With seemingly no warning, a new pre workout caught our attention: OWN PWR Elite Series. It was a shocker to learn that this isn’t just another brand popping up… It is made by THE brand, Jeff Bezos’ own Amazon.
Naturally, we bought all of Amazon’s OWN PWR products right on the spot. The rest is history.
Quick Review: Amazon’s brand new OWN PWR pre workout brings the heat with a 300 mg caffeine punch packed with 6 grams of citrulline pump. Overall, its a powerful product, it just misses out in a few categories that separate good from great pre workouts.
What We Like:
- Big 6 gram dosage of L-Citrulline
- Good pricing, we got 25 servings for about $30
- Fast Amazon Prime shipping
- Fully disclosed ingredient label
What We Don’t Like:
- High-caffeine AND high-creatine
- Under-dosed beta-alanine and betaine
- No reference to formulators or anyone ‘responsible’
- Over-flavored (fruit punch flavor)
Reviewing Elite Series:
Right out the gate, OWN PWR pre workout impresses with a super-sized single-serving scoop. Seriously, it’s a heaper– about 3-4X bigger than the standard C4 serving scoop.
Taste wise, our fruit punch was strong tasting but not very pleasant. Seemed like they put way too many flavoring agents in there…. BUT, at the same time it isn’t terrible, and shouldn’t stop you from taking it if you like the performance experience. I’d rate it about 6.5/10.
Workout Experience
While in the gym, this pre workout reminded us of both Pre-Jym and NutraBio PRE Extreme. It had that same high-caffeine raw energy experience with added pump and endurance.
And like we experienced with them, the energy complex was a little rough – but still powerful.
Pump wise:
The experience was skin-tearing and overall rocking…
Amazon opted for 6 grams of straight L-citrulline as opposed to citrulline malate.
Pre workouts like Pre-Kaged and Kino Octane opt for straight l-citrulline, while legendary pre workouts like Pre-Jym, PreSeries BULK, and NutraBio PRE opt for the science backed citrulline malate.
Strength Wise:
Day one and two, the caffeine ran the show for increasing strength through CNS energy boost. However come day 3, the creatine began taking effect in a big way!
While creatine in a pre workout can make the experience a little rougher ‘feels wise’, if you’re able to get enough water in – the performance really stacks up over time.
Granted, taking a separate creatine powder on its own, outside the pre workout window is our preferred method.
Endurance Wise:
While this pre workout was great for strength and energy, we really didn’t notice any improvements in endurance.
The beta-alanine is low-dosed and there aren’t any BCAAs in this pre workout.
Post Workout Feels:
This pre workout’s kick lasted for a solid 2 hours, but after that, there was a bit of a crash. However, you can manage it pretty well by drinking plenty of water.
Overall, the crash is pretty inline with similar high-stimulant supplements. Its not by any means worse than the average.
A Critical Look at the Ingredients
Total active ingredients: 17.76 grams
Fillers, flavors, sweeteners: 4.74 grams
Active Ingredient Breakdown:
Typically, a pre workout has a brand website where they discuss their ingredients and why they included them together. OWN POWER doesn’t have any of that, so here is our breakdown on each ingredient in this pre workout.
Micronized L-Citrulline: 6 grams [Pump]
L-citrulline is added to pre workouts it increase pump. In this study, l-citrullines ability to increase nitric oxide was observed. However, that doesn’t always translate into a noticeable performance increase(4), as has been seen with l-citrulline malate (5).
Micronized Creatine Monohydrate: 5 grams [Strength]
Creatine has a proven history of improving strength, recovery, and performance as a whole.
However, its quite old school to add the clinical 5 grams of creatine to a pre workout supplement… This is due to water balance as well as the general lack of solubility creatine has in water.
Basically, it just doesn’t uptake well alongside tons of caffeine and other ingredients!
Despite this, it does still add valid and noteworthy strength gains to Amazon’s pre workout.
Beta-alanine: 2 grams [Endurance]
Beta-alanine is awesomely beneficial for improving endurance and athleticism… But 2 grams isn’t going to cut it unless you are supplementing with more throughout the day (6).
Betaine Anhydrous: 1.5 grams [Recovery]
Betaine has the potential to increase performance, recovery, and give you a bit of a pump. However results are not optimistic for low dosages, aiming for 2.5 grams is suggested to be the effective dose (7).
Micronized Taurine: 1 gram [Energy]
The usage of taurine was made popular by Red Bull, which has performed many studies evaluating the effects of taurine and caffeine on performance and energy (8) (9) (10).
It is believed to improve the energy experience, and has also been found to aid recovery alongside BCAAs.
[View article Red Bull Vs Pre Workout Vs Coffee]
Arginine Silicate Inositol: 750 mg [Pump]
This specialized form of arginine is meant to increase nitric oxide production. Does it do the job? Yes it does.
However, clinical data references a dosage of 1,500 mg per day (11) (12), not 750 mg as found in OWN PWR pre workout.
NAC: 500 mg [Focus]
N-acetyl cysteine is known for its anti-oxidant role in the body, and relationship to glutathione. Its placement in Amazon Brand’s pre workout is a bit odd.
However research suggests that NAC may improve recovery and lessen oxidative stress resulting form exercise (13). The effect on gains is still to-be-determined.
Choline Bitartrate: 500 mg [Focus]
Choline is one of the most reliable go-to pre workout focus enhancers out there. Most people are deficient in choline, and a supplemental boost noticeably raises attention and mood.
Caffeine Anhydrous: 300 mg [Energy]
As you would expect, Amazon Brand included a hefty dose of caffeine in there pre workout. From the looks of it, as if ‘more is better’. This is the same dosage of caffeine found in many high stimulant pre workouts… So rookies, consider their lesser caffeinated option.
Theacrine: 25 mg [Energy + Focus]
Theacrine is an interesting cognitive enhancer. Similar to caffeine, it became super popular under the assumption that you can’t build a tolerance to it, like with caffeine (14).
However, we’ve personally noticed headaches at times from constant usage. Plus it takes a lot of artificial flavors to mask the strong taste.
Toothed Clubmoss Extract: 50 mcg [Focus]
It is our understanding that Toothed Clubmoss is a natural source of Huperzine A, which increases choline levels in the brain (15).
As you’d expect, this boosts mood and cognitive performance (16).
Verdict on OWN PWR Pre Workout made by Amazon
Overall, Amazon Brand OWN PWR Elite Series pre workout is a powerhouse. Compared to pre workouts like Pre-JYM and PreSeries BULK, OWN PWR’s is a little weaker and supports less endurance.
However it does pack that creatine, which delivers a strong punch over time.
Additional Considerations: OWN PWR Brand Story?
Something that troubles us with this product, and the Amazon Brand OWN PWR as a whole – is who is running the show? Who is responsible for these supplements, their dosages, etc.?
Pre workout supplements should be made by professionals who are passionate about the industry, not a giant conglomerate company making products based off of sales trends…
