Merica Labz HOLLOW POINT: Merica’s Take on Turk

Merica Labz Hollow Point has arrived, featuring the patriotic brand’s take on turkesterone. Inside, you get 1000 milligrams of A. Turkestanica (10% turkesterone) coupled with epicatechin!

Merica Labz — the brand that goes by the tagline Never Big Enough — wants your muscles to have muscles of their own. That’s why they’ve released a second muscle building supplement to put alongside Full Metal Jacket.

What do you name a supplement that can defend you by disrupting estrogen, promoting anabolic activity? You name it after defensive ammo:

Merica Labz Hollow Point: Merica’s Take on Turkesterone

Merica Labz Hollow Point is the next muscle builder to stack with Full Metal Jacket — along with the Super Sized weight gainer and creatine-based BOOM Pre-Workout if you’re really smart. It features a simple yet powerful formula, pairing estrogen-disrupting Ajuga Turkestanica (standardized for 10% turkesterone) alongside myostatin-limiting epicatechin.

In this article, we dig into the known science on the phytoecdysteroids in A. Turkestanica (which includes ecdysterone as well as turkesterone), then look at some recent research on epicatechin, the epic force found in dark chocolate. First, let’s check on availability through PricePlow, but note that the official launch is June 13, 2022:

Hollow Point Ingredients

In two capsules, Merica Labz loads you up with the following:

• Ajuga Turkestanica (std. 10% turkesterone) – 1,000 mg

  

  Serious gains in just two capsules

  It’s the talk of the town in 2022, and Hollow Point is Merica Labz’ way of bringing it to their muscle-building party — turkesterone! This fascinating molecule is actually one of eight known anabolic compounds found in ajuga turkestanica, which Merica Labz is standardizing for 10% turkesterone (100 milligrams in each serving).

  There are two things to break down regarding ajuga turkestanica supplements:

  1. Research on whole plant extracts (which includes known muscle-building agent, ecdysterone)
  2. Research on turkesterone itself

  Let’s start wide and then narrow down to turkesterone.

  Ajuga Turkestanica and phytoecdysteroids

  The ajuga turkestanica plant contains many phytoecdysteroids, which are “plant androgens” that regulate reproduction and development. Like our own testosterone, they’re synthesized from cholesterol,^[1] and they just so happen to be structured like testosterone too:

  

  The molecular structures of Turkesterone and Testosterone. We’re on to something here…

  Displacing estrogen

  There are many of these phytoecdysteroids in A. turkestanica, and many of them are able to interfere with estrogen, displacing estrogen from the receptor, which in turn can promote anabolic effects.^[2,3]

  Animal research backs this up — giving rats phytoecdysteroids leads to lower serum estrogen levels!^[3] Even better, most of these phytoecdysteroids don’t seem to interact with androgen receptors (ARs),^[2,4] leading researchers to believe that they won’t yield the negative feedback effects of stronger anabolics. This is at least the case of ecdysterone, one of the two most anabolic constituents discussed below.

  The major eight

  There are at least eight known ecdysteroids found in Ajuga turkestanica^[5] — the most prominent of which are ecdysterone (20-Hydroxy-ecdysone or “20HE”) and turkesterone.

  It’s definitely possible that there are more — researchers who evaluated the plant using incredible amounts of spectral imaging concluded, “Thus Ajuga turkestanica contains a complex cocktail of ecdysteroids, and additional studies on less polar fractions will probably allow the isolation of even more compounds.”^[5]

  

  Above and beyond turkesterone and ecdysterone, researchers are frequently finding finding new phytoecdysteroids in A. Turkestanica plant extracts.^[5]

  There’s more research on ecdysterone, so let’s get into that first:

  Ecdysterone: well-researched plant anabolic

  Starting with animal models, we’ve seen ecdysterone reduce serum estrogen levels while increasing IGF-1, resulting in increased muscle fiber size.^[2,3] Research translated from Russian journals in the late 1990s also showed anabolic activity in ecdysterone (as well as turkesterone).^[6] Impressively, both studies showed these compounds outperforming known anabolic androgenic steroids.^[6]

  On to human research, German researchers published a study in 2019 showing just as much potential in collegiate weightlifters, getting either placebo, 12 milligrams per day, or 48 milligrams per day.^[7] The results speak for themselves:

  

  Ecdysterone increased muscle mass gains in collegiate male weightlifters^[7]

  

  Ecdysterone increased strength gains in collegiate male weightlifters^[7]

  The researchers were so impressed by the results that they concluded stating, “This project demonstrates the performance-enhancing effect of ecdysterone in humans. Thus, our results strongly suggest including ecdysterone in class S1 ‘Anabolic Agents’.”^[7]

  Effectively, they’re saying that it’s so strong that it should be on worldwide banned substances lists — yet is not, as of time of press through 2022. Other researchers have similarly opined.^[2]

  Now what about turkesterone?!

  Turkesterone: lesser-researched, but potentially insane gains

  In 1998, researchers in Uzbekistan tested turkesterone (isolated from A. turkestanica like we have here) in rats against methandrostenolone, also known as dbol. The results were absolutely insane:^[8]

  Two different turkesterone samples outperformed the androgenic anabolic steroid in terms of body mass and organ increases! The data is shown below:

  

  The anabolic effects of turkesterone were greater than those of dbol in rats!^[8]

  Needless to say, we’re extraordinarily excited about turkesterone and phytoecdysteroids in general. It’d be good to know how much ecdysterone is in Hollow Point, because there’s clearly promise there as well.

