As more and more pre-workouts come onto the scene, we’re seeing a lot that emphasize the mental side of training as much as strength, pumps, and the other “classic” benefits.
Kinetic Pre-Workout is one such supplement that caught our eye due to its somewhat unique ingredient profile and advertised benefits for both physical AND mental performance during training.
In this Kinetic Pre-Workout review, we’ll go over the ingredients, possible benefits, pricing, and how it compares to other pre-workouts to see if it’s really worth buying!
Kinetic Pre-Workout Review Highlights
- This formula has 250mg of caffeine, so be mindful of your total daily caffeine intake
- Kinetic is particularly designed for focus, stress/fatigue management, and endurance
- It costs a little more than some pre-workouts but is still under $2/serving
- Kinetic has artificial flavors and sweeteners, which may not be suitable for some people
- This formula could even be used as a nootropic on days when you don’t workout
About Kinetic Pre-Workout
Kinetic is advertised as a mushroom-enhanced pre-workout, created by Ambrosia Collective. The term “mushroom-enhanced” refers to the blend of lion’s mane, cordyceps, and reishi, which are medicinal mushrooms designed to improve mental and physical performance.
The Kinetic formula contains several other pre-workout ingredients, including three forms of caffeine, as well as alpha-GPC, bacopa, and more! Together, these ingredients are designed to make Kinetic a very unique and effective pre-workout formula, especially for energy, focus, and power.
Kinetic Pre-Workout Benefits
Ambrosia Collective promotes Kinetic Pre-Workout is an innovative pre-workout formula with several key benefits, including:
- Sustained Energy
- Enhanced Focus
- Increased Strength & Power
- Stress Management
Sustained Energy
Kinetic Pre-Workout contains a variety of caffeine sources, functional mushrooms, and herbs such as eleuthero, which they say work together to give you ramped-up energy levels that sustain you through your whole workout, with no crash later.
It’s specifically formulated to fight against both mental and physical fatigue so you can give your workouts your all.
Enhanced Focus
Kinetic is also advertised to enhance focus during your training, leading to a more productive workout. This formula contains AlphaSize alpha-GPC, Neurofactor coffee fruit, lion’s mane, and other ingredients designed to boost acetylcholine and other key neurotransmitters, while supporting overall mental performance and brain health.
Increased Strength & Power
Creatine monohydrate is also included in Kinetic in order to boost your strength and power output. Other ingredients that may help with strength and power include caffeine and alpha-GPC.
Together, these ingredients are meant to help you lift more and see better results in the gym.
Stress Management
A hard workout is critical to getting results, but you have to be able to recover from the stress of it. That’s why Kinetic contains eleuthero, functional mushrooms, and other ingredients, which they say help your body adapt to stress and ultimately come back fitter than before.
Altogether, Kinetic is formulated to stand apart from other pre-workouts and give you top-notch results. But how well does it actually work?
Keep reading to find out!
Kinetic Pre-Workout Ingredients
Kinetic Pre-Workout contains 13 active ingredients. It’s a mix of mushrooms, amino acids, herbs, and other compounds, several of which are in trademarked forms.
Below are Kinetic’s ingredients:
- Creatine Monohydrate
- Organic Mushroom Performance Blend:
- Organic Lion’s Mane
- Organic Reishi
- Organic Cordyceps
- Eleuthero Extract
- L-Carnitine L-Tartrate
- Bacognize Bacopa Extract
- Energy Blend:
- CoffeeBerry Energy
- Di-Caffeine Malate
- Caffeine Anhydrous
- AlphaSize Alpha-GPC
- Neurofactor Coffee Extract
- Huperzia Serrata Extract
Creatine Monohydrate (3,000mg)
Creatine monohydrate is one of the most well-researched compounds out there. It gets stored in the muscles as phosphocreatine, where it helps your muscles use energy during intense training.
Some of the main benefits are increased strength and power. Plus, it even supports cognitive function.
3g per serving is a bit low, but still a decent amount that can contribute some benefits to your workout.
