The modern pre-workout formulas are increasingly a mix of energy, pump, endurance & nootropics. What used to be some caffeine powder turned into a multidimensional workout enhancers.

So this is for you guys – the stimulant junkies. The bros who want to take something and actually feel like you want to eat the weights. So, if you have a strong heart & you want to crush those weights, hit those PRs, this is going to be a list for you.

BUT, if you are the type of guy who maybe tried one scoop of Cellucor C4 and go a good kick out of it, then please stop reading right now, as your head might explode by just reading about the amount of stimulants in these products that we are ranking here.

This list is based first & foremost on our own experience, and then on the label. Another thing worth mentioning is that because we were only looking for the shear ‘strength’ element of these, we are listing them in no particular order. Also, as we are looking at only one aspect of the modern PWOs, if you are looking to see what is the best ‘all around’ Pre-Workout out there, then check out our Best Pre Workout list (expect to see some familiar names).
 

This is our Official List of the Best Hardcore Pre Workout Supplement Buyer’s Guide for 2017:

Mesomorph by APS

Considered by many the No.1 Pre-Workout available, APS Mesomorph has it all. Including 65mg of DMAA (aka 1,3-Dimethyl)…yeah, for you are in the lifting business for some time, you remember this acronym from the original JACK3D which was discontinued because of controversial FDA warning on one of its ingredients … yeah, you guessed it, DMAA. And as such, Mesomorph is one of a handful of DMAA Pre Workouts out there.

Looking at the rest of the label here. We have a good dose of Beta Alanine and L-citrulline. On top of that, we have 3 different types of Creatine and we’ve got Agmatine Sulfate which is an awesome pump inducer and to the grand finale, the stimulant matrix. On top of DMAA, we have a very potent dose of caffeine. Not just regular caffeine but the methyl form which will hit you even harder than regular caffeine.
 
Our Review

DMAA, yeah, well, if you never tried it, then, you should know it’s nothing like regular caffeine. And APS has more than enough in this baby here. You’ll notice a difference from other stimulants…it hits you right in the head with clean, no compromise energy. No jitters, no crash, just the need to crash it. Ok, yes, we’ll admit it, we LOVE the APS Mesomorph. We save it for Leg Day!

Price & Where to get it:

Because it has DMAA, you will not find the APS Mesomorph on the bigger sites (Bodybuilding.com, Amazon, Muscle & Strength, etc). But it’s the internet, honey…so expect to find it basically anywhere else (including eBay). The list price for 25 servings is $34.5 and that’s the price it sells for in most places. But if you are a Fitness Deal News follower, then you’ve seen it for $29 + Free Shipping once a month or so, and if you never miss a deal alert, then we did see it for as low as $15 (once in 2016).

5150, by 5% Nutrition (Rich Piana)

A quick look at the label and the first thing that comes to mind is that Rich Piana googled every stimulant possible and added it to the product. It starts with 4 grams of L-citrulline and 2.5 grams of Beta Alanine. But then you get to the main event – 550 mg ‘stim-crazy’ caffeine complex which mixes 4 different types of stimulants (Higinamine Hydrochloride, Hordenine, Halostachine, Synephrine) on top of 400 mg of caffeine and other stimulants such as green tea extract and Guarana and green coffee bean extract.

Our Experience:

To be completely honest we sort of fell for the 5150 marketing hype and took our contemplated if we should go full scoop right from the start. Not something we are proud of. And…ok, the 5150 rocks. It is for sure one of the stronger PWOs we used and we felt it. On the flip side, our head didn’t explode with one scoop, but we for sure didn’t need another one! What we really liked is that it lasted for almost 2 hours which can be attributed to the excellent stimulant mix here, rather than straight caffeine.

Price & Where to get it:

As avid deal hunters, there’s a serious downside to the 5150, at least currently, you can only get it on the 5% Nutrition brand website, which means that the price is quite constant. The upside though is that at $34 for 30 servings it is actually competitively priced when you see what you get per scoop.

