Brad Murphy

4 Gauge Pre Workout Review – Load Up Your Guns

Updated on May 22, 2020 by Brad Murphy

4 Gauge is a pre workout that is suitable for both men and women. We take a look at what is in the formula and how it actually gives you the muscle pump.

4 Gauge pre workout review — An excellent pre workout suitable for men and women. There are lots of positive feedback, before and after pictures and testimonials.

PROS
Science backed ingredient profile.
Well dosed, good quantities.
Solid muscle pumps.
Very positive customer reviews.
well priced.

CONS
Only available from official website.
Creatine dosage could be higher.
Doesn’t ship to some countries.

VERDICT – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
4 Gauge is a high-quality pre-workout supplement. It contains a well-balanced blend of natural ingredients that are more than capable of delivering the promised results.

One of the reasons we like 4 Gauge is that it is not over hyped. The use of real people with real results (rather than huge swole bodybuilders) gives it an edge over its rivals.

Available from the official 4 Gauge website – shipping is worldwide with free delivery. Most popular countries that buy 4 Gauge are USA, Canada, UK, Australia and Ireland

VISIT 4 GAUGE WEBSITE

Discounts and special offers are now in effect from the official website

4 Gauge Pre Workout Review

4 Gauge is a pre workout supplement by Roar Ambition. The company is based in Britain and the USA and is also responsible for creating the high-potency fat burner Instant Knockout.

Both products have done very well since their launch and succeeded in amassing an army of fans.

Roar Ambition places a lot of focus on creating high-quality supplements that contain optimum doses of respected ingredients.

The company also refrains from hiding ingredients in proprietary blends. You know exactly what you are getting with Roar Ambition because all the inclusion rates are there to see.

Another thing we like about the company is the use of real people in testimonials and before and after pictures and videos

All Roar Ambition supplements are produced in CGMP-approved facilities in the UK and USA. This may not seem like an important consideration, but it is.

CGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practices) guidelines are very strict. The quality of products made in such establishments has to be incredibly good.

4 Gauge Buying Info

Orders are via the official website only. You can buy in your local currency ($, €, £ and AUD$)
There are special offers from time with the current best offer being buy 3 and get 1 free.
There is free shipping to the USA and UK on larger orders

Click here to visit official 4 Gauge website and view special offers

As is often the case with pre-workout supplements, 4 Gauge comes in powder form. The idea is you mix it with water and drink it before training. Nothing new with that idea.

However, the packaging is very imaginative. The tubs resemble a large shotgun cartridge. It’s a good match for a name like “4 Gauge” and provides an excuse for lots of clever marketing terms:

Load up your guns
Blow apart your previous workouts
Enjoy more explosive training sessions

Like a 4 Gauge shotgun shell, this pre-workout is designed to be as big and bad as they come.

The marketing is certainly very clever and customer reviews suggest Roar Ambition’s marketing claims are on target. Let’s take a closer at 4 Gauge and see why so many people are saying this pre-workout blows them away.

4 Gauge Pre Workout Feature

No sweeteners or other artificial ingredients
No proprietary blends
Clinically dosed
Fast-acting formulation
Manufactured in CGMP-approved facilities

What Does 4 Gauge Do – How Does it Work?

4 Gauge is a pre-workout supplement. It’s intended for people seeking extra energy and focus while they train.

A lot of people struggle to find the energy and focus needed to give it their all while training. That’s not so surprising really. The average gym-goer often has to train after putting in a full day at work.

Even those who are not being held back in this way can still find it hard to train with the intensity necessary to get maximum gains.

How It Compares to the Other Options Available

There’s a lot of pre-workout supplements on the market. All of them are sold with pretty big promises. 4 Gauge stands out from the rest of the crowd for one reason, and it’s not the clever packaging. It’s the fact that it delivers the promised results.

There’s a good buzz about the product. It’s got people talking and they have a lot of good things to say.

Promised Benefits

Incredible energy
Increased stamina
Improved mental focus
Enjoy amazing workouts
Attain massive strength gains
Enjoy superior muscle growth
Train with enhanced strength, and endurance
Get heads turning with your new and improved physique

So, What Does All This Mean?

The list of benefits promised to users of this product is quite long. However, most of the things that are promised are the results of three main benefits.

1. Incredible Energy

Energy and strength are two different things. It doesn’t matter strong you are, if you feel too pooped to do anything with your strength you’re screwed.

It’s a bit like having a Ferrari with next to no gas in the tank. You may look pretty good, but you ain’t going to get very far. There may be a quick burst of power, but then your energy splutters and dies.

A good workout takes time. You have to put in that time and it needs to be quality time. Swinging the weights around in a lack lustre fashion won’t do much for you at all. Nor will backing up on the reps or dropping the weights.

Do any of these things too often and probably won’t even maintain the muscle and strength you’ve already got. But we’re all only human and it’s hard to train with intensity when all your get up and go has got up and gone.

That’s why 4 Gauge is designed to provide you with a significant energy boost.

2. Increased Stamina

When we talk about “stamina” what we really mean is staying power. It’s really just the ability to continue doing something over a prolonged period of time. If you’ve got energy, you can put in the work. Stamina allows you to do so for longer. There’s only the subtlest of differences between the two.

3. Improved Mental Focus

You need mental focus to stop your mind from wandering and concentrate on the job in hand. It allows you to “focus” on the area you are targeting and work it in the correct way.

Training with focus helps prevent you from being lazy while training. More than that. On the days when you really don’t feel like going to the gym, regaining your focus will help turn things around.

If you want to build a strong body, you need to maintain a strong state of mind. 4 Gauge is designed to help you do it.

4. Knock-On Benefits

All of the other promised benefits are knock-on benefits.

When you have extra energy and stamina, combined with improved mental focus, you will be able to train harder. This will allow you to enjoy amazing workouts. “Amazing” because they are so much better than before.

Unless your diet has gone incredibly wrong, the fact that your training harder will result in strength gains and muscle growth.

Finally, as your physique improves heads may start to turn as you pass by. That’s the idea anyway.

