Has anyone tried Cellucor C4 pre workout?

Yes, I take it. It works pretty well at giving you extra energy for pushing you through extra tough workouts or trying to workout harder.

In the beginning it did make my stomach sore, but I pushed through it and I'm fine now.

It's good to build your tolerance slowly. I don't take it on days when I'm just doing cardio. I only take it on days I really want to push myself. It definitely helps performance levels, but I wouldn't depend on it to get you through your workouts.

Sometimes I feel a little more irritable during the day after taking it in the morning for example. Not all the time, but it happens.

I just tried this for the first time on Thursday. It made me pretty sick after my workout - took a full scoop and probably should have only tried 1/2 scoop to start. Probably won't try this again.

Warning- long response. However, good info.

I really have a lot of good things to say about c4 as a pre workout drink. It is one of the best pre workout products out there and I have used a lot in my pursuit of finding the best supplement stack over the last 8 months. I have tried a lot of different ones from c4 to Hyde to jack3d (original) to craze. C4 is the one that gives me the best physical response and has the least set of negative side effects. If i were to market a pre workout drink, i would call it Crank after the movie. lol. the raw energy that the guy in crank movie has would be great for a workout. While I want to say all good things about c4and the pre workout drinks in general as a tool to improve workout performance, there are some cautionary notes to consider.

1. Do not let pre workout supplements become a crutch. You do not want to depend on it to always get through your workout. Tolerance builds over about 3 weeks to the ingredients in a pre work out, drink, especially towards the caffeine. It will take more and more to get that initial pump that you once enjoyed. Once you start adding 3 or4 scoops to a drink, it is time to either cycle onto another class of pre work out drink or to stop entirely while your body reduces tolerance. My VST friendMark once wisely said that after your body issued to the effects of après workout drink, they become ineffectual.

2. These supplements are expensive and can seriously damage your wallet if not careful. Often times a container is 30-50 dollars. You will use up a container of a pre workout drink faster then you realize. Not necessarily the most important issue, but something to be aware of.

3. They contains lot of filler ingredients that have an unknown impact on the body overlong term. These lists of ingredients are often proprietary and you do not have an accurate description of ingredients or quantities to really know what you are consuming.

4. Some ingredients in excess can be dangerous. You may not have to worry about this one if you are an occasional user. However, if you are a heavy user, you need to be careful about impact on the renal system. Drink a lot of Water to help the renal system out. You can get a little nauseous depending on your tolerance to the ingredients. Find out what minimum dose is good for you to achieve workout goals.

5. Pre workout drinks are dehydrating. Be sure you are drinking a lot of water and replacing electrolytes after a work out from those lost through sweat. G2 is a great electrolyte drink, but so is coconut water. If you dehydrate too much, your muscles will cramp and that is not any good for your workout.

So those are the cautionary notes. Just keep them in mind when using these pre workout drinks.

Honestly, I have found the following suggestions to be safer and also help you have an awesome workout without dealing with the negative aspects of pre workout drink supplementation.

1. Amino acids. A good amino acid blend before a workout, during a workout, after a workout and during rest periods (throughout the day) is going to be a better option long term to help you have a better workout. Make sure you are getting branching chain amino acids (BCAA). The best BCAA amino acid compound I have found is called Xtend by Scivation. It really helps with giving your muscles the food they need to perform and to recover. Another good a amino acid product that I really enjoy is called catalyst by Advocare. It is an excellent pre workout set of amino acids that help you through an intense workout. Finally Theresa brand new type of amino acid research on SAA (silk amino acids) that claims to enhance Protein synthesis in the muscles. I did not find the product did much of anything except reduce my net worth. I toolkit exactly as instructed, but no real results. Maybe there needs to be more research on the effectiveness of SAA in humans, not just in mice. BCAA are really beneficial because your body knows how to transport them to the muscle for protein synthesis fast. If taking BCAA after a workout desperately from a recovery meal, it is best to take it first and then eat the recovery meal after that within 29 minutes. The reason is you don't want there to be competition between BCAA and nutrients from food during the critical period after your workout. Stack them in sequence and you will be just fine.

2. Complex carbs and good fats. A good complex carb meal before working out is the key to giving your muscles the sustained clean energy they need. I just had a thread on this over the last couple weeks. A good complex meal to eat 1-2 hours before working out is a serving of steel oats and a scoop or two of your Protein shake powder. I have found trader Joe frozen steel oats to be very convenient to heat up in a few minutes. Otherwise you can make steel oatmeal from scratch (takes about 30-45 minutes). This works too. Try and get a ratio of 2:1 of the macro nutrients carbs and protein. Energy squares from nuts.com are also good to consume before working out because of the high density of good carbs and good fats. Do not try and complete a back breaking intense workout without properly fueling your body with slow burning energy. Try and pick good complex carbs that are low on the glycemic index in order to keep the insulin response low. Pairing Fiber with a carb will lower the glycemic index on a carb. Apples, oatmeal, etc have a good source of fiber so lower the insulin response and give you more sustained energy.

3. Recovery shake or meal. Replacing the lost glycogen during a workout is important. Glycogen comes from the conversion of carbs and fats to energy. Be sure that you eat some carbs and lean protein following a workout to help your muscles recover. There are so many Protein Drinks out there. I currently use either a synth 6 protein shake or an AMRAP bar to recover after a home workout or a cross fit workout, respectively. Most recover shakes have BCAA in them, but I have found the dose to be low so supplement with extra BCAA.

4. Creatine. Creatine is a well studied supplement and has been shown to improve performance of a workout. There are 2 types of creatine to consider: monohydrate and hydrochloride. Creatine monohydrate has a loading period about 1-1.5 weeks where you needs to take high doses to saturate the muscles. Creatine monohydrate works by drawing water into the muscles. Water is beneficial for two reasons. The first reason is cosmetic where water gives your muscles a good pump. The issue is that the pump disappears after you stop saturating the muscles with creatine monohydrate as the water will leave the muscles. One side effects that you will gain some water weight. Creatine monohydrate also gives your muscles access to immediate fuel during a workout. This is where extra performance is going to come from. Creatine monohydrate doesn't actually help with protein synthesis for the growth of muscles be generating additional protein cells. Creatine hydrochloride has a much longer loading period of about 5-6 weeks. However, once the muscles are loaded, real protein synthesis occurs such that there is growth of muscles from additional protein cells. Additionally, there is no water weight as creatine hydrochloride does not work by drawing in the same level of water as creatine monohydrate. However, creatine hydrochloride tends to be much more expensive than creatine monohydrate by a magnitude.

Hope this helps.

I forgot to mention that our gives me acid reflux. I don't take it at night for that reason. BUT, I am one of the few that didn't have reflux before surgery and now suffer from it occasionally.