UXO SEND IT! Veteran-Owned Pre Workout Sends It Hard

SEND IT: To do something awesome with complete and total confidence. — Urban Dictionary^[1]

When CEO Jon Klipstein started UXO Supplements in 2015 with Doug Petty, the duo had a vision to take their knowledge of fitness and brand it into a company. But with Jon being a US veteran and Doug an active duty Army Ranger, they wanted that company to have a deeper purpose.

UXO: A company with purpose

That’s why he has partnered with Mission 22, a non-profit organization targeting Veteran suicide awareness and prevention. On average, 22 Veterans commit suicide daily, and that is why Jon and UXO donate a portion of each sale to this great cause.

As a brand, UXO is committed to providing high quality ingredients, as well as supporting our military men and women! Just as we can never take our fitness for granted (“fitness is rented”), we can never take our veterans for granted either, and Klipstein and his team work to help all of us remember that.

SEND IT in the gym

The best way to maintain fitness is through diet and physical activity, and when it comes to training, nothing gets you going like a serious pre workout supplement. That’s why the brand came out of the gates with a fantastically-named workout supplement in SEND IT, which will get you ready to throw the entire weight of your confidence at your training session.

Before jumping into the label rundown, don’t forget to check out our UXO specials and sign up for alerts so you never miss a deal:

SEND !T

One of UXO’s best-selling products, “Send !T” is a balanced pre-workout designed to bring pump, energy, and focus! Each 16g scoop contains well-known and effective ingredients, as well as a few different ones, and one that may have more to tell. Let’s dive into the formula and see what sets “Send !T” apart in the pre-workout arena.

What’s In It?

There are 10 core ingredients in “Send !T’, designed to provide clean energy and focus with no crash and deliver massive pumps to maximize gym performance. It’s not just a pump product, it’s not just a stim product. This is a pre that provides pump, focus, energy, and even some fat burning. Let’s get into it:

• The Pump

  • L-Citrulline – 6g

    

    At 275mg caffeine, SEND IT brings a solid workout stim without going over the top.

    First up is a hefty real-deal 6g dose of pure L-Citrulline (not to be confused with Citrulline Malate, which would yield a smaller actual dose per serving).

    The short story is that citrulline is an amino acid that boosts nitric oxide production, thereby creating vasodilation and increasing blood flow. This makes for improved performance and enhanced muscle pumps when training, but may also translate to better endurance, recovery, and nutrient delivery as well.

    Converts to arginine to make nitric oxide, yet is better than arginine at doing it!

    The longer story is that the ingredient citrulline is actually the biological precursor to arginine, another amino acid that increases nitric oxide production in your body.^[2] Someone may ask, “why not just supplement arginine then?”, but it turns out that arginine has poor bioavailability since it is broken down in the gastrointestinal tract by the arginase enzyme. Citrulline doesn’t suffer this fate, and you actually end up with more arginine in your plasma by taking citrulline instead!!^[3]

    With that decided, the arginine then goes on to produce nitric oxide, yielding the fantastic vasodilation benefits and workout improvements to go along with it.

    Further, this 6g dose is twice the clinical dose of 3g, so you know we’re off to a good start here.

  • GlycerSize – 1.5g

    

    The beautiful Glycerol molecule is the backbone of many natural compounds. The three hydroxyl groups make it soluble in water. Image courtesy Wikimedia.

    The next pump ingredient is Glycerol powder, but not just any glycerol powder. UXO uses GlycerSize, a highly stable form of Glycerol powder standardized to 65% glycerol content that is made by Pinnacle. This ingredient will assist with hydration, pulling fluid into the muscle cells, providing a “water” pump, as well as helping to prevent cramps.^[4] We call this cell hydration.

    1.5g is a solid enough dose to be effective, while avoiding the clumping problem sometimes present in pre-workout powders containing glycerol. There is going to be a slight grittiness, when you drink UXO, a common issue with this ingredient, but it won’t be too bad at this dose.

