It’s not often that a product becomes popular in both USA and Europe, but Biotech USA has managed this with their pre-workout, Super Nova.
Claimed to promote:
- Improves sporting performance
- Energy levels
When looking for the benefits that this pre-workout was designed to deliver, we were expecting this product to deliver more than just energy boosts (if you’re looking for simply elevated energy levels, then drink a black coffee before heading to the gym.
As a result, we’ll be looking at whether the ingredients inside Super Nova can promote other benefits that haven’t been advertised.
Take a look:
About The Company
As you can tell by the name of this company, Biotech USA are based in America. They’ve were brought to the market in 1999, and have since established a good reputation around the world – even becoming popular in France and the rest of Europe.
However, here at supplementtester, we always try to look past the fancy advertisements and check out whether the nutrient profile proves a product will work (or not). And this is exactly what we’ll do below.
The Ingredients and How They Work
After looking at Super Nova’s ingredient list, we realized that many important nutrients are missing. Not only that, this pre-workout contains a proprietary blend, so the dosages of the many forms of creatine are hidden from you (you’ll see what we mean after looking at the supplement facts.
However, on a positive note, Super Nova does contain some key ingredients, such as caffeine and citrulline malate.
See for yourself:
Citrulline Malate
This is a great start by Biotech USA. Citrulline malate is an amino acid that’s shown to improve your blood flow by raising your nitric oxide levels.
In a nutshell, citrulline malate is able to convert into l-arginine once it’s inside your body (more specifically, your kidneys); as l-arginine naturally as a poor absorption rate when orally supplemented, citrulline malate is a better option.
So what does this do? Answer: improve your muscle pumps while you’re lifting weights in the gym, and enhancing your endurance too.
As a result we consider citrulline malate to be a key pre-workout ingredient.
But there’s a problem; scientific studies have shown that the optimal dosage of citrulline malate is 6,000mg per serving, while Biotech Super Nova only contains 2,020mg.
Beta-Alanine
Beta-alanine is a molecule that’s infamous for causing a tingling and itching sensation on your body.
So why do companies add this to their products? Answer: Beta-alanine has also proven to enhance your muscular endurance in the gym.
Ultimately, it’s up to you whether this side effect puts you off taking a supplement or not. For us, we’d rather stay away from this side effect (called parethesia), so we try to avoid pre-workouts containing beta-alanine.
L-Arginine Hydrochloride
This might sound like a complex ingredient, but it’s simply the hydrochoride salt form of this amino acid. If you read our section about arginine, you might have realized that it’s able to improve your blood flow and muscle pumps when inside your body.
However, we mentioned that it has a bad absorption rate when added to supplements (meaning it’s mostly ineffective in supplements).
As a result, we consider citrulline malate to be the best replacement for l-arginine, as it converts into l-arginine once in your kidneys.
See SupplementTester’s
– Highest Rated Pre Workouts Here –
Taurine
Many believe that taurine is bull’s urine, but it’s simply an organic acid containing sulfur.
But that’s not the only myth about this ingredient; some also think that taurine is able to improve your energy levels, but the main benefit from consuming this nutrient is to reduce cramping.
As you can experience this benefit by consuming more water throughout your day, we don’t consider taurine to be necessary in supplements. But as it doesn’t cause any side effects, there’s no negatives to having this either.
In a nutshell, taurine is a good ‘bonus’ nutrient to add to a supplement, but it’s not a key addition.
L-Arginine Alpha Ketoglutarate
Similarly to arginine hydrochloride, this is the salt of arginine and alpha-ketoglutaric acid. What does it do? Answer: it’s thought to improve your nitric oxide levels.
However, as arginine has a poor absorption rate, arginine alpha ketoglutarate also isn’t very effective when orally supplemented either. So this isn’t a great addition to any pre-workout supplement.
Again, we’ll repeat that citrulline malate is the best nutrient to consume, if you’re aiming to enhance your muscle pumps in the gym.
Caffeine
We’re glad that Biotech USA has refrained from adding an overload of caffeine into Super Nova. They’ve done a great job by including under 200mg caffeine, which will boost your energy levels while keeping you safe from jittery feelings.
So after seeing this, we can confirm that Super Nova should, at least, deliver enhanced energy levels for your workout.
Pre-Workout Creatine Matrix
At the start of this section, we mentioned that Biotech USA had hidden the dosages of each ingredient inside this pre-workout. Well, this information is hidden due to these nutrients being inside this proprietary blend.
It’s one of the reasons why we always recommend you to stay away from supplements containing these blends – it’s essential to know the exact dosages of ingredients you’re consuming to stay safe.
Anyway, we’ll take you through each ingredient inside this ‘pre-workout creatine matrix’…
Creatine Monohydrate
You’ll be glad to hear that creatine monohydrate is a key addition to any pre-workout supplement; this compound has shown to enhance your strength and endurance in the gym, which will improve your performance, allowing you to achieve better results.
Now, if Biotech USA added at least 1,000mg creatine monohydrate in Super Nova, then this would have been perfect. However, instead, they’ve hidden the dosage of this compound inside a proprietary blend, mixing it with other unnecessary forms of creatine (that haven’t been proven to be any more beneficial than creatine monohydrate).
See SupplementTester’s
– Highest Rated Pre Workouts Here –
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Great dosage of caffeine
- Contains citrulline malate
Cons:
- Many ineffective nutrients inside
- Missing key pre workout nutrients
- Likely to cause side effects
Side Effects
We’ve listed that Super Nova is likely to cause side effects. Well, this is because it contains beta-alanine; if you read our ingredients section, you’ll know that beta-alanine causes paresthesia (which is a tingling on the skin of your face, hands, fingertips and extremities).
If you don’t enjoy this side effect, then we recommend you to avoid consuming supplements containing beta-alanine.
See SupplementTester’s
– Highest Rated Pre Workouts Here –
Review Conclusion
In comparison to the highest rated pre workouts we’ve reviewed, Biotech USA’s Super Nova is a very average product. We’re dissapointed that citrulline malate has been underdosed, and the best this company has managed to do is dose caffeine correctly.
Ultimately, Super Nova might raise your energy levels, but it’s not going to do much else.