X-Factor, E-Bol, ActivatE stack Review: Very Dissapointed

[Azaloth]

Hi all,

I just finished my second bottle of X-Factor and am very disappointed with the results. It was a 50 day cycle, during which I ran E-Bol for the first 20 days (and prior to starting the cycle I had done a 30-day stretch of just E-bol), X-Factor solo for 10 days, and then 20 days of ActivatE and X-Factor together.


BACKGROUND
My goal was to bulk up while maintaining or slightly lowering my body fat percentages. My workouts were not the most consistent they have ever been but I made it to the gym at least 2-4 days a week and had intense workouts when I was there. My routines a mixture power-lifting style exercises such as squats, bench, occasional deadlifts/rows (I herniated 2 discs not long ago, so I had to take it easy on the bent-over stuff) and more standard BBing routines like tricep/bicep isolation exercises, military presses, leg presses, etc. My cardio consisted primarily of fast and intense kickboxing sessions with the heavy bag... generally 1-3 days a week for 20 to 30 minutes on average. Overall, I'd rate my workout consistency and intensity as 6.5/10 during this time. Definitely not my best, most dedicated lifting, but still enough that I had expected to see significant progress (especially considering the stack of supplements I was using)

My diet was the same it's always been... very clean, high protein, moderately high carbs, reasonable amount of fat. Tons of organic chicken breasts and beef, lots of dairy in the form of skim milk, Kefir, fat-free Greek yogurt, etc. During this time I also drank Omega One pre and during my workouts, GF Pro post-workout, and ON 100% Natural Whey for my daily between-meal shakes. I would also take a standard serving of Omega Sports Cre-Ethyl Thunder pre-workout on days when I was tired (primarily for the caffeine boost). I'd say that I took the Thunder before approximately 70% of my workouts during this period. Overall, I'd rate my diet (and other supplementation) 7.5/10 during this time. It was basically no different than it's always been and I have seen reasonable results in the past.

As for other factors, I was quite busy and often stressed during this time and did not get a ton of sleep... but this is nothing new for me. I run a consulting firm and have, for the past 3-4 years, had a high-stress schedule.

REVIEW

Having used e-bol in the past alongside Jungle Warfare and ActivatE in the past alongside ReboundReloaded, I knew that both these supplements had demonstrated results. Albiet, my solo run of E-bol was not especially beneficial but I did feel a bit stronger during that time. When I ran ActivatE and RR, I gained a lot of strength and a decent amount of size and remember it as one of the better stacks I have ever tried.

Sadly, adding X-Factor to these two supplements, which I was incredibly excited to try given the many great reviews I have read, really did nothing for me. I gained maybe 2 lbs. of mass and if anything my body fat may have even increased a tiny bit. When I started the stack I was about 168 lbs @ 6% body fat and when I ended I was 169-170 lbs and maybe 6.2% body fat (this is a guess from just feeling/looking at my stomach). My strength increased a small amount... before the stack I was doing 7-9 reps of 225, after the stack maybe 9-12 reps. Gains in my other lifts were comparable or less... In my opinion, this level of progress is no more than what I'd get had I trained for this period of time with just staple supplements or just ActivatE solo. E-bol solo was pretty disappointing since the results were very similar to this stack, which makes me thing the X-Factor did virtually nothing (except maybe give me a tiny bit of extra "pump"). The strength gains felt more pronounced only after adding ActivatE to the mix (which I am still taking since I have about 10 days of it left).

In terms of side effects, I broke out with pretty bad acne several times during this stack. While I am prone to minor breakouts from time to time, my guess is that this was aggravated by the inflammation caused by X-Factor's arachidonic acid.

CONCLUSION
To conclude, I want to say that I started this stack with nothing but excitement. I had heard so many amazing stories about X-Factor (gains of 5-10 lbs of lean mass in a month or two, leaning out and hardening, big strength jumps, etc). I have absolutely nothing against Molecular Nutrition and am not intending to start any drama with this thread. This was meant to be nothing more than a bluntly honest review of my experience with these supplements (X-Factor in particular). I will be the first to say that my approach to this evaluation was far from scientific and that my training, diet, and rest could have been better while I was running the stack. That said, my general routine during this stack was not so different than it has always been and I have seen much more pronounced results from other supplements such as Cre-Ethyl Thunder (when taken daily after a month or two off), Anabolic Pump, ActivatE/Rebound Reloaded, Diesel Test, etc.

