Thunderbolt (90 Caps)

mr.cooper69

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4/5

Henryv was kind enough to send me a bottle of Thunderbolt to try out. This was in response to my skepticism towards the product, so needless to say, I did not take this product hoping that it would work for me. Placebo is still present as it always is in humans, but it was hopefully minimized in this case. I tried to assess it as objectively as I could after a single use. I will be reviewing again once the bottle is complete, but here's what I gathered after one use.

Dose: 3 capsules (1 serving).

Effects:

Let's break this down into various aspects.

Pump:

As this is the major selling point of Thunderbolt, I thought we'd look at this first. I've been training with 2 caffeine tabs preworkout for a while now, so I took 2 caffeine tabs + thunderbolt to assess any effects over baseline. The pumps during the initial phase of my workout were not particularly improved over my usual pumps, and indeed, on a set by set basis, I didn't notice a profound pump spawning from one set or another. What I did notice was that once the pump was achieved, it did not dissipate in between sets as it often does due to my long rest periods. It really seemed to linger as a "constant" pumped-up feeling, which was evidenced by the fact that I still felt unusually full roughly 15 minutes after completing my session. This is a kind of cool effect. I've seen it before with nitrates and to a lesser degree agmatine, but this puts Thunderbolt in pretty "special" territory in this aspect.

8/10

Performance:

I'm not sure how many people will take Thunderbolt for improved performance, but this was the most stand-out feature to me. I breathed much easier between sets and I put up more weight than usual with a general lack of fatiguability. I wouldn't take this too far: I did 1-2 more reps than usual, but that's pretty good for a 1-time use.

9/10

I'd really like to emphasize that all of this is after a single use. This means that it could have been a variety of factors contributing to the above phenomenon. I train fasted, so one factor to rule out is preworkout diet. I think my final review after 30 full uses will be a lot more telling, and I may even take blood pressure readings before and after consumption to see if that lands us anywhere, objectively speaking.

So far though, Thunderbolt has outperformed most any "pump" product I've tried in 2 areas:

1. Sustaining the pump (about equal to nitrates)
2. Improving performance (also about equal to nitrates, but without the tachypnea/dyspnea that nitrates sometimes give me)

Stay tuned.
 
kbayne

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in for updates and final review.
 
fast00

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4/5

well was lucky enough to get a tub sent of this

my Review is pretty straight forward and short

During the time i used this i experienced great pumps and more vascularity, as well as a increase in endurance, Endurance being the highlight imo
i don't accredit all the vascular increase to this, as i did use this on a mini cut but it sure felt like it helped

For those looking for a "Pump" only product i will say this is legit but i feel as if its more than just a pump product
i must say this is a bit expensive for some one on a budget like myself, but if you have the extra cash i would say try it for your self

i will give it a 4/5 for the fact that it is pretty expensive for just a pump product which is how its marked

Thanks for the opp to try this
 
brenthebdog

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5/5

First off, I do want to mention that I tried Thunderbolt as a sponsored log courtesy of cdiblasi. Secondly, I want to mention that I will absolutely be buying this as a part of my permanent supp stack, because ...it works!

As far as value goes Thunderbolt is great, 34.95 plus shipping on Lockout Supplements or Nutraplanet. Considering that L-Arginine Butyrate and kallidinogenase are very rare and esoteric ingredients that I have only found mentioned in PubMed articles about muscular dystrophy, lymphoid malignancies choroidal blood flow, and laboratory induced ischemia; they present a very innovative way to get a savage pump at the gym! Thunderbolt is capable of holding it's own as a standalone pump based pre-workout, but I used it in conjunction with MusclePharm's new version of Assault with the nitrate bonded ingredients. With the cocktail of Thunderbolt (taken 25min before lifting) and the Assault taken about 15-10 min before lifting I had the best upper body pumps I've ever had from athletic supplements. That being said, there was the side effect of Thunderbolt super potentiating the beta alanine in the Assualt and feeling like my elbows and ears had acid poured on them.

Now, where this product shines is upper body lift days, the pump you get in your arms and shoulders is epic! Fatigue thresholds go up on lifts, strength goes up, and personally I felt like my joints were less susceptible to injury due to increased blood flow and were warmer much faster than usual. I even felt like I could work abs and core much harder than usual while taking Thunderbolt due to the sensation of feeling warmer and less fatigue over the duration of a lifting session.
Being that I'm a trail runner and have been steadily increasing my milelage to train for ultrarunning I am always looking for a supplement that can help with fatigue resistance. However, Thunderbolt did let me down in this capacity. Anyone who has ever rock climbed before and has felt their forearms crap out on them, just imagine this feeling in your calves after about 3 miles.

