In this post I’m going to review Force Factor’s Body Rush. There’s a lot of reviews out there for other Force Factor products (most of them favorable, but sounding quite fake and a few that actually go through the ingredients and say the supplements suck), but I’m not going to discuss anything but the Body Rush sports drink.
I want to apologize to Force Factor as it took me FOREVER to get this review published. I had some research and testing to do, but then I also had problems with the backend of the site (I still am, but I’m getting this review up anyways!)
First, here’s what Force Factor themselves have to say about Body Rush:
Initial Impressions of Force Factor:
When the contacted me, they left a comment on my contact page rather than emailing me…not sure what to think of that. However, from the looks of it they didn’t just contact me personally, they sent out the same message to anyone they thought could give them a little more business as the message was not personalized in any way and I do know what to think of that.
I’m a little unimpressed with that. The least they could do is spend the extra 15 seconds to personalize the request to check out their stuff – but they’re sending me a free sample to try out, so I won’t complain too much.
They also had some shipping problems…took a little longer to get the supplements than it should’ve. Not a big deal, but they went out to contact me you would’ve thought they’d be ready. However, it’s totally possible that it’s because it was done outside of the regular order system. So I guess at this point I was still neutral.
Results With Force Factor’s Body Rush:
I guess I can keep this fairly short since the reality is, I didn’t notice anything when I was taking it. Nothing positive or negative. It was weird, because there’s some stuff in there that should do at least SOMETHING, but I didn’t notice any change whatsoever.
However, my sister said that she felt more energized. Nothing spectacular, but she tried some before doing some yard work and she said it helped.
In regards to the “tastes amazing” claim, I have to say no. It doesn’t. Force Factor was kind enough to send me all three flavors (I appreciate that very much) so I tried them all. One tastes like those flavored children’s vitamins and the other two taste OK.
I’m not craving Body Rush like they say I will be. There’s actually about half of each container sitting on my counter and I told the renters in my house they could take as much as they wanted because to be honest I don’t care.
A much more effective pre-workout supplement (in my opinion) is the one in Jeff Anderson’s Homemade Supplement Secrets.
Having said that, I did some research on the ingredients (this is the first time I’ve really looked at the studies behind the ingredients), so I’ve written some information on each of the ingredients.
This is based on my limited research, and I’m continuing to research the ingredients so if I learn new things, I’ll update this post.
An In-Depth Look At Body Rush Ingredients:
Focus Enhancers
- L-Tyrosine: According to a study published in pubmed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3300376) it’s not helpful for ADD. According to another study from pubmed, which for some reason is used to say L-Tyrosine is useful, states that “tyrosine ingestion did not enhance performance during a cycling time trial after 90 min of steady-state exercise”. This study wasn’t focused on focus, but it saw no benefits from tyrosine.
- I found no evidence to support the statement that L-Tyrosine is beneficial for enhancing focus. The only people who claim to have seen an improvement are people who simply tried it themselves and performed unscientific experiments that could’ve seen positive results simply because psychologically they thought they should or any number of other reasons. In other words, there is nothing I could find that backs up L-Tyrosine
- Acetyl-L-Carnitine: After reading a number of studies there is some evidence that Acetyl-L-Carnitine could enhance focus & brain function. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any studies specifically looking at whether or not it increased focus in a healthy human, but there were a number of studies showing that it definitely improved brain function in a number of special cases.
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21870121
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21807063
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21782933
- In conclusion, there is a possibility that Acetyl-L-Carnitine could enhance focus, but I could find no definitive evidence
- N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine: Basically the same as L-Tyrosine, just absorbed into your body slightly differently.
- Caffeine Anhydrous: We already know what caffeine does. I could cite studies, but any 12 year old knows what caffeine does. Yes, it’s effective. Yes, it’s addictive. Yes, you crash afterwards. No, this is not a cheap way of getting it.
- Green Tea Extract: There is a lot of controversy around green tea. It has a number of proven health benefits…but improved focus is not among them. The more interesting thing is, when I went to do my research to figure out where the idea of improved focus may come from, each source I found claiming tea improved focus either had no real reason, or said it was because of something in the tea. However, each person said it was something different! Essentially, I found no evidence to support the suggestion that green tea extract will improve focus. But there’s no denying it has health benefits. But as with caffeine, there are much cheaper sources than Force Factor Body Rush (like maybe, a cup of tea?)
- Guarana Extract: Ah, finally something that is definitely proven to improve your brain function. Guarana improves memory retention, alertness & focus.
Energy Rush
- Taurine: Taurine is in pretty much every energy drink. But the funny part – there has been no evidence that it actually boosts energy. The other interesting thing is almost all the studies done with taurine had nothing to do with energy and they were done on rats. Now often studies done on rats have similar results to humans, but not always. So really, there is nothing out there actually proving that taurine is effective. A study performed in 2008 (^ Clauson, KA; Shields, KM; McQueen, CE; Persad, N (2008). “Safety issues associated with commercially available energy drinks”. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association : JAPhA 48 (3): e55–63; quiz e64–7. doi:10.1331/JAPhA.2008.07055. PMID 18595815.) concluded that “The amounts of guarana, taurine, and ginseng found in popular energy drinks are far below the amounts expected to deliver either therapeutic benefits or adverse events”
- L-Carnitine: If you look at acetyl l-carnitine above, that’s basically what this is, just a different absorption rate. I found no evidence that it boosts energy
- Beta-Alanine: Beta-A is effective, but it needs to be in a higher dose than what you’ll find in Force Factor’s Body Rush for it to be effective. It’s too bad really, because it’s the first ingredient that would definitely get you results.
