Today I’m going to tell you about a little pre workout called Eqiq Rush. This pre workout can be found at your local neighborhood friendly GNC, and nine times out of ten, the counter guy will try and pitch it to you. So I figured I might as well prepare you with an official BPW review. In this epic, Epiq Rush review, I’m going to tell you how the product tastes, what exactly is in it, how it performs, how the packaging stacks up, and ultimately if it is worth your $27.00. So without further ado. Let’s get this epic review going!
So you’ve been to a GNC before right? Of course you have. Probably not as often as I go, but you’ve definitely gone. And since you’ve gone, you know that as soon as you walk in the door, you’re accosted by the GNC guy. Or girl. It’s usually a guy in my experience though. And usually he looks like he’s on something that you can’t buy at GNC if you know what I mean, which you do. So I went into GNC this morning and the hugest GNC guy of all time lumbered over to me and started interrogating me about what I was there to buy. Now I don’t mean to sound like a bitch because I understand that his job is to help me. It’s just that I didn’t need his help. Or want it. Sigh. But whatever. I figured I would at least get some entertainment value out of it. So I asked him to recommend me a pre workout. See the funny part is that he would have no way of knowing that I run the world’s most popular pre workout review blog. Someday he’ll know. Muhaha. Control yourself Allie.
So we head back to the pre workouts, you know, over by that goofy plastic locked case where they would have you believe the ‘good stuff’ is. Rolls eyes. So we get back there and we look at of course the shiny tubs of C4, Assault, and the like. And then he guides me more towards the back wall. Where the cheap stuff is. I immediately knew what was coming. He plucked an orange jar off the wall and thrust it into my face. Like actually it hit me in the face. He apologized. “This is our most popular pre workout among the girls that come here” he mumbled, followed by some other semi-coherent mumbo jumbo about A-GPLC and it being creatine free etc etc. He actually kind of knew what he was talking about so I shouldn’t give him such a hard time. In fact he was so helpful that to be polite I actually bought the damn stuff. And thus here we are. Me with a pre workout that I didn’t necessarily need or want. But as you’ll read, I’m kinda glad I did. Let’s start breaking this stuff down. First up- how does Epiq Rush taste?
Epiq Rush Flavor Grade: 9.0
So somehow amongst that rambling that you just read I failed to mention the point that I actually set out to make. And that is that Epic is a GNC brand- you just don’t know it. But that’s the real reason why Lurch pitched it so hard to me. GNC teaches their clerks to (obviously) sell the store brand, because they collect a greater margin on them. Not rocket science. I don’t have a problem with it either, because a lot of times their products aren’t so bad. I still buy the GNC Wheybolic 60 every now and then. For whatever reason I’ve had really fantastic results with it in terms of muscle recovery and strength. But let’s talk about Epiq Rush flavor. I had the Fruit Fusion flavor and to be honest this is basically just your basic fruit punch flavor. Now. That being said, it’s a damn good fruit punch flavor. I mean you kind of would expect it to be since this is GNC we are talking about here. They have all kinds of money to pour into R&D and flavoring. I took two scoops of Epiq Rush in about 10 ounces of ice cold water and stirred it in. The powder dissolved really well and I was soon sipping away like a child. The flavor is super fruity. You get a lot of pineapple notes, definitely some cherry, and then of course some kind of bitter citrus to cap it all off. I would highly recommend the taste of this product to anyone- but how does the product actually work?
Epiq Rush Performance Grade: 8.7
Ok let me tell you about my workout that I did today. It’s Friday. That means I didn’t want to kill myself and do my standard two workouts today. So what usually ends up happening is I do both workouts in the same session, which ends up draining all my energy anyways. Not the desired effect. Here’s what I did:
Abs Circuit: (Three Times Through)
- 100 crunches
- 20 alternate side crunches
- 20 lying opposites
- 1:00 min front plank
- :30 side planks
Shoulders:
- DB Curls to Press 5 x 8 reps
- DB Shoulder Raises 3 x 20 reps
- DB Bent over rows 4 x 12 reps
Cardio:
- 2.5 mile run alternating 2:00 on, :30 off
So that was this morning’s workout. I actually highly recommend it if you have about an hour and fifteen minutes to go and get a really thorough ‘beach’ workout in.
