Quick Summary

One of the few times Insane Labz has a fully disclosed profile. Cheaply made hydration and endurance enhancer, that did not much of anything for me. It is very cheap, but save your money and buy something that will actually hydrate you.

Introduction

38 years old, recovering from total reconstruction surgery on my left ankle, but finally back in the gym! I like to have a supplement that provides some extra supplements either during or after my workout. Back in the day I used to drink Gatorade, but now I realize you lose some benefits with all the sugar and calories involved. I received Krampus during a New years special for free with another purchase. I have tried a couple other electrolyte supps in the past, so lets see how this one stacks up.

Ingredient Profile

Well, in a rare occurrence Insane Labz actually has a fully disclosed label here. Lets break down each ingredient to see why it was included.

Folate (Folic Acid) 500mcg: This aids in cell renewal, as well as reducing the risk of birth defects for pregnant women. RDA is 400mcg for men over 13 years old, and this is dosed a little high at 500mcg.

Vitamin B12 (as Cyanocobalamin) 2mg: Boosts your mood, energy level, memory, heart, skin, hair, digestion and more. This vitamin is so important for you, mainly getting you that energy boost, that you will see it sold a lot as a stand alone. RDA of 2.4mcg and here we have 2mg. The B12 here is the cheaper and lower end version called cyanocobalamin.

Magnesium (as Magnesium Citrate) 200mg: This aids in bone structure. RDA here is 400mg (men 19-30 years), 310mg (women 19-30 years), 420mg (men 31+), and 320mg (women 31+). This is a good addition to your multivitamin.

Chloride (as Sodium Chloride & Potassium Chloride) 360mg: Very important for your blood. Maintains proper blood volume, blood pressure, and pH of your body fluids.

Sodium (as Sodium Chloride) 210mg: 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 (as Potassium Chloride) 150mg: 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.

OXYGOLD (Fulvic Acid) 50mg: This is a key ingredient found in most Insane Labz products. This is there for bio-availability and nutrient uptake. A very informative video on this can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO4yryNnuAE. That video will do a much better job than I could.

Overall the profile looks promising. What is missing here that you typically see in electrolyte replenishing supplements are some sore of trace mineral compound. The electrolytes are dosed decently, so you would expect this to work, but as you will see below that is not necessarily the case.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

Taste: I got the Santa's Helper flavor. You can church it up any way you want, but its blue raspberry. It was very sweet, tasted okay, but sweeter than I like. Very drinkable though as long as you sipped it, big chugs would cause some issues with the sweetness.

Mixability: I typically used a funnel and mixed this in a 12oz bottle of water. I had no issues mixing it at all with just a few shakes and used a blender bottle on occasion with no residue or anything left over.

Dosing: Directions call for one scoop daily. I dosed this post workout, mid morning, or intra workout.

Effectiveness

Electrolyte supplements are real easy to gauge effectiveness because you know when your hydrated or not. You should be taking an extra trip to the bathroom to urinate if this does its job. Well it was a hit or miss for me. When I took this post workout or mid morning, some mornings it would cause me to feel more hydrated, but most mornings it would just be me drinking flavored water. I say about 20% of the time it would hydrate me, the rest I would feel no real change beyond drinking that bottle of water. Intra workout this was just way too sweet for me and would give me some stomach issues while trying to lift due to its sweetness. So that was a no go. This ones a tough one to gauge because it worked sometimes, and not the other times.

Krampus is touted to aid in hydration and endurance. Hydration was a hit or miss as i stated above, but endurance why I do not see how. It just simply did not work in that aspect for me. Any effect I did feel was so minor that it really made no difference to me. Disappointed in this.

Value

I got this as a free gift with purchase, but you can find this for $14.99 for 60 servings at A1 Supplements. That comes out to 25 cents a serving which is insanely cheap. However, I do believe you get what you pay for and I think all the ingredients here are on the cheap end and really did not seem to do much for me, so that kills its value. If this worked like I thought it would this would be a steal, but that is not the case here.

Side Effects

Experiencing nothing at all.

Conclusion

Overall, I felt like I was just drinking blue razz flavored water most days. On the days it did work it would be great, but I never got that cool sensation of feeling hydrated. If it did anything it was so minor it was hardly noticeable. However, if your looking for something to flavor up your water then here you go.

Quick Summary

From the brand:
Gains On Gains On Gains

New school meets old school, clinically dosed, packed to the nines, transparent AF, muscle builder conceived to make gains faster than Photoshop.
GHOST Full Disclosure Label
First ever yield transparent Creatine, delivering a full 5G of yielded Creatine
Max clinical dose Betaine
Carnosyn Beta-Alanine
Full 200MG dose Epicatechin
Max clinical dose Astragin

Introduction

Hello all. Full intro about myself can be found here in the forum: https://supplementreviews.com/forum/index.php?topic=35432.0

First, a big thank you to the guys and gals over at Ghost for joining us here at SR.com and making your creatine/muscle building product Size available for us TROOPers to try and review. I have been following this company since their creation, mainly because of the YouTube ambassadors that they have partnered with. Being from a printing and marketing background, I can appreciate what Ghost has done with their marketing/outreach techniques since launching the company along with the details and added extras that the labels and tubs have. Being a dietary supplement consumer, I also applaud Ghost on being a fully transparent company from the beginning and not short-changing the consumer with inferior ingredients or improper dosing. Let's see if this proper follows that same path.

Ingredient Profile

As with all Ghost products, Size provides full label transparency and contains patented and registered versions of ingredients when they are available. This product contains five grams of what Ghost calls "Full Yield Creatine", which is a blend of monohydrate and HCL at 2.5g each. This is where the brand is blending new school and old school ingredients with the hopes of providing a product that gives the user the best of both worlds. Many who have been taking supplements for a while know that the monohydrate version of creatine has been studied and proven to be effective for years now. The HCL version is somewhat new and has less scientific research behind it. For those who prefer HCL, they seem to like it because it's more soluble and said to be better absorbed, thus requiring a smaller serving. Personally I have never used a pure monohydrate creatine product on its own. I started with HCL and have stayed with it since I began weightlifting.

Moving past the creatine, the remaining ingredients are added extras to help with muscle growth and recovery. Each scoop of Size gives you a clinical dose of Betaine. Per my friends over at PricePlow: Betaine, also known as Trimethylglycine (TMG), is a natural chemical compound that is found in several biological systems. It primarily serves as an organic osmolyte, which is something that takes water into cells to protect against osmotic stress. In addition to this it is also a methyl donor. TMG got the name betaine after its discovery in sugar beets. Structurally, it is a small trimethylated amino acid existing in zwitterionic form (a neutral molecule with a positive and negative charge, these are also called inner salts) at a neutral pH. The amino acid is glycine, hence the name, trimethylglycine. In addition to being found in sugar beets, it is also found in wheat bran, wheat germ, spinach, wheat bread, and shrimp. (https://blog.priceplow.com/betaine)

Next we have CarnoSyn Beta Alanine at two grams. While many will notice this ingredient is dosed below the normal 3.2 grams that we are accustomed to and think of as the "clinical" dose, Ghost follows the thought path of splitting up the doses for maximum nutrient absorption. This also helps avoid the sometimes unpleasant "tingles" many users get, when mega-doing Beta Alanine. As for effects, it's well known that Beta Alanine boosts endurance, but it also increases work capacity, strength, and time to exhaustion. In other words, Beta Alanine allows you to work out more intensely for longer periods of time without succumbing to fatigue. This ultimately lets you get more work done, yielding more gains!

