Nutrex Research Outlift AMPED: New 2023 Formula Teased

Citrulline Malate (2:1) – 8g (yielding ~ 5.33g of L-Citrulline)

The first ingredient in Outlift Amped is citrulline malate in a 2:1 ratio, meaning it will deliver approximately 5.33g of L-citrulline. Not only is this ingredient great for pumps and performance, that’s the dose we like to see it at for maximum results.^[1,2] L-citrulline is a naturally occurring amino acid that’s found in several foods, but most notably – watermelon.

Fully loaded with high stim energy!

Once L-citrulline is ingested, the body converts it into L-arginine within the kidneys. L-arginine then gets transformed into nitric oxide via nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) – it also forms citrulline as a by-product – then the cycle repeats itself.^[3,4] Our main objective here is to boost nitric oxide (NO) levels, since that leads to vasodilation of the blood vessels, allowing more nutrients, blood flow, oxygen, and metabolic waste removal to occur within the working muscles.

Greater blood flow gives you an epic pump, but it also improves your muscular endurance – so you can work harder, for longer! And the more reps you can do before exhaustion, the more muscle mass you can pack on.

It’s important to note that there are several pure L-arginine supplements on the market, however they’re not nearly as effective at boosting endogenous arginine levels as L-citrulline because a large portion of the arginine gets metabolized by the digestive system before entering the bloodstream and carrying out its effects.^[3,4] If that wasn’t the case, it would make sense just to supplement with L-arginine, since it’s a more direct pathway but, unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. So we bring the L-citrulline (or L-citrulline malate) for the real pumps.

Beta-Alanine (as CarnoSyn) – 3.2g

Whether you love the beta-alanine tingles or not, you can’t deny that this ingredient is a well-studied ergogenic aid! While many brands use the generic form of beta-alanine, Nutrex Research decided to with CarnoSyn beta-alanine – a trademarked ingredient from Natural Alternatives International that’s rigorously tested for purity, potency, and safety.^[5] CarnoSyn is self-affirmed GRAS, meaning that it’s generally recognized as safe!^[5]

Now that you know that this is a high quality ingredient – what can it do?

One of the most pure forms of beta alanine on the market.

Beta-alanine is a non-essential amino acid that’s found in several foods, but also produced naturally within the body. The compound is involved in a variety of physiological processes, including the formation of a dipeptide molecule called carnosine.^[5,6] Studies show that beta-alanine supplementation significantly increases intramuscular carnosine levels, which is the reason why it enhances exercise performance.^[5,6]

Carnosine serves as a lactic acid buffer, thus delaying the onset of muscular fatigue.^[6] Lactic acid is a metabolic by-product that gets produced from the glycolytic energy systems and once it reaches a certain level, it slows down the synthesis of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), leading to muscular exhaustion.^[6]

Therefore, supplementing with beta-alanine can give you a boost in the gym, especially with exercises lasting between 1-4 minutes. It’s a great ingredient and 3.2g will deliver the results you’re looking for!^[6]

Betaine Anhydrous – 2.5g

Get ready for a boost in power, strength, and lean muscle mass with 2.5g of betaine anhydrous!

Betaine is naturally found in beets, which is where it gets its name, however in the literature you’ll also see it referred to as trimethylglycine. Studies show that 2.5g of betaine anhydrous supplementation can increase performance, power, strength, endurance, and lead to improved body composition.^[7-9]

OutLift Amped was formulated to increase energy, performance, pumps, and strength!

Betaine carries out its performance boosting effects by acting as an osmolyte and methyl donor. Osmolytes are organic compounds that influence the properties of biological fluids. This means that betaine is capable of maintaining extracellular and intracellular fluid homeostasis within a cell – resulting in improved resilience to outside stressors.^[7-9]

Betaine also serves as a methyl donor because it has three methyl groups to spare – based on its chemical structure.^[7-9] Betaine primarily donates a methyl group to a non-proteinogenic amino acid called homocysteine, as a result methionine is formed – a precursor to creatine production.^[7-9]

Other preliminary research suggests that betaine enhances performance and muscle mass gain by promoting myotube differentiation and hypertrophy via stimulating insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1).^[10] They also report that betaine inhibits hypoxia induced adipokine expression, resulting in reduced inflammation and improved muscle regeneration.^[10]

In summary, Outlift Amped is starting out strong with three powerful ergogenic aids: citrulline malate, CarnoSyn beta-alanine, and betaine anhydrous! But one of the best ones is to come…

Magnesium Creatine Chelate (as Creatine MagnaPower) – 2g

Creatine MagnaPower is one of the most underrated forms of creatine on the market, and it’s a perfect addition to a comprehensive pre workout formula. As the name suggests, Creatine MagnaPower consists of magnesium, an essential mineral, bound (chelated) to a creatine molecule.

