Condemned Labz CONVICT Stim Pre Workout Review
Condemned Labz CONVICT Stim Pre Workout Review First Look:
I love reviewing pre workouts. I just love the buzz you can get fro them. I guess it’s why I used to like going clubbing in my younger days for whole weekends off my tits on what we could get our filthy mitts on…plus huge quantities of booze. Mondays were fucking murder though, as were Tuesdays and Thursday.
Alas, this week I am taking it a bit easier in the gym as I need to recover from last weeks rugby game, at 32 (33 in 3 days time) I am starting to know my limits. The problem is, it’s an addictive game to play…bit like clubbing to EDM back in the day.
Come Thursday and Friday you feel great and forget the agony of the Monday to Wednesday and you put yourself through it all again.
However, I recently demolished a Lindor Easter chocolate bunny and I am feeling like a big fat bastard to say the least, not only that, I’ve just destroyed 2 chocolate Pop Tarts.
Therefore, I feel I have to at least do some gym work, even if it’s just some accessory work because for the life of my my shoulders are not fucking working properly just yet.
So what do we have here?
I must admit, I could not resist the product due to it being called ‘Convict Stim’, even better it is made by Condemned Labz.
If anyone feels condemned it is me at the moment so this naughty boy is chugging away on this vivid blue and supposedly blue raspberry flavored gangster juice.
Ingredients:
Cordyceps – Evidence on tested rats to suggest this is a testosterone regulator rather than provide increases, however, only when injected as it has poor bio-availability.
https://examine.com/supplements/cordyceps/
Niacinamide (Vit B3) – Higher amounts of niacin can improve cholesterol levels and lower cardiovascular risks and maybe symptoms for Alzheimer’s . However, the jury is out on these real benefits.
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/924.htm
BioPerine – The extract of piperine, called BioPerine® in the patented form, has been clinically tested in the United States.
BioPerine® significantly enhances the bioavailability of various supplement nutrients through increased absorption.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9619120
Coconut Water Powder – A 2007 study shows coconut water enhanced with sodium was as good as drinking a commercial sports drink for post-exercise rehydration with better fluid tolerance.
This is found in the best pre workout, 4 GAUGE.
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/truth-about-coconut-water#2
Paradoxine (Aframomum Melegueta/Grains of Paradise) – Oral ingestion of GP extract increases energy expenditure.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23308394
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.
Research on Theacrine is really too sparse though to cast any real assertions.
https://examine.com/supplements/theacrine/
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/
Yohimbe – Related to Yohimbine, Yohimbe is a powerful stimulant and used to increase fat loss as well as assist with erectile dysfunction. Can cause a host of other problems though, this is in out supplements to avoid list.
https://examine.com/supplements/yohimbine/
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 prehypertension.
This is often found in the best pre workouts.
https://examine.com/supplements/citrulline/
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/l-citrulline-uses-and-risks#1
Caffeine – 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.
Caffeine Anhydrous is the purest form of caffeine so always look out for it.
This is found in 4 Gauge which is the best pre-workout.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-979-caffeine.aspx?activeingredientid=979
Agmatine – Agmatine is a metabolite of L-Arginine. It shows promise for alleviating neuropathic pain and drug addiction. Agmatine supplementation can also protect from strokes and benefit cognitive health.
https://examine.com/supplements/agmatine
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
Beta Alanine does give many users that tingly/itchy feeling. Some love it, others hate it.
I think it is best described at Chillblains – i.e when you go in to a warm room after your hands have been exposed to the cold and they start to feel itchy.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3491570/
Creatine – A well regarded supplement.
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
Huperzine A – Some research shows that taking huperzine A by mouth for 4 weeks improves the memory older children and teenagers who complain of memory problems.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-764-huperzine%20a.aspx?activeingredientid=764&activeingredientname=huperzine%20a
2-AMINOISOHEPTANE DMHA Octodrine – This seems to be the industry’s reaction to the widespread banning of DMAA. However, due to its fairly recent emergence on the supplement scene there is very little in terms of human studies or effects.
It is a stimulant which was briefly studies in the 1950’s but seemed them seemed to disappear.
However, in 2015 it re-emerged as a possible therapy for Candida albicans which is a fungal inflection.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4462072/
Adrafinil – Supplementation increases alertness and wakefulness. Adrafinil is a stimulant, but it does not cause hyperactivity. Instead, it fights sleepiness.
