Mind Muscle Nutrition Hydra Focus is a novel spin on the conventional intra workout that enhances pumps and focus alongside hydration and performance.
We’ve seen all manner of intra workout supplements over the years, from BCAA only formulas to carb based products and everything in between. But we’ve never quite seen an intra workout like we’ve got today.
Mind Muscle Nutrition is a young upstart brand dedicated to providing clinically dosed products that truly enhance athletes performance in and out of the gym. They’re bringing some much needed focus to their pump-boosting, hydration enhancing intra workout Hydra Focus.
In case Hydra Focus isn’t listed in any of our stores yet, you can visit MindMuscleNutrition.com!
Hydra Focus Ingredients
Hydra Focus touts a transparent label that contains several proven ingredients to enhance performance, pumps, and focus during your workout. The ingredient doses are rather beefy for an intra workout at one scoop and will make the perfect compliment to the brand’s soon-to-be-released monster pre workout, M2.
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Citrulline Malate (4g)
Hydra Focus is impressively dosed and will sustain your focus and pumps throughout the longest workouts.
Each scoop of Hydra Focus contains 4g of Citrulline Malate, yielding 2g of pure L-Citrulline, plenty to sustain the nitric oxide boost from your pre workout helping of CitMal. This will prolong your pumps throughout even the longest workouts, but more importantly, the extra boost in citrulline will sustain your performance and energy output![1,2]
Other intra workouts we’ve seen typically only include 1-2g of Citrulline Malate at most, so this is quite the opening salvo from the scrappy start up.
Some have also attributed the malic acid side (which provides the malate here) to additional endurance and anti-fatigue, but we’ve never seen an actual study showing that, so the jury’s out on that half of the equation.
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2:1:1 BCAAs (7g)
Mind Muscle Nutrition has included the research-backed 2:1:1 ratio of BCAAs to stimulate and enhance muscular energy during your training session.[3,4] Each serving of Hydra Focus will supply 3.5g of Leucine and 1.75g each of Isoleucine and Valine.
As we all know, intense training is incredibly catabolic, but consumption of BCAAs has been well documented to stave off any muscle-wasting as well as offset any muscle soreness resulting from your grueling workout.[5,6]
This is the main ingredient in any intra workout supplement, and the difference-makers are how much you have (7g is above average, we often see 5g) and what is put around it — in this case, we’ll be getting to some focus ingredients soon!
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L-Glutamine (2.5g)
The mind-muscle connection is crucial to successful training and Hydra Focus helps you sustain that throughout your workout.
We’ve got a love / hate relationship with this conditionally essential amino acid. While glutamine can enhance glycogen storage, gut health, and recovery, when it’s dosed all alone it really only goes to improving gut health.[7.8] You see, the stomach is a greedy SOB and takes up all of the glutamine before it can get to the intestinal wall for absorption.
When glutamine is combined with L-Alanine, alanine acts as a “protector” of glutamine and helps it survive the stomach and boost absorption of the recovery-promoting amino.[9] So, while the 2.5g dose is admirable, we’re not sure really how much is getting put towards recovery.
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N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine (1g)
Tyrosine is a common focus booster included in pre workout, but this is quite a rarity seeing it included in an intra workout, especially in such a high dose!
N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine is a more water soluble form of the amino acid Tyrosine, which is a precursor to L-Dopa in the brain. L-Dopa is then used to make a bevvy of potent neurotransmitters such as dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine.[10]
We’ve got into great detail about Tyrosine previously, and ultimately give you the lowdown as to which form is superior. For all that info, check out our mega post L-Tyrosine vs. N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine: A Tale of Two Tyrosines.
Either way, awesome to see a high dose of tyrosine in an intra workout. If your focus from these ingredients in your pre workout tends to fade quickly, or you don’t get enough focus out of your pre, then this and the next ingredient will help with that!
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Choline Bitartrate (500mg)
Here’s a sneak peek at the front label for Mind Muscle Nutrition’s upcoming clinically dosed pre workout M2 that will match perfectly with Hydra Focus.
Choline is yet another common and powerful focus boosting ingredient frequently seen in pre workouts and productivity supplements. The bitartrate form Choline is on the lower end of bioavailability, but given this is supposed to be used as a “boost” to your choline intake pre workout, we can understand the dosing used.
More importantly, choline will improve your “mind-muscle” connection during training sessions by increasing levels of acetylcholine.
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Coconut Water (500mg)
When you train with intensity, you’re bound to sweat, and with that sweat comes the loss of lots of electrolytes. These electrolytes (potassium, sodium, etc.) need to be replaced, lest you lose too many and set yourself up for some serious cramping and decreased performance.
Coconut water is a perfect ingredient to include when looking to replace electrolytes and support hydration, as it’s naturally rich in potassium.[10]
Point being – outside of the muscle-sparing and recovery benefits here, if your focus fades during training, drinking on some tyrosine and choline in Hydra Focus during the workout may help keep it together!
On the Formula
”Mind Muscle Nutrition was founded on the principles of Mind and Muscle. Mind Muscle connection is very beneficial when you are training in the gym to get the most out of your workouts. We also developed the supplements with clinical dosed ingredients, we do not care about margins, we care about a product that is going to benefit you.
Hydra Focus was developed to allow you to push through the most grueling workouts. We wanted this powder to be constantly fueling muscles throughout the duration of the workout. I also wanted something that covered a lot of aspects that most intra-workout supplements do not. We threw in a good pump with citrulline, hydration with coconut powder, electrolytes with sodium and potassium, 2:1:1 ratio of BCAA’s, less soreness with glutamine and lastly 2 focus agents choline and N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine. I know NALT is not the superior form but I didn’t want a overabundance of Tyrosine if you stack it with M2 (Pre-Workout).
The overall intent of the product is to have the user be able to take their workouts to the next level. Train Harder, Train Focused, and Train Hydrated. So you can push the most nutrients into the muscle.”
— Mind Muscle Nutrition
Sounds like we’re getting even more tyrosine soon from this M2 pre workout to come!
Flavors Available
Fans of the Orange Smarties candy should be all over this flavor of Hydra Focus.
As Hydra Focus is relatively new on the scene, they’ven taken a moderate approach to flavor development and release, meaning that there is currently only one flavor available of the product — Orange Smarty.
Takeaway
How’s that for a unique twist on the conventional intra workout supplement?! There are definitely times where this one makes good sense – you know when you’ve been a bit “disconnected” towards the final sets of your workout, and that’s who we’re talking to here.
Mind Muscle Nutrition is bringing some serious dosing and some much needed innovation to the intra workout category. Hydra Focus contains everything you need to sustain performance throughout your training session and kick start the recovery and repair process. We can appreciate Mind Muscle Nutrition’s philosophy and look forward to seeing the brand’s upcoming clinically-dosed pre workout M2 in the very near future.
In case Hydra Focus isn’t listed in any of our stores, you can visit MindMuscleNutrition.com!
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