We found HARD by Core Nutritionals on our hunt for the next product to review. It caught our attention as it’s described as an “advanced re-composition and hardening agent” – so we were surprised to see this in the natural testosterone booster aisle in our local supplements store.
Claimed to promote:
- Lean Muscle Gain
- Fat Loss
- Testosterone Levels
The benefits that Core Nutritionals have marketed HARD with make it seem more like a fat burner – but a they’ve listed this as a testosterone booster, we’ll be comparing it to our favorite T-Boosters on the market in this review.
Take a look:
About The Company
Core Nutritionals are a supplements company founded by 2 bodybuilders – Doug and Stephanie Miller. This company aims to deliver ‘drug-free’ products to the market (we’re guessing they mean stimulant-free).
However, this is a problem, as stimulants aren’t actually bad – caffeine is a key ingredient in both fat burners and pre workout supplements, as it can improve your strength, endurance, energy, and focus in the gym.
Caffeine only becomes a problem when it’s overdosed in supplements – but as long as there’s under 300mg in fat burners, you should be safe from side effects. Anyway, let’s see what’s inside this testosterone booster/fat burner.
Check out our
– Top Three Testosterone Boosters Here –
The Ingredients and How They Work
HARD by Core Nutritionals contains 5 main ingredients – as we’ve mentioned, it doesn’t contain any stimulants (which isn’t always a good thing).
If we’re going to review this as a testosterone booster, then it doesn’t matter that there isn’t any stimulants – but if it was a fat burner, then a lack of caffeine would get the thumbs down from us (caffeine gives you a great boost in energy when you’re cutting calories).
Anyway, we’ll examine each ingredient inside HARD – to show you how effective this really is.
Ashwagandha
This herb is popular in ayurveda medicine and has been used for decades. It’s believed to reduce anxiety and have anti-cancer effects; while it’s not proven whether it delivers these benefits, studies have shown that Ashwagandha improves strength levels in the gym.
However, as we’re judging HARD as a testostereone booster in this review, we have to point out – Ashwagandha doesn’t raise your testosterone levels.
For this reason, it’s not the best ingredient to have in a testosterone booster.
Phosphatidyl Serine
Also known simply as PS, this is a compound that’s believed to improve your cognition. However, studies have shown that this has no effect on your testosterone levels.
Even if we were judging HARD by Core Nutritionals as a fat burner, this wouldn’t be a good ingredient.
L-Theanine
L-Theanine is a relaxing agent that can help keep you calm and focused when you’re consuming stimulants; for this reason, this ingredient is one of our favorite additions to a pre workout supplement (as it also enhances the benefits of caffeine – strength, endurance, energy and focus),
However, it’s not needed here as there are no stimulants inside HARD by Core Nutritionals. Not only that, as we’re reviewing this product as a testosterone booster, L-Theanine isn’t needed anyway.
DIM
Also known as Diindoylymethane, this is believed to stop testosterone from converting into estrogen – but this is more of a gimmick when it’s added to testosterone booster supplements. We’ll explain why below.
Get ready for a big sentence: no legal testosterone booster are strong enough to raise T-Levels enough for your body to begin converting testosterone to estrogen – only pro-hormones or steroids will do this.
This is exactly why gynecomastia is a fairly common side effect of taking pro-hormones or steroids. So basically DIM is never needed in testosterone booster supplements (we believe it’s added to make you think the product is ‘stronger’ than it really is).
But that’s not all. Studies have shown that DIM can have the opposite effect and encourage your body to convert testosterone into estrogen in dosages bigger than 100mg; as HARD by Core Nutritionals contains 200mg, you’re at risk of suffering this side effect.
N-Coumaroyldopamine
This is a phytochemical found in plants such as cocoa, and is believed to help you burn body fat and promote lean muscle gains. However, there’s a reason why you haven’t heard of this ingredient – because no study has proven that it actually works.
Think about it: when creatine was discovered, Olympic athletes began using it in the 1990’s – and everyone knows how effective creatine is. In a nutshell, N-Coumaroyldopamine hasn’t hit the spotlight because it’s not worth knowing.
Side Effects
The biggest issue with HARD by Core Nutritionals, is that it contains 200mg of DIM; this can encourage your body to convert testosterone into estrogen (which is a side effect you want to avoid at all costs).
As we’ve mentioned, dosages over 100mg DIM in supplements have shown to put you at risk from this side effect. It’s even worse when you know this ingredient isn’t even needed in this product – this it’s important to do your research on ingredients before buying and consuming these supplements.
- Conversion of testosterone into estrogen
Not what you’re looking for? See Our
– Top Three Testosterone Boosters Here –
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Ashwagandha can have a positive effect on strength levels (power output)
- No proprietary blends
Cons:
- L-Theanine isn’t needed in a test booster
- DIM might raise estrogen levels
- Most ingredients ineffective
Review Conclusion
We’ve criticized this product quite a lot in this review, so we’ll point out the few good things about it – we like that HARD doesn’t contain any proprietary blends (meaning you can see the exact dosages of each ingredient inside).
However, there’s not many other positives to HARD by Core Nutritionals. First of all, they’ve been confused when marketing this supplement – it’s sold as a testosterone booster, but the main benefits they’ve written on the bottle are usually linked to fat burners (“Advanced Recomposition and Hardening Agent”).
Not only that, this product doesn’t contain any ingredients to promote higher testosterone levels…or fat loss either. In a nutshell, the ingredients inside HARD by Core Nutritionals can’t back up its claims – meaning you’re not getting good value for money here.
As a result, we recommend you to take a look at other testosterone boosters on the market. For almost the same price as HARD, you can get a much better test booster that contains key nutrients proven to raise your T-Levels in optimal dosages; meaning you’ll get the best deal without wasting your cash.
View the best t-boosters
– Top Three Testosterone Boosters Here –