Get ready for the BOOM! (Updated Summer 2021)
For far too long, American gym rats have been enamored by “sub-maximal” workouts and “deload days”. Long gone are the days of iron slamming into the ground as chalk floods the air.
‘Merica Labz recognized this shift in our culture and came out guns a BLAZIN’ to rectify it. Through Red, White, and BOOM, they’re bringing strength, power, and high-energy back to the Union!
Red, White, and BOOM Updated: A Pre Workout Fit For Patriots
It’s updated, and bringing more energy and pumps than ever! Meet the latest and greatest version of the Red, White, & BOOM Pre Workout!
Patriots be proud: Since its creation,’Merica Labz has been a knockout success. The brand set forth to replicate that feeling of pride you get on national holidays – but now you get it every day you hit the gym. That feel-good moment when the fireworks are exploding all around you while the Star-Spangled Banner blasts in the background, reminding the world that you are willing to fight for your freedom, otherwise there’s nothing left worth training for.
A pre workout that feels as good as it feels strong
In 2021, Merica Labz updated the formula, taking that positive sensation and combined it with a blend of nootropics, adaptogens, and ergogenics (a full 5g dose of creatine) to make a potent pre workout supplement with a total of 420 milligrams of caffeine from two different sources!
Did ‘Merica Labz hit the mark? Let’s find out, but first you can check the prices on PricePlow and sign up for Merica Labz’ updates:
Red, White & Boom – Deals and Price Drop Alerts
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Note: Check the formulas and labels on the above price listings, which may still contain some of the previous formula. The new 2021 formula should have new branding and 6000 mg citrulline at the top of the label.
The Red, White, and Boom Ingredients
This is a more complex, more advanced, and more fully-dosed pre workout supplement than the previous version, which should be exciting to Merica Labz’ fans:
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L-Citrulline – 6000 mg
Behold, the Merica Labz Red, White, & Boom Pre Workout Ingredients updated in 2021 – now with a total of 420 milligrams caffeine and more pumps!
‘Merica Labz starts off the formula strong with a beyond-clinically-dosed serving of L-citrulline, switching away from citrulline malate in the previous version — and this means we actually end up with more citrulline!
Upon ingestion, citrulline is eventually converted into arginine by certain digestive enzymes. Arginine then helps the body produce more nitric oxide than usual, which expands your blood vessels (this is known as vasodilation). Your now-wider blood vessels will help crush it in the gym by speeding up your body’s nutrient delivery system, assisting in your pump, and even improving your overall workout recovery capabilities.[1-3]
Solid dose allows for partial-scooping to assess stim-tolerance
We’re normally happy with a minimum of 3g citrulline, and love it when it starts hitting 4g. A total of 6 grams means that we can get bombed out on one scoop, or start easy and still get solid pumps at ½ to ¾ scoop (which is what a smart Patriot should do to test the high caffeine waters)!
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Creatine Monohydrate – 5000 mg
Creatine Monohydrate is the gold standard of creatine supplementation, and too many sports nutrition brands don’t give it enough respect. This is the tried-and-true form of creatine — almost every investigation into the effects of creatine has used the monohydrate form instead of the various ‘exotic’ types. It’s inexpensive and universally beneficial.
The best part? A 3 gram serving is likely enough for most individuals when taken every day – but you get the full 5 gram dose here. Again, we don’t have to worry about taking a full scoop to get the clinical dose, but some users do seem to feel more power at 5 grams per day.
Creatine has an absolute goldmine of studies available to tout its benefits, including increased muscle size and power, lean mass gains because of handling more volume, decreased fatigue, and even improved cellular hydration.[4-8] It works by assisting with the production of ATP, our body’s “energy currency” — which then goes on to help countless biological functions, including those involved in muscle performance and athletics.
As simple as it seems to some, we get excited seeing a real-deal 5 gram dose of creatine. It’s basically nothing but upside, and now you don’t have to worry about it for the rest of your day.
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Beta Alanine – 3200 mg
Get ready to put fatigue down — but beware the tingles! Here we have a full clinical daily dose of beta alanine, the ingredient that combines with the essential amino acid L-Histidine to form carnosine. That’s important because carnosine helps flush lactic acid from tiring muscles.
We’re interested in section (B) here, where beta alanine alone shows great results compared to placebo.[10]
There have been two major meta analyses covering numerous studies on beta alanine across a huge series of sports and training types, and they confirm that beta alanine boosts endurance.[9,10] This is especially true for exercises that are a bit longer-lasting than sprints — mostly the types of training in the 30 second to 10 minute range.
