Pro’s
- Optimal dosage of Citrulline Malate
- Contains Caffeine – a key pre-workout ingredient
- Taurine shown to reduce cramping
Con’s
- Beta-Alanine causes paresthesia (see side effects section for more info)
- Caffeine dosage slightly high – could cause jitters and energy crashes
- DMHA banned in competitive sports
See Your Best Options In Our
– Top 3 Pre-Workouts Page –
About The Product
Total War is a pre-workout supplement made by Red Con 1 – it costs $39.99.
It comes in 30 serving containers, in 6 different flavors – Blue Raspberry, Fruit Punch, Watermelon, Sour Gummy Bear, Blue Lemonade, and Strawberry Kiwi.
Who are Red Con 1?
Red Con 1 are a supplements company that market a range of products – from protein powders to pre-workouts.
You might have heard of them when Cass Martin (a female fitness icon) was sponsored by this company. They’re definitely better known in the USA than the UK though.
Total War Ingredients Explained
Total War contains 11 different ingredients, which is quite a lot. But more isn’t always better.
What matters is the dosages of the effective ingredients that’re proven to work. From skimming Total War’s ingredient list, we like that it contains an optimal dosage of Citrulline Malate (6,000mg), and that it doesn’t contain any proprietary blends.
However, the caffeine dosage is slightly high at 250mg. Let’s take more of a detailed look into this pre-workout.
Here’s Everything You Need To Know:
Citrulline Malate
This is one of our favorite pre-workout ingredients. It’s proven to enhance your muscle pumps by increasing your nitric oxide levels.
It’s been dosed perfectly in Total War at 6,000mg, so you’ll be sure to experience its benefit.
Beta-Alanine
We have very mixed opinions on this ingredient.
Beta-Alanine has shown to improve muscular endurance, but it causes a side effect called paresthesia.
Check out our side effects section for more info.
Agmatine Sulfate
Agmatine Sulfate is a byproduct of Arginine. It’s believed to improve your blood flow and cognition, but no study has proven it works.
For this reason, it’s an unreliable ingredient.
Taurine
Taurine has shown to reduce cramping. However, it offers no other benefit – so if you don’t have a problem with cramping, it’s not very useful to you.
You should avoid cramping if you drink enough water anyway. But there are also no negatives to consuming Taurine either.
Caffeine
Everyone knows what Caffeine is – it’s in countless products, such as tea & coffee. However, if you’ve had too many black coffees before – you know that it can cause side effects such as jitters and energy crashes.
We recommend only consuming between 150-200mg Caffeine per serving, to avoid these side effects. This 250mg dosage could cause those sensitive to Caffeine some problems.
N-Phenethyl Dimethylamine Citrate
Also known as Eria Jarensis Extract, this is believed to boost your focus in the gym. However, no studies have proven that it works.
Not only that, Caffeine provides this benefit when dosed correctly – so Red Con 1 should’ve just reduced the caffeine dosage in Total War and left this out.
2 Aminoisohetaine
This is also called DMHA and is banned in competitive sports. There have been some professional athletes that’ve been banned for taking this while playing soccer (such as Mamadou Sakho, a soccer-player for Liverpool FC).
For this reason, we recommend avoiding this ingredient. Not only that, it’s main benefit is fat loss, which isn’t a key benefit of a pre-workout supplement.
Theobromine
This stimulant is naturally found in cocao. However, as Total War already contains caffeine, you don’t really need Theobromine in here.
Caffeine is the safest and most reliable stimulant available when dosed correctly – so caffeine should be the only stimulant in pre-workout supplements.
Higenamine HCL
This is an ingredient that’s not proven to work in any studies. Therefore, it’s an unreliable ingredient.
Bioperine
This is simply black pepper – the same stuff you put in your food. It can improve the absorption rate of other ingredients it’s consumed with, but there aren’t many useful ingredients in Total War anyway.
This is a bonus ingredient, rather than a key one.
Rauwolscine
This molecule is very similar in structure to Yohimbine – which has been banned in numerous countries for causing harmful side effects.
For this reason, we recommend that you avoid Rauwolscine.
See Your Best Options In Our
– Top 3 Pre-Workouts Page –
Side Effects
Total War contains a few ingredients that can cause side effects – Rauwolscine, Beta-Alanine, DMHA, and the slighly high dose of Caffeine.
Here’s the potential side effects from taking Total War:
- Jitters (Rauwolscine and 250mg of Caffeine)
- Anxiety (Rauwolscine)
- Energy Crashes (250mg of Caffeine)
- Paresthesia – a tingling on the skin of your face, chest, hands, fingertips and toes (Beta-Alanine)
- Banned from competitive sports (DMHA)
Total War Review Conclusion
This is a very average pre-workout supplements – not good when there are many better options available on the market.
Ultimately, there are better pre-workouts that won’t cause you any side effects; so you should choose the products that don’t cause any side effects.
But this also isn’t the worst pre-workout we’ve seen – it contains an optimal amount of Citrulline Malate, which is quite rare to see.
Here’s the best natural pre-workouts on the market for:
- Energy Boosts
- Enhanced Strength & Endurance
- Increased Focus
- Skin-Splitting Muscle Pumps
Click Here to See the Full List!