 2:1, they are much underdosed and will not have much benefit at this dosage. Overall, the ingredient profile is underwhelming but that was rather expected for RTD products. Most RTD products especially energy ones are underdosed in comparison to powdered versions.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

Screamin Energy ULTRA comes in French caramel coffee as its only flavor. The flavor was honestly just okay. It definitely had a coffee flavor but I did not get much caramel. When you first take it, you are hit with a coffee flavor that dissipates into this odd sugary chemical type taste. I rather expected this based on similar packaged products I had. Overall, I did not look forward to taking this but the taste was bearable. Mixability does not come into play with this product but I will mention that it comes in 12 RTD pouches. As far as dosing goes, I really used one pouch as a coffee alternative and a boost before hiking or running at the park.

Effectiveness

For an RTD energy product, I found this to be effective. It was a good coffee replacement that I felt had versatile uses. As I mentioned in previous reviews I do a lot of running at a park and this was perfect for that. I would usually take this on the way to the park or when I got there. It would kick in rather quickly (on empty stomach) and would last for the duration of my run. I noticed that I was able to run a little faster and I was not out of breath as quickly with just coffee. The energy would last through the entire run and would continue for about two hours after. I did try this before a weight-training workout and I thought it was just okay. I would not use this as a preworkout replacement but if you are only using coffee this could be a step up.

There was another way I found this to be effective and that was the convenience of the product. I was able to have an energy boost without the need for water or a bottle. I went camping overnight and this product came in handy without needing to heat water for coffee. I also had a spur of the moment workout where this came in handy. This honestly is one of those products to have on hand when you need convenient energy but the price is high.

Value

The cheapest that I could find this was from Vital4U website where it retails for $21.00 with free shipping. This comes to $1.75 per pouch. This is on the expensive side. To put it into perspective I pay $.43 for coffee pods and $.80 for espresso pods. For a few cents more, you can get Pre Kaged ($1.80) or Pre Jym ($1.78). However, all of these you would need water to mix. The value comes down to whether or not you want to convenience of the RTD pouch. Personally, I could see myself having a case that I would take if I were going camping or long hikes.

Side Effects

I had no side effects while taking this product.

Conclusion

Screaming Energy Ultra is an effective energy boosting product that is very convenient. As far as performance goes it is more effective than coffee. However, it comes at a high price that could potentially be worth it if you want the convenience of the RTD pouch. I would like to thank Vital4U for sending the product and the Trooper Program for coordinating it.

-Xcmiler

Introduction

I'm a competing powerlifter, who for some reason is trying to run her first 5k in October. I lift in the mornings and am doing C25K in the evenings (3 days a week).

I'm also cutting right now and I'm lighter than I've been since high school.

Ingredient Profile

Reload is an electrolyte supplement from Micronamin. Unlike many electrolyte products that are just overpriced sugar packets, we have a nice mix of different electrolytes here:

Calcium - 326 mg
Magnesium - 150 mg
Potassium - 200 mg
Phosphorus - 250 mg
Sodium chloride - 667 mg

Electrolytes are important because they help keep the body hydrated. When we drink water, it tends to sit outside of our cells. We need electrolytes to bring some of that water into the cells and stay hydrated/balanced.

Most of the major electrolytes are in this product. The only one missing is bicarbonate, but you don't need all seven of them at once. In my opinion, it's nice to have at least three different ones.

We also have other ingredients in this product.

Vitamin C - 500 mg-
Sulphate - 10 mg-
Vanadium - 3 mg- Unsure of what this does in the body.
Zinc - 10 mg- an essential mineral that does a slew of different things in the body.
Trace mineral blend - 100 mg

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

I got the lemon lime flavor, and I did not like it. It had this weird multi-vitamin like taste to it, like I was eating Flintstones tablets or something like that. Electrolytes are usually pretty easy to flavor. They are just salts after all, so I'm surprised the taste wasn't better.

I add my flavored leucine to this (I drink it intra workout) which helps, but the lemon lime was a miss for me 5/10.

The mixability was pretty decent. Sometimes, there was a bit of grit at the bottom, but for the most part, Reload mixed fine, 8/10.

The dosing is easy. Just rip open a packet and drop it into your water. I've had electrolyte supplements that were droplets, which made it hard to dose it consistently. I've also just gotten a big bag which tends to get clumpy, as the electrolytes are hydrophilic, so this product was one of the more convenient ones I have used.

Effectiveness

I really think that electrolyte supplements are underrated in general. Sure they're not as flashy as BCAAs or pre-workouts, but if you find yourself dehydrated during a lifting session or a run, you will not have a good time, and it could lead to something dangerous like heat stroke.

Unfortunately, most electrolyte supplements are just sugary water and don't do much to improve hydration. Studies indicate that most of them do not hydrate you any better than plain water.

This product, however, was very well formulated, and I found that it was quite helpful in terms of staying hydrated at the gym or when I was out running. Right now, it's summer. It's hot and I'm lifting in a field house with no AC or running in a park with little shade.

I've been dehydrated before, and I know the signs: dry mouth, headache, dizziness. I've had none of this with Reload.

Value

This product is reasonably priced considering that it is in individual packets, which is more convenient than a scoop or a dropper. I found Reload for $30 and that's 50 servings, or $.60/serving.

Most products like this, for example Gatorade, will be $1/packet, and will have a crap profile.

Still, if you want the cheapest electrolyte option, you would get something like BulkPowders electrolyte powder which can be had for $.07/serving and flavor it yourself.

Yeah, there's a big difference in price between flavored electrolyte products in individual packets and unflavored products that you have to scoop out, but that's the market for you.

Side Effects

None

Conclusion

This was my first product from Micronamin, and it was an effective one. I wouldn't get the lemon lime, but I would be up for trying the other flavors.

Introduction
Like the review title says, I'm 39 and I'm starting to feel myself going down instead of up. Everyone keeps telling me that I need a testosterone boost or shot. The shots were too expensive so I decided to try the pills. The cover of the tub states that it will boost testosterone as soon as 7 days! The question I have is, would this testosterone pill help me?

Ingredient Profile
The first section the Anticatabolic Complex which consists of Rhodiola Extract at 386 mg and Ginkgo Extract at 2.7 mg. Rhodiola is a perennial flowering plant. It grows naturally in wild Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. Rhodiola a traditional Chinese medicine herb which is to promote physical/cognitive vitality. It claims to cut fatigue and exhaustion. Rhodiola is also neuroprotective (which affects the nerves) and has been known to help longevity. Ginkgo is a large tree with fan-shaped leaves. Ginkgo is found in Asia and grown in Europe and the United States. Ginko is one of the most used herbs because of it for memory disorders including Alzheimer's disease. Used for conditions that seem to cut blood flow in the brain, especially in older people. These conditions include memory loss, headache, ringing in the ears, vertigo, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, mood disturbances, and hearing disorders. Some people use it for other problems related to poor blood flow in the body, including leg pain when walking and Raynaud's syndrome (a painful response to cold, especially in the fingers and toes).

The second section is the Free (Active) Testosterone Stimulator which consists of Boron Citrate at 100 mg and Supplying 5mg Of Active Boron. Boron is a dietary mineral which is to increase testosterone when supplemented at doses higher than from food. Boron is found less in the food we consume due to the farmers growing different products that fail to use Boron. After a 10 day test done on subjects that were taking Boron, the scientists compared their subjects blood results to other subjects that were not taking Boron and found out that: free testosterone levels had increased by 28%, free estrogen levels had decreased by -39%, and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels rose by 10%.

Other than ginkgo, I question the ingredients. As most testosterone or boosters supplements, they usually contain questionable products from Asia. Little to no evidence to prove that these Asian herbs will produce what they claim to. As far as the ginkgo, it seems a good supplement and is easily found in pill form. I am not sure that the ginkgo is going to help with testosterone.

There's good amount of scientific evidence speaking for the health benefits of boron. The ability to increase testosterone levels in healthy human men. That is, why people recommend taking a boron testosterone supplement. A dose range that can increase testosterone levels (without becoming toxic) falls in between 3-25 mg/day. The question here is that this testosterone booster is at 100mg so, is this product becoming toxic? The boron only pills I found online are in the 3-25 mg. Boron is a good product but other options available that can help boost testosterone.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing
No taste as because of a pill. Instructions say to take 4 pills a day (2 in the morning and 2 at night). The tubs come with 30 servings (a serving was 2 pills) so it would last 15 days.

Effectiveness
This is the problem part. At no time did I feel that the testosterone booster helped. I know that it takes a while for testosterone to change and despite what the logo says on the tub (as quick as 7 days to feel the boost) I tried it for a while. I was actively taking it as prescribed and I tried it for 2 months. After 2 months of taking it, I decided to stop because nothing was working. I have tried some different testosterone boosters since trying this one and most of them have at least given me a boost (not for sure if that was due to the caffeine in it or not). The only thing for me to try to help is trying the shot. I would not recommend this to have effectiveness.

Value
The cost was $10 per tub and one tub would get you 15 days so you would spend $20 for a month supply. Testosterone pills or shots can get high (some I have found start at $100 for a month supply or shot). So, for the cost, cheap but if ineffective, a waste of money.

Side Effects
No side effects noticed.

Conclusion
I have recently had blood work done and the testosterone level is in the middle range of having enough and getting lower. I do feel that I need to have a boost in testosterone to keep my goals. Multiple micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that give to testosterone synthesis, such as vitamins A, C, D, K2, zinc, magnesium, iodine, calcium, etcThese items are not found in the Six Star Testosterone Booster. The Six Star Testosterone Booster only has 1 ingredient (Boron) that seems to help with Testosterone Boost. The problem with the Boron in Six Star Testosterone is that is at such a high level, hurting more than helping. Boron is a proven product to help with testosterone increase, but a lot more options to help. The research I have seen a list of 5-10 ingredients that can help with testosterone boost but Six Star Testorenoe Boost only has one. A person can have a testosterone boost without "feeling" the boost. I would not recommend Six Star Testorenoe boost because I did not feel that it helping, especially with feeling younger, more energy, and sex drive. Find a testosterone boost that has more nutrients and more testosterone ingredients.