Product Review: Pump by Gnarly Nutrition

Guest post by: Sabine Weijers
Twitter: @sabineweijers

In a previous review,  I already told you I like Gnarly a lot, and that was based on the test on their whey protein. Along with those samples, they also added a few samples of their product called Gnarly Pump.
Described as a nitric oxide booster, this supplement promises to give you "increased endurance & muscle healing"

The main ingredient, L-Arginine, is claimed to aid in increased production of nitric oxide in the body, and therefore increase the athlete's performance.
The other notable ingredient, creatine, is well-known for it's prolonging muscle endurance effects as well.
To find out more about nitric oxide supplements, check this page.
Of course results always vary per person, but I surely wanted to put this one to the test. And the best way to test it, I thought in my humble opinion, could be Fran. And guess what, it happened to be on the wod board today :-)

First of all, my Fran time is nowhere near to brag about, hell, I haven't even done a Fran yet as prescribed.
Anyway, directions say to take the Boost abut 20-30 mins before your workout, so I did.
At 3,2,1, go! I took off and I cranked out the first 16 thrusters with a lot more power than I was used to. Finished the next 5 and then off to the pull-ups. Fatigue in the lower arms is usually what makes me stop often during pull ups, but I was able to get going again after just a few seconds of pausing.
For some reason, I managed to keep going at a steady pace, not taking too much time to rest.
I finished first, not with an excellent time and still not Rxd', but it went surprisingly well.




Could it be the Pump? Not 100% sure, but it sure felt good! Looking forward to testing this some more, but the first experience sure was a good one. Only downside perhaps is the taste, not a big fan of cranberry, so the sour taste might put some off.

It might not do anything for some, it could be a great help for others. Personally, I'm happy for now, Gnarly Pump might just make it on my personal supplementation list!

Order Gnarly with a 10% discount, using code A100513






Burpee Miles and more stupid shit

A while ago, I got an invite via Facebook to participate in a burpee mile. So, straight away, the only question came to my mind: why the f%!*k should I go and do burpees for a mile?? What's the point??
This was just one more example of the stupid crossfit related shit we've seen popping up lately. Other examples:

- Burpee Challenge. Ascending burpees for 100 days (start with 1 burpee, do 2 the next, etc.)
- 1000 GHD sit-ups. Do 2 GHD sit-ups on day 1 and keep adding 2 until you reach a 1000.

Seriously, even came across a 1 year burpee challenge. Really? Like, really??

Hmm, let's see, crossfit is "constantly varied, functional movement, performed at high intensity":



There is nothing functional about a bupee mile, nor varied, nor is it high intensity. Sure, a burpee mile may sound intense, but you can be assured that after about 40 of  'em, you'll find yourself flopping down and crawling back up. Nothing intense about that.

It seems that these type of  "challenges" are only done because of the numbers. To impress. To post on Facebook, tweet about. Guess, what, people will have forgotten about it the next day, and you'll have to see a physio therapist for the next few months to fix that wrecked shoulder. Or back. Or both.
The burpee, when done in proper work-outs and at the right volume, is a great full body movement. But when done in chronic amounts, it will just break your body down badly, like any movement in endless repetitions.

So next time, when you get an invite to the 2000 squat challenge, ask yourself this: does it benefit my health or my Facebook status?

Shop Now Rogue Fitness

Deadlift or Legpress?

Franco Columbu
Aahh, the deadlift. We love it. Nothing feels better than picking up something REALLY heavy, right?
Since it's called a "lift", the most logic approach is indeed to lift the bar up, but for some this can actually result in more of a pull with the weaker bodyparts.
When the load gets heavier, some of most common mistakes are pulling too much with the arms and rounding the upper/lower back.

Perhaps these few tricks will help to add more weight to your PR:

  • Instead of lifting up, try to imagine pressing the ground down with your legs. This will automatically force you to focus on pressing from the legs instead of pulling with your arms and back.
  • That being said, view your arms simply as tools to hook onto the bar.
  • Mark a spot on the ground about 3 feet in front of you to focus on. Keep your eyes on that spot during the entire lift. This will keep your head in a neutral position. The psychology of lifting up often results in people looking up as well, which causes a "break" in your spinal support.
  • Grip - if the hook grip is not your best friend, consider having a mixed grip (see Franco) Having a mixed grip prevent the bar from rolling out of your hands. It could be a personal preference, but we like have our dominate hand with the palm towards the body. Just play around with it what works best for you.

