The Ideallean Pre-Workout is marketed to women by the IdealFit brand. It costs $34,99 for 30 servings.
This pre-workout claims to help you:
- Improve energy and focus
- Boost workout performance
- Attain normal energy metabolism
- “Feel incredible”
The Ideallean Pre-Workout also promises to help you overcome tiredness with all-natural clean energy. That sounds good to us – so let’s give it a whirl…
About the Company
IdealShape was launched in 2003 and sold weight loss and sports supplements under the names IdealFit and Ideal Shape. The Hut Group bought IdealShape LLC in September 2016. Hut’s other brands include Myprotein, Exante, and Mass.
The IdealFit website says the brand believes in “empowering women to earn their ideal.”
We like this because every woman has different goals. As part of this mission, IdealFit offers three supplements – Ideallean Protein, Ideallean BCAA, and (of course) the Ideallean Pre-Workout.
We’re really eager to see whether this pre-workout measures up to these brand promises, so let’s check it out…
Ideallean Pre-Workout Ingredients and How They Work
The first we thing we notice about Ideallean Pre-Workout is that it contains a lot of ingredients – 20 to be exact. We often find supplements that use more than 10-11 nutrients are underdosed, which isn’t a good sign.
We can also see this product contains a proprietary blend.
Note: Proprietary blends are sub-formulas that list ingredients, but not their doses.
Take a look:
Ideallean Fat Loss Blend
As we say above, we don’t like proprietary blends, and nor do most experts. These blends are a just a shallow marketing trick that allows manufacturers to put out subpar products.
And as you can’t see how much of each ingredient this blend contains, there’s no way of telling how effective it is. Don’t be fooled, ladies.
We’re also not fans of products that mix pre-workout ingredients with those you’d only usually see in fat burners. This is because these hybrids dilute any power their ingredients have.
In other words, if you want to shed fat, buy a fat burner; if you want to improve your workout performance, then get a pre-workout.
Phosphatidylserine
Phosphatidylserine is a fat-soluble amino acid that’s vital for brain function. Initial research suggests supplementation can improve aerobic running capacity. This warrants further investigation, but there isn’t currently enough evidence to justify using it in this supp.
Considering this ingredient is part of the Ideallean Fat Loss Blend, we should also point out there’s zero proof Phosphatidylserine burns fat or helps you lose weight.
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)
CLA is a mix of essential fatty acids that you’ll find in foods like beef, full-fat milk and cheese.
CLA affects the PPAR receptors, which can speed up the metabolism. However, the available research shows CLA is ineffective for weight and fat loss.
In terms of its use as a pre-workout ingredient, there’s a small amount of evidence it can help preserve lean mass, but results are unreliable.
Green Tea Extract
As a pre-workout ingredient, we don’t think Green Tea is ideal.
It does have some benefits – for example, one study shows Green Tea can reduce muscle soreness. Something like Citrulline Malate would be much more effective for this purpose.
But as its part of the Ideallean Fat Loss Blend, will it burn fat? Green Tea is one of our favorite fat loss ingredients – and you’ll see it in some of the best fat burners out there.
However, it’s part of a 310mg blend with three other ingredients – which isn’t enough to burn fat (500mg of Green Tea would be perfect).
Citrulline Malate
Citrulline Malate is an ace blend of the amino acid L-Citrulline and the organic compound Malic Acid.
Found mostly in watermelons, L-Citrulline turns into L-Arginine in the body. This produces more nitric oxide to help dilate the blood vessels and allow more vital nutrients to rush to your muscles for better muscle pumps and greater endurance in the gym.
Meanwhile, Malic Acid regulates the amount of ammonia in your muscles to help reduce fatigue.
The optimal dose of Citrulline Malate is 6000mg, so it’s sad to see Ideallean Pre-Workout only contains half that.
Beta-Alanine
Beta-Alanine is a non-essential amino acid that can improve cardio-workout performance at high intensity.
Despite this, we don’t like Beta-Alanine. This is because it can cause paresthesia – the itching/tingling sensations that feel like pins and needles in your face, hands, chest, and abdomen.
As an article on the IdealFit blog says, these feelings are harmless. But a lot of gym-going women tell us they find it unpleasant.
Betaine Anhydrous
Also known as Trimethylglycine (TMG), Betaine is a metabolite of Choline. It’s said to improve anaerobic running capacity, reduce fatigue and help cut fat.
However, in-depth research failed to show Betaine is useful for any of these benefits.
Besides, Betaine can cause trimethylaminuria (fish odor syndrome). The best (or worst!) way to describe this is the smell of rotting fish on the breath and body odor. And who wants that? Nobody.
L-Tyrosine
Some so-called ‘experts’ say L-Tyrosine can boost energy and performance, while also lowering fatigue. However, studies show none of these claims are true.
