Performix Ion – What’s All the Hype About?

The Ion pre workout brings some serious hype, but can it live up to it?

Skepticism isn’t a difficult responds to come by when taking a good look at the label for the new pre workout supplement, Performix Ion.

However the reception thus far tells us that maybe this book should not be judged by its cover.

In this post, we’ll first take a look at what makes this pre-workout seem so run-of-the-mill (even below-average), and then we’ll talk about what’s different here and come to our overall conclusion.

Performix Ion’s Ingredients

Two points right off the bat:

The Performix Ion Ingredients – Click to Zoom in

1. The first noticeable detail is the proprietary blend that weighs in at 3714mg per scoop. With a 3-4g blend, it’s going to fail to account for even a half of the clinically tested doses for the top ingredients.

2. The second important detail is that there’s 175mg caffeine.

   So this could be double-scooped if you have a very good stimulant tolerance (realize that there are several other stimulants here too), but it’s most likely a 1-1.5 scooper, yet should be pretty high-energy at that.

The proprietary blend leaves you with only the opportunity to guess as to how much of the effective muscle-building ingredients you’re going to get, as you’ll soon see:

• CarnoSyn Beta Alanine

  Beta alanine is the co-factor in the synthesis of carnosine. It acts as a pH buffer to reduce lactic acid in the muscle. Beta alanine works well especially when paired with creatine.^[1]

  Typically we want 3.2g or more per day, but 1.5-2g in a pre workout is about right because the tingling sensation (known as parasthesia) gets annoying if it’s dosed any higher.

  Since this is the first ingredient, chances are the dose is close to that range. This is also the first of three patented ingredients in Ion that Performix is heavily promoting.

  

  Beta Alanine Boosts Exercise Performance… but the best studies use at least 3.2g spread across the day

• Citrulline Malate 2:1

  A staple among pre workout supplements for nitric oxide release and muscular endurance.^[2]

  The serious pre workout supplements use the clinically-validated dose of 6g, whereas other products typically run less but combine it with other pump ingredients.

  Here, we get neither of those pleasures, leading us to believe that this is not a pre workout meant to bring strong pumps or vasodilation.

  The issue is that the label states “Maximum Pump Technology” as its first marketing bullet point, which unfortunately is very unlikely to be true.

• Betaine Anhydrous

  The new powerhouse ingredient on the block, used to promote strength, power and lean body mass.^[3]

  It works in a similar way than creatine, but we’re still not certain if you need full doses of both creatine and betaine. Since both are cheap, we play it safe and say yes.

  The clinically-tested dose for the kinds of gains listed above is 2.5g, which isn’t remotely mathematically possible here. You’ll need another source of betaine if you want to be on the safe side and go after muscle.

• Creatine HCl

  All-powerful creatine in a highly bioavailable HCl bond. Supplementing creatine will increase ATP storage in the muscle. Among the many benefits of creatine are increased strength, power, lean muscle and muscle volume.

  Horribly underdosed – ignore that it’s even there

  

  *Sigh*… why is creatine even in this product? Our overall feelings in less than 10 words

  The standard daily dose you want is 3-5g taken every day, any time of the day. Unfortunately, having this ingredient here simply adds to more confusion than it helps.

  Theoretical best case, you’re getting 928.5mg creatine here, and that’d be assuming the first four ingredients are equally dosed and there are 0g of the following ingredients (which is horribly unlikely). So it’s going to be less than that.

  Don’t get us wrong, creatine is great, and some is better than none. Our issue here is that beginning users may believe that they’re “getting their creatine in” with Performix Ion, but that just won’t be the case — at least not in the doses that are actually research-backed.

  We explain this in detail in our article titled Creatine is BROKEN.. and Your Pre Workout is to Blame, and this is a prime example of the situations we detail there.

  So basically, whether or not you’re using this product on a given day, you’ll just want to get 3g of bulk creatine (creatine monohydrate is fine) if you’re going for clinically-verified muscle gain.

• N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine

  A more stable form of the amino acid L-Tyrosine. N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine supports brain function and mental alertness.^[4]

  We’re huge fans of this ingredient, it feels good and brings the focus. Question is, will there be enough here to feel? Your guess is as good as ours.

• Advantra Z Bitter Orange Extract

  This trademarked Bitter Orange Extract possesses heavily researched thermogenic properties. A stable form of the extract that promotes fat loss with no considerable side effects at reasonable doses.^[5]

  Advantra Z is extracted for the following stimulants:

  

  Advantra Z is the most popular bitter orange extract, and brings several stimulant constituents to the party

  • Synephrine
  • N-Methyltyramine
  • Hordenine
  • Tyramine
  • Octopamine

  This makes it a great mix of beta-adernergic activating ingredients, which gets a small “flight or fight” response going and makes your body burn more fat for energy. We’re just not certain of the dose here, so it may or may not be felt.

  This is the second of three patented ingredients.

• Bioperine Black Pepper Extract

  A trademarked Black Pepper Extract that enhances the absorption of any paired ingredients in the intestinal tract.^[6]

  This is the last of the three patented ingredients, and has become quite popular in supplements over the past year. If it can enhance absorption just a bit, it’s worth it, although the best research was done when it was paired curcumin for anti-inflammatory purposes.

• Rauwolscine Extract

  Rauwolscine is a source extracted for alpha yohimbine. Alpha yohimbine is a significantly stronger version of yohimbine, which provides the ideal fat loss effects alongside the synephrine and caffeine.

  Note that this is a more aggressive ingredient, so we’re happy to see it last – you definitely don’t need much to get you going.

At the end of the day, this seems to be yet another underdosed product that is currently selling for far too much money, especially if you need 1.5 scoops and still cannot get clinical doses of the muscle-builders.

It does, however, seem like it will be a great energy-based pre workout (but not a pump one), but that will ultimately depend on how much Advantra Z and Rauwolscine got paired in with the 175mg caffeine.

Multi-Phase Beads?!

Now here’s where Performix is claiming a major difference with Ion: delivery technology.

Performix touts a multi-phase coating technology that aims to pinpoint the ideal time of release for their ingredients. They’re marketed as Terra Intelligent Beads.

The technology claims to provide the ingredient with multiple coats. The function design is to provide an extended release timetable for the ingredient.

Sounds cool, but we’d like to see some research before shelling out so much money. And this still can’t negate underdosed creatine / betaine.

That sounds great, but we’ve heard it before. No matter how well you coat creatine, if you give 1g, it won’t be the same as getting 3g. End of story.

Further, the brand unfortunately loses points for not having any research to back up these claims.

The Terra Beads are certainly a unique approach and possibly highly worthy marketing change-up. However, is Ion worth such a high price point for a pre-workout? The going price per workout is $1.11, or $2.22 for more appropriate dosing, and even then you still want to buy more creatine and possibly more betaine.

But the reviews are good so far

On the other hand, although the amount of retailers stocking Ion is very low, the feedback has been overall positive.

Performix is a sister brand to Revolution, the maker to the popular fat burning variations, AbCuts.

Both are under the parent company Corr-Jensen Labs. Corr-Jensen has a track record of releasing their products to a very small selection of retailers, which unfortunately keeps the prices high, as the products are introduced with a hefty price tag and typically stay that way for a while.

End of the story

Our overall suggestion is to sign up for price drop alerts below, but if they don’t come, don’t be surprised.

You can try this if you want something new, but call us boring and cheap.. we’d rather just get clinical doses of ingredients without any fancy delivery system.

Or at least we’d like to see some research behind the delivery system. Until any research is released or the prices come down, we remain firmly on the sidelines with this one.