Choosing the Right "PUMP" Pre Workout

With so many different products on the market geared towards “sick pumps”, there are many factors you need to take into consideration. Below we’ll break down everything you should be looking at when making your choice, because let’s face it, you’ll want a healthy balance between full muscle and a full wallet.

Obviously a big driving factor is price. If you’re stacking this with a stimulant pre-workout you don’t want to break the bank on an “additive” type product, but typically a cheaper price point is a reflection of less quality, uniqueness or versatility. Factors like flavor systems, main active ingredients and stackability weigh into each of these.

Check out the chart below comparing some “pump” pre-workouts currently on the market:

Most of these products start out on a level playing field – they focus on pumps and can be stacked with a stim-based pre-workout. From there they’re quite different.

Most notably the total active ingredients and flavor systems. When the total active ingredients are comprised mainly of glycerol, this is a major key (credit: DJ Khaled) to justify the low price point. Glycerol is a phenomenal ingredient to increase pumps, but is also extremely cheap to manufacture. Flavor systems on the other hand are not cheap to include, which is why most commodity type products are unflavored. Flavor plays a big part in overall user experience/enjoyment and unfortunately most unflavored powders when taken alone taste horrible (meaning these products must be stacked with a flavored product).

There are a couple other attributes to weigh, which for some don’t matter at all, but for others are make or break.

Powder vs. tablets/capsules - It’s become common knowledge that powder supplements absorb and break down more efficiently than their counterparts: tablets or capsules. Tablets or capsules might be a more convenient on-the-go option but have drawbacks as well. Tablets are usually heat pressed and take longer to break down in the body (if they do at all). They’re essentially all of the active ingredients smashed into a rock solid brick. A pump product taken pre-workout needs to be quick hitting – get those pump inducing ingredients into the blood stream where they can be fully utilized, not broken down over hours as they pass through your full digestive system.

Full label disclosure – quite the hot topic in the supplement industry, full label disclosure means the brand shows you exactly how much of each ingredient is in the product. This is great when comparing product vs. product, especially when efficacious doses are common knowledge… you’ll know if you’re getting screwed or not. Proprietary blends do have their place at times, but they’re also easy to figure out…. If the full proprietary blend is less than an efficacious dose of the first ingredient listed, it’s pretty obvious the blend is padding the manufacturers wallet and costing you precious, precious gains.

So what pump product do we recommend, you might ask? Due to our unhealthy love for ISO-AMINO by MAN Sports, we’d have to go with Pump Powder. Pump Powder is a straight-forward, full label disclosure product featuring 3 key pump inducing agents – Citrulline Malate (3 grams), Glycerol Monostearate (1.5 grams) and AgmaFlow Agmatine Sulfate (500 mg). Please refer to our post about Agmatine to see why we love this ingredient. Their super unique flavor systems like Sour Batch, Dorks and Blue Bomb-Sicle taste more like liquid candy than an actual supplement yet contain no sugars, artificial colors or dyes. Plus the pumps you’ll get from this product will turn everyday into arm day! Perfect to stack with your favorite stimulant based pre-workout or use stand-alone.

Pump Powder has just hit the market and we’re excited to get it in your hands! We’re running an introductory $5.00 OFF + a FREE MAN Sports “Straight to the Dome” T-Shirt offer! Offer is while supplies last, hurry! To learn more about the product and how amazing it is, click here.