Welcome to our recently updated Transparent Labs PreSeries LEAN Pre-Workout review. Starting with a brief summary, we’ll give you a lowdown of all the things you need to know about Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout – including its benefits, ingredients, price, where to buy, side effects, and how it compares to other pre-workout supplements in terms of boosting your energy, muscle pumps, and performance amongst others.
Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout Review at a Glance
Here are the pros and cons of Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout:
Pros
- No proprietary blends BS
- Vegan-friendly
- Completely natural and transparent ingredient formula
- Great ingredient choices for energy, focus, and burning fat
- High-quality forms of ingredients for the most part
- Transparent Labs is a well-known and respected supplement manufacturer
- Ships worldwide
- cGMP approved, free of synthetics or harmful and unnecessary fillers
Cons
- Not the best Pre-Workout from the Transparent Labs range in our opinion
- Missing some core ingredients
- Zinc dose of 30mg per serving is too high and may cause negative side effects
- Only sold on the manufacturer’s website
What are the current best pre-workouts?
–Top 3 Pre-Workout Supplements–
About Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout
Transparent Labs PreSeries LEAN is designed to be the best “cutting” pre-workout supplement for men and women on the market. It features key ingredients betaine, caffeine, and Citrulline malate, which, the manufacturer says, will help you:
- Have better and bigger muscle pumps
- Experience increased energy
- Feel more motivated
- Turn the metabolic dial up
Essentially, PreSeries LEAN was developed to help you target stubborn fat, while at the same time preventing lean muscle loss. Each serving having a jumbo 15g of 21 active ingredients, all of which work in synergy to give your workouts and weight loss efforts a boost.
It costs $49 per tub, which will yield you 30 servings. Considering the usage of high-quality ingredients and strict manufacturing processes in its cGMP approved USA and UK facilities, we think it represents a good value for money overall – but more on this below.
Official website: https://www.transparentlabs.com/products/preseries-lean-pre-workout
The main question is: how will PreSeries LEAN work for you? Is it worth the money, and are there better pre-workout options available? Let’s inspect the product to find out.
How to use Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout
Transparent Labs Lean Pre-Workout dosage directions are to take 1 scoop 20-40 minutes before your training session. Don’t take additional scoops throughout the day to avoid negative side effects. You should also drink plenty of water to ensure proper hydration of muscle tissue and, by extension, optimal performance.
Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout Ingredients
The following are the ingredients in Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout:
- Iodine Chelate (225mcg)
- Zinc Chelate (30mg)
- Selenium (50mcg)
- Copper (1mg)
- Chromium Picolinate (200mg)
- Citrulline Malate 2:1 (6,000mg)
- BCAAs 2:1:1 (2,500mg)
- Beta-Alanine (2,000mg)
- Betaine Anhydrous (1,500mg)
- Acetyl L-Carnitine (630mg)
- Choline Bitartrate (500mg)
- L-Theanine (360mg)
- Caffeine Anhydrous (180mg)
- Theobromine (50mg)
- Infinergy DiCaffeine Malate (40mg)
- BioPerine Black Pepper Extract (5mg)
It’s good that Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout contains no proprietary blends; it stays true to its name by showing you the list of every ingredient and its respectable dose on the label clearly.
First impressions of the ingredients? There are many great additions here, not just for increasing workout performance, but we see some fat burning compounds too.
Some downsides include: a few ingredients aren’t optimally dosed, and some of them come in less effective forms.
See for yourself:
Iodine Chelate
Iodine plays a vital role in the production of thyroid hormones. Your thyroid, among many functions, controls your metabolism and energy throughout the day. Not a bad inclusion, but unncessary since most of us get enough iodine through salt.
Zinc Chelate
Zinc is an essential trace mineral involved in countless enzymatic processes of your body. Considering about 1 million people are deficient in zinc, there’s a good chance you could benefit from supplementation. Not too much though, as excess zinc can do just as much harm as zinc deficiency – leading to nausea, vomiting, and impaired copper levels in the long term. Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout contains 273% of the required daily value.
(source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5676743/)
Selenium
Selenium is a trace element that helps your body make an antioxidant called glutathione, which is powerful at protecting your cells from oxidative stress. Selenium has some antioxidant properties of its own, and is beneficial for rendering toxins such as mercury inert.
Copper
Copper is unnecessary in supplements, unless you know you are deficient. Too much can pose a health issue. Plus, zinc and copper compete with each other for absorption in the body, which is why taking the two at the same time is counterproductive – neither one will get properly absorbed by your body.
Chromium Picolinate
Chromium is a dietary nutrient that helps regulate your blood sugar levels, among other effects. By smoothening out insulin spikes, chromium may help you have a more stable energy throughout the day. A good choice for a pre-workout all in all!
