Genome Laboratories OLD JACK Pre Workout Review First Look

I had a fairly heavy weekend, dinner and drinks on Friday followed by an afternoon session on the beer which ended at 05:30 the next morning.

Needless to say Sunday and today has been fraught with the boozy blues and the beer fear.

However, one way to soldier on is to hit some big deadlifts and smash a good pre workout to get the energy required.

So, after work I cycled home as fast as I could, rustled up a bacon sandwich and some quark with honey.

I devoured this pre workout called OLD Jack but the taste was rotten, not helped by the weird turgid brown color either which was a bit off putting. I felt like I was drinking someones diarrhea.

However, the sachet said it is pharmacist formulated using key ingredients so it must be worth a shot.

Ingredients

Caffeine Anhydrous

The purest form of caffeine available.

It stimulates the central nervous system (CNS), heart, muscles, and the centres that control blood pressure to give you an extra boost and hit that PB.

This is found in Instant Knockout which is the best fat burner available at present.

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-979-caffeine.aspx?activeingredientid=979

Taurine

It has been touted that Taurine can help mental performance.

Early clinical research suggested that taurine, in combination with caffeine, glucuronolactone, and B vitamins, can improve attention and reasoning in adolescents, but does not improve memory.

However, there is insufficient evidence to prove this is always the case.

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1024-taurine.aspx?activeingredientid=1024

Beta-alanine

Supplementation of this non essential amino acid aids the production of carnosine.

That’s a compound that plays a role in muscle endurance in high-intensity exercise.

That said, studies have not exactly been positive nor entirely conclusive.

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1222-beta-alanine.aspx?activeingredientid=1222&activeingredientname=beta-alanine

Creatine

A well regarded supplement overall!

Supplementation increases creatine storage and promotes a faster regeneration of adenosine triphosphate between high intensity exercises.

These improved outcomes will increase performance and promote greater training adaptations.

http://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-9-33

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/creatine.html

Arginine-alpha-ketoglutarate (AAKG)

Tests on supplementation draw no real benefit that would not be found from resistance training itself.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21813912

Theophylline (1,3-dimethylxanthine)

This helps relax the muscles in the bronchial tubes of your lungs. This increases airflow and improves your breathing.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMHT0012383/?report=details

1,3-Dimethylamylamine (DMAA)

1,3-DMAA is a neural stimulant with a structure similar to Ephedrine and adrenaline that has been used as a pre-workout stimulant.

Not much information is available on 1,3-DMAA supplementation, and is no longer commonly sold as a supplement.

Because it is structurally similar to amphetamine it can cause false readings for doping tests and should not be used by competitive athletes.

https://examine.com/supplements/1,3-dimethylamylamine/

Schizandrol/Schizandra

This herb appears to improve concentration, speed of thinking and even attention.

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-376-SCHISANDRA.aspx?activeIngredientId=376&activeIngredientName=SCHISANDRA

Dose

The sachet was watermelon flavor. It tasted disgusting and was a weird brown color. Not my cup of tea if I am honest.

The sachet was 4145mg and does not compare well at all to most of the best pre workout supplements we have tried. In fact it is about a third less than what we would expect.

Video

Effects & Benefits

There’s four beneficial ingredients included in this pre workout supplement.

Caffeine is a great stimulant and is able to help push your through your PB. It can also burn fat.

Creatine is great for increasing strength and size, it must be taken often and around 5-10g per day.

Theophylline helps relax the air ways so breathing is improved.

Great if you are involved in aerobic exercise, such as rugby or cycling.

Schizandra can improve concentration.

I could have probably benefited from this at the beginning of the day rather than last thing at night, after a set of deadlifts I could barely count the weight on the bar even though I knew it was 200kg/440lbs.

READ: Read about our favorite pre workout that turned me in to a beast on the rugby pitch

How did it feel?

I felt nothing at all.

Hard to believe but nothing more than how I would be when entering the gym.

No surge of power, no rush of energy or improved focus.

Negatives

It could be higher dosed, many pre workout supplements come in doses of 15000mg or even more.

It should not be a proprietary blend either.

This means that of the 4145mg of ingredients only trace amounts of each legally have to be included with the rest being made up of bulking agent. Scandalous.

The Beta-Alanine at best offers a feeling on pins and needles or a tingly sensation which acts almost as a placebo making you think energy and aggression is coursing through your veins.

1,3-DMAA has very little research behind it but is similar in structure to amphetamines which can rigger false readings in drug tests.

AAKG seems to offer no real performance benefit.

This is the same story for Taurine too.

This means of the eight combined ingredients, four offer no proven benefit.

Plus, I felt nothing at all when I used it in my gym.

Genome Laboratories OLD JACK Pre Workout Review Conclusion

Only 50% of this pre workout can offer any benefit when working our or involved in sport.

Not only that, it is overall low dosed and includes a proprietary blend meaning we may be only dosed extremely low amounts of each listed ingredient which would seem to be true considering I felt no benefit whatsoever.

It tasted like shit too.

This is not a pre workout I would choose. Take a look at what I have felt to be the best performing pre workout supplements available, here.