Welcome the the battle of the online giants – 4 Gauge and PreSeries BULK. These are 2 of the most popular pre workouts available, and are exclusively sold on their websites (so you can’t buy them from retailers like bodybuilding.com or GNC).
They contain a few of the same ingredients, but mostly differ. Ultimately, one has to be better than the other – and we’ll let you know exactly which one it is, after analyzing the important features of both products.
About The Companies
Roar Ambition
4 Gauge is made by a premium supplements company called Roar Ambition. They have a great reputation, and we’ve never had a problem with them before (after trying a few of their other supplements out).
Their products are endorsed by UFC fighers to legendary bodybuilders – which is always great to see. Another thing we like is that Roar Ambition’s products are 100% natural, without any synthetic ingredients or artificial sweeteners added.
Where do Roar Ambition ship from?
We asked them where they ship from, and we were very happy with their answer. Roar Ambition manufacture in the USA and UK, meaning regardless of where you are in the world, you won’t be waiting long to receive their supplements.
Infact, 4 Gauge arrived through our door after only a couple of days of ordering it.
You Can Learn More About Roar Ambition’s Shipping Policies On Their Website: www.4Gauge.com
Transparent Labs
Transparent Labs are the company behind PreSeries BULK. They have a great reputation online, and know how to market their products well.
Like Roar Ambition, they never add any artificial sweeteners in their supplements – which is something we can really get behind.
Where do Transparent Labs ship from?
We believe that Transparent Labs are based in the USA. While they ship to most countries around the world, they only manufacture in America, meaning orders to Europe might take longer to arrive.
However, there haven’t been many complains online about customers not receiving their products; so you’ll be sure to receive your order, regardless of delivery time.
You Can Learn More About TL’s Shipping Policies On Their Website: www.transparentlabs.com
The Ingredients and How They Work
As we’ve already mentioned, 4 Gauge and Transparent Labs contain different ingredients, for the most part. However, what you have to remember is this: the end goal of both products are the same, to improve your workout in the gym.
Ultimately, the best pre workouts are designed to deliver these benefits:
- Better muscle pumps
- Elevated energy levels
- Increased focus
- Improved strength
For this reason, we’ve analyzed both supplements’ nutrient profile – to find out which will work better than the other.
See for yourself:
4 Gauge
There are 8 main ingredients in 4 Gauge, which you can see from it’s ingredient list below:
Citrulline Malate
This is a great ingredient for boosting your muscle pumps during your gym session. There’s nothing quite like feeling your biceps full, ripe, and ready for the picking – and Citrulline Malate will definitely get you there.
But there’s one thing you need to look out for: it’s dosage.
Citrulline Malate is only effective in dosages between 6,000mg-8,000mg. Roar Ambition has clearly done their research here, by adding an optimal 6,000mg in 4 Gauge.
See SupplementTester’s
– Highest Rated Pre Workouts Here –
Creatine Monohydrate
This is, without a doubt, one of the best ingredients on the market. It’s been used by bodybuilders for the past 2 decades and has been proven to work in numerous scientific studies.
What does it do? Well, it helps improve your workout by raising your strength and endurance levels in the gym – 2 key benefits of a pre workout supplement.
We’ve seen a few people argue that Creatine Monohydrate has been under-dosed in 4 Gauge, so we asked Roar Ambition why they kept this at 1,000mg. They told us that many people prefer to supplement Creatine separately, so they created 4 Gauge to keep all of their customers happy.
Acetyl-L-Carnitine
This nutrient is naturally found in avocado’s, red meat, and even green vegetables. But what does it do?
ALCAR improves both your focus and reduces your fatigue – great benefits to improve your workout.
Beetroot Extract
Not many people know that Beetroots are some of the most beneficial foods out there. They contain high amounts of nitrates – this converts into nitric oxide in your body, which improves your blood flow, and therefore your muscle pumps.
It’s great when taken alongside Citrulline Malate – to ensure your arms are bulging during your gym session.
Coconut Water Powder
This isn’t the most important ingredient in 4 Gauge – but it’s a great bonus to have in any pre workout.
Why? Because Coconut Water contains a high amount of electrolytes, meaning it helps keep you hydrated for longer periods of time.
This is why sports drinks contain electrolytes; in fact, coconut water is often referred to as ‘nature’s sport drink’ for this very reason.
Smart-Caffeine Combo
This is the combination of Caffeine and L-Theanine. In a nutshell, L-Theanine enhances the benefits of caffeine (strength, endurance, and focus), making it more effective in smaller dosages.
Basically high doses of Caffeine can cause jitters or energy crashes – which ruin your workout. By adding L-Theanine, you avoid these side effects, and still experience Caffeine’s full range of benefits.
Rhodiola Rosea
This herb has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries, and has been proven to work in numerous scientific studies.
So what does it do? It’s able to reduce fatigue, and improve your cognition.