  We definitely want to see more data in humans, and would love to see blood tests as well. Much of this is covered in our main turkesterone article, where we suggest a panel of blood tests that would be very helpful to see before and after a run of Hollow Point.

  Next up, we can boost nitric oxide and work to downshift myostatin levels:

• Epicatechin (Camellia sinensis) (Bean) (std. 90% epicatechin) – 300 mg

  Many have read news of health benefits of plants like green tea and cocoa, the latter of which has many beneficial flavonols.^[9] What many don’t know is that there’s a driving force underlying them: epicatechin.

  

  NEVER BIG ENOUGH. Get ready for a mass gainer that’s made from whole food sources: Merica Labz Super Sized!

  Scientifically written as (-)-epicatechin in research, this ingredient has numerous health benefits, many of which relate to body composition and muscle growth:

  • Greater nitric oxide production, leading to improved blood flow,
  • Reduced myostatin levels,
  • Improved insulin sensitivity,
  • Better lipid levels, and
  • Lower blood pressure

  In terms of nitric oxide production, researchers have seen 54% greater serum NO levels when participants eat 30 grams of dark chocolate (at 70% cocoa) per day compared to a white chocolate control (which has far less epicatechin).^[10] This and multiple other studies have shown blood pressure reductions,^[10-13] which is expected with elevated nitric oxide levels.

  While we know that improved NO can increase muscle growth,^[14] we can get plenty of nitric oxide support from Merica Labz BOOM and Stars and Pipes. What else can epicatechin do?

  Epicatechin: supporting muscle growth

  

  Epicatechin dropping myostatin in this small pilot study^[14]… with more data on the way

  A 2014 pilot study showed that 1mg/kg of epicatechin given twice daily (roughly 175 milligrams of epicatechin per day) reduced myostatin levels by 16.6 and increased follistatin levels by 49.2%.^[15] This is incredible, because myostatin regulates muscle growth, preventing them from growing out of control. Follistatin, however, regulates myostatin, preventing myostatin itself from getting out of control.

  This is a great biological system to govern growth, but sometimes we want to downregulate it a bit. Epicatechin seems to do just that.

  Additionally, hand grip strength increased by 7% in that brief pilot study after just one week, an interesting finding. Another arm of the study used mice, who had a 15% reduction in my statin as well.^[15]

  

  This study was performed on elderly, but alongside resistance training, epicatechin had the best results on myostatin and follistatin levels!^[16]

  More recently, a longer 8-week study on seniors found that epicatechin combined with resistance training yielded better gains in strength (leg press and chest press) as well as follistatin and follistatin/myostatin ratio.^[16] Those who were given epicatechin and resistance training outperformed resistance training alone, which is a variable we love to see tested.

  Epicatechin and endurance

  There have also been at least a couple of animal studies showing improved endurance capacity with similar amounts of epicatechin (roughly 1 milligram per kilogram per day).^[17,18]

  Insulin sensitivity improvements

  We want our muscles insulin sensitive so that they can appropriately use glycogen and reuptake carbohydrates into the cells. One of the studies cited above regarding dark chocolate’s administration improving blood pressure levels also showed improved glucose disposal.^[11] We’re not sure how much epicatechin itself played into this, but it’s worth investigating for those of you trying to hammer home every last carb into muscle tissue.

  This is a great dosage too. For a while, 200 milligrams was the norm – but you know Merica Labz is going to go big with more than that!

• Bioperine (Piper nigrum) (Fruit) (std. to 95% piperine) – 10 mg

  To boost uptake a bit more, we have Bioperine, which is a trademark black pepper extract standardized for 95% piperine. It is generally used because it’s a bioavailability enhancer that can inhibit enzymes that metabolize compounds while stimulating the gut’s amino acid transporters.^[19-22]

  Piperine also has some metabolic qualities that should pair well with epicatechin, as it upregulates the GLUT4 transporter,^[23] improving the body’s ability to shuttle glucose into cells.

Dosage and Instructions

The Hollow Point label states to take two capsules daily with food. Due to the nitric oxide boosting capabilities of epicatechin, we suggest taking it pre-workout. On off-training days (if you have such a thing), take your two capsules with food around the same time of day.

Hollow Point: Stacks with Full Metal Jacket

Hollow Point is a play on the other Merica Labz muscle building supplement Full Metal Jacket. These two can be put together for quite the natty stack, helping to interfere with estrogen while providing the body some anabolic tools.

In any conversation about muscle-building, we also have to mention creatine and betaine, and you can get a solid dose of creatine in the latest version of Merica Labz Red, White, & Boom pre-workout supplement. In that case, you’d likely want to add 2.5 grams of betaine separately in the day. Alternatively, there’s 2.5 grams of betaine in Merica Labz Napalm Red, White, & Boom — and then you’d want to add 3-5 grams of creatine elsewhere in the day.

And of course, for more testosterone support, add in Liberty Ballz.

With these taken care of, it’s then up to you to chase the protein game. Merica Labz can help you there as well, with both Patriot’s Whey and the Super Sized weight gainer.

With these tools put together, it’s then up to you to go blow it up in the gym!