The next ingredient is one that I have only heard of but never tried in a supplement before. It is Epicatechin 90% dosed at 200mg. Ghost says "Epicatechin is one of the hottest muscle building ingredients on the market" and claims this is the ingredient that really sets Size apart from anything else on the market. They also mention that just this ingredient alone is sold for more than what an entire tub of Size costs. As for what Epicatechin is supposed to do, I turn to my friends at PricePlow again for this: "Found prevalently in dark chocolate, epicatechin is a potent flavonol that's gained popularity for its ability to enhance lean mass gains and performance. Most notably, epicatechin has the ability to

Enhance strength and muscle growth
Improve glucose tolerance
Increase endurance
Blunt fatigue
Elevate nitric oxide production

Part of what makes epicatechin a prime-time muscle builder is that it's a rather powerful inhibitor of Myostatin by way of increasing levels of Follistatin, Myostatin's "archenemy." Basically, Myostatin prohibits muscle growth, and Follistatin inhibits myostatin signaling, which ultimately results in less myostatin and more muscle growth!"

Our last active ingredient is AstraGin at 50mg. "AstraGin is an all-natural absorption-boosting ingredient derived from Astragalus membranaceus and panax ginseng extracts, both staples of traditional Chinese medicine. AstraGin enhances the rate at which certain compounds and nutrients are absorbed within the intestinal wall. NuLiv, the company who developed AstraGin, has conducted several research trials showing that the novel compound effectively improves uptake of creatine, beta alanine, citrulline, amino acids, and several other compounds. Size contains the full research-backed 50mg dose of AstraGin to increase the effectiveness of all its ergogenics even further."

The remaining ingredients will vary depending on if you purchase the neutral (unflavored) version or the Warheads branded Sour Watermelon flavor. The Sour Watermelon flavored version includes an additional 2.5 grams of natural and artificial flavors, citric, malic and tartaric acid, along with your artificial sweeteners of sucralose and Ace-K plus artificial red food coloring.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

Taste >> I received the Warheads collab Sour Watermelon flavor and it was fantastic! I have tried a sample of their Legend PWO in this flavor and thought it was amazing. Glad to see the same flavor transferred over to this product and they were able to achieve the same result with different active ingredients. It is delicious and sour from the first sip until the last. No complaints here and I looked forward to drinking every day. Definitely one of the best tasting supplements on the market today in my opinion.

Mixability >> No real big issues here. One scoop in some cold water and shake for about five to ten seconds. If I let the bottle sit for a minute or two, some sediment would be visible on the bottom but another quick shake and it is ready to drink again. If you are the type of person who would drink this all at once, then there is nothing to be concerned about.

Dosing >> Depending on your thoughts about creatine consumption, this product could be taken any time of day. Ghost recommends consuming within 30 minutes after exercising on training days. They also state for best results, use on non-training days as well. They also recommend mixing this with a whey protein shake, which is why the product also comes in an unflavored version. I followed their dosing protocol on training days and consumed my scoop on non-training days in the afternoon as a nice refreshing beverage.

Effectiveness

When it comes to the effectiveness of this product, I experienced two stages throughout my use of the tub. For the first week to ten days, Size provided me with piece of mind that I was getting my full daily dose of creatine in along with having a delicious drink to look forward to after training or during the afternoon on non-training days. During this first stage, everything seemed okay but nothing seemed or felt spectacular or different. My training sessions were the same as was my recovery. No crazy personal best lifts were achieved, just the same slow and steady progress that I was making before starting this supplement. After some of my more intense workouts, I would still have some muscle soreness for a day or two just as before. Body composition was also relatively unchanged during this time.

As I entered the second week of using this product and beyond, that is where I started to notice a significant difference during my training sessions and more importantly, in my recovery. With consuming Size post workout, my training sessions the following days started to become more enjoyable and I was eager to get back into the weight room. This was likely because the effects of Size had my body feeling stronger and more willing to lift some heavier weights than I did the session before. This excitement and the possibility of setting a new PR reinvigorated my desire to go to the gym as much as possible again. With this new found enthusiasm in the gym, some might be concerned about the ability for the body to recover from this new stimulus of pushing it far beyond what it is used to. This is where Size really shined for me as my muscle soreness from the workouts decreased substantially the more I used this product. The soreness that used to last a day or two for my most intense workouts was almost non-existent during week three and four of this product. I started to feel "healthier" and stronger with each passing day during these weeks and had a better outlook on the other parts of my life because I was not sore or in a bad mood. Indirectly, this supplement helped with my family and work life because it made me more enjoyable to be around and open to participating in other activities that I would normally be too sore to think about doing.

In terms of body composition while using this product, I did not notice any extreme changes in the mirror but felt most of the progress was being made internally. My muscles did not seem to fail as quickly during the training sessions when compared to before I started taking Size but my muscle definition did not noticeably change for any part of my body. Some of this lack of change or definition can be attributed to loose skin that I have from losing weight and I did not expect this product to magically solve that issue by filling it up with more muscle mass. I realize that I will probably never look like the fitness models we see on magazines or Instagram and I'm okay with that. As long as I can continue making progress in the gym and boost my recovery for the next session; I am happy. Ghost Size was effective at giving me the confidence that I was stronger and capable of lifting more weight without the fear of being laid up in bed for the next week trying to recover.

Value

In terms of price/value, Ghost has taken the route of having strict control over who is able to distribute their products. At this time, the only places Size and all other Ghost products can be purchased are either directly through their own website (https://www.ghostlifestyle.com/), from the GNC website or directly from brick and motor GNC stores. Unless there happens to be a sale in a GNC store, the price is the same no matter where you shop. Each tub is 30 scoops and retails for $39.99. GNC has free shipping and you can save 10% if you choose to have this product auto-delivered. If you purchase this from the Ghost website, you can find a discount code from one of their brand ambassadors that will save you 20%.

In terms of value, Size really stands out when it comes to the amount of Epicatechin included in each tub. Looking through sites like Amazon that sell Epicatechin in pill form, you would be paying between $35 and $40 just for that ingredient alone at the 6000mg (30x200mg) dosage. Then you have to factor in the separate costs for the forms of creatine along with all the other ingredients you get plus whatever value you may place on having an amazing tasting product.

If you look at this product as only being a creatine supplement, then it is going to be extremely expensive and likely a pass for most people. However, this includes much more than just creatine and should be viewed as a supplement that will improve your performance and most likely lead to better recovery and more muscle gain while meeting your daily creatine requirements as an added bonus.

Side Effects

None experienced during my run of this product. Be cautious if you know your body does not react well to a certain type of creatine included. Since this also contains Beta Alanine, there is the possibility that some people could feel the tingling sensation after consuming. Also note that the Warheads Sour Watermelon flavor does contain artificial colors and sweeteners, if you are allergic and/or trying to avoid those.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I see this supplement as being a great addition to anyone's stack no matter where you are in your fitness adventure. For the newbies hitting the weights for the first time, I believe this will help amplify your newbie gains along with helping you recover and lessening muscle soreness. For the intermediate lifter that has been training consistently and tried many supplements but can't break through a plateau; maybe Size is the perfect cocktail of post workout ingredients that you have been missing. For the advanced lifter, this supplement may be your first experience in using Epicatechin and all the possible benefits it can provide. If you are the type of person who has a cabinet full of failed supplements that didn't produce the effects they claimed; Ghost Size could be the one that replaces them all and gets you back on the GAINS train! Choo Choo

Once again, thank you to Ghost and SR.com for making this review possible. Size combines all the greatness of research backed ingredients with the amazing sour candy taste of Warheads. I looked forward to drinking this each day and letting my body handle the rest.

Thank you for reading my review and let me know if you have any questions.

Quick Summary

RX Multi by Flex Nutrition is a great multivitamin providing solid dosages of everything you need. However, the value price of the multivitamin itself in comparison to others on the market is somewhat discouraging.

Introduction

A special thanks to Flex Nutrition for their continued participation here on SR.com. Today, I discuss my experiences with their multivitamin RX Multi. Multivitamins are a normal staple for me that I've used even before getting into fitness. Following a healthy well balanced diet is always the best way to get in all of your essential vitamins and minerals, but having a multivitamin on hand is good insurance.

