Pros
- Beta-Alanine & Creatine Monohydrate can enhance muscle endurance
- L-Citrulline is known for improving muscle pumps
- Contains the ‘Smart Caffeine’ combo to boost energy & focus
Cons
- Caffeine Anhydrous dosage is slightly high (increased risk of jitters)
- Beta-Alanine can cause itchy & tingly skin
- Betaine Anhydrous is linked with fishy body odor
- Yohimbe is known to cause side effects
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» Top 3 Pre-Workouts Page «
About The Product: Vapor One
Vapor One (also known as Vapor 1) is a pre-workout supplement made by MuscleTech. It costs $39.99 for 20 servings and considering that it contains 21 ingredients in good dosages, this isn’t bad value for money.
In fact, it’s pretty rare that we award any product above 3.5 stars. So, we are pretty excited by this new addition to the pre-workouts market by MuscleTech.
Ultimately, this is a pretty damn good product. But, it is slightly let down by a few things such as the big dosage of Caffeine Anhydrous and the inclusion of Yohimbe (which is commonly linked to side effects).
Anyway, we’ll expand on this as we take you through MuscleTech Vapor One’s ingredients in the next section. But first, we’ll tell those new to supplements more information about MuscleTech.
Who is MuscleTech?
If you’re not new to supplements, then you’ll know who MuscleTech are.
They are one of the well-known companies in the industry and have produced some great products; their fat burner, Hydroxycut Titanium is actually one of our highest rated fat burners on the market.
However, you’re here to learn more about their pre-workout, Vapor One. So, let’s see which ingredients have been added to this product in the section below…
Vapor One Ingredients Explained
As we mentioned before, MuscleTech’s pre-workout supplement, Vapor One, contains 21 main ingredients overall; usually, we would consider this amount of ingredients to be too many.
So, what makes Vapor One different? Well, we’re impressed that MuscleTech has not hidden any ingredients in any proprietary blends and that each nutrient has been dosed well.
Our favorite features of Vapor One are the optimally dosed L-Citrulline, Creatine Monohydrate, and Beta-Alanine; seeing all of these nutrients dosed optimally is quite rare.
However, hardly any supplement is perfect and unfortunately Vapor One is no exception. Some bad things about this pre-workout (in our honest opinion) are that it contains Yohimbe and a slightly over-dosed dosage of Caffeine Anhydrous.
To tell you more, we’ll take you through each ingredient in Vapor One. By the end of this review, you’ll have a good idea of how safe and effective this pre-workout really is.
Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Vapor One:
Beta-Alanine
We used to have very mixed opinions about Beta-Alanine, here at LeanBulking.com. This is because it can cause you to experience itchy & tingly skin (a side effect known as paresthesia).
However, after trying out numerous pre-workouts containing Beta-Alanine, you do get used to this sensation. And after a while, it is not a problem as you learn to accept it.
Not only that, Beta-Alanine has shown to be beneficial; numerous studies show that Beta-Alanine is capable of enhancing your muscle endurance.
As a result, Beta-Alanine is a good addition to a pre-workout such as Vapor One. But, for first time users, you might find the itching and tingling on your skin slightly strange (remember that it isn’t harmful at all, but we accept some people do not like this sensation as we didn’t at first).
Creatine Monohydrate
Creatine Monohydrate is probably the most reliable and proven ingredient available on the market. Ask any athlete or bodybuilder and they will know that this works to improve your strength and endurance.
How does it work? Well, without boring you with too much science, Creatine Monohydrate is able to boost your ATP levels so that you can keep the intensity of your workouts high even towards the end of it; this means that you will feel a bit more of a boost during your last few reps.
As always, though, it’s important to keep your eye on the dosage of ingredients. With Creatine Monohydrate, we like to see at least 1,000mg in a pre-workout supplement (as some people consume this nutrient separately anyway).
MuscleTech has nailed the dosage in Vapor One; there is a big 3,000mg (3g) dosage of Creatine Monohydrate with each serving, so there’s no need to buy this nutrient separately here.
You can’t really complain about Creatine Monohydrate, to be honest. Many clinical studies and human trials prove that it works and this has become common knowledge.
Betaine Anhydrous & Choline
We’ve grouped these 2 ingredients together because they are both unproven and have been linked with causing fishy body odors.
Now, we don’t want to just rule these nutrients out. We’re just stating our honest opinion that there have not been enough studies that prove that they work for them to be reliable.
The good news is that they won’t cause any side effects that will make you ill. But some studies have shown that they can make your breath and sweat smell slightly fishy.
As a result, we would rather not consume them if we had a choice. But at the same time, the side effect isn’t physically harmful so these ingredients are not the worst ingredients in Vapor One.
Taurine
You might have seen Taurine before, due to it being a common addition to energy drinks. But, it’s important to know that it has no effect on your energy levels.
So what does it do? Well, Taurine has shown to be capable of preventing cramping during exercise.
Ultimately, the haters can say that you can simply keep yourself hydrated. As a result, we consider Taurine to be more of a ‘bonus’ ingredient instead of a key addition to Vapor One here.
L-Citrulline
In terms of being able to improve your muscle pumps while you lift weights, it doesn’t get much better than L-Citrulline and Citrulline Malate. Either one is great, so it’s no problem that MuscleTech has chosen to go with L-Citrulline in Vapor One.
How does it work? Well, Citrulline boosts your nitric oxide levels, which directly increases your blood flow; this allows more blood and oxygen to be pumped into your muscles, resulting in you experiencing better muscle pumps in the gym.
If you’re looking at L-Citrulline, then its optimal dosage of 3,000mg. This is great, as Vapor One contains 4,000mg per serving.
