I'm sorry that the last part of the review title is in fact false. However, now that you're here, let's commence.
Josh sent me two samples of Ehanced to try out and I used the first of them, yesterday.
I mixed up one bag with about the average amount of water I'd put in a shaker cup for pre-workout (which when I measured it afterward turned out to be 15 oz.). I normally slam my pre-workouts (and everything else aside from intras, to be honest), but because taste was something they wanted me to judge, I took a sip to start. What I tasted wasn't bad, but I was unaware of what flavor the product was supposed to be. Whatever I drank tasted like bad iced tea or perhaps pomegranate. Here's the thing, I don't like tea (save for green tea with citrus; think Lipton), whatsoever (and I loathe pomegranate). But it did taste pretty well like tea, so I thought the flavoring was on point for what they were going for, but obviously I wasn't a fan of it.
Well, I talked with Ben a bit and then e-mailed Josh this morning and he told me that blue raspberry was the flavor of the sample -- definitely didn't get that lol. He also said that as water volume is increased, the flavoring dissipates to give way to ingredients being tasted. I've never had that happen before (e.g. If I take blue raspberry Focus XT, it tastes very concentrated in a bit of water, but still tastes the same, just less potent, in a full shaker cup). But Josh recommended 6-8 oz. of water for the optimal flavoring. The second dose will be done with 6 oz. of water and I'll judge taste again and follow up with my feedback.
Okay, now onto the effects and the workout.
I follow a 3-week, 5-day/week split that follows a pattern of ABAC-repeat. Yesterday's workout was delts/traps and was part of what I call my high intensity session (60 seconds of rest between sets of 4x12 and only as much rest between exercises as it takes to set up that station; usually about 2 min.). The workout was as follows:
Seated DB Shoulder Press: 60's x 12 (x4)
DB Side Lateral Raises: 65's x 12 (x4)
Seated Rear Delt DB Side Lateral Raises: 65's x 12 (x4)
Solo Reverse Cable Ring Flys: 55 x 12 (x4)
-
Barbell Shrugs (bar in front/overhand grip): 315 x 12 (x4)
It was a very good session for me.
Initially, after dosing, I didn't feel anything noticeable (e.g. if I take 4g beta alanine, I feel the tingle within minutes or if I used to take in caffeine and ephedrine, I'd start to sweat and feel a surge of energy near instantly). For years, now, I haven't "felt" the kick-in/pick-me-up of stimulants. I'll address this more in a bit.
After I was about mid-way through with my DB side laterals, I noticed a delt pump lol. It's not the same as a bicep or quad pump, but I could tell that it was more pumped than what I normally experience due to the lactic acid build-up at the muscle site.
About 10 minutes into my workout (which was about 25 minutes or so after dosing), I felt some stomach discomfort. I was really worried that this was going to cause me to get uneasy and potentially lead to diarrhea. Luckily, that was not the case and it did subside after another couple minutes (diet was standard for the day, so it wasn't from there; was either a fluke or just something that showed up briefly, but didn't cause any problems).
My normal pre-workout concoction is:
- 1 scoop Focus XT (200mg caffeine)
- 7g citrulline malate
- 4g beta alanine
- 2g LCLT
and then right before walking out the door (about 5-10 minutes after dosing the above):
- small amount of BCAAs (been using 2 scoops of OG Xtend, lately, since I have it)
So, whatever was in PES's product and what I used certainly competed with my own concoction quite well.
I've sort of found myself at a point where I don't "chase" the new pre-workout fix, anymore. There was a time when I was always trying to find the next gold-standard product. That had to do with pump, but was more due to energy and what I "felt" from the product. I've taken numerous breaks from all stimulants (e.g. 5 months with zero) and nothing seemed to help with sensitivity or what I felt after I reached whatever point I'd reached.
So, with that said, I've relied on science and information to do everything since coming to that realization; hence my normal concoction which is well studied and proven.
Well, it didn't strike me until about 11 or so, last night, but something in Enhanced worked differently or more effective than anything I've had in some time.