Ingredient Profile

The profile is fully disclosed with all listed ingredients and dosages. However, there is too many to list so I've included an image so one can look at the full profile with the dosages. So, I advise to check it out.

The profile itself contains all of your common essential vitamins and minerals with varying dosages among more common core vitamins and minerals. Some more common vitamins such as A, C, and D are well dosed. The minerals on the other hand are actually dosed pretty low. Magnesium, calcium, and zinc for example are dosed far too low for my taste. While more bioavailable and absorbable forms are used, the dosage is still too low for one to really reap the potential benefits.

The latter of the profile contains some nice bonuses such as choline bitartrate, inositol, and PABA. These are some good bonuses for additional health and organ support, but again, we've got some low dosing here.

Dosing

The directions call for 4 pills to be taken each day. I took all 4 pills with breakfast.

Effectiveness

With multivitamins, you don't really "feel" them work per se. Rather, I analyze the efficacy based on how I felt it helped in the areas of general health I expected from it.

I follow a clean well balanced diet as it is so vitamin and mineral (or any nutrient) deficiency is something I don't concern myself with. Nonetheless, RX Multi was a great multivitamin which helped me ensure all of my daily micronutrient quotas were being met. I felt the general feeling of a good state of health while on it. In other words, I wasn't exhibiting any signs associated with the deficiency of certain micronutrients.

The extras helped give my immune system a bit of a boost as I never fell ill while on RX Multi. The added choline helped a little with focus too as I did have a bit of enhanced mental clarity.

Value

RX Multi loses some points here. As of now, it is only available on Flex Nutrition's own website for 29.29 for 25 servings. Aside from the fact that it is not a full 30-day month's supply, that is a little over a dollar a serving. In comparison to other multivitamins that come with more servings with equally as efficient profiles, this is a little pricey considering other multivitamins will go for about half if not less the price. Of course, I am not referring to the big "pak" brand multivitamins, but the basic capsule vitamins like ADAM, orange triad, and Opti-men.

Side Effects

none

Conclusion

RX Multi is a very good multivitamin worth including in your regimen for general health support and complimenting your diet with extra vitamins and minerals. However, the price is somewhat a discouraging factor. Should it become more widely available, it would be good to see it cheaper.

WARMACHINE OUT!!!

GO RED SOX!!!

Quick Summary

Seemed to drop water weight and look very slightly drier quicker than usual if I were to cut without using this. None of the typical low estro symptoms/bad side effects.

Ingredient Profile

I was not surprised to see this product containing 150mg each of DIM and Indole-3-carbinol but I understand why-these help regulate the metabolites of estrogen in your system so you essentially get a more optimal ratio between your hormones so your system isn't "dominated" by this high amount of estrogen. That's the best way I can think of to describe this simply. For reference, DIM can be used medically or supplementally for things ranging from acne treatment to reducing types of cancer in women that are associated with abnormally high estrogen so there obviously is some weight to the effectiveness of DIM, and I3C is converted to DIM in our body as a precursor so there's that.

This formula also has Calcium-D-Glucarate which, to my understanding, helps lower estrogen levels as well by helping your body excrete it if there is too much of it (which explains why it is included haha).

Chrysin is supposed to reduce conversion of test to estrogen, so this is definitely a plus. I have seen some conflicting research on whether it actually works when ingested orally (or even transdermally for that matter), but props for it being included as something that MAY be effective.

Also, Astragin is included to help bioavailability of this all which is a nice touch.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

Dosing is easy. Just two small capules down the hatch once a day. No aftertaste or heartburn or anything.

Effectiveness

This is my third time trying an AI/estro block type supplement, with the previous being plain Arimistane capsules and then Exotherm by BLR. I wanted to try this primarily to help dry out during a cut, hold less water weight, harder muscles/more vascularity etc. Exactly what you would expect one may look for when using a supp like this. From my experiences in the past cutting, I did seem to drop water weight a little quicker than usual on this and my core looked a little better at a higher bodyfat, and my shoulder vascularity came a little sooner. I won't say these effects were anything crazy though, it seems as though it just "advanced" my progress by like 5-7 days or so visually if that makes sense. Those other two supps were much more noticeable in making my physique look hard, improving vascularity, BUT at the expense of I also felt like they were too strong to a degree. I feel I crashed some E using arimistane and had the joint issues as well as a little wtf moment with energy levels etc., and fortunately I didn't have these bad low estro effects from Arima XD.

Value

You can purchase this on Amazon, 30 bucks for 30 servings. At $1 per serving, definitely cheaper than some other estrogen reducing supps on the market. Since this is more of a niche market some companies really upcharge their products so this is pretty good value for the category!

Side Effects

I really didn't have any that I can think of. Didn't have any dry joint pain or crashed estro symptoms which you can get with some other supps like higher dose Arimistane, so this was a plus.

Conclusion

Overall, if you want to experiment with an estrogen blocker/cortisol reducer I think this supplement is a fantastic starting point because it's not as harsh/severe as some others. If you are experienced and have tried some of these before I don't think you'll necessarily be blown away by this but the lack of strong side effects with some of the desirable traits of lower estrogen and cortisol may be enough to give it a try.

Quick Summary

Caffeine free thermo that includes 9 trademarked ingredients. A bit on the pricey side, but the quality is definitely there.

Introduction

On a slow cut to prepare myself for a second police academy. Been focusing on functional movements and cardio for the past few months. This is my second of three overdue reviews from the Genius Brand. I will be reviewing the second version of this supplement.

Ingredient Profile

Genius Burn recently changed their formula a bit. Their first version included iFAS503 camellia sinensis, AlphaSize alpha-GPC, replaced Sensoril ashwagandha with KSM-66 Ashwagandha and replaced regular theanine with TheaKalm theanine.

In version 2, the ingredients include (per one cap): KSM-66 at 150 mg which is a cortisol reducer found in a few different products. 100 mg of Cognizin citicholine that supports brain health, focus, and attention. TeaCrine at 50 mg which is the lone stimulant in the product that is a smoother alternative for caffeine with no tolerance build up over time. 25 mg of Paradoxine grains of paradise which can help thermogenesis and increase fat loss. 10 mg of LeanGBB which is a carnitine based supplement that increases thermogenesis. Capsimax is next at 12.5 mg which also increases thermogenesis. GS4 Plus at 50 mg which aids in insulin function and supports stable blood sugar levels. TheaKalm at 50 mg which can combat stress and improve focus and mood due to it allowing the user to relax. AstraGin at 12.5 mg that can help absorption and increase ATP production. Finally there is huperzia serrata at 2.5 mg which is a powerful nootropic.

As you can see, this is a long list of ingredients with a total of 9/10 ingredients being trademarked. This ensures that you are getting the highest quality ingredients with no chance of impurities or fillers. The capsules are vegetable capsules containing no gelatin.

Dosing

Take 1-2 capsules 1-3 times per day, 30 minutes before a meal. So you can take anywhere between 1-6 capsules per day, depending on your preference. I dosed this one capsule in the morning and one capsule pre-workout. There are 60 capsules in each per container.

Effectiveness

I believed this worked pretty well for a caffeine free thermo. As I mentioned in my previous Genius Brand review, I stacked this with their Diet Pills to help with appetite suppression since Genius Burn was not really labeled as an appetite suppression supplement. Genius Burn is labeled as a "safe and effective cognitive enhancing thermogenic".

Since there is no caffeine present, I never noticed an extreme amount of energy, but of course that is to be expected. It is more of a subtle, gradual amount of energy, most likely from the TeaCrine. Like I stated above, I took one cap upon waking and one cap pre-workout. In doing this, I noticed a bit of a thermo reaction and an increase in alertness/focus. It enhanced the pre-workout I was using at the time and made my workouts a bit better. That is the good thing about caffeine free fat burners - you are able to stack them around your pre-workout if you wish to do so without worrying about over doing your caffeine intake. Some fat burners I have tried in the past left me feeling extremely stimmed-out/jittery and/or gave me a crash. With Genius Burn, I never had that feeling once.

