Signature Series Review: Pre, BCAA, Multi, Creatine, and Protein Bar!

[gbullock32]

So thanks to Body Building for sending out this package of their Signature Series for me to try out and review, and to Gxp23 for putting my name in for it. I used to love their old line, especially the BCAA or Amino product they had (forgot what it was honestly) because it was tasty. So with them getting into the protein bar game recently and having their house brand expanding it has caught my eye.



They hooked me up with their pre-workout in Tropical Pineapple, the BCAA in Watermelon Lime, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough protein bars, Creatine Mono, and a Multi.

So in I go with the pre-workout to start, because if there’s one thing I love it’s getting stimmed up!





Mixability- So it mixes with just a few shakes, no clumping at all and while it does not have any floaters…. dat foam. It is oddly thick, like the head on a good beer. It doesn't settle really and is thick (for lack of a better description). Blowing on it to get it to disperse was a bad idea as it just blew out of the cup and stuck to my beard; other than that issue I had no problems mixing it up.

(second time using it, different cup)



Now let me say this; I mixed a third time and let it sit overnight in the fridge, and this gave the foam time to go down. When I shook it up again before having it, the foam was a non-issue; it got a bit when I shook it but it quickly went down on its own instead of staying like it had before.

Mixability - 6/10 (foam issues)

Taste - This is a big factor for me, because if I am going to drink something I want it to taste good, and while I’d happily take something that tastes bad as long as it works, why settle when you can have taste and effectiveness?

So this is the Tropical Pineapple flavor, and I love me some pineapple. It is sweet, and has no acidic ‘bite’ that pineapple normally has; kind of like a candy-like pineapple flavor. The actual pineapple aspect is pretty weak though, if you did not tell me upfront it was just pineapple I would have said a tropical punch style flavor with a stronger pineapple presence. When I see pineapple as the sole flavor I expect much more intensity from it, and while I liked the taste, it just was not what I’d say is a strong pineapple flavor.

Taste - 6/10

Effectiveness- So this is easily the most important part of a pre-workout, how well does it work? I liked the profile, it is full disclosed, and while simple it does not have any fluff ingredients and nothing that you might not respond well to. It is, for me, a bit under dosed but I admittedly enjoy a stimm bomb and that just wasn’t the niche this was trying to fill, so I wont knock it for that.



At 200mg of caffeine per serving, it is a mild amount, and enough to get you up and going; the 1.5g of Beta Alanine wasn’t enough to get me the tingles, but I am a bit used to it.

At one scoop it woke me up, gave me the energy to hit the weights and finish through my routine with no problem, and throughout I had some pump but nothing too extreme. Again, with the more laid back ingredients I did not expect to feel anything skin bursting (5g of L-Citrulline) or ravenous energy. This was a decent pick me up though and I feel most people who do not want to feel cracked out would enjoy it. The focus I felt was nothing more than what I would normally feel, though this really does not have anything in there to aid this, so I had not expected much in this area.

At 2 scoops, because that’s how I roll, it was a lot more energy, much more to my liking, still no BA tingles but I need more like 5+ grams for that; pumps much improved from 1 scoop. Not bad at all since the citrulline is pretty much the only contributor here, but at 10g in 2 scoops it’s kicking in good. I enjoyed it a lot more with the extra caffeine from 2 scoops though, as one would expect 400mg of caffeine is a great way to get ready to smash it. Still no focus boost, but again I did not expect one.

This would be a good pre-workout for cardio if I were to use it consistently, energy to get me moving, but minimal pumps to interfere with running or other movements. For lifting I enjoy a bit more from a pre-workout, more pump ingredients, more focus ingredients, and definitely more caffeine unless I consistently 2 scoop it.

For someone looking to get a boost but not wanting the more exotic profile that some pre-workouts have, this is a great option though. It keeps it basic, and that can be a good thing.

Effectiveness - 6/10, 7/10 (2 scoops)

[gbullock32]

Next, like a good bro I sipped on the BCAA intra, Watermelon Lime sounded amazing.




Mixability- Almost instantly mixed, no floaters, no clumps, no issues at all; also none of the foam that made the pre-workout take a rating hit. There was a little settling at the bottom, but nothing bad. Gotta love the vibrant red color too, really gets me ready for watermelon!



Mixability - 8/10

Taste- If I am going to be sipping on a BCAA it had better taste good, I wont go into how I feel about BCAAs as a product, that isn’t the point here. It’s something to get me drinking more while lifting, and it needs to be delicious. That is my justification for BCAAs, give me a flavor smack to the mouth and I am happy with them. This does offer a 3:1:1 ratio of L-Leucine to L-Isoluecine, to L-Valine for those who are looking at the label; 3g:1g:1g respectively.

So I love fruity flavors in general and watermelon is high up for me, and paired with lime it sounded very good. This tastes like a watermelon Jolly Rancher with a strong (in a good way) lime kick; both flavors are well balanced so they work together and neither overpowers the other, though the lime might pull ahead a bit. The sweetness of the watermelon and the tart of the lime work in harmony to massage my taste buds in the most erotic of ways and I love it.

This is legit in my top 10 best flavors of all time, in any supplement; I loved it. I would fill a gallon jug with this and drink it throughout the day, they straight nailed this flavor; this is how you do taste right! I know taste can be very subjective, but if you don’t at least like this, then you’re just wrong.

