Supplement Review: Key Sports Nutrition ETHOS

ETHOS is the newest product (pre workout) from Key Sports Nutrition and rounds out their existing lineup with this new addition. This product is changing the expectation of what a great pre work out should be. This is a transparent label product, allowing the athlete to know exactly what they are taking in every scoop, a growing trend in the sports nutrition industry--especially when it comes to pre workouts which require precise (clinically studied) dosing for the product to be truly effective. Each ingredient has been selected and dosed to maximize effectiveness while keeping it safe for tested athletes.

Ethos features a few tried and true ingredients like Beta Alanine, Cirtulline Malate, and Caffeine, but also includes some newer pre workout studs like Nitrosigine and Eria Jarensis.

Ethos is available in two flavors; Gummy Worm and Raspberry Lemonade. A Modern Athletic Health reviewer was given the opportunity to try both flavors and has included a detailed review below.

Review:

After being off of pre workout for a little while, and just using sugar free energy drinks, I was intrigued by Key Sports Nutrition after Modern Athletic Health posted it up on their Instagram.

Usually I am not one for the interesting flavors but I thought I’d take a stab and order two tubs, one of each flavor.

Gummy Worm- Upon opening it, I smelled a rather sweet aroma, it was interesting and something that I had smelled before but couldn’t put my finger on it. I mixed one scoop in about 12 oz of water- Wow. The gummy worm flavor is nearly spot on to Trolli’s gummy worms or gummy bears.

I anticipated a different flavor, more of a sour than a sweet but this definitely can take care of any sweet tooth or craving you may have for sugar. Normally, I am the type of guy to water every supplement that I take down. If something calls for 6-8 oz of water, I use 16-- this is no different. I can see myself using a scoop in 16-20 oz of water rather than 8-12. Despite its sweetness (coming from sucralose) the flavor is spot on and not something that you will get sick of easily. There was no poor after effects, stomach aches, or left over film left in my mouth that some pre-workouts will give you. Easily a 9/10 in the flavor department for me!

Raspberry Lemonade- This flavor, much like the Gummy work is rather sweet, and not the sour you might expect with a raspberry lemonade. I mixed this with somewhere between 12-16oz of water and the flavor still came through strong despite the recommended 8-10oz of water. It had a “sweet tea” type finish that came on after a strong raspberry flavor. While sweet and strong, it is not overpowering to the point that makes you need to water it down. Again, something for those who may be on Keto/low carb diets to bring them some energy. I would more than likely use this in 16-20oz of water (personal preference) because of the sweetness, but the flavor is something that I could sip on all day. For those of you who have tried and enjoyed Anabolic Innovations Red Raspberry RecoverPro you will definitely appreciate this flavor. I will say that I enjoyed Gummy Worm slightly more than this flavor, but I may just be jaded to berry flavor products! 8/10 flavorwise for me.

Mixability – Absolutely amazing, and this isn’t something I say about many pre workout supplements. Even when mixed with less water (as I used) it mixed up quickly and had no remnants in the bottom of the shaker cup. I generally swish my cup around in between sips anyway as a habit and so I did not notice anything resting on the bottom. Again, depending on the amount of water you use with this product will affect the mixability but in the 12oz of water, it mixed perfect.

Formula- No proprietary blends, yay! One thing I have to say is I am a big time advocate for products that do not use proprietary blends. Key Sports Nutrition discloses the full product label and everything you are getting in 1 scoop (11.9g).

Let’s start at the top:

It contains 5mg of niacin but that isn’t enough to give you any sort of flush (this is a good thing)

Citrulline Malate 2:1—4g per scoop which is generally higher than other pre workouts. Couple that with the Nitrosigine, a patent pending arginine/silicate bond and you get yourself one heck of a pump! I generally train for strength rather than size, but after a couple tricep extension sets, my tri’s were full!

You’re also getting 3.2g of Beta alanine (clinical dose) and 2g of Betaine Anhydrous (slightly under the studied 2.5g dose), which should be staples in any pre workout stack! No worries, I didn’t get any tingling, face itching, or burning sensation from the Beta Alanine.

This product is also giving you 175mg of caffeine, so it is enough to get you up and moving, but does not leave you jittery, crashing, and feeling like crap afterwards. Combo that with L-Tyrosine and you get a nice little “focus” combo that had me in a tunnel vision during my workout.

Lastly, Eria Jarensis— I haven’t experienced much of a “nootropic” effect with pre-workouts but this seemed to have me feeling “good” during my workout. Among heavy power cleans, I wasn’t dreading the next set or feeling like a pile of crap, I was happy, ready to go, and determined to crush the next sets. EJ is a great ingredient that is getting a lot of of attention in the pre workout category for that particular reason!

Workout Effectiveness: Plain and simple, this stuff works, even in ways I didn’t expect it to. I took my 1 scoop about 3 hours after my last meal and trained on a fairly empty stomach. For the most part, whether I lift in the AM or the PM (as I did when I first took Ethos) I don’t eat for a few hours prior.

Pump: As stated above a train for strength so I generally don’t have much for volume outside of my accessories. Ethos doesn’t care. Ethos is going to give you a pump anyway. Doing 2 sets of curls? Enjoy full biceps. Got a couple sets of bench press? Excellent, you’ll enjoy a full chest for the next 45 minutes.

Energy: The caffeine is lower than most pre-workouts on the market today, but dosed with L-Tyrosine and Eria Jarensis it gives the perfect amount of energy. I feel it lasted for an hour to an hour and a half, long after my workout which included stretching and rolling after. If you’re someone who likes to do cardio or plyo’s post workout, this product is for you. The best part is even 2/3 hours after it wears off, I am not feeling any sort of crash, grogginess, or flat out lethargy.

Performance: We know the benefits of Citrulline (pump and reduction of DOMS) and it does just that. Betaine is something that needs to be taken over time to receive the full strength and recovery effects so it isn’t as up front and in your face as other compounds in this product. The greatest part about this preworkout was my recovery times were also significantly down. Usually when training big compounds or Olympic lifts I take 3-4 minutes between sets. Ethos helped me to cut that time down to 2-2 and a half minutes maximum and I didn’t feel like I was pushing myself too hard.

Cost: KSN has Ethos on their site for $31.98 which is a great price for the 30 servings you are getting.

Additionally- Modern Athletic Health has hooked its readers up with a 20% coupon code (MODERN20)!

Currently, in a market which is slowly turning 30 servings into 25, and then 25 into 20, this company keeps true to the “month supply” motto that gives you a full 30 servings. At just over $1 a serving (and possibly cheaper with discount codes) you’d be crazy NOT to purchase this product to at least try. I definitely envision myself purchasing a few more tubs and stocking up in the near future. I recommend you do the same.

Key Sports Nutrition is really on to something here with their new pre workout Ethos. I suggest, if you haven’t already, go out and pick yourself up a tub and try it for yourself. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

-RYAN P. Wisconsin (@ryan_Paulick)