Ignition ... ON.
If you’re the kind of trusting person who’s in the market for a fat burner and is willing to go on marketing claims alone, Shred-Anabolic Igniter from Body Fortress will definitely win you over.
Promising more calories burned, enhanced energy levels, increased stamina and focus, as well as supporting anabolic strength; all the boxes are ticked on paper at least.
We know that you’re far more clued up than that however and want to dig a little deeper into a product’s credentials to check you’ll be losing weight from the body and not just the pocket.
So let’s get Shred-Anabolic under the critical microscope.
Let’s get down to business … how do we rate it?
There are elements to admire about this product for sure. It has plenty of green tea for one, alongside no shortage of caffeine and these highlights are ably supported by some well-chosen energy and focus boosters, but we would take issue with a couple of things.
Firstly the synephrine/caffeine combination. Even if studies say it can raise metabolism the sheer scale of risk reported in the past makes us uneasy.
The other thing that lets Shred-Abolic Igniter down is the serving schedule. Take a single dose before exercise makes this more of a pre-workout supplement and one that’s unlikely to sustain fat burning effects for any longer than a matter of hours.
Under $20 for a supplement would ordinarily be great, but one 300mg tub will only last you 30 servings if you limit yourself to one scoop. If you prefer two, you’ll only get 15 servings and need another tub. Not quite as good a deal as it first appears.
No testimonial section on the official site so it’s down to customer reviews on retail sites, which in this case aren’t terribly positive. For a start the taste is pretty universally slammed. Supposedly strawberry lemonade, it’s apparently closer to that ‘lemon’ snow you were dared to try as a kid. Chalk this up as another victory for capsules. Effects are also underwhelming with most reporting simply a short term adrenaline rush.
Being manufactured in the U.S, Shred-Abolic Igniter has had to comply with strict manufacturing guidelines an though we respect its full disclosure attitude to ingredients, the synephrine and caffeine mix is something we’ll never be fully on board with having heard what it is capable of doing to people.
Though they haven’t been around all that long Body Fortress have already secured themselves a solid reputation and following. In a bit of a coup they have four time Mr Universe Mike O’Hearn has agreed to go to bat for the company which is a good sign.
They have a fairly extensive rage of supplements, covering all aspects of an exercise regime, before, during and after. There’s a disappointing lack of company background on the website but we’ve no reason to doubt their intentions.
The label directs 1-2 scoops, depending on your preference/tolerance for caffeine, directly before starting a workout. This is disappointing as generally speaking, the supplements which get the best results require 3-4 servings spaced out evenly throughout the day to keep active ingredients topped up and working consistently.
If you dive right into the two scoop dose then the caffeine may be a bit of a shock to the system, putting you at risk of all the traditional side effects of too much: insomnia, dizziness, nausea etc.
Add the synephrine to that and there is the possibility of adverse effects as serious as a heart attack or stroke. We’re never entirely comfortable when we see these two included together.
Shred-Abolic Igniter is available from amazon.com for $14.99, getting you a 300g tub. It’s not currently available in the U.K or Europe.
There are a few blends certainly, but crucially all the ingredients and their volume fully detailed on the label. Slightly annoyingly, we’re dealing with a powder which is a hassle in comparison to capsules, but at least the amount of active ingredient is declared for both one and two scoops respectively.
This prominent amino acid has demonstrated a clinical ability to stimulate muscle production, though crucially the research has been most successful in those with a low protein diet.
L-Carnitine has consistently proved in scientific study that it aids the efficient transfer of fatty acids into useable energy, meaning less excess gets stored. The overall impact this has on weight loss had come in for some question of late, but no one’s arguing it’ll give you a sizeable energy boost which can be put to good use in the gym.
If there was one fat burning ingredient we would deem essential green tea would probably be it. This stuff has a wealth of benefits; not only is it a potent anti-oxidant, but the catechins in this natural herb stimulate norepinephrine, a fat burning hormone. Your body undergoes a thermogenic process, expending far more calories as it heats up then again as it regulates itself, cooling back down.
Another useful amino acid, known for encouraging production of both noradrenaline and dopamine, which not only enhance cognition and focus but reduce stress levels in the body, helping to take the edge of the stimulants in this supplement.
Probably the best natural stimulant for a fat burner, dosed correctly caffeine can not only significantly boost your metabolism speed, burning off calories much faster, but the energy it provides is incredibly helpful for avoiding the slumps resulting from reduced calorie intake,
Handily, in 2011, a study was conducted at the Creighton University Health Sciences Centre which tested all three of the active ingredients in this blend – synephrine, naringenin and Hesperidin – together to investigate their combined effect on the metabolism.
What the research found was that 50mg synephrine raised the metabolic rate of a subject by 65kcal compared to a control group. 600mg of naringenin increases that to 129kcal and the addition of Hesperidin boosts it further again to 183kcal.
This could very well be the study which inspired this blend because assuming you’re taking two scoops daily, all the volumes detailed here are met by this supplement.
It’s worth remembering however, that any time synephrine and caffeine are combined, as they are here, there is the potential for severe side effects.
Despite some good ingredient choices, a few questionable decisions and poor serving schedule, combined with lukewarm customer reviews mean on balance we wouldn’t recommend Shred-Abolic Igniter, at least until they’ve ironed out a few of the problems.