4 Gauge Ingredients at a Glance

A two-scoop (14g) serving of 4 Gauge provides:

L-Citrulline Dl-Malate (6000mg)
Creatine Monohydrate (1000mg)
Acetyl L-Carnitine (500mg)
Coconut Water Powder (300mg)
Red Beetroot Extract (300mg)
Caffeine Anhydrous (150mg)
L-Theanine (200mg)
Rhodiola Rosea (Root) Powder (100mg)

The 4 Gauge Pre Workout Formula

Roar Ambition has succeeded in putting together a very impressive formulation. All of the ingredients are first-rate.

L-Citrulline Dl-Malate + Red Beetroot Extract

L-Citrulline Dl-Malate is an amino acid extracted from watermelons and it shares an important ability with red beetroot. Both ingredients boost nitric oxide levels. [SOURCE: 1, 2]

In so doing they provide a benefit called vasodilation. This is a slight widening of the blood vessels. It occurs naturally during exercise, but boosting nitrogen levels improves the effect.

Vasodilation improves the circulation and this offers a few interesting benefits.

The blood is responsible for providing the muscles with nutrients and oxygen and the need for both increases during exercise.

When extra nutrients and oxygen become available the muscles can work longer and harder before fatigue sets in.

During exercise, lactic acid builds up in the muscles and limits the amount of work they can do.

When the circulation improves, thanks to vasodilation, more lactic acid is flushed from the muscles and carried away. Again, this helps support a better workout.

Creatine Monohydrate

Scientists first discovered the muscle-boosting power of creatine back in the 1970s. However, due to the popularity of steroids, its use never really caught on until the 1990s.

Now most bodybuilders are familiar with creatine and know what it can do. A lot of people use it as a standalone product.

Creatine is good for encouraging muscle growth [SOURCE: 3 ], but 4 Gauge is a pre-workout supplement so, in this case, the value of creatine lies in another area.

It can help boost workout capability by reducing fatigue. [SOURCE: 4 ]

Caffeine + L-Theanine = Smart Caffeine

Everyone knows caffeine is good for boosting energy levels. It’s added to all the best brands of energy drink for precisely that reason. Caffeine also has a lot of respect for its ability to improve mental focus and concentration. On top of this is it reduces fatigue.

Unfortunately, a minority of people do not tolerate caffeine well and may experience jitters and other side effects

L-Theanine is an amino acid that occurs naturally in green tea and black tea. It’s known for its ability to produce a unique state of mind that is sometimes referred to as an “alert calm”. [SOURCE: 5 ] This is just a way of saying it calms the mind without causing sedation.

One of the most interesting things about L-Theanine is the way it interacts with caffeine.

When combined, L-Theanine controls the negative aspects of caffeine [SOURCE: 6 ] allowing you to receive all the benefits with no energy crash.

For this reason, the combination is often called “Smart Caffeine”.

Acetyl L-Carnitine

An amino acid that can help get you through your workout by delaying the onset of mental and physical fatigue. [SOURCE: 7 ]

Coconut Water

Coconut water is not often added to formulations such as this, but that does not make its inclusion less valid.

Apart from being a good source of vitamins and minerals, it helps keep the body hydrated.

There is evidence to suggest drinking coconut water can revitalize the body in a similar way to energy drinks. [SOURCE: 8 ]

Rhodiola Rosea

A respected adaptogen herb. Rhodiola rosea should help the body cope better with the stress of a hard workout.

Additionally, it’s known to be good for improving endurance and enhancing mental cognition. [SOURCE: 9, 10 ]

Usage Guidelines and Recommendations

The dose is two scoops of 4 Gauge, mixed with 300-350ml of water. Alternatively, you can mix it with the fruit juice of your choice.

Roar Ambition recommends consuming the mixture 20-30 minutes before training.

It’s permissible to double the dose of powder for a more extreme energy boost. However, if you are new to 4 Gauge it’s best to see how you go with the normal two-scoop dose first.

4 Gauge Customer Reviews

Customer reviews suggest this is a product that gets the job done.

A few average comments read:

“If you need something to put some extra charge into your workout, this stuff’ll do it. It really clears your head, helps you focus, and gives you a shit-load of energy. All without jitters or other side effects. It’s bloody good stuff.”

“The powder is easy to mix. There are no lumps and it tastes really good. In my case, I feel the extra energy start kicking in at around the 20-25 minute mark. It keeps me energized throughout my workout too. It’s a real game changer. My BMI is down and I’m making some very good gains. This stuff really does what it says on the tin. It’s easily the best pre workout I’ve tried and I’ve tried a lot.”

“I decided to try this because I found so many good reviews. Now I’m writing one: 4 Gauge works. Try it you’ll see. Best pre-workout on the market by far.”

“My BF uses this and he let me try some. I was nervous because I’m normally not too good with caffeine. I never had any problems with this at all and it boosted my energy levels no end. It works well for me so now I buy my own.”

4 Gauge Potential Side Effects and Interaction Issues

Side effects don’t appear to be an issue, but 4 Gauge is not suitable for women who are pregnant. Nor is it a good option for women who are nursing a child.

If you have existing health problems, the best thing to do is check with a doctor before using 4 Gauge. The same goes if you are considering using 4 Gauge alongside other supplements or medication.

It’s also worth remembering the formulation contains caffeine. That means it may not be a good option for you if you do not tolerate stimulants well.

However, the caffeine charge is not that high. It’s no more than you would get from one-and-a-half cups of coffee. And let’s not forget that it’s stacked with l-theanine. It’s “smart caffeine” and, as such, boosts energy levels in a kinder way than normal caffeine.

Again, if you have any doubts, your doctor will be the best person to speak too. Nothing beats professional advice.

4 Gauge Summary

4 Gauge is a high-quality pre-workout supplement. It contains a well-balanced blend of natural ingredients that are more than capable of delivering the promised results.

Additionally, customer reviews also support the various claims Roar Ambition makes for the product. So there really isn’t a lot more to say. In a world where so many supplements are sold on the back of lies, it’s refreshing to find one that actually appears to deliver the goods.

Where to Buy 4 Gauge

All sales are handled via the official 4 Gauge website, you cannot buy it in the shops and it is not available from any third-party online stores.

Nor do Roar Ambition carry out any marketing activities via Amazon or eBay. So, if the product appears to be on sale elsewhere it’s likely to be counterfeit and should be avoided.

