Molecular Nutrition - X-Factor - Final Review

[CanadaBBOY]

My log is here - http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=725088

Canadabboy’s final review of Molecular Nutrition’s X-factor


General thoughts and feelings of my gains:

Overall I felt that my gains were minimal, however I did have excellent pumps while taking x-factor pre-workout, and I felt a bit stronger and bigger in general. I find that when I look at myself in the mirror I feel and look bigger, and although my body fat has increased I still felt that I made some visible progress in my physique.

Strength gains, endurance gains, and any other sort of gains:

Near the end of my trial at around day 50, I had one excellent workout where my strength went way up on all of the exercises I did (I believe it was day 51). The next workout I felt as though my strength went up a little bit, but nothing too spectacular, and then after that there wasn’t much change. Near the end I tapered off my dosage of x-factor and felt the effects diminish (especially the pumps), and my strength seem to be fairly normal. Unfortunately I only noticed the one great workout where my strength was way up, and having done that same workout again on my last day of x-factor (day 61), my strength was similar to that excellent day, however it didn’t seem spectacular and was a bit lower. I didn’t really notice any endurance gains really. I was eating well over maintenance (as proven by the fat gains) during the whole 61 day ‘cycle’.

Side effects:

Below is a list of common x-factor side effects, or side effects that I experienced (a few are unique to me so far I believe, perhaps 2 of them). This supplement had by FAR the most side effects, and the most prominent side effects. I suppose the benefit of this is that you know it’s doing ‘something’, and that it is not just a placebo effect. The bad side is that the side effects were very pronounced and kind of ‘sucked’.

Acne: I generally experienced no increase in acne.

Joint pain: My knees may have been a tiny bit more sore, but I generally experienced no increased joint pain.

Headaches: I experienced headaches for a few days but after increasing my potassium intake via 3 banana’s a day they went away and never came back.

Accelerated hair loss/shedding: I do believe that I experienced this effect. It’s a hard thing to measure quantitatively and I may have just been paranoid, however I think it was noticeable. These effects seem to have subsided since I’ve decrease/stopped my dosings.

Increased hunger: I may have noticed a slight increase in hunger however it was not significant.

Rapid strength gains/muscle gains: With the exception of 1 workout (which could have been entirely mental) I did not notice any exceptional strength/weight gain.

Insomnia/disturbed sleeping: I did experience disturbed sleep during the first month or so of this trial. My sleep was more restless and my mind was much more active. Once I awoke in the middle of the night to sleep, I would still be tired however it would be hard to get back to sleep and my mind would be racing. Also even when I did sleep it seems to be much less restful and would leave me more fatigued during the day.

Vivid dreams: I did experience more vivid dreams around the first 2 weeks of my ‘cycle’. It was as if my sleep was very deep, however it was not very restful as noted above.

Red inflamed/itchy rash like skin lesions: I did experience these and they are very weird. They’re like insect bites, but not from insects. They mostly occur around my hands (bit on forearms), and my ankles (bit on calves/shins).

Prolonged sickness and development of allergies: The effect noted above could have been due to this in some way. It seems as though immediately after starting x-factor I developed allergies. This is coincidental because right when I started x-factor, allergy season also began. I’ve never had allergies before however it is possible that I somehow aquired these allergies independently of x-factor. It’s also possible that the enhanced inflammatory response and decreased immune function (I’m assuming due to the effect from x-factor of prolonging sickness) I was more susceptible to allergens and had an over reactive immune response to a particular allergen. Unfortunatley there is no way to tell what the source of my new allergies are, and even if it was x-factor that caused/aided in their development, I will never know because once you develop allergies you don’t loose them. The T-memory immune system cells have been formed and the mast cells have become tissue fixed, just waiting to be activated by an allergen for a huge histamine release/inflammatory response. It’s also possible that I was already slightly allergic to certain things and had just not noticed it before due to it being very mild, and then the enhanced inflammatory response from x-factor made it much more prominent so that I started to notice… who knows, but either way it sucks, and it can make sleeping much more difficult.

Increase DOMS/muscle soreness: I did begin experiencing doms into the second bottle (maybe around day 40 as an estimate). They are not insane, but they are noticeable.

Alteration of mental state/mood/concentration/well being: I felt during the beginning that my head was more ‘foggy and cloudy’ and that my concentration/state of mind was slightly altered. As time went on it seems as those these effects subsided, or perhaps I became used to them. I defiantly felt a bit different while taking x-factor, which would make some sense because my body was used to low levels of arachidonic acid and high levels of omega fatty acids, and then I suddenly pulled a switcheroo on it.