In combination with their Genius Diet Pills, I was able to drop a little over seven pounds in a month without any super strict calorie reduction or intense cardio. Usually averaged somewhere around 2400 calories a day, so I feel those results were worth it.

Value

This is being sold on Amazon for just under $50. This is pretty pricey for a thermo, however you have to realize the ingredients to make this product are not cheap. My value is based on how I took it which lasted me 30 full days at two capsules per day. This equals $1.67 per day. Obviously the price depends on how many capsules you take. At the minimum dosage it would come out to $0.83 per day. Max dosage would be $5.00 per day, which is unrealistic to run unless you have a much better job than I do.

Side Effects

Nothing to report.

Conclusion

Pretty good supplement that uses high-quality ingredients. The value could be pretty good to really expensive depending on how you dose it, so I would recommend trying to figure that out before purchasing it. At two servings a day, you are getting a month's worth and the value is pretty good for the ingredients included.

Quick Summary

A decent fat burner that helps in weight loss, but better options out there.

Introduction

Hey SR, here today to review Rexx Sports Nutrition's thermogenic called Hyper Blaze. I've been on a continual cutting process for awhile now, and with only the most stubborn fat left the thrill of seeing lbs fly off is gone. Cutting sucks, and to continue to see progress I still feel weight loss products have a place in helping me with a little increased metabolism, but I really look for a pick me up in energy, appetite suppressant, and nootropic effect to help with all of the side effects of dieting. Let's see how Hyper Blaze helped me reach these goals.

Ingredient Profile

Truth be told, I like the profile pretty well overall. We have a lot of very well known weight loss ingredients in here at pretty good dosages. I have attached the supplement facts, but here are some of the highlights: 400 mg of Green Tea, 100 mg of Advantra Z, 250 mg of caffeine, 65 mg of Teacrine, some Chromium, raspberry ketones, garlic, ginger, and capsimax. All of these ingredients aim at several facets of weight loss with energy, thermogensis, overall health, and increasing metabolism. Raspberry ketones most people don't believe in, but the two most proven ingredients in a synergistic weight loss effect of caffeine and green tea are present so overall, a pretty solid profile. I have had some weight loss products with much lower doses than this work pretty well in a synergistic way so I was happy to give this a try.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

No taste, two easy to swallow pills twice a day before food. Not the easiest protocol, not the hardest either. I always took before a lunch/protein shake and dinner. I mentioned no taste, but every once in awhile I did get some garlicky burps.

Effectiveness

When I look at all the facets of a weight loss supplement, this did a decent job at everything but certainly didn't blow me away in any aspect. The energy was noticeable, but very light. It did have a little prolonged effect because of the Teacrine which I am a fan of. I didn't notice a thermogenic effect at all, and I had a slight uptick on mood. Since I took this before food as directed, probably to control blood sugar spikes, I didn't get a huge appetite suppressant effect out of this either. Honestly in todays world, it's pretty damn easy to get something cheap to give you energy and focus, even more why I look for appetite suppressing qualities and nootropics in my fat burners. These were present, but I have had much better unfortunately. Overall, this supplement was "pretty good," but not really what I'm looking for.

Value

Considering the ingredients and dosages I feel this is a pretty good deal at $35 for a full 30 day supply. A little over $1 a day is common place for most fat burners.

Side Effects

Some herbal burps.

Conclusion

If you're looking for an all around type fat burner that won't blow out your nervous system this could be an option, but overall I feel this fat burner is just ok.

Quick Summary

First off I would like to thank Roar Ambition for giving me the opportunity to try this product.

4 gauge is a pre workout from Roar Ambition that claims to be all natural and provides with a non proprietary blend formula. Its 4 in 1 formula is claimed to help you with Power, Focus, Stamina, and Pump. Extremely promising hopes from this pre workout.

I would also like to state that as we all may know, all supplements react different to each and every one of us. Results may vary.

Introduction

I am a 34 year old male at around 206lbs. I lift around 5x's per week and I am pretty set on the schedule I work. My routine does not change a whole lot as with the times I hit the gym. I decided to try 4 gauge because, I am always interested in trying new products with positive claims. For the duration of the product, I consumed as directed.

Ingredient Profile

4 Gauge has a pretty good ingredient profile. The ingredients listed are those that are proven time and time again to deliver good results in workouts.
The following is the list of ingredients per one (1) scoop:
L-Citrilline Di Malate 6000mg (This is your pump ingredient and a pretty decent dose)
Creating Monohydrate 1000mg
Acetyl L-Carnitine 500MG (This will help you reduce muscle damage and fatigue)
Red Beet Root Extract 300MG (Nitric Oxide Booster and performance enhancer)
Coconut Water Powder 300MG (Hydration)
L-Theanine 200MG (Will help with your focus during grueling routines)
Caffeine Anhydrous 150MG (Gives you that boost)
Rhodiola Rosea 100MG (Has been shown to fight fatigue, depression, and boosting cognitive function)

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

The flavor that was included was Fruit Blast. It was a strong flavor that had a definite Coconut flavor with fruit punch added in. In my opinion, it was a pretty good flavor. There was a slight aftertaste of sourness in it as well. All was manageable.

Using a typical 20 ounce shaker bottle, I mixed the product as instructed on the label. It mixed well with no clumps in the shaker at either begging or end of drinking.

Dosing states that you should mix 2 level scoops 20-30 minutes prior to training. Once tolerance is assess, an additional 2 can be added for more energy. so from the ingredient profile standpoint your getting double the doses.

Effectiveness

6.3/10
The product, when taken as directed, worked surprisingly well. I was not wired during my workouts and I did have a good pump going. My veins were noticeable from the first warm up set I completed. Energy was on point and I was able to go into the gym and not crash afterwards. Clean focus is all that I took out of this product. The only downside to the effectiveness is that it says its perfectly safe to take up to 4 scoops. To me that seems a little excessive as far as that goes. I could not honestly go any higher on the score I gave it due to the fact that I did have to discontinue use because of some of the non main ingredients in the product. I will explain this in the side effect section of the review.

Value

6/10
The only place I was able to find 4 gauge at the moment was from their own website. It was around 45 dollars which is a little over $2.00 per serving. While this may seem a little pricey, it isn't completely a deal breaker.

Side Effects

This part of the review pains me to think about it. In the evening after my first dose of taking 4 gauge, I started to have stomach issues. Initially I played it off as my wife's cooking (she tried a new dinner). The stomach issues did not go away after I went to the bathroom. I lay in bed all night bloated and extremely gassy.
Day 2: I again took my dose and went to the gym. The workout was great. In my office all day I had bad gas, I still could not figure out what was going on. I again thought the protein shakes and broccoli were just disagreeing with me for some reason.

Day 3: Again, same gym routine with no issue. Gassy day at work followed by same issues at home. That evening, I could not even lay on my side. It felt like when I did my stomach was going to blow up. My wife, bless her soul, had to deal with my bad side effect all night as I struggled to figure out how to survive the night in one piece.
I finally looked further into the ingredients as by now, I noticed I have not had any negative issues with any supplement before. I checked out the "other" ingredient profile. I then found the culprit. Sugar alcohol Erythritol and Xylitol were listed as some of the ingredients in the mix. These ingredients are found in many Sugar Free snacks and products that are in the market. The side effects of these ingredients are extreme gastrointestinal discomfort and sometimes diarrhea.

Conclusion

overall 6.0/10
I feel bad about having to give this promising product a lower score. It delivered in the areas that it claimed and I had energy and the focus I need in a pre workout. The negative however, outweighed the positive and for that I could not even continue to take the product. Now as I have said before, results are not typical to everyone. I just happened to be the unlucky person who apparently is extremely sensitive to sugar alcohols.

