Last month, I acquired Controlled Labs’ Purple Wraath supplement from the Bodybuilding.com store and implemented it in my supplementation routine. I needed a good EAA/BCAA (Essential Amino Acids, Branched-Chain Amino Acids) supplement and was told Purple Wraath would deliver the goods. Checking out some reviews on the web, I decided to give it a go and ordered a tub. Within a week and a half, I received my shipment from the BB store and tried it out. Here are my results and a mini-review of my usage so far.

First, I need to get it out: the taste is horrible. I mixed half a scoop of the powder into a tall glass of water and immediately took note of the awful chemical smell. Forcing myself to drink it anyway, I must’ve reached half way until I decided to stop drinking it because I couldn’t take it. “Could I have gotten a bad batch?” I thought to mysel. After reading user opinions on the taste issue, I was told to mix the scoop with a lot of cold water and let it sit in the fridge for half an hour before I consume it. I was also recommended to mix it in with some Green Magnitude. I tried the first suggestion and it worked very well. I decided to put it in the free shaker bottle I had received with my order and try it out at the gym. I am now craving for this stuff like mad. So, for whoever is having a hard time with the taste, let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes before you consume it. You’ll thank me when you do.

On to the supplements efficacy: this stuff seems to be working, but it’s hard to say whether it’s the Purple Wraath or Green Magnitude giving me the energy. I consume Purple Wraath over the period of my workout, from start to finish. Halfway through my workout, I can say I feel more energized than I first started, but that can also be the adrenaline rush going through my body. It hasn’t been that long since I started taking Purple Wraath, so perhaps I’m talking a bit too early when it comes to results. So for now, I should probably stay neutral on whether it works or not. I will be posting my final results this supplement within a month or two.

Update: check out the free samples of Green Magnitude and Purple Wraath!

I have been reviewing quite a few things lately, so I decided to review my all-time favourite energy drink: Rockstar. I have been drinking this stuff for about 2 years now and love it to death. Before drinking Rockstar, however, I had just started with RedBull and liked the effects of the caffeine on my body. I felt awake and pretty alert, not to mention energized. This got me into energy drinks, and hence fueled my quest for finding something stronger. I heard that Full Throttle by Coca Cola was decent, so I grabbed one at my local convenience store to test it out. I decided to try it out while watching a movie with a few friends one night. The initial effects of Full Throttle kicked in, but they didn’t seem to last long as I was pretty tired at the end of the movie we were watching. The taste wasn’t all that great either.

Now before I could get myself addicted to RedBull, Rockstar showed up like finding a 20$ bill in your couch. I recall one night when going to Aria Afterhours with my friend Alex and his girlfriend, I was recommended to try out Rockstar to stay awake. Alex drank his can along the way to Aria, but he had saved me a can. While waiting in line, I cracked open the elixir and started drinking its sweet, delicious tangy carbonated juice pretty quickly. Within ten minutes, Mel (Alex’s girl) commented on how I was literally trembling. I looked at my hands and noticed I was shaking the can like crazy. Right then and there I knew this would be my drink of choice for years to come. That night, I partied straight from 2 AM to 7 AM fully awake and felt pretty good. At the end, however, I started to crash because of the caffeine’s come-down.

Summarizing this small review, Rockstar energy drink is hands down THE energy drink that everyone should consume. Put away the pansy RedBull, Real Men drink Rockstar. None of this “Tab” crap that I see on television these days, and please put away the Guru and Hype, they’re trash. Monster? Uh huh, whatever. The only thing stronger out there than a Rockstar is probably injecting caffeine and taurine directly into your system, or amphetamines (but let’s not go there).

I was at Circus Afterhours this Thursday to see my friend Wiktor (aka Viktor Destin) spin. He entered a contest run by the owner of the nightclub and was in the quarter finals. Since I’m a big fan of Wiktor’s music, I decided to participate and support his gig. I was in the line-up at Circus at around 2 AM and waited till 2:45 AM. Since I was on the guest list thanks to my friend, I didn’t pay any cover charge (I got in for free!). Last time I was at Circus must’ve been at least 3 years ago and not much has changed from what I can recall.

Anyway, once in, I met up with Wiktor and a few of the Tranceaddict guys and pretty much listened to house music the whole night while drinking vodka (sneaked in!) with energy drinks (crappy Base, no Rockstars). I was having a pretty good time and got to see a lot of talent play, such as Blake, Driss and Allied Nations. Finally, at about 6 AM, Wiktor was up to spin. He took over the decks and for the 45 minutes I was there, he delivered some sick tracks. He knows how to build up his sets and it really shows. From what I heard that morning, Wiktor definitely has his stuff together and it wouldn’t surprise me if he wins this contest. The club definitely could use his energetic style.

At about 7 AM I had to leave since I was dead tired and had to go to work the next day (but luckily it snowed in so I didn’t go to work). If I had known that I wasn’t going to work that day, I would have stayed longer till the place closed down, but I don’t know how I would manage to stay up longer!

It has been over 2 months I have been using Green Magnitude by Controlled Labs and would like to say it is a great supplement. In the past, I have used AST Creatine Monohydrate with moderate success, so I felt like it was time to switch brands and try something new for once. I did some reading on the Bodybuilding.com forums and noticed a lot of people praising Green Magnitude for its efficacy as a creatine supplement. One thing they kept mentioning was its supposed great taste (Green Sour Apples). While I never had a problem with a supplement’s taste (until Purple Wraath came along, wait for the upcoming review) it didn’t influence me in my decision of purchasing the product.

After waiting about 2 weeks for my shipment of Green Magnitude to come in from the Bodybuilding.com store, I was eager to try it out. I loaded up a scoop of GM into a tall glass of water and mixed it in. The water immediately turned light green and the smell of sour green apples floated around the room. I took a sip and first thing that went through my mind was “this stuff is sour!”. According to the tub’s dosage instructions, adding more water will make the solution more sweet, but I didn’t have a problem with the sourness. Now, to be honest, the taste is decent, but I much rather have a creatine solution without any taste or additives of this sort. After a while of taking Green Magnitude, I got used to the taste and whatnot, but I still long for a colourless mix and taste-less creatine supplement.

Now, moving on to the efficacy of the supplement, it performs very well. I responded to this stuff right away and got great workouts at the gym each time. I recall the days I didn’t take it (after being off the stuff for a week) I noticed I was energy-less and more prone to being fatigued. Whether this is a placebo effect or whatnot, I strongly believe the creatine from GM works. In fact, I was so happy with Green Magnitude that I decided to try out Controlled Labs’ Green Bulge creatine pills as my next creatine supplement (that’s in 2-3 weeks). The reason why I am now switching to pills is because I am tired of mixing powders.

For the price I paid, this is a top quality supplement that needs to be on every bodybuilder’s list. I highly recommend this to everyone who is in need of a great creatine supplement and doesn’t want to pay for the higher priced garbages out there. Apart from the sour taste, I give this product a 9/10.

Update: check out the free samples of Green Magnitude and Purple Wraath!