5150 pre-workout
$38.99
Pros
- Optimal dose of L-Citrulline
- Proven ingredients
Cons
- Very high caffeine dose may induce side effects
- Beta-Alanine slightly underdosed
- Missing some key pre-workout ingredients
- Not cheap
Welcome to the most complete 5150 pre-workout review on the world wide web!
5150 is a pre-workout formula from the company 5% nutrition. 5150 pre-workout contains 10 ingredients and a caffeine blend which includes 9 ingredients mostly different versions of caffeine. The highlight of this pre-workout is the fact that L-Citrulline is optimally dosed and the formula has a massive 400mg caffeine dosage which may not suit those who don’t tolerate stimulants well.
Everything you need to know about this 5% Nutrition produced supplement, from the ingredients and their dosages to where to buy it and everything in between. Fed up of spending hours scouring the internet to find the perfect pre-workout for you and being met with sales jargon and inflated product descriptions?
Or even worse, don’t feel like you can rely on supposedly unbiased product reviews from what are meant to be trusted sources…?
Well, now you’ve found our 5150 by 5% Nutrition pre-workout review, those frustrations are well and truly a thing of the past!
We give you nothing but the cold hard facts supported by the latest scientific research so that you can make an informed decision as to whether this pre-workout justifies the hype or should be cast onto the supplement scrapheap!
About Rich Piana and 5% Nutrition
Rich Piana was an American bodybuilder and entrepreneur famous for his successes at the IFBB Mr. Teen California in 1989 and Mr. California in 1998. He began his own supplement company, named 5% Nutrition, off the back of this reputation as an elite bodybuilder.
The name was based on his belief that only 5% of people have the mentality to do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals, whatever they happened to be.
He was happy to admit in the public domain that he used steroids and Human Growth Hormone throughout his career, aware of the risks to his health and considering it a necessary part of competing at the highest level.
Whilst the cause of his death, at the tender age of just 46, was inconclusive, his heart and liver weighed over twice the average amount for an adult male!!
This isn’t exactly a promising endorsement as far as our 5% pre-workout Nutrition pre-workout review is concerned. Having said that, we will do our best to assess the 5150 product based on the merits of its ingredients and dosages and not the association with a prolific user of dangerous and normally prohibited substances.
Ingredients in 5150 pre-workout
| Serving size: 1 Scoop (12.4 grams) | Amount Per Serving | %Daily Value |
| Vitamin B-3 (as niacin) | 30 mg | 150% |
| Vitamin B-3 (as niacin) | 30 mg | 150% |
| Vitamin B-12 (as cyanocobalamin) | 1,000 mcg | 16667% |
| Choline (as choline bitartrate) | 195 mg | 36% |
| L-Citrulline | 4,000 mg | * |
| Beta-Alanine | 2,500 mg | * |
| L-Taurine | 2,000 mg | * |
| N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine | 750 mg | * |
| Choline Bitartrate | 500 mg | * |
| Stim-Crazy Caffeine Complex | ||
| Caffeine Anhydrous | 350 mg | * |
| Cocoa Alkaloids Extract (Theobroma cacao L.)(seed) | 75 mg | * |
| Dicaffeine Malate (Infinergy™) | 50 mg | * |
| Green Tea Extract (Camellia sinensis)(leaf)(50% Caffeine) | 20 mg | * |
| Yerba Mate Extract (Ilex paraguariensis)(leaf) | 20 mg | * |
| Guarana Seed Extract (Paullinia cupana) | 10 mg | * |
| Green Coffee Extract (Coffea robusta)(bean) | 10 mg | * |
Before we take a closer look at the ingredients, we must ask one of the most important questions regarding a pre-workout supplement. Does it include any proprietary blends…?
For the uninitiated among you, a proprietary blend is a mix of ingredients where each component part is listed but only the total weight is disclosed. This means you have no idea how much of any of the key ingredients you are consuming per serving.
Despite what supplement manufacturers try to tell you about hiding secret formulas from spying competitors, there is only one reason they use proprietary blends. And that is to hide underdosed active ingredients from YOU, the consumer!
Fortunately for this 5150 pre-workout review, the ingredients which appear in this product have their exact quantities listed.
L-citrulline (4000 mg)
Appearing in pre-workout supplements with ever-increasing regularity, citrulline is one of the most exciting nutritional ingredients concerning exercise performance. As a precursor to an amino acid called arginine, which helps the body generate nitric oxide, citrulline supplementation can improve circulation and increase blood flow during exercise.[1]
Most scientific research suggests that 3-6g of l-citrulline is sufficient to induce the above ergogenic benefits, which means the 4g dose per serving in 5150 pre-workout is spot on.[2]
A good start to our 5% Nutrition pre-workout review.
Beta-alanine (2500 mg)
With the exception perhaps of creatine, beta-alanine is the most well-researched and effective nutritional training aid on the market.
Dosed correctly, it increases the body’s capacity to buffer lactic acid by saturating muscle stores of something called carnosine. This helps you to fight fatigue during intense anaerobic activity and can therefore increase your endurance levels.[3]
Most studies indicate that 4-6g of beta-alanine per day for a period of at least 2 weeks is an optimal dose capable of producing the above benefits.[4] That means the 2.5g included in 5150 comes up quite a way short of the lower end of this recommended serving. This either means you won’t feel the effects of the beta-alanine, or it will take longer to saturate your muscle carnosine stores. Either way, not a hugely positive revelation for our 5150 pre-workout reviews!
