Top Secret Nutrition entered into the amino market early this year with an energized version of their tablet supplement BCAA Hyperblend. The product held on to most of it’s features including ursolic acid, AstraGin and it’s 3:1:1 BCAA ratio. The only added ingredient was 150mg of caffeine per scoop. Essentially it had the makings of a competitive amino cocktail. Unfortunately that extra feature Top Secret threw in to give Hyperblend it’s extended title, has actually turned it into a bit of a misguided supplement.
Amino acid products are a great addition to anyone’s stack. They can act as post-workout recovery drinks as well as easy going pre-workout pumpers. As for BCAA Hyperblend it does do one of those things, and the other not so well.
Top Secret definitely put this together with energy in mind. So much so that it works well enough to qualify as a pre-workout. The clean power of the BCAAs gets quite the boost from the 150mg of caffeine. Sadly despite the pinch Hyperblend offers, it’s effects don’t exactly compare to other supplements designed solely for pre-workout use. Which then makes you wonder how well does the formula perform post-workout.
The product does have a slight recovery effect, however it gets brought down by it’s inclusion of caffeine. While the classic ingredient doesn’t do enough to beat out your favorite pre-workout. Coincidentally it is also the reason Hyperblend doesn’t work that well straight after training. The last thing you want is another pick-me-up post-workout and unfortunately that is exactly what Hyperblend does. It puts you in a state to want to train again, but at the same time the caffeine doesn’t bring you up enough to confidently do it. This is all on top of you finishing a hard workout and already knowing you’ve put in the effort. The combination of the feelings and effects are actually a bit menacing.
If there were a time to take Hyperblend it would have to be intra-workout, and it would need to be during a session well beyond 90 minutes. Enough time to have your PWO run out, since this in combination with an actual energizing formula will easily go unnoticed. The creativity behind the product was strong, it just delivered too much of a punch post-workout and not enough pre.
