Taking the best post workout supplement you can find is crucially important to aid in muscle growth, recovery, and provide the body with vital nutrients. There are hundreds of Post workout supplements currently on the market that vary in their aim and purpose which can make choosing the right one a confusing and daunting task.
If you’re going to spend your hard earned money on a supplement you must first look for two things:
- Quality Nutrients– Think all supplements are created equal? Nope, not even close. In fact, many people unknowingly bypass a higher priced supplement and go for volume, but what they don’t get is that more often than not, a higher priced supplement usually translates to higher quality nutrients that are absorbed more than lower priced ones. Another example is byproducts that end up in the supplement due to sup-par manufacturing of the supplement. These by-products are the result of manufacturers creating supplements that are not regulated by any third party, are not inspected or tested for purity, and are oftentimes purchased in bulk from cheap manufacturers in third-world countries.
Another important aspect of quality nutrients is the thinking and the science behind each product. Nutrient ratios and quantities need to have some scientific research to back up the blend, otherwise, why in the world would I buy something not supported by research?
- Greatest Value-Looking for the best post workout supplement with the greatest value doesn’t mean finding the cheapest product, it means you are going to get the best results for the best price and sometimes that could mean paying more for something if it yields a better outcome, i.e. you’re less sore and are building muscle faster.
So in order to determine what were the best based on these two major factors, I decided to breakdown these supplements based on 5 criteria where I could rank them and finally see which ones are worth buying. I was surprised with what I found out and the results are very interesting. Keep in mind that I tried to review as many as possible but there’s just so many damn supplements out there its hard to keep up! So hey, I may not have your favorite product listed here but that doesn’t mean what you like isn’t good, it’s probably just not the best. j/k
I will update this list as newer, better products hit the market so check back often.
The Best Post Workout Supplement
1. Buy Millennium Sport: RPG IBCAA
10/10 – Amino Acid Profile: Just like Xtend, RPG IBCAA utilizes a 2:1:1 ratio of Ajipure® quality BCAAs and 1000mg of EAAs so you got all the bases covered here, but because this ratio utilizes Instantized BCAAs you get the most highly absorbable form of amino acids to date plus the EAAs.
10/10 – Glutamine: 2500mg of 100% Ajipure® is just great. This is the purest form of L-Glutamine you can currently purchase. Any questions?
9/10 – Additional Nutrients: The RecovORAC Matrix™ has a nice antioxidant profile but that’s about it. I would’ve liked to have seen a electrolyte blend to round it out completely. This is the only reason why RPG didn’t get a 10/10 for the overall score.
10/10 – Taste/Mix: Very good! Bubba Punch is good stuff. Haven’t tried the others but I suspect not bad either. You got Natural & Artificial Flavors, Malic Acid, Citric Acid, and Sucralose as a sweetener so great flavor for only 20 calories.
10/10 – Overall Value: 50 servings at $0.80 per serving is a great bang for the buck! You get great Ajipure® aminos, antioxidants, and only 20 calories per serving. RPG IBCAA is great addition for any serious athlete that trains hard and experiences muscle soreness and is in need of a high quality post workout supplement for cheap.
Buy Millennium Sport: RPG IBCAA (50 Servings)
2. iSatori: RESTORAID
9.5/10 – Amino Acid Profile: With a heavy emphasis on Leucine, the 8:1:1 BCAA ratio is great for heavy training days with an emphasis on moderate to heavy muscle soreness. No essential aminos here except glutamine so this dropped the score down just a bit.
10/10 – Glutamine: What’s great about the glutamine in Restoraid is that it contains 3 forms of it for fast absorption, hydration, and sustained release making this a great benefit to the product. This is the best synergistic L-Glutamine nutrient profile ive seen in these types of post workout supplements.
9.5/10 – Additional Nutrients: The Anti-DOMS and Electrolyte blends scored high in Restoraid making these elements unique to this supplement. There are other nutrients such as Waxy-Maize and Citrulline Malate that are also notable nutrients. If there were a few more vitamins and minerals added it would’ve put the score at a 10.
9.5/10 Taste/Mix: At the time of writing, there is only 1 flavor choice which is Citrus Punch; however it does taste pretty amazing. Restoraid is very refreshing after a workout for sure.
10/10 – Overall Value: 30 servings at about $1 each is one of the higher cost per serving formulas, however, considering the depth of the product, it is very much well worth it. Plus Restoraid has its own uniqueness to it with the addition of the Enzyme & Co-Factor formula, great glutamine combination, and a very nice electrolyte nutrient profile. Plus, for only being 20 calories per serving, getting all of these nutrients, and it tasting so good, you got to add this product into your arsenal.
Buy iSatori: RESTORAID (30 Servings)
3. MusclePharm: RE-CON
10/10 – Amino Acid Profile: Recon’s 3:1:2 BCAAs provides a great balance of non-essential aminos with an emphasis on L-Leucine, but what makes this blend even better is the addition of essential aminos to round out the full profile.
9.5/10 – Glutamine: Although the full amount of glutamine cannot be determined due to a proprietary blend, the blend of Taurine, L-Arginine, and L-Pyroglutamic Acid increases uptake and replenishes depleted glutamine stores.
