Review: Protein Factory Tetra Pump
Note: Tetra Pump has been discontinued.
“Tetra Pump is the first product of its kind to contain 4 ingredients working synergistically to increase vasodilation and nitrate levels in the blood. By using Tetra-Pump Pre-workout you will experience an increased “pump”, much greater than other so-called nitric oxide products that contain various forms of worthless arginine, like AKG and amphetamines, like caffeine. Tetra-Pump is research proven to increase vasodilation and nitrate levels thereby increasing your pump when you work out.”
Tetra Pump is one of the pre-made formulas from ProteinFactory.com, a well-known “protein customizer”. It’s designed to produce a “pump” effect similar to nitric oxide (NO) supplements, but without the “worthless” arginine, caffeine (which, for the record, is NOT an “amphetamine”) or nootropics.
What does Tetra Pump have to offer that other NO supps don’t? As always, the label holds the answer.
Calories 220
Calories From Fat 0
Total Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 180mg
Total Carbohydrate 33g
Dietary Fiber 0g
Sugars 32g
Protein 22gIngredients: Dextrose, PeptoPro, Flux Powder (date powder), Creapure Creatine Monohydrate, GPLC (Glycine Propionyl-L-Carnitine)
As you can see, Tetra Pump is a “back to basics” sort of supp. It’s also quite simple: it consists of two sources of sugar, peptides, creatine + one relatively new ingredient, glycine propionyl-l-carnitine. Here’s how each one looks, close up.
Dextrose/Flux (Date) Powder: Dextrose is, of course, d-glucose—the standard high-glycemic index (GI) monosaccharide that the GI scale is based on. Bodybuilders have been using dextrose as a workout carb source for years: it’s inexpensive, readily available and a quickly absorbed source of fuel for high-intensity work.
Dates contain a mixture of sugars: glucose, sucrose and fructose. Since dates are over 70% sugar (dry weight), “date powder” can be thought of as simply another (albeit less refined) source of simple sugars.
Simple sugars have also been shown to enhance creatine uptake in several studies.
For example, one early study found a 60% increase in muscle creatine when it was taken with glucose.
PeptoPro®: This is the creation of DSM Food Specialties. PeptoPro is a “debittered” casein protein supplement that’s been enzymatically hydrolyzed to 70%–80% di- and tri-peptides. Since this parallels what happens during digestion, PeptoPro is effectively “pre-digested.” According to in-house studies by DSM, it can reduce post-exercise muscle damage, as well as enhance performance, endurance and recovery.
Creapure Creatine Monohydrate: Creatine monohydrate is—simply put—the most popular and effective non-hormonal bodybuilding supplement/ingredient on the market. There are a large number of studies validating its effectiveness for gaining lean mass and strength. Creapure is a brand of creatine monohydrate made by AlzChem AG, that’s famous for its high quality and purity.
GPLC (Glycine Propionyl-L-Carnitine): Propionyl-L-Carnitine (PLC) is a naturally-occuring ester of l-carnitine that may have therapeutic applications for peripheral artery disease and erectile dysfunction. PLC infusion is known to improve vasodilation and production of NO. Glycine may as well… so the two have been put together in a proprietary supplement ingredient, GPLC, which is sold commercially as GlycoCarn™. Two research studies have shown that ingestion of 4.5g of GlycoCarn a) increased plasma nitrate/nitrite (a measure of NO production) in resistance-trained men as well as b) enhanced peak power production during a cycling (Wingate) test. 4+ grams appears to be a minimum dose: a third study using lower doses (1g and 3g) failed to demonstrate any performance-enhancing effects.
And there we have it…
On the face of it, Tetra Pump looks like it could be fairly effective: sugars, casein and creatine are battle-tested stalwarts, while the GPLC looks promising. Nonetheless, I hesitated a bit before placing my order: at $46.74 for 15 servings, it’s on the pricey side—especially for something that’s ~50% (cheap) sugar.
On the flip side, though, each serving contains solid doses of two relatively expensive ingredients—GPLC (4g) and PeptoPro (22g)—so I decided to go for it after all, and bought a package of the “Tropical Orange” flavor.
Maybe I should have hesitated a bit longer… as it turned out, Tetra Pump was a bit of a flop. On the plus side, it behaved pretty much the way I’d expect a pre-workout blend of carbs and protein to behave…It tasted ok (not great, but ok) and provided a good dose of fuel to push through my workout. The promised pump, however, wasn’t anything spectacular—in fact, it was mild, at best.
Needless to state, this was a little disappointing. I might have seen it coming, however: individual subject data from the first study demonstrates there were non-responders (as well as marginal responders) to GPLC. Evidently I’m one of ’em: I gave Tetra Pump several tries, but got the same (non-)response each time.
Pity…
Under the circumstances, I doubt I’ll be buying Tetra Pump again. While I like most of the ingredients, the GPLC doesn’t appear to work for me and—if desired—I can obtain the others individually…as well as more economically.
