Pre-Workout - Blue Raspberry Lemon

What this is. A pre-workout powder — caffeine and performance ingredients taken 20 to 30 minutes before training for energy, focus and pump.

175 mg of caffeine and 4 g of citrulline malate per 10.6 g scoop, with 1.75 g of beta-alanine. Thirty scoops in this tub — and that is the one number worth pausing on, because the same formula in Fruit Punch and Green Apple comes forty scoops to the tub.

What you are actually getting, per 1 scoop (10.6 g)

• Citrulline Malate (ratio not stated on the panel) — 4,000 mg
• Beta Alanine — 1,750 mg
• Betaine (form not stated on the panel) — 1,000 mg
• Taurine — 500 mg
• Caffeine — 175 mg
• Alpha GPC — 150 mg
• L-Theanine — 100 mg
• Potassium (written as K on the panel) — 100 mg
• Pink Salt — 75 mg
• BioPerine (black pepper extract, written as BP on the panel) — 5 mg

Citrulline malate is citrulline bonded to malic acid and the panel does not state the ratio, so the citrulline itself is less than 4,000 mg by an amount the label does not give. The pink salt is 75 mg of salt, not 75 mg of sodium, and no sodium figure appears on the panel. The betaine has a weight but no form.

Those ten lines come to about 7.9 g of a 10.6 g scoop, and the panel does not say what the remaining 2.7 g or so is.

Worth knowing before you buy

Start with the tub size, because it is the thing a flavour page usually does not tell you. This is a 30-scoop tub of the same formula our Fruit Punch and Green Apple tubs sell 40 scoops of. If the flavour is not what you care about, compare the price of all three before you pick.

On the numbers themselves: caffeine at 175 mg is a real dose, sitting at or below the bottom of the 3 mg to 6 mg per kilogram used in exercise studies, which is 240 mg to 480 mg for an 80 kg lifter. Citrulline malate trials use 6 g to 8 g and this scoop has 4 g before the malate is subtracted. Beta-alanine studies use 3.2 g to 6.4 g a day for four to ten weeks, because the effect comes from what accumulates rather than from one pre-workout serving; 1.75 g a scoop is under that.

About the tingling, because people ask. Beta-alanine causes paraesthesia — a prickling or tingling across the face, neck, scalp and hands that usually starts 10 to 20 minutes in and passes within the hour. It is harmless, it is dose-related, and it is not an allergic reaction. At 1.75 g a scoop some people notice it and some do not.

Betaine trials use around 2.5 g a day against 1 g here, alpha-GPC work uses 300 mg to 600 mg against 150 mg, and taurine studies commonly use 1 g to 6 g against 500 mg. L-theanine at 100 mg is inside the 100 mg to 200 mg used alongside caffeine. The potassium and pink salt are seasoning, not an electrolyte dose.

What it is: a moderately caffeinated pre-workout, thirty scoops. What it is not: a research-dose product, and not the best value in the range unless the flavour is the point.

How to take it

One 10.6 g scoop in water, 20 to 30 minutes before training. Thirty scoops in the tub, so on three or four training days a week it lasts around two months. Do not stack it with coffee or an energy drink without counting the caffeine you have already had.

Other ingredients

The panel we have does not carry an other-ingredients line, so we cannot tell you which flavourings, sweeteners, acids or colours are used to make this taste of blue raspberry lemon — something is, because unflavoured beta-alanine and citrulline are not pleasant to drink. There is no capsule, so there is no gelatin question and no vegetarian question to answer about a shell. No allergen is declared on the panel. If you avoid a particular sweetener or colour, read the physical tub before you use it.

Cautions

Treat this as the caffeine product it is. Count the 175 mg alongside any coffee, tea, cola or energy drink you have that day, and note that caffeine taken within about six hours of bed can affect sleep. If you have a heart condition or an arrhythmia, high blood pressure, an anxiety disorder, or you take a stimulant medicine, speak to your doctor or pharmacist before using it. Several medicines change how quickly your body clears caffeine, so raise it with your pharmacist if you take anything on prescription. Citrulline interacts with medicines that affect blood pressure, with nitrates, and with erectile dysfunction medicines such as sildenafil and tadalafil. Beta-alanine's tingling is harmless but it catches people out the first time. Piperine, the active part of black pepper extracts such as BioPerine, changes how quickly the liver clears a number of medicines, and that applies to prescription drugs as much as to anything in this scoop. Keep out of the reach of children. Do not use if the safety seal is damaged or missing. Store in a cool, dry place. Do not exceed the recommended dose. If you are pregnant, nursing, under 18, taking prescription medication or living with a medical condition, speak to your doctor or pharmacist before starting this or any supplement.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.