Nitric Oxide Supplement Review: Cellucor NO3 Chrome
/uploads/2012/06/arnold-ripped-300×232.jpg” alt=”" width=”206″ height=”158″ />
“The greatest feeling you can get in a gym, or the most satisfying feeling you can get in the gym is… The Pump. Let’s say you train your biceps. Blood is rushing into your muscles and that’s what we call The Pump. Your muscles get a really tight feeling, like your skin is going to explode any minute, and it’s really tight – it’s like somebody blowing air into it, into your muscle. It just blows up, and it feels really different. It feels fantastic. “
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Pumping Iron
Who doesn’t love getting The Pump? That ‘Incredible Hulk’ feeling after a really heavy workout when your muscles are bulging so much they feel like they’re gonna burst is a great motivator to keep coming back and working harder. The only trouble is it never seems to last long after leaving the gym….
Inc 500 supplement legends Cellucor have an answer to this with NO3 Chrome, a extended-effect Nitric Oxide booster to give you bigger, longer-lasting muscle pumps during workouts, increase your endurance, and give you faster recovery between sessions.
Those are some strong claims, but Cellucor actually has the science to back them up. You see, many supplements are basically a mix of dozens of impressive-sounding substances and ‘proprietary blends’, often in dosages too low to be effective. NO3 Chrome isn’t. Cellucor has carefully studied the body’s Nitric Oxide cycle, chosen ingredients which act synergistically to boost each stage of it, and included them in high enough doses to blow your socks off.
Who is it for?
NO-3 Chrome is ideal for bodybuilders and athletes at all levels who want the benefits that a great Nitric Oxide supplement can offer them. Before we look at what’s in it, let’s talk about what it doesn’t contain. There are no stimulants or Creatine in the product. Now, there’s nothing wrong with either of those, but it’s nice to know I can keep taking my favorite nitric oxide supplement even when I’m cycling off them.
Another benefit of this is that it’s suitable for drug-tested athletes who aren’t able to take things like Caffeine. However, if this is you, always check the ingredients against your governing body’s banned substances list, because they do seem to change all the time.
What’s in it?
Cellucor doesn’t hide their ingredients list behind ‘proprietary blends’. Everything is written right there on the side of the packaging. This is something I love, because knowing exactly what’s in a supplement is very handy when you are choosing things to stack it with.
Arginine Nitrate – the main active ingredient of NO3 Chrome is Arginine Nitrate. Arginine is a precursor that causes your body to make more Nitric Oxide. Nitric Oxide signals your blood vessels to enlarge so that more blood can flow through them (known as ‘vasodilation’), leading to The Pump. The “Nitrate” part of the mix is a potent vasodilator as well, causing a powerful double-effect.
Of course, other supplements on the market also contain Arginine Nitrate, but not in this quantity – 1,250mg per dose. That’s plenty to get your muscles feeling packed and tight at each workout.
Citrulline Malate – Citrulline is another vital part of the NO cycle. It’s actually a precursor to Arginine, and including it in the mix helps amplify and extend its pump-enhancing effects.
Grape Seed Extract – Studies over the years have shown that hard weight training produces free radicals in your cells. This is bad for two reasons. Firstly, free radicals cause all sorts of damage in your body, and secondly because high levels of free radicals increase your body’s tolerance to Nitric Oxide, meaning less Pump.
You probably know that the best way to deal with free radicals is to load up on antioxidants like Vitamin C and Vitamin E. What you may not know is that Grape Seed Extract is 20 times as potent at clearing free radicals as either of those two. So it’s a great ingredient to combine with all those NO-enhancers.
Pycnogenol® -= is an extract of the French Maritime Pine Tree. It’s been clinically proven to increase endurance and athletic performance by over 21%. It works by stimulating production of an enzyme called Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase – eNOS for short (yeah, I had trouble pronouncing it too).
eNOS is the engine responsible for generating NO in your blood vessels, so stimulating it powers up your body’s NO production. Athletes taking Pycnogenol have also reported less muscle soreness and cramping between workouts.
L-Norvaline – If you really want to put NO production into overdrive, as well as revving up the engine, you need to take the brakes off. That’s what Norvaline does. It binds to Arginase, an enzyme which otherwise acts to slow down the NO cycle. A lot of companies don’t include Norvaline in their products because it’s expensive, but in my opinion leaving it out is like driving a Ferrari with the handbrake on.
Calcium Ascorbate – is a form of Vitamin C. As with the Grape Seed extract above, it protects your body and reduces your Nitrate tolerance by mopping up free radicals. You may already be taking Vitamin C in one form or another, but because it’s so quickly excreted by the body, including it in the mix means that it’s available to your cells exactly when they need it.
Learn more at www.cellucore.com/product/no3-chrome
Does it work?
The short answer is “yes”. A quick look around the web reveals a lot of very satisfied NO3 Chrome users. It scored:
- 8.4 / 10 from 87 users at Bodybuilding.com. Positive members’ comments included:
“What can I say about NO3 Chrome? This product is by far the best standalone N.O. product on the market. “
“Awesome non stimulant pump inducing preworkout product. Really kicks vascularity into over drive and when used with C4 makes everything exponential. “
“If you want a pump so big it feels like your skin is going to rip? Take NO3. Hands down best NO supp on the market. When stacked with C4, you might as well buy bigger shirts right now” - 9.5 / 10 on Supplementreviews.com
Of course, the results you get from a specific supplement will vary depending on your physiology, training routine and diet. Personally, I think NO3 Chrome is the best Nitric Oxide product I’ve seen in a while, but no supplement suits everyone. The only way to find out for sure is to try it for yourself.
Any downsides?
There are two things to be aware of with NO3 Chrome:
- It’s not the cheapest NO3 supplement on the market (normally $59.99/30 day supply – save 20% with coupon code below) . However, when you compare the levels of active ingredients with other products, you’ll see why it costs a little more per tablet.
- As I said earlier, it’s STRONG. That means you need to take care with the doses, and stick to the recommended dosage on the bottle. Also, DON’T combine it with another Nitric Oxide supplement. Overdosing on NO can cause low blood pressure, which isn’t what you want when you’re in the gym pumping iron.
How should I use it?
The best way to get started is to buy a bottle, include it in your supplement regime for a few weeks, and keep a note in your training log/diary of how it works for you. If you’re like most users, you’ll notice a great pump in the first few sessions, then the other benefits will start to kick in after that.
Stacking
NO3 Chrome stacks well with several other supplements from Cellucor’s arsenal, including:
P6 Extreme Testosterone Booster Learn More>
C4 Extreme ultra-soluble Creatine Learn More>
M5 Extreme customizable Energy & Endurance Boosters Learn More>
Special Discount Code
Although NO3 Chrome is available from stores like GNC, we’ve negotiated a special 20% off discount code direct with Cellucor themselves for you if you’d like to give it a try. To take advantage of this, click here and enter “No3Save20” at the checkout. – coupon can also be used if you wish to order over the phone.
We hope you see the great results like we have from using NO3 Chrome, thank you for taking the time to learn more about Cellucor and their products. More reviews coming soon.
-Jon
Recent Comments