Natural Workout Supplements for Men

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Most helpful customer reviews

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful.
One of the Best If Not THE Best Weight Gainers
By A Customer
I'm a "hard gainer" and putting on weight, any weight, be it muscle or even fat, is tough for me. The upshot to that is my weight is pretty stable. When I was in my late teens I went into the hospital for a 30% spontaneous nemothorax (collapsed lung) and had to have an operation. Anyway, my mother was concerned I'd loose a lot of weight, but I hardly lost any, nor did I gain any weight. After my operation my mother asked the doctor what she could give me. He said I just have "a very efficient matabolism", but suggested Ensure as it had a lot of calories. Well, I drank it and didn't gain any weight!

I'm in my 30s and am 5'6" and *used* to weigh in at 120 lbs. Then I got really serious about gaining weight and adding more muscle to my frame. Following the advice of a couple of online bodybuilding gurus (Will Brink being one of them) I increased my daily food intake and supplemented that with a quality protein weight gainer, creatine and workout regimen (using a Bowflex XTL with squat attachment) and I'm gaining muscle. After a few months I now weigh 135 and counting. I'm gaining about 5 pounds a month. My goal is to reach about 150-160 and then trim down to about 145-150. It's important to understand that you will gain some fat when you are trying to gain muscle mass. It's inevitable.

I've tried GNC's Pro Performance Weight Gainer 2200 and MLO's Mus-L Blast 2000. While I liked the taste of GNC the best (chocolate) it's overpriced at roughly $35 for 6 lbs. Mus-L Blast was a relatively good value when I bought it at Rite Aid, but I didn't like the taste (chocolate) at all. Another thing about these two weight gainers I didn't like was the fact that a lot of the calories you're getting in these weight gainers are in the form of sugars...a lot of sugars, especially with GNC. I was feeling tired during the day and couldn't understand why. Excerising should make one energetic, but I always felt drowsy.

Because I was still doing research on weight gainers I was willing to try different ones after my supply of the current one ran out. I was shopping for another weight gainer even before I ran out of the Mus-L Blast because I didn't like the taste at all. I'd drink it really fast because of this. Then I read about Pro Lab's N Large 2 and liked the fact that it doesn't have a lot of sugars and contains more protein per serving. ... bucket it's not cheap, but it is a decent value, especially when compared to the others I've tried. The taste is not as good as GNC's, but is much better than MLO's.

You can find N Large 2 cheaper online than at The Vitamin Shoppe, but if you have a local Vitamin Shoppe near you it evens out when you factor in shipping. Luckily I do have a Vitamin Shoppe near me within a couple miles. The online prices are the same as the local store.

I may still try other protein weight gainers, but for now I'm on my second bucket of N Large 2 because I really like it and it's a good value. The other thing I like about Pro Lab is that they are straight forward in the marketing of their products. There are some weight gainers that tout 4000 calories per serving, but when you read the back label you have to mix it with a gallon of whole milk! Who's going to drink a gallon of milk in one sitting! Even GNC's marketing is suspect. They say 2200 calories per serving, but that's a massive serving too...something like 7 massive scoops of powder mixed with 2 or 4 cups of milk I think. When I used GNC I only mixed one scoop of powder with one cup of milk twice a day. Currently I'm mixing 2 scoops of N Large 2 with 1 cup of 2% milk twice a day with good results.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
WAS Perfect for my needs - UPDATED REVIEW
By Paul Cola
ORIGINAL REVIEW: I'm a tall, skinny guy who likes to stay fit. I don't have, nor want, layers and layers of muscle bulking out of my clothes. I realize that this powder assists in building muscle, but I bought it for an entirely different reason. Pretty much all my life, I've had a fantastic metabolism. So good in fact, I rarely build any fat on my body. Also, I've been sleepy with low energy as long as I can remember. My wife said that it's likely I need a good amount of proteins and carbs throughout the day because I burn them off so quick. Believe me, I've tried everything from giving up sugar (completely), to vegetarianism. But I've never been able to shake that tired feeling. I decided to take my wife's advice. Instead of having a breakfast, lunch and dinner like the rest of the world (because large meals make me sleepy), eat smaller, healthy snacks throughout the day. I really didn't like this idea, because I enjoyed large meals. But I decided to try it anyway.I wanted to find something that was all-natural, no artificial sugars or flavors, full of proteins and carbs, and tasted good. And, easy and fast to prepare.In comes N-Large:It's sweetened with fructose - a simple fruit sugar.It contains a large of amount of proteins AND carbs(many protein only drinks don't come with the carbs I need).It comes in vanilla, my favorite flavor.It's easy to mix, and takes no time to prepare.It is working better than anything I've ever tried!I drink this stuff down about two or three times a day (I use a 1/4 of the recommended amount). Since I need to have my proteins and carbs every 3 to 4 hours, I also eat foods high in both of those (nuts, fish, bread, grains, greens, etc) when I am not drinking a shake. I exercise too, but not like a body builder. I just enjoy staying in shape.My goal was to raise my energy level. This stuff pulls through! I just wish I could afford a case of it. I'd make it part of my yearly health plan. I don't know if it works to build muscle, that's not what I'm using it for. But I know it works to keep me energized throughout the day. Because of that, I gave it the highest rating.UPDATED REVIEW: They've started adding the synthetic sweetener sucralose to this product. It is now crap. I wrote to the company, asking them about the addition of sucralose, but got no response. I can no longer recommend this product to people (like me) who want to put only natural ingredients into their bodies. Even if they chose to put actual, raw sugar (non bleached or processed), I would have been happy. But the decision to add a synthetic sweetener to such a good combination of ingredients has crushed my loyalty. Goodbye N-Large. If anyone can comment on a good protein / carb powder mix, with no artificial sweeteners, I'm all ears.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
THIS IS GREAT!!!
By Grant
I packed on 15 pounds of solid mass in less than two months with heavy squats and this protein powder!