C4 50x is a pre-workout supplement created by Cellucor. It comes 30 serving containers, in 3 different flavors – Fruit Punch, Icy Blue Razz, and Watermelon.
Claimed to promote:
- Energy
- Focus
This is marketed as Cellucor’s most powerful pre-workout supplement, with an “explosive energy intensifier”. We’ve analyzed C4 50x’s ingredients, to see whether it can live up to the hype.
Take a look:
About the Company
Founded in 2002, Cellucor pride themselves on being “an award winning industry leader committed to premium products”.
They market a range of products, from fat burners to whey protein – but their most successful series is their C4 pre-workout supplements.
The Ingredients and How They Work
C4 50x contains 3 ingredients, as well as a huge proprietary blend filled with numerous nutrients – this is negative. But why?
Well, a proprietary blend is a mixture of numerous ingredients, shown to you as one quantity. Ultimately, you’ll never the exact doses of each ingredient inside these blends, and it’s a problem when stimulants are contained – some are sensitive to stimulants and might experience side effects.
See for yourself:
Beta-Alanine
Cellucor hasn’t gotten off to a great start here. While Beta-Alanine’s been shown to enhance muscular endurance, it can cause paresthesia in doses over 0.8g-1g.
Paresthesia is a tingling on the skin of your face, chest, hands, and extremities – it’s not life threatening, but it’ll ruin your gym session.
As C4 50x contains 2.4g of Beta-Alanine, you’re almost certain to experience paresthesia. We recommend avoiding Beta-Alanine, so stay away from this side effect.
Creatine Nitrate
This is simply creatine mixed with nitrate, which is believed to boost your nitric oxide levels, as well as strength and endurance.
However, no studies have found any differences between Creatine Nitrate and Creatine Monohydrate, apart from the fact it’s more water soluble – the only advantage of this, is that it might be more effective in lower doses than Creatine Monohydrate, but nothing’s been proven.
We recommend that you stick with Creatine Monohydrate, as it’s been effectively supplemented since the 1990’s, proven to deliver benefits.
Arginine AKG
This is a salt of arginine and alpha-ketoglutaric acid that’s believed to raise nitric oxide levels, as well as muscle protein synthesis (muscle growth) and strength.
However, studies have shown that it has no effect when orally supplemented – 1 study even showed that it had negative effects, lowering participants’ endurance and strength.
We recommend that you choose a product containing more reliable ingredients, such as Citrulline Malate – which has a great absorption rate, and is proven to raise nitric oxide levels.
See SupplementTester’s
– Highest Rated Pre Workouts Here –
C4 50x Explosion Blend
This is the proprietary blend contained in C4 50x, so you’ll never know the exact doses of each ingredient inside. This is a problem, especially if you’re sensitive to any nutrients in this blend.
With two different forms of Caffeine contained, it’s likely to have a high overall dose of Caffeine – this can lead to side effects, like jitters or energy crashes.
We’ll analyze the most important ingredients inside:
L-Tyrosine
This is a cognitive booster that’s often used in Nootropic supplements. While it’s shown to improve memory and focus, it’s not vital in a pre workout – if Caffeine’s dosed correctly, it will provide enough of a cognitive boost to benefit your gym session.
Caffeine Anhydrous
Simply dehydrated Caffeine, so it can be added into supplements. This can be a key pre workout ingredient when dosed correctly (between 150-200mg).
But here’s the problem – it’s in a proprietary blend, so you’ll never know the exact dose contained. Why’s that bad? Caffeine can cause side effects like jitters and energy crashes when consumed in large doses (over 300mg).
You’re taking a risk here, and you’ll only know there’s too much Caffeine in C4 5ox after you begin experiencing unwanted side effects – which will ruin your workout.
To avoid these negatives, make sure that a pre workout supplement contains 150-200mg of Caffeine before taking it.
Caffeine Pterostilbene Cocrystal
This is Caffeine mixed with Pterostilbene, which is believed to extend the effects of Caffeine by up to 6 hours. But this is a problem.
As there’s already Caffeine Anhydrous in this blend, Caffeine Pterostilbene Cocrystal simply increases the risks of side effects – like jitters and energy crashes.
You’ll never know for sure before taking it, as no-one knows the exact dose of Caffeine in C4 50x – a big issue with proprietary blends.
This pre workout is missing numerous key ingredients, containing less effective ingredient that can cause side effects instead.
Check out which ingredients work and which don’t in our
– Pre workout ingredients guide –
Side Effects
There are two things that can cause side effects in C4 50x – Beta-Alanine, and the unknown dose of Caffeine. Cellucor could’ve avoided one of these issues by simply providing the exact dose of Caffeine, instead of adding any proprietary blends into this pre workout.
Here’s the potential side effects you might experience:
- Paresthesia – tingline on the skin of your face, chest, hands, and extremitie (Beta-Alanine).
- Jitters (Unknown dose of Caffeine)
- Energy crashes (Unknown dose of Caffeine)
See SupplementTester’s
– Highest Rated Pre Workouts Here –
Pro’s and Con’s
Pro’s
- Contains Caffeine
Con’s
- Proprietary blend
- Unknown dose of Caffeine can cause side effects
- Beta-Alanine can cause paresthesia
- Missing numerous key pre workout ingredients
- Many ingredients are ineffective
- L-Tyrosine more suites to a Nootropic supplement
- Not good value for money
- Not likely to be effective in benefiting your workout
C4 50x Review Conclusion
Ultimately, C4 50x is missing key pre workout ingredients. Instead, it contains less effective, unproven nutrients that aren’t likely to benefit your gym session.
For example, they should’ve simply added Creatine Monohydrate instead of Creatine Nitrate, as it’s been proven to boost strength and endurance in studies since the 1990’s.
Instead of Arginine Malate, they should’ve added Citrulline Malate – Citrulline has a better absorption rate and is proven to boost ntiric oxide levels, while Arginine has a poor absorption rate and is ineffective when orally supplemented.
We recommend looking for a pre workout with no side effects, containing more key pre workout ingredients – check out the link below to see the best pre workouts on the market:
Check out our
– Top 3 Pre Workout Page –
I have started taking c4 50x explosive from the very first I feel burning sensations and pain in my stomach left side and right side as well please suggest what do to
Hi Rehan, you could be experiencing severe paresthesia (which is a tingling and itching sensation you can suffer after consuming Beta-Alanine)
If you’re reacting badly to this supplement, we suggest not taking it. And as it contains a proprietary blend, we wouldn’t have recommended this pre workout anyway.
See our highest rated pre workouts if you want the best products on the market: https://www.supplementtester.com/top-three-pre-workouts/
I have dignosed stone in my left kidney
Hi,
Again, we’ll repeat that we don’t recommend this product. If you have problems with your kidney, then you shouldn’t be consuming the ingredients in this product.
Instead, take a look at our highest rated fat burners: https://www.supplementtester.com/