As for those tingles, don’t be too alarmed – the sensation is known as paresthesia but beta alanine has been shown to be safe and non-toxic.[11]
In this case, if you can’t handle the full 420 milligrams of caffeine in the Boom pre workout and need to under-dose, you’ll want to consider adding a bit more beta alanine somewhere else in your day – because 3.2 grams is what we shoot for on a daily basis to keep up with the researched doses.
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L-Tyrosine – 1000 mg
L-Tyrosine is by far the best form of tyrosine supplementation. Tyrosine is the building block of our favorite neurotransmitters, including dopamine and norepinephrine. Taking more tyrosine, therefore, will lead to higher levels of these two alert-mode powerhouses.[12] Higher levels of these catecholamines will then give you better focus and lower your stress and anxiety levels.
Think of Tyrosine as an “on-switch” to the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic system, better known as the “fight or flight” system of the body, uses norepinephrine to put your body into “fight mode” – exactly what we need for the next revolution!
Sleep deprivation support!
Since we last wrote about this pre workout, we’ve started digging into how well L-tyrosine supports sleep deprived individuals.[13,14] While we always support getting good sleep, bad sleep does occur, and L-tyrosine really seems to improve our function in the sleep-deprived setting, especially next to caffeine.
The previous version of Boom Pre Workout had a larger dose here, but it’s been brought down to bring in some extra adaptogenic power in the next ingredient in ashwagandha:
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KSM-66 Full-Spectrum Ashwagandha Extract (Withania somnifera) (root) (5% withanolides) – 600 mg
Ashwagandha is an adaptogenic herb that works by regulating cortisol in the body.
While we often call cortisol the “stress hormone”, it’s not always bad — we simply don’t want it chronically elevated. When it’s too high, too long, our bodies begin to make it tough to lose weight, build muscle, focus appropriately, and more. Alongside a better daily routine, ashwagandha can help establish regular cortisol levels,[15,16] and there’s no better-studied form of this plant than KSM-66.
Thanks to the benefits of getting cortisol back under control, we can get back to life as we want it — and that has been shown to bring a natural testosterone boost,[17] better fertility,[18] improved athletic performance,[17] body composition improvements,[19] and even less fatigue.[20]
In addition, we’ve anecdotally noticed that using a large dosage of ashwagandha like this alongside large stimulant doses seems to take the “edge” off of the stims — so if you’re cautious of the caffeine, remember that this herb will be on your side. Of course, you’ll still want to dose cautiously, 420 milligrams of caffeine is still large, regardless of what’s next to it.
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Caffeine Anhydrous – 350 mg (of 420 mg total caffeine)
Our total caffeine intake is up 20 milligrams from the old version, where we introduced this section by saying “400 is the new 300!” So apparently, 420 is the new 400, because Merica Labz is bringing it in a big way!
‘Merica Labz is definitely going for the title of “1 scoop wonder” with the dosages present in Red, White, and BOOM. With 420 mg of caffeine per scoop, we recommend that you stick to one scoop max per day, but more importantly, start with half of a scoop to assess, as mentioned numerous times above.
By inhibiting adenosine and phosphodiesterase,[21] this dose will wake your ass up. But even better, at the combined total dose in Boom Pre Workout, it may even increase your power![22,23] That’s right, certain individuals get strength gains at this dose, but it often depends on size (5-6mg caffeine per kg of body weight is where the gains occurred – this means individuals between 150-185lbs or so if full scooping it).
What’s interesting is that the second form of caffeine is extended release, so it won’t all be hitting at once — but most of it (350 milligrams here) will come first.
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Alpha GPC 50% (L-Alpha Glycerylphosphorylcholine) – 300 mg
For the 2021 version, Merica Labz has embraced a higher-bioavailability form of choline, but lowered the total dose, so the focus effect should be comparably strong.
Reason being, Alpha-GPC is a high-quality source of choline, and choline is a building block of acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter involved in a huge amount of functions the body relies on for athletic endeavour. By supplementing choline, you increase the levels of acetylcholine available for your body to use. Since acetylcholine is associated with both learning and muscle contractions, you can expect enhanced focus and muscle output from this dose.[24,25] We’ll also prolong this bump of choline with Huperzine A at the bottom of the label.
Want some BOOM in an energy drink can? Merica Energy Red White and BOOM energy drink has also been given a proper restoration, and they’re better than ever!
Alpha-GPC and tyrosine team up for our nootropic stack, but don’t forget that there should also be some additional focus-driven benefits from the caffeine blend and the ashwagandha and even the creatine!
