B-NOX is a pre-workout supplement by Betancourt Nutrition that comes in a variety of flavors – Blue Raspberry, Fruit Punch, Grape, Green Apple, Orange, Strawberry Lemonade, and Watermelon.
Claimed to promote:
- Muscle Pumps
- Sustained energy without jitters or ‘energy crash’
- Boost muscular endurance
About the Company
Betancourt Nutrition is a supplements company that was established in 2002 by a former competitive bodybuilder. The company prides itself on the research that goes into their products, offering a range of products – from fat burners to testosterone boosters.
The Ingredients and How They Work
Straight away, there’s a huge negative when looking at B-NOX Androrush – while it has a big nutrient profile, almost all of its ingredients are contained in a proprietary blend.
But what’s a proprietary blend? It’s a mixture of numerous ingredients that are shown to the customer under one quantity (in B-NOX Androrush’s case, 15,782mg). It’s one of the biggest gimmicks in the supplements industry, as it helps companies keep their production costs low by filling these blends with ineffective, cheap ingredients and adding minimal amounts of the beneficial ingredients.
Proprietary blends are also bad because you’ll never know the exact quantities of each individual ingredient, and you might be sensitive to a specific nutrient inside – eg. if you take over 400mg caffeine a day, you’re likely to experience side effects like jitters and insomnia. It’s best to know your intake of every ingredient you consume to stay safe and experience their benefits.
However, there are some positives – it contains great ingredients for a pre-workout, such as Beetroot Extract and Creatine Monohydrate.
See for yourself:
Taurine
This is an organic acid containing sulfur, most commonly found in meats. It’s well-known for its ability to reduce muscle cramps due to improving your body’s blood flow.
While it’s not an essential nutrient in a pre-workout, it definitely has its benefits.
Beta-Alanine
This is a molecule that’s used in numerous supplements due to its ability to improve muscular endurance and anaerobic running capacity.
However, you risk experiencing paresthesia – a tingling on the skin of your face, chest, hands, and extremities at a dosage over 0.8-1g) – which would definitely ruin your workout and hinder your progress in the gym. The problem with Beta-Alanine being part of the proprietary blend is that you don’t know how B-NOX Androrush contains, so you might experience a severe level of paresthesia.
We recommend looking for a product without Beta-Alanine to avoid any risk of side effects, so you can stay focused on your goals.
- Related: Pre workout ingredients that work
Caffeine
This is one of the best nutrients in B-NOX Androrush, and plays a key role in any pre-workout – it’s a strong stimulant that boosts your mental function (memory and reaction time) as well as your strength and anaerobic running capacity (endurance).
But here’s where the problems start with B-NOX Androrush. Everyone has a different level of tolerance to Caffeine, which is a problem when taking a product without the quantity of Caffeine clearly stated on the ingredients list, like this pre-workout.
We strongly recommend that you search for a pre-workout with the amount of Caffeine shown on the ingredients list to avoid any side effects.
Theobromine
This is a stimulant that can help improve your mental function (memory and reaction time), with similar benefits to Caffeine. It’s commonly found in chocolates and is the reason why you might feel a boost when eating chocolate products.
However, Theobromine comes with the risk of side effects – if taken at a large dose, you’ll suffer from sickness. With it being part of the proprietary blend, you don’t know the amount of Theobromine contained in B-NOX Androrush, so you’re putting yourself at risk of these side effects when taking this pre-workout.
You should search for a pre-workout without Theobromine included, or with the exact quantity stated on the ingredients list.
Beetroot Extract
Beetroot Extract is one of the best ingredients in this pre-workout – it has a high level of nitrate, which helps boost your nitric oxide levels, meaning you’ll experience great muscle pumps to aid you during your training session in the gym.
It’s a very beneficial ingredient to have in a pre-workout, but there might be a minimal amount of Beetroot Extract in B-NOX Androrush – you’ll never know, as the exact quantity of this ingredient isn’t shown to you due to being in a proprietary blend.
You should search for a product that contains 250-300mg of Beetroot Extract to experience the full benefits of this ingredient.
Glutamine
We understand why Betancourt Nutrition has included this nutrient in B-NOX Androrush – it’s an amino acid that’s believed to enhance muscle building.
However, it’s not been proven to be effective in increasing muscle gains in healthy individuals, only benefitting those suffering from physical trauma like burns or muscular wounds (eg. knife wounds).
Ultimately, this is an ineffective ingredient inside B-NOX Androrush’s proprietary blend and could be taking up a lot of space inside it – meaning you wouldn’t experience any benefits from taking this pre-workout and wasting your money.
See SupplementTester’s
– Highest Rated Pre Workouts Here –
BCAAs (Branched Chain Amino Acids)
This is a combination of three amino acids – Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine. It can improve muscle synthesis and muscular growth in those with a low protein intake (eg. vegetarians). It’s also been shown to prevent and reduce fatigue.
However, you can buy BCAAs for a low price, and while it’s a useful supplement to have, it isn’t key to a great pre-workout. Betancourt Nutrition could have replaced this with L-Citrulline to give you more benefits in the gym – L-Citrulline is an amino acid that turns into L-arginine in your kidneys, which results in an increase in your nitric oxide levels, leading to great muscle pumps.
You should search for a pre-workout containing L-Citrulline at its optimum dosage (5,000mg-8,000mg) on your search for a top quality product.