Albion’s Creatine Magna Power adds a bit of magnesium to your day, which is something most of us don’t get enough of anyway!

Besides caffeine, creatine is the most studied ingredient in sports supplements and has been shown time and time again that it’s effective at boosting performance, strength, power, muscle mass, and time to exhaustion.^[11-13] Creatine is naturally produced in the body by combining three amino acids – methionine, glycine, and arginine. It’s also found in some foods, most notably red meat.

One of your body’s energy systems relies on creatine to generate ATP, and it’s most active during high intensity exercise, such as lifting weights. There are multiple forms of creatine on the market, including monohydrate and HCL, but Creatine MagnaPower really stands out because it combines two ingredients that both offer performance enhancing benefits.

Benefits of magnesium

Although it’s not discussed very much, magnesium is crucial for optimizing endurance and overall performance. Magnesium supports several key physiological functions, including protein synthesis, blood sugar regulation, muscle and nerve conduction, and blood pressure homeostasis.^[14] Furthermore, there seems to be a synergistic effect between creatine and magnesium, meaning they enhance each other’s actions.^[15]

Boost your performance with the help of Outlift AMPED!

It’s easy to fall short on magnesium intake for the day, so getting a bit extra from your pre workout is likely beneficial. Creatine MagnaPower comes from a leader in mineral ingredient development – Albion Human Nutrition and Minerals. Once they discovered the synergistic relationship between magnesium and creatine, Creatine MagnaPower was born.

Research shows that an insufficient amount of mineral consumption can significantly decrease your ability to uptake creatine.^[15] This means that a greater amount of creatine will be excreted rather than absorbed and utilized. The decrease in bioavailability occurs because electrolytes, such as magnesium, sodium, and potassium, serve as molecular transporters for creatine and are needed for optimal uptake.^[15]

Lastly, some evidence suggests that the more physically active you are, the more magnesium you need to consume in order to get in a sufficient amount,^[16] so any little bit helps!

With this dosage, you’re going to get 40% of the daily recommended value of magnesium — which should be enough to put you over the edge on top of your diet and multivitamin. On the creatine front, however, in order to get the 3-5g clinical dose, you’ll need to add more elsewhere in your day.

Taurine – 2g

Taurine is a sulfur-containing organic compound that offers a multitude of health and performance benefits. It’s naturally produced in the body and is primarily found in the muscles, heart, brain, and eyes.

Taurine is classified as a conditionally essential amino acid, meaning it’s not absolutely crucial to consume on a daily basis except for stressful situations.^[17,18] This highlights the importance of taurine for optimal exercise performance, since physical activity places the body under high amounts of stress – especially high intensity training. Taurine is known for being the “middle man” in several physiological processes – it aids in bile salt production, calcium handling, and osmoregulation.^[17,18]

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A meta-analysis published in 2018 found that oral supplementation of 1-6g of taurine per day leads to a significant improvement in endurance!^[17] Furthermore, they noted that taurine in isolation or paired with caffeine was an effective ergogenic aid, and you’re getting a great dose of both in Outlift Amped!^[17]

Taurine’s exercise enhancing effects are primarily attributed to its role in calcium signaling. The researchers theorize that it increases the amount of available calcium in skeletal and myocardial muscle, leading to an increase in muscular contractions – even under fatigue.^[17,18] Calcium is crucial for muscular contractions, therefore this is a practical hypothesis.

In regards to health – taurine supplementation expresses cytoprotective properties via cell membrane stabilization, detoxification, antioxidation, osmoregulation, and maintenance of intracellular calcium influx.^[18]

N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine – 750mg

First, here’s what tyrosine is and how it’s beneficial for exercise performance.

Tyrosine is an amino acid that the body creates from another amino acid called phenylalanine, it’s also found in some foods, such as dairy, meat, and eggs.^[19] Tyrosine is highly concentrated in the brain which makes sense because it plays a huge role in the production of multiple catecholamine neurotransmitters, including adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine.^[19]

Warrior Pre Workout and Outlift Amped share many of the same ingredients, just at different dosages!