A single 4 Gauge “shell” normally costs around $45 (available in other currencies), but Roar Ambition often offer special deals and promotions that provide more “BANG!” for the buck.

At the time of this review, the best deal went to customers who purchased three shells and got an extra loaded into their parcels for free.

Deals such as these come and go, so if you visit the 4 Gauge website and there’s a good deal to be had, take it like a shot.

4 Gauge Buying Info

You can only order from the official website
You can buy in your local currency ($, €, £ and AUD$)
Payment options are: Paypal, Amazon pay and credit or debit card)
There are special offers from time with the current best offer being buy 3 and get 1 free.
There is free shipping to the USA and UK on larger orders

GET 4 GAUGE DIRECT

BPI – One More Rep Review. Can it Give You a Muscle Pump?

Updated on February 12, 2020 by Brad Murphy

As pre workouts go One More Rep is very well known. It has been around for sometime. Does it really work though? Is it as good as some other similar and new pre-workouts that have appeared. Read our review.

PROS
Good ingredients.
Cheaper than most similar products.
Beet root is good for pumps.

CONS
Under dosed.
Lacking a robust formula.
Only 6 grams of active ingredients.

VERDICT – OTHERS PREFERRED
If you are asking my opinion on a pre workout I would go for 4 Gauge – There are some quality ingredients included and it dosed just about right.

Read our 4 Gauge review here

BPI – One More Rep Review

BPI Sports say that their “legendary” 1.M.R pre-workout has evolved into the newer One More Rep.

I liked the 1.M.R branding, it was a cool play on the famous contraction 1RM, meaning One Rep Max – the amount of weight you can pull or push in a particular movement for exactly one repetition and no more.

Whether the name change is really to accommodate for the change in recipe, or it’s because the bros of the world couldn’t get their heads around the the letter twist.

Whatever. What’s in a name anyway, right?

Actually, that’s where BPI are being legit. Most pre-workout manufacturers go with the fierce approach to their marketing. Make a song and dance about how their stuff’s so potent you could lift a 200 lb kettle bell with your butt cheeks, and the customer might look over the fact that it’s still only caffeine and some amino-acids.

BPI go with the cooler strategy. Basically, One More Rep can help you bust out, well, one more rep. One more than your previous PB, or, you know, one more than your competition.

According to them it can anyway.

Why Use BPI’s One More Rep?

The three main “on-trend ingredients” (their phrase, not mine) in One More Rep are L-Citrulline, L-Carnitine and Beetroot.

Citrulline is the muscle pump ingredient to use these days, and for good reason. It gets converted to L-Arginine, a primary Nitric Oxide (NO) booster, in the kidneys.

The NO relaxes the walls of your blood vessels, allowing them to dilate (vasodilation) and thus send more blood volume, including oxygen and nutrients to your working muscles. You know, the “pump”.

It’s better than taking straight arginine because, as you probably know by now, arginine levels tank too quickly before it can get to your blood. So, ironically, supplementing citrulline increases your arginine levels more than arginine does.

So far so good.

Carnitine is a bit of an all-rounder. It’s endured the test of time, that’s for sure. I wouldn’t put it up there as the ingredient with the biggest impact, but it has enough medium impacts to make it very worthwhile.

It gets involved with fat metabolism, aerobic exercise performance, heart protection, muscle damage, insulin sensitivity and blood flow (to mention a few) and they’re positive effects across the board.

Beetroot might look like a weird inclusion if you haven’t seen its rise in the supplement industry yet, but it’s a naturally high source of nitrates, which are useful again for the pump and intra-workout endurance and performance.

There’re more ingredients in One More Rep but I’ll get to those in a bit. The three described above answer the main question though: why buy this over another pre-workout? Because it contains quality, research proven ingredients.

These and the rest of the formula can provide the following benefits to your workout, recovery and growth phases:

Enhanced Muscle Pumps
Increased Focus
Improved Muscle Endurance
Heightened Strength
Faster Recovery
Increased post-training Muscle Growth
Increased Fat Burning

Next, I’ll open up the rest of the formula and see whether it’s worth you giving One More Rep a spin in the gym.

What Are the Ingredients and Dosages?

The formula for the new One More Rep is below. Each scoop is 10 grams of ingredients.

Most of the formula is open (i.e. each individual measurement is noted), and then there’s a proprietary energy blend.

30 mg – Niacin (Vit B3)
128 mg – Sodium
3 g – L-Citrulline
1 g – L-Carnitine L-Tartrate
500 mg – Beetroot (powder)
500 mg – Trimethylglycine (TMG) as betaine anhydrous
500 mg – N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine

One More Rep Energy (proprietary) Blend – 454 mg

Caffeine anhydrous
Theobromine
Phosphatidylcholine
Himalayan Pink Salt
Yohimbe extract

Adding that up quickly, you can see there’s only 6112 mg – 6.1 grams – of active ingredients.

Therefore, nearly 4 grams of the 10 gram scoop is non-active ingredients added for taste, texture and powder quality.

Just over six grams!

For comparison purposes, Dymatize Pre W.O. and Nutrex Outlift each contain 8 grams of Citrulline Malate alone…2 grams more of a single ingredient than One More Rep’s entire formula.

And it’s not as if the other ingredients in One More Rep are unique to it in any way. You can find these ingredients in many of the pre-workout powders online and on the shelves.

Yohimbe is an interesting inclusion. It’s a stimulant that causes a little bit of controversy, even though it’s in a lot of US made fat burners and pre-workouts.

It’s potent, but it might interact with anxiety levels in some people, especially those pre-disposed to anxiety disorders and/or panic attacks.

The proprietary energy blend means we can’t know for sure what the dosage of Yohimbe is, but it’s rare to find a company adding problematic amounts to their products these days so we’ll just have to trust BPI Sports.

Will the Formula Work for You?

I’m not sure about this one, guys. If you’re a loyal, die-hard BPI customer then you’re probably not reading reviews anyway – you’re just going to buy it.

If you’re shopping around then I recommend you just do a bit of comparison on like for like ingredients with the different brands and pre-workout products.

How can one have 25 grams of active ingredients and another have just over 6 grams? Especially when they’re using pretty much the same ingredients?

It just doesn’t compute.

