Some reviews I have written for products I have tried over the last 6 months....
USPLabs Modern BCAA: I've never been able to stomach the smell or the taste of a straight amino acids product before (witness
Twinlabs MCT Oil - yercch!) but gave this a shot as I've had fantastic results from other USPLabs products and I got an InnerCricle offer. MBCAA did not disappoint. The micronized powder is beautiful to use (weird and floaty soft, but attractive nonetheless!) and it mixes OK if you follow the instructions EXACTLY. Taste is amazing - I like White Blue Raspberry and would drink it straight as a refreshing drink, let alone for the effects.
I've used 3 tubs so far - one White Blue Raspbery, one Unflavoured and one Grape. The Unflavoured is awful - and really needs a flavour added of some kind to make it even half-drinkable. I ended up mixing half the White Blue Ras with it, and now its tolerable. Effects are the same either way.
I use one serving as directed 20 mins before my workout, and half a serving afterwards as a recovery drink. I was recommended to do this by the USPLabs guys and it has worked out just fine. I'm tempted to drink another 1 or 2 serves later in the day though, as I love the taste so much! Just don't tell them..
The effects are dramatic - I have done some large workouts since the Xmas break and the muscle soreness you would normally experience after getting back into it after an extended break is significiantly reduced. I never bought the product for this benefit (I'm trying instead to make sure my muscles remain in an anabolic state), so this was a huge and pleasant surprise. The pain range is from 'none' to 'just a little' (legs) for me - if you're using this product while you are in the middle of a heavy cycle (like I was 2 months back), and you are already a well trained individual, you'll find next to no soreness at all as you test new limits. Stacking this with Jack3d will see you easily smash personal bests as the sonreness never appears when you might usuallly expect it to. Wonderful synergistic effect!
Not much more to say - this product works better than it claims to (!!), and that is a rare rare thing in this world. A super DOMS killer!
APS Mesomorph : I had a free sample of this product to use a few months back. I had not used any supplement or stim of any kind for more than 10 days before I used this sample.
OK - it mixed up alright, but tasted pretty terrible. Compared to my usual supp, JACK3d, the taste was clearly worse. After 40 mins or so, I could feel the very mild tingling kick in. The thing I didn't like was the jitteriness that also appeared - sort of like haivng 5 cups of strong coffee in a row. No doubt there is a caffeine, or caffeine-like, effect occuring here. Overall, the workout was fine and some pump and increased vascularity was apparent, but I didn't feel like I had particularly more energy than my usual product delivers. No crash though, which was great. Overall, just OK I thought for my one-time use.
USPLabs JACK3d : What I like most about this product is what I least expected to find. That is, it doesn't feel like I've taken anything! Using just one scoop, my benches, squats and deadlifts were all 20-30% heavier, easily, than I had ever been able to do before its use. And that's WITHOUT the kind of insane, mind funking, roidy type brain chattering that most stimulants put into modern supps, seem to give you. What's amazing about this product is how super clean it is. Take one scoop with water, enjoy the lemony taste, walk into the gym 20 mins later (feeling the exact same as you did 20 mins before), add 20% to whatever lift you want to try, and just do it. Yes, it still feels heavy, yes you'll be really short of breath (I had to sit down a few times - dizzy from the exertion), and you'll still sweat (probably more), but you can do it without thinking about it now. Just ask your body to perform, and it now says, 'sure, no probs, I'm up for it'. Ask it to do another 20 squats on Leg Day beyond what your normal program contains - your body says, 'no sweat bro'. The mental blocks you (we, everyone one does) put up are gone. Now THAT is a workout aid!
Even better is that it is not, at least for me, mood-altering in anyway, before or after, and the energy it uses seems to be additional to what you already had - not just borrowed from somewhere and never put back. Jack3d basically turns you into an entirely different lifter, and without altering your brain chemistry or moods whatsoever. It really does deliver the ability to do more with the same body you already have, with no extra drain on the resources you already bring to the table. Post workout feels like a dream - almost no muscle soreness, no dull aches, and no bad moods or crashes. Next day feels the same. One scoop should be enough to give you all the additional power you need - the secret is you are not supposed to feel anything. Its working regardless. Only problem appears to be tolerance - a few weeks in and you'll definitely feel like one scoop isn't enough to give you what you had on the first try. How you get around that I'll leave to you. But hey, nothing is perfect.
The pump? I've had better off straight Creatine (doing NOTHING), but Jack3d allows me to do more real work on my muscles with far less effort and that, in the end, equals permanent pump and an increase in real permanent muscle size. I'll take that anyday over a faked half-day engorgement - I'm after real long term size. Why would you want anything less than that? The pump after your workout is a real, blood engorgement of your muscles and it feels very different to the fake NO type.
Side effects? I'd say my pecker was less keen about standing to attention when I wanted it to in the first weeks, but far more likely to bone up during the night while asleep, and first thing in the morning as I wake. I could handle that though. And after continued use, its no longer an issue (but then, I am married!!!). Night sweats were also more common initially, as I could feel my metabolism was kicked up a gear or two. Again, not a big deal - you'd expect that as your body responds to the work and grows.
The perfect supplement? No - it has tolerance issues for many people and a few side-effects that might annoy some more than others. For me, yes, it's the best PreWO I've ever tried, even given all that. Hope your experience is as favourable.