  • L-Norvaline – 300mg

    This is a pump ingredient that works in a different way, as it doesn’t directly affect blood flow or hydration. It’s also garnered some of its own controversy lately. L-Norvaline falls into the category of arginase inhibitors. In the body, think of arginase as a sort of governor, limiting the amount of nitric oxide that is allowed in the body at any given time. By limiting arginase, nitric oxide levels can be sustained by the other ingredients. In the case of SEND IT, the L-Citrulline becomes more effective at raising nitric oxide and improving blood flow, and consequently creating a greater pump.

    

    As a creatine-free supplement, UXO Send IT stacks well with creatine, which you can take anytime you want. See UXO Creatine on PricePlow.

    What’s so controversial about that, you may ask? Well, a recent test tube study on L-Norvaline has been shown to cause cell death.^[2] While it may be alarming to some, it’s important to note a couple things: First, the study was done in a lab, introducing L-Norvaline directly onto brain cells in a petri dish, and it’s unknown whether the results are similar after oral ingestion. In addition, the studies use very large doses, upwards of 1 full gram of L-Norvaline injected directly into the cells, which is again a completely different mechanism than oral ingestion. In the case of supplementation, nowhere near that amount will make it across the blood brain barrier.

    Interestingly, another recent study showed L-Norvaline reversing cognitive decline in the same manner – by reducing arginine loss in the brain.^[6] Nitric oxide isn’t just for the muscles!

    Overall, other scientists and ingredient researchers aren’t concerned at the normal doses in pre workout supplements. There are quite a few reputable companies using L-Norvaline in their pump and pre-workout formulas, companies with good track records, and reputations for doing their research before offering products to the public.

    Bottom line, we believe it’s a safe ingredient ingested orally, and the pros of arginase inhibition outweigh the cons of massive doses put directly onto brain cells. It’s worth noting that SEND IT is truly sending it with this one, given that the dose is a solid one.

  • S7 – 50mg

    

    S7 is quickly being added to a ton of pre workout supplements.

    Another ingredient that may stir some controversy, is the standard 50mg dose blend of seven plant-based ingredients that its manufacturer claims increases nitric oxide production by 230%!^[7]. S7 is fairly new to the supplement market and the studies on it weren’t with regards to athletic performance, since they were done on elderly patients, and without physical activity after taking the supplement. However, we’ve been big fans of every supplement we’ve tried that use it!

    We’re cautiously optimistic with S7, and many gym-goers report excellent pumps with this product, but we’d like to see more scientific evidence regarding its effects on highly trained individuals.

    It’s one of those ingredients that might work better for some people than others, so best to give it a try and come to your own conclusions. With a monster 6g citrulline dose, it could be tough to tell either way, because the nitric oxide pumps will already be on point!

• Energy Focus Performance

  • Beta Alanine – 3.2g

    UXO serves up a full clinical dose of beta alanine in Send !T. Most of us are aware of the benefits of BA by now, the most relevant benefits for athletes being and increase in performance delayed muscle fatigue. In the body beta alanine combines with the essential amino acid histidine to form carnosine. This newly-formed carnosine acts as a buffer against lactic acid, allowing for more work to be done before fatigue sets in.

    

    Beta Alanine Boosts Exercise Performance when taken 3.2g per day (but that was split amongst four separate doses)

    Some newer studies suggest that double this amount (6.4g!) should be taken daily, in split doses, for the full effects. But other successful show that 3.2g per day still provides those clinical benefits. The key to understand is that this is a saturation-based ingredient — beta alanine builds up in the body, becoming more effective over time. So in reality, 6.4 grams isn’t “more effective”, it simply gets you to those effective levels faster.

    At 3.2g in one serving, you’re likely to feel some serious tingles, and get that carnosine produced pretty quickly. On off-days it could still make sense to supplement beta alanine elsewhere!

  • L-Taurine – 1g

    

    Taurine’s Benefits (endurance-wise) can be seen after a single use!

    We love taurine and mention that every time we see it, especially at a clinical dose such as 1g. On its own, Taurine provides a laundry list of benefits; helps with insulin sensitivity, aids hydration and electrolyte balance, and overall performance.^[8]

    It provides oft-needed sulfur, and there’s an incredible meta analysis discussed in our main taurine article showing that as little as 500mg works the first time you use it in increasing endurance! With twice that dose, we’re good to go here.

