I used this more as a metabolic aid than a fat burner – I just wanted to have a bit of a boost in terms of converting the energy in my food to energy in the gym. Lots of fat burners out there, but they were either too extreme or too weak for my liking. The rest use gelatine capsules – so first and foremost, THANK YOU to CNP for making vegetarian and vegan-friendly capsules!
I did immediately notice an increase in my metabolism and general alertness and digestion. However, this rapidly tailed off as I adapted to its effects, and I also suffered from nausea at times which I think arose from the combination of thermogenic agents plus the green tea I was drinking plus the cinnamon in my morning porridge. Just conjecture, but the nausea seemed to stop when I stopped taking Pro Lean. A shame, because I really do rate this product.
I’m always sceptical of energy drinks but man does this work! No voodoo magic in here; caffeine, guarana, maltodextrin and electrolytes – just pure energy and focus. As I can’t really justify spending £1 and change on a bottle of these for each exercise session, I don’t use these regularly, but I have had some of my best sessions when I have had one of these just slightly before and during. Really rate this product.
This obviously didn’t give me the kick that CNP Pro Napalm does (as they are two very different products), but it certainly kept me hydrated and energised, and it tastes delicious. Apart from being more practical and cost-effective than buying a ready-made sports drink, you can choose how much to dilute it depending on whether you want a hypotonic, hypertonic, or isotonic beverage according to your session. If you opt for isotonic, one 50ml serving yields 500ml of drink, which means their 2L tank would give you 20L of sports drink – for £30, that’s not too bad. It’s also the best-tasting sports drink I have tried, fruity and not aggressively sweet. Nice product, though for my purposes I will probably be sticking to carb-free electrolyte tablets for now.
I always train using these now. They don’t dissolve quite as nicely as Nuun tablets, don’t taste quite as nice, and don’t come in such a wide variety of flavours, but they come in tubes of 20 (as opposed to 12 for Nuun), one tablet is used for 750ml of water (as opposed to 500ml for Nuun) and they are slightly cheaper. I didn’t like the taste at all when I first tried them, but I have gotten used to it. I like that the Citrus flavour has added green tea extract, but I think the Grapefruit is tastier.
Same as above but with the added kick of caffeine. Obviously, one to avoid if you train late in the day or don’t react well to caffeine. I normally keep a stash of these alongside my non-caffeinated ones, to use as appropriate. It may just be a placebo effect, but I believe I feel the added focus and energy from the caffeine.
This is one of those products that everyone I know raves about, whether they are nutrition nuts or not. So I was really excited to try these. I can deal with muscle soreness but I struggle with feeling slow, flat and generally exhausted by the end of a week of moderately intense training. Unfortunately, I have tried taking these in a split dose before and after training, as recommended, taking the whole dose before, or the whole dose after, and can’t seem to find any effect on my training or energy the following day. I’m really disappointed as I had high hopes, but never mind, at least it’s one more thing I won’t need to spend money on.
Not necessarily an essential for vegans who eat soy products, as soy protein is already high in L Glutamine.
Personally I found my recovery increased after beginning to take L Glutamine, but this coincided with increasing my protein intake and a slight shift in diet and training, so hard to say. Having said that, placebo effect is good enough for me!
I love these things. Out of the electrolytes I have tried, they dissolve the best and taste the best. Virtually calorie-free, portable, practical, with a wide range of delicious flavours, I do my best to try and promote these to people I train with. My favourite flavours out of the ones I’ve tried are Lemon+Lime, Strawberry Lemonade, Tropical, and Fruit Punch… but all of them are palatable to me.
Again, no competition for Nuun. Sightly cheaper than Nuun, but more expensive than High5. They dissolve surprisingly quickly, much better than High5 and maybe even slightly better than Nuun, and remain less “fizzy” than Nuun which may be good if you have trouble with even the slightest hint of fizziness. I prefer the Lemon flavour – I generally find citrus-flavoured products are safer tast-wise, and these Berry tablets haven’t managed to change that opinion, I don’t find them hugely pleasant to drink but they do the trick!