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

PEScience PROLIFIC Pre Workout Review First Look:

It is the night before I go on vacation to a part of Spain that is know much for its drinking and little for its culture.

I am also reliably informed that it has Europe’s most developed skyline after that of London.

This is all shaping up to be a cracking vacation if you ask me…but what is it missing?

Well, having finished work, headed over to the grocery store for my travel shower gels etc so I can actually get on the plane, it’s just missing me after a few deadlifts which I will perform tonight to hit most body parts.

I will feel much better with myself after they are done. I am only going away for a few days, but a few days without the gym doesn’t bear thinking about.

However, it is nearly 9pm and my flight is at 6:30am so to include the hours drive I will have to leave my house at 4am.

This doesn’t leave me much time. Therefore I have had some noodles which offer very little nutritional value but they do not sit on the stomach and make me feel bloated or even a bit sick.

Obviously the next in line is a pre workout formula to give me that surge of energy and focus that I will need to head off in to the garage and lift the bastard weights.

First impressions of the pre workout are good.It’s a clear, professional looking sachet and easy to read. It doesn’t look like it is spinning to many yarns with the ingredient content and in fact I have noticed that compared to many pre workout formula’s this is positively on the light side in regard to the amount of ingredients.

Ingredients:

Coffee Fruit Extract – This appears to be good for brain function. However, more studies are required.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23312069

L-Theanine –  Beneficial for stress reduction, decreasing generalized anxiety, and reducing the severity of insomnia. If caffeine is present too, IQ scores have known to increase – so grab a cup of coffee, quick.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17182482

Rhodiola rosea – Can protect against cognitive deficits, neuronal injury and oxidative stress, can also be used as a potential agent in treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. This is found in our favorite Nootropic.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19950527_wp_link_placeholder

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.

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

Betaine (trimethylglycine) – Betaine has been recommended as a performance enhancing compound, although with quite unreliable results.

When taken at 1.25g twice daily, betaine has at times been linked to increased power output (only to fail in other instances) and minor increases in workout volume and endurance (a bit more reliable than power output, but still not a consensus).

https://examine.com/supplements/trimethylglycine/

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

Cognizin (citicoline) –  Studies have shown that it can have beneficial effects both in degenerative and in vascular cognitive decline.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4562749/

Dose:

1 serving is 7000mg. This is quite a bit less than a lot of the pre workout formulas I have tried. In fact it works out at about half.

It was very watery and the consistency was ‘thin’.

The flavor of raspberry lemonade was mild but nice all the same.

Effects:

There’s 8 ingredients contained in this pre workout which is a fair amount, let’s also consider that these ingredients are not hidden within a proprietary blend like so many others are.

Citrulline is great because it helps the body produce more nitric oxide. It is also good for performance, warding off fatigue and increase growth hormone while exercising.

Caffeine is pretty much a staple for all pre workout’s unless they are the non stimulatory kind.

I have never come across Coffee Fruit extract before, however, we are led to believe, if the small number of studies are correct that it is good for brain function.

Theanine is a good addition to help with cognitive function also, especially when combined with Caffeine which we have here.

Betaine is known for power output increases. Which would of helped with my long overdue deadlifts that I performed.

Citicoline is another ingredient that helps cognitive function.

There;s still more…

Rhodiola is also a cognitive enhancer.

So how did it feel?

I didn’t really feel anything if I am honest. Not much difference in either energy, focus or even vascularity.

I did some deadlifts not a cross word so I am unsure as to how well of of the cognitive function ingredients performed.

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

Video:

Negatives:

I didn’t feel any difference. My guess is that it is too far underdosed to be really effective.

I am also noting that there are a hell of a lot of ingredients more suited to a nootropic rather than a pre workout. If it is cognitive function increases you are looking for you had better read this.

A couple of the ingredients; Taurine and Coffee Fruit extract require more studies to just make sure their functions are actually genuine.

PEScience PROLIFIC Pre Workout Review Conclusion:

It looked good, it tasted full of promise but the first hurdle must be the dosing.

Caffeine is woefully low and the overall content is low, around half of what we would normally find with a pre workout.

Credit is due for PEScience not succumbing to a proprietary blend but there’s not enough ingredients for it to feel effective or offer any benefit to me when I want  a heavy lifting session in the gym.

I also think there’s too much focus (geddit?) on cognitive enhancing ingredients rather than those would provide energy from fats, carbohydrates and proteins.

Score:

1/5