    This is an ingredient that every company should include somewhere in their products. It’s cheap and too many people are deficient due to poor diet.

  • Caffeine Anhydrous 275mg

    This is the primary source of energy in Send !T. At 275mg, the dose falls in the middle of the road as far as pre-workouts go, and that’s a breath of fresh air in an era where caffeine addiction has hit a new high.

    275mg is enough to provide a boost before hitting the gym, without jitters or the “cracked out” feeling some of the higher stim products on the market deliver. If you are someone who is used to, or looking for, a high-stim product, you may need a bit of an extra heap. But as a mainstream pre workout for the masses, 275mg is a perfectly acceptable dose.

    

    “You ready for this set?”
    “SEND IT!”

    Note: We don’t recommend double-scooping Send !T to get double the caffeine. Some of the other ingredients shouldn’t be doubled up.

  • Juniper Berry – 150mg

    Juniper is an ingredient we have no choice but to question, because we’re still not sure how it works. But given that SEND IT feels pretty good above and beyond the caffeine, perhaps it’s the reason why.

    From the UXO website: “Juniper Berry has the ability to increase the effects of other stimulants in this formula. This creates a smoother build-up and delivery, with a more euphoric feeling to get you into the gym and killing every session”.

    We’ve never seen any research showing anything stimulatory in juniper, but perhaps it does something that can prolong the stim rush. In the weight loss world, there is strong anecdotal evidence that suggests the oils (extracts) of Juniper Berry can have a diuretic effect on some people, so it’s often used before a bodybuilding pageant or pool party.

    Other reports state the oil acts as a sort of heartburn relief agent. Again, these are all anecdotal reports on the oil of the berry, not the berry extract itself. More clarification is needed from UXO on their claims of what this ingredient is supposed to do, and we can update the blog post. All we’ll say is one of the other best-selling pre workouts on the market also uses it, and users keep coming back for more.

  • Theobromine – 100mg

    

    Interesting: High-Dose Theobromine can dial up the “feels”

    Theobromine is a common stimulant derived from cocoa plants that improves energy. It’s similar to — but milder than — caffeine, and has a fat burning effect similar to that of carnitine. This is an ingredient that can be found in many of the top fat burning powders we’ve reviewed. It’s worth noting that some people may experience a rise in body temp from theobromine, to be expected from a fat burning stimulant.

    Research shows that moderate doses can be felt without much “disliking”, while the ridiculous high doses (1g) are just too much,^[9] so we’re happy with the 100mg inclusion. Caffeine is clearly stronger though.

  • AstraGin – 25mg

    Rounding out the formula is the popular AstraGin, a patented, 100% natural compound from NuLivScience that increases the absorption of nutrients and is currently used in countless sports supplements. It works by reducing inflammation of the intestinal walls, allowing the gut to work more efficiently at absorbing nutrients. Simply stated, it helps the body absorb more, and waste less, of the ingredients in Send !t.

Taste and Texture

Send !T does have a slightly gritty texture due to the 1.5 grams of Glycersize, but its not nearly as bad as products containing 3 or 4 grams. In Ben’s Youtube review, he makes the interesting point (when taste testing Strawberry-Kiwi) that the mixed liquid is clear white.

Though Send !T is “naturally” flavored, there is no color corresponding to the flavor. This may affect the way some people perceive the taste of whatever flavor they are drinking, as the brain associates color with taste. Per Ben, the taste is mild, not too sweet or fruity. It is available in these delicious flavors:

Conclusion

Send !T is a solid, well-rounded pre workout that will surely provide energy, a good pump, and even some fat burning effects. We love what UXO stands for, and we are excited to see a well-dosed pre workout that isn’t driving an absurd amount of caffeine.

Although there are a couple ingredients that could raise questions — we still want to know more about juniper — we think It’s a great formula for the mainstream market that can be had for a reasonable price. If you’re someone looking for ultra-high stimulants, this one isn’t for you. But for the average gym-goer looking for a balance of all around benefits, this fits the bill.

And remember, UXO donates $1 from every sale to Mission22, to help create awareness for and ultimately reduce the number of veteran suicides in our country. Great product, supporting a greater cause, we say “Send It!”