Assault Pre-Workout Powder By MusclePharm: Review Of The Ultimate Performance & Energy Complex
There are days when you don’t feel motivated enough to go through your training sessions. On some days, you find the 20 minutes drive to your local gym a hell ride after the day’s work.
Don’t sweat it.
Even professional athletes feel the same way sometimes...
Fortunately...
Musclepharm Assault pre-workout is one of the many supplements available to give you the energy boost you need to hit the gym.
In this review, we’ll take the Musclepharm Assault pre-workout for a spin and find out if it’s right for you.
About The Brand: MusclePharm
MusclePharm corporation is an American nutritional supplement company, with its headquarters in Burbank, California, United States.
MusclePharm was founded in 2010, by Bradley Pyatt to enhance the performance and health of athletes without the use of banned substances.
The company has done a good job of fulfilling its purpose so far, by releasing third-party tested supplements into the market.
Many top athletes have also endorsed the brand for their credibility. The company has sealed partnership deals with mostly MMA athletes such as TJ Dillashaw, Marcus Buchecha, and Neil Magny.
Despite such publicity, MusclePharm makes some of the most affordable supplements on the market, some of which are Combat Crunch Protein bars and Combat Whey Protein Powder.
The Assault is not their only pre-workout supplement. There are some other products like Assault Black, and most recently, Wreckage pre-workout.
In this review, we’ll take the Assault on a ride. The fruit punch flavor will tag along.
MP Assault Pre-Workout Overview
MP Assault claims to increase your endurance, focus, and strength during training sessions.
It’s no surprise it’s labeled “the ultimate performance and energy complex.”
The pre-workout contains as much caffeine as two cups of coffee. This may give you the jitters if you’re caffeine intolerant.
But, if you don’t mind the stimulant, it contains several other ingredients that make it an all-purpose pre-workout.
Still, I’ll advise anyone to tread carefully because Assault uses creatine for strength. So, this may be the deal-breaker for folks that react badly to it.
Other than that, it has a potent dose of endurance and muscle pump ingredients. Although not the most useful, it’s vitamin supplements are off the charts.
As promised by MusclePharm, it’s an athlete-friendly pre-workout. It has been tested for banned substances by a neutral third party. But the best part is, it’s not a proprietary blend, despite being an incredibly cheap product.
Moreso, its fruit punch flavor tastes delicious without leaving any chalky residue.
You can unlock access to four other flavors (strawberry ice, green apple, watermelon, blue raspberry) and higher dose when you shop on the MP website. As you’d expect, it comes with a higher price tag.
This is somewhat misleading, as its stronger variation carries the same Assault name. Needless to say, only a few fitness aficionados know it is called Assault Black.
Main Features
- Boosts focus during training sessions
- Affordable
- Stimulant-based pre-workout with 200 mg caffeine content
- Enhances strength and muscle pump
- Only available in fruit punch flavor
Nutrition & Ingredients
A scoop contains about 200 mg per serving. It also contains zero calories.
There are four significant blends that ingredients in making MP’s Assault, which are the muscle fuel, the energy, and focus, the blend of vitamins, and the strength and performance blend.
The Muscle Fuel blend which has 500 mg of taurine and 500 mg of glycine.
The Energy and Focus blend which has 200mg of caffeine and 150mg of acetyl-1-carnitine.
The Blend of Vitamins consists of 500 percent of the RDI of the vitamin C, 1000 percent vitamin B6, 833 percent of your vitamin B12, and 133 percent of vitamin E.
The Strength and Performance blend has 1.5g of beta-alanine and also 1.5g of creatine and 500mg of betaine anhydrous.
It also has the “Other Ingredients” including natural flavorings like citric acid and malic acid. Also, it contains some artificial flavorings like sucralose and acesulfame potassium. And anti-caking agents like calcium silicate and silicon dioxide.
It doesn’t contain any artificial coloring agents.
Benefits & Effectiveness
There are various ingredients in this pre-workout, from the vitamins and nutrients, flavors, to the actual beneficial ones for your workouts.
Like most pre-workout powders, the first ingredients on the list are the vitamins. They are unlikely to have any effect because your body already produces more than enough. But it doesn’t hurt to know that a few essential vitamins are well supplemented in Assault.
Vitamin C and E, for instance, are linked with muscle repair during aerobic exercises. And there’s more than double of their recommended dose in each scoop.