Quick Summary

L-Carnitine helps your body use stored fat as energy, which should help with stamina and body composition. It is recommended that L-Carnitine is taken with carbs for optimal absorption and energy output. At the dosages in L-Carnitine 1500 Heat by VMI I do not believe the carnitine helped with my workouts or goals at all.

Introduction

I purchased L-Carnitine 1500 Heat from Campus Protein at an introductory sale of 24.99 for two bottles. This was a pretty good deal for the product because it is now 24.99/bottle on all platforms.

Ingredient Profile

L-Carnitine Heat contains 1500mg of Carnitine from 500mg each of L-Carnitine, Acetyl L-Carnitine, and L-Carnitine L-Tartrate. The heat portion of this product comes from 50mg Green Tea Leaf Extract, 25mg Gamma Butyrobetaine Ethyl Ester Chloride, 15mg Paradoxine Grains of Paradise Extract, and 2.5mg BioPerine for optimal absorption and usage of the ingredients.
This heat section supplies 25mg of EGCG, most studies used around 300mg, this is a good ingredient but is poorly dosed.
It also includes 1.875mg of 6-paradol which should help to create a sweating/burning feeling. This compound increases the activity of brown adipose tissue and increases calorie burning. The only study I could find showing effectiveness features 40mg of 6-paradol, which is far more than L-Carnitine Heat offers.
-Butyrobetaine helps the uptake of L-carnitine and your body's production of L-carnitine, no complaints here, great ingredient.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

Taste was fine, the grains of paradise and Bioperine add a spicy flavor but I did not mind it. The Patriot Pop was a bit better than the gummy bear.
The daily recommended dose was 1 tablespoon, after two weeks without noticing the burn part of the product I moved up to 1.5 tablespoons. I took this product every day while in a caloric deficit until I ran out of two bottles.

Effectiveness

I do not think this product was effective at all for me. I made progress towards my fat loss goals at the same exact pace with and without this product. Before I started using it I was losing roughly 1.5lb/week while maintaining strength and consuming ~250g protein a day to spare muscle. I had the same exact pace while on L-Carnitine Heat and after I stopped using the product. Even at the 1.5 tablespoon serving, I did not ever notice the "Heat" feeling that was advertised.

Value

It is hard to rate the value because I do not believe the product is worth anything because it did not work for me. I would say if you really wanted to try an L-Carnitine product to save your money and buy one that is better dosed.

Side Effects

N/A

Conclusion

This product really did not work for me and I do not think I would buy it again or recommend it to anyone.

Quick Summary

Thanks to Barbender for supporting the TROOPS. Torque appears to be their only product at the moment. Fairly solid profile, if a little on the simple side. price is decent at $1/scoop. Full disclosure on the label is always a plus.

Introduction

I workout 5x per week, cardio 4x per week right after (not on leg day though ;-) ). Normally supersets or trisets for everything. 3x20. One body part per day, except tris and bis are done together, and core on two days in addition.

Ingredient Profile

Torque has a straightforward ingredient profile, and kudos for being fully disclosed on the label. For endurance and energy there is 1.25g of betaine and 280mg caffeine anhydrous (amount is fine for me but I would have preferred some slow release caffeine too, as i was running out of energy during the 30min cardio after my workout). There is 500mg of NALT for focus, then 3g L-citrulline malate (I added another 3g) and 3 g of AAKG for pump. For endurance there is 3g of Beta Alanine. No creatine in here.

i was not keen on the heavy use of synthetic red dye. Its not a dealbreaker but unnecessary. Its a nice change when you get a PWO with no colorant at all in it - like the now defunct (I think) Momentum Catalyst.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

I had the fruit punch flavor. It was OK. Mixed easily enough (no creatine monohydrate in there which is what normally causes the clumps in PWO mixes). I stuck to a single scoop. At 280mg caffeine anhydrous I dont want to go higher than a single scoop. However, it certainly was not a 3/4 scooper like a couple of PWOs I have tried recently.

Effectiveness

Using a single scoop, I found Torque a bit underwhelming overall. Energy was low by the end of my 50min workout, leaving me a bit flat for the 30min cardio. Also, with no creatine in there I found I was a couple of reps short of what I normally do (I normally do supersets 3x20 for everything). And finally the pump wasn't really noticeable. So after a few workouts, I ended up adding 1g taurine, 3g cit malate, 1g Agmatine Sulfate (this works better for me than AAKG for NO production and pumps) and 2.5g creatine HCl to each scoop of torque. Still missing some delayed release caffeine, but with my additions it had most everything I need. Problem then is that the $1/scoop is no longer a great deal, due of the cost of the additions.

Value

Available either direct or from Amazon at $29.99, and the 30 scoop container making Torque $1/dose. Its a decent price, though there are good PWOs out there at under $1/scoop

Side Effects

none

Conclusion

A simple, straightforward, fully disclosed PWO at a decent price, but doesn't have quite enough to distinguish it from others out there in my opinion.

Quick Summary

Everybody uses creatine or should use creatine if not already. The list of benefits is long and proven under many different circumstances. I read some interesting facts about a fairly new type of creatine (Ethyl Ester) and TBN put up CEE bullets on the TROOP program.
Note : I did not finish the whole bottle due to unwanted side effects
The effects were disappointing after what I read on this fairly new type of creatine. The side effects made this an experience I would like to forget as soon as possible.

Introduction

35 years old financial auditor trying to balance life with three kids and a busy job. Trying to get in some quality time at the gym in the meantime. When I manage to squeeze in some gym time I can use all the supplement help that's out there.
Creatine is part of my standard supp stack. Tried some different variants in the past couple of years. Some decent, some really good. Most Troop supps are not available for shipment to Europe. After claiming this product and payment of the shipping costs I received the CEE bullets. Much thanks to TBN and the Troops program!

Ingredient Profile

(CEE) is creatine monohydrate with an ester attached. Esters are organic compounds that are formed by esterification - the reaction of carboxylic acid and alcohols.' This is a fairly new type of creatine. Some pro's and cons can be found online. Not as thoroughly researched as your standard creatine Mono. Requires less total grams to be effective, no sugar needed and no loading. This version, as is the case with most newer versions, eliminates the monohydrate effects and is reported to lead to less bloating and stomach discomfort.. Some evidence indicate that it is better absorbed than Monohydrate. Other studies show it leads to less creatine content in blood and muscles. I was curious as to how this would work out for me personally. There is also an Pro Octane Blend added to the produt; 440mg of Glycine L Arginine Alpha Ketoisocaproic, Citrulline DL Malate, Taurine, and Histidine.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

No taste, just pills. The advised dose is 4 pills before and 4 after training. On non training days 4 with breakfast and 4 with supper. Suggested is to take the pills with two glasses of water which I did. For optimal training experience, 8 pills before and 8 after training are recommended.

Effectiveness

On the effectiveness I did not experience much. I think creatine ethyl esther is not a type of creatine that works wonders, or maybe not for me specifically. I did not experience an increase in strength during training; at least not to the extent I experienced this with other types of creatine. I also did not experience any fuller looking muscles which I often experience with creatine. This could be due to the fact that creatine ethyl ester leads to less water retention. I used the CEE bullets as suggested, but effects were much less when compared to other creatines used before. I will have to try another CEE supplement to be sure. Overall the effectiveness was pretty mediocre, I expected much more from reading up on creatine ethyl ester and especially after reading the claims on the bottle (40X Stronger than Creatine Mono, freaky/explosive muscle gains). To be fair, I did not finish the whole bottle -see the side effects section- but CEE is known for not needing a loading phase.

