ANS Performance RITUAL Pre Workout Review
ANS Performance RITUAL Pre Workout Review First Look:
Today has been mental at work. The internet has been down and I have taken the brunt of the complaints, thankfully I have large shoulders to carry the weight…
Realistically though, some people are just cunts, period.
Eitherway, a bit of laugh and tickle isn’t a problem I dwell on.
However, it does mean that today has not been particularly ‘normal’, decent food has been thrown out of the window.
Instead it has been candy and basically cheese on fried with fried eggs this evening.
Therefore, no more motivation to smash the weights tonight!
So, as a result, here I am testing ANS’s ‘RITUAL’ pre workout sachet.
Itr smelled nice as I poured the powder in to my shaker and the taste was nice, no odd color’s either which seems to be a bit of a common occurrence of late.
Plus, being called ‘RITUAL’, perhaps, if it is good enough it can become the ritual before every gym session.
Or it could just be fucking shit.
Ingredients:
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/
Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) – Gives you more energy and boost your metabolism, helping you shed unwanted pounds. Ensure you are not deficient in Vitamin B12 so you can do that quick 10 miler at 5am…
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/vitamin-b12-cobalamin
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
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
Betaine (trimethylglycine) – This has been recommended as a compound that will increase athletic performance.
However, results from studies have been quite unreliable thus far of Betaine.
A dose of 12500mg has been linked to increased power output, very minimal increase of workout volume and slight endurance. Then again studies have showed no increase of any of the aforementioned parameters.
https://examine.com/supplements/trimethylglycine/
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/
Styphnolobium Japonicum (Pagoda) – Seems to be used for severe diarrhea which I had in Italy once, dreadful times.
However, no evidence it works.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-262-pagoda%20tree.aspx?activeingredientid=262&activeingredientname=pagoda%20tree
Tyrosine – Tyrosine is taken for depression, attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the inability to stay awake (narcolepsy), and improving alertness following sleep deprivation.
It is also used for stress, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, chronic fatigue syndrome(CFS).
Acetyl Tyrosine is a more soluble form of tyrosine.
https://examine.com/supplements/l-tyrosine/
Hordenine – Technically Hordenine can be used as a stimulant and fat burner due to its associated with tyramine and noradrenaline, but not enough evidence exists currently to support its usage as nutritional supplementation.
https://examine.com/supplements/hordenine/
Higenamine – Data shows an increase in energy expenditure and kilocalorie expenditure. It also results in a moderate increase in heart rate and systolic blood pressure similar to caffeine.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24139127
Caffeine – This can assist with endurance, tested athletes saw an edge from caffeine in scientific studies. In some trials, the stimulant boosted athletes’ speed. In others, it helped them last longer before they spent all their energy.
Caffeine also raises the metabolism which means you burn more calories. Some studies show that it can curb soreness after exercise, too.
This means you could get back to your training sooner and training means more calories burnt. This is present in all 3 of our Top Fat Burners and in the best pre workout, 4GAUGE.
Caffeine Anhydrous is the purest form so always look for that.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16076
Dendrobe Noble – No evidence exists to say that this will improve athletic or physical performance.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1263-dendrobium.aspx?activeingredientid=1263&activeingredientname=dendrobium
B-phenylethylamine hcl – Used for treating depression and increasing athletic performance. No evidence to substantiate these claims.
Limited supplemental usage due to being rapidly broken down into inactive components.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1274-PHENETHYLAMINE.aspx?activeIngredientId=1274&activeIngredientName=PHENETHYLAMINE
AstraGin – It is a 100% natural food ingredient that has shown in cell, animal, and human studies to support the absorption of many essential life supporting and health promoting nutrients, such as amino acids, glucose, and vitamins into human cells.
- Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus) – Supplementation can provide a variety of health benefits, but may not actually prolong lifespan. It has a low bioavailability, meaning it doesn’t circulate well through the body after being ingested.
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/astragalus
- Panax Notoginseng – An important herbal medicine for cardiovascular protection; nevertheless, it could also be used as an anti-hypertensive agent on the basis of clinical experience.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2014/204840/
Dose:
The sachet was fruit fusion flavor which was amazing!
The sachet was 7238.15mg 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 and I think the outcome reflects this…
Video:
Effects & Benefits:
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.
B12 helps give you more energy, it’s always good to have a host of B vitamins in the morning.
Creatine is good to increase power, strength, size and overall performance.
Betaine can offer power increases but only when supplemented in very large doses, much larger than this combined dose.
Tyrosine is great to improve alertness and combat tiredness or feelings of fatigue particularly after periods of no sleep.
Caffeine is a well known stimulant able to increase performance and keep you more alert while fighting fatigue.
Higenamine offers similar effects to that of Caffeine.
Panax Notoginseng of AstraGin can help prevent high blood pressure and assist with cardiovascular health.
READ: Read about our favorite pre workout that turned me in to a beast on the rugby pitch
How did it feel?
I got a slight buzz from the pre workout supplement, but nothing really to write home about.
It was okay overall, however, there’s was nothing really notable or anything that would really increase my performance.
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.
Agmatine seems to offer no benefit when taken orally.
Beta-Alanine isn’t proven to offer any concrete benefit other than make a tingly sensation, even then I couldn’t really feel it with this particular pre workout from ANS.
Creatine is under-dosed, typically you would take 5000mg-10000mg daily to increase overall performance. This offers just 1500mg.
Styphnolobium Japonicum is supposed to alleviate the symptoms of severe diarrhea but even that isn’t proven.
Hordenine, Dendrobe Noble and B-phenylethylamine have no evidence to support any claims that they can increase athletic performance.
Astragalus isn’t particularly well received by the body and doesn’t seem to offer much once digested.
This pre workout also consists not only of a low overall dose which appears to be ineffective but also part of it forms part of a proprietary blend.
A proprietary blend means that the included amount per ingredient is not revealed, therefore it could be merely trace amounts of each plus bulking agent.
ANS Performance RITUAL Pre Workout Review Conclusion:
Theoretically this pre workout supplement could offer some great benefits, however, that is then all blown out of the water because of the overall low dose, plus it contains that dreaded proprietary blend.
That means while there are some excellent ingredients included, the doses are so low that I could barely feel any effect at all.
This results in a lackluster supplement that would need a much bigger serving to really provide any real world benefit.
Take a look at what I have felt to be the best performing pre workout supplements available, here.
Score:
1/5
