3.    Vitargo

As one of the first, if not the most vocal, champion of pre-workout supplementation, I’m pleased to report that this next supplement is likely the most powerful. Vitargo is a patented carbohydrate extract and a powerful stimulator of insulin (13), which is known to be a key signal for muscle blood flow (3).

In fact, the highest supplemented blood flow recorded to date was due to pre-training carbohydrate and amino acid ingestion (14). Oh, and you may also be interested in the fact that it also resulted in the highest levels of muscle protein synthesis observed following any supplement or food. Not bad, huh.

As a pump supplement, there are three reasons it’s important:

i)    It enters the blood faster than any carbohydrate available, and subsequently gives a giant insulin spike (13).

ii)    It does so quickly enough to prevent any kind of bloating or GI discomfort that accompany other carbs –we know that this is KEY before a set of heavy squats (10, 12, 13).

iii)    In spite of the rapid absorption and subsequent insulin spike, there is no blood sugar crash with Vitargo. This may be due to a biphasic response of rapid absorption followed by a steady blood sugar level (10, 13). Whatever the case, ensuring that you don’t crash during training (as I hav… I mean, as a friend of mine has done in the past) is another critical benefit.

There are other advantages, like muscle cell volumization and glycogen resynthesis, but this is an article about optimizing the muscle pump so we’ll leave it there for now. Again, this is a University research backed product, and I receive no financial compensation for putting my “tell it like it is” reputation on the line with this recommendation. It’s a risk well worth taking.