Prop Blends 101
One of my biggest pet peeves are those remaining few supplement companies that lure lifters in with the promise of effective ingredients only to give you a product using under-dosed prop blends. Let me tell you, I have seen products online that have a prop blend dosed so low it’s not even worth the paper it’s printed on. The good news is, many companies are moving to fully open labels. Yet prop blends are still out there. In this article, Prop Blends 101, I’ll explain what prop blends are and why you should avoid them so you can make the right choice the next time you buy your supplements. Ready? Let’s get started!
What Is A Prop Blend?
A prop, or proprietary, blend is a combination of ingredients listed by weight. There is a single, total dose. This dose is for the entire blend, there are no individual dosages listed. The only exception might be for caffeine, and that depends on the company. The rationale behind a company using prop blends is that it “protects or hides” their “exclusive” formula.
Why You Should Avoid Prop Blends
At first glance, especially for lifters new to supplements, a prop blend may not seem like a bad thing. I know when I first started lifting, I was caught up in the ingredients but at the time, didn’t understand about proper dosing. It’s easy to be impressed by what’s in the product, especially if it uses “flashy” ingredients. Many newbies don’t know any better and may not realize the problems with a prop blend.
Let’s Look At A Label
So what are the problems? Primarily, most prop blends are under-dosed. It’s easy to do this because no one has any idea how much of any ingredient they are getting. Let’s use a label as an example.
Here’s one Blend on a pre-workout label I found online:
N.O. Blend – 2 grams
L-Citrulline, Nitrosigine, Agmatine Sulfate, Danshen Extract, Hawthorn Extract.
So what’s the problem? First, this formula is drastically under-dosed. The entire Blend is 2 grams. That’s 2 grams covering 5 ingredients. In many pre-workouts, the typical minimum dose you will see for the first ingredient, L-Citrulline, is 4 grams. Currently, quite a few pre-workouts offer it in the 8-10 gram range. Next is the branded ingredient Nitrosigine®. Usually, this ingredient alone is dosed in the 1-1.5 gram range.
Are you beginning to see the problem? If 2 grams is the total for all 5 ingredients, how much l-citrulline, for example, can you possibly be getting? Even assuming the 2 grams is equally divided among all ingredients, that would mean there’s just a laughable 400 mg of each. But we have no way of knowing. There could be 1.5 grams of l-citrulline, and 125 mg of everything else.
Full Disclosure Labeling
To the credit of the supplement industry, most companies currently use full disclosure labeling. This simply means that the dose of each ingredient is clearly listed on the label. Of course, this doesn’t always mean the product is well-dosed. That’s why it’s important to understand what the effective doses are for the ingredients listed.
Many products provide the recommended dose, and some provide even more. For example, the recommended dosing range of l-citrulline is 4-6 grams, with doses as high as 10 grams being safe. For years, the standard dosing has been 4 grams. Then, Gorilla Mind, a new supplement brand, comes along and right out of the gate provides a massive 9 gram dose!
What was the reaction of the veteran supplement companies to this upstart brand? They had no choice but to increase their dosages of citrulline! Now, doses of 8 -10 grams are becoming the new standard. The point being, you want to buy a product from a company that doses their ingredients generously using full disclosure labeling. (1)
Example Label
Here’s what a premium quality, effective pre-workout label should look like.
L-Citrulline – 10000 mg
Nitrosigine® – 1500 mg
Creatine Monohydrate – 5000 mg
L-Tyrosine – 5000 mg
Betaine Anhydrous – 3000 mg
HydroPrime Glycerol Powder (65%) – 6000 mg
Pink Himalayan Sea Salt – 1000 mg
Alpha-GPC 50% – 800 mg
Caffeine Anhydrous – 400 mg
Huperzine A – 200 mcg
Notice the dosages and then take another look at my example prop blend. These are, by the way, two actual products.
Summary
The bottom line is that you should only buy products that feature effective, well-dosed ingredients that are fully disclosed on the label. So the next time you stop by illpumpyouup.com to stock up on your supplements, read the label and understand what you’re buying. Your results will thank you!
References:
- Bahri, S., Zerrouk, N., Aussel, C., Moinard, C., Crenn, P., Curis, E., Chaumeil, J. C., Cynober, L., & Sfar, S. (2013). Citrulline: from metabolism to therapeutic use. Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.), 29(3), 479–484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2012.07.002