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.