T E S T O S T E R O N E J U N K I E

Cellucor C4 Pre Workout First Look:

I have just finished watching Rich Piana’s first part of his road trip films from LA to Florida.

Along the way he stops off to workout in gyms. He also uses his own pre workout supplement moments before heads through the gym door.

Rich literally spoons the pre workout powder in his mouth and washes it down with what looks like cola, extra sugar bro.

This reflects the wider lifting community, everyone it seems uses a pre-workout for increased focus and energy to help with our lifts.

Cellucor’s offering looks much like their other products, it has the corporate grille found with many products on sale to add consistency to the line up and therefore confidence.

We are at least promised explosive energy, and I need that at this time in the morning.

Ingredients:

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

Theacrine (1,3,7,9-tetramethyluric acid) – An alkaloid molecule which can be seen as a structurally modified version of caffeine.

However, although it is similar to caffeine whereby it has a sedative effect at relatively low doses, but where this sedative effect with caffeine is at an impractically low dose with theacrine it is the dose normally consumed by tea.

https://examine.com/supplements/theacrine/

Yohimbe – Related to Yohimbine, Yohimbe is a powerful stimulant and used to increase fat loss as well as assist with erectile dysfunction.

It can cause a host of other problems though, this is in out supplements to avoid list.

https://examine.com/supplements/yohimbine/

L-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).

https://examine.com/supplements/l-tyrosine/

Creatine Nitrate – Nothing is as effective or more effective than normal, run of the mill Creatine Monohydrate. However, it is reassuring to know that supplementation of Creatine Nitrate is safe.

https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-014-0060-9

Calcium – Results show that training results in increased testosterone levels in athletes and that the increase is greater if accompanied by calcium supplementation.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19099204

However, a recent study has warned against calcium supplementation due to the increased risk of a heart attack.

http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/49788/20161016/beware-calcium-supplement-risk-heart.htm

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

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&

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 been small and not entirely conclusive.

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

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 B6 – This helps the body use and store the energy from protein and carbohydrates.

http://www.webmd.boots.com/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-b6-pyridoxine

Caffeine Anhydrous – The purest form of caffeine available.  It stimulates the central nervous system (CNS), heart, muscles, and the centers 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

Niacin –  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/

Dose:

Up to two big ass scoops with water which is 6500mg of high energy and intensity – we hope.

Effects:

There are 7 good, useful, safe and effective ingredients found here out of 13 for  pre workout formula.

They not only make up a good pre-workout but also cross over in to testosterone booster and fat burner territory.

Many pre-workouts and fat burners do cross bridges in terms of their ingredient profile. This is because stimulants such as caffeine are also great at helping metabolize fat too as such many share very similar ingredients.

It is good to see vitamin C, both have fantastic benefits for general health and also for neuroprotective and oxidative stress protection properties.

Vitamin C also helps with blood flow too.

B6 is great for extracting the energy from food to fuel physical activity.

B12 is good for energy.

Folic Acid helps for  more red blood cells and red blood cells carry oxygen to the muscles.

Caffeine is found in many supplements, however, not usually in the purest form as found here. Caffeine is probably the most popular and widely used stimulant in the Western world.

Tyrosine offer’s cognitive function improvement plus anti-fatigue as well as improving attention.

Creatine is sometimes found in pre workouts, however at this dose, it may as well be omitted.

READ: Read our favorite testosterone boosters for muscular size and strength

Negatives:

There’s a ghoulish (It’s Halloween so I can get away with that) proprietary blend present which means we do not know the exact breakdown of the ingredients listed.

Ingredients such as creatine are too low dosed to be useful.

There are 5 ingredients that seem to offer no real scientific benefit.

Plus 2 ingredients of that 5 that can potentially cause problems, which we do not want.

Reading through through the ingredient list also highlights some very low dosing throughout. In some cases we are talking about micro-grams not milligrams!

My Cellucor C4 Pre Workout Review Conclusion:

Overall, on paper this product will help to boost your energy before a gym session.

However,when looked at in finer detail we can see there are shortcomings…

Useful ingredients are shrouded in a proprietary blend.

Other good ingredients are extremely under dosed compared to their contemporary products.

Then there are are ingredients such as creatine which make up a large amount of the weight offered yet that needs to be increased 5 times to be useful.

Therefore, we are left with a product that reads well yet performs terribly.

It’s a bit like when a model steps away from the cat walk and turns to acting…

Score:

1/5