Feeling like your gym sessions could use a push?
In this article, we’ll be inspecting one of the most advanced pre-workout supplements we’ve come across – National Bodybuilding Co. Stage Ready Pre-Workout.
In the sections that follow you’ll see why this new pre workout already has many gleaming reviews online, as we analyze its ingredients, benefits, side effects and more.
In this National Bodybuilding Co. Pre Workout Review, you’ll learn:
- How it works
- What’s inside?
- How to take
- Does it have any side effects?
We’ll also see how National Bodybuilding Co. Pre-Workout compares to other pre-workout supplements in terms of boosting energy, bumping up mitochondrial function, supporting cognitive focus, and optimizing exercise efficiency.
Try National Bodybuilding Co’s Pre-Workout Here
How Does Stage Ready Pre Workout Work?
Stage Ready Pre Workout was specifically designed to enhance levels of strength through a combination of 13 highly researched ingredients in their clinical doses.
As a result, National Bodybuilding Co. Pre Workout is for advanced bodybuilders and athletes aiming to extend their workout time and get to their fitness goals in the fastest way possible naturally.
Okay, that sounds great. But you may still wonder; “how exactly does Stage Ready Pre-Workout work?”
It boosts your training in four main ways:
- Buffers and hydrates muscle tissue – National Bodybuilding Co. Pre Workout is specifically formulated to increase training capacity and extend the time to exhaustion. Essentially, enabling you to train harder for longer.
- Raises Nitric Oxide (NO) blood levels – NO is a natural compound that widens and dilates your blood vessels. This offers an immediate benefit of fuller muscle pumps, but also supports muscle building over the long-run by increasing nutrient & oxygen delivery into the tissue.
- Optimizes Cellular ATP Production – National Bodybuilding Co. Pre Workout contains ingredients that support the function of mitochondria, small energy powerhouses found in every cell of your body. More efficient mitochondria = more energy = better overall performance.
- Enhances neurotransmitter synthesis – Neurotransmitters, your brain’s chemical messengers, are crucial for many things, including keeping you focused and in good mood. The ingredients in National Bodybuilding Co. Pre Workout work in synergy to promote dopamine and epinephrine, two catecholamine neurotransmitters that provide you with clean and sustained mental focus.
Ingredients
So, what’s exactly inside National Bodybuilding Co. Pre-Workout that makes it work so well? Here’s a quick overview:
- Vitamin B1 (5mg)
- Vitamin B12 (2.4mcg)
- L-Citrulline Dl-Malate (5g)
- Agmatine Sulfate (1.5g)
- Beta-Alanine (1g)
- N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) (500mg)
- L-Tyrosine (400mg)
- Coconut Water Powder (Cocus Nucifera) (300mg)
- Citicoline (CDP-Choline) (250mg)
- Caffeine Anhydrous (150mg)
- Vaso6™ Green Tea Extract (150mg)
- Infinergy™ Dicaffeine Malate (100mg)
- TeaCrine® (Theacrine) (50mg)
All 13 ingredients are safe and natural, and are well within their clinically researched doses. Also, you’ll notice that this pre workout isn’t a proprietary blend.
Proprietary blend involves mixing multiple ingredients and labeling them as a single value. This means you can see the total dose of these combined ingredients, but not their individual doses. Apart from ruining the credibility of its manufacturers, proprietary blends also make you unable to assess the supplement for safety.
None of this can be said for National Bodybuilding Co. Stage Ready Pre Workout, which is 100% transparent.
Here’s the breakdown of the ingredients inside…
Vitamin B1
Also known as Thiamine, vitamin B1 is a key ingredient for helping your body convert carbs and fats into energy. Found in foods such as tofu, asparagus and peas, B1’s effects are most noticeable when you’re on a cut and low on energy.
Vitamin B12
A water-soluble nutrient, vitamin B12 optimizes human performance in a number of ways. One, by promoting the synthesis of the myelin sheath in the brain, which leads to faster signaling between brain cells. [2] Secondly, vitamin B12 can increase oxygen delivery into your muscles, leading to improved overall performance.
We also like that National Bodybuilding Co. Pre Workout has a highly bioavailable form of the vitamin – Methylcobalamin.
L-Citrulline Dl-Malate
Citrulline turns into Arginine in your kidneys, which results in increased nitric oxide plasma levels.
If you read the “how it works” section above, then you’re aware that NO is a vasodilator that boosts blood flow – making Citrulline one of the best ingredients for muscle pumps. [3]
Agmatine Sulfate
You could say Agmatine is a natural painkiller. This amino acid metabolite can reduce pain perception by acting as a neurotransmitter in the brain.
You’ll notice this effect the most when doing high-rep exercises – Agmatine helps reduce ‘the burn’ and pain in the muscles, helping you to plow through with intensity.
Beta-Alanine
Beta-Alanine naturally breaks down into another molecule – carnosine – in your body. Carnosine is an anti-aging molecule known for buffering the build up of acid in muscles, allowing you to train for longer.
But not all of Beta-Alanine’s benefits come from its baby molecule, carnosine. Beta-Alanine has some benefits of its own – such as being shown to promote lean muscle hypertrophy. [1]
N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC)
NAC helps your body make more glutathione, the mother of antioxidants. Recharging your glutathione levels has many health benefits. For one, you’ll be healthier as your liver will be able to process toxins more efficiently. In the context of bodybuilding and mental focus, NAC can help the brain work better by reducing irritability, mood swings, and brain fog.
L-Tyrosine
Tyrosine is a natural amino acid found in many foods, and a precursor to your brain’s catecholamine chemicals.