GAT Nitraflex

I know what you are thinking right now. NITRAFLEX?!  Isn’t that like a mainstream Pre Workout. Well, it is. But surprisingly, It’s actually pretty strong. Put aside the GAT’s testosterone boosting ingredient mix. NITRAFLEX brings in a very unique (and totally proprietary) list of hard-hitting stimulants and some that you will not see on any other Pre Workout (ethanol 2-acetylamino-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propanoic acid, 2-Amino-4-(ethylcarbamoyl), butyric acid Micro-encapulated, Beta-Phenylethylamine, Rauwolscine). Yes, that’s a mouthful.

Our Experience:

GAT’s popular NITRAFLEX didn’t make this list due to its label. Cause honestly there’s no way for us to judge it fairly when the mix is proprietary and made of all sorts of weird stuff…So, thankfully we tried it, a lot of times.  And we really did enjoy it. We got an awesome pump and honestly this is the only PWO on this list that actually felt increased our strength. Was our Test level boosted? Sounds crazy, but something did work, and worked well!

Price & Where to get it:

As you probably know, you can get the GAN Nitraflex basically anywhere. As far as pricing the average go around price is around $31.99 and GAT products are rarely heavily discounted. We have spotted deals on it for $24 + Free Shipping & once or twice a year you can get it for below $20 a piece when there’s a Buy One Get One promo going on. If you are signed up for our deal alerts newsletter, you can relax and let us hunt the next deal for you.

Mr. Hyde by PRO SUPPS

Check out our full review of Mr. Hyde.

Another one of the ‘mass market’ Pre Workouts out there. Since the original version of Mr. Hyde launched in 2014 it went through several iterations, with most significantly the removal of banned substances such as Octopamine HCI and Dendrobium.

Mr. Hyde brings to the table 419mg of caffeine and 30mg of Synephrine an extreme stimulant (yes, also found on the above-mentioned 5150).

Our Experience:

Though it doesn’t bring a lot to the table in other areas (mood, focus, pump), remember this list is very ‘shallow’, will it kick your butt or not! And kick some butt it shall. As members of Stimulant Anonymous, even for us, 1 scoop was enough.

Price & Where to get it:

Yep, you can get it anywhere that supps are sold. Mr. Hyde retails for around $29 for 30 servings. Which right at your average. As said before, one scoop of this is more than enough, so a 30 servings container will last you 30 workouts. Every so often will hunt it down for $22-$24. But a deal for $17 was spotted in the wild.

DVST8 by Inspired Nutra

We couldn’t finish this list without DMAA young brother DMHA. DMHA is a relatively new comer to the Stimulant world, with a promise of a smoother less aggressive energy push compared to DMAA. DVST8 was one of the first (if not the first) to blend DMHA in a level that’s worth mentioning and its burst into the PWO ‘celebrity’ scene in 2016 was well deserved.  Beyond DMHA, DVST8 brings in 3 forms of caffeine (162mg per scoop) and a dose of yeah, you guessed it Synepherine. The whole ‘stim’ formula sums up to 417mg of active ingredients.

Our Experience:

DVST8 is the stepchild in this list when it comes to hitting you right in the face 10m into taking it…because it won’t. It will grow on you, slower than the other products on this list, but as it grows you will get sustained energy that gets you going and going. Also, we definitely felt the ‘thermo’ effect of the ‘THERMOFOCUS’ blend in the DVST8 – which means basically this thing will get you to sweat like you just finished a marathon. Maybe it’s a personal preference thing but we like to feel like we worked hard…

Price & Where to get it:

Being the new kid on the block and from an upstart company DVST8 can only be found on a few sites for now. The list price for 40 servings is $49.99 but its regularly available for $39.99. If you can take any of the PWOs in the list then you should plan for 1.5 scoops per workout (26 workouts for $39.99). Definitely on the high end of the price range but worth it if you are looking for a different feeling. At the time of this post we only saw it on a deal a couple of times, but we are sure as the product matures and gets more distribution we will see more of them.

Summary & a word about pricing vs value for money

If you made to this point, this means you’ve been around pre workouts for some time, so you know you can’t compare prices just based on the amount of servings per tub. Anyone of the Pre Workouts listed here will have at least twice if not 3 times the active ingredients per serving than your run of the mill PWO (C4, ASSAULT, NO XPLODE etc). So, yeah, you can buy C4 for $29.99 for 30 servings, but that will only last you 10 workouts if you are ‘qualified’ for one of these workout weapon systems.

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