Muscle Pharm Natural Series Pre Workout Review

Pro’s

• Citrulline shown to enhance muscle pumps
• Coconut Water Powder keeps you hydrated
• Great Caffeine dosage (150mg per serving)

Con’s

• Citrulline seriously under-dosed at 1g
• More than 1 caffeine source (increases risk of jitters)
• Contains proprietary blends (increases risk of side effects)
• Numerous ineffective ingredients
• Missing key pre-workout ingredients

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See Your Best Options In Our
– Top 3 Pre-Workouts Page –

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About The Product

Natural Series Pre-Workout is one of MusclePharm’s newest supplements for 2017. It’s part of their ‘Natural Series’ of products, which we can get behind as they don’t contain any artificial sweeteners or colors – so hopefully the ingredients inside this pre-workout can prove it’s worth it.

This pre-workout comes at the price of $34.99 for 30 serving containers. In our exclusive peak at this product, we saw the Fresh Cut Watermelon flavor (but we’re not sure whether there are any other flavors at this point – we’ll keep you updated when we know more here).

Anyway, we’ll tell you a bit about MusclePharm (for those that don’t know about this company) – but if you already know, then skip to the ingredients section where we’ll analyze the ingredients in their Natural Series Pre-Workout.

Who are MusclePharm? 

MusclePharm are a USA-based supplements company that were founded in 2010 – headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Anyway, MusclePharm are one of the most reputable supplements companies out there; we first saw their logo on the shorts of UFC fighters, and it’s since become a respected brand. For this reason, we’re expecting big things from this new pre-workout for 2017.

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Natural Series Pre-Workout Ingredients Explained

Natural Series Pre-Workout by MusclePharm contains 10 ingredients overall, which is quite a lot for a pre-workout – we prefer to have 5-8 key ingredients that’re proven to work, and more importantly, dosed effectively (to make sure the product actually works).

From first glance, we can see MusclePharm has under-dosed the L-Citrulline, and added some ineffective ingredient such as Betaine and Tart Cherry. Anyway, we’ll expand on this in our in-depth analysis of each ingredient below – but first we have to point out that Natural Series Pre-Workout contains a proprietary blend…

Now that you’re aware of what proprietary blends are, and why we don’t like them, we’ll take you through each ingredient inside MusclePharm’s pre-workout; to show you how good it really is.

Here’s Everything You Need To Know:

Betaine Anhydrous

This is a bad start by MusclePharm. Betaine is one of the worst ingredients you can find in pre-workout supplements for one reason – it doesn’t work.

Studies have proven that it doesn’t offer any benefits to improve your gym sessions…But it has been consistently reported to cause a strange side effect (fishy odors in your breath and sweat). This side effect isn’t worth suffering for, especially when you’re getting no positives in return.

For this reason, we believe this to be a useless ingredient in any gym supplement.

L-Citrulline 

L-Citrulline is actually one of our favorite pre-workout ingredients, so good job by MusclePharm here – although we prefer Citrulline Malate (which is L-Citrulline mixed with Malic Acid, which has shown to enhance your strength too).

So what’s the main benefit of taking L-Citrulline? Well, countless studies have shown that it’s able to enhance your muscle pumps in the gym – Arnold Schwarzeneger called ‘The Pump’ one of the greatest feelings in the world, and this helps your biceps expand even more.

Here’s how it works: Citrulline improves your blood flow, which makes more blood rush to your muscles while you lift weights. As you can imagine, this helps your muscles expand and therefore ends up with you benefitting from better muscle pumps (which are proven to enhance your endurance and reduce fatigue).

Tart Cherry 

We’re disappointed that MusclePharm has added this into their pre-workout for 2 reasons:

1. Tart Cherry is believed to promote fat loss (which isn’t a direct benefit from taking a pre-workout, that’s what fat burner supplements are for).
2. It’s doesn’t work.

Simply put, Tart Cherry is one of the biggest gimmicks in the supplements industry, as it’s been promoted as some kind of ‘miracle fat burning ingredient’. But all you need to know, is that no studies show that it delivers any benefits at all – making it a useless ingredient in any supplement.

For this reason, we recommend that you don’t trust any supplements containing Tart Cherry.

Taurine 

This is an organic acid containing sulfur, and contrary to popular belief, it isn’t bull urine. Anyway, it’s mistakenly believed to boost energy levels, as it’s found in numerous energy drinks – but no studies have proven that it offers any raises in energy.

Taurine isn’t completely useless though; it’s shown to help reduce cramping during sporting performances – but this same benefit can be achieved by keeping yourself hydrated (MusclePharm have added Coconut Water Extract in Natural Series Pre-Workout, so we’re not sure why they’ve added Taurine in here too).

