Performix Supercharged Pump: Flavored Nitrosigine Nitric Oxide Capsules!

It’s been quite some time since we’ve heard from Performix, a brand that took GNC by storm in the 2010s with some popular (albeit expensive) pre-workout supplements and fat burners.

We spoke to them recently, and they’re back with a new attitude — to reclaim their throne in the capsule space. And they’re doing it with a simple yet incredible idea: experiential capsules! It all comes down to a simple method: flavoring them!

Performix SuperCharged Pump: A Pump Cap You can Taste

Performix Supercharged Pump is a nitric oxide capsule supplement with Nutrition21’s Nitrosigine that brings an experience using flavored capsules!

It’s clear that Performix designs their formulas with innovation at the forefront of their thinking – and this philosophy is no better exemplified anywhere in their product catalog than it is with Supercharged Pump.

In a market still dominated by citrulline megadoses, Supercharged Pump goes all in on Nutrition21’s Nitrosigine, which we always love to see – especially since a clinically-verified dose actually fits in a reasonable number of capsules. And those capsules are memorable because they have a redberry-flavored coating!

It may sound simple, but capsule-based supplements no longer need to be boring, and it adds to the experience in a way that will excite those who don’t want to take tons of powdered supplements and the fillers that come inside of them. Powders are no longer the only flavor game in town.

As for Nitrosigine? That’s the highlight of this article, so let’s get into it — but first, check the PricePlow news and deals on Performix supplements:

Performix Supercharged Pump Ingredients

In a single 4-capsule serving of Supercharged Pump from Performix, you get the following:

• Inositol-stabilized arginine silicate (Nitrosigine) – 1,500 mg

  

  Nitrosigine is a premium nitric oxide (NO) boosting ingredient developed by novel ingredient developer Nutrition21. This patented and trademarked compound consists of an arginine, inositol, and silicate complexed together.^[1] When not called by its brand name, Nitrosigine is referred to as inositol-stabilized arginine silicate (and sometimes ASI in the research studies cited below).

  Designed to solve a specific problem: oral arginine’s low bioavailability

  If you’re an avid consumer of sports nutrition supplements, you’ve no doubt noticed how citrulline has become a headliner NO-boosting ingredient in nearly all pre-workout formulas over the past several years. It wasn’t always this way – a few decades ago, arginine was originally used for this purpose.

  However, arginine eventually fell out of favor, and was replaced by citrulline, as scientists realized that oral arginine supplements didn’t actually work very well. As it turns out, arginine is hamstrung by the first pass effect, a phenomenon where the enzyme arginase breaks the amino acid down in the digestive tract before it can be absorbed into the bloodstream.^[2-6]

  Your body can absorb some of the arginine you ingest, but thanks to the first pass effect, that absorption is highly inefficient. That’s what’s behind the so-called arginine paradox^[7] – adequate doses of arginine aren’t practical because they’re so big they cause gastrointestinal distress.^[8,9]

  Nitrosigine was designed to solve this problematic situation. Nutrition21 simply built a better arginine to create the originally-desired effects of generic arginine – and citrulline – at much smaller doses.

  The 1.5 gram Nitrosigine clinical dose – fast-acting, long-lasting

  

  The clinically-validated dose of Nitrosigine is 1.5 grams per day

  The clinically validated 1.5 gram dose used in Performix Pump has been shown to increase arginine levels on day 1 of supplementation^[10,11] – within 30 minutes of ingestion, and for up to 6 hours.^[11,12] Moreover, the effects of Nitrosigine appear to compound over time with plasma arginine levels going with repeated use over several days.^[11]

  In one of these studies, 1.5 grams of Nitrosigine went head-to-head against a whopping 8 gram dose of citrulline malate. Both compounds worked, but Nitrosigine was equally effective at just 1/5th of the dose, increasing flow-mediated dilation (FMD) by an impressive 31%.^[10]

  Nitrosigine’s improvements to blood flow are what athletes often seek when training their muscles in the gym, but these effects have also been shown to go beyond athleticism:

  Nitrosigine to combat exercise-induced cognitive fatigue

  

  A nitric oxide booster that improves cognition?! Yes – Nutrition21 passed around this helpful infographic after the Nitrosigine cognition study on healthy young adults was published.^[15]

  Writing about sports nutrition supplements means discussing NO-driven vasodilation at least once per article. For understandable reasons, that discussion tends to focus on the athletic benefits of increasing NO – but it’s worth mentioning that the brain depends on a supply of fresh, healthy blood just as much as muscles do, and vasodilation can have cognitive benefits as well.

