Our bodies naturally produce energy by metabolizing and converting the food we eat into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) via the mitochondria located in each one of our cells. That’s why it’s so important to ensure you eat a healthy, balanced, and regular diet throughout the day.
Despite our body’s natural ability to produce energy, many of us experience periods of tiredness and exhaustion at certain points of the day — even if we’re eating the right diet. This can be quite frustrating for anyone, especially if you have plans or a to-do list that needs to get done.
That’s why so many people turn to energy drinks, such as Monster, Red Bull, Rockstar, and Bang. These energy drinks contain a lot of caffeine and other chemicals, which certainly give you that boost of energy you’ve been searching for, but they’re also extremely unhealthy.
Instead of turning to those harmful energy drinks, most people would benefit from a healthy energy-boosting supplement — such as Performance Lab Stim. The question is, though, is this the right energy booster for your needs? Don’t worry; we’re going to detail everything you need to know about this particular supplement and if you should consider it in this complete review of Performance Lab Stim.
What Is Performance Lab Stim?
Performance Lab Stim is one of the most popular energy-boosting supplements on the market today. It’s produced and manufactured by Performance Lab Ltd., a secondary company of Opti-Nutra Ltd. — one of the most trustworthy and effective supplement brands available today.
Performance Lab Ltd. is home to a wide range of different supplements designed for both sport and healthy living. They have two product categories — SPORT Range and CORE Range — with Performance Lab Stim falling under their CORE Range line. Here’s a look at what they offer:
- SPORT Range – includes Protein, Carb, BCAA, Pre, Post, Main, and SPORTMixer.
- CORE Range – includes Energy, Stim, MCT, Multi Men’s, Multi Women’s, Omega 3, PL-Immune, Mind, Sleep, Prebiotic, and Flex.
Performance Lab Stim’s formula is a rather basic formula that contains just three ingredients, as well as four vitamins, but don’t let that fool you. It focuses on giving your body what it needs for a fast-acting energy boost, while avoiding all those harmful chemicals that your body simply doesn’t need.
Unlike their Performance Lab Energy formula, their Stim formula contains natural caffeine. The good news is it’s such a small amount of caffeine that it won’t harm you. It also contains two other ingredients that help alleviate some of the unwanted and annoying side effects of caffeine.
Before we dive deeper into what those ingredients are and how they work in conjunction with one another, we’re going to explain a little bit more about what this supplement is, why you can trust it, how to avoid those caffeine side effects, and how to avoid consuming too much caffeine.
What do stimulants do to the body?
Stimulants are a class of drugs that can have beneficial effects on the body, but only when used in the right circumstance. They work by stimulating the nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord, by increasing the brain’s production of catecholamines (neurotransmitters).
These neurotransmitters include dopamine, epinephrine (adrenaline), and norepinephrine (noradrenaline). They are responsible for signalling reward and motivation in the brain, which can increase an individual’s energy and level of alertness — among other things in the body.
The most popular stimulant that’s consumed by nearly everyone is caffeine, though there are others that fall under this category — including nicotine, cocaine, Methamphetamine, MDMA, amphetamines, methylphenidate, and other prescription stimulants more harmful than caffeine.
How much caffeine is too much?
Caffeine is found in a variety of beverages that most of us consume daily. For example, it can be found in coffee, tea, soda, energy drinks, espresso, iced tea, hot chocolate, and even dark chocolate. It’s no surprise that most of us often rely on caffeine to help us get through the day.
Although it’s a big part of most people’s daily diet (and comes with some major benefits), caffeine can be extremely dangerous when too much is consumed. To be safe, the FDA recommends never consuming more than 400mg of any type of caffeine per day.
For reference, that’s equal to around four cups of coffee, two energy drinks, or 10 cans of soda. For those that rely on two cups of coffee, an energy drink, and a can of soda each day, you’re already over the limit and should definitely cut back — as well as avoid adding a supplement.
Is it possible to avoid crashes and jitters with caffeine?
When we consume caffeine, whether it be in the form of coffee, espresso, soda, or an energy drink, there’s no doubt it speeds up our central nervous system and makes us feel awake. With that said, it doesn’t come free and often results in a wide range of side effects in the body.
Two of the most common side effects of caffeine include jitters and an eventual crash. Both of these can make consuming caffeine a wild ride that can easily put a damper on your day, especially if that crash comes earlier than expected and you still have work to do for the day.