I am not saying that X-Factor is a terrible supplement or that any deceptive claims have been made... but I do feel like it's my obligation to share my own disappointing experience alongside all the positive reviews out there. I'm not sure if I was just a "non-responder" or if perhaps I got a bad batch of the supplement.... but I can honestly say that I think it did virtually nothing at all for me. Sure I made minor progress, but I've made similar progress on no supplements at all, or just quality proteins/creatine.

If anyone, including Molecular Nutrition folks, have any questions for me they are welcome to ask. Again, my intention is certainly not to bash this supplement or its manufacturer, but more to share my experience and perhaps gain some insight into why I did not see any of the benefits that others do.

I know some of you will reply that my diet and rest were not 100% perfect, so I can't properly evaluate the effectiveness of this stack or any individual supplement... To that I will say again that my normal baseline level of diet/training/rest is generally similar to where it was during the run of this stack. It may not be an exact "apples to apples" comparison to other stacks I have run but it's darn close. If one considers the amount of people who have seen incredible results from X-factor alone (let alone stacked in a "dream scenario" E-bol, ActivatE, and the other supplements I mentioned), I think it's safe to say that I was right to have expected better gains. I would not believe for a moment that every person who claims to have gained tons of mass and strength with this supplement/stack had flawless training, diet, and rest for the entire 50 days.

[AliassailA]

great review! Thnx!

[bongd]

I appreciate your honesty. You are a great poster and I wouldn't want you saying something that wasn't true. And that's a great review format for this stack as well, Azaloth. Detailed and honest.

Hopefully your training and supplement regimen works out a little better in the future. I know how disappointing it can be to see less than stellar results.

[deserusan]

How many calories were you getting in daily? Nice review by the way.

[JIGSAW]

X2^

Yeah how many, because if it didn't work for you i'd like to know--- so I can make any changes to my diet when I start my first cycle next week-ish.

Thanks for the review by the way.

[Azaloth]

Thanks for the kind replies guys... I am surprised I didn't see better results and would be willing to try an X-Factor run again in 6 months or so. At that time hopefully other variables will be better aligned and I can really focus on training intensely and evaluating my progress.

Deserusan, my calories were probably in the 2500-3000 range... I'm afraid that I'm not very meticulous in counting them, so please take those numbers with a grain of salt. I'm sure some days quite a bit lower (if I was running around all day and not at home), and some days probably a bit higher when I eat 3-4 large meals and 1-2 proteain shakes.

Again, my diet/training were certainly not ideal during this run but I was still expecting more given results with other supplements.

If I do try X-Factor again, I think I'll run it solo to get a better evaluation and I'll do my best to keep track of my diet a bit better.

Best of luck to anyone planning to take this supplement... With all the solid feedback out there I'm sure that it does indeed work very well for most people. If you have any more questions for me please feel free to ask.

[ice4me]

At least your strength went up. I would say thats pretty good with the number of reps you went up in less than 2 months. Diet and sleep plays a larger "factor" than anything. So maybe you didnt benefit the way you wanted because of that. I plan to have those 2 in check for sure when I run that x factor and activateX stack.

[berniemack83]

i am awaiting my new stack and i am using X-Factor i hope i get better results from it than you did. I appreciate you advise on it.

[Azaloth]

Hi Bernie,

Don't let my post discourage you... there are tons of people who have had great results with X-Factor, so hopefully you fall into that majority.

Good luck with your stack! It looks solid... even if the X-Factor doesn't do much you should still see solid results from ActivatE, Green Mag, and Purple Wraath.

[berniemack83]

appreciate it brother thanks for the advise, hopefully you try it out again and see better results from it

[gncjunkie07]

I have tried x-factor twice and it didnt do anything at all,dont bother the second time if it didnt work.I guess it only works for some people like most of the supps..