More talk on deadlifts by Mark Rippetoe:




Product Review: JAW Pullup Grips

We've all been there; doing origami-like taping to protect our hands from ripping up whilst doing pull-ups.
Sure, Jason has a great way of explaining, and we're sure it works for most, but we found a solution that will be ready within the first 20 seconds of his video:



They are called the JAW pullup Grips.
Made in the land Down Under, the grips are made of a strong fabric, which is thinner than the regular leather grips. For some, leather grips give a feeling of not having enough contact with the bar, rings, etc.
Now, do they work? We think they do! Submitted them to KB swings & pullups, and afterwards our hands were still in unscathed condition. The fabric didn't rip and the grip stayed nicely in place.

Available in various colors and sizes, there are plenty to choose from!

Buy them directly from JAW (International shipping) or get them at WODShop





Product Review: Gnarly Nutrition (edited)


Guest post by: Sabine Weijers
Twitter: @sabineweijers


Remember the days when protein powders tasted like chalk and were loaded with sugars and additives?
[read: crap] Unfortunately, there are still lots of products out there that are loaded with ingredients you simply just want to avoid, to name a few:

  • aspartame
  • soy lecithin
  • maltodextrin
  • corn syrup
  • artificial flavoring
  • wheat

Of course, there are folks out there that don't care about this, but personally we believe in the motto "eat crap, feel like crap". Also, if you're out there training your a$$ off to be "healthy" or "look good", eating junk kinda defeats the purpose, right?
Luckily, more and more products become available that are free of GMO, soy, wheat, sugars and other artificial additives. Gnarly Nutrition is one of those. Founded in 2012, their goal is to deliver "clean nutrition". We like that!
After sending them an e-mail, they were kind enought to send us some samples to review. We got the following:


The criteria we are looking for?
  1. as little ingredients as possible, AND as natural as possible
  2. mixes well
  3. tastes good
  4. extra bonus: tastes good when mixed with water
Gnarly Whey Chiseled Chocolate - mixed with water
Chocolate
  1. ingredients, see picture
  2. it mixed well, we used a shaker with one of those mixing thingies
  3. taste is good, even though it contains stevia (not a fan of stevia taste)
  4. still tastes nice mixed with water (of course not as creamy when mixed with milk for example)
Gnarly Whey Vicious Vanilla - mixed with unsweetened almond milk
  1. ingredients, see picture below.
  2. it mixed well, we used a shaker with one of those mixing thingies
  3. tastes really nice and creamy, obviously it helped using almond milk. Nice smooth vanilla and no nasty aftertaste
  4. Second test was with water, all good!
Vanilla


Great, you may say, but still I'm reading things that are hard to pronounce and don't make any sense. Ok, let's have a look at some of them:

- erythritol *
- isomalto-oligosaccharide
- fructo-oligosaccaride
- guar gum
- xanthan gum
- carrageenan gum

* It's known that some people might have trouble digesting erythritol, but the effects are not as severe as the more common used sweetener maltitol.

Our verdict? We like it. A lot. A protein powder should never be used as a meal replacement, but rather as an easy way to consume protein right after a work-out. Your primary nutrient source should be real food, but if to choose a protein powder made from real ingredients, Gnarly is an excellent way to go.






Edit:
After we posted our review, we got contacted by Eli from Gnarly Nutrition, with the following e-mail:


"We are a company that has put alot of thought into the products we create. We want them to be extremely clean and taste good. So in short we are all about integrity. Thus after reading your review I felt like I had to make sure I get back to you and let you know that unfortunately we do have a little bit of Soy lethicin in our product right now. Our next batch we will be switching to sunflower lethicin. It is a small amount that is attached to our whey to make it mix better and it is GMO free. We list it on our packaging under the allergy section and I'm wondering if thats why you missed it. 
Hopefully that small amount doesn't change your thoughts about the product but if it does, I apologize and can only promise that the next go round. It will be gone."


Now we like Gnarly even more!
Go to the Gnarly website to order, use code A100513 
for a 10% discount!


(We didn't get bribed or paid to write this review. If we think a product is shit, we'll write that too. However, if you order through any of the links provided, we'll earn a small commission. With that money, we can keep this blog going. Or buy bacon)

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