REVIEW - GASPARI NUTRITION GASPARI NUTRITION SUPERPUMP 250 REVIEW

SUMMARY

OUR REVIEW

In the bodybuilding world pre-workout supplements seem to be all the rage these days, there are a huge number of products out there that promote an ability to increase lean muscle mass, strength, intensity, blood flow to muscles and all round endurance while reducing body fat percentages. Developed under the Gaspari stable Superpump250 declares itself as the reigning king of pre-workout supplements, promoting skin tearing muscle pumps, roadmap vascularity and explosive workouts. In clinical trials, Superpump 250 was found to increase muscle mass more than three times than that of a placebo group, what’s more body fat percentages were also reduced when using Superpump 250. So how do these claims stack up? Does the supplement actually work? And does it effectively trump other pre-workout products such as BSN’s NO-Xplode and MuscleTech’s NaNO Vapour, or is this just another pre-workout supplement that promises the world but fails to deliver?

Taste

Gaspari’s Superpump250 comes in seven flavours: Blue Raspberry Ice, Orange, Fruit Punch, Topical Punch, Raspberry Lemonade, Lemon Burst and Grape, which offers a fair amount of variety for those pre-workout taste buds. Over my years using Superpump I’ve tried Blue Raspberry, Fruit Punch, Tropical Punch and Raspberry Lemonade. With the exception of Fruit Punch I quite liked all the flavours, they were never too sweet and I really looked forward to drinking them pre-workout. Raspberry lemonade would have to be my pick and slightly resembles a good tasting creaming soda. Blue Raspberry has a bit of a strange taste which I can’t really liken to anything I’ve had before, when I initially tried the flavour I was a little unsure, but I’ve got to say it really grew on me and in the end would have to be my second favourite flavour. Tropical had a good hint of a tropical flavour, similar to tropical fruit drink you might have had when you were a kid and I found to be quite refreshing. Fruit punch was the only flavour that didn’t appeal to me and tasted something like a cheap fruit lolly. If I was going to rank taste on Raspberry lemonade alone, I would score 5, but considering there are other flavours which I think aren’t quite as good I’ve scale this down to a 4.

Ease of Mixing

Superpump mixes fairly well when combined in 200-400mls and minimal shaking. Foaming was relatively minimal; however a small amount of powder always seemed to settle out to the bottom of the bottle. To account for this I would just add a little more water at the end to ensure I could drink the remaining leftovers. Texture itself was a little grainy when mixed, but far from undrinkable.

Effectiveness

In general I’m a fan of pre-workout supplementation, as I find it really boosts the effectiveness and overall quality of my workouts. Having tried my fair share of other brands of pre-workout stimulants I’m always surprised how much of a kick Superpump gives me. In particular, I find I get both an incredible mental focus and enormous level of energy; it really makes me want to train the house down. In addition I find I also respond to Superpump relatively well, with a noticeable increase in vascularity. By far the overall pump I get when taking Superpump far surpasses any other pre-workout supplement I’ve used; in fact some of my best workouts and personal records have been when using Superpump. Whether, I can attribute these PB’s to Superpump’s claims in ‘increasing my lean mass’ or if it was just the mindstate it put me in to lift both ‘intense and heavy’ is difficult to say, either way it was doing something right.

One thing I’m not too sure about Superpump’s ability to ‘simultaneously promote fat loss’, in general I’m pretty lean myself and didn’t notice any measurable changes in my fatmass when using Superpump, this doesn’t mean this isn’t the case, but may be influenced by a number of factors including body type and the lean mass ratio of the body prior to taking Superpump. An additional point worth noting is when taking Superpump some users have reported headaches, sleeping difficulties or an upset stomach. Although I didn’t find I suffered from any of the first two symptoms, when taking the supplement consecutively over a number of days I found my stomach started to get a little churned up, promoting a frequent although quick trip to the bathroom shortly after consuming. Overall this wasn’t a major issue and I think the pro’s the supplement delivered far outweighed this con(s), although it is a little concerning when a supplement is having this type of an effect on the body.