The ingredients themselves are good, and it does give a medium pump, and a stimulant kick. It’s quite a step down from the full muscle-nutrient packed pre-workouts I associate with the best performances of my life.

… but then it’s perhaps 20 bucks cheaper than those products as well.

Let me know what you think.

Recommended Pre Workout

There are hundreds of pre workout supplements on the market with a hundred different ingredient profiles.

We consider 4 Gauge to be a premier supplement as it contains high dosages of the ingredients to get the most from your workout.

4 Gauge is suitable for men and women and for people of all levels from the beginner to the competitive trainer

Read the 4 Gauge review here

Cardio for Lifters – Get Bigger Muscles and Recover Faster with Cardio

Updated on February 14, 2020 by Brad Murphy

I know most people who lift are mentally allergic to cardio-vascular training, but it might be the most important aversion you’ll ever overcome.

Many of you would do some pretty crazy things if you knew it would improve your muscle gains, but cardio is viewed as a muscle eating, gains robbing activity.

What if it was a muscle-augmenting activity? What if it helped your resistance training in more ways than one? What if…

What if you’re actually missing out on some strength and physique improvements?

Shock, horror, right?

Methods some strength athletes follow is to put some high intensity interval training (HIIT) into their workouts, or higher rep sets with lower weight at faster tempos, in order to check the “cardio” box”.

Bear in mind that I want you to be as strong and musclebound as possible. I’m not here to impede your progress in any way, but to advance it, so shed the skepticism now. It will serve you better.

High Intensity Interval Training Takes Different Forms

First, before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s best to make one thing clear. HIIT is whatever you want it to be, so long as it incorporates:

Roughly 5 minutes of warm-up at 50-60% effort output
Several short rounds of near maximal (80-90%) perceived effort – lasting 15 to 30 seconds
Passive or active rest sets between rounds
Roughly 5 minutes of warm down, starting at 50% effort and tapering off

Example 1 – HIIT Cycling

An example of the a classic cardio style HIIT would be to use a spin bike or static bike.

With a bike you can cycle for the whole duration, and your rounds would be about 30 seconds each at 80-90% effort (often called RPE – Rated Perceived Exertion).

The rests between rounds can be 50-60% RPE, just like the warm-up, for 90 seconds, and same for the warm-down at the end.

Example 2 – HIIT Weights

Another example would be to do HIIT with resistance training instead. Get up to 60% of your squat and deadlift 1RMs (one rep max) within a 5 minute warm-up.

As for the HI rounds, rated perceived exertion can be achieved by taking the same 60% of 1RM and repping it with fast cadence to within 1 or 2 reps of failure.

So basically stop the round when you have 1 or 2 reps left in you. For most people this will fall into the range of 8 to 15 reps.

Between each round take 90 seconds of rest.

The warm-down for the weights could be something light like walking on a treadmill or cycling very low resistance for 5 minutes.

So, Which Is Better – HIIT Weights or HIIT Cycling?

Logic tells us that performing HIIT weights as your cardio training would add to your strength and muscle growth gains given that it’s using some movements from your strength training.

However, this doesn’t tend to be true. In fact, if you do a fully taxing HIIT cycling session, you will feel a leg pump that rivals, or even beats, that of HIIT squats.

There’s also evidence that concurrent training in this manner, involving interval cycling and regular weights training can improve gains. This is in part due to the larger muscle groups – especially legs – having roughly equal proportions of type 1 and type 2 muscle fiber.
There has been a study carried out which directly compared these two HIIT methods.

In some areas the study was poorly designed and controls could have been better, but there were some interesting takeaways that might help you.

One such finding was strength measurements were not greatly different in the HIIT weights and the HIIT cycling groups following the study. However, like I said, there wasn’t a control group who performed strength-only training to determine what the maximum strength could be.

Either way, strength improved for both groups and the improvements were similar.

Aerobic fitness on the other hand was improved in the HIIT cycling group by enough to outweigh any study design problems. i.e HIIT cycling is better for your CV system.

Nothing really astonishing there, but with it fresh in your mind, let’s look at program design and the wider implications to muscle and strength improvements, which is why we’re all here anyway.

Fitting Cardio Into Your Training Program

High intensity interval training is unmatched with respect to cardio-vascular health and elevated rates of fat burning that results from the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).

But you don’t need me to tell you that cardio is good for you. You want to know how you can manage it and still be a beast.

The first mistake that can be made is to simply bolt cardio onto their program. That’s fine if you have a moderate to low training intensity/volume as it is, but can lead to overtraining and fatigue problems if you’re already pushing your limit every week.

That also provides a segue to discussing the HIIT weights versus HIIT cycling methods. Some of you might still be thinking it’s an opportunity to add some gut-busting squat, deadlift, other compound lift, sets in to really pump up that volume and maybe add some mass.

The danger here is that you limit your output for the days when you are doing your really heavy lifts. Something you definitely don’t want to do is stagnate your strength gains by pumping out HIIT sessions a couple times a week.

In that study they said strength gains were similar but they were only measuring knee extensions which none of the participants were including in their program prior to the study. They were also using predicted 1RMs based on rep-count and fatigue, not true 1RMs.

No-one can really argue with me here: if you’re squatting and deadlifting way into the red on your cardio days, you’re not going to be able to lift your heaviest on your strength days.

So, that leaves us with HIIT cycling. The first few times you push a solid interval cycling session in, you’re going to feel it the next day, but you will get used to this, and eventually it will hardly affect your heavy lifting program at all.

Additionally, the cardio-vascular fitness improvements will help you recover faster between your heavy sets, hypertrophy sets and days in between.

If you have some body fat to lose, it’s another reason to get on the bike, and you can push it harder while staying safer than you ever could if you were doing HIIT waits to near maximal effort.

Muscle failure on the bike just means you stop and recover. On the squat rack it can be a different matter.

There’s even the possibility that you’ll get some size increase in your legs. Previous research into concurrent training indicates this as a possibility and it might be due to you building up both muscle fiber types as opposed to focusing on one.

Strong is great, but strong and fit is more likely to get you to a ripe old age.

Conclusion – Look At the Bigger Picture

I’m going to get all philosophical on you now, so be warned.

if I haven’t convinced you to introduce some intense cardio to your program then just hear me out here and I’ll say no more.

