Black Magic Supply ECTO PLASM: All about Pumps and Purple Rain

If you don’t know what we’re talking about, then it’s time you check out Ecto Plasm, Black Magic Supply’s incredible stimulant-free pre-workout supplement that plays numerous nitric oxide / pump angles. Aside from a Fruit Punch flavor, it also has a unique Purple Rain flavor that has become a fan (and PricePlow) favorite.

Ecto Plasm: All about the pumps… and Purple Rain

Black Magic Supply Ecto Plasm brings us pumps and Purple Rain, an exquisite flavor!

Purple Rain, Purple Rain!

Ecto Plasm is a stim-free pre workout that includes two nitric oxide boosting ingredients in citrulline malate and Nitrosigine that are both bolstered by nitric oxide protective ingredients in agmatine and S7. Topping it off, there are hydration agents here in betaine and glycerol – making for quite a potent stim-free pre.

After our recent Black Magic Supply updates for 2022, Ecto Plasm is one of the first supplements we wanted to catch up on — especially given the new research on Nitrosigine improving working memory in healthy young adults. We’re to the point where Nitrosigine is not only a top-tier NO booster, but also a nootropic ingredient, thanks to the blood flow improvements it brings everywhere.

Below we get into the full 20 gram serving formula, just after some price checks and notifications so you can find out about new deals, flavors, and Black Magic Supply news:

Ecto Plasm Ingredients

Each 20 gram scoop gets you the following:

• Citrulline Malate – 8,000mg

  

  Tons of nitric oxide production here, but don’t forget that Nitrosigine is also doubling as a nootropic too!

  Ecto Plasm begins like any stim-free pre-workout should: with a healthy dose of citrulline! It comes from 8 grams of citrulline malate, which will give us roughly 4.5 grams of citrulline if just looking at the molar masses. This is a solid, above-clinical dose for improving nitric oxide (NO) levels.^[1]

  Citrulline works through its conversion to L-arginine, which then gets converted into nitric oxide.^[2] This is useful because nitric oxide induces a blood vessel widening effect known as vasodilation, which increases blood flow.^[3,4] That in turn allows for better nutrient delivery, lower blood pressure, and for our purposes in the gym… pumps!

  Long ago, arginine was used in pre-workouts for this purpose, but it turned out that citrulline actually outperformed direct arginine supplementation!^[3] This is because straight L-arginine is not the best nitric oxide booster since the gut and its enzymes break it down too quickly before it can get converted into NO.^[5-8] We do have a better form of arginine below, so Ecto Plasm still hits both angles.

  

  Purple Rain!!

  While many of us are here for the pumps, citrulline then provides multiple athletic benefits, including improved recovery, better cellular energy production, and more overall work output.^[9-12]

  Overall, this is a solid (and generally expected) way to start off a nitric oxide boosting stim-free pre. What we love is that we’re also going to hit the improved arginine side of this equation with Nitrosigine as well. Stay tuned.

• Betaine Anhydrous – 2,500mg

  Next on the label are two hydration boosting ingredients that have numerous benefits. First, we get a full clinical dose of betaine, which is also known as trimethylglycine. Betaine has a plethora of benefits because it serves multiple functions – both as a methyl donor for important biochemical processes and also as an osmolyte to improve water balance and cellular hydration in the body.^[13,14]

  These effects lead to several benefits, including but not limited to:

  • Athletic performance enhancement^[15-20]
  • Muscle building^[21,22]
  • Weight loss / fat loss^[23,24]
  • Cardiovascular support^{[14,15,25-27]}
  • Heat protection^[15,28]

  

  The trick to supplements like Ecto Plasm that have betaine (as well as glycerol below) is that you have to drink tons of water! The osmotic effects increase water retention, and can hydrate the area between cells,^[13] giving better pumps that are completely different from the nitric oxide ones from citrulline and Nitrosigine.

  What’s great is that several of the benefits cited above, including those regarding muscle building, weight loss, and performance enhancement used this 2.5 gram dosage in a day.^[17-23] Last, betaine assists with nitric oxide production as well.^[27]

  A couple of the studies, however, used even more,^[15,16] so they’re only slightly applicable to us here unless you stack it with a pre-workout like BZRK.

