MuscleTech ThermoGain Review
MuscleTech Thermogain is one of the newest fat burners on the market that touts itself as a fat burner and muscle builder at the same time. Compared to most fat burners, it has some extra ingredients that help you preserve your mass and actually build more.
To start I am going to go into "fat burners in general" and then get into the differences with Thermogain.
Fat Burners Breakdown
Almost every fatburner "formula" is composed of a combination of 3 main ingredients. They are Ephedrine, Caffeine, and Aspirin. Ephedrine was banned by the FDA so their are other thermogenic compounds inserted in it's place to try and achieve the same effect. This combination of thermogenic ingredients was originally called the ECA stack (Ephedrine, Caffein, Aspirin) and for years and years was the best fat burning compound on the market.
Today's fat burning supplements are not much different at all. Most have almost the same ingredients and are based on the ECA stack with "herbal equivalents" of the original in most instances. For example, "White Willow Bark" is the herbal equivalent of Aspirin. Guarana is the herbal equivalent of Caffeine. Yerba Mate or "Mate" is another form of caffeine. Give me 10 bottles of different fat burners and you can bunch almost every one into an ephedrine, caffeine, or aspirin equivalent category.
Other ingredients in todays fat burners outside of the ECA's or ECA equivalent are typically for appetite suppression or fillers. When I buy a fat burner I compare the amounts of each that would fit in the ECA groups and then go by which one is the most cost effective. In almost every instance I have ever seen, STACKER (Stacker 2 or Stacker 3) gives you the best bang for the buck because each capsule is a serving where as with almost all the others you have to take 2 or 3 pills. You literally get about 3x as much for the money with as much or more of the ECA groups.
Now on to MuscleTech Thermogain
This product is different because of the muscle building ingredients added in addition to the standard fat burning compounts (the ECA groups). What are the additional ingredients that make it as they describe "The Only Muscle Building Fat Burner".... well it's Creatine. But, it includes the newer versions of creatine that do not require pre-loading and their is no weight gain. I personally LOVE the ne creatine's which are typically named Di-Creatine or Tri-Creatine Maleate. You may also see "Creatine Ethyl Ester" which is another similar form. They all perform about the same in my opinion and they are hands down better than the original Creatine Monohydrate.
What's it like when you take it?
I personally LOVE this stuff. If I could only take one supplement it would be NO-Explode by BSN... but if I could take two... this would be my second supplement. I think their is definitely a synergistic effect when you combine caffeine products and creatine products together. Before I realized that this stuff had the new creatine in it I had no idea why I was making such significant gains in the gym. I was getting noticeably better "pumps" when working out and my strength was going up at a point when I thought I was at a peak.
Is Thermogain worth the money?
I think if you are taking a fat burner and a creatine supplement that it's definitely worth it to replace those two with this one product which would save you money. Compared to just creating or just a fat burner, this costs a bit more but the combined effect without having to take a separate supplement for creatine or fat burning is definitely worth the extra.
Thermogain compared to other fat burners
Compared to other fat burners, Thermogain is even in terms of energy and fat burning power (if you want to call it that) but it definitely pulls ahead with the extra ingredients. If you wanted separate fat burning and creatine supplements then go with Stacker and something like NO Explode or BSN Cell Mass.
My "best pump" ever in the gym
My best pump in the gym, period, hands down was the first time I took 2 Thermogain (serving is 2 to 3) and 2 Scoops of NO-Explode. At one point I actually thought there was something wrong with me becuase it was so noticeable of a change. After my first set in every muscle group I already had a major pump. As the sets went on I just stayed at a full pump until probably 2hrs after my workout was over. I usually don't take both together on a regular basis but when I do, I can reproduce the same pump and workout. You have to try it :)