Value

CEE bullets can be bought for just under 30 dollars at amazon. For a creatine this is pretty expensive, especially compared to a simple creatine monohydrate. For a Ethyl ester variant this is a fair price. Most other known brands sell for 25-30 dollars. Considering the effectiveness -and for me personally the side effects- I wonder if it's worth it in general

Side Effects

As noted before I discontinued the use of this product. The pills really hit my stomach hard. After use I had some serious acid reflux. When taking them on a filled stomach it wasn't that bad but still not pleasant. Before training they would usually settle alright. The suggested 4 pills after workout however did some serious harm. I heated up and actually had to threw up on three separate occasions. I don't believe any supplement should cause this and hence discontinued use. After approximately half a bottle.
For optimal training, 8 capsules before and 8 after were suggested. Considering the side effects I did not dare to go there.

Some forms or brands of creatine have caused me some minor stomach discomfort before, but more in the sense of some bloating and definitely not this severe. I read that CEE would be ideal for those who suffer bloating and cramps from regular creatine. As it turned out it was a poor choice.

Conclusion

The price of CEE is higher than that of other forms of creatine. If the advantages would be greater., this would be justified. As it turned out, effects were not better at all. Combined with the side effects mentioned I would not recommend TBN CEE bullets. I will have to (and will) try another creatine ethyl ester product to know for sure if this is a type of ingredient that does some good. The overall experience and effects with CEE bullets is not one I would consider recommending.

Quick Summary

Solid post-workout recovery but truly shines as a stand-alone intra-workout BCAA product.

Introduction

As I've written in other reviews, I'm a fan of consistently supplementing BCAAs for overall health and recovery. I try to ensure I'm ingesting 5-10g of BCAAs every morning during my fasted window, regardless of whether I work out or not. I've also experimented with heavy doses of BCAAs, up to 40g daily, in order to determine the optimal dosage-to-recovery ratio. Personally I notice solid DOMS improvement at ~15g BCAA daily, with no noticeable benefits beyond that dosage. For measurement purposes, I'm 6'1" and 205 lbs.

Recover Mode was an interesting pickup for me. Listed as a post-workout product, the profile is essentially that of a loaded intra-workout. I was already running a simpler BCAA product however I do not usually supplement anything postworkout as I lift in the morning, in the middle of my fasted window. I've actually, GASP, stopped supplementing protein as a result of maintaining this eating regimen, thus I figured Recover Mode would be a good addition to my stack.

Ingredient Profile

For most of my BCAA supplements I am primarily concerned with the actual dosing of BCAAs. 5g of essential BCAAs per serving has been clinically proven to be the minimum effective dose for an average-sized human. Recover Mode includes 5g at a 2:1:1 ratio along with a LOT of other goodies. Notable are the minerals and electrolytes for hydration support, 3g of Glutamine for recovery, as well as 2.25g of Creatine Monohydrate, which I can personally do without.

Also included are some common players in pre-workout and intra-workout products. You're getting a light dose of Beta Alanine (1.6g) and a solid dose of Taurine (1g), which are common non-essential amino acids used to support and improve athletic performance. Interesting to have these in a post-workout, but the benefits list is long for these two ingredients so I can see why they are included.

In that same vein, one scoop also nets you 1.5g of Betain, another ingredient with a long list of claims revolving around improved performance and muscle gain, and 1g of L-Carnitine which, once again, is a common ingredient in other types of supplements given its role in energy production.

Long story short, you've got a wealth of common ingredients to support hydration, muscular endurance, performance, and energy production but not a whole lot of specific recovery-boosting ingredients aside from the BCAAs and Glutamine.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

I received the Blue Razz flavor which is VERY strong, even in 32oz. of water. Taste-wise it is standard for a blue raspberry flavored supplement. Nicely done, not overly sweet, no medicinal aftertaste. The dyes and flavoring are heavy but overall not bad.

I generally dumped one scoop into my 32oz. bottle and sipped post-workout. I did experiment with this as a stand-alone intra-workout a few times as well. Mixes well with minimal foaming or residue.

Effectiveness

I personally can't tell the difference between most BCAA products. I do notice a difference in my general recovery time and the amount of DOMS I experience when I'm taking a BCAA versus when I'm not, but not usually between individual supplements. And, as I mentioned above, I've found my personal threshold of performance improvement maxes out at ~15g of BCAA daily.

Yes, I was running other BCAA supplements during my time on Recover Mode, but I do think the combination of these products was a plus. I was getting 5-7g BCAA intra-workout, and another 5g from Recover Mode post-workout, and I definitely felt like my DOMS was as light as it can get. I was dealing with minimal soreness most days and felt refreshed and energized post-workout. I do wonder if, without additional BCAA support, Recover Mode would be as effective on its own. While I really like the profile, it's not as loaded with recovery-focused ingredients as you might find for example there's nothing to address glucose replenishment. Not a big deal for me, just a note given how this supplement is categorized.

As stated in the summary, I thought Recover Mode was fantastic as a standalone intra-workout. The wealth of performance-focused ingredients combined with the hydration support excelled at providing that extra boost to get through my workouts, to carve out a few more reps, and to just generally feel like I hit the weights hard. I think I would honestly say I preferred Recover Mode as an intra-workout given how effective it was.

Value

Most solid BCAA supplements will cost you around .80c per serving. Some of the flashier products with broader ingredient profiles will run you closer to $1.00 per scoop.

At $30 for 30 scoops, this is exactly what I would expect to pay for Recover Mode and, honestly, I think this is a good value. You're getting a versatile, loaded product with effective doses across the board.

Side Effects

None.

Conclusion

If you've got the cash to blow for a post-workout stacker, this is a good option, but I'd absolutely recommend this as a straight up intra-workout. You're getting more from Recover Mode than most other basic BCAAs at a good price point. Nice work from EVL on this product. Definitely one I'll grab again in the future.

Quick Summary

TBN Total Go is a decent whey isolate competitor but it has some serious shortcomings that hold it back from going head-to-head with the industry leaders.

Introduction

I claimed TBN Total Go because I was in need of a new protein and despite the mixed reviews I wanted to try it for myself.

Ingredient Profile

6/10
As noted by other reviewers (special shout-out to MMAFreak and JayT), the ingredient profile on Total GO is plagued with flaws. It has a bunch of buzz words for fast advertisement, but most supplements do as well so that's not really a big deal. Of note, however, is that it is labeled as cage-free, halal, grass-fed, gmo-free and organic without any sort of certification or backing for either of those terms. I'm also not quite sure how protein can be cage free since it comes from milk not eggs but still. Similarly, halal claims should have some sort of certification as, like kosher, it is a religious dietary restriction. Also, I thought it halal was just for meat? Furthermore, although the website lists it as a concentrate I don't see that on the actual container. Finally, there is no GMP certification sticker or third party testing certifications so its hard to really accept with near 100% certainty that this ingredient profile, buzzword claims aside, is entirely accurate.

On the plus side, this has almost no sugar (no added sugar), additives, nor preservatives. Additionally, if the label claims are accurate then it is also a organic, grass-fed and non-GMO protein powder which is a real luxury in a market flooded with cheap protein sources, GMOs, and fillers.

1 Scoop provides: 117 calories, 1.7g of fat, 2.1g of carbs (sugars), and 24g of protein. That is extremely clean and should fit into anyone's macros. Sure you could find a protein even less fat and carbs but the difference at these levels is negligible. If this is accurate then it is a great nutritional profile at the very least.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

7/10
I received the strawberry flavor and it was ok. Being a naturally flavored supplement, I didn't expect anything that would absolutely blow me away and wow my taste buds. That being said, it was extremely good for natural flavoring and tasted better than a lot of artificially flavored strawberry protein powders. I mixed anywhere from 1-1.5 scoops with 8-12 oz of cold or room-temp water and occasionally I would add it to a smoothie. The actual mixability was fine but the foam was out of control. I've never had any supplement that foamed this much. It would take about 5-10 minutes for it to die down and be drinkable. That is just ridiculous. There's really no reason for that. This would be a much better supplement if TBN fixed this problem.