As a result, we have nothing to complain about. Good job by MuscleTech here.
Nitrosigine
This is a patented form of inositol-stabilized arginine silicate.
We have mixed opinions about this. While there have been a few positive studies conducted on this nutrient, we don’t believe that there have been enough yet (in our honest opinion).
But if you’re going off the few studies that are available out there, then it seems like a positive ingredient. So, while we’ll wait for future studies before making our final decision on this ingredient, it certainly seems promising.
Hawthorn Extract
We’re not quite sure why MuscleTech has added Hawthorn Extract to Vapor One. It’s most commonly used by guys using juice, as it’s shown to help protect your heart health and blood vessels.
There are some studies that suggest that Hawthorn Extract can improve your circulation, which might have a slight effect on muscle pumps. But this isn’t proven in enough studies for us to believe that it’s reliable.
Still, though, improvements to your heart health isn’t a bad thing – you don’t really need it if you’re not juicing though…And we always believe natural is better in the long run, especially for your health (which is why we only promote 100% natural supplements on this site).
VasoDrive AP
In case you’re wondering, Vaso AP is a patented ingredient that’s believed to improve your muscle pumps.
We’re not quite sure why MuscleTech felt the need to add this to Vapor One; it already includes a great dosage of L-Citrulline, which is proven to get the job done on its own.
Ultimately, while this might work, we would have preferred to see something that adds another benefit such as L-Carnitine; L-Carnitine has shown to be capable of reducing muscle fatigue and damage in clinical studies.
Caffeine Anhydrous
In terms of stimulants, it doesn’t get much better than Caffeine Anhydrous. This is a pure form of caffeine that’s been dehydrated into powder form, so that it can be added to supplement powders and pills.
So, the main thing is that it works to boost your energy levels and focus in the gym. In fact, this might be why you consume coffee or tea on a daily basis while at your day job,
However, as almost all coffee lovers will know, even too much of a good thing is bad; if you consume too much caffeine, then you’ll be at risk from jittery side effects and the dreaded energy crash.
For this reason, we always try to choose products that contain under 200mg per serving in pre-workout supplements. We’ve found that this is our ‘sweet spot’ for us, personally, which means that the 350mg dosage in Vapor One is slightly too much for us.
It depends on your tolerance. If you consume bucket loads of coffee daily, then you might be able to handle this 350mg dosage (but we don’t recommend consuming any other caffeinated products on days that you do).
The bottom line is that we wish MuscleTech had reduced the Caffeine Anhydrous dosage to under 200mg per serving to help keep more people safe from jitters (in our honest opinion).
Choline Bitartrate
Choline is a compound that’s naturally produced by your body. You can consume more through your diet in foods such as eggs, broccoli, meat and fish (or through supplements such as Vapor One).
This ingredient has shown to be capable of improving your sporting performance. But it’s also capable of making your sweat smell fishy when consuming more than 550mg per day (which is the tolerable upper level for Choline).
As there is only 200mg here, it shouldn’t cause any side effects.
L-Theanine
L-Theanine has shown to be very effective when consumed with caffeine; it is capable of enhancing the effects of caffeine.
However, as there is a 350mg dosage of Caffeine Anhydrous of Vapor One, it’s not going to save those with a low tolerance from jittery side effects.
Japanese Raisin Tree Extract
Also known as Hovenia Dulcis, the extract of this tree found in Asia has been used in Japanese and Chinese traditional medicine for decades as a laxative and treat liver disease.
However, we don’t believe that there is enough solid evidence that this ingredient can improve your gym session. So, we don’t think that this is a useful nutrient in MuscleTech’s Vapor One.
Yohimbe Extract
Yohimbe Extract is a form of stimulant that’s been used in many fat loss studies with some success. However, in big dosages, it’s also linked with very harmful side effects so it’s not something we would want to consume on a regular basis.
Not only that, MuscleTech’s Vapor One is a pre-workout supplement; if your main aim is to lose body fat, then you should take a look at fat burner supplements instead.
See Your Best Options In Our
» Top 3 Pre-Workouts Page «
MuscleTech Vapor One Side Effects
There are a couple of ingredients that potentially might cause side effects. However, we’re not concerned by most of them; only Yohimbe Extract in MuscleTech Vapor One has shown to cause harmful side effects in the past.
We will also mention that Beta-Alanine can cause itching & tingling and L-Choline can cause fishy odors in your breath & body sweat. But, as you can see, these aren’t going to negatively affect you in the long term.
With that being said, we wouldn’t advise anyone to consume any pre-workouts or fat burners containing Yohimbe Extract.
Here are the potential side effects of taking MuscleTech Vapor One:
- Anxiety (Yohimbe Extract)
- High Blood Pressure (Yohimbe Extract)
- Rapid Heartbeat (Yohimbe Extract)
- Tingling & itching (Beta-Alanine)
- Fishy Breath & Sweat (L-Choline)
MuscleTech Vapor One Review Conclusion
There is no doubt that MuscleTech is a respected company in the supplement industry. They have sponsored some big names in the business and released some great products in the past.
But, will MuscleTech Vapor One be remembered as one of their better pre-workouts? Our honest opinion is maybe.
For the price of this product, you get some great ingredients in optimal dosages; our favorite picks include Beta-Alanine, Creatine Monohydrate and L-Citrulline. However, the unnecessarily large 350mg dosage of Caffeine Anhydrous (which might cause some people to suffer jitters) and Yohimbe Extract let this product slightly down for us.
As a result, we think that a 4-star rating is a very fair conclusion for MuscleTech Vapor One. In case you’re new to our site, we rarely give 4 stars, so this is certainly still a big compliment to this pre-workout supplement.
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