10/10 – Additional Nutrients: More than merely BCAA’s and Glutamine, this post workout supplement provides many other nutrients such as a Muscle Detoxifier formula, Anti-Stress Formula, Insulin Support, Electrolyte blend, Carb Max delivery system, and additional vitamins and minerals like 120mg Calcium. This is a category that will determine the real value in a product and Recon delivers big time. Just look at the damn label, it huge!
9.5/10 – Taste/Mix: With so much added nutrients I was surprised at how well Recon mixes and taste compared to the other post workout supplements. It’s a bit sweeter than others, but this allows one to adjust the flavor by adding more water if needed.
10/10 – Overall Value: Muscle Pharm’s Recon over delivers on the goods. When you are looking for your dollar to go the distance and you don’t want your time wasted on inferior products, this is the way to go. 30 servings at $1.30 per serving makes this the most cost per serving formula outa the bunch, but it does pack a super-punch full of post workout goodness that is well worth the extra 20-30 cents or so per serving.
Buy MusclePharm: RE–CON (30 Servings)
4. PharmaFreak: AMINO FREAK
10/10 – Amino Acid Profile: With an insane 45:30:25 BCAA Ratio, Amino Freak definitely lives up to the name. Not only is this ratio basically a first, but there is scientific research to back it up, plus you have 25mg of L-Theanine for anti-catabolism.
8.5/10 – Glutamine: This is the most disappointing aspect of Amino Freak. To only include 500mg of L-Glutamine per serving made me think: “WTF?” If they would’ve double the dosage here it would’ve made more sense, but now it seems more like an added extra rather than a great feature.
9/10 – Additional Nutrients: There are some good additional nutrients in here such as Astragin™ for increased nutrient absorption and Maltodexrin for flavor and an insulin spike. There is also 735mg of L-Carnitine L-Tartrate to help with increased muscle repair. Good stuff, just not great as compared to some of the others tested.
10/10 – Taste/Mix: There is only one flavor: Blue Raspberry and although it really is good, I would’ve knocked off a ½ point for lack of variety, however because there is also a pill version it was a wash.
10/10 – Overall Value: Other than a few setbacks, this post workout supplement has a fantastic amino acid ratio and delivery system. Plus, at 88 cents per serving it’s a great deal for such a high powered supplement. This product is best for heavy lifters and serious athletes.
Buy PharmaFreak: AMINO FREAK (45 Servings)
5. AMINO RECOVERY
9.5/10 – Amino Acid Profile: You get 8g of BCAA’s per serving. That is a very generous amount, plus Amino Recovery utilizes the popular 2:1:1 ratio so you get a good ratio in a large dose making it both effective and a good value.
10/10 – Glutamine: Again Amino Recovery over delivers with a whooping 3g or 3000mg per serving. That’s 500mg more than any other on the list and more than 6 times more than Monster Amino.
9/10 – Additional Nutrients: The 10mg Vitamin B6 and 150mcg of Vitamin B12 are both not the reason for getting a 9/10. The reason for the 9 is because of the addition of L-Citrulline, a nutrient that is believed to be better than Arginine at increasing blood flow to the muscles as well as increasing ATP production during exercise.
9/10 – Taste/Mix: The taste is good, but it is a bit sour due to the Citric Acid to Sucralose ratio. It mixes clear with little graininess. It’s really not too bad, just didn’t wow me.
10/10 – Overall Value: This is a solid post workout supplement. You get a lot of supplement for just under 80 cents per serving size. Bodybuilding.com has been evolving their products as time goes on and the Platinum Series brand of supplements is much better than the previous ones they have made. In fact, you can say they’ve taken a giant step forward toward competing with the major brands and Amino Recovery is definite proof of this.
Buy Bodybuilding.com Platinum Series:
AMINO RECOVERY (30 Servings)
6. ProMera Sports: GLUTA-TREN
9/10 – Amino Acid Profile: Because there is a proprietary blend, it’s difficult to determine the exact amounts of nutrients were used, however just doing a little reverse engineering of the formula (basic math), I can guesstimate it’s about 5000mg of BCAAs which is about normal.
10/10 – Glutamine: There is 8 grams (8000mg) of L-Glutamine in Gluta-Tren! If the category is part of the name of the product, than there has to be something good about it. This is almost 3 times more L-Glutamine per serving than the average amount typically found in most on this list and more than 20 times the amount found in Monster Amino alone.
9/10 – Additional Nutrients: There are some notable nutrients in here such as L-Taurine, Beta-Alanine, and L-Tyrosine, but what stand out are the Creatinol-O-Phosphate and the Maltodexrin. Creatinol-O-Phosphate helps to increase resistance to tension so this is more designed to help you during training. Maltodextrin will provide some flavoring as well as an insulin spike. Not a big fan of Niacin.
10/10 – Taste/Mix: I thought the Orange Cream was pretty on point, even though I’m not even a big fan of that type of flavor. I haven’t tried the Wild Berry, but I hear it’s just as good so big points here.
