Ignite Nutrition Dominate Up Review: An Average Pre-Workout

Ingredients Profile

This product from Ignite Nutrition brings us an almost completely transparent label, which is a plus. Ignite Nutrition based this formula around its 490mg stimulant blend which is the only piece of the label that goes undisclosed. The formula covers pump, performance, focus and stim. Several of their ingredients are provided at efficacious doses, but other ingredients are under dosed. Let’s take a look at each of these blends individually.

Pump Blend

The first ingredient in this blend is L-Citrulline, which is dosed at 3,500mg. The clinical dose is between 3-5g and we are in that range here. Citrulline is a valuable pump ingredient because of its ability to increase arginine levels in the blood (even better than direct arginine supplementation), leading to vasodilation and increasing blood flow. The final pump ingredient is an efficacious dose of Glycerol powder, also known as GlycerPump. We are getting a great dose here of 2g, which will help promote blood flow and nutrient flow during exercise. Glycerol powder helps increase the amount of fluid in your muscular tissue and prevents dehydration.

Performance Blend

The performance blend starts off with 1,800mg of Beta-Alanine, which puts this ingredient right under the recommended dose of at least 2g. Beta-Alanine is used as a tool to enhance muscular endurance in the gym. Taurine is an amino acid that is included at 1,000mg to aid in hydration and strength output. The clinical dose is a minimum of 1g, so we are good here. We are given Tyrosine at a dose of 500mg, and we typically like to see this one around the 1g mark. Studies have shown that Tyrosine provides a cognitive benefit (focus) when taken at the proper doses. Ribose is included in this blend at 200mg, and is an ingredient that we typically like to see around the 250mg mark. At efficacious doses, this ingredient is known to help preserve and regenerate energy levels.

The final component of the performance blend is a creatine complex consisting of 3 different forms of Creatine. It is recommended that you get a total of 5g of creatine daily, so this product can be used to get 2 of those 5 grams. Creatine saturation helps to increase the amount of ATP (cellular energy) that is produced during exercise. We are given 1,000mg of Creatine Anhydrous, 500mg of Creatine Citrate, and 500mg of Creatine MagnaPower.

Focus Blend

Here we start with 500mg of Choline Bitartrate. Choline is responsible for increasing mental energy, focus and concentration when used at dosages of at least 500mg, so we are in range here. Next, we get an incredible ingredient with Alpha-GPC, but unfortunately, we have only a small amount of it. Alpha-GPC is known for its cognitive enhancing abilities when used at doses of 300mg or more. Ignite Nutrition is only giving 100mg here. The final ingredient in the Focus blend is Huperzine A at 50mcg. We typically like to see this ingredient at 50mcg at a minimum to really get the most of the cognitive benefits it provides. We get an acceptable dosage here.

Stim Blend

This blend is the only proprietary blend we get in this product. It comes in at 490mg total, with 330mg of the coming from Caffeine. This is a pretty hard-hitting profile that is primarily fueled by a large amount of Caffeine. We have estimated the amount of each ingredient Ignite Nutrition has chosen to put in their product.

We start with Caffeine Anhydrous which is probably dosed around 300mg. This is on the upper side of the spectrum when it comes to this ingredient, and it will to too much for many people. A full serving may lead you to feel several side effects of Caffeine overdose including jitteriness and nervousness. Next, we get Theobromine which is primarily responsible for increasing blood flow and some slight energy benefits when used at doses of 100mg or higher. We are probably getting around 100mg here which is also the low range of the clinically studied dose, so we are good. Hordenine is another stimulant that is used in this profile. We have estimated that this ingredient is dosed around 50mg, making it likely to be properly dosed. Typical Hordenine doses range from 50-100mg for optimal energy production.