As stated earlier in this MP Assault pre-workout review, 200 mg of caffeine equals a little over two cups of coffee, but even more potent. It’s paired with acetyl-l-carnitine (ALCAR) to put a more noticeable increase in your focus levels. ALCAR can also ease soreness during or after an intense workout.
However, the dose of ALCAR in Assault pre-workout is a far cry from the standard dosage, which is between 650 mg to 2500 mg. But its combination with caffeine would still produce some benefits.
In the Muscle Fuel blend, taurine may reduce the risks of having muscle cramps by pulling more water into the muscle cells. Glycine, on the other hand, promotes peak power production and tissue recovery, as well as cognition.
In the Strength & Performance blend, beta-alanine improves endurance while creatine and betaine anhydrous have been linked to power output.
Studies have shown that adequate doses of creatine, beta-alanine, and betaine anhydrous would be about twice as high as what’s found in MP’s Assault.
The kicker:
You can’t possibly double dose to see better results since it already has a large amount of caffeine in one scoop. Well, this may not be a hindrance to stim-junkies.
Plus, it doesn’t mean the under-dosed ingredients won’t produce any benefits. But don’t expect any phenomenal effects, especially if you’ve used more expensive pre-workout powders.
For other options that might fill your hunger for the top workout supplements, we got it all ready for you to consume in another article, all laid-out for your specific needs.
Taste And Consistency
The fruit punch flavor tastes more like maraschino cherry and watermelon. So don’t expect to have the tropical taste of berries and pineapple as the online pictures portray.
If you enjoy the fruit punch flavor of other drinks, you’d like the taste of the MP Assault.
Its consistency is superb, and you wouldn’t need a blender bottle to have a good mix. If you double the dose in the same amount of water, it may have a chalky feel.
Side Effects
It is advisable not to use the Assault pre-workout 4 hours before sleep time or during off days at the gym. The caffeine dose is enough to deprive you of sleep, cause jitters, nausea, and sometimes, headaches. This is even more likely if you’re not caffeine tolerant.
MusclePharm also advises not to take the pre-workout after a large meal.
A less pronounced side effect is a tingly sensation on your skin after taking the pre-workout. It’s only a sign of beta-alanine kicking in, so you don’t have to worry about it causing any harm.
In the end, ensure you adhere to all the precautions and guidelines on the warning label, and you’d be fine.
Is MP Assault Worth The Price?
Most definitely. Assault is one of the cheapest pre-workouts costing only $19 for 30 servings. That’s about 63 cents per serving.
Most pre-workouts cost about $25 and $30 per 30 servings, so it’s a steal.
Alternative Options To Assault
Combat
MusclePharm’s Combat pre-workout is similar to Assault in terms of strength and endurance enhancement. But it also adds a potent dose of L-Citrulline and Alpha GPC for a nice muscle pump during workouts.
Plus, it doesn’t contain creatine, which may be a deal-breaker for some folks when considering Assault.
Another nice feature about the Combat pre-workout is that it also contains l-theanine. L-theanine helps to subside the side effects of caffeine and increase focus.
It’s available in blue raspberry and fruit punch flavor. Both of which have a sweet, refreshing taste and smooth consistency.
Combat is just as affordable as the Assault, but with an added muscle pump for anyone interested.
Wreckage
The Wreckage pre-workout by MusclePharm works just as you might have guessed from its name.
It’s a stim-packed pre-workout with a 300 mg dose of caffeine per serving. It also has a much larger concentration of ingredients, intense pump, energy, and endurance.
It’s an excellent alternative if you are a stim-junkie and don’t fancy creatine in your workout.
However, with its extra ingredients and potent dosage of ingredients, it costs a couple of buck more than Assault.
It’s available in their popular fruit punch flavor, and also watermelon.
Since I don't want to get you bored with so many details here about other alternatives, I think it's best that you read the 1MR review we got for you. It's a non-creatine PWO supplement, if you're keen on that.
Here's another one that might sound a bit scary, but sometimes a bit of testosterone-fueled aggression is all you need to keep you going at the gym, right? And that is where the Bullnox review comes in. Give it a quick read. It might be what you're looking for.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Cons:
Should You Get MusclePharm Assault?
Right off the bat, the price of the Assault is too good to ignore. Surprisingly, it’s not a proprietary blend like most inexpensive pre-workout powders.
If you aren’t caffeine intolerant and need that extra boost to hit the gym, Assault would get the job done. It would give you extra strength to go more reps and build muscles while at it.
MP Assault is a solid inexpensive option and would work wonders, especially for someone newer to the world of pre-workouts.
Last Updated on August 10, 2020