  Research shows the 1.5 gram clinical dose of Nitrosigine can:

  • Prevent post-workout mental impairment when taken pre-workout.^[13] Exercise that’s sufficiently intense can actually cause a drop in cognitive performance, and Nitrosigine can stop this from happening – as discussed in our previous article, “Nitrosigine Prevents Cognitive Decline After Strenuous Activity“.
  • Increase reaction time above baseline in young, healthy men who haven’t recently exercised.^[14] This double-blind, placebo-controlled study tested healthy male participants using the trail making tests (TMT A and B) after 14 and 3 days respectively, and saw a 28% improvement in trail making test B in just two weeks!^[14]
  • Increase working memory performance.^[15] This study was performed on healthy, young adults with an average age of about 21 years old — generally a time before age-related cognitive decline begins. In this study, the Nitrosigine group placed in about the 64th percentile of test-takers on average, with an incredible 27% increase in their scores on an immediate memory subtest.^[15]

    There’s more to discuss, if interested, read our specific article titled “Study: Improved Working Memory from Nitrosigine in Healthy Young Adults“.

  With this said, Nitrosigine is clearly an awesome ingredient for increasing muscle pumps and blood flow, but its benefits go way beyond that.

  See our featured Nitrosigine article

  Interested in learning more about Nitrosigine? Read our post Nitrosigine: The Nitric Oxide Booster That Enhances Brain Function – the above three bullet points just scratch the surface on this phenomenal ingredient for promoting nitric oxide.

• L-Arginine Ethyl Ester – 300 mg

  

  Not only does Nitrosigine immediately boost N.O. levels, it keeps them elevated for a period of up to 2 weeks!

  Next we have another form of arginine, making for a unique play from Performix. The ethyl-esterified arginine is thought to be more bioavailable than generic arginine, but at the time of this writing, PricePlow was unable to locate peer-reviewed evidence to support this idea.

  As we alluded to in the Nitrosigine (ASI) section, arginine is the direct precursor to NO synthesis.^[16] High-bioavailability forms of arginine, like Nitrosigine or this ethyl ester, can upregulate an enzyme called endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), which is responsible for actually converting arginine into NO.^[17,18]

  Even generic arginine, while not as effective as Nitrosigine, citrulline, or L-arginine ethyl ester, can still upregulate NO in both healthy non-athletes and athletes, with effect sizes big enough to significantly improve athletic endurance.^[19,20]

  One study found that arginine is particularly good for increasing the amount of blood in muscles^[19] – in other words, giving a great pump!

• Betaine – 49.5 mg

  Betaine is a powerful ergogenic aid – a substance that increases your body’s capacity for exercise training. It’s both a methyl donor (its other name is trimethylglycine thanks to its three methyl groups attached) and an osmolyte. As an osmolyte, this means that in sufficiently large doses, it can induce a state of cellular hydration in which your cells contain much more water than normal, making them more resilient to stress, improving their access to nutrients, and increasing athletic endurance.

  

  However, typical dietary intakes range from 500 mg to 2,000 mg, with 1,500 mg being considered low-dose betaine supplementation.^[21] The 49.5 mg dose of betaine in Performix Pump is roughly 3% of that, so we really won’t claim anything here. Ultimately, we’ll take anything over 0 milligrams since we love the ingredient, but we won’t make any claims as to the effects of this dose.

• Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) – 49.5 mg

  Vitamin C is renowned for its ability to combat oxidative stress,^[22,23] particularly during physical exertion. This not only helps mitigate muscle damage during exercise, but can also reduce the subsequent intensity of muscle soreness.^[24,25]

  Besides fighting oxidative stress, vitamin C contributes to the synthesis of nitric oxide, a crucial factor in promoting cardiovascular efficiency.^[26] Studies have demonstrated that its deficiency in can hinder athletic performance, and supplementation can effectively reverse this impairment.^[27]

  For those restricting calories, it’s worth mentioning a study on dieters that revealed vitamin C supplementation led to a decrease in perceived exertion during exercise.^[28]

  Vitamin C can also play a role in long-term stress management. The adrenal cortex, responsible for synthesizing stress hormones such as cortisol, boasts one of the highest concentrations of vitamin C in the human body.^[29] Interestingly, during periods of stress, the adrenal cortex releases vitamin C.^[30] In cases of chronic stress, without adequate replacement, Vitamin C deficiency may ensue.

Flavored Capsules!

As mentioned in the introduction, Performix Supercharged Pump released with Redberry flavored capsules. We’re not sure if other flavors are planned, but below is a list of all flavors captured by PricePlow:

Conclusion: A Pump Capsule You Can Taste

Performix understands the close connection between energy and performance, both inside and outside of the gym. But they also understand experience — and capsules were definitely lacking in this department.

While the vitamin C and L-arginine ethyl ester are definitely doing something, this short and sweet formula is pretty much all about Nitrosigine. That suits us just fine – after all, Nitrosigine is arguably the most cost-effective (and space-effective) NO booster on the supplement market today.