- L-Carnitine Tartrate: Just another version of l-carnitine
- L-Carnitine Fumarate: And now a fourth version of l-carnitine
Strength Blend
- L-Leucine: Still researching…
- L-Valine: Still researching…
- L-Isoleucine: Still researching…
Advanced 3X Nitric Oxide Booster
- Arginine-Alphaketoglutarate (A-AKG): Useless. Countless studies have proven it’s useless, and still supplement companies everywhere use it. Why? I have no idea…but they really should stop wasting space with this crap.
- Arginine-Ketoisocaproate (A-IKC): Still researching…
- L-Arginine Monohydrate: Still researching…
Rapid Hydration Surge
- Dicalcium Phosphate: Still researching…
- Dipotassium Phosphate: Still researching…
- Disodium Phosphate: Still researching…
- Dimagnesium Phosphate: Still researching…
- Thiamin: Still researching…
- Riboflavin: Still researching…
- Vitamin B6: Still researching…
- Vitamin B12: Still researching…
Muscle Glucose Primer
- Glucose Polymers: Still researching…
- D-Glucose: Still researching…
Conclusion
I know there are a lot of ingredients that I haven’t fully researched, but I’ll try to do the research as fast as I can and update it here. But the truth is, even though my sister thought it worked well, I didn’t notice any difference and even if it does work, it’s not exactly cheap.
And by not exactly cheap, I mean it’s expensive. There are a lot of useless ingredients in here, and they’re just a waste of your money.
I highly recommend Homemade Supplement Secrets. You can make the supplements at home (the guide explains everything you need to know about how to do it – and it’s not hard at all) and you can make supplements without the filler ingredients, and it’s WAY cheaper (and more effective).
Jeff even tells you where to get the ingredients cheap. It’s a much better route than the Force Factor supplements in my opinion.
Shawn Horwood
You know Shawn, I appreciate your review on Force Factor Body Rush, but I have to disagree with some aspects of your review. Maybe Force Factor Body Rush didn’t work for you, but it has worked for me very good. I also have a number of gym buddies and close friends who take it as well, and have a lot of great stuff to say about it.
I don’t disagree to the fact the creators of Force Factor and other big name supplement producers always pull the wool over our eyes with all their mumbo jumbo list of ingredients and how much of it they put in it. But the main point here is that it works and does what it is supposed to do. If it didn’t people would stop buying it, and the company’s reputation would sink way below the current U.S. stock market crisis.
In your reference to the Homemade Supplement Secrets information, maybe that dude whom created has a lot of time on his hands and he is a professional body builder?!! All he ever does is workout, eat, sleep, and do it over again everyday? I’m going to be real honest with you, people whom workout and take supplements to stay healthy and keep their body in great shape definitely don’t have the time to go out and purchase a whole bunch of different ingredients and mix them together and call it day. You have to understand, majority of people want the best shortcuts in life, not the long road to paradise. The typical Joe Schmoe (like me) who has a 7 to 7 job doesn’t have time to purchase supplements, mix them together. I’m not saying it won’t work, but it is merely time issue. And I’m not being lazy, and manage my time very well throughout the day.
Basically the companies who market and produce these supplements are doing just that to make everyone’s life easier with a mild to costly price tag. I purchase a tub of the Force Factor Body Rush from GNC for $35.00 and it lasts me for about a little over a month.
Those are just my 2 cents on your review, but just my point of view over those few issues. Good luck!
I take Force Factor Body Rush 5 times a week (before each workout)
If you look at where I said I didn’t notice anything from taking it, I did mention that my sister did. So I didn’t say it’s completely useless and won’t work for anyone.
And it doesn’t do everything it’s supposed to do. It does some, but not everything. There are A LOT of supplement companies that sell supplements that don’t work, and people keep buying them. I believe Force Factor is on the verge of being one of those companies. Body Rush is nothing special – and Fit Jerk posted his review yesterday on his blog http://flawlessfitnessbook.com/blog/ and he came to the same conclusion as well as 3 of his friends who tried it. It’s just “meh”.
Just look at the ingredients in Body Rush – most of it is completely useless, and for what it does have it’s severely overpriced. But you and your friends still buy it. Yes, it’s helping a little, but it CAN’T do everything it claims simply based on what’s in it and the amounts of the ingredients.
Jeff Anderson isn’t a professional bodybuilder – and neither are the people that use his product. How does it take all day to make your own supplements?
You buy the ingredients online (doesn’t long at all especially since Jeff shows you where to get them and you don’t have to go out to different stores and find what you need), you get a few supplies for making the actual supplements (only one time) and mixing the ingredients takes hardly any time at all.
There’s not 500 ingredients in each supplement. In the preworkout one there are 6. How long does it take to mix 6 ingredients? Not much longer than mixing up a glass of Body Rush. Maybe an extra minute. And it only costs a couple bucks a month.
Yes, it’s easier to get premade supplements. Yes, they are making money by making it easier for you. But personally, I don’t like paying extra for a ton of filler ingredients and stuff that has been proven NOT to work. They didn’t even put creatine into Body Rush, and it’s has the most research proving it works.
I’m glad you like Body Rush, and I’m not telling you to stop buying it – if you like it, then go ahead and keep using it. I just personally believe it is a huge waste of money.