C4 Extreme Reviews | Does It Deliver What It Promises?
Cellucor C4 Extreme Review: This is another high performance pre-workout drink similar to Jack3d. Thousands of people rave about this supplement. But is it really that great? And if it truly is that great, what’s in it that makes it so incredibly effective?
After reading many reviews on this product, some things became very clear. Many people claim that it speeds up their heart rate substantially. This makes it quite ineffective if you like to perform a lot of cardio workouts.
When your heart rate is very high, your body demands more oxygen than normal. Because of this, performing high level cardiovascular activities can be very challenging because you need to breath so incredibly heavily to meet the oxygen requirements.
This aside, Cellucor C4 Extreme seems to be effective for whatt it’s meant for, getting amped up before performing a weight lifting workout. So with that said, let’s look at what people are reporting when it comes to the pro’s and the con’s.
Reported Pro’s:
1) The taste is fantastic
2) Energy levels are increased significantly
3) Smooth sense of energy without extremes
4) No crash that leaves you crying on the sidewalk
Reported Con’s:
1) Some people tend to experience a come down
2) Speeds up your heartbeat making cardio difficult
3) People who are sensitive to stimulants should stay away
4) The pump is pretty much useless
Active Ingredients (1 scoop 5.7 grams):
Like Jack3d, Cellucor C4 Extreme claims to have no filler ingredients. There’s nothing more annoying than looking at a label and seeing a bunch of “cost effective” fillers that does nothing for you but make you want to throw the tub against the wall. Let’s look at each ingredient separately.
Beta Alanine (1500 mg):
Meant to increase overall production of ATP available to muscles. Beta Alanine converts into carosine in the body, which is turn is able to increase ATP energy levels ready for the muscles to burn. This ingredient can cause a tingling sensation in the body when ingested
Creatine Nitrate (1000 mg):
The goal here is to provide an extra pump by stimulating more nitric oxide in the muscles. This is basically creatine monohydrate mixed with a form of salt. There are claims that this results in better absorption and eliminates the bloating effect, but this has not been proven.
Of course the creatine’s role is to convert ADP back into ATP resulting in more energy for your muscle to exert. In turn, endurance, strength, and muscle size is increased.
Arginine Alpha Ketolutarate (1000 mg):
An ingredient I could live without. It’s meant to increase nitric oxide in the body allowing for improved circulation and increased blood flow. The theory is with increased blood flow comes increased nutrition to the muscles and thus faster recovery and more efficient protein synthesis. This theory has not been scientifically proven.
N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine:
Main role is to replenish neurotransmitters. The point of neurotransmitters is to release chemicals from the brain to communicate with the rest of the body. This in turn controls one’s mood, energy level, and overall body efficiency.
N-Acetyl is just a fancy way saying that this type of tyrosine is more bioavailable. In fact, N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine is 20 times more water soluble than regular tyrosine. This results in more absorption, smaller doses, and more efficiency.
This amino acid releases more dopamine which in turn elevates one’s mood, focus, and over all alertness. It is commonly used for those who have social anxiety or nervousness.
Caffeine Anhydrous (135 mg):
Claimed to be more effective when used for performance enhancement when compared to regular caffeine found in tea and coffee. It’s means to increase mental awareness, focus, decrease muscle recovery time, and increase strength.
Another neurotransmitter stimulator that releases dopamine. This in turn increases mood, libido, male sperm count, and has been known to directly increase muscle mass. 40 mg/ g of this stuff is L-DOPA. This is what’s mainly responsible for the mental effects.
Vitamin B3. Used to fight fatigue, increase muscle strength and endurance. Is also known for helping with joint pain.
Synephrine HCL:
Chemical form of Synephrine. The active ingredient within this ingredient is Yohimbine. Perhaps they are trying to hide the fact that Yohimbine is in C4 Extreme. This is the ingredient responsible for elevating one’s heart rate to unappealing levels on rare occasions.
This enhances the release of adrenaline and is also a powerful anti-oxidant. Generally this is marketed as a sexual enhancement product.
Helps to elevate mood and energy levels. Studies show that it may help protect against Alzheimer’s and increase sperm count.
B6 vitamin that helps to fuel the immune system, increase hormonal control, and help with kidney disorders.
Fancy name for vitamin B12, most potent version of. This also helps to fill up the gas tank of neurotransmitters resulting in elevated mood and energy.
Final Thoughts:
Cellucor C4 Extreme seems to be a solid pre-workout supplement. One weird thing about it, even though it’s very popular, many well established online supplement stores do not sell it. Out of the 4 main stores that I deal with, only bodybuilding.com sells it.
You can also find it at amazon.com and supplementstogo.com. Why you can’t find it at the other popular supplement stores is a mystery. It could be due to the hidden fact that Yohimbine is included in the ingredients which is a little dodgy.
Overall though, this supplement comes highly recommended, and the ingredients are all indeed active and not fillers. For this reason, it belongs on the list of the best supplements for muscle gain.
If you don’t mind having an elevated heart rate, I do recommend this product. But make sure that you follow the label’s instructions and do not abuse it. Those who are sensitive to stimulants shouldn’t use it at all since it’s quite potent.
Another supplement that is similar to this one is BPI 1 MR. This is another pre-workout supplement, but it has a rather unattractive down side since users report it to have a significant crash after the increase in energy.