CEL Super Swole Review
It seems like we haven’t reviewed a pre-workout product in forever! Between the myriad of new health and fitness products & services and so many emerging brands in 2020, we almost forgot how much we love reviewing a good training supplement; especially pre workouts. Now, the market has a lot of products with names that include terms like swole, pump, or vaso and so often the name of the product is the highlight of the tub. However, a quick look at Competitive Edge Labs Super Swole shows you that is definitely not the case here. With 6 patented and clinically dosed ingredients, boasting some of the most effective and well known ingredients in the industry like Vaso6 and VitaCherry Sport, it’s no wonder CEL has been selling their new pre workout like hot cakes!
We’ve been using Super Swole for the last couple of weeks prior to our workouts (and even on non training days) and have been loving it for so many reasons. Keep scrolling to find out what exactly is CEL Super Swole, as well as our full ingredient breakdown and why you definitely need to get your hands on a tub.
Flavors: CEL has always been a pioneer for interesting and unique flavors and their lineup for Super Swole is no different. Right now, they have 3 flavors available; Cosmic Candy, Grape Blue Raspberry, and Rainbow Unicorn. Lucky for us, CEL sent over the Cosmic Candy flavor although were sure the Rainbow Unicorn and Grape Blue raspberry both bring a lot to the table as well. The Cosmic Candy was a unique flavor—in that usually you’re able to decipher which candy the product tastes like, but this is in a league of its own. If we had to compare it to a candy on the market right now, it would be a slightly sweeter and less tart version of the Smarties candy mixed with Swedish Fish. Another tester described the flavor as chewing grape bubblegum and then tossing a handful of jelly beans or gummy bears in your mouth. The flavor itself is delicious and will bring back the nostalgic (or current!) memories of snacking on those candies as a kid. The Cosmic Candy flavor is strong, so we recommend using more like 12-16oz of water rather than the recommended 8-12 if you’re not a huge fan of sweets, and with a product like super swole, more water and improved hydration will only enhance the total effects.
Mixability: Despite including GlycerPump in the ingredient profile (an ingredient notorious form clumping), CEL does a great job with the mixability in Cosmic Candy. When mixed in the standard 8-12oz of water, the product mixes very well with minimal settling at the bottom, and minimal foam at the top. Occasionally, you have minor settling at the bottom but a quick swirl mixes it in and does not affect taste. Cosmic Candy is free of grittiness and every sip is smooth and flavorful.
Ingredient Profile: Now for the real reason most of you are reading, the Ingredient breakdown. Before we dive into that, let’s cover the basics. Each scoop of Super Swole is 13g containing 9.175g of the 8 total active ingredients, 6 of which are patented!
L-Citrulline-6g: We love L-Citrulline for so many of its positive effects including its ability to convert to nitric oxide. Studies have shown that L-Citrulline promotes vasodilation and can improve blood flow, enhance recovery, and reduce fatigue (DOMS included!). Citrulline has also been noted to improve recovery out of the gym, not just between sets. Long term supplementation of Citrulline has shown to improve your body’s ability to resynthesize ATP which directly correlates to its endurance improving benefits. Then why is it in the pump complex? Well due to its vasodilation properties, Citrulline is the perfect component to add alongside GlycerPump and Vaso6 to improve nutrient uptake and pump those muscles full of blood and nutrients. Most studies show that the sweet spot is 3-4g of L-Citrulline to reap most of the above benefits and Super Swole packs each scoop full of L-Citrulline at 6g per serving.
GlycerPump-2g: GlycerPump is the king of all glycerol products. GlycerPump was designed to be the most stable glycerol powder out there, meaning it mixes well, doesn’t clump in water, and yields 65% glycerol content. Glycerol is known in the supplement world as a great pump agent but also has other benefits such as hyperhydration via intramuscular water retention. Glycerol shuttles water into the muscles during (and before) workouts to not only hydrate you but to give you muscle bursting skin splitting pumps that last long after the gym. GlycerPump can give you top-notch pumps, improve hydration levels during and after your workout (especially when paired with electrolytes), and provide the most stable and highest yielding glycerol on the market.
VitaCherry Sport Extract-500mg: If you’re unfamiliar with what tart cherry extract can do for you, that’s okay—we still think it’s the undiscovered gold of the supplement industry. Tart cherry extract provides a HEAP of phytonutrients derived from whole United States grown Montmorency cherries. Studies suggest that the tart cherry extract, specifically VitaCherry Sport can boost antioxidant powder and promote healthy inflammatory responses in connection with exercise. This can reduce muscle soreness, muscle loss if in a catabolic state, and improve muscle recovery between workouts. Now this isn’t to say you won’t still be sore after your workout, but it is another supplement that can be a great added tool to prevent feeling run down during your workout, and may even increase endurance and decrease rest time between sets! VitaCherry Sport has also been shown to be 15x more concentrated than other tart cherry products making its effects more profound than other products on the market.