Organic Mushroom Performance Blend (1,500mg)
The Organic Mushroom Performance Blend contains organic sources of lion’s mane, reishi, and cordyceps, which are all medicinal mushrooms (and all dosed at 500mg each).
These mushrooms contain several bioactive compounds that can improve health, especially polysaccharides, terpenes, and polyphenols.
There’s evidence that these mushrooms and their compounds have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, while also supporting cognitive function and stress management.
Cordyceps mushroom, in particular, has been shown to increase endurance and improve exercise performance. But lion’s mane and reishi offer general benefits too.
These won’t “knock your socks off,” but people have noticed a mild to moderate boost in energy and just feeling stronger and more vital overall.
Eleuthero Extract (800mg)
Eleuthero, also known as Siberian ginseng, is a commonly used herb to combat stress and improve performance.
It can work within the body to reduce fatigue and improve mental and physical endurance, so it can be a great companion during stressful, intense training sessions. It’s backed up well by research too, showing benefits for endurance, strength, and mental performance.
It’s a pretty unique ingredient, although a few other pre-workouts like Swolverine, have it in their formulas.
L-Carnitine L-Tartrate (800mg)
L-carnitine is a natural compound that can help the body use fat for energy. The carnitine l-tartrate form is highly bioavailable and likely has better effects than some other forms.
Supplementing might help increase energy levels, which may also boost strength and improve high-intensity exercise. But consider that the effects aren’t huge, and the dose in Kinetic is lower than ideal (typically you want at least 1g).
Bacognize Bacopa Extract (250mg)
Bacognize is a trademarked form of bacopa extract, which is an herb often used for brain health. Bacopa and its compounds can increase serotonin and acetylcholine, which are important for mood, focus, and general mental function. Plus, bacopa has antioxidant effects on the brain and supports overall brain health.
Clinical research on the specific form of Bacognize also shows that it improves cognitive function, so it may be able to give you a little boost in focus during your workouts.
Energy Blend (250mg)
The Energy Blend contains three sources of caffeine, providing 250mg of total caffeine:
- 125mg from CoffeeBerry Energy
- 75mg from Di-Caffeine Malate
- 50mg from Caffeine Anhydrous
This provides a high amount of caffeine that supports alertness, motivation, and energy. Plus, caffeine can also increase endurance and other aspects of exercise performance.
Kinetic is unique in that it doesn’t just include caffeine anhydrous. In fact, that’s the smallest part of this formula.
And the two other sources have some unique benefits too. For example, CoffeeBerry Energy provides a unique antioxidant profile. And di-caffeine malate is slower-acting, which may lead to longer-lasting effects during your workout.
It’s not going to be a huge difference from regular caffeine, but it’s still something to consider.
AlphaSize (100mg)
AlphaSize is a trademarked form of alpha-GPC, which is a highly bioavailable choline compound.
Alpha-GPC increases acetylcholine levels, which not only affects focus and mental performance; it also boosts muscle force via stronger contractions.
This can potentially lead to improved strength and power during your workouts, although the dose in Kinetic is lower than ideal (at least 300mg).
Neurofactor Coffee Fruit Extract (100mg)
Neurofactor is a trademarked whole coffee fruit extract. It is high in antioxidants and also contains compounds that can affect the brain.
Specific research on Neurofactor showed its ability to induce several effects in the brain that ultimately enhance attention and reaction times.
Unsurprisingly, it’s also found in various nootropics, such as BPN In Focus.
Huperzia Serrata Extract (10mg)
Huperzia serrata is an herb often used for cognitive improvements. It contains a compound called huperzine A, which increases acetylcholine levels.
This can possibly boost focus, but some research shows no benefits during exercise.
Does Kinetic Pre-Workout Work?
Based on the evidence, Kinetic should offer some benefits for your workouts, although there are some ways it could be better too.
On the one hand, Kinetic Pre-Workout contains a lot of quality ingredients that have been shown to boost energy, improve focus, and increase strength and endurance.
However, not all of these are dosed in the ideal range. Caffeine, eleuthero, and bacopa are all dosed pretty well, but creatine, alpha-GPC, and the mushrooms are dosed a little bit lower than ideal.
