Ascent Pre Workout Reviews don’t really exist out there on the internet because the product is brand new and so I’m pretty stoked to be one of the first in the world to analyze the sports nutrition world’s latest pre workout energizer. Ascent pre workout has some nuances to the flavors and to the formula that you really need to know about. I will compare it to some fo the other pre workout products on the market and let you know if this one is worth a try. We’ll go over flavors, formula, performance, and packaging before bundling everything up into one concise review summary at the end. But don’t just skip to the end. Be patient and really take a minute to learn everything that I’m going to share with you about Ascent’s pre workout. Let’s put on out climbing gear together and get this Ascent pre workout review started.
Ascent has a cool name and a cool vibe. I had reviewed their Native Whey protein a few years ago at this point.. geez. Years. I’m getting old. Lol. But yeah it was a long time ago. I thought that their protein was good on the inside, nice looking on the outside, but a bit over-priced at the end of the day. I’m going to go over this pre workout very linearly based off of my experience with it this morning (I actually just received it this AM).
I will go over everything from unboxing to drinking (flavor evaluation) and then take you through how it worked for me in the gym. The final section will be analyzing the ingredients. But let’s get started.
ASCENT PACKAGING
I think Ascent has had a cool look from the start. Bold yellow and black colors make it really easy to recognize this quirky brand apart from others. Their signature graphic in the background of each product is a topography lines pattern that echoes the brand’s ‘outdoors-y’ vibe.
I still hate that Ascent still uses these stand-up pouches for their packaging. Like. I really hate it. I think it looks so low-end and given how much Ascent charges for their products, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.
So graphically and in terms of fonts, layouts, and colors, I would give Ascent a 9/10. But these stupid stand-up bags make me drop down their overall packaging review grade to an 8/10. Let’s move on to flavor.
ASCENT PRE WORKOUT FLAVORS
There are two Ascent Pre Workout flavors, and I actually bought both of them so I could review each. Before my workout today I took one half scoop of each mixed into about one cup of water. That seemed to be approximately the proper ratio for the level of taste that I wanted.
Watermelon: The watermelon flavor was sweet, just like Ascent directs on their website, but in my opinion it was lacking enough real watermelon flavor. It was as if they were jut a little too stingy with the flavoring materials. But overall it was fine. I did get a tiny bit of stomach discomfort from it I think from the monk fruit sweetener.
Raspberry Lemonade: The raspberry lemonade flavor is described as ‘tangy’ on the Ascent website but I found it to actually be about the same level of tart as the watermelon. I mean. Yeah the lemon has a bit more natural tartness to it but in terms of acidity and bite I found them to be more or less equal.
The better flavor here is probably the Raspberry Lemonade. For the watermelon flavor to really work I think Ascent needed to be more heavy-handed on flavor. But. Yeah. I guess overall these are okay. I think you can tell by my tone that I haven’t been blown away by the Ascent Pre Workout flavors. I will give them an 8/10, and it would probably be lower if I wasn’t in a good mood, lol.
ASCENT PRE WORKOUT PERFORMANCE
After I took both of my half-servings of Ascent Pre Workout Clean Energy and Hydration fuel, I set off for the gym to explore the capabilities of this pre workout. AKA to get a freaking awesome workout in.
I started with some light jogging before doing a very quick yoga flow to get my joints moving properly.
I swear as I get older it takes more effort to really warm up my body and get loosened up but I did finally feel good, with a light sweat going.
I dove into my squat workout. Lately I’ve just been doing sets of 20 with lighter weights. My legs have been getting SO sore doing it this way. Just lighter weight and focusing on good form but taking it almost to exhaustion with higher rep ranges.
I felt good. I will say that. I never at any point had that ‘LETS DO THIS’ feeling that I’ve had with some of the other stronger pre workouts that I’ve tried. But I do think that this pre workout helped me during each set to have greater endurance. In that sense it does seem like it’s more of a ‘fuel’ and less of an ‘igniter’. I know some pre workouts light you up from the start, but again, this one seems to be much more of a smooth, consistent source of assistance during the workout. I would actually recommend taking the Ascent Pre Workout DURING your workout to extend performance and really give that level of performance through out the whole workout, because I did feel that the effects tapered and faded after about 30 minuets into my workout.
But overall this is a pretty good booster. I personally have been moving away from the big-time ‘stim cocktails’ such as that garbage MDRN ATHLETE pre from a few months ago. So I really do think this is a pretty good performer even it’s not crazy strong. I’ll give it an 8/10 on performance. Let’s finish up by going over the ingredients.
ASCENT PRE WOROUT INGREDIENTS & FORMULA
Like me, you are probably curious what is in the Ascent pre workout. It’s always fun for me to see what the ingredients are in each product and the be able to map back the formula to the workout experience. And this was one of those times where I had that ‘aha’ moment and it all made sense when I saw the ingredients that it performs exactly how I would expect it to given this formula. Here are the ingredients:
Whey Protein Isolate
Natural Flavors
Leucine
Leucine
Sodium Citrate
Magnesium Hydroxide
Monk Fruit Extract
Coffee Fruit Extract
Vitamin D2
Sunflower Lecithin
NOTES: So, this formula is bizarre. Not in a TERRIBLE way, but, eh. Just hear me out. Ingredients lists have to be ordered in the order that they are included by quantity. So the first, and thus primary ingredient ingredient in Ascent Pre Workout is whey protein. Which is odd. There are 4 grams of whey protein and then what? Natural flavors. As the second ingredient. And they tell you leucine is included at 2.5 grams. So that means you have probably around 3.5-4 grams of just flavoring in each serving. Which sounds high to me. It sounds higher than I think it should be. And outside of leucine and caffeine from coffee fruit, you have virtually no other active ingredients. it’s strange to me that Ascent would formulate so conservatively… so… bizarrely, really. I mean. There aren’t any active ingredients in here! It’s no surprise that all you can feel in this pre workout is a tiny bit of energy from the protein + caffeine.
I will give them a 7 on the formula because I don’t think it’s great. Let’s summarize this thing. This odd, odd pre workout…
ASCENT PRE WORKOUT REVIEW SUMMARY
-The Ascent packaging is handsome but they need to ditch the stand-up pouches, which look terrible
-The two Ascent pre workout flavors are okay, but not great. I would get the raspberry lemonade if you are sold on this product
-Ascent Pre Workout performs OKAY in the gym, but nothing crazy. Expect some endurance benefit but not much by way of energy, focus, or pump
-The Ascent formulation is bizarre- featuring mostly just a bit of whey protein and caffeine
This Ascent company leaves me perplexed. In my opinion they have all the tools to create a magnificent brand, but the formulas and some packaging elements are truly holding them back. I wouldn’t buy this pre workout over any of the others in my top ten pre workouts. And frankly their are other in my top TWENTY that blow this out of the water.*
- BPN Flight Pre Workout Review – Simple, Effective, & Affordable - February 22, 2024
- CBUM Protein Review – Is Chris Bumstead’s Brand Any Good? - January 13, 2024
- Beam Pre Workout Review – A Must Try for 2024 - January 9, 2024