A lot of you are probably trying to increase your numbers, be it on the big three: squat, deadlift and bench, or just in general across the board.

I get that, I really do, but it’s important to remember that it’s all for nothing if we don’t have our health. And CV work is health, ladies and gents.

Strong is great, but strong and fit is more likely to get you to a ripe old age.

Some guys walk on treadmills for 40 minutes – you’ll see the biggest bodybuilders doing this all the time. It’s like they are afraid their muscles will melt if they do anything more intense. Varying your exercises is another great tip.

The light treadmill walking thing is like a virus that has made its way to all gyms everywhere. Big guys just do it.

No wonder they are bored off their minds. Walking in a gym sucks.

Whereas, a hard interval session on a big will fly past and be done before you even know it.

The hardcore results you will get from it once you have done it for a few weeks will make you a believer, trust me. And the swole-factor is ridiculous.

Additionally, you won’t be so taxed from a cardio-vascular standpoint during your lifting sessions, which might ultimately lead to increased volume or intensity on the whole.

I’ll finish this article with a bit of practical advice. It’s true that when you do your cardio the day before your leg workout, you might feel some of the fatigue the following day, at least for the first few times you do it.

The workaround is to alternate the upper and lower body according to the program you are following. I haven’t mentioned the rowing machine in this article yet but it’s about to come into your life in a big way.

The day before leg day, do your interval/HIIT cardio on the rowing machine. The day before chest or shoulder day do you HIIT cycling.

Could anything be simpler or more elegant than that?

What Foods are Good for Bulking Up and Gaining Muscle Mass

Updated on February 14, 2020 by Brad Murphy

There is a lot of conflicting information as to what you should eat if you want to bulk up and gain muscle muss. This article cuts through the fluff and gives it to you straight. here are the foods you should eat if you want to bulk up.

Foods for Bulking Up and Gaining Muscle Mass

Do you know what foods are good for bulking you up? If you do, you probably won’t need to read any further. Having said that, my list of ten muscle-building foods may give you a few ideas you would not normally consider.

When I’m on a quest to gain muscle mass, I eat the foods that can help me the most and anything is fair game—even horses.

That doesn’t mean I don’t consider the vegetarian-friendly sources of protein. There can be a life without meat and there are some very good plant-based proteins out there.

It’s not good to rely on meat all the time. Eating too much of it too often is not healthy. That’s why I like to mix things up a bit and eat plenty of plant-based proteins too. Apart from anything else, it adds a little variety to my diet and keeps life interesting.

Read on and I’ll share with you some of my top foods for bulking up and gaining good, high-quality muscle mass.

1. Steak

When it comes to foods that are good for bulking up, steak is an obvious choice.

Every 100 g of steak you eat will provide you with around 25g of protein and, as with all red meats, it will be a complete protein. Steak is also an ideal food to eat to increase testosterone levels.

Complete proteins provide all the amino acids your muscles require for growth. Steak takes a little longer to digest than some of the other foods that are good for gaining muscle mass. It can also be higher in fat but, as a “muscle food”, steak is one of the best.

Apart from being high in protein, steak is also a good source of iron. Iron is one of the nutrients your body needs for manufacturing hemoglobin.

The red blood cells need hemoglobin to carry oxygen around the body. This may not sound important, but it is. Your muscles need oxygen and the harder you work them the more they need. So, by providing the iron your body needs to produce hemoglobin, steak helps you to workout with greater intensity. [SOURCE 1]

2 Turkey Breast

Turkey is also one of the best high-protein foods for bulking you up and increasing muscle mass. All turkey meat is good, but the breast is the best because it’s incredibly lean. In fact, it’s normally only around two percent fat and a 100 g serving will give you up to 30 g of protein.

Turkey breast is also very low in calories. That means you don’t need to worry about gaining a lot of extra body fat alongside your improvements in muscle mass.

As a muscle building food, turkey breast ticks all the right boxes because it helps with bulking up while keeping you lean.

However, although the breast is good, the skin that covers it is not. If you eat the skin you will be giving yourself a lot of unnecessary fat. You will also risk pushing up your cholesterol level. So discard the skin and boil the meat instead of roasting or frying.

3. Tofu

Okay, we’ve already got two of the best foods for bulking up out of the way and both of them were meats. This seems like a good time to start talking tofu.

Eating tofu is a very good way to boost your protein intake and don’t go thinking it’s not a complete protein. Apart from being one of the best vegan-friendly proteins, tofu has all the amino acids included.

If you’re not a vegetarian or vegan, don’t dismiss this nutritional powerhouse out of hand. A typical serving of tofu is around eight percent protein and it does not contain any cholesterol at all. It does provide reasonable amounts of iron, magnesium, and calcium though.

If you can’t remember why iron is important, skip back to the section on steak. If you don’t know why magnesium and calcium are important I’ll tell you. Both minerals have the ability to boost natural testosterone production. [SOURCE]

4. Tuna

No list of foods that are good for bulking up would be complete if it didn’t have tuna. It’s high in protein and very low in fat. Even if you forgo fresh tuna steaks and go for the canned variety instead, a 3-ounce serving of tuna that has been canned with water provides roughly 20 g of protein.

Lots of bodybuilders swear by canned tuna and it has the advantage of being very easy to prepare. All you need to do is open the tin, drain off the water, and you are good to go. It goes great with a salad and can make a quick and nutritious sandwich. Alternatively, you can combine it with sweetcorn and low-cal mayonnaise and serve it on top of a baked potato.

The other good thing about tuna is it provides omega-3 fatty acids. Research suggests Omega-3 fatty acids can help prevent the decline of muscle mass and strength that is often a normal part of aging. So, apart from building muscle, tuna may also help you hang on to it for longer. [SOURCE]

5. Beans on Toast

The problem with baked beans is, although they are a good source of protein, the beans are not a complete protein. However, a slice or two of bread contains the amino acids the beans lack. That means a serving of beans on toast can serve all your muscles’ protein needs.

If you can, it’s best to use wholemeal bread for the toast instead of white. Wholemeal bread is higher in fiber and a good source of complex carbohydrate. Choosing wholemeal bread to accompany your baked beans will make the meal better for providing ongoing energy.