Citrulline Malate 2:1
Citrulline is a great choice for any pre-workout. This natural amino acid boosts muscle pumps by raising your nitric oxide (NO) blood levels, which dilate your blood vessels and cause an increase in nutrient and oxygen delivery. While 6,000mg of Citrulline per serving is an effective dose, an even higher level of benefit could be achieved if they put 8,000mg per serving.
BCAAs 2:1:1
BCAAs are 3 key amino acids involved in the building, repair, and maintenance of your muscle tissue. These include L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine, and L-Valine. Our body gets plenty of BCAAs from animal foods, though it can help prevent muscle loss when supplemented during workouts.
All in all great picks, but remember that BCAAs inhibit serotonin production, which is why some people experience increased symptoms of anxiety and depressive thoughts when taking them in excess amounts through supplements.
Beta-Alanine
Beta-Alanine is a love-it-or-hate-it kind of ingredient. An amino acid, it increases your body’s ability to perform heavy weights, so you might get more reps out of your exercises. However, at the same time, it causes a harmless side effect called paresthesia, which causes tingles and flushing. This may be distracting to your workout if you aren’t used to it.
Betaine Anhydrous
Betaine is a compound derived from red beets. It works as a vasodilator – increasing the width and relaxation of your blood vessels. The end result? Better muscle pumps, of course, among other things!
Acetyl L-Carnitine
Acetyl L-Carnitine is a nootropic compound. The ‘acetyl’ part makes it cross the blood-brain barrier. Benefits include improved mental clarity and cognitive energy. L-Carnitine is also involved in the antioxidant activity of your cell’s mitohondria, and as a result, it may help with the conversion of fat to energy.
Choline Bitartrate
Choline is another nootropic compound. However the “bitartrate” form has low brain bioavailability. Which means most of this compound gets excreted and not properly utilized. There are more bioavailable forms of choline, such as CDP-Choline or Alpha GPC. Sure, these are more expensive to produce but they also produce better results!
L-Theanine
L-theanine is a green-tea-derived amino acid that’s also found in some mushrooms. It works to enhance your GABA receptors which are connected with feelings of drowsiness and relaxation. Although L-Theanine won’t put you to sleep, it will help to negate caffeine’s jitters in a pre-workout. Speaking of which:
Caffeine Anhydrous
Caffeine is a powerful CNS energizer that not only increases your focus, but also your metabolic activity. This is why you’ll see caffeine in many supplements – from pre-workouts to fat burners, to nootropic brain supplements.
Theobromine
A molecule structurally similar to caffeine, Theobromine has some minor evidence showing it may have the same effects too but without causing withdrawals and ‘crashes’ like caffeine. However, research is still too early to conclude if Theobromine is really effective in humans, as most of the current evidence comes from animal trials.
Infinergy DiCaffeine Malate
Another source of caffeine in Transparent Labs LEAN pre-workout. An unnecessary one at that in our experience. It just adds to the harsh stimulatory effect without giving you much additional benefit. If you’re generally sensitive to stimulants, then it will only increase the risk of negative side effects.
BioPerine Black Pepper Extract
Black Pepper Extract is added to Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout to enhance the digestion of other ingredients in the formula.
Customer Reviews
Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout is only sold on the manufacturer’s website, so finding reviews on Amazon and other 3rd party sites isn’t possible. Generally speaking, both the critic and user reviews look good.
Most of the customers of Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout are happy with the energy and focus. We also didn’t see any reports of side effects.
Does Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout Have Side Effects?
As we said, we haven’t come across any side effects reported as a result of taking Transparent Labs Lean Pre-Workout. However, that doesn’t mean this product is side-effect-free. Like any supplement, it may give you a negative reaction depending on your unique circumstances and situation. If you’re on any kind of medications, make sure to speak to your doctor before taking Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout.
*Remember, our posts aren’t meant as advice – they’re for informational and entertainment purposes only!
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is, Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout is a good pre-workout – but not the best pre-workout from the Transparent Labs pre-workout line. We feel that Transparent Labs BULK series Pre-Workout is a better choice, especially when it comes to packing muscle and building on your fitness level.
However, Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout has a few advantages, in that it uses chromium, carnitine and a few other ingredients that may help you burn more fat. So if losing weight is your goal, it may be worth looking into.
Again, though, some ingredients are missing from the formula, a few ingredients come in cheaper and less bioavailable forms, and it uses too much zinc. For these reasons, we don’t rate Transparent Labs LEAN Pre-Workout as one of the current 3 best pre-workouts on the market.