Here’s what I noticed. Epiq Rush really helped me to push through to the higher rep ranges. You’ll notice that I do a lot of high volume stuff- i.e. 100 crunches is a challenge let’s be honest. I also did some pretty high volume dumbbell work for my shoulders. Epiq gave me some good up-tempo energy right from the get-go, but where it really shined was by giving me the strength to complete the higher reputations with good form and not to let my posture or effort degrade as the sets wore on. The running was also ridiculously challenging just because I was already very fatigued from the dumbbell work. And my abs felt like they were falling off from all those crunches and planking. You never realize how essential your core strength is to running until you do some classic pre-fatiguing like I did. So I will say that Epiq Rush exceeded my expectations in terms of how it performed. Let’s look at these ingredients and see what’s in here that gives this pre workout it’s ‘pop’.
Epiq Rush Ingredients Grade: 8.2
Epiq Rush does have some downside when you look at the supplement facts. First of all you should know right away that this is a ‘two scooper’. What I mean by that, is obviously that a REAL serving of this pre workout is two scoops. They designed it that way so that they could say that there are 60 servings per container. So you pick it up off the shelf and say, “wow, 60 servings for $30! What great value!”. And then you use one scoop and it does absolutely nothing. Then you realize that you’ve bought a classic ‘two scooper’. Don’t say I didn’t tell you! Ok so what’s in here.
- Citrulline Nitrate: Most products have the malate version of citrulline. I think nitrate may be even more quickly absorbed into the bloodstream but I could be wrong. In any case, this is a good ingredient. Improves the blood flow. Guys love it. LOL.
- L-Asparatic Acid: I’m not totally sure what AA does, but I believe it is commonly used as a testosterone booster. Actually now that I research it, it looks like Aspartic Acid is actually L-aspartate, a non-essential amino that assists the ATP and energy production cycle. It also can help the body eliminate waste from excess protein. Interesting.
- Taurine: Another popular ‘energy’ amino
- Cordyceps Sinensis: This is a fungus that actually has been used for hundreds of years by the Chinese, who believe it improves energy, appetite, stamina, libido, endurance, and sleeping.
- Green Tea Leaf Extract: Green Tea is a fantastic antioxidant rich compound that supports almost all bodily functions. Glad it’s in here.
- Green coffee: I’m not sure what the latest research says on green coffee, but I think it does help with metabolism and energy levels.
- L-Theanine: Popular way to balance out the caffeine anhydrous.
- Caffeine: Dosed at 138 mg, and then double it to 276 for two scoops AKA one ‘real serving’.
- Alpha Glyceryl Phosphoryl Choline: Alpha ‘GPC’ is a hugely popular ingredient these days and has been shown to improve strength and stamina in several very recent and very well respected studies.
Now. This all looks great on paper. I’m sitting here raving about all these ingredients. BUT. Let’s not forget that this is a BUDGET pre workout. And that means the amounts of these ingredients, some of which are very expensive, are not being disclosed to you. That’s because they most likely arranged the formula to put greater quantities of some of the cheaper ingredients (cough, green tea, cough) in here. So just be aware of that. Let’s lighten up the mood though. How about we talk packaging.
Epiq Rush Packaging Grade: 7.9
I kind of like this packaging I’ll be honest. The orange is quite loud, don’t get me wrong. But it’s, well, different! And different is good. The Epiq logo is very clear, and has a sweet holographic look at that. The name ‘Rush’ is also totally clear and readable. All of the benefits are nicely layed out, and so is the flavor. From a textbook ‘packaging’ standpoint, they did quite a nice job on this one. One thing you don’t really get with this is any real graphical elements. There is no super-fit woman or man on it. No lightning. No fire. No wings. It’s just very text heavy. But the orange is so stimulating that you almost don’t realize that there isn’t a ton going on creatively. I do like this packaging. Let’s wrap up this review.
Epiq Rush Pre Workout Review Summary:
- Epiq Rush Flavor Grade: 9.0
- Epiq Rush Performance Grade: 8.7
- Epiq Rush Ingredients Grade: 8.2
- Epiq Rush Packaging Grade: 7.9
- Epiq Rush Value Grade: 8.7
I’ve reviewed every aspect of this pre workout from the flavor to the label (almost rhymes!), and have decided to give Epiq Rush an 8.7, which is the exact score that I gave it’s value. At $27.99, what you are getting is a nicely formulated, decent performing pre workout. You may have to double up the scoops, but even at 30 servings per container, this is a good deal.
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