Due to it’s higher fiber content, wholemeal bread is also more filling. Eating it should help you avoid the urge to snack in between meals. If you want a good vegetarian-friendly alternative to steak, beans on toast fits the bill.

6. Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese is another good vegetarian-friendly source of protein. It also provides a reasonable dose of testosterone-boosting calcium. It’s a good food choice for anyone who is busy bulking up and it also has the benefit of being a low-fat protein option.

Like all dairy proteins, cottage cheese is a complete protein so there is no need to worry about a lack of amino acids.

Additionally, this lumpy-looking cheese curd provides a hefty dose of selenium. If you don’t know why that’s good, don’t worry, I do and I’m willing to share the information.

Selenium is a vital mineral and antioxidant that helps protect the body from oxidative stress. Rigorous training causes oxidative stress, that’s why the selenium content of cottage cheese is worth mentioning. [SOURCE]

Cottage cheese is also a versatile food option. You can have it on toast at breakfast time or with a baked potato at lunch. It also works well with a salad and is a healthy low-fat sandwich filler you can enjoy any time of the day.

Need a good food to help get you gaining some serious muscle mass? Squeeze some cottage cheese into your day.

7. Milk

When it comes to dairy protein, milk is king. Cheeses and yogurts are made from milk. It’s the primary source of their protein-packing power. Milk is also probably the only real food you serve in a glass.

Food? Milk? How can this be so? Apart from being a complete protein, milk also provides all the other nutrients your body needs. It’s got the lot. If you wanted to you could live on milk. That makes it a “complete food“.

The chances are I don’t need to tell you that, when it comes to bulking up, this dairy king of foods is as good as it gets. Milk has always been one of the main go-to bodybuilding proteins.

Milk is also a muscle-builder that keeps you looking lean and mean by helping your body to burn fat. That’s not just me saying that. It’s the men in white coats over at the University of Tennessee.

They ran some clinical trials and discovered milk’s rich calcium content allows it to help you lose fat from your trunk region. [SOURCE]

8. Eggs

Do you know what works incredibly well alongside milk? Eggs. Of course, they are also a good food for bulking you up when you eat them alone, but they make a kick-ass combination too.

Both are complete proteins that are easily assimilated and get to work fast. Bodybuilders have been using milk and egg protein shakes for years.

However, you may have heard the scare stories that mixing these two proteins is a dangerous thing to do. Don’t worry, it’s not. It’s only dangerous if you use raw eggs to make your shake. Doing so is unhealthy because there could be implications with bacteria. If you make your shake with boiled eggs everything is safe as houses.

Apart from their other virtues, eggs are a damn good source of choline. Two eggs can provide up to 300 mg.

Choline is a precursor to the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine. That’s interesting because research suggests acetylcholine precursors of this nature can boost human growth hormone (HGH) production. [SOURCE]

I’m sure I don’t need to explain why that’s good. We’re talking growth here and growth is what gaining muscle is all about.

9. Beetroot

If you are surprised to see beetroot on a list of foods that are good for bulking you up, don’t be. These little, red wonders are good stuff. Okay, they turn your pee pink, but nothing is perfect and there’s nothing wrong with adding a little colour to your life every once in a while.

Beetroot is high in nitrate. That allows it to function as a natural NO (nitric acid) booster. Many supplements contain ingredients chosen for their ability to boost NO because higher levels of NO relax the walls of the blood vessels and, in so doing, increase blood flow to the muscles.

The blood has the job of providing the muscles with the nutrients they need to grow. By increasing nutrient flow to the muscles, beetroot speeds up recovery times and helps your muscles to grow. [SOURCE]

10. Horse Meat

Yeah, I know. I’m a terrible man. It’s not cool to suggest you should eat the flesh of dead horses. But how does that taboo work anyway? Unless you are a vegetarian, eating the flesh of dead cows is a socially acceptable practice. Fluffy white sheep too.

Most animals are seen as fair game, why are horses supposed to be different? Personally, I blame TV shows like Champion the Wonder Horse and The Black Stallion.

However, even if you can get past the taboo, taking advantage of this excellent source of protein may not be an option. In many countries, horse meat is not easy to obtain. In others, all it takes is a trip down to the local supermarket.

If you can get it though, horse meat is a really good food for bulking you up. Apart from being high in protein, it contains around 50 percent less fat than beef does and twice as much iron.

As for the taste, it’s pretty good and, where horse meat is available, there may be smoked options too. I can’t say I care too much for smoked horse meat, but many horse eaters love it.

Burn XT Review – Thermogenic Fat Burner from Jacked Factory

Updated on April 19, 2020 by Brad Murphy

A popular weight loss capsule sold on Amazon designed to increase fat metabolism, burn calories, and suppress appetite. Burn XT is suitable for both men and women. Does it really work though? Read the review to find out

Burn XT review by GHC — A thermogenic fat burner capsule created to increase fat metabolism, burn calories, and suppress the appetite.

PROS
Some good ingredients.
Not too expensive.
Some good customer reviews.

CONS
Some bad customer reviews.
Some ingredients under dosed.
Possible side effects.

VERDICT – NOT RECOMMENDED
I wouldn’t invest my weight loss hopes into Burn XT – there are better options available.

Burn XT is a typical fat burning supplement that is made to be sold via Amazon. It is a commodity product.

I would recommend PhenQ – a natural multi benefit weight loss pill that can burn fat, block new fat absorption and suppress appetite. It is a serious diet supplement and doesn’t rely on hype or hyperbole to gain customers.

Burn XT Review

Some thermogenic fat burners are aimed at normal people wish to lose weight. Others are intended for bodybuilders and the more athletically inclined. Burn XT falls into the latter category.

Burn XT is one of a number of sports supplements being marketed by a company called Jacked Factory. It’s based in New York and caters solely for the American and Canadian market.

Jacked Factory describes Burn XT as a “cutting-edge thermogenic fat burner for men and women” and states it provides an effective dose of the most powerful fat burning ingredients available.

To be fair, the formulation does include some damned good fat burners and the inclusion rates look okay. However, Jacked Factory has been a bit heavy-handed with the caffeine.

Not surprisingly a number of customers have left reviews complaining about side effects. Some customers also state Burn XT does not work, so the cutting-edge formula may not be so sharp after all.