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Vasodrive-AP – 254 mg
To hit another pump angle, Merica Labz added a full 254 milligrams of VasoDrive-AP, a unique ingredient that actually comes from casein protein and is standardized for two bioactive peptides, iIsoleucyl-prolyl-proline (IPP) and valyl-prolyl-Proline (VPP).
These are interesting and impressive compounds because they can inhibit the ACE enzyme![26] Also known as angiotensin-converting enzyme, this enzyme causes vasoconstriction, a narrowing of the blood vessels. By inhibiting that mechanism, we then get more vasodilation — a widening of the blood vessels! And that means more pumps to go along with our huge dose of L-citrulline.
This is a unique one-two punch we don’t see too often on its own — usually when we see Vasodrive-AP, it’s in pump supplements with a half dozen other nitric oxide boosters. This will give you a great chance to see how it performs with citrulline.
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Theobromine – 100 mg
Need more weight loss support instead?! ‘Merica Labz is bringing the heat with Napalm Red, White and Boom!
Found in theobroma cacao, theobromine is what we call a “cousin” to caffeine, since they’re both in the methylxanthine family and has similar mechanisms in inhibiting phosphodiesterase and adenosine.[27]
This leads to a stimulatory effect, but one that’s more mild than caffeine — yet with a longer half-life![28]
If you like to feel your pre workout, then you’ll enjoy this research — there was a study where the scientists compared the effects of caffeine to theobromine, and the theobromine users had significantly increased “feel” from theobromine![29]
It’s not a main ingredient, but a nice little supporting stim that lengthens out the strike — just like the next ingredient:
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Zum-XR XR Caffeine (provides 70% caffeine) – 100 mg (provides 70 mg of 420 mg total caffeine)
Zum-XR XR isn’t a typo above – the second “XR” means that we’re looking at an eXtended Release version of caffeine here!
This is a new competitor to the dicaffeine malate we see in many supplements, and the idea is to prolong the release of caffeine in the system by encapsulating the ingredient in a substance that will take longer to break down, helping the body to “draw out” the caffeine over a longer time curve.
Paired with the large hit of caffeine anhydrous above, this should alleviate much of the crash that may come, as it will bring you down a bit more gently and keep the energy around longer.
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Huperzia serrata Extract (leaf and stem) (1% Huperzine A) – 10 mg
While choline has always been in Boom Pre, Huperzine A was not — so this is a welcome, synergistic addition to the product! Huperzine A is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor,[30] which means it inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, which breaks down our acetylcholine!
Keeping our choline-driven acetylcholine is the main benefit, but we’ve seen this unique ingredient also enhance learning and cognitive function,[31] and it’s even been shown to stimulate neurogenesis,[32] meaning it can help new neurons grow!
We have 100 micrograms here from this standardization, which is right in the middle of the road of doses we’ve seen (generally from 50 to 200mcg) to keep things going and finish out the formula.
Flavors available
You know the game, especially if you’ve seen our Merica Energy Drink review – these guys keep the flavors fresh!
‘Merica Labz came up with some great ones for Red, White, and Boom:
Conclusion: Take the Power Back in Your Pre Workout
The restoration is upon us!
‘Merica Labz put out a solid reformulation to go with a great new branding scheme in 2021. This formula has plenty of what you need, and a few bonus ingredients to keep things fresh. It’ll feel as good as it performs, and has true ergogenic potential thanks to a large 5 gram dose of creatine.
Compared to the previous version, we have a lot more substance here, and it goes without saying once again that there’s more caffeine – so tread lightly until you know you can take on a full scoop. Even at less than a full scoop, you get plenty of citrulline and creatine to pump you up for the revolution. When they say “high-caliber pre-workout ammunition”, they mean it!
We recommend giving the new Red, White, and BOOM pre workout a solid ⅔ to ¾ of a scoop to assess. Make sure you can handle the dual caffeine strike before you take a full dose of the product, and then get ready to dominate the decade and finish this cycle with a BOOM!
Godspeed, Patriots!
Red, White & Boom – Deals and Price Drop Alerts
Get Price Alerts
No spam, no scams.
Disclosure: PricePlow relies on pricing from stores with which we have a business relationship. We work hard to keep pricing current, but you may find a better offer.
Posts are sponsored in part by the retailers and/or brands listed on this page.
Note: Check the formulas and labels on the above price listings, which may still contain some of the previous formula. The new 2021 formula should have new branding and 6000 mg citrulline at the top of the label.
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