Like most Nitric Oxide products I should stress the need to cycle Superpump, while initial levels of energy and focus are great, after about 2-4 weeks these effects start to wear off as the body gets use to the product. At this point I normally cycle 2-3 weeks off Superpump before restarting.

Nutritional Analysis

As is the commonality among the industry Gaspari’s nutrition’s Superpump is made from a Proprietary Blend containing several different matrices each with a number of ingredients, which as is always the case in proprietary blends we are never given the exact amount of each ingredient used. Gaspari separates the blend into 5 components giving us their Anabolic Signaling Complex, the Lipolytic/Xtreme Focus Agent, Myogenic Transcription Factor/Agonist, Insulin Secretagogue Complex and the IntraSORB Rapid Absorption component.

Two of the fundamental ingredients contained in the Anabolic Signaling component is the L-Arginine alpha-Ketoglutarate (A-AKG) and Creatine. The A-AKG compound provides the primary source for Nitric Oxide production which leads to increased bloodflow, endurance and produces the overall muscle ‘pump’ felt in the body, whereas the Creatine serves to assist in the muscle cell volumisation and the production of ATP for muscle energy and power. The Focus Agent includes both Glucuronolactone, Methylxanthines (Caffeine) and are also commonly used in energy drinks to give you the ‘buzz’, although another interesting addition is Rhodiola rosea Root which has been used in traditional medicines to stimulate the nervous system, reduce fatigue and has been suggested to improve endurance capacity.

The Myogenic Transcription Complex contains a good collection of both essential and non-essential amino acids and also Acetyl-L- Carnitine which has been suggested to assist in improving athletic performance, burning fat and enhancing recovery. Another more obscure addition to this complex is Turkesterone which is basically a planet extract, previous studies have suggested it has the potential to stimulate protein synthesis, enhance rates of ATP synthesis and the removal of lactic acid. I haven’t actually seen this compound in other products before, so its addition here (effective or not) is interesting none the less.

Overall I think the ingredient profile of Superpump has the ability the make it both an effective and unique pre-workout supplement. Each serve also contains a small amount of Maltodextrin which should provide some essential fast carbs pre-workout and assist in nutrient uptake, the formula is also aspartame and sugar free.

Value for Money

Superpump is available in the supplement store for $79.70 which puts it slightly more expensive than some of the competition (No-Xplode $69.70 and Xpand $59.70) but cheaper than others (White Flood $94.70 and NaNO Vapour $89.95).  Dosage recommendations are to take 1 scoop (20g) 30 minutes prior to training, although overtime as I found myself becoming more tolerant to the effects I needed to increase my serve to around 2-3 scoops to get a good response.  Provided you stick to a single dosage the 800g tub should provide 40 serves, although being realistic you’ll most likely increase the dosage over time. If using a single scoop each serve works out to be roughly $2 and when you weight it up, can start to get a little costly in the end. However, if you are searching for an effective pre-workout hit, Superpump offers much better bang for your buck than most of the standard energy drinks on the market, as it offers by far a much better buzz and has the benefit of added supplements such Creatine, Amino acids and heck where else are you going to get your Turkesterone?

Conclusion

In my opinion the name says it all, I found Superpump indeed did bring a ‘super’ pump to my workouts. I’ve used other pre-workout products in the past and will always continue to try other pre-workout products to see if they can offer an edge on anything the market has brought us before. However, I find Gaspari continues to hold the trump card and I find myself time and time again coming back to Superpump250.  By far it’s got some of the best flavours of all NO products, mixability although not perfect is more than adequate, the price is O.K and stomach drawbacks aside, it is one of if not the most effective pre-workout products I’ve tried. Most importantly however, I’ve found it’s one of the few supplements that actually delivers on most of its claims. No doubt Superpump 250 has the ability to product some great results and until I find something better is still my preferred pre-workout supplement of choice.