Last week I wrote up a review for Axe & Sledge’s latest product, “Home Made.” Today I present “Hydraulic,” which is Axe & Sledge’s non-stim and supreme pump pre-workout.
Formerly known as “Fuel Pump,” Seth and Pat decided to change the name of their premier pump product to “Hydraulic.” It contains 5 patented ingredients: (1) AgmaMax, (2) Creatine MagnaPower, (3) GlycerPump, (4) NitroSigine, and (5) CarnoSyn. Hydraulic doubles as a nootropic, to give it more than just a “pump” benefit.
Ingredients:
Hydraulic is a two scooper product, with twenty servings.It is important to remember that the recommended serving size is two scoops, so it could be doubled to forty servings, if only using a signle scoop serving. If someone is utilizing some other pump products (nitrates for example), perhaps a single scoop would be sufficient, to offer a wide range of pump enhancing ingredients, as Hydraulic does not contain nitrates.
L-Citrulline (5000mg):
We already know that Citrulline is the body’s precursor to arginine, the amino acid molecule responsible for stimulating increases in nitric oxide production. This is important for most pres, as vasodialtion of blood vessels is critical for superior pumps and vascularity due to increased blood flow.
GlycerPump (3000mg):
This is where Hydraulic shines. GlycerPump is a high-yield version of standard glycerol (65%) For the record, standard glycerol sucks and yields closer to 30% and as low as 15%, in addition to having horrendous water-solubility. A high-yield amount of Glycerol will super-swell the muscle cells, assuming the body is sufficiently hydrated. GlycerPump focuses less on vasodialtion and blood flow and more so with saturating the muscle tissue with fluid - and it does so incredibly fast. Add in some carbs and a good GDA, and GlycerPump super-compensates the muscle swelling effect.
*Personal note - I ran an experiment for my last show, where although I was dehydrated on show day, I added a scoop of Hydraulic to my gatorade 20min before walking on stage. This filled my muscle tissue out incredibly well and left no subcutaneous water. It truly drives liquid where you want it - into the muscle cells and not BETWEEN the muscle tissue and the skin.
Taurine (2000mg):
I won’t delve too deep here. We all know Taurine acts as a hydration booster and endurance boosting ingredient. 2000mg is the clinciall proven dose and Hydraulic delivers just that. This is a great compliment to GlycerPump.
CarnoSyn (2400mg):
Essentially Beta Alanine, CarnoSyn reduces lactic acid build up, leading to prolonged efficiency and endurance in the gym. Remember why Lance Armstrong was so freaking good (other than drugs)? His body was genetically pre-dispositioned to have an incredibly high threshold for lactic acid build up. Many say beta alanine doesn’t yield benefits unless used for endurance based training or any sets lasting longer than 60 seconds. Anecdotally, I respectfully disagree and notice steady improvements in reps performed and overall sets able to be performed, when I supplement with Beta-Alanine. The clinical dose is 3000mg, but the 2400mg works just fine for me.
Creatine MagnaPower (1500mg):
I am a fan of this addition, but not necessarily for the creatine… Creatine MagnaPower is a chelated magnesium creatine (from Albion Human Nutrition). When creatine and magnesium are chelated, the end result is higher bioavailability. So why doesn’t every company chelate ingredients or minerals? Honestly, because it is too expensive. I am a proponent of this addition of MagnaPower, because it yields 30% of one’s recommended daily dose of magnesium. For numerous reasons, this is an extremely important mineral that not many people are getting their sufficient daily amount. Don’t take Hydraulic if you think it will supplement your cretine needs. Although chelated, you still would need another two grams minimum of creatine to hit your daily requirement.
AgmaMax (1000mg):
AgmaMax is a patented form of Agmatine Sulfate. Essentially, once Arginine levels are high in the body, the body begins to produce an enzyme known Arginase, to buffer and reduce the amount of Agamatine in the body. If we want prolonged pumps, we want to hinder this enzyme as long as possible. AgmaMax does just that, by acting as an inhibitor of Arginase, plain and simple. AgmaMax gives you longer pumps, so you can workout longer or go hit the poolside whilst still maintaining your pump.
