Crackhead Xtreme Pre-Workout Supplement Review
Crackhead Xtreme is the heavy-duty pre-workout supplement from Arizona-based fitness company Xcel Sports Nutrition (XLSN).
Black Diamond Supplements own XLSN. They produce various fitness products under several brand names. These range from protein powders to hardcore pre-workouts like Crackhead Xtreme.
So let’s see what Crackhead Xtreme offers. . .
Crackhead Xtreme claims to:
- Blast your energy through the roof
- Give you skin-splitting muscle pumps
- Give you mind-piercing focus
You may wonder if Crackhead Xtreme will cause you any undesirable side effects, given all these fierce claims that they make.
Well, we aim to find that out for you in this review.
About the Company
Black Diamond Supplements claim that they “strive to offer some of the most sought after and recognizable products in the supplement industry that provide the results you want”.
It’s our job at Supplement Devil to discover whether Crackhead Xtreme really does deliver on this claim.
>See our Top 5 Best Pre-Workout Supplements here<
Pros and Cons
In this part we’ll tell you about both the good and the bad aspects of Crackhead Xtreme pre-workout.
Crackhead Xtreme is definitely one of the more powerful pre-workout formulas on the market. So you’ll need to be careful with this one, especially if you’re sensitive to stimulants.
Pros
The good points of Crackhead Xtreme:
- It contains caffeine which increases your endurance, energy, focus and strength
- It contains Beta-Alanine which supercharges your muscular endurance
Cons
The bad points of Crackhead Xtreme:
- It contains a proprietary blend so it may have an increased risk of unwanted side effects
- Beta-Alanine may cause paraesthesia
- It contains Rauwolfia which is known to cause unwelcome side effects
- It contains ineffectual ingredients
Ingredients
Crackhead Xtreme contains some proprietary blends, as mentioned above. These, together with some other ingredients, may cause unwanted side-effects.
Here’s a list of the active ingredients in Crackhead Xtreme together with explanations of what these do for you:
Niacin
Niacin (Vitamin B3) is important for your all-round health but it isn’t a vital component in fitness supplements.
It maintains your cholesterol levels and it’s usually only found in general multivitamin supplements.
Beta-Alanine
Beta-Alanine enhances your muscular endurance levels and gets you those extra reps in the gym.
However, it can cause paraesthesia, a side-effect that gives you a tingling sensation. We’ll explain paraesthesia further in the side-effects section.
Agmatine Sulphate
Agmatine Sulphate supposedly alleviates pain. It’s also used sometimes as a drug addiction treatment.
This is not a worthwhile ingredient in a pre-workout, in our opinion. There’s no scientific evidence to show that it improves your gym performance at all.
Caffeine
Caffeine is one of the safest, most reliable ingredients for a pre-workout.
It improves endurance, energy, focus and strength during your workout.
If you take too much, though, it may give you jitters and cause your energy levels to crash.
A serving of Crackhead Xtreme contains 375mg of caffeine, which is close to the recommended maximum daily amount of 400mg.
You should generally take less than 200mg before your workout, especially if you have a high caffeine sensitivity.
Dendrobium Extract
Dendrobium is a plant that’s used in East Asian natural medicine.
However, it doesn’t appear to do anything to improve your gym performance so it’s not quite clear why this supplement contains it.
Hordenine
Hordenine is a plant-based compound believed to be a stimulant. There’s not enough evidence, though, to show that it’s either effective or safe.
Crackhead Xtreme already contains caffeine, so it looks like hordenine is fairly redundant in this supplement.
Beta-Phenylethylamine
Beta-Phenylethylamine is considered a fairly ineffectual ingredient. There’s no proof that it adds any benefit to your workout.
Alpha GPC
Alpha GPC is believed to prevent age-related cognitive decline but, again, there’s a lack of evidence to show that it works.
Undesired side-effects, such as headaches and insomnia, have also been reported from using Alpha GPC.
Rauwolfia Vomitoria
Rauwolfia is banned in many countries, including the UK, due to the myriad of side effects that it induces.
It’s generally recommended that you should steer clear of banned substances for the obvious health reasons.
Side-Effects of Crackhead Xtreme
You may experience several side-effects from Crackhead Xtreme including:
- Anxiety (from Rauwolfia)
- Drowsiness (from Rauwolfia)
- Headache (from Alpha-GPC)
- Heartburn (from Alpha-GPC)
- Insomnia (from Alpha-GPC)
- Irregular or slow heartbeat (from Rauwolfia)
- Paraesthesia (Beta-Alanine)
There’s also a massive amount of caffeine in Crackhead Xtreme. It contains 375mg per serving and it’s recommended that you keep your consumption below 400mg of caffeine in a day.
Crackhead Xtreme also contains three other substances that are generally regarded to cause side effects. These are Alpha-GPC, Beta-Alanine and Rauwolfia.
Paraesthesia is just a tingling sensation on your body and face. It’s nothing serious, but you may find it very off-putting when you’re trying to concentrate on your workout session.
We can’t quite understand why supplement manufacturers don’t use established clean ingredients like Citrulline Malate and Creatine Monohydrate more often instead of banned ingredients like Rauwolfia.
>See our Top 5 Best Pre-Workout Supplements here<
How to Take Crackhead Xtreme
The recommended dosage for Crackhead Xtreme is one scoop per day taken with 8-12 oz of water.
However, because of its huge caffeine content we advise trying only half a scoop to start with.
Price
Crackhead Xtreme costs $34.95 (about £27.00) for a container when you purchase it from the manufacturer’s website.
A container provides 30 standard servings and it comes in three flavours, Raspberry Orange, Raspberry Vanilla and Sour Cherry Pina Colada.
Is Crackhead Xtreme Good Value for Money?
Crackhead Xtreme costs about the same as many other pre-workouts, so you could argue that it represents good value for money in that respect.
However, at Supplement Devil, we feel that we can’t recommend it as good value for money due to some of the possibly harmful ingredients.
Conclusion
Black Diamond Supplements have tried to make the most potent pre-workout available on the market.
One that blows all the others out of the water.
They’ve done this, however, by using potentially dangerous ingredients, one of which, Rauwolfia, is banned.
Because of all these ingredients with potentially hazardous side-effects we don’t feel like we should recommend Crackhead Xtreme pre-workout supplement to you.
But if you’re set on trying it, you can check it out on the Black Diamond Supplements website here.