Measurements before:

* Forearms (L / R) - 13.5' / 14'
* Arms (L / R) - 16.5-17' / 17' (left maybe a tiny bit smaller)
* Legs (L / R) - 26' / 26'
* Calves (L / R) - Just under 15.5'' / 15.5
* Waist - 34' (I’ve had a lot of carbs the last few days, maybe a tad over 34)

Measurements After:

Note: Just over/under means maybe 1/8-1/6 of an inch? Very approximate.

* Forearms (L / R) – no change
* Arms (L / R) – just under 17' / just over 17'
* Legs (L / R) – 26.5' / 26.5'
* Calves (L / R) – just over 15.5'' / just over 15.5
* Waist – 35.5’

Personal Stats before:

* Height : 6'0/6'1
* Weight : 208-214 (changes during the day)
* Body fat % : My digital calipers were broken/out of batteries at the start, however I got them working part way through on day 27 and it was 9.5%. To be fair I will estimate it back to day 1 to 9.0%.

Personal Stats After:

* Height : 6'0/6'1
* Weight : 215-222 (changes during the day)
* Body fat % : From an average of 11 readings (10.0, 10.3, 10.9, 10.3, 10.9, 10.0, 10.6, 10.0, 10.0, 10.0. 10.3) = 10.3% If assumed to be 9.0% on day 1 that yields an approximate fat gain of 1.5%.

Evaluation/interpretation of body composition change:

My weight range for day 1 was 208-214, yielding an average weight of 211. My weight range for the final day (day 61) was 215-221, yielding an average weight of 218.5. Using 9.0% as my initial body fat (being a bit optimistic here), I gained approximately 1.5% body fat, meaning that the amount of fat I gained was approximately (218.5 * 0.015) = 3.3lbs. My gains all seem to have come well into the second bottle as I was a ‘late bloomer’ with x-factor.

If you subtracted the amount of fat I gained from my final weight (218.5-3.3lbs) it yields a total gain of 215.2-211 = + 4.2lbs.

Overall progress:

*Legs = +0.5 inches
*Calves = + approximately 0.25 inches
*Arms = approximately 0.1-0.2 inches
*Waiste = + 1.25 inches
*Lean muscle mass = + 4.2lbs
*Body fat change = +1.5% (3.3lbs)

[CanadaBBOY]

Final thoughts/review, was it worth it, would I do this again and pay for it, etc..:

The total duration of my log was 61 days. So what I considered when reviewing this was, were my gains over a period of 61 days significant? A newbie could certainly gain what I gained in a month, but I’m not a newbie and consider the fact that normally I gain very little, and my arms have not really changed in measurement significantly over the last year or so. As far as weight gain goes I would have to say that it was not obviously impressive. I significantly increased my caloric intake for this log, and most importantly I increased my carbohydrate intake a lot by increasing my oat intake from 1 cup on workout days and none on non workout days, to 2-3 cups on workout days, and 1-2 on non workout days. Typically I would not have expected to make the gains that I made, however I’ve never eaten that much oats before and perhaps those were the source of most of my gains? It’s hard to say but I think the defining factors are that I gained size on my arms (and a fair bit on my legs, they’ve also been around the same size for a while now), and also that the effects from x-factor were so prominent and noticeable. I knew it was doing something, and I think the increase in circumference of a few of my body parts are strong indicators that I did infact make better gains that I would have normally without x-factor.

But the question is was it worth it? Were the gains worth the fairly dramatic side effects and the price tag of 100$ US? (granted this was a sponsored trial and I did not pay for It myself, but assuming that I was going to take it again). Any gains are important, and it made me happy to look at the tape measure today and see that my right arm was legitimately a little over 17 inches non-pumped (all of my measurements are cold). I was very strict and wiggled the tape measure tight and still the results were true. I’ve only been training for a bit over 3 years, however gains are hard to come by at this point and for a supplement to actual ‘work’ is a big deal to me. My experiences with creatines and NO products have been that they give increased pumps and perhaps slightly increased endurance/strength, but at the end I have no tangible gains as far as weight and measurements go. X-factor is defiantly an oddity in this sense because it does have noticeable effects, and seems to have given me some tangible gains, as well as better pumps than any NO product ever has. Also remember that the side effects seem to have manifested themselves more strongly in most other users of x-factor. I would say if the proper changes were made and the right ‘procedures’ implemented then I would do another x-factor log and could most likely minimize the side effects. I would have to say that x-factor is indeed worth the purchase.

