I recently decided to delve into the realm of supplementation to help with my weight lifting. After reading some reviews online, I went with the Gaspari SuperPump Max for a pre-workout booster.
According to the package, it “promotes skin tearing muscle pumps and explosive workouts”. Um, good?
I got the grape flavor, which tasted fine. Since I primarily use Vega products, I was worried this would taste too sweet but it was actually pretty good. I started with one scoop this morning en route to the gym. By the time I got there, I was ready to go. I felt like I was walking just a tiny bit quicker to go work out! (How much of this was placebo remains to be seen). I chatted a bit with a woman in the locker room, and felt the stimulants kicking in as I was a bit more bubbly than normal.
So… a few reviews referred to this product (and its predecessor the SuperPump 250) as “SuperDump” for its.. cleansing properties. Sure enough, I had to use the restroom before I even hit the weights, but it wasn’t too bad.
I went straight to the bench press, loaded up 85 lbs (which I pretty well never bench) and ripped off 2×5. Wow.. ok, I like this stuff. I wasn’t really sure what the reviews meant when they mentioned that this product gives “great pumps”, but I felt my arms getting warm as blood flowed to them. Felt great! I lowered the weight and kept lifting.
Note: afterwards, I found a few articles about “the pump” on bodybuilding.com. They read pretty dry, but if you’re curious, here you go
I did something weird on one of the lifts where I sorta recruited my left shoulder, which hurt so I stopped. Then I went over to do chest flyes, which I sorta hate. Here too I didn’t hesitate as I grabbed heavier weight than I’ve done before and set to work. No problem. I felt like I had energy to spare and I needed to expend it.
I also worked my triceps to sheer exhaustion: I wanted to do some more chest flyes and my triceps would NOT help me bring the weights up. What?
Despite the fact it was primarily a chest workout, I felt like my arms also benefited. They FELT bigger! It was definitely a muscle fatigue and not a lack of energy that made me end my workout for the day.
Back at home, the SuperDump properties came into play again. No cramps though, so I can deal with it.
I’m excited with this product. I don’t know if I want to use it all the time because I don’t want to get used to it (and it has evil sucralose), but I definitely believe it made a difference in my workout this morning.
