Pre-Workout - Fruit Punch

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 10.8 g scoop, with 1.75 g of beta-alanine behind them. Forty scoops in the tub. The caffeine is a real dose; the citrulline and the beta-alanine both sit under what the research uses, and we would rather show you where the gaps are than print the big numbers and stop.

What you are actually getting, per 1 scoop (10.8 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 — 1:1 or 2:1 — so the citrulline itself is less than 4,000 mg by an amount the label does not give. The pink salt line is the same shape of problem: 75 mg is the weight of the salt, not the sodium in it, and no sodium figure appears anywhere on the panel. The betaine has a weight but no form.

Those ten lines come to about 7.9 g of a 10.8 g scoop. The panel does not say what the remaining 2.9 g or so is, though flavouring, sweetener, acid and colour are the usual answer.

Worth knowing before you buy

Caffeine is the ingredient here doing the most and the one to plan your day around. Exercise studies typically use 3 mg to 6 mg per kilogram of body weight, which for an 80 kg lifter is 240 mg to 480 mg. 175 mg sits at or below the bottom of that. That is not a fault — a smaller caffeine dose is easier to live with, and you can always drink coffee — but it is where the number stands.

Citrulline is the one to be plain about. Trials use 6 g to 8 g of citrulline malate, taken about an hour before training. This scoop has 4 g before you subtract the malate. Beta-alanine is further off again: the studies run at 3.2 g to 6.4 g a day, every day, for four to ten weeks, because the effect comes from what accumulates rather than from the scoop you drink before a session. 1.75 g is under that even on the days you take it.

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.

The smaller lines are all below their own research too. 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. Taurine studies commonly use 1 g to 6 g against 500 mg. L-theanine paired with caffeine is usually studied at 100 mg to 200 mg, so the 100 mg here is the one ingredient sitting inside its range rather than under it. And 100 mg of potassium with 75 mg of pink salt is seasoning, not electrolytes — if that is what you want, our Electrolytes scoop states 1,000 mg of sodium and 200 mg of potassium.

What it is: a moderately caffeinated pre-workout with a genuine, if under-dosed, citrulline and beta-alanine base, and forty scoops in the tub. What it is not: a research-dose pump product. If citrulline is the reason you are buying, our Watermelon scoop states 6 g of it and 3.5 g of beta-alanine.

How to take it

One 10.8 g scoop in water, 20 to 30 minutes before training. Forty scoops in the tub, so on three or four training days a week it lasts around ten weeks. 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 fruit punch — 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.