Sustained Release pre-workout review of Body and Fit

Body&Fit sustained release pre-workout. I trained with it over the past few weeks. Here you can read my experiences, but above all the assessment of the ingredients.

Pre workout
My pre workout rules
Unproven ingredients
When it is unclear how much you get per ingredient
Too little of too much
Body&Fit sustained release pre-workout
Beta alanine
Citrulline
BCAA's
Combination of citrulline and BCAA's
Caffeine
N-acetylcysteine
Taste and experience
Hands that are literally itching to go to the gym
Sweet taste, quiet stomach
Sustained release beadlets
Conclusion

Pre workout

I am not always positive about pre workouts. In earlier articles I described which pitfalls you should try to avoid when buying a pre workout.

Before I explain why I was happy with the Body&Fit sustained release pre-workout, I will first explain why it is so hard to make me happy with a pre workout.

My pre workout rules

In an attempt to distinguish themselves from pre workouts from other suppliers, manufacturers often try to appeal to consumers with new, supposedly 'revolutionary' products. These can often contain substances whose effects have not been objectively, convincingly and repeatedly demonstrated in research.

I therefore have a few rules that I apply for myself when I consider buying a pre workout. I will never buy a pre workout if:

It mainly contains ingredients I do not know
It is not clear how much of each ingredient it contains
Too many ingredients have been added.

Unproven ingredients

I do not claim to know every substance in the world that could contribute to a workout. Let alone that I know all the studies on those substances. But I do not have to. Supplements need to be researched and tested under many conditions before you can say anything about their value with any conviction.

So I am specifically not looking for plants that were found yesterday in the Amazon or Dr. Oz's latest discovery. Instead, I want to see familiar old names of supplements that have earned their reputation.

When it is unclear how much you get per ingredient

But even if it contains known, proven substances, I still do not have much confidence in it if I do not know how much of each substance it contains.

If enough research has been done, you can also determine an effective dose for each ingredient. Unfortunately, many manufacturers do not list the dosage of the important substances separately. Instead, these are collected under a term such as 'special blend'. As a result, you cannot judge whether you are getting an effective dose of each ingredient.

Too little of too much

Taking an effective dosage into account, you can also wonder how you can fit a proper dose of, for example, 20 substances into a 20-gram scoop of powder. For some substances, you already need 5 grams before you notice anything from them.

Manufacturers can sometimes be inclined to put a long list of substances in a pre workout so that it looks interesting on the label. "If it contains that much, it must be good", you might think.

Even if they are all active substances, that is not much use if you get too little of each one for a significant effect.

Body&Fit sustained release pre-workout

Keeping the above in mind, I quickly formed my opinion of the Body&Fit sustained release pre-workout by reading the label.

Known, proven ingredients
Clear dosage
Limited list of ingredients

Beta alanine

Beta-alanine, for example, appears to have an effective dose of 3 to 6 grams for increasing athletic performance. Both in cardio and strength training.

Two scoops of this pre workout provide 3 grams of beta-alanine.

Citrulline

I am also in favor of using citrulline instead of arginine as a so-called NO Booster. In an article about citrulline, I mentioned, among other things, three studies in which performance increased (both in cardio and strength training). In one of these studies, 6 grams per day was used; in the other studies, 8 grams. Two scoops of Body&Fit's pre workout contain 6 grams of citrulline.

BCAA's

I have devoted several articles to BCAA's. In them, I was not exactly positive about using BCAA's as a supplement. The Branched Chain Amino Acids play an important role in muscle growth and muscle mass. But you do need to place that effect in the right context. I therefore mainly look at the use of BCAA's by people who already get enough protein in addition. In that context, BCAA's do not really seem to offer added value.

Soon I will also post an article here in response to research that points to some risks of using BCAA's. As a spoiler, I can already say here that such risks mainly seem to result from the wrong ratio between the three BCAA's leucine, isoleucine and valine on the one hand, and other amino acids on the other. All the more reason to get your BCAA's from complete proteins and not from supplements that offer BCAA's separately.

BCAA's are nevertheless very popular, and supplement sellers may be commercially inclined to give people what they want instead of what they need.

Combination of citrulline and BCAA's

This note about the 4 grams of BCAA's you get with two scoops of Body&Fit sustained release pre-workout is not criticism, however. This may be one of the few circumstances in which it can be a real advantage to take BCAA's separately.

In the article about citrulline, I described a study showing that athletes used more BCAA's when using citrulline. Compensating for this by taking extra BCAA's could therefore be a good idea. I just do not know to what extent the same could not also be achieved with complete proteins.

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The study was carried out among cyclists who cycled for three hours. So it has not been established that citrulline also causes increased BCAA use during the typical workout of a fitness enthusiast. We also do not know what dose of BCAA's would be needed to compensate for this.

In Body&Fit's pre workout, you get 4 grams of BCAA's per two scoops. Fortunately, it is also neatly stated how much of each BCAA we get. This makes it clear that the most important BCAA for muscle growth, leucine, is best represented with 2 grams.

Caffeine

Caffeine, the proven natural psychostimulant that can increase alertness and concentration. Until 2004 it was even still on the doping list as a prohibited substance for athletes. Although improved performance in strength training has been demonstrated, the effect seems especially significant in endurance sports.