Effectiveness

7.75/10
Proteins are notoriously hard to rate effectiveness. I typically try to judge drinkability (a mix of absolute taste and whether or not I could stand it in multiple situations - i.e. not just post-workout but whenever needed), digestibility, and fullness/satiety.

Since I found the taste to be rather good, I had no problem using this protein in a variety of scenarios. I sometimes had a scoop for breakfast (both in a smoothie and on its own), post-workout, or just mid-day as a snack. I always found that it went down smooth and easy. The only problem I encountered in this area was the severe foam. The foam did in fact prohibit me from drinking it on a few occasions where I was in a rush after the gym and couldn't be bothered to wait for the foam to die down. I deduced a fair amount of points from the effectiveness rating for this.

I didn't experience any digestibility problems associated with low quality sources of protein like cramping or gas. Those are huge tell tale signs for me that I am not only not getting everything from the protein but also that I'm likely impeding gains by limiting physical activity due to pain during those times. Since I never experienced any issues here, I can have at least some certainty that it is not a low quality whey concentrate.

I noticed about average satiety with this protein. If I was taking this as a snack or post-workout, I would stave off the hunger pangs for about 2 hours. If I was having this for breakfast, I felt that I remained full for about 3 hours. This is good in my opinion as if you're looking to replace unhealthy snacks or foods with some protein powder, you want to retain similar levels of satiety to prevent yourself from overeating. That being said, this was not a protein that sat heavy in my stomach, so if I was trying to gain weight I could have easily downed 2-3 scoops of this a day without a problem.

In short, this is a solid protein in terms of effectiveness. The foaming is annoying and prohibitive at times but it still tastes great, digests well, can be used in multiple situations, and provides decent satiety. If the foaming problem didn't exist, this would be closer to a 9 or so in effectiveness.

Value

6/10
The cheapest I could find this for is $67.75 for 3lbs or 45 servings. That is about $1.50 a scoop/serving. Seeing as most proteins of similar or better quality with similar macros can be had for near $1.00/serving this is a bit pricey. If this could be confirmed as a non-GMO, grass-fed, and organic protein manufactured in a GMP facility then perhaps something close to the $1.50 price point could be justified but without at least a USDA organics sticker you'd have to be crazy to make that assumption. Plus, no competitor that I am aware of has a foam problem like this. Furthermore, this can only be found on TBN's website or Amazon as far as I know. That availability makes this even more uncompetitive as other proteins can often be found from third party retailers on some sort of sale that includes either freebies like shaker cups or deals on other supplements that may be useful in your rotation (pre-workout, creatine, etc.) thanks to retailers trying to compete with one another. Unfortunately, it looks like there is really no deal to be had here.

Side Effects

10/10
I experienced no side effects while taking TBN Total Go.

Conclusion

6.5/10
I got to a 6.5/10 rating by averaging the scores for Ingredient Profile, Taste/Mixability/Dosing, Effectiveness, and Value as I believe each of those sections is especially important with this particular product. It is a rare case that each of these should sections should have equal weight, but it is also rare that one encounters enough problems or things of interest to say in each category. This produced a 6.68/10 rating and I then deducted 1.68 to get to 6.5/10 as a way to account for the serious label and foam problems that I think would turn many consumers off from trying this product - especially when solid, well established competing products can be had without these problems for less. In the end, I wouldn't recommend this to a friend or to any of you until TBN addresses some of the major concerns other reviews and myself have raised with this product.

Quick Summary

Pretty good value for the overall quality contained in this greens supplement. It tastes pretty good as well.

Introduction

I have not normally run a greens product in the past because I used to stick with multivitamins, but I am noticing that I am beginning to enjoy greens products more. I feel like they are better absorbed by my body and a more natural way to receive vitamins and minerals than being synthetically produced for the most part with multivitamins. I have never had neon pee with a greens supplement. Granted, there usually is not an insane amount of B or C vitamins added into greens supplements, but to me it is pointless having that amount when most of it ends up in the toilet anyway.

Ingredient Profile

50 calories, 3 g fat, 6 g carbohydrate (1 g fiber, 1 g sugar), and 1 g protein. The profile is broken up into five different blends. The first blend is the PhytoFood greens complex which is just over 4 g of healthy greens including: wheat grass, broccoli, spinach, spirulina, chlorella, kelp, etc. The next blend is 2.5 g of digestive support and fiber including: chia seed powder, flax seed, oat bran, pumpkin seed, and turmeric. Third blend is the antioxidant fruit and veggie blend at just over 2 g consisting of: milk thistle, beet root, acai, green tea, goji berry, pomegranate, etc. Next blend is 0.5 g of probiotics and enzymes. Final blend is the trademarked VitaBerry ORAC blend at 200 mg.

Overall it is a pretty nice profile containing many super foods and other healthy ingredients. Sweetened with stevia and naturally flavored. Vegan, non-GMO, soy free, GMP facility. Good stuff here.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

Taste: Received the berry flavor and I only used it in smoothies as I have said in the past that I believe that is the best way to consume these. Normally my go to smoothie is a milk alternative base, unflavored plant based protein powder, frozen blueberries, a frozen banana, and a kiwi. Sometimes I will add other fruits, non-dairy yogurts, avocados, etc. I added a scoop of this to my smoothies and I actually really enjoyed the taste of it. There is definitely a berry flavor present and the "green" taste was hidden well enough where it was barely noticeable in this preparation.

Mixability: I did not mix this in a liquid by itself, so I cannot really comment on this aspect.

Dosing: Add a scoop into water, juice, or smoothie and mix thoroughly. Keep refrigerated once open to maintain freshness.

Effectiveness

Like I mentioned above, greens supplements are the way to go in my opinion over multivitamins. I did not have any problems with the profile and thought it was pretty decent and overall effective in keeping my body running smoothly. I also mentioned it tasted fine in smoothies and that is an important factor to consider when looking to purchase a greens supplement. I am sure that it would have tasted fine on its own too since the berry flavor was so prominent, but I would just prefer to throw these in a smoothie. It never gave me any trouble with digestion. I really like how it is completely vegan, non-GMO, naturally flavored and sweetened, and made in a GMP facility. It contains over 35 different super foods, so that is nice to see. There is not really much else to say about greens supplements aside from the profile/quality, the taste, and how it digests. I guess you can also include your overall health, but I am not really prone to sickness anyway, so that is not a big indicator on the effectiveness for me. Overall, I was pleased with the results of PhytoFood.

Value

The site Vitamindiscountcenter.com has this for $36.99 for 30 servings, which is $1.23 per serving. It also says that it is available for free shipping. I have never heard of the site, so that is up to you if you wish to save a few more bucks than ordering through reputable sites like Amazon or Suppz. Amazon has it for just under $38 and Suppz has it for just under $40. A bit pricey especially since it is not organic, but it is not an awful value since many of the ingredients included are really expensive. Suppz usually runs discounts once in a while, so maybe you could find this cheaper there.

Side Effects

None.

Conclusion

Overall a fine greens supplement. The taste was not bad at all and the profile is pretty good. May be a bit annoying keeping it in the fridge and taking up space, but that is not too uncommon with green products. I would recommend this, especially if you get it on sale somewhere. Thank you NutraHouse for allowing me to try this.

Quick Summary

A different kind of fat burner, this one has some promise

Introduction

Greetings SR! Back again with another review and this time it's the fat-buner 'The INCINERATOR' by Flex Nutrition. Firstly, I want to thank the SR TROOPs program and Flex Nutrition, for giving me the opportunity to try this product out. If you want to know of my background, you can find it in my profile here at:
https://supplementreviews.com/users/jamesjsix

Ingredients

8/10
Serving Size: 2 Caps
Lyzme5 - 500mg
CLA Powder (standardized to 35% CLA) - 300mg
Raspberry Ketones - 175mg
Garcinia Cambogia Extract - 100mg
Green Tea Extract (standardized to 50% polyphenols) - 75mg
Other ingredients for the caps themselves

First thing you'll notice with this supplement is that there isn't huge doses of the more common fat burners. Others have covered this but the bottom line is that CLA, Green Tea Extract and Garcinia are all pretty low amounts.