On a very basic level, neurotransmitters are molecules that relay signals from cells – they help carry out several physiological functions and are crucial for muscular contractions. Stressful situations, such as high intensity exercise, can lead to a significant decrease in neurotransmitter levels, resulting in feelings of fatigue and weakness.^[19]

Therefore, supplementing with an extra source of L-tyrosine will likely extend time to exhaustion by maintaining levels of catecholamines. Studies show that L-tyrosine is capable of enhancing cognitive function, mood, focus, exercise performance, and helps you adapt to stressful situations.^[19]

Out of this entire formula, the one thing we would change is swapping out N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine (NALT) for pure L-Tyrosine.

Overall, L-tyrosine is great, but what’s the issue with NALT? Out of the two primary forms of supplemental tyrosine that exist, research shows that L-Tyrosine is superior to NALT due to better bioavailability and absorption.^[20] Although NALT can boost endogenous tyrosine levels, L-Tyrosine does a much better job.^[20] But the majority of people may not be able to tell a difference and with everything else going on in this formula, you shouldn’t worry about it too much!

In addition, many may appreciate the additional acetyl groups provided from NALT (just like betaine is a methyl donor, this will be come an acetyl group donor). So it ultimately depends on your diet and other supplements as to which will really be best for you.

Choline Bitartrate – 500mg

750mg of NALT will give you a slight boost in mental focus and 500mg of Choline Bitartrate will kick things up another notch! Choline is an essential nutrient for performance and health – it helps maintain the structural integrity of cell membranes, acts as a precursor to several substrates in the body, and it can be used to create betaine – an organic osmolyte involved in betaine–homocysteine methyltransferase activity that contributes to the inhibition of homocysteine formation.^[21-26]

Take Outlift Amped pre workout and IsoFit directly after to fuel recovery!

In regards to pre workouts, various sources of choline are added in order to boost mental energy, focus, and the mind-to-muscle connection. This occurs because supplemental choline enhances the synthesis of acetylcholine – the primary neurotransmitter that’s present at the neuromuscular gap junction (where the neuron meets the muscle fibers).^[22] Furthermore, research shows that acetylcholine is highly involved in the central nervous system (CNS), where it improves memory, learning, attention, alertness, and overall cognition.^[23,24]

Choline bitartrate is one of the more common forms of choline in the sports supplement industry. As the name suggests, choline bitartrate is made up of a choline molecule bound to tartaric acid. Once the choline bitartrate is absorbed and enters circulation, the two compounds dissociate and each carry out their own effects. The choline primarily will be used for acetylcholine production, meaning greater focus, mental energy, and pumps due to an increase in mind-to-muscle connection!

Caffeine (Active) – 350mg

Nutrex packed each serving of Outlift Amped with 350mg of active caffeine from two sources – Kaff Citrate and caffeine anhydrous. Both of these compounds have slightly different digestion rates, which will give you a quick boost in energy without making you crash mid way through!

Caffeine is the most researched sports performance supplement out there and plenty of studies concur that caffeine is an extremely powerful ergogenic aid.^[27] Caffeine carries out it’s stimulatory effects by inhibiting both adenosine and phosphodiesterase from binding to their receptors.^[27]

Adenosine is known for slowing down neural activity, resulting in fatigue, whereas phosphodiesterase breaks down a second messenger heavily involved in energy substrate metabolism called cAMP (cyclic adenosine monophosphate).^[27] All types of caffeine share the same mechanism of action, regardless of their rate of digestion, therefore Kaff Citrate and caffeine anhydrous both work on the same pathways to give you that boost in energy. Because there are some slight differences between these two forms of caffeine, let’s quickly cover each one!

Kaff Citrate (Yielding 200mg caffeine)

350mg of caffeine from two different sources will have you hitting new personal bests in the gym.

Kaff Citrate is a trademarked form of caffeine citrate that was developed by JSW Enterprise. It consists of three compounds – caffeine anhydrous, citric acid monohydrate, and sodium citrate dihydrate.^[28]

Although there’s a lack of research on caffeine citrate in regards to exercise performance, it’s primarily used in the healthcare industry for treatment of migraines and apnea – which tells us that caffeine citrate is probably very strong and fast acting.^[28] Anecdotally, Kaff Citrate increases energy levels much quicker than caffeine anhydrous, but no research has been conducted to back up that claim. You can tell that Nutrex is a fan of this combination because it’s also in Warrior Pre Workout, just at different dosages.