Burn Xt Reviews — 30 capsules per bottle that should last 1 month if taken as recommended by the manufacturers usage instructions

What Are the Benefits of Burn XT?

Suppresses the appetite
Boosts the metabolism
Increases fat burning
Preserves muscle mas
Burns more calories
Provides energy
No artificial dyes, fillers, or preservatives
Manufactured in the USA in a cGMP certified facility
Suitable for vegetarians

So What Does All This Mean?

Burn XT works in a similar way to all the other thermogenic fat burners on the market, though most of the other options don’t contain nearly so much caffeine.

If it successfully suppresses hunger it will help people to eat less. As long as they are eating the right kind of foods the reduction in volume should cause a calorie shortage. When the body lacks calories it starts burning fat.

Burn XT is also designed to boost the metabolism. The metabolism takes energy from food and puts it to work. Boosting the metabolism causes an increased demand for calories. If the calories are not there the body has to burn more fat.

The formulation also contains ingredients that make the body temperature a little warmer. This causes the body to lose extra energy as heat. Its ability to do this makes Burn XT a thermogenic fat burner as well.

Sometimes the calorie shortage that is necessary for burning fat also causes a reduction in muscle mass. Nobody wants this. Especially not bodybuilders and athletes. For this reason, some supplements contain ingredients that help prevent this loss.

what is in Burn XT — What is in the formula – Burn XT ingredient label

Burn XT Ingredient Profile and Blend Evaluation

A two-capsule dose provides:

Acetyl-L-Carnitine – 700 mg
Green Tea Extract – 450 mg
Caffeine Anhydrous – 270 mg
Capsimax – 50 mg
Bioperine – 5 mg

Acetyl-L-Carnitine

An amino acid that supports muscle growth and helps pull energy into the cells. It’s often added to bodybuilding supplements because it can speed up post-workout recovery rates and prevent muscle degradation. [SOURCE]

Green Tea Extract

It’s not a surprise to see green tea included in the mix. Apart from being one of the most popular diet pill ingredients in the world it’s also one of the best. Researchers have proven its value again and again and the results of one study show it can increase energy expenditure and fat oxidation for up to 24 hours. [SOURCE]

Caffeine Anhydrous

Caffeine is another commonly-used diet pill ingredient. It’s also often overused. It’s abilities as a stimulant allow it to be very effective for boosting mental focus and accelerating the metabolism. Needless to say, it boosts energy too.

When used in moderation, most people can enjoy the benefits of caffeine without any unpleasant repercussions. Burn XT provides 270 mg per dose. That’s a lot and the anhydrous form of caffeine is absorbed fast so the body is going to get a quick hit that could cause jitters, headaches, and other side effects.

To put things into perspective, taking two capsules will provide a dose of caffeine similar to that provided by three cups of coffee.

Capsimax

Capsimax is a proprietary blend of capsicum extract. Capsicum is a good ingredient that has proven value as an appetite suppressant, a metabolism booster, and a thermogenic fat burner. It’s actually one of the most powerful weight loss ingredients available.

The problem is, most capsicum extracts are hard on the stomach. Capsimax is not. It uses a special bead technology that allows it to be easy on the digestive organs while also delivering maximum power.

Bioperine

A patented black pepper extract that provided piperine. Black pepper extracts are used in many different types of supplements because piperine aids ingredient absorption.

How to Use Burn XT

The normal dose is two capsules first thing each morning. These should be taken with a glass of water. If desired, it’s permissible to take a further two capsules five to six hours later.

However, new users are warned to begin with a dose of no more than one capsule per day. This makes it possible to check for tolerance issues. If none come to light, Jacked Factory says it’s possible to go full steam ahead and take the full dose from day three onward.

Burn XT Reviews and Customer Comments

Although there are a lot of good reviews there are also people who are saying the product failed to meet their requirements. There are many reports of side effects as well.

A few average customer reviews read:

“I like Burn XT. It always gives me a ton of energy to put into my morning workout. I think I may have lost a couple of pounds from my waist as well so everything is good.”
“These pills are a waste of money they don’t help with fat burning at all. All they do is give you a banging headache and leave you feeling half dead for the rest of the day.”
“Three weeks ago I began going to the gym and eating a low-energy diet. I also began using Burn XT. So far, I’ve managed to lose 9lbs and my energy levels are through the roof. I’ve still got a way to go yet but I’m confident the pills will help me get there.”
“I’m not really sure if these pills work or not. I am eating less, but that’s because they get me feeling so ill. They do give you an initial energy buzz, but it’s followed by a crash that makes you want to crawl away and sleep. Other people may have more luck with this product, but it’s not for me.”

Reported Side Effects of Burn XT

Although some people seem to be able to use Burn XT without issue, others report experiencing a range of unpleasant side effects.

Reported side effects include:

Headaches
Nausea
Vomiting
Anxiety
Jitters
Drowsiness

All of the reported side effects are the same as the ones people normally experience when they consume too much caffeine. That includes feeling drowsy.

After an initial energy boost, high doses of caffeine can result in a phenomenon known as a “caffeine crash”.

Extreme tiredness is one of the main symptoms of a caffeine crash. It can also interfere with concentration, cause irritability, and hit you with an overpowering desire to sleep.

Although the warning on the back of the bottle is easy to miss, Jacked Factory suggests all users ask for a doctor’s opinion prior to using Burn XT. This is very good advice.

Where to Buy Burn XT

Unless you don’t live in the US or Canada, you probably won’t be able to buy Burn XT at all. Jacked Factory does not offer shipping options to addresses located outside North America.

However, presuming your geographical location is right you have the option of buying Burn XT from the Jacked Factory website and via Amazon.com.

As far as the price goes, Burn XT initially appears pretty cheap. You can normally buy a bottle of burn for around USD $30. The problem is, if you use two doses a day, a bottle will only last for a couple of weeks. If you are seriously thinking of using this product you may want to bear that in mind.

Guarantee

Jacked Factory promises customers a 30-day money back guarantee, but the Terms and Conditions page on the company website suggests refunds are only available for products that are unused.

Any refunds issued are less the cost of shipping and Jacked Factory also subtracts an unspecified handling charge.

Is Burn XT Worth Buying?

