We're finally back to a year where we are talking about things other than COVID19 and immunity supplements! It's been a busy 2021 so far with a plethora of new brands, new products and new strategies being employed across the spectrum in sports nutrition. Just like MLB and NBA, we too are going to have our mid-season awards, but acknowledge the top three brands/products in each category, but we won't go into every category but focus in on some main ones.
Let's just be clear, the 2021 Mid-Season Awards are not indicative of how the year is going to end. We are purely looking at the first half of 2021 to see which brands/products have excelled in our opinion. The official 2021 Fitness Informant Supplement Awards will be presented in December which will include a fan voting portion.
Pre-Workout
Let’s start with everyone’s favorite category, and probably the most saturated of them all, pre-workouts. We have seen a lot of really solid pre-workouts enter the market in 2021. We think a lot of brands were sitting on these new formulas over 2020 to launch them when the world came out of COVID.
GHOST Legend V2
GHOST Legend V2 was a nice upgrade from V1. We’ve been on record saying we liked V1 but it was a 1.5 scoop pre-workout to make it the most impactful. The brand came back with V2 season and upgraded every formula they had across the board. Legend V2 was a beneficiary of that. GHOST didn’t just upgrade the formula, they added in several new flavors including authentic collaborations with Bubblicious, Sonic and Sour Patch Kids.
With upgrades to the amount of caffeine used, the addition of Alpha-GPC and Senactiv, GHOST Legend V2 is one of the best new pre-workouts to come out in 2021. Don’t even get us started on the Bubblicious collaboration, pure fire.
Click here to buy GHOST Legend V2.
Use code INFORMANT to save 20%.
Glaxon Specimen YoYo
This one is for the stim junkies. Glaxon was our 2020 Breakout Brand of the Year poised to make a run at Brand of the Year in 2021. It was primarily due to their off the cuff marketing and their advanced formulations (thanks Joey Savage). Glaxon Speciment is avaiable in three versions, the OG, YoYo and GFY. We thought YoYo was a good mix of in-between.
Specimen YoYo is powered by the combination of Yohimbie and Alpha Yohimbine ensuring you feel this pre-workout hit. Above the use of the dual forms of Yohimbine the formula boasts 2g of Betaine Nitrate which you don’t see often in a pre-workout. You also get 400mg caffeine. The combination of caffeine and YoYo is sure to work on pretty much 95% of the population. For that other 5%, take a stim break.
Click here to buy Glaxon Specimen YoYo.
Use code INFORMANT to save 20%.
Unbound Supps Unload
Hey new brand, welcome to the honors club! Unbound Supps, from the makers of NutraBio, launched an entire new brand in 2021 including one of the best pre-workouts available on the market today in Unbound.
Unbound Supps Unload boasts six branded ingredients making it a well researched pre-workout, but expensive to make. enXtra, AstraGin, RhodioPrime, zumXR, Zynamite, and nooLVL are the branded ingredients that are included at efficacious doses. Outside of the branded ingredients, the user gets 350mg Caffeine, 600mg Alpha GPC and 3g of Tyrosine.
Unbound Supps Unload might be one of the most loaded formulas we will ever see, and is sure to be the most loaded so far of 2021.
Unbound Supps Unload pre-workout is currently a brick and mortar store exclusive. To find a store near you click here.
Final Take
We are fans of all three of these products. If nothing else changes, it is going to be hard to choose one of these three for Pre-Workout of the Year. The cool thing is we have another six months of innovation for other brands to step up and challenge GHOST Legend V2, Glaxon Specimen YoYo and Unbound Supps Unload pre-workout. As consumers, we should be damn happy we’ve been able to score some solid pre-workout supplements so far in 2021.