9.5/10 – Overall Value: If I were to categorize this product I would say it is first an intra-supplement and second a post workout supplement, but it is for this reason that it ranks so good. Any of these supplements can be used as both, but this one has a huge dose of Glutamine plus the COP so it’s even better for improving your workouts. Although you are getting so much Glutamine as well as Amino Acids, it’s still $1.50 per serving and only 20 servings max per container.
Buy ProMera Sports: GLUTA-TREN (30 Servings)
7. Axis Labs: N‘Gage
10/10 – Amino Acid Profile: This amino acid profile isn’t flashy at all, it’s just a nice reliable 2:1:1 ratio of AjiPure® Instantized BCAAs that are highly absorbable and very effective at decreasing your recovery time.
10/10 – Glutamine: You get the industry standard amount of 2.5g of Ajipure® grade glutamine and you can easily see why N’Gage ranks high in this category.
7/10 – Additional Nutrients: Part of Axis Labs aim with this product is the less is more philosophy so I get that but none the less; the only other major component to this product is Vitamin B6. So compared to the other supplements here, N’Gage got punished in this category.
10/10 – Taste/Mix: You have 4 very refreshing flavors to choose from and because there are natural flavors added, it seems to always make powder drinks like this taste better. Plus with instantized BCAAs the mix full dissolves, instead of floating to the bottom.
10/10 – Overall Value: At only 80 cents per serving for a Pharmaceutical grade quality post workout supplement like this, Axis Labs N’Gage is a hands down great deal. I would’ve liked to have seen a few more additional nutrients added, however for what it is, you can’t get much better than this.
Buy Axis Labs: N‘Gage (35 Servings)
8. Dymatize: Elite Recoup
9.5/10 – Amino Acid Profile: There is 7.2 grams of BCAAs total which is more than most other post workout supplements, but other than that there’s not much more to it than that.
9.5/10 – Glutamine: 2.5g is what I look for in products like these and this one’s got it.
9/10 – Additional Nutrients: There’s a good source of B vitamins as well as 60mg of Vitamin C which is great for increasing cell responsiveness, but what is also worth pointing out is the Citrulline Malate & Hydrogen Citrate combo that is great for greatly increasing nutrient absorption into the body and muscles.
9.5/10 – Taste/Mix: I really liked the watermelon flavor, but it didn’t fully dissolve like the Instantized versions do.
9.5/10 – Overall Value: This is a great buy at only 66 cents per serving! You get a solid post workout supplement that delivers a good amount of vital nutrients, plus a bit extra for cheap.
Buy Dymatize: Elite Recoup (30 Servings)
9. SciVation Xtend
9/10 – Amino Acid Profile: Scivation Xtend utilizes a 2:1:1 BCAA ratio that does work as far as aminos are concerned, however this type of ratio may not be enough for heavy lifters, plus there is only one EAA – Glutamine present so that is how we arrived at a 9.
9/10 – Glutamine: Your standard 2500mg of L-Glutamine is the right amount to have in a post workout supplement so it’s good that L-Glutamine is present here, it’s just not that ground breaking.
9/10 – Additional Nutrients: The electrolyte blend is the best part of this supplement and there is also a large dose of Vitamin B6 and Citrulline Malate to help with nutrient delivery and cell composition, but other than that there’s nothing else.
9/10 – Taste/Mix: The new and improved taste is better than the previous one, but still isn’t great. Very tolerable, just a bit bland IMO.
9.5/10 – Overall Value: At 76 cents per serving, this is a lower price per serving supplement than compared to others here. Xtend is a proven supplement that has good core nutrients and is 0 calories per serving. This supplement is ideal for an intra workout supplement to keep you going and for light to moderate muscle soreness.
Buy SciVation Xtend (30 Servings)
10. CytoSport: Monster Amino
10/10 – Amino Acid Profile: Monster Amino utilizes an 8:1:1 ratio with heavy emphasis on L-Leucine that will “activate and prolong activity of the mTOR signaling pathway, which increases muscle anabolic potential”. This is a great feature, but what made it a 10 is the complete amino acid profile is present in this formula and that is surprisingly rare amongst these products.
8.5/10 – Glutamine: With only 396mg of L-Glutamine present, this is again more like a side note rather than a great feature of the product. Most of these type of supplements have 2500mg per serving.
9/10 – Additional Nutrients: There are some other nice additions here like the basic electrolyte formula here, the 5mg Vitamin B6 and 1000mg of Citrulline Malate.
9/10 – Taste/Mix: The taste is good, but it is a bit sour due to the Citric Acid to Sucralose ratio, plus there is some settlement at the bottom of the cut when mixed together in a shaker. It’s really not too bad, just didn’t wow me.
10/10 – Overall Value: Some good things going on in this supplement. Monster Aminos has a full spectrum amino acid profile, full label transparency, and some other decent nutrients that are beneficial to post workout recovery. Monster Amino is also a bargain at 83 cents per serving so I definitely would recommend it, but compared to the others, it just isn’t quite there yet.
Buy CytoSport: Monster Amino (30 Servings)
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