  This incredible body of research is why we see betaine at this dose in so many pre-workouts, both stimulant and stimulant-free.

• GlycerSize (65% Glycerol Powder) – 2,000mg

  

  No doubt, the simple glycerol molecule has “mission critical” status with the body. But when we supplement far more, incredible benefits related to hydration occur!

  Betaine’s not the only hydration booster! Ecto Plasm keeps your plasm fully hydrated with added glycerol, also known as glycerin.^[29] This sugar alcohol molecule bonds to water, and then drives that water across the body, including into blood, plasma, and muscle tissue.^[30] This increases the body’s total water volume (assuming you drink plenty of water, which you should do with a supplement like this), causing a synergistic hydration pump alongside betaine.

  Most of the research has been done in terms of endurance – trained athletes can last significantly longer with glycerol, where they consistently train for longer periods of time before hitting total exhaustion.^[31] While glycerol may provide some calories, the combination of glycerol and water with carbohydrates outperforms water with only carbohydrates and no glycerol, so its effects go well beyond its caloric energy.^[31]

  

  Interesting bonus for big water drinkers: the glycerol group has far less urine output, despite same water input!^[32]

  Other studies have shown that 20 days of glycerol consumption can not only improve aerobic power, but anaerobic power as well,^[33] so it’s not just for endurance athletes.

  Additionally, to synergize with the nitric oxide boosters inside, glycerol has been shown to lead to better blood flow in forearm tests and reduced cardiovascular stress.^[34]

  Again, drink plenty of water with Ecto Plasm – otherwise you won’t get the most out of betaine and glycerol. If you’re worried about trips to the bathroom, note that glycerol has been shown to reduce urination thanks to the improved water retention!^[32,35] Additionally, we consider this to be a must-use ingredient if training in extreme heat, due to its thermal protective qualities.^[34,35]

  With the hydration-based duo set, it’s time to get back to nitric oxide generation:

• Nitrosigine (Inositol-Stabilized Arginine Silicate) – 1,500mg

  Above when we were discussing how L-citrulline outperforms straight L-arginine,^[3] we also didn’t mention that taking high-dose L-arginine can lead to GI distress.^[36,37] Clearly, there were some roadblocks to overcome, but arginine is worth fighting for because it is the precursor to nitric oxide, after all!

  

  A new study found that 1.5g of Nitrosigine was just as effective at boosting nitric oxide levels as 8g of citrulline malate! Black Magic, of course, decides to use both.

  While some were testing citrulline, ingredient developers at Nutrition21 instead made arginine work the way we always hoped it would — patenting inositol-stabilized arginine silicate.^[38] Most of its research is on this 1500 milligram dose, so we can cite a ton of research showing improved bioavailability over L-arginine, nitric oxide improvements, and even cognitive performance gains:

  First, thanks to its stabilized composition, Nitrosigine outperforms L-arginine in terms of nitric oxide production — and it leads to significantly higher plasma arginine levels for six hours!^[39,40] One cool effect is that Nitrosigine reduces the activity of arginase,^[41] which is the enzyme that breaks down arginine. Citrulline also has this effect,^[42-44] leading to some incredible synergistic effects between these two ingredients.

  There was also a study showing that Nitrosigine improves blood flow as much as 8 grams of citrulline malate,^[45] which is exactly what we have here. Rather than choosing one or the other, Ecto Plasm contains both. Also similar to citrulline, Nitrosigine has been shown to reduce muscle damage and inflammation.^[46]

  Nitrosigine’s cognitive benefits

  

  Nutrition21 passed around this helpful infographic after the Nitrosigine cognition study on healthy young adults was published.^[47]

  It’s not just for muscle pumps, though — researchers are continually finding that Nitrosigine’s blood flow boosting effects work in the brain as well, with numerous studies demonstrating improved cognitive flexibility, mental energy, and focus.^[40,47-52]

  Nutrition21 has been adding to the research, too. We recently covered a study published at the end of 2021 where healthy young adults had a short-term memory score boost compared to placebo.^[47] You can read about it in our article titled Study: Improved Working Memory from Nitrosigine in Healthy Young Adults.

