ALLMAX Hemanovol H:VOL Pre Workout Review
ALLMAX Hemanovol H:VOL Pre Workout Review First Look:
The vacation was great. We drank cocktails all day, wine and gin & tonic in the evenings with some great food plus managing to soak up some great vitamin D3 by the pool or strolling along the beach.
Therefore, today, the first day back and being in work was a killer.
Shit was going down at work and clients weren’t too happy. Plus I felt a bit blue after being away and the after effects of the booze was starting to take its toll.
I also had to be home fairly early this evening to sell a guy a fixed gear bike that I wasn’t ever using and just taking up valuable storage space.
That meant a very fast bike ride home in head on blustery winds which were no fun.
Once home I had new furniture which was delivered today so that meant finally I am able to unpack my clothes
Soooooo, it is no quite late in the evening and since not working out for 5 days I at least want to hit the deadlifts before smashing up a local gym with my buddy Max tomorrow.
I grabbed this sachet of pre workout because I noticed the long list of ingredients plus there’s no proprietary blend which seem so common place these days.
Also, who could resist a supplement called ‘Hemanovol’ for fuck sake?!
Ingredients:
Iron – Iron is an important mineral to include in a healthy balanced diet. It has many important functions in the body, but its most important role is in preventing anemia.
Anemic people tend to have low testosterone.
http://www.webmd.boots.com/healthy-eating/guide/iron-rich-foods
Vitamin A – Vitamin A is key for good vision, a healthy immune system, and cell growth.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/lifestyle-guide-11/supplement-guide-vitamin-a
Vitamin C – Its antioxidant properties mean vitamin C provides neuroprotective effects and benefits for blood flow.
By protecting the testes from oxidative stress, vitamin C can also preserve testosterone levels.
https://examine.com/supplements/vitamin-c/
Niacin (B3) – Higher amounts of niacin can improve cholesterol levels and lower cardiovascular risks. However, the jury is out on these real benefits.
https://examine.com/supplements/vitamin-b3/
Folic Acid (Vit. B9) – There’s many benefits of Folic Acid, treating kidney problems is one of them. Folic acid can also help produce more testosterone along with B12 but also necessary to form red blood cells and is also necessary in the formation of DNA.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1017-folic%20acid.aspx?activeingredientid=1017&
Salt (sodium) – An essential mineral; its consumption is critical to our health. However, Americans plus a lot of Western countries do consume double the recommended daily intake.
Excess sodium may not raise blood pressure, but it is associated with other health issues, such as kidney damage and an increased risk of cognitive decline.
https://examine.com/nutrition/awful-nutrition-myths/
Calcium – Results show that training results in increased testosterone levels in athletes and that the increase is greater if accompanied by calcium supplementation.
However, calcium supplements are also known to increase artery plaque which in the long term can cause cardiovascular problems.
Read more about that, here.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19099204
L-Citrulline – This is used as a sports performance and cardiovascular health supplement. L-Citrulline supplementation results in reduced fatigue and improved endurance for both aerobic and anaerobic prolonged exercise.
An increase in growth hormone has been noted with exercise, but not at rest.
L-citrulline boosts nitric oxide production in the body. Nitric oxide helps your arteries relax and work better, which improves blood flow throughout your body.
Supplementing can help lower blood pressure in people with pre-hypertension.
This is often found in the best pre workouts.
To supplement L-citrulline to enhance sports performance, take 6,000 – 8,000 mg of citrulline malate about an hour before exercise.
https://examine.com/supplements/citrulline/
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/l-citrulline-uses-and-risks#1
NITROSIGINE – This is a patented bonding of Arginine and Silicate.
Daily doses prior to workout significantly increased pre-workout energy levels, increased muscle pump immediately following a workout, and decreased biomarkers of muscle damage immediately after a workout and during recovery.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4595023/
Agmatine – Agmatine is considered to be a neurotransmitter and neuromodulator.
The majority use agmatine injections, not oral ingestion and there is still no evidence that working memory is enhanced with agmatine supplementation.
https://examine.com/supplements/agmatine/
L-Norvaline – L-Norvaline showed significant improvement in serum nitrates, urea, LDH, testosterone and testicular protein level in diabetic rats.
There seems to be lots of information on the web about L-norvaline being a wonder drug, however, very little can be found from reliable, scientific sources i.e websites that are not trying to sell it to us.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26671005
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
L-Valine – Valine maintains mental vigor, muscle coordination, and emotional calm. Found in supplements, used for muscle growth, tissue repair, and energy.
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/L-valine#section=Top
Cacao – Cocoa helps in weight loss by improving mitochondrial biogenesis. It increases muscle glucose uptake by inserting glucose transporter 4 in skeletal muscles membrane.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24100674
Glycerol – Seems to be most effective when administered rectally (in your ass) as a laxative.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-4-glycerol.aspx?activeingredientid=4&
Ornithine – There is currently one study using ornithine paired with arginine that noted improvements in lean mass and power output in weightlifters, but this is an old study that has not been replicated and its practical relevance is uncertain.
Finally, the increases in growth hormone seen with ornithine are similar to those seen with arginine.
Technically they exist, but as they are very short lived and the body seems to compensate the overall increases in whole-day growth hormone are not significant.
Since the main properties of growth hormone being concerned with (increased lean mass gain and fat loss) are more related to day-long exposure rather than short-bursts, it is unlikely that ornithine has a role here.
https://examine.com/supplements/ornithine/
Policosanol – Used to break down cholestrol which can help improve blood circulation but not enough evidence is available to support these claims.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-137-POLICOSANOL.aspx?activeIngredientId=137&activeIngredientName=POLICOSANOL
Rutaecarpine – Studies show that rutaecarpine increases the metabolism of caffeine.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21468923
Dose:
The sachet was pineapple mango flavor which was okay.
The sachet was 7178.5mg and does not compare well at all to most of the best pre workout supplements we have tried.
In fact it is about 50% less than what we would expect.
Video:
Effects & Benefits:
Sodium is required to replace lost salts when we sweat from lots of training. Western diets do tend to include way more salt than is required or healthy.
Folic acid can help produce blood cells and red blood cells carry oxygen to the organs and muscles. while also taking away waste products.
Calcium is found in 4GAUGE and can help increase testosterone levels, be careful not to use Calcium supplements too often though as it can increase artery plaque.
Citrulline can improve blood flow, increase nitric oxide production, lower high blood pressure, improve performance and even increase growth hormone. We need at least 6000mg for these benefits though.
Vitamin C can help with testosterone levels and increase blood flow.
Nitrosigine is able to give us energy and increase pump after training while helping protect against muscle breakdown.
Valine is used for muscle repair, tissue growth and energy increases.
Cacao increases muscle glucose uptake.
Iron helps prevent anemia, which basically is a lack of red blood vessels.
Vitamin A is good for cell growth.
READ: Read about our favorite pre workout that turned me in to a beast on the rugby pitch
How did it feel?
Awful. Nothing happened.
Nothing at all. I felt absolutely nothing.
Negatives:
It could be higher dosed, many pre workout supplements come in doses of 15000mg or even more.
Then, while Citrulline is included it isn’t dosed high enough to warrant any benefit which is a massive shame because it features in the best pre workout on the market.
B3 isn’t really proven to offer too much benefit.
Agmatine seems to offer no benefit when taken orally.
Norvaline and Taurine again are not proven to offer any benefit.
Glycerol seems to be best at just making you shit your pants, not ideal in a gym scenario, if anywhere really unless you like scat parties.
The benefits offered by Ornithine are very short lived and do not really translate to real world benefit.
Policosanol is supposed to help open up the blood vessels but finding hard evidence for this is difficult.
Rutaecarpine metabolizes caffeine, which is shit because caffeine gives you energy.
ALLMAX Hemanovol H:VOL Pre Workout Review Conclusion:
This is an utterly confusing supplement.
The list of included ingredients on the whole is good, yet the dose is too weak and I felt no benefit whatsoever.
So we are left in a juxtaposition.
We should feel some benefit but nothing was given.
Then we have a few ingredients that have no proven ability to energize us, or at least offer benefit when taken orally.
So we are essentially left with a theoretically good product which most likely to a low dose doesn’t translate as anything beneficial.
I just cannot recommend its use.
Take a look at what I have felt to be the best performing pre workout supplements available, here.
Score:
0/5