My final thought on Thunderbolt is that it is the real deal when it comes to an innovative pump product. We've all tried arginine, arginine akg, l-citrulline, GPLC, agmatine sulfate and every other possible NO precursor with the hope that it is "the best" pump product. As far as I'm concerned this one is the best I've tried and can't be beat by anything else on the market.
 
paula

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How do you compare to hemavol and high volume?
 
brenthebdog

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How do you compare to hemavol and high volume?
I've never tried high volume, but Hemavol doesn't even come close and it is still a good pump product. What was very noticeable for me about Thunderbolt is that my joints and connective tissue felt warmer sooner and that my training was more effectively stimulating muscle hypertrophy. Sometimes a really good pump is dependent on the muscle group/s and exercises that you chose to do during the lifting session but I always felt like I had a very productive training session while taking Thunderbolt.
 
Grayson

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5/5

I originally purchased this out of curiosity in June, and since then I can't do another workout without it!

I use this in conjunction with a diy pre-workout cocktail consisting of: tmg, beta alanine, caffeine/theanine/tyrosine.

Pump: 5/5

Thunderbolt fires on all cylinders and hits the mark every time.

This is a different kind of pump. It's a denser, fuller pump. It blows agmatine or nitrates out of the water (however it competes competently with a mix of nitrates + agmatine). Veins are thicker and scarier. It's great, especially on arm day.

I've noticed there's a slight difference between dosing this 30 minutes away from a CHO meal/drink and fasted. CHO will provide a better pump, but it works in a fasted state as well.

Taking this on upper days you really feel your muscle swelling up. Not only do you look good after a set, but this really assists in providing the "mind-muscle" link.

Muscles felt dense and hard.

Dosing: 5/5

Easy: 3 caps 25 minutes pre-workout. As mentioned before, it's recommended to be taken in a fasted state or at least away from food, but I noticed that if I had a CHO/protein drink 30 minutes before and popped 3 caps after my warm-up set I had better pumps than dosing it fasted. This isn't to say you won't feel anything in a fasted state. I've taken this plenty of times before fasted morning training and definitely experienced its full benefits.

Endurance: 5/5

This is user-dependent, but on high rep days, the "mind-muscle" connection helped me crank out more reps than usual. For example on the flat barbell bench, I could feel my chest muscles pushing out each rep and instead of a lactic acid burn, all I felt was blood pumping into the area. Note: while conducting this "experiment" I had taken beta alanine, therefore I must conclude that Thunderbolt will greatly enhance beta alanine supplementation.

I never dosed this before cardio, but it's something I will do and will update this review with.

Price: 4/5

$33-40 depending where you look.

I have to knock it because it is expensive and because it should be used as an addition to a stimulant based product. If you're like me and buy bulk ingredients your mileage may vary, but if it was at $25, I'd buy an entire case.

Other aspects:

Nutrient partitioning: didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary in terms of partitioning or fullness in my post workout shake/meal.

Lasting pump: completely dependent on the rep scheme for the day. 6x15 had the most noticeable lasting pump. If I trained fasted, I'd feel full and plump till the evening. On a heavy 8x3 or 5x5 day the pump was different. It was still dense and full, but it didn't have the same vein structure of the high rep days.

Angiogenesis: I noticed a few new veins, but it could be from playing around with caloric intake around workouts.

Summary: 4.75/5

A worthy product indeed and has a graced a permanent spot in my pre-workout protocol.

I've run this intermittently, but I'd like to run two bottles back-to-back dosing every day to see if these effects build up over time.
 
SwolenONE

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Dang, might need to finally grab a bottle.
 
AdelV

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I thought I'd leave a review

I've taken many other pump products, aka nitrates / High Volume etc.

Let me say, I generally eat no carbs before training so diet isn't a factor.

I was fairly disappointed with High Volume so I picked up a bottle of this during the Black Friday sale.

I've taken it a few times, most recently on chest / biceps and back / triceps.

I note after back doing triceps with a DB behind my neck my lats were flaring like mad, and my biceps hurt tonight from the painful pump.

Value for money, I'm sure it contains 30 serves. That's 6 weeks of works out, compare to alot of products giving 16-20 serves.
10/10

Strength
I honestly felt stronger, and like I could push a little harder.
8/10

Pump
It's one of the best I've tried, and this is with no pre carbs. My pump in my lats lasted for a while after training, and same with my biceps.
10/10

Veins
Definitely noticed this, and I only took it along side 200mg caffeine. My veins were thick when training biceps, I even took a photo but have no idea how to post on here.
9/10

Endurance
Honestly, I ended up doing like 16 sets on cheat and I would of done more than 7-8 on biceps but my biceps felt really sore! I coukd barely squeeze them by the end they were that pumped.
9/10

I'm not very good at reviews haha, sorry.

Definitely looking forward to using the whole bottle!

+++
 
schizm

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Good stuff Adel...I had used the OG Thunderbolt a couple years ago and loved it.. Your review just inspired me to go grab a bottle... Thanks mate!
 

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