Taurine (2000 mg), Tyrosine (750 mg) and Choline bitartrate (500 mg)
We’ve grouped these ingredients because it is limited if any research suggests that they are of benefit to exercise performance. As a result, we consider their inclusion in 5150 at any dose largely inconsequential!
Synephrine Hydrochloride (30 mg)
Synephrine has been shown to help increase your basal metabolic rate and thus help you burn more calories and, in particular more fat![5] Research into its implications for exercise performance is limited; this basic physiological effect seems at least encouraging.
As a result of the limited research, there is little corroborating evidence to suggest an optimal dose for synephrine to achieve these metabolic effects. In addition, there have been studies to suggest that doses of 50 mg may lead to increases in heart rate and blood pressure. So, all in all, it’s pretty tricky for us to evaluate the inclusion of this ingredient. A 30 mg dose seems unlikely to cause you any serious harm, but it is equally unlikely to be of many benefits.
Our 5150 pre-workout review conclusion…? The inclusion of synephrine is largely irrelevant.
Stim blend (400 mg caffeine)
Made up of a whopping 9 ingredients, including the most prominent in caffeine anhydrous (the most important component)
The caffeine dose is a huge 400mg per serving.
400mg is a massive dose and could potentially be dangerous if exceeded!
I cannot recommend using 400mg per serving unless you are very tolerant to caffeine and don’t consume any other caffeine content other than this pre-workout in your day.
Are there any side effects?
There are a few ingredients included in this pre-workout that may cause minor side effects.
High doses of caffeine can lead to symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, the jitters and anxiety. The scientific research suggests, however, that it can be consumed safely at doses of up to 400 mg per day.[6]
Given that there is a 400mg caffeine dose in this pre workout makes it pretty dangerous.
I personally wouldn’t use this high of a caffeine dose, even though I’m pretty tolerant to pre-workout supplements and caffeine.
Beta-alanine tends to cause a completely harmless tingling sensation on the skin’s surface, which subsides approximately 20 minutes after consumption. In all honesty, however, we’re not sure if the 2.5g dose per serving in 5150 is enough to produce such effects.
As we have already discussed, synephrine has been reported to raise blood pressure and heart rate in some subjects. This is probably not a major concern for healthy individuals, especially when we consider the low 30 mg dose included in 5150. If, however, you have any health concerns whatsoever, particularly those related to blood pressure or your heart more generally, then this could be something to avoid. In fact, we’d suggest avoiding pre-workout supplements full stop in that case!
Pros and cons of 5150 pre-workout
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Pricing
At $38.99 on the official 5% Nutrition website, 5150 comes in at $1.3 per serving, putting it at the more expensive end of the pre-workout market.
Can I buy 5150 at GNC?
Yes, you can, but as for now it’s unavailable or sold out at GNC.
Where can I buy 5150 pre-workout by 5% Nutrition?
As well as the official 5% Nutrition website, and gnc.com, 5150 pre-workout can also be purchased at Amazon and XXL Nutrition.
Summary
With an optimal dose of l-citrulline and a high 400mg dose of caffeine, 5150 pre-workout will certainly be of some benefit to your exercise performance. By getting you in the right physical and mental state for your session and boosting your circulation, these 2 ingredients, dosed as they have been, are definitely worth consuming.
In all honesty, however, this is where the positives to our 5150 pre-workout review come to a grinding halt. The suboptimal dosing of beta-alanine and the inclusion of some ingredients that don’t seem to have any tangible benefits for exercise performance is a major disappointment. Add to that the fact that the entire 5% Nutrition brand is the invention of a former bodybuilder who publicly admitted to taking steroids and HGH during his career and most likely died due to the physiological effects of this consumption, and things go from bad to worse.
Moreover, the product is only available in 4 flavors and sits at the more expensive end of the pre-workout market. All in all, we think you can find a more effective and trustworthy pre-workout for that kind of price, if not cheaper, elsewhere!
Resources
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780124046306000531
[2]Bailey, S. J., Blackwell, J. R., Lord, T., Vanhatalo, A., Winyard, P. G., & Jones, A. M. (2015). L-citrulline supplementation improves O2 uptake kinetics and high-intensity exercise performance in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology, 119(4), 385-395.
[3] Role of beta-alanine supplementation on muscle carnosine and exercise performance- MSSE 2010 42:6
[4] Stellingwerff T, Anwander H, Egger A, Buehler T, Kreis R, Decombaz J, et al. Effect of two beta-alanine dosing protocols on muscle carnosine synthesis and washout. Amino Acids. 2012;42(6):2461–72. doi: 10.1007/s00726-011-1054-4 and Harris RC, Jones GA, Kim HJ, Kim CK, Price KA, Wise JA. Changes in muscle carnosine of subjects with 4 weeks of supplementation with a controlled release formulation of beta-alanine (CarnoSyn), and for 6 weeks post (Abstract) FASEB J. 2009;23:599.4.
[5] https://examine.com/supplements/synephrine/
[6] Fat burners: nutrition supplements that increase fat metabolism- Obesity Reviews 2011
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