N-Methyltyramine (NMT) is a stimulant and focus enhancer that we like to see dosed around 200mg for maximal benefit. We have estimated that we are getting a very small dose here, possibly around 30-40mg. Finally, we finish the stim profile off with 2 forms of Caffeine. The first form is Di-Caffeine Malate (Infinergy) which is typically used to help prevent the post workout crash that usually accompanies high stim formulas. We have predicted that we are getting around 20mg here, while it is typical to see this ingredient dosed around 50mg as a minimum. Caffeine Citrate is the last ingredient in this formula, and we estimate that it is dosed around 10mg. This is another form of Caffeine that is used to reach peak blood levels faster than Anhydrous form.

This pre-workout has an overall decent selection of ingredients to make itself a good product, however there are many under dosed ingredients. We are not getting efficacious dosages of several important ingredients, like Beta-Alanine, Alpha GPC, and many of the stimulant ingredients. The ingredient profile has potential to receive a much better score if Ignite Nutrition adjusted some of their dosages.

Effectiveness

As mentioned before, this pre-workout has the potential to be very great. It was effective in the energy categories, but it was not as impressive in the others. Let’s take a look at each of these categories individually.

Pump

You are still able to achieve a pump with Dominate-Up, even though it has a 490mg stim blend. You are fighting 330mg of Caffeine, but the Glycerol and L-Citrulline still do the job. The pump is not skin-splitting, but that is not to be expected as this preworkout is built around its stimulant capabilities.

Energy

This is where Dominate-Up really shines. With a 490mg stimulant blend, it definitely gets you going. This is one of those pre-workouts that you should really only start with a half scoop serving to test your tolerance. 330mg of Caffeine is more than enough to get anyone moving, and if it still isn’t enough, you need a long break from stims. There is a slight crash, even with the addition of Di-Caffeine Malate but that probably could be solved with an increased dose.

Focus

If this part of the preworkout was improved, it would dramatically change the value of this pre-workout. The focus is almost non-existent and that is partly due to the over stimming effect paired with the lack of/under dosed focus ingredients. Yes, we do have Choline and Huperzine, but this formula would benefit greatly if Alpha GPC was dosed correctly as it would help to harness the powerful stim effect.

Strength/Power

This category contains some beneficial ingredients; however, we would like to see the addition of something such as Betaine. We did not see a big increase in strength/power output, but it remained pretty consistent through our workout.

Endurance

We have a few good ingredients that improve the endurance component of this pre-workout. These ingredients are required to build up in your body, and do not have acute effects. The Beta-Alanine is a good addition (even though it needs to be dosed higher), alongside the creatine complex. We did not experience any sort of lack in the endurance category during our 30-day trial of this product.

Overall, this product often times suffered from an over stimming effect when we used it. I felt as if the Focus and Pump blends were completely taken over by the powerful stim ingredients. This pre-workout will definitely get you going and have you motivated to crush a workout, but that is not all we look for when we are talking about a well-rounded product.

Taste

Fruit Punch: (8.5/10)

This is the first time we have had an Ignite Nutrition product so we didn’t much know what to expect with flavoring. They did a fine job with this fruit punch flavor. It wasn’t too sweet and left no aftertaste like many fruit punches on the market today. It is definitely an easy flavor to drink, give it a try.

Mixability

The scoop is pretty large, coming in at just under 15g for 1 scoop. We mixed this in the recommended amount of water using our FI Cyclone Shaker and it mixed quite well. There was very little residue and grittiness left in the bottom. It drinks smoothly, not a bad job here.

See the video above for a full mixability test.

Value

Ignite Nutrition has Dominate-Up listed on their website for just under $38. That comes in at just over $1.25/serving. We typically like to see pre-workouts dosed under $2/serving so this one may seem like a steal.

At $38 it would be a steal if we were getting proper doses of all the ingredients. Even so, at 30 servings you are in no way getting a bad deal here. This product is possibly worth $1.25 per serving many people’s eyes. The ingredient profile is well rounded, just needs a bit of dose adjusting to completely justify the price.