Next we have the Raspberry Ketones which is supposed to be a fat burner but examine has very little data on its effects in general. The only studies I could find its ability to do this are not human based but on rats and equivalent dosages would be at 1.1g-5g for a 200lb person, so this might be very low as well.

Lyzme5 is the trick pony in this supplement. What it looks like it's supposed to do is make it easier for your body to burn fats for energy as a whole. I would suppose that the overall effect then is to use the low dosages of the other ingredients to mobilize the lipds and then the lyzme5 makes it easier to burn them off (conjecture there).

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

Two caps so no taste, but they do have an interesting look to them, a spotted dark brown on a light brown.

Again, not really applicable here, but they are not that big so easy to swallow.

Dosing is pretty standard for a weight loss product, take 2 caps 2x a day 30 minutes before meals. This dosing is pretty easy to follow for me so no issues here. Flex sent me a message with the product that the product works best as it is built up so to make sure i take it for a continuous 30 days. I was able to follow this but as a whole, life can get in the way so if you are not sure you have the discipline to hold to the full 30 days, might be an issue.

Effectiveness

7.5/10
Other reviewers are a bit all over the map on this one but my results were positive. My goal with this product was not overall weight loss but fat loss. As with all fat burners, diet is crucially important and I followed a maintenance diet that was calorie neutral. The first 2 weeks I noticed no real effects as my weight and BF stayed the same (current BF was at 20.5% taken as a weekly average). In week 3, I dropped .5% and in week 4 dropped another 1% leaving me with a total BF % loss at 1.5% and a result of 19%. My final weight came down by only .5% through the course of the 4 weeks.

I take these results as the product doing what is supposed to do, aiding in fat loss when combined with a diet and workout program.

Value

7.0/10
Flex Nutrition has this for just under $30 for a 60 ct bottle. That will get you 30 servings but per their instructions to me, I would need to purchase 2 bottles to get my 2 servings per day for 30 days. That puts me at essentially $1 a day for this product. Not the most expensive fat burner out there but not exactly cheap either in my opinion. I think there is certainly value in there for someone that doesn't do well on other thermogenic fat burners and wants a little help in fat loss but its not a steal.

Side Effects

A bit surprisingly, none

Conclusion

7.4/10
This product is in line with my realistic expectations for a fat loss product. It's not a fat loss miracle pill but for me, it was effective and I think it helped me to tick my BF% down a notch when the diet I was following was not able to do so on its own. Key question, would I buy it at the listed price? Probably yes. I don't think it's as effective as some of the stronger thermogenics, but those come with side effects that I didn't get with this product. This one was more of a throw it in with my multi and get a little benefit at $1 a day. Overall, a nice little product.

Quick Summary

The natural version of VMI's protolyte lacks flavor, is very expensive, and has significant issues with foaming.

Introduction

I'd like to start by thanking VMI Sports for giving me a chance to try this. Natural, non-gmo supplements seem to be a growing niche in the industry as people become more aware of their food sources. I applaud their effort to try to penetrate this space, but I think this product needs a little more work to be a real contender in it.

I weigh over 200lbs and rely heavily on powders and bars to meet my macro needs when it comes to protein. This often means I'm taking in quite a lot of sucralose and doing so can cause some stomach discomfort. Having an opportunity to replace some of that artificial sweetener with something natural is something I'm always glad to have a chance to do.

I was also a big fan of the original Protolyte from VMI, so I had high expectations going into this one.

Ingredient Profile

ProtoLyte Naturals has a serving size of 27.6g, which yields 21g of protein; this about 76% protein which I consider to be good, not great. Typically a whey isolate will have a higher protein content by weight. However, VMI also adds another ~1.2g of Minerals and Electrolytes to aid in recovery, which effectively brings the amount of "good stuff" to 80%. This is still below average for an isolate but my only real gripe is that it doesn't taste better with essentially 20% of the scoop being dedicated to taste.

The last things worth noting are that ProtoLyte also contains an enzyme blend to aid in digestion and is sweetened with Stevia.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

This category was the deal breaker for me. In my opinion, it's the most important aspect of a protein.

Dosing: I typically took 1 scoop in the morning and 1 scoop after work but well-before dinner.

Taste: I was very surprised by the difference between ProtoLyte original and natural. The natural flavor really lacked the flavor I was expecting. It was very bland and had a noticeable bitter aftertaste from the Stevia. The vanilla was light yet noticeable, it might have been find if it weren't for the bitterness that followed.

Mixability: While I never had an issue with chunks, mixing in a shaker or in a blender resulted in an absurd amount of foam. I'd usually use the shaker with about 6oz of water, and the foam would end up filling the entire shaker bottle. I posted a picture at the end... what you can't see is the shaker ball buried beneath, and this was after shaking it, drinking it, commuting 20 minutes to work, responding to a few emails, then picking up the bottle to go clean it.

Effectiveness

ProtoLyte was fine in terms of aiding in recovery and not causing digestive issues. I never had an upset stomach after drinking it at all, and my DOMS didn't change compared to how they typically are with the same protein intake. I will say that it didn't keep me full quite as long as my usual protein, but my usual protein is also a concentrate instead of an isolate, so that's not surprising. Overall this seemed very clean and I would have enjoyed using it if the taste and foam weren't so objectionable.

Value

Right now I think you can only buy this direct from VMI for $49.99. That's $2/serving. Expensive, but if it tasted better and was natural it might be justified. Considering it's only 25 servings and I went through it in 12 days, it's probably not an option for me though. I'd need the flavor to improve and for a larger serving size to become available to bring down the cost per serving.

Side Effects

None.

Conclusion

I wanted to like this... I really did... but unfortunately, I didn't. I like the idea and applaud the effort, but the foam, the taste, the price, all did it in for me. I have total faith in VMI as a company though and would gladly give version 2.0 a shot if they ever take this back to the lab. I don't think it would be a bad idea to even add real organic sugar to it either. I just don't think Stevia is the end all be all solution for natural supplement sweeteners.

Thanks again to VMI- look forward to seeing more from these guys in the future.

Quick Summary

Psychotic preworkout capsules by Insane Labz is a quality product! Kicks in fast! A little pricey!

Introduction

I first tried the psychotic capsules while preparing for a bodybuilding competition. It was super effective in delivering an extra rush of energy while working out on low carbs. Although a little pricey, I would buy it again!

Ingredient Profile

A few of the key ingredients in Psychotic are creatine monohydrate, caffeine anhydrous, beta alanine, and hordenine HCL. Creatine and caffeine both contribute to the stimulant factor of this preworkout and give you a boosted level of strength and energy. The amino acid beta alanine will reduce fatigue levels during your workout so that you will have more endurance and be able to do more reps. Hordenine HCL contributes to the increase in focus and the boost in your mood.

Taste/Mixability/Dosing

You don't have to worry about flavor since this preworkout is in tablet form! It's a little odd that the serving size is six capsules, but they go down really easy with several ounces of water.

Effectiveness

They were very effective! You start to feel energy just a couple minutes after taking them, then you feel a rush of energy 20 minutes after taking them along with a very confident and focused mental state. The energy is sustained through your entire workout and you are left with the euphoric feeling of a lifter's high.

Value

It was a little expensive. The preworkout worked very well but I don't know if it was worth the $50 I payed for it online. It comes with 150 capsules but the serving size is 6 capsules, so it only contains 25 servings. Typically I spend around $30 for 30 serving preworkouts so this was a little pricey for me.

Side Effects

If taken on an empty stomach, Psychotic can make your stomach a little upset! I noticed I got cold sweats in the middle of my workout though! I was shivering a little in between sets.

Conclusion

If you have an extra $50 laying around, this product is worth buying. It does its job really well, but it's debatable whether the cost is worth it.