The things that would need to be done for a successful ‘cycle’ would be increasing your potassium intake via 2-3 banana’s a day, lots of almonds, and perhaps blackstrap molasses if you want. The almonds also have lots of magnesium which is important, which should also be taken in supplement form. Also I believe it would be important for me to ramp up my dose and taper it down to avoid side effects. Instead of starting at 4, start at 1 and work your way up over a few weeks. Among these changes in x-factor diet protocol, there have been other changes such as not making as drastic of changes to your diet. Basically don’t supplement with EFA’s (maybe even take a few fish oil pills if you already have been doing that), but don’t drink flax/olive oil.

Below I have attached before/after pictures. I tried to compare them side by side in the same picture. Take note that the before/after sides got switched around by accident on the two comparison pictures. Also I wasn’t standing the same distance away from the mirror/the lighting wasn’t exactly the same (things that are damn near impossible to emulate exactly).

[G.W. Hayduke]

Your log was incredible! Great job.

But I'm very disappointed in your gains. Thankfully, we'll soon have more info on the potential for "non-responders". I would'nt say you are a non-responder, but you definitely did not respond the way the average person does.

[CanadaBBOY]

Your log was incredible! Great job.

But I'm very disappointed in your gains. Thankfully, we'll soon have more info on the potential for "non-responders". I would'nt say you are a non-responder, but you definitely did not respond the way the average person does.

I agree, but I put on some lean mass and my arms increased in size a bit, and i'm quite sure (as I outlined in the review) that the X-factor made those gains possible.

Also people have to consider that my natural gains have slowed WAY down as i'm approaching my genetic potential (not there yet of course, but creeping towards it). So 4 lbs of lean mass for me is like 8lbs for a new lifter, but even still I agree that they were not typical results, and I was hoping for more. X-factor has definatly caught my eye though, more so than most other supplements out there. I will be following along with it to see how it evolves.

You guys (MN reps) are doing a great job, keep up the good work!

[G.W. Hayduke]

We're learning more and more about the mechanisms behind XF as we study it more (believe me, some BIG news will be coming out soon).

Anyways, I can't help but wonder if perhaps your bulk was a little too gung-ho, so to speak. What I mean is that we have seen a few cases where when calorie intake gets too high, the benefits of AA supplementation go down, and the negatives go up. I've personally experienced this myself.

In any case, you had a very thorough log and I will be keeping you in mind for future logs when MN starts releasing new products.

[Stomp]

We're learning more and more about the mechanisms behind XF as we study it more (believe me, some BIG news will be coming out soon).

Anyways, I can't help but wonder if perhaps your bulk was a little too gung-ho, so to speak. What I mean is that we have seen a few cases where when calorie intake gets too high, the benefits of AA supplementation go down, and the negatives go up. I've personally experienced this myself.

In any case, you had a very thorough log and I will be keeping you in mind for future logs when MN starts releasing new products.

So moderate calorie increase would be better ? What about maintenance level ?

[max von]

Your log is very nice and detailed, the allergy thing is a new one to me?

[CanadaBBOY]

Your log is very nice and detailed, the allergy thing is a new one to me?

It was a big coincidence that it occured at the same time as taking X-factor.

As I outlined in my review it would make some sense if the x-factor somehow aided in the development of the allergies, but it's impossible to say and to err on the side of caution I will say that it was probably just a coincidence.

People develope allergies at different points in their lives and it may just have been my time.

[deserusan]

Nice review.....always appreciated.

[G.W. Hayduke]

So moderate calorie increase would be better ? What about maintenance level ?

Depending on goals of course. And it is different with everyone.

Ultra clean diet is definitely key. But being in too high of a calorie surplus MAY increase the chances of experience negative side-effects. At least, that's what I've seen occur in a few people including myself.

For example: I can predictably induce side-effects similar to what CanadaBBoy experienced with a dose of no more than 500mg X-Factor simply by manipulating my diet in a negative way. Conversley, I can take up to 1250mg with no side effects if my diet is absolutely clean and energy expenditure remains high.

[Younglifter16]

real excellent review, i followed your whole log. Also Canada, for putting on 1.5% BF or whatever it was, you sure look leaner in your new pics...Arms and shoulders definatly look bigger/more cut. I wish you used the same lighting in the pics.

Thanks for the review.

[Coulaid]

Nice review. You log was very detailed. Sorry you didn't see the results you wanted.

[CanadaBBOY]

Yea sorry about the lighting, I think there is one in there for upper body that is the same. I took it in the same room and everything and tried to take it at the same time of day.

Also remember that body fat calipers are notoriously inaccurate.

[CanadaBBOY]

Yea sorry about the lighting, I think there is one in there for upper body that is the same. I took it in the same room and everything and tried to take it at the same time of day.

Also remember that body fat calipers are notoriously inaccurate.