I would buy this simply for the taste, to flavor water, it really is that good.

Taste - 9/10

Next up we have the Creatine Monohydrate.



Yep. It’s creatine. Next.

Ok, seriously though, it’s hard to really rate this, it’s monohydrate that we all know and love; cheap and effective. It doesn’t really dissolve, but that’s to be expected; I just toss a scoop into my mouth and wash it down usually since that’s the easiest. For a bulk monohydrate this is going to do you just fine, comparable to any other out there with one scoop being 5g of nothing but creatine goodness. This was the first time I have ever had a powdered monohydrate though, usually I have the granulated so this was different. It’s a lot nicer than drinking the granulated though, less like drinking sand, though it does get settling at the bottom so the last sip is quite gritty. I would not recommend taking this through the airport unless you want to get to know your TSA agent in an intimate way.




Not sure I can really rate anything on this, so I will just say that I like the simple label design BodyBuilding went with on this line, nothing flashy or over the top; it works well with the profiles, beauty in simplicity.

[gbullock32]

Now on to the multivitamin; this is another hard one to really review, it’s pretty much your standard multivitamin. One thing that stands out is this is a one pill dose, rather than many others, which might be a bonus for some who do not like taking a lot of pills or having to take it multiple times throughout the day.




With one bottle being 90 pills/servings the value is good, and it will last you, so if you need a basic multivitamin to cover the holes in your diet and eating more veggies isn’t happening then this wouldn’t hurt to toss in there.

Finally we round this out with the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough protein bar; I love protein bars, I just do (when they are tasty). They can be hit or miss though, from candy bar like to disastrous brick like abominations that are anything but the Best. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is also a pretty standard and safe flavor and one I like a lot.



I usually prefer no chocolate (or other) coating on my protein bars, simply because I keep them in places like my car, a pocket, my lunch box, ect. And the coating tends to melt and make a mess when eaten. Not a deal breaker or anything, but something I consider when deciding on bars I want to buy since I generally eat them when other food items are not convenient. I will admit it adds to the flavor though, so I was pretty excited for these, maybe the thing I was most looking forward to.



Need to clean my stove top.



Taste- Delicious. The chocolate coating has crunchy bits in it that add to the texture, similar to a Crunch bar. The inside has a texture similar to nougat, it’s soft and a chewy. The taste is not quite what I’d call cookie dough, mostly due to the chocolate coating coming in too much and overpowering the center. It’s more like nougat wrapped in a Crunch bar, which is very tasty; it does remind me more of a candy bar rather than a protein bar. These are dangerous, if I didn’t stop myself I could easily eat the box.

It was decently filling, especially given the size and only 230 calories (with 20g of protein), there is more sugar labeled than many of the competitors and that comes in at 5g but given how good it tastes I have no problem with this.

If you’re on the market for a protein bar then these are definitely worth trying out. Nothing ground breaking but they stand strong in a market that is pretty saturated and even beat out some other bars I have had like Quest in terms of taste.

Taste - 5/10 (as Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough), 8/10 (in terms of actual taste)

[blokpost]

I think it was amino recovery. Miss the old line of bb.com
Pre looks nice, simple and effective profile, but dat foam...

[gbullock32]

I think it was amino recovery. Miss the old line of bb.com
Pre looks nice, simple and effective profile, but dat foam...

Weirdest thing, never had a supp foam like that, but after letting it sit overnight it was a non-issue.

[nics1246]

Awesome review man!

[gbullock32]

Awesome review man!

Thanks, it's good to see BodyBuilding with a strong lineup like this, I hope it's just the start of more to come.

[hendrixfreak70]

I just got mine today. I look forward to reviewing it.

[ForumNature]

Solid review!

[gbullock32]

Solid review!

Thanks, enjoyed doing them.

[ForumNature]

I think it was amino recovery. Miss the old line of bb.com
Pre looks nice, simple and effective profile, but dat foam...

Weirdest thing, never had a supp foam like that, but after letting it sit overnight it was a non-issue.

I've ever had the Blue Raspberry flavor foam like that, it's something specific to the flavoring on this one.

I just got mine today. I look forward to reviewing it.

Gbullock set the standard with his thorough and picture filled review. Gotta step it up now boyo.

[gbullock32]

I've ever had the Blue Raspberry flavor foam like that, it's something specific to the flavoring on this one.



Gbullock set the standard with his thorough and picture filled review. Gotta step it up now boyo.

Thanks. If a company is going to send me something for free I feel it's only right to do the best I can on a review. Too man people just give short reviews, no pictures of the actual product they received being used, and the reviews themselves do not reflect what I experienced and leaves me wondering if they even used what they were given at all.

[Gxp23]

Good man G, thanks for helping out!

Edit:

IIRC BCAA's are Hydrophobic, so they clump in the presence of water, hence the froth you get. This just tells you that the ingredients are legit.

[gbullock32]

Good man G, thanks for helping out!

Edit:

IIRC BCAA's are Hydrophobic, so they clump in the presence of water, hence the froth you get. This just tells you that the ingredients are legit.

Didn't doubt BB in terms of quality, they have never gave me reason to think they are anything less than top quality.

[jeshelton]

Didn't doubt BB in terms of quality, they have never gave me reason to think they are anything less than top quality.

Can confirm, all of what was sent is in no way sub-standard and shipped quicker than local retailers can pull into their own stock.