Burn XT is a supplement that offers customers a mix of good and bad. The formulation contains green tea and Capsimax. Both are excellent fat burners so that’s good. It also contains a large dose of caffeine. That could give many people a significant energy boost, which is good, but it could also cause side effects and that is undeniably bad.

The fact that some customers say the product worked well for them is good. Unfortunately, a lot of customers report experiencing side effects that could easily be attributed to caffeine overload. That, of course, is bad.

There are also some doubts about the value of the money back guarantee and the shipping options are severely limited. Neither of these things is good. All things considered, Burn XT does not compare well to some of the other options available.

Nutrex Outlift – Stim Free Pre Workout Review

Updated on February 10, 2020 by Brad Murphy

If you are sensitive to stimulants (caffeine) the it would make sense to use a stimulant free pre workout. Outlift is considered to be one of the best. Read our review and see what we think.

Nutrex Outlift - Stim Free Pre Workout Review

PROS
Stacked pre-workout.
One of the best stimulant free options.
Good pumps

CONS
It is nowhere near as good as a fully dosed pre workout.

VERDICT
If you are sensitive to caffeine then I would not hesitate to recommend. It is arguably the best of the Pre-Workout ‘lites’.

If you are not sensitive then look closely at 4 Gauge.

Nutrex Outlift Review

Nutrex released their pre-workout supplement Outlift in regular and stim-free versions. This review covers the stim-free version but they are close enough in ingredients for the information below to be useful to you.

If you’re anything like me, you have two pre-workouts in the cupboard, one with stimulants, and one stim-free option.

A stim-free option is useful for a day where you want to get your stimulant fix another way, or you want to take advantage of the other ingredients a stim-free will use, or you just don’t want the stim “feel”.

Of course, some of you always go stim-free for any number of reasons, and so these are your go-to products.

I have alternated Nutrex Research’s Stim-Free Outlift with another product I have been testing, Dymatize Pre W.O.

This gave me a great idea as to how a stimulant based pre-workout compared with the stim-free pre. They are also fairly similar with respect to some of the key inclusions and their dosages, and they provided an even better platform for comparison.

Why Use Nutrex Outlift Stim-Free?

The obvious reasons are that you want a stim-free pre-workout, Nutrex Research are a reputable company, and Outlift is a fairly recent product line, so why not?!

One thing to point out from the beginning is the 26 grams of Outlift powder for every scoop.

That’s a pretty big scoop and worthy of your attention, because there are only a couple grams of non-active ingredients in Outlift, meaning it contains about 24 grams of active ingredients.

Companies who routinely put out these pre-workouts, the servings of which are in single figure grams, can not compare their products to something like Nutrex Outlift.

Here are the reported benefits of Outlift Stim-Free:

Enhances Power and Strength
Amplifies Muscle Pump, Reduces Fatigue, Supports Recovery
Stim-Free
Scientifically Based Formula
Non-Proprietary Blend

Yep, that last point brings be to the next section. The formula is an open book; no proprietary blends to trick the customer.

What Are the Ingredients and Dosages?

Nutrex have used the majority of their regular Outlift pre-workout formula, taken out the caffeine and l-tyrosine and added Betaine instead.

To that end it’s a true non-stim version of the same formula, which is not the route a lot of companies go mainly because they usually have too many stimulants so after they replace them, there is very little of the original formula left.

My point is, if you like the look of regular stimulant Outlift except for that darn caffeine and l-tyrosine, well, you’re in luck.

The main active ingredients in each 26 gram scoop are as follows:

Citrulline Malate [8 g] – the chief of the muscle pump ingredients at the moment. It’s better than straight arginine for boosting nitric oxide levels because arginine is broken down too quickly.

So, taking citrulline increases serum arginine more than taking arginine does (just go with it).

Beta-Alanine (as CarnoSyn) [3.2 g] – CarnoSyn is the most respected branded form of beta-Alanine, the non-essential amino acid that helps you push a few more reps in your volume set.

L-Leucine [3 g] – the primary branched chain amino acid (BCAA), which can be used in the muscle as direct fuel, and triggers the anabolic muscle growth process.

Betaine Anhydrous [2.5 g] – a heart protecting methyl-donor that helps reduce cellular damage from exercise oxidation. Research tells us it might have a similar effect to creatine with respect to drawing water into cells.

Creatine Monohydrate (as Creapure) [2 g] – creatine needs no introduction, it’s the most proven strength building supplement ever. However, I would add another 3 grams of Creatine monohydrate to this amount to replenish your phosphocreatine energy stores.

Taurine [2 g] – helps speed recovery and reduce muscle soreness, especially in combination with the BCAAs in the blend. It may also be able to help aerobic function and increase exercise induced fat burning (thermogenesis).

L-Isoleucine [1.5 g]
L-Valine [1.5 g]
BioPerine [5mg]

Like I said in the Creatine bit, the only thing I would do is add some additional creatine to your shake. Timing for creatine is not critical, it simply builds up in your cells to saturate them and form a phosphocreatine reservoir.

By adding 3 grams more of creatine monohydrate you will provide your body with enough for each day with a little in reserve to top up your phosphocreatine stores. Whereas the 2 grams in Outlift may potentially be used up during intensive workouts.

Your phosphocreatine reservoir is basically an energy store that you muscles can tap into when they need it.

Will the Formula Work for You?

It depends on whether you enjoy/need a stimulant kick up the backside. If you’re okay taking stimulants, then I’d stick with stim-formulas for the most part because they provide something that non-stims just can’t.

I mentioned in the intro that I like having one of each; a stimulant containing pre-workout and a non-stim pre-workout. That’s personal choice, but it lets me have a coffee heavy morning some days and still get pumped in the gym without overdoing the caffeine.

The most common possibility is that you are a non-stimulant kind of person. I don’t care why you don’t take stimulants, but I want you to have a solid pre-workout, and with Nutrex Outlift you’ve got one, trust me.

Recommended Pre Workout

The market is not exactly short of pre workout supplements – everybody their favourite. This is ours

4 Gauge is a premier supplement – it contains high dosages of the ingredients to get the most from your workout.

4 Gauge is suitable for men and women and for people of all levels from the beginner to the competitive trainer

More on 4Gauge Pre Workout here