Stealing their name from what must be the discarded line of GI Joe toys, ABB, or American Body Building has released “Nitric Force, a pump activating supplement” This sounds like it should be sold next to “Commander Thunder, now with actuated force shield, or “Wolverine 3000, with karate Chop Action.” This is supposed to help you with more powerful “pumps”, a nitric oxide boost and a higher alertness. Different than your standard energy drink, this big ol’ 22 ounce bottle is supposed to be a workout wonder. So rather tan sip, I took it out for a hard day at the Gym.
My first problem is I had no idea what nitric oxide is supposed to do for you in the gym. I thought I would try it with some intense aerobics, followed by an upper body muscle workout. I did about an hour jogging on the treadmill, then a quick 15 minute arm routine – drinking half the drink during aerobics and the other half while working out the biceps.
First, the taste.
During the aerobics, what would be a normal tasty drink turned into chalk. It was very very difficult trying to drink this strong flavor while running – wanting water and getting a mouthful of sweet and sour. I was able to actually taste it when my heart rate slowed down – and it did not taste bad at all. But during a hard workout – I wanted light and refreshing and got Hawaiian Punch. The next day I had split the drink into 2, adding 12 ounces of water to it. I would definitely recommend this to anyone using this as a drink for cardio – as it became much much easier to get down.
During the muscle workout, Nitric Force was pretty good. While I doubt anyone would be drinking this for the taste, it was good enough to chug down and keep going. It still left a chalky flavor in my mouth, but I felt hydrated enough to continue without having to rush to the water fountain.
The odd thing for me was that after I was done drinking the liquid, there would still be these crunchy undissolved pellets at te bottom of my drink. Not sure I want to know what they were…
As for the nutrition, it did not seem to do a whole lot for me during the cardio workout. Having the 200 mg of caffeine is nice to keep from getting exhausted at the end of a workout, and to give that boost you need to get that extra oomph during. But as for the Nitric Pump, that arginine did not seem to do much of anything.
Now it seems that Nitric Oxide, sometimes referred to NO2 helps increase that pumped feeling after a good strong workout. I, particularly love the feeling – and would LOVE to feel that all day without even working out. But no, you are supposed to only feel the effects while lifting. And from all research I found online and from asking doctors, it does not really work.
Through researching and talking to my doctor, it seems that arginine really does not help you get “pumped”, although it is pretty common for companies to come out with arginine products, it seems like it is pretty hard to back that up with any evidence(http://www.tmuscle.com, http://www.shapefit.com). Now I am SURE that the good people at ABB are just providing those people who would be taking it anyways an easier method of consuming it – and don’t seem to be promoting it as a sure-fire way of getting more pumped. American Bodybuilding has over 60 different size, flavor, and delivery methods to choose from – and since people are consuming this anyways, it would make sense to give people an option to have this is cool drink form. Just because studies have yet to prove any concrete information of this supplement actually increasing muscle growth or recovery does not mean gym rats don’t want to try it out for themselves.
It is not like it hurt me in any way either. I liked the taurine and 200mg of caffeine – as it definitely gave me a boost and kept me from feeling sluggish at the end of the workout day.
As for the packaging, I love their hand fitted bottle – perfect for using again and again – especially in the large 22 ounce size. It lists all the ingredients including a total caffeine value – which I really like. Their side panel helps you make sure this is really the drink for you and your workout. This is a great way to help fit the consumer to the product if you have quite a lot of similar products. This has become my new water bottle for the gym, as it is just the right size and definitely has that awesome “I am serious about my working out” thing going for it – unlike me bringing in a tiny jug of muscle milk or a can of some energy drink.