We’ll expand on the benefits of Coconut Water Extract later in this section.

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G-4 Tea Energy 

This is the proprietary blend that’s part of Natural Series Pre-Workout by MusclePharm. If you’ve forgotten what these blends are, then read our quick overview in the box at the start of this section – but just remember that no-one knows the exact dosage of each ingredient in this blend.

Not only that, none of the ingredients inside this blend are proven to actually improve your gym sessions (although Green Tea Extract helps to promote fat loss…). Anyway, we’ll quickly analyze each ingredient for you here.

Green Tea Extract 

As we’ve mentioned, Green Tea Extract has proven to help you shred body fat. It’s a key ingredient in fat burner supplements; but it’s not needed in MusclePharm’s Natural Series Pre-Workout, as it won’t directly improve your gym sessions.

Guarana Seed Extract

This is one of the biggest sources of Caffeine you can find – which isn’t always a good thing. It’s hard to know the exact dosage of Caffeine in Guarana Seed Extract – which is why we prefer Caffeine Anhydrous.

Basically, consuming large dosages of Caffeine (above 200mg per serving in pre-workouts), can cause jitters. In fact, this is the most common side effect associated with pre-workouts as a result. As Natural Series Pre-Workout also contains ‘PurCaf’ (another source of Caffeine), this puts you at risk of side effects.

For this reason, we only recommend pre-workouts that contain Caffeine Anhydrous as it’s only source of stimulant, with dosages under 200mg per serving.

Ginseng Root Extract 

Also known as Panax Ginseng, this has shown to raise testosterone levels – but it won’t directly improve your gym sessions when consumed once per day (this is why the best testosterone booster supplements come with serving sizes of 3-4 per day).

For this reason, we don’t think Ginseng Root Extract is needed in MusclePharm’s pre-workout here.

PurCaf (Green Coffee Bean)

This is extracted from Green Coffee Bean and is believed to be the most organic form of Caffeine – but Caffeine Anhydrous has been used for decades without harming people, and it’s proven to be effective (so there’s no need to try and fix something that’s not broken here).

As we’ve mentioned, Caffeine Anhydrous is the most reliable source of Caffeine as it’s 100% pure – meaning you know the exact dosage you’re consuming. With PurCaf, you’re not completely sure of the exact Caffeine dosage here, which increases your risk of suffering from jitters.

Not only that, as Natural Series Pre-Workout also contains Guarana Seed Extract, you’re already at a high risk of suffering from these side effects anyway. We probably sound like a broken record player, but we only recommend pre-workouts that contain Caffeine Anhydrous as it’s only source of stimulant, with dosages under 200mg per serving.

Coconut Water Powder 

Coconut Water Powder is a very useful ingredient to have in a pre-workout; it’s proven to help keep you hydrated throughout your workout, which therefore helps you perform at peak levels consistently.

Here’s how it works: Coconut Water contains high amounts of electrolytes that keeps your electrolyte levels balanced – which are also found in sports drinks for this reason. All you need to know, is that Electrolytes help make up for your sweating in the gym (if you’re not sweating in the gym, then you’re not working hard enough!).

Ultimately, this isn’t a key feature of any pre-workout, but it offers benefits without causing side effects.

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See Your Best Options In Our
– Top 3 Pre-Workouts Page –

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Side Effects

There 2 things that can cause side effects in MusclePharm’s Natural Series Pre-Workout; the potentially high dosage of Caffeine, and Betaine Anhydrous. As we’ve mentioned, we only recommend pre-workouts that contain Caffeine Anhydrous as it’s only source of stimulant, with dosages under 200mg per serving – this will keep you safe from jitters or energy crashes.

Here’s the potential side effects from taking Natural Series Pre-Workout: 

• Jitters (Caffeine dosage over 200mg per serving).
• Energy Crashes (Caffeine dosage over 200mg per serving).
• Fishy odors in breath and sweat (Betaine Anhydrous).

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Natural Series Pre-Workout Review Conclusion

We’re disappointed that MusclePharm only added 1 key pre-workout ingredient in their Natural Series Pre-Workout (L-Citrulline) – and they didn’t even dose that correctly!

Not only that; this pre-workout contains 2 of the biggest gimmicks in the supplements industry – Proprietary Blends and Tart Cherry.

If this was a great product, then the $34.99 price would have seemed great. However, for the same price or $5 more, you can get one of our favorite pre-workouts on the market. We recommend to do, instead of wasting your cash and time with Natural Series Pre-Workout.

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