Ever since Muscle Sport unveiled its first Black Series supplement, the pre-workout Rhino Black. We’ve been wanting to get our hands on a tub to see if it performs as good as its formula looks. Over the past month we’ve been doing exactly that, cycling through stimulants, using the product in a number of different workouts, and comparing it to a handful of its competitors. We’ve now used the pre-workout more than enough to know its ins and outs, which we are going to go over in today’s Rhino Black review.
In our experience full scoop pre-workouts like Rhino Black, tend to do really well with performance and intensity. They enhance your muscle’s ability to refuel between sets and exercises, giving you everything you need to push your body to the limit. Muscle Sport’s powerhouse combination actually surprised us on this one, as not only does it deliver a strong performance enhancing experience. But it also includes all the other pre-workout effects resulting in a very complete experience.
Strong energy for a performance formula
Like most pre-workouts, it all starts with Rhino Black’s kick which isn’t as weak as we expected. Again, most full scoop formulas do well with performance and intensity and aren’t overly strong when it comes to energy. Rhino Black really goes against that as its kick is more than noticeable. Each serving of the supplement features a 400mg tri-caffeine complex, that we have to say feels like a lot more than 400mg. On occasions we did push the product’s suggested heaped scoop serving size, although even when measured out to the exact serving amount of 23g it still packed a punch.
The more interesting fact with Rhino Black’s energy is that after it kicks in, it doesn’t disappear for quite some time. The energy does definitely drop down a few levels after it comes on in the beginning, but not by much. The effect isn’t as powerful as we’ve seen in some of the more stimulant based pre-workouts out there. It is however more than enough to wake you up and keep you going strong with noticeably more energy for a good 60 to 90 minutes.
A touch of focus
The next effect on the list that the supplement delivers on is focus. This one is almost always difficult to pick up on, especially in an all-around pre-workout like Rhino Black. We won’t say the focus is laser like or head clearing, it’s just enough to know that the product is helping you out a little. With most focus promising pre-workouts it’s usually too hard to tell if it’s the supplement itself or just you zoning in. It’s definitely clear in Rhino Black that it’s the product to blame for the enhanced focus, with the right amount to get your head in the game or at least point you in the right direction.
Not skin splitting but the pumps are there
Another effect that’s quite common in pre-workouts that you can expect to experience in Rhino Black is muscle pumps. While we wouldn’t describe them as “skin splitting”, like the supplement does on its label. The product will help add a bit of fullness to your workout that you wouldn’t usually get so easily on your own. The pump is on about the same level as the focus, not being as much as we’ve seen in other pre-workouts, but enough to know Rhino Black is to blame.
Performance and intensity steal the show
The last couple of effects in Rhino Black we’d to touch on are its performance and intensity, basically the highlights of the supplement. As mentioned in the beginning, it packs a strong performance enhancing and intensity raising ability, that will see you pushing yourself in every way you can. Like most good performance type pre-workouts Rhino Black will help you knock out your best weight at low to medium reps, and more often than not, even go beyond that. Unless you intentionally hit your sets with shorter rest than needed, you’ll find Rhino Black has you consistently and easily lifting heavy and hard from start to finish.
While Muscle Sport’s Rhino Black does deliver in every area possible, one a lot more strongly than others. We did find there is a bit of a catch with it that comes down to your style of workout. In short the combination of performance, energy, focus and pump does vary. The energy and focus are the two consistent effects. The other two, pump and performance come and go depending on what you’re doing.
Performance and pump will vary
We found on something like a high rep arm day the pump was a whole lot stronger and the performance and intensity a whole lot weaker, compared to the likes of a heavy leg or back day. This may of course sound obvious as the smaller exercises don’t exactly require a lift in performance or a lot of refueling between sets. We just felt the difference was well worth bringing up as in some workouts we did the pump was non-existent, and in a number of others it was incredible. Either way you go, as mentioned the energy and focus are the consistent two, keeping your head straight and body moving long enough to complete a workout.
A worthy full scoop competitor
As you can see Muscle Sport’s Rhino Black is real a pre-workout powerhouse. It comes through in all areas, with the only downside being that its performance and intensity mostly steal the show. The pair really overshadows a couple of the product’s other effects, leaving the pump and focus feeling like places that could be improved. As for how it compares to other performance based, big scoop pre-workouts out there, Rhino Black is definitely a competitor.
Some of our performance favorites include Muscle Elements PreCre, Jim Stoppani’s Pre Jym and the 2015 released Nutrabolics Supernova. Rhino Black does sit right with those, although slightly separates itself offering a much heavier hit of energy and a more noticeable touch of focus. Basically If you’re a fan of something like Pre Jym but want a bit more energy without sacrificing much else, then you’ll want to give Rhino Black a try.