Vaso6-300mg: Still the king of vasodilation. VASO 6 is the most effective nitric oxide producer and blood flow enhancer on the market today. VASO 6 has the ability to improve vasodilation 50% and is 10x more effective than Arginine at a fraction of the dose. Studies suggest that 300mg of VASO6 (the standard clinical dose) is 10x more effective at improving vasodilation and nitric oxide production than 7 GRAMS of arginine! VASO 6 was designed to improve your pump, enhance the movement of vital nutrients through your blood stream, increase power and endurance, and improve just about every facet of your performance in the gym! One of the coolest things about VASO 6 is its ability to shuttle nutrients into your muscles long after the workout is done. This makes VASO 6 incredibly versatile even post workout as it can increase your ability to recover!
Pine Bark Extract-200mg: Another ingredient you may not be super familiar with. Pine Bark Extract is an up and coming ingredient that has been shown to improve multiple workout assets. Some of those include improved vasodilation, endurance, strength increase, power output, improved pumps, and more. Studies have also shown that Pine Bark extract provides powerful antioxidant properties and anti-inflammatory benefits as well. Coupled with the tart cherry extract, these two ingredients make Super Swole more than just a standard pre-workout!
S7-100mg: The name doesn’t tell you much, but S7 is a blend of 7 different plant-based ingredients shown to increase nitric oxide levels in the body. Created by the same company that created VitaCherry, this particular ingredient is shown to increase nitric oxide levels by 230%! The standard studied dose is just 50mg but Super Swole doubles that—making its 100mg serving the perfect pairing agent for other ingredients like GlycerPump, Vaso6, and KannaEase! If it wasn’t apparent by now, the formula in Super Swole plays off each other perfectly to give you some of the best energy, focus, and pumps you’ve ever had.
AstraGin-50mg: AstraGIN is undoubtedly one of the most underrated ingredients in pre-workouts. AstraGIN is the ingredient that makes Super Swole and any other supplement for that matter, the best it can be. Astragin is a top-quality absorption enhancer and bioavailability preserver when paired with other ingredients. What this means is Astragin makes sure that the nutrients you want are being delivered into the blood stream safely, effectively, and at the amounts that should be getting delivered. Essentially, Astragin is the vehicle that provides all the goodies inside Super Swole into your blood stream to make sure you’re getting exactly what the nutrition label says.
KannaEase-25mg: Also known as Sceletium Tortuosum extract, KannaEase is known for its nootropic effects as well as its anti-anxiety and stress relieving effects. Users often report improved cognition, sense of well-being, improved mood, and improved feelings of motivation. Studies have also reported that supplementing with KannaEase, especially in a pre-workout, has the ability to enhance the effects of other ingredients as well. When stacked alongside other nootropic or neuro-boosting products Sceletium works synergistically and increase effectiveness of both ingredients! Studies have shown that this ingredient also has the potential to increase blood flow which makes it the perfect addition to so many pre workouts, nootropics, energy enhancers, and more! We’ve loved KannaEase ever since we first reviewed it back in 2018.
Price point: If we had to knock Super Swole for anything, it would have to be the price point. Keeping in mind that you always get what you pay for, the price point of $39.99 isn’t too bad, especially for a product containing 6 patented ingredients, all at or above their clinically studied doses. The downfall is that there are only 20 full scoop servings per container. However, users under ~200lbs can certainly expect great results with a half scoop dose, which can extend the life of your tub to 40 workouts!
Our Thoughts: Super Swole is just one of those pre-workouts you HAVE to try. We’ve all had that one supplement that we’ve been wanting to try FOREVER and just can’t pull the trigger on; don’t let Super Swole be that Supplement. CEL has their flavor game on point, and the mixability is there too. The Ingredient profile is one of the best we’ve seen thus far in 2020 for a pump based pre workout and most pre-workouts don’t include 8 total ingredients, let alone 6 of them as patented and clinically doses & researched! Our experience with Super Swole was nothing short of awesome. Some of our top highlights were:
• INSANE pumps that last long after the workout
• Improved recovery (yes, from a pre-workout)
• Endurance improved during sessions and daily tasks at home and work
• Tunnel vision focus and clean mental clarity
• Improved feelings of wellbeing
• Enhanced Vascularity
• Improved strength
As if Super Swole by itself wasn’t powerful enough, it contains no caffeine and will have minimal stimulant effect (only from nootropic properties) which makes it great to stack with other stim-based products or your favorite energy drinks! CEL has definitely made a must try pre-workout with Super Swole. If you’re looking for a pump enhancing, strength increasing, mood elevating, and stackable pre-workout, then look no further than Super Swole. We want to give a final shout out to the team over at CEL for shipping us out some of their Cosmic Candy flavor to try, and trusting us with the review! Head over to https://competitiveedgelabs.com/product/super-swole/ today and don’t just get swole, get Super Swole.