Caffeine Anhydrous (Yielding 150mg caffeine)

The most common form of caffeine in the sports supplement industry is none other than caffeine anhydrous. It’s known for being fast-acting, long-lasting, and incredibly effective at boosting performance. Caffeine anhydrous is a synthetic form of caffeine, and the “anhydrous” means it’s dehydrated. The combination of Kaff Citrate and caffeine anhydrous will definitely help you crush a workout, but as always – we highly recommend starting with half a serving to assess your tolerance – 350mg of active caffeine is no joke and is not for everyone.

Theacrine (as TeaCrine) – 50mg

If 350mg of caffeine doesn’t give you enough energy, then an extra 50mg of TeaCrine from Compound Solutions is here to make sure you’re fired up for a big session!

Long lasting energy without the crash!

TeaCrine, also known as theacrine, is usually added along with caffeine in pre workouts to further enhance energy, mental focus, clarity, mood, and motivation.^[29,30] What’s even better is that TeaCrine doesn’t affect the cardiovascular system,^[29] whereas excessive levels of caffeine intake can lead to increased heart rate, blood pressure, and rapid breathing. Getting a boost in energy from caffeine is good, but some serious side effects can occur if you really push the limits, which is what Nutrex is trying to avoid!

TeaCrine works synergistically with caffeine because it has a different mechanism of action – while caffeine inhibits adenosine and phosphodiesterase – TeaCrine modulates two neural pathways – dopaminergic and adenosinergic.^[29,30]

Research shows that theacrine stimulates dopamine receptors (D1 and D2), resulting in an increase in dopamine secretion.^[29,30] Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that’s responsible for feelings of pleasure, reward, and motivation. Other research suggests that TeaCrine blocks A1 and A2 receptors – further inhibiting adenosinergic activity, which decreases fatigue.^[29,30]

Although 50mg is not a huge dose of TeaCrine , you’re already getting 350mg of caffeine – so you should have plenty of energy.

BioPerine [(Piper nigrum extract)(fruit)] – 5mg

This is not the last ingredient, but it’s included to make sure you’re getting the most out of Outlift Amped.

Bioperine is the trusted, trademarked form of black pepper extract that promises 95% or greater piperine, the part of black pepper with all the activity!

BioPerine is a high quality black pepper extract that’s standardized to contain at least 95% of the main bioactive constituent – piperine.^[31] It was created by Sabinsa Corporation and quickly gained popularity in the dietary supplement industry due to its ability to enhance absorption and bioavailability of several nutrients and ingredients.^[31]

Preliminary research shows that piperine is capable of increasing thermogenesis, altering efflux mechanisms and enzymes involved in metabolism.^[31] All three of these actions are attributed to BioPerine’s absorption enhancing properties.^[31] One of the most notable molecules that piperine effects is a protein that modulates intestinal uptake called p-glycoprotein.^[31]

Thus, we are huge proponents of BioPerine because it can make your supplements that much more effective!

Rauwolfia (Rauwolfia vomitoria) extract (root) – 1.5mg

To round out this intense, high energy, and hard hitting formula, we have a strong dose of alpha-yohimbine, also known as rauwolfia vomitoria root extract! If you’ve never tried alpha-yohimbine before, then we strongly recommend starting with half of a serving, because it’s powerful and some people can tolerate better than others!

Alpha-Yohimbine is also included in Warrior Pre Workout.

Alpha-yohimbine is an alkaloid that’s known for its potent sympathetic nervous system stimulation and this may be what puts the “amped” in Outlift Amped. It’s most commonly found in advanced fat burners and pre workout formulas. This is definitely not a beginners’ ingredient, which is why it fits well in the Warrior Series.

Fortunately, Nutrex is using alpha-yohimbine opposed to regular yohimbine because there’s a major difference between the two, despite having similar names and molecular structures. Alpha-yohimbine provides all the same benefits as yohimbine – enhanced energy, fat burning, improved mood, libido, and appetite suppression, without the negative side effects, such as anxiety, headaches, nervousness, and irritability.^[32-35]

Alpha-yohimbine’s primary mechanism of action is the inhibition of alpha-2 receptors – resulting in enhanced thermogenesis, lipolysis, and decreased fat storage.^[32,33] In other words, you have more energy to fuel your workouts and get rid of unwanted fat! Although Outlift Amped is not a fat burner, nearly everyone’s goal is to build muscle and lose fat, so this may give you an extra boost.