Product Review: Optimum Nutrition, Pro Complex

Let's face it, when it comes time to choosing the right muscle-building product available, there are just too many variables to take into account; too many brands, too much science, too many compromises, too many promises that you don't know are true or just well-scripted fiction.

You may be looking for a product that fits your budget, you may be looking for a product that possesses or lacks certain compounds - or you may just be looking for the best possible product available that will meet your personal goals.

So what do you do? You do your homework. After all, this is your body we're talking about; you need to know that all your hard efforts, dedication and pennies are being supported to achieve the most efficient results. But this can prove to be a time-consuming project - for every proponent you find, there's always an opponent.

But the chances are that the true quality, effect and value of any particular project will be reflected in sheer weight of numbers; That means that unless you have personally tried a particular product and know the effects that you can obtain that are unique only to you, you put your faith in others - as many 'others' as possible.

It takes a wise man to ask for the advice of others, and with that thought in mind, I'm going to continue to select certain products that are available from Explosive Nutrition that have received numerous and wide-spread reviews, so that you can make your purchases with the most comprehensive information available.

This week's product review: Optimum Nutrition, Pro Complex

The consumer feedback for this product leaves zero doubt as to its effectiveness, value and overall rating. This is one of the most universally respected products available in today's market, and is a cornerstone product in Optimum Nutrition's bid to deliver the highest quality sports-supplements available. 'Nuff said. (It should be pointed out that there is a 1% margin of error in these statistics, lol). Below are the main pros and cons that were given by each person that reviewed this product, giving you more specific insight as to what this product is really all about.:

FINAL THOUGHTS

With this particular product, I have the benefit of drawing upon my own experiences. After taking MuscleTech's Nitro-Tech in all it's variants for several years, I felt it was time for a change - I reasoned that there most be newer, preferably even more effective products on the market - and boy, was it one of the best decisions I ever made. I have written a blog previously which made a comparative analysis of the two products (Click here to check it out). What I discovered was a superior product in every area - with the exception of taste (and that was being super-critical).

First-time users will discover a surprisingly thin, smooth taste to this product. It may appear weaker in taste due to a lack of fillers or additives - but mixed in to a smoothie, it has the added benefit of actually thinning the smoothie! The lack of available flavours is this product's only weakness, but I have tried both the chocolate and vanilla flavours and have found them to be excellent and more 'natural' tasting than many of their counter-parts.

Bottom-line: Optimum Nutrition is one of the most highly regarded and trusted companies in the market, and have received a lot of positive attention for their contributions to the field of sports-supplementation. If you haven't already, try this product. Once you do, I guarantee that you won't want to use anything else. Period. Click Here to buy Optimum Nutrition's Pro Complex.

Product Review: MuscleTech, CellTech Hardcore Pro Series

Let's face it - when it comes time to choosing the right muscle-building product available, there are just too many variables to take into account; too many brands, too much science, too many compromises, too many promises that you don't know are true or well-scripted fiction. You may be looking for a product that fits your budget, you may be looking for a product that possesses or lacks certain compounds - or you may just be looking for the best possible product available that will meet your personal goals.

So what do you do? You do your homework. After all, this is your body we're talking about; you need to know that all your hard efforts, dedication and pennies are being supported to achieve the most efficient results possible. But this can prove to be a time-consuming project - for every proponent you find, there's always an opponent. But the chances are that the true quality, effect and value of any particular product will be reflected in sheer weight of numbers; That means that unless you have personally tried a particular product and know the effects that you can obtain that are unique only to you, you put your faith in others - as many 'others' as possible.

It takes a wise man to ask for the advice of others, and with that being said, I'm going to continue to select certain products that are available from Explosive Nutrition that have received numerous, wide-spread reviews, so that you can make your purchases with the most comprehensive information available.

This week's product review: MuscleTech's Cell Tech Hardcore Pro Series.

As you tell from the above statistical analysis, CTHC/PS is by no means a 'people's choice'. MuscleTech as a company has taken a battering in recent years in perceived consumer value and the ability to make good on their product range abilities, despite remaining one of the biggest U.S. players in the sports-supplementation industry. With barely a 55% approval rate from nearly 100 reviews, this is a poor performance. Perhaps more concerning is the 21% of people that would not recommend this product. Below are the main pros and cons that were given by each person that reviewed this product, giving you more specific insight to what this product is really all about:

FINAL THOUGHTS

With this particular product, I have the benefit of being able to draw upon my own experiences. MuscleTech's Nitro-Tech and Cell-Tech were the first sports-supplements that I ever took - I had come to America to begin my wrestling ambitions and soon realised that I would need help to run with the big dogs. I was referred to MuscleTech by a former Welsh Body-building judge that was living in the States, and I knew no better than to try it.

I have used this product throughout every stage of its evolution; from Cell-Tech/ CT Hard core/ CTHC Pro Series. The most notable improvement was the taste and decrease in acidity. Personally, I achieved some great results with this product, despite the considerable bad press about the product and it's company (my body shot on this blog site will show that). Yes - there is a lot of sugar in this product, but used immediately after an intense resistance workout, it is mostly put to good use by the body. I was never really made aware of the bloating factor until after I got back on this product after taking several months off it when I returned to the U.K. My mother and sister (biased, but honest judges of mine) were the first to notice a distinct protruding belly after only the first week of use.

I would definitely recommend to NOT follow the 'loading phase' guidelines of this product. It will lead to bloating and water retention, and depending on your seasoning to sports-supplements, active use of the toilet. I believe the reason why I didn't really experience any noticeable negative effects was due to my high activity levels whilst I was wrestling - working out twice a day with intense cardio, 6 days a week probably off-set these effects.