Creatine Monohydrate
This is one of the best ingredients in B-NOX Androrush, as it’s been proven to increase your strength and endurance in the gym, as well as reduce fatigue. There are various different forms of creatine, but Creatine monohydrate has shown to be the most effective version.
It works by rapidly producing energy (ATP – an energy source that’s continuously recycled in your body). However, you don’t know how much Creatine Monohydrate is inside B-NOX Nutrition, so you might not experience any benefits at all if it’s in such a low dosage.
You should search for a pre-workout containing Creatine Monohydrates, as well as the exact amount of it – ideally around 1000mg per serving – to experience a boost in strength and endurance during your workouts.
L-Tyrosine
This is an amino acid that reduces stress and boosts mental function (memory and reaction time) by producing noradrenaline and dopamine.
While it’s a great nutrient, it’s not vital to a pre-workout – it’s better suited to a Nootropic, and could be taking up space where more Creatine Monohydrate or Beetroot Extract could have benefitted from in the proprietary blends.
Also, you need to consume a dosage of 500mg-2000mg to experience it’s full benefits – as it’s part of the proprietary blend, you simply don’t know how much is inside B-NOX Androrush, meaning the L-Tyrosine may be ineffective if it’s dosed too low.
Guarana
Also known as Paullinia Cupana, it’s a fruit-bearing tree that produces seeds that are used as a stimulant. It contains more Caffeine than coffee beans – while this might sound beneficial, this is a problem as it’s part of the proprietary blend.
As Caffeine is also included in the proprietary blend (in an unknown quantity), there’s an increased risk of you consuming too much and experiencing side effects like jitters and insomnia – the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for Caffeine for adults is set at 400mg.
It’s not worth risking these side effects, as they’ll ruin your workout, so you should avoid products that have proprietary blends inside, especially with multiple ingredients containing caffeine.
- Related: Pre Workout Ingredients To Avoid
Maca Extract
This is a vegetable found in Peru, classed under the broccoli family, that’s been used traditionally as an aphrodisiac. However, although it’s been proven to increase sperm production and libido, it comes with risks of severe side effects, such as extremely high estrogen levels (which could result in gynecomastia – which is a development of breast tissue in men), impaired thyroid function, abdominal cramping, and headaches.
These side effects would definitely ruin your workout and progress in the gym, so it’s better to avoid products containing Maca – especially if it’s part of a proprietary blend, as you’ll be consuming an unknown quantity of it.
Stinging Nettle Root
This is a great natural ingredient that’s used as a testosterone booster. However, you need to take 120mg doses three times per day in order to experience its benefits.
Also, it’s not key to a quality pre-workout – B-NOX Androrush is supposed to be a pre-workout supplement. There are already top quality testosterone boosters on the market, so they didn’t need to try and compete with them as well.
Black Pepper Extract
Everyone knows what Black Pepper is, as it’s used to season food on a daily basis worldwide. But what most people aren’t aware of is the benefit it provides when added into a supplement.
Black Pepper Extract increases the absorption rate of the other ingredients that it’s consumed with, therefore making the overall effectiveness of a product better. It’s not vital to a quality pre-workout, but it doesn’t come with any negatives.
This pre-workout is made up of one huge proprietary blend, meaning you could be wasting your money on an ineffective product.
Check out which ingredients work and which don’t in our
– Pre workout ingredients guide –
Side Effects
There are a number of ingredients in B-NOX Androrush that come with risks of potential side effects – being in a huge proprietary blend increases these risks.
Even an ingredient as safe as Caffeine can cause side effects, like jitters and insomnia, if taken at doses too high for you (everyone has different levels of tolerances to Caffeine, with some being sensitive to it) – and you don’t know the exact amount of Caffeine contained in B-NOX Androrush as it’s part of a proprietary blend.
Here’s a list of the possible side effects from using B-NOX Nutrition:
- Tingling on the skin of face, chest, hands, and extremities (Beta-Alanine)
- Jitters (Caffeine & Guarana)
- Insomnia (Caffeine & Guarana)
- Feeling sick (Theobromine)
- High estrogen level (Maca Extract)
- Impaired thyroid function (Maca Extract)
- Abdominal cramping (Maca Extract)
- Headaches (Maca Extract)
Not what you’re looking for? See your best options in our
– Top 3 Pre Workout Page –
Pro’s and Con’s
Pro’s
- Some great ingredients inside, such as Beetroot Extract, Creatine Monohydrate, Caffeine and Black Pepper Extract
Con’s
- It’s made up of one big proprietary blend – you simply don’t know the exact amounts of each individual ingredient, meaning the blend could be filled with ineffective nutrients.
- Numerous ingredients that could cause you side effects
B-NOX Androrush Review Conclusion
While B-NOX Androrush has some quality ingredients that you want to see in a pre-workout (Beetroot Extract, Creatine Monohydrate and Caffeine), it’s made up mostly of ineffective ingredients, with some being included in an attempt to raise your testosterone levels – in order to raise your testosterone levels with a supplement, you’d need to take 3-4 servings spread throughout the day to achieve optimal amounts of the right ingredients, not just one serving 30 minutes before your workout.
You should save your money and search for a product that’s designed specifically to boost your performance in the gym, with quality ingredients such as L-Citrulline (which is proven to raise nitric oxide levels, resulting in great muscle pumps during your workout.