The amounts for those are still at least pretty good though, so they still have potential benefits. Just not as strong as they could be.
How Does Kinetic Pre-Workout Compare?
Kinetic is a unique pre-workout that focuses a bit more on stress management and mental performance compared to most pre-workouts, while still having the other possible benefits for energy, strength, and endurance.
The ingredient list is solid, although this formula doesn’t have any pump/nitric oxide ingredients like citrulline, nor does it contain other common ingredients like beta-alanine.
This doesn’t necessarily decrease the effectiveness; you just have to be mindful of the benefits you’re looking for.
Prevail Pre-Workout
Prevail Pre-Workout by Jay Cutler Nutrition contains a higher dose of alpha-GPC, while also offering citrulline, taurine, and tyrosine. However, Kinetic contains higher amounts of caffeine and Neurofactor. And Prevail doesn’t have any of the functional mushrooms or herbs, such as eleuthero.
Based on the formulations, Prevail is more of an all-around, general preworkout supplement, whereas Kinetic is more useful for specific benefits such as endurance, stress management, and mental performance.
Thavage Pre-Workout
Thavage Pre-Workout is a very well-rounded product that offers a variety of benefits. The formula includes caffeine, citrulline, beta-alanine, betaine, alpha-GPC, bitter orange, vitamins, minerals, and several other ingredients.
Due to its comprehensive ingredient profile, Thavage has potential effects on strength, energy, pumps, focus, endurance, and total workout performance.
It probably has the edge over Kinetic if you’re looking for a complete preworkout with as many benefits as possible. But with that said, Kinetic contains unique adaptogens not found in Thavage, so Kinetic is likely better for stress and fatigue management.
Who is Kinetic Pre-Workout Best For?
Kinetic Pre-Workout is best for individuals who want a pre-workout with various benefits, but especially an emphasis on focus, endurance, mental performance, and stress/fatigue management.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Several research-backed ingredients
- Emphasis on focus, endurance, and stress management
- Good doses for caffeine, eleuthero, and bacopa
- Only need one scoop
- Third-party tested
Cons
- High price
- Some ingredients are underdosed
- Contains artificial flavors & sweeteners
How to Take Kinetic Pre-Workout
The serving size of Kinetic is one scoop. They don’t specify exactly when to take it, but most people take preworkouts about 20 to 30 minutes before training.
Is Kinetic Pre-Workout Safe?
Kinetic Pre-Workout should generally be safe for most people to take, although there are possible side effects, such as:
- Jitters
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Headache
- Allergic reactions
- Mood changes
- Dizziness
- Heartburn
- Upset stomach
Kinetic Pre-Workout also contains artificial flavors and sweeteners, which may not align with some people’s dietary preferences or restrictions.
It is made in a cGMP-compliant, FDA-registered facility and is third-party tested.
Where to Buy Kinetic Pre-Workout
You can buy Kinetic on the Ambrosia Collective website.
There are 24 servings (24 scoops) per container. It comes in three flavors:
- Blue Raspberry
- Watermelon Candy
- Strawberry Guava
The regular price is $46.99 ($1.96/serving), but you can save 5% with their Subscribe & Save option, which lowers the cost to $42.74 ($1.78/serving).
Kinetic is priced a little bit higher than most pre-workouts, although it’s still in a reasonable range, especially considering that it’s higher-quality than most too.
Verdict: Kinetic Pre-Workout Review
Kinetic Pre-Workout is a good overall pre-workout, especially if you’re looking for a boost in energy, focus, and endurance. Plus, the adaptogens in this formula make it beneficial for stress management, which is something not many other pre-workouts offer.
The doses for some ingredients could be a bit higher, and there are some issues with artificial flavors and sweeteners. But overall, Kinetic is one of the more carefully-crafted pre-workout supplements out there and has a higher potential to actually give you the benefits you’re after.
Ratings
- Ingredient Quality: 4.3
- Ingredient Dosage: 3.9
- Effectiveness: 4.1
- Safety: 3.9
- Value: 4.0
- Comparison to Alternatives: 4.0
- Company Trustworthiness: 4.0