Price has always been the biggest drawback to MuscleTech products in comparison to its rivals, and I believe that a main reason for why this product has received such negative press is due to the perceived failings of the Company, more than the product's own. However, isn't this just as telling as to the rating of the product?

Bottom-line: This product does work, I can attest to that. Pro Series has a great taste, and your strength and mass will increase significantly. But I believe that there are much 'purer' products available, without the high sugar content that this product possesses. Would I recommend it? Yes, but be aware of any negative changes in your physiology, and come off it if you do. Click Here to buy MuscleTech's Cell Tech Hard Core Pro Series.

Product Review: Gaspari Myofusion

Let's face it - when it comes to choosing the right muscle-building product available, there are just too many variables to take in to account; too many brands, too much science, too many compromises, too many promises that you don't know are true or well-scripted fiction. You may be looking for a product that fits your budget, you may be looking for a product that possesses or lacks certain compounds - or you may just be looking for the best possible product available that will meet your personal goals.

So what do you do? You do your home work. After all, this is your body we're talking about; you need to know that all your hard efforts, dedication and pennies are being surported to achieve the most efficient results possible. But this can prove to be a time-consuming project - for every proponent you find, there's always an opponent. But the chances are that the true quality, effect and value of any particular product will be reflected in sheer weight of numbers; That means that unless you have personally tried a particular product and know the effects that you can obtain that are unique only to you, you put your faith in others - as many 'others' as possible.

It takes a wise man to ask for the advice of others, and with that being said, I'm going to start selecting certain products available from Explosive Nutrition that have received numerous, wide-spread reviews, so that you can make your purchases with the most comprehensive information available. This week's product review: Gaspari Myofusion.

After viewing the above statistics, there's little doubt that this is a universally tried-and-tested product that delivers on its promises. Below are the main pros and cons that were given by each person that reviewed this product, giving you more specific insight to what this product is really all about:

Final thoughts

If you're looking to start using a protein supplement, or thinking about switching to something new, this product is definately worth a try. This is an excellent complete protein source at a very reasonable price, something that I intend to personally try in the near future. Click here to buy Gaspari Myofusion.

High-Protein, High-Calorie Drinks

In my previous blogs, I have discussed the benefits of protein supplement drinks, and how they are an excellent and essential addition for meal plans designed to maximise lean muscle mass gains while achieving and maintaining low body fat composition. Actually, there are two very different kinds of drinks you can use to obtain additional protein:

1. protein drinks that have no added (or very few) additional calories except for those found in the protein itself. Excellent examples of such drinks include Optimum Nutrition Platinum Hydro Whey, and Sci-Mx Grs-5 Proetin System.


2. weight-gainer drinks and supplements that are loaded with a lot of additional calories as well as those contained in the protein. Boditronics Mass Attack Evo is one such product, along with USN Hyperbolic Mass. A brand new product now available from Explosive Nutrition that is receiving good reviews is Reflex One Stop Extreme. Click on the link to learn more about the cutting-edge product.

When you take the time to read the labels on these two different products you can easily see the difference. A straight-forward protein supplement drink providing 27 grams of protein, mixed with water and sweetened artificially contains approximately 108 calories. On the other hand, a typical weight-gainer product that has the same amount of protein but is also loaded with carbohydrates and contains some fat as well, when mixed with whole milk as recommended, contains a whopping 2,000 calories per serving! Obviously, you should know the difference when you decide to use such a product.

Ultimately, it is important to realistically and logically assess your training goals, intensity and subsequent dietary needs to create the necessary demand for such weight-gainer drinks. Creating demand is also a subject I have previously discussed, and something I believe that most individuals set on 'getting jacked' routinely over-look. Without creating the demand for your body to utilise these excessive macro nutrient levels and the required cardio-vascular exercise to help bolster your metabolic rate, you will gain weight - but it will be centered around your waist-line, not where you actually need it in terms of muscle mass.

When I returned to England after wrestling in America and quickly realised that the job opportunities I was hoping for were few and far between, my survival depended on conserving as much money as I could to hold me over until I could land a job. That meant cutting all my supplements from my diet - a very disconcerting thought given that sports-supplementation products had been such a fundamental part of my diet for years. That meant relying solely on whole foods to supply my nutritional requirements.

The positive aspect of this is that I became much more aware of food nutritional values and foods that were very useful to me. I soon developed my own improvised protein-drinks, a benefit of which was that I knew precisely what was in them and what kind of nutritional benefit I was getting (refer back to one of my earliest blogs - Steve's Power Smoothie).

I'd combine my protein sources from oatmeal, weetabix, skimmed milk and Quark (similar to cottage cheese, but with virtually zero fat,neutral taste and 30g of protein at 70p per pot) to hit a target of 50-60g of protein per serving. I'd sometimes take this around with me in a thermos bottle at home or at work, so that I could drink it throughout the day.

But whether it's a commercial product or a home-made concoction, the purpose of such drinks is the same: to super-saturate the body with protein, making the necessary amino acids available for maximum muscle-building, and to supply the necessary calories to fuel training and growth.

The best protein powders are those that derive their amino acids from milk and egg sources - Whey protein shakes in particular has become the standard for protein drinks. But recently, other non-dairy based protein drinks have become increasingly popular - pea protein and rice protein in particular are favoured among vegetarian athletes (while not a complete protein source, when combined with proper diet and other meat and dairy protein sources it can become very potent).

Always check the label of any protein powder you are considering purchasing. Just because a serving size is listed at '1 scoop', don't just arbitrarily follow the direction. By now, you should know how much protein you need to ingest daily, and that 50-60g is typically the maximum amount of protein you can ingest in one sitting. To make sure I hit 50g of protein, not powder weight in a serving, I often weigh-out my protein, knowing what weight value is needed to hit my target.