PreSeries BULK
Transparent Lab’s pre workout contains more ingredients than its opponent – but doesn’t always mean better.
We’ll analyze the most important ingredients that we haven’t already gone through with 4 Gauge (for example, we’ll skip Citrulline Malate here as you can read about it in the 4 Gauge section above).
Check out PreSeries Bulk’s ingredient list below:
Beta-Alanine
We have mixed opinions about this ingredient. Beta-Alanine has shown to improve muscular enduance, but the problem is this: it can cause a side effect called paresthesia.
Paresthesia is when you experience tingling all over your body – it’s not harmful, but we didn’t enjoy experiencing this side effect, and it basically ruined our workout.
However, we know that others don’t mind experiencing paresthesia. This is personal preference, but we choose to avoid this ingredient.
BCAAs
This consists of three branched chain amino acids – L-Leucine, L-IsoLeucine, & L-Valine.
This is another ingredient we have mixed feelings about; it’s shown to be beneficial in promoting muscle protein synthesis, there’s no doubt about that.
However, it’s cheap to purchase separately, and this is a personal preference again – but we like to able able to choose when to take our BCAAs, not just limit it to pre workouts.
As we’ve mentioned, if you only take BCAAs before a workout, then it’s great for you. If not, then it’s worth just buying a tub separately.
See SupplementTester’s
– Highest Rated Pre Workouts Here –
Betaine Anhydrous
This is the first bad ingredient in PreSeries Bulk. Studies have shown that it doesn’t offer any benefits, but can cause a strange and unwanted side effect – fishy odors in your breath and body secretions.
This isn’t a harmful side effect, but it’s not something you’d want – especially if you’re not getting benefits in return.
Taurine
There’s nothing bad about this ingredient, but it’s not the most beneficial either. It’s able to reduce cramping, but many mistakenly believe that it offers energy boosts (as it’s in many energy drinks).
While this isn’t the case, a reduction in cramping is a good thing – Taurine is a great bonus ingredient to have in any pre workout.
L-Tyrosine
This can improve your cognition, but doesn’t offer any other benefits to boost your gym session. Caffeine already offers this benefit, so there’s not much need for L-Tyrosine here.
It’s a great addition to a Nootropic, but not essential to a pre workout – especially when there are many better options to choose from.
Choline
This is believed to enhance your cognition, endurance, and reduce fatigue. However, studies have shown that it’s not reliable in proving any of these benefits.
Not only that, it can cause fishy odors in your breath and body secretions (like Betaine).
Mucuna Pruriens
This is a testosterone boosting ingredient, so we’re not sure why Transparent Labs has added this in their pre workout.
Pre workout’s should have ingredients which have almost immediate effects (30 mins after you consume it). However, you’ll have to consume Mucuna Pruriens 3-4 times per day in order to experience it’s full benefits.
For this reason, this ingredient is best suited to a testosterone booster, not a pre workout supplement.
Synephrine
Definitely the worst ingredient in here. Why? Because it’s been reported to cause harmful side effects.
Infact, this synthetic ingredient has actually been banned in Canada and the UK for this reason. As a general rule, you should stay away from ingredients that are banned anywhere in the world – to stay safe.
Side Effects
4 Gauge
Roar Ambition are known for only creating supplements that contain 100% natural ingredients – this is why 4 Gauge hasn’t been reported to cause any side effects.
We didn’t experience any unwanted side effects when taking 4 Gauge – read our personal review for more info here.
PreSeries BULK
There are two ingredients that are likely to cause side effects in Transparent Labs’ supplement – Beta-Alanine & Synephrine.
Here’s the potantial side effects PreSeries BULK can cause:
- Headache (Synephrine).
- Nausea (Synephrine).
- Anxiety (Synephrine).
- Dizziness (Synephrine).
- Paresthesia – tingling all over your body (Beta-Alanine).
The Conclusion
After reading this review, you can see that we respect both pre workouts – we wouldn’t be writing this comparison if we didn’t!
However, there must be one winner here (otherwise you’ve wasted at least 2 minutes of your life, and we can’t do that to you).
So…
The Winner: 4 Gauge
We’ve chosen 4 Gauge as the winner, because it contains 100% natural ingredients that are very unlikely to cause any side effects – we searched everywhere, and no-one had reported any side effects (obviously a few complained about the taste, but there’s only so much you can do without adding artificial sweeteners that can cause side effects).
What let PreSeries BULK down
We can’t leave PreSeries BULK as the loser without a respectful explanation.
Ultimately, what let this product down was the addition of Synephrine; also known as ‘Bitter Orange Peel’, it’s a synthetic ingredient known for causing harmful side effects and has been banned in the UK and Canada.
Not only that, Synephrine’s main benefit is promoting fat loss – which isn’t a key benefit of a pre workout supplement (obviously pre workouts can help you lose fat by improving your workouts and endurance, but only fat burners should have ingredients that directly promote fat loss).