Adrafinil and modafinil are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as a nonspecific stimulant compound.
https://examine.com/supplements/adrafinil/
Dose:
1 sachet with water which is 15600mg. That’s a good and solid amount considering some only provide 6000mg.
This was blue raspberry flavor and it was okay, if not a little weird.
The consistency when mixed with water was good.
Effects:
The Caffeine and Yohimbe are both excellent stimulants, yet too much can cause harm and a jittery sensation that may be worrying for some if they are not experienced with pre workout supplements.
Let’s remember there are 16 ingredients here which is quite good and a large mg content which means they can pack some good ingredients in at the appropriate dose.
It’s really good to see Coconut water powder which is brilliant for when you are working hard and sweating as it works more effectively than many isotonic sports drinks.
Paradoxine is good and usually found in fat burners because of its ability to increase energy expenditure.
Citrulline is often found included in the best pre workouts due to being able to increase performance as well as offering cardiovascular benefits – much needed after nailing it with Yohimbe!
Tyrosine is another ingredient used for focus and attention this is also the same for Huperzine, both ingredients occasionally turns up in nootropics, read more about those here.
Agmatine offers a double whammy of benefits by helping cognition and helping prevent that stroke you maybe concerned of when suffering from those heart palpitations after drinking the combined strength of 8 coffee’s.
Then there’s the confusion surrounding DMHA and Adrafinil…
So how did it feel?
Well it got me in the gym pretty quickly. The Beta-Alanine was certainly effective and I could feel my body tingling.
I didn’t do my usual full body workout in the gym due to aching still from the weekend’s rugby which has pretty muchleft my shoulders incapacitated, but I did a few accessory lifts which felt strong.
I was awake, focused and readyto take the gym on.
In fact once I finished I was quite jittery and almost a bit anxious feeling, that could well be the Yohimbe which I had experienced before with A pre-workout…I was certainly very aware of the possible dangers that Yohimbe when dosed with Caffeine can produce.
The problem is, due to the two stimulants being within a proprietary blend we do not know if we are being dosed 20mg, 200mg or 900mg.
Adrafinil is also included which I felt at work too as I didn’t feel sleepy at all, this could be great at 5am, not so much at 10pm.
Overall though, while not as good as some, it was working and it felt how a pre workout should feel, enough to make sure you have the intensity to go at it.
READ: Read about our favorite pre workout that turned me in to a beast on the rugby pitch
Video:
Negatives:
Let’s move straight on to Yohimbe…yes it keeps appearing but also when combined with Caffeine this can be so dangerous and it is a risk. Every time I see it included it always puts a little bit of worry in the back of my mind as I wolf the cocktail of ingredients down.
Beta-Alanine is confusing because you feel the strong tingly sensation and assume that is tearing through your veins and providing you with energy and focus when actually it is more of a placebo effect.
Let’s pick up on DMHA and Adrafinil.
The former has a strange and quite undocumented history apart from being an alternative to a banned substance known as DMAA which nicely brings us on to Adrafinil which is actually a banned substance by the WADA. So best not to take this during competitive bouts of sport.
Then we have Cordyceps which isn’t really proven to work when taken orally due to poor bio-availability.
B3 doesn’t seem to be that effective and neither is Theacrine, being a much weaker version of Caffeine.
That’s 6 either ineffective or risky ingredients to take.
Therefore around 37% of this isn’t not going to offer any benefit or may be problematic.
There’s also the proprietary blend which just hides the exact amount of ingredients included.
Condemned Labz CONVICT Stim Pre Workout Review Conclusion:
A 63% hit rate of effectiveness, safeness and legality isn’t the greatest, not when you consider your life or position in sport paramount.
Other than that, the 43% is pretty darn good.
However, a few of the ingredients are included within a proprietary blend which means we have no idea how much of each in included. That said the hit from Caffeine and Yohimbe seemed pretty strong so perhaps it consist mainly of these 2.
However there are some great and effective additions in this, it just sees to be outshone by those few which ad an element of risk.
I did certainly feel the effects, so this is no damp squib, if you are not used to something quite intense you may wish to avoid this. If you want to feel like you have the ability to nail the gym and then stare at the wall transfixed this could be the one for you, because that’s what you may only get to do if you are banned from sport for using it, either that or in hospital.
Score:
3/5