An additional advantage is that caffeine is one of the few truly effective natural fat burners.

400mg, as found in two scoops of the pre workout, seems like an excellent dose to achieve those effects.

N-acetylcysteine

N-acetylcysteine is the supplement form of the semi-essential amino acid cysteine. 'Semi-essential' because it can be produced by the body from other amino acids, but deficiencies may occur in practice.

Cysteine acts as a strong antioxidant in the muscles. By counteracting damage from free radicals in the muscles, performance and recovery could improve while muscle soreness and fatigue would be lower [1,2]. Still, we see different results when it comes to the effect on athletic performance [3].

Some researchers suspected that the improved performance that was observed was partly caused by better blood flow and therefore a better oxygen supply. N-acetylcysteine is therefore also promoted as an NO Booster. According to research from 2016, however, there is no increased oxygen supply [4].

With the 500mg in two scoops, you are at what for many people would be about half of the daily requirement.

Taste and experience

For this review I could of course also have made a video in which I snort half the tub empty and then spend an hour shouting how insanely hard I am going in the gym. For me, however, the contents are what matter most, along with the studies I can use to assess them.

In terms of personal experience, I mainly look at three things:

How does it taste?
How does it sit on the stomach?
What does it do to me mentally?

Personal physical performance can depend on many variables, and you should never rule out a placebo effect. So if I suddenly bench press 10 kilos more than usual, that does not immediately mean that I am genuinely stronger thanks to the pre workout. It may mean that I feel stronger.

Hands that are literally itching to go to the gym

That worked perfectly with the Body&Fit sustained release pre-workout. The beta-alanine alone is a useful addition for that. The well-known tingling sensation in the ears and fingers makes your hands literally itch to train. I also felt like I did a few more reps than usual. That was especially noticeable during the first workout, leg day. During the rest while squatting, I therefore felt I needed a bit more rest because I had pushed myself a little further than usual.

Sweet taste, quiet stomach

To achieve those effects, you first have to get the pre workout down and then keep it down. Neither is a given.

I had the pre workout in the 'Fruit Punch' flavor. I personally found it very sweet. And that is saying something, given that I have quite a sweet tooth. The recommended use is to mix it with 250-350 ml of water. Personally, I preferred mixing it with at least 500 ml to dilute the taste. Because I train in the morning, however, the pre workout follows shortly after my breakfast of 600 ml of milk with Brinta. That is a lot of fluid shortly before a workout. So I forced myself to get used to the sweet taste by mixing it with less water. That took a few days. Others on the editorial team had less trouble with this. Maybe the watermelon or lime flavor would suit me better.

I have described several times before that some supplements can upset your stomach. In the pre workout ritual I therefore described the “hygienic quarter-hour”; the waiting time after taking a new supplement. A useful precaution to still be near your own toilet if something goes wrong.

This time, however, that precaution turned out to be unnecessary.

Sustained release beadlets

The first time, though, I stirred for quite a long time because I felt the powder was not dissolving properly. Only then did I realize that this pre workout is not supposed to dissolve completely. The "sustained release beadlets" are supposed to ensure that (part of) the substances in the pre workout are released gradually into the bloodstream.

Have I finally caught Body&Fit making a commercial, though less scientifically substantiated, choice? Terms such as "time released" and "sustained release" are often used unnecessarily.

Caffeine, for example, is absorbed in 15 to 40 minutes and can last up to 4 hours. Citrulline was also given only once a day in studies involving men with erectile dysfunction, and not directly before the planned action. And although beta alanine can immediately cause that itchy feeling, the greatest effect on performance only occurs after days to weeks of use.

At this point I would therefore like to see substantiation of which substances would not be able to contribute long enough to, for example, a one-hour workout, and how the small beads could solve this. For now, I think someone in marketing pulled an old trick out of the box.

Conclusion

For a self-proclaimed pre workout critic, however, this is a remarkably positive review. The pre workout scores well on all three of my important criteria.

Ok, I could have done without those granules. I do understand, however, that you need something to make a pre workout stand out among the hundreds of pre workouts on the market. In that case, I would rather see that done with unnecessary granules that make you stir for too long than by adding interesting-sounding but useless ingredients.

In any case, they should not expect this tub back at the office. Sorry colleagues.

References

Reid MB, Stokić DS, Koch SM, Khawli FA, Leis AA. N-acetylcysteine inhibits muscle fatigue in humans. J Clin Invest. 1994;94(6):2468–2474. doi:10.1172/JCI117615
Kerksick C, Willoughby D. The antioxidant role of glutathione and N-acetyl-cysteine supplements and exercise-induced oxidative stress. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2005 Dec 9;2:38-44. doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-2-2-38. PubMed PMID: 18500954; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2129149.
Rhodes KM, Baker DF, Smith BT, Braakhuis AJ. Acute Effect of Oral N-Acetylcysteine on Muscle Soreness and Exercise Performance in Semi-Elite Rugby Players. J Diet Suppl. 2018 Jun 29:1-11. doi: 10.1080/19390211.2018.1470129.
[Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 29958049.
Smith JR, Broxterman RM, Ade CJ, et al. Acute supplementation of N-acetylcysteine does not affect muscle blood flow and oxygenation characteristics during handgrip exercise. Physiol Rep. ;4(7):e12748. doi:10.14814/phy2.12748