These catecholamines – dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine – are responsible for keeping you awake, alert, and focused. They also increase energy demands and put your metabolism into high gear.
However, things like stress, hard training and sleep deprivation can quickly drain your catecholamine reserves. Tyrosine helps prevent this by recharging your catecholamines. Keeping your cognitive performance high under mentally demanding situations.
Coconut Water Powder (Cocus Nucifera)
We like this ingredient.
Coconut water is a good source of natural electrolytes that keep your muscles nourished and strong. These include potassium which, in addition to balancing blood pressure, also helps alleviate muscle cramps.
It’s refreshing to see coconut water (no pun intended) picked over sugar-laden sources, as it’s vastly superior at boosting athletic recovery.
Citicoline (CDP-Choline)
CDP-Choline is a brain nutrient that helps strengthen and repair your neurons. It also helps the brain make more chemicals that regulate attention, recall and learning. CDP-choline is the most superior form of choline in terms of its brain bioavailability. [4]
Caffeine Anhydrous
Caffeine is a staple in any great pre workout. And we like to see that it is dosed optimally in National Bodybuilding Co. Stage Ready Pre-Workout.
With 150mg per serving, you’ll be burning more fat for energy and enjoying higher levels of focus, without the ‘crash’ afterwards.
Vaso6™ Green Tea Extract
Vaso6 is a premium, patented quality extract of green tea. With tons of research behind its positive effects on human health, it’s now well-known that green tea can reduce inflammation and protect muscle tissue from catabolism, as well as helping your body to recover faster from injuries. [5] Did we mention that green tea helps you burn more calories, too?
Infinergy™ Dicaffeine Malate
Dicaffeine malate is also known as ‘no-crash caffeine’. Its effects are exactly what the name suggests. It provides a smooth energy buzz that lasts up to 6 hours and doesn’t lead to any of the infamous caffeine’s side effects. Since Di-caffeine malate’s effects last so long, you’ll have plenty left in the tank for other daily activities after your workout.
TeaCrine® (Theacrine)
TeaCrine® is a patented ingredient that contains more than 98% pure theacrine, a compound that can be found naturally in some foods.
Structurally, theacrine looks and acts similarly to caffeine. However, it has one key advantage over caffeine, and that is that it leads to less tolerance over time. It also provides a cleaner energy that doesn’t cause a crash afterwards.
Our thoughts on the ingredient formula:
We like the choice of ingredients in National Bodybuilding Co. Pre Workout. It will have a powerful yet smooth effect on your energy levels. The stimulants are dosed intelligently which makes this formula safe even if you don’t usually tolerate caffeine very well.
National Bodybuilding Co. Pre Workout Dose
Taking 1 scoop (11.2g) of National Bodybuilding Co. Pre Workout before your gym sessions helps to boost all aspects of training performance:
- Muscle pumps
- Training intensity & endurance
- Cognitive focus
Within 30 minutes of ingestion you should feel a rise in your energy levels that will last you throughout the workout, and after it. You’ll also notice an increase in vasodilation from Citrulline, along with enhanced sense of mental clarity.
If you’re new to pre workouts, the manufacturers recommend starting with only half a scoop to assess your tolerance. If you want to take it to the next level, you can easily bump up the dose for your next workout!
Pros
- Full 30 day supply
- Naturally sourced
- Features 13 clinically researched ingredients
- Intelligent dosing – optimized for results, and safe at the same time
- Keeps the energy levels steady throughout the workout without the crash
- Easy to modify the dose depending on how strong you want it to be
- Fast tracked shipping
Cons
- Premium price
- Only ships to USA customers
- Only available directly from National Bodybuilding Co.’s website
Conclusion
This concludes our National Bodybuilding Co. Pre Workout review.
This pre workout contains some of the best ingredients currently available on the market. They’ve been smartly dosed to ramp up your energy levels, enhance motivation & focus, and provide those satisfying muscle pumps.
National Bodybuilding Co. Pre Workout is ideal if you’re in need of something to help you push that extra mile in the gym.
Although it’s not the cheapest pre workout around, the fact that it contains naturally sourced ingredients, mixes easily, and has great fruit punch flavor make it an excellent value for money nonetheless.
Try National Bodybuilding Co’s Pre-Workout Here!
References
- Stout JR, Cramer JT, Zoeller RF, Torok D, Costa P, Hoffman JR, Harris RC, O’Kroy J. Effects of beta-alanine supplementation on the onset of neuromuscular fatigue and ventilatory threshold in women. Amino Acids. 2007;32(3):381-6. doi: 10.1007/s00726-006-0474-z. Epub 2006 Nov 30. PMID: 17136505.
- https://examine.com/supplements/vitamin-b12/
- Moon JR, Vogel RM, Falcone PH, et al. A comparison of citrulline and arginine for increasing exercise-induced vasodilation and blood flow. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2015;12(Suppl 1):P6. Published 2015 Sep 21. doi:10.1186/1550-2783-12-S1-P6
- Arenth PM, Russell KC, Ricker JH, Zafonte RD. CDP-choline as a biological supplement during neurorecovery: a focused review. PM R. 2011 Jun;3(6 Suppl 1):S123-31. doi: 10.1016/j.pmrj.2011.03.012. PMID: 21703569.
- Chacko SM, Thambi PT, Kuttan R, Nishigaki I. Beneficial effects of green tea: a literature review. Chin Med. 2010;5:13. Published 2010 Apr 6. doi:10.1186/1749-8546-5-13