  This was in addition to other useful studies, such as one that showed Nitrosigine preventing cognitive decline after strenuous exercise.^[40,48] This means that your day shouldn’t be ruined if you “blow a gasket” setting a PR in the weight room with the help of Ecto Plasm.

  You can read more about Nitrosigine in our article named Nitrosigine: The Nitric Oxide Booster That Enhances Brain Function. We love to see it alone, and we really love to see it paired with citrulline!

• Agmatine Sulfate – 1,250mg

  We’re not done with nitric oxide enhancement just yet! While citrulline malate and Nitrosigine boost NO, agmatine sulfate is here to synergize with Nitrosigine in protecting our nitric oxide levels! This is because agmatine, which is a metabolite of arginine, functions as an arginase inhibitor.^[53] Recall from our citrulline section that arginase is the enzyme that breaks arginine down, so if we can prevent that, we’re going to get more of it to convert into nitric oxide downstream.

  Citrulline, Nitrosigine, and agmatine all work in this fashion, so we’re really playing some defense in keeping arginine from “disappearing” on us.

  

  In addition, agmatine itself can also stimulate nitric oxide synthase production^[54] — this is an enzyme that gets endothelial cells to produce more nitric oxide. This gives us a two-pronged boost in this ingredient.

  Research has also shown that agmatine functions as a neurotransmitter — in fact many researchers call it a neurotransmitter — and that it can help boost mood in some situations.^[55] Since Ecto Plasm is all about pumps, this and Nitrosigine are the two more effective nootropic ingredients inside.

  Also a bit special is the dose – normally we see 500 or 1000 milligrams of agmatine. With Ecto Plasm, we’re treated to 25% more, with a nice 1,250 milligram dose. It won’t make you Mr. Olympia but we’re definitely not complaining here!

• S7 – 150mg

  Short for SPECTRA 7, S7 is a trademarked antioxidant ingredient made of seven botanical extracts: green coffee bean, green tea, turmeric, tart cherry, blueberry, broccoli, and kale.

  A study was published showing that it increases nitric oxide’s bioavailability.^[56] To explain, you must first understand that nitric oxide is actually a free radical^[57] that has a short half-life and is going to bind to other molecules. S7, however, works in a unique way by offsetting many of the other free radicals that would have otherwise bound to nitric oxide – keeping nitric oxide around longer to do what we want in our vascular system.

  This is a different and separate defensive play working alongside agmatine. And again, just like with agmatine, we have a seriously large dose – normally we see 50 to 100 milligrams… and we’re at 150 here!

• Himalayan Pink Sea Salt – 44mg

  

  It’s almost like a purple Spree candy??

  Ecto Plasm includes a small dose of Himalayan Pink Sea Salt, contributing to just 2% daily value of sodium. This isn’t a huge deal, but to us, it’s better than nothing.

  If you’re still on the fence about sodium, we encourage you to read the paper titled “The Importance of Salt in the Athlete’s Diet”.^[58] After doing so, you may just want to add more.

Flavors available

With no funky botanicals or unfamiliar ingredients, Ecto Plasm tastes incredible – as this is being written, we’re currently polishing off a tub of Purple Rain. Below are the flavors:

Ecto Plasm is all about the pump

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This is an incredible stacking partner to the insane BZRK pre workout. If you’re all about adding pumps and keeping them around for a long time, look no further than Ecto Plasm, because it stays in its lane as a stimulant-free nitric oxide / pump supplement.

However, the body of research on Nitrosigine’s cognitive effects is constantly growing, to the point where we do consider it to be a nootropic ingredient. This is mainly thanks to that cerebral blood flow it helps with.

Ecto Plasm has quietly been putting in work, and is one of the first things we wanted to catch up on after our recent Black Magic Supply updates for 2022. Sign up for the alerts below and we’ll notify you when there are new flavors, deals, studies, and more: