Cardio… you either don’t mind it, or you hate it. We just do it.  Honestly we think just about everyone, no matter what you’re fitness goal is, should do additional cardio. Not only may it help with fat loss, but it is just overall good for your health. 

Cardio comes in many forms. While most of us gym bros stick to the treadmill, elliptical, Stairmaster, or exercise bike. We sometimes forget that there are some other ways to go about it, such as boxing or swimming. It doesn’t have to suck and if you despise traditional cardio, we highly suggest checking out ways to make it fun. 

With all that said, we do a lot of traditional cardio here, and we always look for an edge. Whether it’s for an energy boost, staying hydrated, get our sweat going, or to simply burn a few extra calories… we love adding some sort of supplement to get the most out of our sessions.

Of course, we’ve had the luxury to try out many products over the years, and they have aided us in making those sessions a lot more effective. Products come and go, so we will showcase some of our favorite products to take around cardio to help give you an edge.

With all that said, thermogenic/fat loss supplements are just a tool. They may aid with fat loss by increasing your energy, boosting your metabolism to a small extent, and helping with appetite suppression. They will not do the work for you… exercise and diet are still #1. 

Axe & Sledge Thermo 212

Thermo 212 was launched back in January of 2023, around the time Axe & Sledge decided to start launching/updating their formulas. Since it was launched around the time many people start their weight loss journeys, it certainly delivers for people looking to “feel” their fat burner working. 

Axe & Sledge starts off with some Acetyl-L-Carnitine, which is our favorite form of the ingredient. It helps by transporting fatty acids to be used as energy. ALCAR is also an effective Nootropic ingredient. Speaking of Nootropics, you also get a gram of Tyrosine, which may aid with alertness and increase dopamine levels.

Of course, you want a boost in energy when you’re doing cardio, which is why Thermo 212 includes Caffeine Anhydrous as well as Synephrine. Caffeine of course is everyone’s favorite energy boosting ingredient, and it may also aid with boosting your metabolism. You get 300mg in Thermo 212, which is what we deem as a “high dose” here on FI. Of course, Caffeine is a very personal ingredient, and the energy you get from it is going to depend on your tolerance. The Syneprhine acts as a mild beta-agonist, and is a common ingredient in fat burners. 

Of course you have the trademarked ingredients as well. You get some popular patented fat loss ingredients such as InnoSlim®, which we have covered here on FI before, as well as CaloriBURN™, which is a trademarked form of Grains of Paradise, which is a very popular fat loss ingredient. 

Now one more reason we really like this is for the GBB. Gamma Butyrobetaine Hcl is a fun ingredient that may help with increasing Carnitine levels in the body. It also has this side effect that just makes you sweat. While sweating does not always equal fat loss, you are certainly going to feel like you are.

What really makes us love this one is not just the flavor, but also the overall experience. You get a fat burner that truly delivers for what most want. We look at three aspects when it comes to rating fat burners. Appetite suppression, energy, and thermogenesis. 

The appetite suppression on this one is solid, and the energy is quite noticeable. The sweating from the GBB really makes you “feel” those cardio sessions, and that just creates the experience we bet most of you are looking for. 

Certainly one of our go-tos for cardio sessions, and even workouts when we stack it with Axe & Sledge Hydraulic V2. 

AstroFlav Drip:

This past August AstroFlav has reformulated their very popular non-stimulant fat burner Drip. Being a non-stimulant fat burner, this is one of my favorites to add into any of my favorite pre-workouts for an extra calorie burn off or even to drink stand-alone before cardio to sweat and optimize my cardio session.

Leading off this formula you will find two different forms of carnitine, Acetyl L-Carnitine and L-Carnitine Tartrate both dosed at an optimal dosing of 750mg. Why do they use two different forms of carnitine? Each form of carnitine with supply their own unique benefits in this formula. Acetyl L-Carnitine you will find is very beneficial form to help with improved cognitive performance and help fight against anti-aging.  With Acetyl L-Carnitine being able to cross the blood-brain barrier, acting as a potent antioxidant, it helps protect against age related cell death. Some studies have also suggested this form of Carnitine can help improve memory, reduce stress, and fight off neuron degeneration throughout the brain and nervous system. 

Next, L-Carnitine Tartrate is the most well-known form of carnitine. This is due to the fact it can dramatically improve the body’s ability to oxidize fat cells to help utilize fat for energy and fat burning. Not only will L-Carnitine Tartrate help with enhance fat burn off during your cardio session, but it will help improve your performance as well with increasing your endurance and intensity due to helping reduce muscle oxidation during intense exercise. 

Working hand in hand with these two forms of carnitine AstroFlav has thrown in Gamma Butyrobetaine Ethyl Ester better known as GBB. The use of ProGBB has been shown to help with our bodies own natural production of carnitine. With the capability of producing even more carnitine in our body in conjunction with the supplemental carnitine it just like adding fuel to our fire of calorie burn off and improved performance.

Finally, AstroFlav has given us two more natural extracts to help with an increase in thermogenesis. The first being CaloriBurn GP, a patented form of Grains of Paradise. CaloriBurn GP  has been shown in some clinical trial studies having a 5X increase in calories burned off compared to the placebo group, while also helping improve body composition. This is due to CaloriBurn GP activating BAT (Brown Adipose Tissue), a fat cell that is thermogenic and metabolically active, helping burn more calories rather than storing them. The final ingredient in this formula is CapsiAtra, naturally found in chili peppers this ingredient is a capsinoid  that has found to be very beneficial in energy expenditure, metabolism, and thermogenesis. CapsiAtra in studies have been found to help increase our Resting Energy Expenditure (REE), thus increasing the amount of non-active calories we burn off throughout the day even when we are not hitting our cardio or workouts. 

Core Hydrate

This is list is not going to be comprised of only products to drink beforehand to optimize calorie burn off throughout your workout, we must also include a staple drink we love drinking on “intra” or during our cardio session and that is Core Nutritional’s Hydrate. Hydrate is one of the best electrolyte formulas on the market to keep you hydrated throughout your workout, while also helping with performance output as this formula is more than just your standard electrolyte.

Starting off you will find the nutrient blend that makes this a good electrolyte power. With using some of the industry’s best derived and highly absorbable forms of vitamin-c, sodium, calcium, chloride, magnesium, and zinc Core wanted to make sure the basic nutrients were the best you could get.

Moving along in the formula you will find they wanted to throw more performance-based ingredients such as L-Taurine, ElevATP, and Senactiv in there to also help you during your activity. You will find L-Taurine to help with some mental focus and alertness when your body it placed under physical distress. ElevATP has been found to help increase your intercellular and intercellular ATP levels. This will lead to better overall performance output. Senactiv also being shown to help with ATP production, it has also been shown to help repair damaged cells and help speed up the recovery process, making it ideal to drink on during your cardio session.

Finally Core Nutritional’s throw in ConcenTrace to help supply us with 26 minerals to help our body function at an optimal level and maintain health, and Coconut Water Powder to help enhance even more hydration.