I never felt the "kick-in" of the product, but what I noticed was that 7 hours after dosing, I was very alert, with a clear mind, and wasn't in the slightest bit tired (or hungry, but that may just be my own weird issues with virtually no appetite at any time). That was about the time I'd get ready to head up for bed, read a bit, and go to sleep. But I thought to myself, "I'm not going up there just to lie in bed and roll around for hours; I'll just watch more TV." I was watching episodes of Elementary (which I've just started watching, but am already almost caught up on and quite enjoy) and managed to watch 2 more episodes past when I normally would have turned the TV off to start my pre-bed routine. I went up to bed and then read (and played a few games on the ipad) for quite a while longer than I normally would've. I just wasn't tired. If I'm alone and not tired, I normally just put an episode of The Office (because I've seen every episode at least 3 times) on and lie the ipad against a pillow on the other side of the bed and drift off to that. It was just shy of 2 AM before I decided to get to that point, last night. Instead of my usual choice, I actually loaded up Layne Norton's latest vlog, which was 20 minutes. I ended up nodding off within the last couple minutes of it.
I ended up with 10 hours of clean, solid energy from Enhanced.
I'm not one who is stim-sensitive (I was popping 200mg caffeine caps like candy on a drive home from St. Louis and didn't feel a thing; nearly fell asleep at the wheel). However, I will be using my second sample of Enhanced for a morning workout just to ensure that doesn't happen to me again lol.
I woke up this morning and felt very good; well-rested and awake. I still hit snooze twice :laugh: so I could enjoy the feeling of lying in bed a while longer, but it wasn't because I was groggy and tired. I ended up with 6.5 hours of sleep or so, which isn't bad, but I'm normally cautious enough that I get near 8 on a nightly basis.
So, my overall take on Enhanced after 1 dose is that it's a pretty awesome/intriguing product. I'll likely try to dose it on a day where I can better judge pumps (arms, chest, or back) to see what I can decipher between it and my 7g of citrulline malate. The taste was wretched in 15 oz. of water lol, so I'm hopeful that it tastes good in 6 oz. The bottom line is, I'd use it regardless of taste because I want products that work and I slam pre-workouts, anyway, but I trust PES's taste enough to know they wouldn't sell what I drank lol. The energy that stayed after with no feeling of a crash was great.
I'll update more and make some more final judgments after my second dose.
Josh sent me two samples of Ehanced to try out and I used the first of them, yesterday.
I mixed up one bag with about the average amount of water I'd put in a shaker cup for pre-workout (which when I measured it afterward turned out to be 15 oz.). I normally slam my pre-workouts (and everything else aside from intras, to be honest), but because taste was something they wanted me to judge, I took a sip to start. What I tasted wasn't bad, but I was unaware of what flavor the product was supposed to be. Whatever I drank tasted like bad iced tea or perhaps pomegranate. Here's the thing, I don't like tea (save for green tea with citrus; think Lipton), whatsoever (and I loathe pomegranate). But it did taste pretty well like tea, so I thought the flavoring was on point for what they were going for, but obviously I wasn't a fan of it.
Well, I talked with Ben a bit and then e-mailed Josh this morning and he told me that blue raspberry was the flavor of the sample -- definitely didn't get that lol. He also said that as water volume is increased, the flavoring dissipates to give way to ingredients being tasted. I've never had that happen before (e.g. If I take blue raspberry Focus XT, it tastes very concentrated in a bit of water, but still tastes the same, just less potent, in a full shaker cup). But Josh recommended 6-8 oz. of water for the optimal flavoring. The second dose will be done with 6 oz. of water and I'll judge taste again and follow up with my feedback.
Okay, now onto the effects and the workout.
I follow a 3-week, 5-day/week split that follows a pattern of ABAC-repeat. Yesterday's workout was delts/traps and was part of what I call my high intensity session (60 seconds of rest between sets of 4x12 and only as much rest between exercises as it takes to set up that station; usually about 2 min.). The workout was as follows:
Seated DB Shoulder Press: 60's x 12 (x4)
DB Side Lateral Raises: 65's x 12 (x4)
Seated Rear Delt DB Side Lateral Raises: 65's x 12 (x4)
Solo Reverse Cable Ring Flys: 55 x 12 (x4)
-
Barbell Shrugs (bar in front/overhand grip): 315 x 12 (x4)
It was a very good session for me.
