Does Pride come before a fall?
I don’t know about you, but I’m always a little suspicious when I hear about a supposedly perfect testosterone booster, so hearing that Elevate from Pride Nutrition had 10 out of 10 on Bodybuilding.com caught my attention.
At first glance it’s definitely making all the right noises – increased strength, more lean muscle mass, enhanced performance and stamina. But let’s face it, anyone with a half decent label maker can make these claims, it’s backing them up that’s the important thing.
Here we’ll look at various aspects of Elevate and see if it’s that rarest of things, a supplement which is really worthy of top marks.
My opinion of this supplement was certainly elevated when I saw that it chooses not to use any proprietary blends. All ingredients and their amounts are right there on the bottle, which may sound like common sense but rarer than any of us would like in this game.
Right, that’s enough sucking up, I’ve got an impartial review to do, so to quote Yul Brenner from 90s smash hit comedy Cool Runnings, this doesn’t mean that I like you. Let’s check those crucial ingredients.
We’ll look at the ingredients in detail further down the review, for now here’s the scores.
Elevate has two main problems. The impressive ingredients are consistently under dosed and a few of the less worthwhile choices are given too high a volume. There are a few too many purely libido boosters included for our tastes too and the serving schedule needs to improved. Essentially this is a booster with potential that just has its priorities mixed up.
$35 is not bad for a booster and there are a couple of proven ingredients in here that might get you limited results, but I can’t get too excited about shelling out 30 bucks regularly for a product which is far from perfect.
There is a testimonial section on the Pride Nutrition which is populated by sportsmen and women who use PN products as part of their training. Unfortunately none of this impressive line-up namecheck Elevate so it’s reviews in the product section and other retail sites we’re left with. The majority of these are positive but lack the intricate detail I would look for before being won over.
Elevate is produced in the U.S and therefore has to comply with all the regulations that come with that and they don’t go in for secretive proprietary blends, trusting us with all the information, which is a good quality. Our only issue is using a few ingredients that the research isn’t that strong on, or, in the case of Trib, has been discredited completely.
Pride Nutrition began in 2003 and have maintained a solid presence and growing product range ever since. The have supplements to aid every aspect of your health conscious regime.
Not one of the really high profile names in the industry but their staying power speaks volumes.
Elevate directs you take 2 servings of just 1 capsule a day. One in the morning and one in the evening with food. As handy as this sounds, it’s going to limit any effectiveness.
The strongest boosters recommend 3-4 servings a day, evenly spaced to keep active ingredients topped up. 2 capsules, several hours apart, simply can’t sustain a strong presence through the day.
No side effects have been reported.
Elevate is available in 60 capsule bottles from Bodybuilding.com for just over $35 and £35 from the Pride Nutrition website in the U.K
You can’t argue with zinc as a first pick. A vital mineral the lack of which is often observed in cases of low T, it stimulates various components vital to strong male hormone production. There’s luteinizing hormone, a precursor to testosterone which dictates how much you are able to create, and other important building blocks like growth hormone and follicle stimulating hormone.
Our daily tolerance for zinc is around 30mg, so with just half that Elevate could possibly have taken its own advice here.
Another vital mineral now, magnesium is one of the best natural means of increasing free testosterone. Free testosterone is hormone not inhibited by the protein SHBG, which render up to 60% of our supply unusable. If magnesium frees it there is more circulating in the blood stream and this manifests itself in all the benefits we associate with high levels. Again though, in my opinion the dose is too light. This is great stuff, commit to it a little more.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21675994
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0731708508005955
One of the most useful B vitamins from a testosterone boosting standpoint, B6 works on the C2 pathway in the brain to slow the production of the female hormone, oestrogen, as well as limit its influence once it’s attached to the receptors. This is important because testosterone are at opposite ends of your hormonal balance, if one is strong, the other is weak. B6 tips things in the right direction. The dose in this case is pretty spot on.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6727359
http://press.endocrine.org/doi/abs/10.1210/endo-32-1-97
Second ingredient on the bounce which doesn’t do anything to raise your testosterone but can help your sex drive. Another whopping 400mg dedicated to this, which is too much for what it brings.
First real mistake. Any reputation that Tribulus Terrestris may have had as an effective testosterone booster years ago has been thoroughly debunked by extensive clinical trialling. Its only real redeeming feature is an ability to raise libido slightly in rats. Hardly worth the sizable 450mg present here.
Studies have demonstrated that oat straw can increase luteinizing hormone and in some cases overall testosterone. It may also have a hand in limiting SHBG though this is not conclusive.
Back on track with this. Mucuna Pruriens not only increases free testosterone but it’s also a fantastic source of L-Dopa, a natural chemical which increases the amount of overall testosterone and human growth hormone.
On top of that it can cut cortisol, the stress hormone, which blocks testosterone. An added bonus of less stress hormone is improved mood. A shame there’s only 100mg, the makers might have been a bit more generous.
Again, not much here for your testosterone to get excited about, although increasingly championed as prostate health tool. Demonstrated the capability to help prevent the organ from enlarging.
Back to the pure libido boosters here, so not useless but certainly not going to help raise your testosterone any.
Elevate isn’t the worst booster we’ve even seen but it certainly isn’t perfect. It wastes time with things like Tribulus Terrestris and too many libido boosters, when it could’ve included D-Aspartic Acid or vitamin D3.
There are some strong components but they are counterbalanced by the disappointments and a poor serving schedule.
2 comments
Deborah Pilling says:
A few weeks back, my son in law, Robert, ordered the special offer of your product, thinking that all he had to pay was the shipping charges. He didnt realize that he had to cancel his order within the 14 day period, and now has been charged 180,00!! I am a disabled older woman, and live with him, my daughter, and my two small grandsons. We are financially desperate right now; my daughter just lost her job and is currently searching for a new one…Robert is the only income right now, and bills are late and rent will be also….I of course can’t work. Please understand that he did not realize or read the fine print, and we are destitute!! Please help this poor family and consider refunding him his money. Thank you.
Rob Wright says:
Ah, sorry to hear that Deborah. Unfortunately we are not the customer service for Elevate, this is just a site which includes a review of the product.
I’ve published your comment anyway, it won’t help you or Robert, but it may help anybody else in the future who gets caught out by something like this. I don’t believe it’s a scam as such (unless Pride Nutrition have been taken over or something) but it does prove you should read the ts and cs.
Unfortunately we get loads of comments on this site from guys who didn’t do that. Special ‘too good to be true’ offers tend to be just that I’m afraid … untrue.
Good luck with things, I hope life gets a bit easier,
Rob