The amino acid may help focus, but as this supplement already has an awesome focus booster in Caffeine, there seems little need for L-Tyrosine here.
Agmatine Sulfate
Agmatine (aka Guanidine) derives from L-Arginine. It’s marketed for its supposed ability to enhance focus and improve endurance. However, there’s no science to back up these claims.
Agmatine is mostly used to enhance muscle pumps due to its relationship to the production of nitric oxide.
However, pretty much all the evidence that Agmatine has any use as a pre-workout ingredient is anecdotal. While we have seen Agmatine in an awful lot of pre-workouts lately, there just is not enough science to justify using it.
Choline Bitartrate
Choline is largely marketed as a brain booster, although some fitness brands also claim it increases running capacity, lowers fatigue and sharpens reaction times.
However, there’s no evidence of any of this. In fact, studies show Choline has NO significant influence as a pre-workout ingredient.
And like Betaine, Choline can also make you smell like rotting fish. So not only is Choline useless – it could also cause a disgusting side effect.
L-Theanine and Caffeine
L-Theanine and Caffeine make an awesome combo for any pre-workout. Together, they’re widely known in the fitness world as ‘Smart Caffeine’.
Caffeine
Caffeine is a popular stimulant that improves endurance, delays fatigue, boosts motivation, and makes your workout feel easier.
It works by inhibiting the flow of Adenosine – a sleep-inducing chemical in the brain.
To take full advantage of Caffeine’s benefits, 150mg is ideal – so it’s lovely to see the Ideallean Pre-Workout uses exactly the right amount.
L-Theanine
L-Theanine is a calming agent that works with Caffeine to enhance all of the wonderful effects the stimulant gives you, but with none of the jittery feelings or energy crashes.
When paired with Caffeine, the ideal dose of L-Theanine is 200-300mg. So again, Ideallean Pre-Workout gets it spot on.
L-Norvaline
L-Norvaline is said to be a nitric oxide booster – which means it’s supposed to increase blood flow and improve the delivery of nutrients to the muscles.
As a result, we see a lot of supplement brands clambering to get in on the latest trend – and that’s all L-Norvaline is.
In truth, there’s nowhere near enough evidence to support the claim that it can improve your workout in any way.
BioPerine (Black Pepper Extract)
BioPerine is a patented form of Piperine, which is more commonly known as Black Pepper Extract. Its job is to increase the absorption rates of other ingredients.
This is great news in some respects as it can help enhance the effects of the perfectly-dosed Caffeine/L-Theanine blend.
But when you consider this pre-workout also contains ingredients that can give you pins and needles (Beta-Alanine) and could make you smell like rotting fish (Betaine and Choline), the use of BioPerine doesn’t seem wise here.
See SupplementTester’s Highest Rated
Highest-Rated Pre-Workouts Here
Ideallean Pre-Workout Side Effects
Ideallean Pre-Workout is safe to use. Despite this, you may experience the following side effects:
- Itching/tingling/pins and needles (Beta-Alanine)
- Fish Odor Syndrome (Betaine and Choline)
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Citrulline Malate boosts endurance in the gym
- Smart Caffeine supercharges your workout (but won’t make you crash)
Cons:
- Hybrid products are never as good as standalone supplements
- Proprietary blend – there’s no way of telling whether or not its ingredients are effective
- Contains unproven ingredients (including Phosphatidylserine and Agmatine)
- CLA ineffective for weight and fat loss
- Beta-Alanine can cause pins and needles (paresthesia)
- Betaine and Choline may make your breath and body odor smell fishy
SupplementTester’s Highest Rated
Highest-Rated Pre-Workouts Here
Ideallean Pre-Workout Review Conclusion
There are things about Ideallean Pre-Workout we love and others we really don’t.
The things we love
This pre-workout uses more or less the perfect dose of Smart Caffeine (L-Theanine with Caffeine) to improve everything from endurance to strength, motivation, focus, and reaction times.
Ideallean Pre-Workout also contains Citrulline Malate to improve pumps and reduce muscle soreness.
The things we don’t love
We keep saying it – but we really don’t like proprietary blends, which tell you the ingredients, but not dosages. We hate these blends because they don’t give you any way to see whether a product is worth your money.
We’re also baffled by the use of unproven ingredients in this supp (and hundreds of others). For example, Agmatine is supposed to enhance muscle pumps – but there’s zero evidence that this is the case.
Ideallean Pre-Workout also contains a few ingredients that cause side effects – using Beta-Alanine may cause your skin to itch and flush, while Betaine and Choline could make you smell like rotten fish! This just isn’t good enough.
Our verdict
While we love a couple of things about Ideallean Pre-Workout, the downsides outweigh the upsides – and you’re worth much more.