Initially, after dosing, I didn't feel anything noticeable (e.g. if I take 4g beta alanine, I feel the tingle within minutes or if I used to take in caffeine and ephedrine, I'd start to sweat and feel a surge of energy near instantly). For years, now, I haven't "felt" the kick-in/pick-me-up of stimulants. I'll address this more in a bit.
After I was about mid-way through with my DB side laterals, I noticed a delt pump lol. It's not the same as a bicep or quad pump, but I could tell that it was more pumped than what I normally experience due to the lactic acid build-up at the muscle site.
About 10 minutes into my workout (which was about 25 minutes or so after dosing), I felt some stomach discomfort. I was really worried that this was going to cause me to get uneasy and potentially lead to diarrhea. Luckily, that was not the case and it did subside after another couple minutes (diet was standard for the day, so it wasn't from there; was either a fluke or just something that showed up briefly, but didn't cause any problems).
My normal pre-workout concoction is:
- 1 scoop Focus XT (200mg caffeine)
- 7g citrulline malate
- 4g beta alanine
- 2g LCLT
and then right before walking out the door (about 5-10 minutes after dosing the above):
- small amount of BCAAs (been using 2 scoops of OG Xtend, lately, since I have it)
So, whatever was in PES's product and what I used certainly competed with my own concoction quite well.
I've sort of found myself at a point where I don't "chase" the new pre-workout fix, anymore. There was a time when I was always trying to find the next gold-standard product. That had to do with pump, but was more due to energy and what I "felt" from the product. I've taken numerous breaks from all stimulants (e.g. 5 months with zero) and nothing seemed to help with sensitivity or what I felt after I reached whatever point I'd reached.
So, with that said, I've relied on science and information to do everything since coming to that realization; hence my normal concoction which is well studied and proven.
Well, it didn't strike me until about 11 or so, last night, but something in Enhanced worked differently or more effective than anything I've had in some time.
I never felt the "kick-in" of the product, but what I noticed was that 7 hours after dosing, I was very alert, with a clear mind, and wasn't in the slightest bit tired (or hungry, but that may just be my own weird issues with virtually no appetite at any time). That was about the time I'd get ready to head up for bed, read a bit, and go to sleep. But I thought to myself, "I'm not going up there just to lie in bed and roll around for hours; I'll just watch more TV." I was watching episodes of Elementary (which I've just started watching, but am already almost caught up on and quite enjoy) and managed to watch 2 more episodes past when I normally would have turned the TV off to start my pre-bed routine. I went up to bed and then read (and played a few games on the ipad) for quite a while longer than I normally would've. I just wasn't tired. If I'm alone and not tired, I normally just put an episode of The Office (because I've seen every episode at least 3 times) on and lie the ipad against a pillow on the other side of the bed and drift off to that. It was just shy of 2 AM before I decided to get to that point, last night. Instead of my usual choice, I actually loaded up Layne Norton's latest vlog, which was 20 minutes. I ended up nodding off within the last couple minutes of it.
I ended up with 10 hours of clean, solid energy from Enhanced.
I'm not one who is stim-sensitive (I was popping 200mg caffeine caps like candy on a drive home from St. Louis and didn't feel a thing; nearly fell asleep at the wheel). However, I will be using my second sample of Enhanced for a morning workout just to ensure that doesn't happen to me again lol.
I woke up this morning and felt very good; well-rested and awake. I still hit snooze twice :laugh: so I could enjoy the feeling of lying in bed a while longer, but it wasn't because I was groggy and tired. I ended up with 6.5 hours of sleep or so, which isn't bad, but I'm normally cautious enough that I get near 8 on a nightly basis.
So, my overall take on Enhanced after 1 dose is that it's a pretty awesome/intriguing product. I'll likely try to dose it on a day where I can better judge pumps (arms, chest, or back) to see what I can decipher between it and my 7g of citrulline malate. The taste was wretched in 15 oz. of water lol, so I'm hopeful that it tastes good in 6 oz. The bottom line is, I'd use it regardless of taste because I want products that work and I slam pre-workouts, anyway, but I trust PES's taste enough to know they wouldn't sell what I drank lol. The energy that stayed after with no feeling of a crash was great.
I'll update more and make some more final judgments after my second dose.