Tyrosine (1000mg):
No need to delve into Tyrosine here. We understand the ingredient to be a common pre-workout ingredient with mental and nootropic benefits. I love Tyrosine and prefer it’s mental cognition effects far more than stimulants such as caffeine.
N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine (250mg):
Same benefits as standard Tyrosine, but highly more soluble in water. I like the addition here, so users know they are getting both forms of Tyrosine.
Nitrosigine (1000mg):
This is my second favorite pump ingredient. Nitrosigine is inositol arginine silicate, and is far superior than simple arginine at boosting nitric oxide within the body.*1 I’ll cite to my source below, but Nitrosigine has been shown to produce and maintain nitric oxcide levels in the body for as long as two weeks after supplementing with the ingredient And maintaining a minimum 500mg dose during that time. Nitrosigine is a skin ripping pump ingredient and I love it.
Ingredient Feedback:
I love every single ingredient here (not even mentioned the B vitamins). If there is anything I could change, I might opt to add some nitrates. The synergy between Nitrosigine and some NO3-T is incredible. I have added some vasoblitz to this for training and it results in the most full muscle pumps/contractions I have ever had. Seriously, the skin gets too tight on leg day or arm day. The Tyrosine is enough to give me mental acuity and focus and the CarnoSyn gives me the endurance to handle some triple drop sets.
Ingredient for ingredient, best Pump product I have used.
Flavors:
Axe & Sledge wants to make you wonder…“What is Scorpion Venom?” Heck if I know. I had to ask the owner to send me the breakdown. So here they are:
Sharkbite is a Blood Orange Mango
Scorpion Venom is Mixed Berry
Unicorn Blood is Rainbow Sherbert
Swamp Beast is Apple Berry
HWMF is Rocket Pop
Strawberry Lemonade is…well, hopefully you figured that out on your own.
I have had Unicorn Blood and HWMF. This review is for Rocket Pop.
Rocket Pop gives you what you would expect: Raspberry, Cherry, and Lime. Hydraulic is not overly sweet.You can really taste each flavor without being tricked by the high levels of sucralose.
Since most of us mix atleast two products together for our pre-workout shakes, taste is usually a toss up. These three flavor profiles (cherry, raspberry, and lime) will generally mix well with anything else. I have stacked this with Axe & Sledge’s Ignition Switch (stim pre), Full Blitz (Rocket Pop flavor), and C4 Ultimate (Sour Gummy) and all three tasted great.
The soluability is superb. If standard Glycerol was used in lieu of GlycerPump, this product would be clumpy and have little chunks floating at the top. As the picture shows, this is minimal fizz and foam.
Final Thoughts:
Hydraulic crashed my top five preworkout ranking. I am a huge fan of the Nitrosigine and GlycerPump combo. The pumps are insane and the product stacks well with any other preworkout you could want. The effects are staggering and prolonged, thanks to AgmaMax. The multi-functional uses for this product (can be standalone product or stacked with stims) are perfect, and gives you options for any type of training you do, or the time of day you train.
Hydraulic is my go-to for arm day and shoulder day as a standalone, and stacked alongside some stims for the heavy and larger muscle groups. Fair warning - the pumps are real. If you are someone like me, who can’t handle crazy pumps on leg day, be warned, and maybe consider using a single scoop versus two on that day.
If you like pumps, try this product. Message for discount code! I will send out a two samples of Hydraulic. Just comment and let me know your current favorite pump pre-workout product!
***Kalman, D. S., Feldman, S., Samson, A., & Krieger, D. R. (2015). A clinical evaluation to determine the safety, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of an inositol-stabilized arginine silicate dietary supplement in healthy adult males. Clinical pharmacology: advances and applications, 7, 103; A clinical evaluation to determine the safety, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of an inositol-stabilized arginine silicate dietary supplement in healthy adult males
