Every now and then we come across a supplement that doesn’t have a great looking formula, but we decide to give it the benefit of the doubt and try it anyway. The product we recently did exactly that for was Body Science’s Gold Label supplement, K-OS Pre-Workout. Its combination of ingredients doesn’t even come close to what we’ve seen in some of its much better competitors, regardless we did put it to the test. Now after using it in more than a handful of workouts we have for you our rather disappointing K-OS Pre-Workout review.
Quick look at the formula
While we don’t usually go over a pre-workout’s ingredients, we do feel it’s necessary for this review to give you an idea on why we initially didn’t think K-OS looked overly interesting. The product is basically made up of 11 main ingredients, all of which are transparently dosed. From heaviest to lightest Body Science has packed the pre-workout with 3g of creatine monohydrate, 1.5g beta-alanine, 250mg arginine, 175mg caffeine, 100mg tyrosine. 50mg carnitine tartrate, 40mg vitamin C, just 30mg of taurine, 20mg vitamin B3, 6mg schisandra and 2mg of red wine extract.
We should mention that those numbers are based on a single serving of K-OS, which is in fact the maximum amount recommended in any 24 hour period. While we could have taken it upon ourselves to increase the dose, if a brand sets a maximum it’s only fair we stick to that. In saying that today’s K-OS Pre-Workout review is actually based on a heaped scoop, although even with that little bit extra the supplement is still very disappointing.
Very light energy kick
Like most pre-workouts, the small amount of action in K-OS starts at the beginning around 10 to 15 minutes after taking it. For a brief moment you’ll get a bit of flushing, a touch of the beta-alanine pins and needles, and depending on how jacked you are for the gym, a light energy kick. The reason we say it depends on how ready to workout you are is because if you’re 100% motivated and naturally eager, you won’t feel the energy at all. If you’re at about 80% you might notice a small hit, around 60% you’ll get the product’s unimpressive best, but anything lower and K-OS just isn’t enough to rely on.
It ends about where it begins
Usually when we do pre-workout reviews, after talking about a supplement’s energy hit or the instance it kicks in, we then go over its effects and overall performance. Unfortunately the start of K-OS is also about where it ends. Following the pre-workout’s light and sometimes unnoticeable energy, as well as its short flushing and somewhat weak pins and needles, you really are left on your own. The energy fades extremely fast, which is why it feels so weak, and without that there isn’t much else to the experience. The product does promise everything under the sun with energy, focus, endurance, power, pumps and fatigue support, however we didn’t see any of that except of course for the energy.
For a moment while we were testing K-OS, we did think it might have been our tolerance that was the problem and not the effectiveness of the pre-workout. Every day however after using the supplement we then used one of our many favorites only to discover that it was in fact K-OS that was weak.
You might just train better without it
Generally we don’t enjoy reviewing products that are ineffective, especially since it means wasting workouts that could have been much better with more effective pre-workouts. At the end of the day though it does work out for those interested in trying the supplement, as they may stumble across our K-OS Pre-Workout review and decide on something else. If you have actually used it and enjoy it, and feel it’s better than any of our favorites, by all means stick with it as sometimes it can be hard to find something that works for you. For us however we didn’t have a single reviewer that wanted to try it any more than once, with everyone feeling like they’d almost train better without it.
