Cellucor M5 Ultimate
Pros
- Transparent Label
- 3 Forms Creatine
- Taste
- Value
Overview of Cellucor M5 Ultimate
Cellucor M5 Ultimate uses three versions of creatine and HMB to provide a muscle building powder to their consumers. With clinical doses of creatine monohydrate and a nice dosage of HMB, this is a solid product to run if you're looking to increase muscle protein synthesis and muscle size. More research behind HMB in trained athletes is needed, but the product has promise.
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Testing Results and Ratings
We reviewed Cellucor M5 Ultimate on five categories. We first start by looking at it’s ingredient profile. This portion of the review looks at quality of ingredients used, the dosages and other ingredients involved in the making of this powder.
We then look at effectiveness. A muscle builder will be effective if it uses proper dosages of well-studied ingredients. This is generally an extension of the profile section. The higher quality ingredients used at proper dosages, the more effective that product will be.
Then we move into the taste of the different flavors we’ve tried. We grade each flavor separately and average the scores for their overall taste rating. We were able to test out Fruit Punch and Icy Blue Raspberry.
Mixability refers to how well the protein powder mixes in 12oz of water. We use the shaker bottle test. This would be your typical Blender Bottle with the spiral chrome ball.
Finally, we talk about value. Value is the combination of profile, effectiveness, taste and mixability in relation to cost. Another part of value are the competitors and other versions of creatines and muscle-builders available on the market.
Ingredients Profile
This product from Cellucor is essentially a creatine blend with the addition of a natural, patented ingredient from Metabolic Technologies called MyHMB®. We are getting a 7g dose of creatine (consisting of 3 different forms), along with a 3g dose of MyHMB®. This label consists of only 4 active ingredients, with 3 of them being branded. Let’s break down each of these ingredients further to see what Cellucor is bringing to the table with this product.
The first portion of this profile contains 7g of a creatine complex. Creatine is the number one sports supplement for performance and muscle building. The supplementation of creatine increases the body’s amount of phosphocreatine which is stored as energy in your body’s muscle cells. The saturation of phosphocreatine enables your body to produce more ATP, which is known as the body’s energy currency. When you have more ATP at your disposal, you can push yourself further in your workouts leading to more muscle growth. Creatine has been found to reduce muscle protein breakdown, as well as increase intracellular hydration.
Creatine Complex
In this complex, we get 5g of Creatine Monohydrate. This form of creatine is one of the most common, however it often times causes stomach discomfort in some of the population. We get 1g of branded Creatine Nitrate (NO3-T®) which is formed when Creatine is bonded with nitrate ions. Creatine Nitrate is about 10 times more water soluble, and provides nitrate benefits when consumed at a dose of at least 1g. These benefits include improvements in peak power output, and training volume. Lastly, we get 1g of Creatine HCL®. This is a version of creatine that is highly soluble and absorbable, thus improving its efficiency within the body.
myHMB®
Cellucor has included myHMB® at 3g in this muscle building formula. myHMB® is a branded combination of Vitamin D3 and HMB from Metabolic Technologies that has been shown to have a positive effect on muscle building. This ingredient is scientifically known as β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate, and occurs naturally in the body as a metabolite of the amino acid leucine. Direct supplementation of this ingredient has been shown to elicit a positive effect on boosting muscle protein synthesis, reducing protein breakdown, and even reducing muscle damage. myHMB® has synergistic effects when paired alongside creatine, due to their similar effects on muscle building and their ability to enhance muscle recovery. This ingredient is properly dosed at 3g, which is in line with most of the studies performed related to the performance enhancing aspects of myHMB®.
Overall, this profile contains proper dosages of both Creatine and HMB for muscle building. HMB has shown more promise in untrained athletes than trained, so something to keep in mind.
Effectiveness
Since this is essentially a Creatine supplement with the addition of myHMB®, it is relatively hard to judge the effectiveness of this product. I use a version of Creatine on a regular basis, meaning I am already saturated. I would not expect to feel an increase in strength, or training volume capability. The Creatine profile is well rounded, giving you the recommended daily serving of 5g of Creatine Monohydrate along with an additional 2g of Creatine variants.
The addition of myHMB® is supposed to increase muscle health and improve muscle gains. I cannot say that I felt much improvement with the addition of this ingredient. HMB has clinical evidence showing its ability to increase muscle protein synthesis, however this was shown using a much higher dose than the 3g we are getting here.
This product is a great standalone creatine supplement. The addition of myHMB® does add to the effectiveness of this product, however we could not accurately detect the impact of this ingredient during our single tub trial run (20 days). We decided to give this product an 8 because of its potential as a muscle building tool for the lifter who currently does not use any type of Creatine supplement.
Taste
Fruit Punch:
Icy Blue Raspberry:
We received the Fruit Punch and Icy Blue Raspberry flavor from Cellucor.
The Fruit Punch flavor was very refreshing and quite impressive for a Creatine product. It tastes exactly as it should and is not an overpowering flavor like many Fruit Punch flavors on the market. If you are looking at giving this product a try, Fruit Punch is a go for sure.
Like most brands Blue Raspberry is a go to flavor. Which is a top flavor that Cellucor sticks with for almost all of its products they release. So they have this flavor down. For Icy Blue Raspberry this is one of the better tasting ones. There are some brands that it comes off tasting like cough syrup. But this one is enjoyable especially with cold water.
Mixability
This product mixes well and there is very little grittiness that you can detect as you drink it. It is typical of creatine monohydrate supplements to have grittiness, but this one actually has a noticeably small amount. There is some ingredient left on the sidewalls of the shaker after consumption, but that is to be expected with creatine products.
Check out the video for a demo on mixability.
Value
When we look at other products on the market containing HMB and Creatine, this product fits right in with its competitors. We typically see similar products ranging anywhere from $40-$60 for a 30 serving container. Cellucor’s M5 Ultimate retails for $40 on their website for a 20 serving container. For 2$ per serving we are getting 3 branded ingredients, 7g of Creatine, and a clinical dose of HMB. Cellucor has priced this product competitively in the HMB/Creatine combination market.
Available at these Fitness Informant Approved Retailers
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See Price @ Amazon |
Cellucor M5 Ultimate
Pros
- Transparent Label
- 3 Forms Creatine
- Taste
- Value