The good news is there are ways to reduce these side effects. One of the best ways is with an amino acid called L-Theanine, which is naturally found in tea. It reduces stress, increases Alpha brain waves, promotes dopamine and serotonin production, and regulates blood pressure levels.
L-Tyrosine is another amino acid that can help reduce the side effects. It helps the brain perform when under stress or in high-pressured situations, as well as supporting the production of catecholamines in the brain. Together, L-Theanine and L-Tyrosine are necessary with caffeine. If caffeine is a larger issue for you and you want to cut it out completely, Performance Lab Energy is caffeine-free as well as other energy supplements such as Energy Renew.
Can you trust Performance Lab with your supplement?
We’re going to dive into the ingredients found in the Performance Lab Stim formula below, but you’re likely wondering what makes Performance Lab such a reputable and trustworthy supplement brand. After all, there are so many other companies that come with similar claims.
Performance Lab is intent on ensuring a quality product by not only using the right ingredients, but using the right nutrient form of each ingredient and the right dosage. This ensures your body is familiar with the nutrients it’s getting and that your body gets those nutrients at the right time.
They operate out of a facility that’s FDA-registered, NSF cGMP compliant, NPA-certified, UL-certified, 21 CFR Part 111 compliant, Prop 65 compliant, USDA Organic certified, meet USP standards, HACCP-certified, STR-certified, ESC compliant, and US Pharmacopeia certified.
As a cherry on top, their Stim formula is prebiotic-infused, utilizes lab-grown vitamins, is GMP-certified, vegan-friendly, non-GMO, non-irradiated, and free of synthetic additives, soy, gluten, allergens, and banned substances. It’s an all-around good product, which is rare today.
Performance Lab Stim Ingredients
Now that we fully understand the background behind the Performance Lab company and Stim formula, we can start to embrace what makes this formula so popular and effective. That’s right; we’re finally going to take a good, hard look at the ingredients that make up the Stim formula.
There are seven total ingredients — Vitamin B2, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B9, Vitamin B12, Natural Caffeine, L-Theanine, and L-Tyrosine. Together, these ingredients help support a boost of energy and mental alertness, while also helping relieve those nasty side effects and calm the nerves.
Let’s take a closer look!
Vitamins
Vitamins are organic compounds that the body needs in small, trace amounts — either because the body doesn’t produce them on its own or because the body doesn’t produce enough of them. The Stim formula contains four of them, all of which are in the B-Complex Vitamins group.
Let’s see what makes them so special:
- Vitamin B2 – also known as Riboflavin, a water-soluble vitamin, known for red blood cell formation, energy production, antioxidant properties, and cell growth.
- Vitamin B6 – also known as Pyridoxine, a water-soluble vitamin, known for synthesizing and converting brain chemicals, immunity, blood cell formation, transporting oxygen, cognitive function, energy production, nervous system, and blood sugar levels.
- Vitamin B9 – also known as Folate (natural) or Folic Acid (synthetic), a water-soluble vitamin, known for DNA synthesis, forming new cells, and energy production.
- Vitamin B12 – also known as Cobalamin, water-soluble vitamin, known for energy metabolism, heart health, nervous system health, and cognitive function.
To make these vitamins even more effective, Performance Lab curates them in a lab through a process they call NutriGenesis®. They do this by seeding live single-cell organisms with the micronutrients in a hydroponic medium. They’re equivalent to what you get through whole foods.
Natural Caffeine
Benefits: improve memory, increase energy and alertness, decrease fatigue, enhance cognitive function, improved mood, enhanced athletic performance, and increased metabolism
Source: Coffea robusta seeds from the Coffea canephora plant, contains more caffeine than a Coffea arabica plant (which most people use for coffee); robusta seeds originate from Western Africa
Recommended Dosage: no more than 400mg per day
Actual Dosage: 50mg per day
Side Effects: caffeine overdose if consuming more than what’s recommended (shakiness, restlessness, insomnia, headaches, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, dehydration, anxiety, and addiction)
L-Theanine
Benefits: crosses the blood-brain barrier, lowers blood pressure, relaxes and calms the nerves, boosts cognitive function, improves focus and mood, balances brain chemistry, boosts alpha and theta brain waves, increases GABA, serotonin, and dopamine levels, reduces side effects of caffeine
Source: non-dietary amino acid, structurally similar to L-Glutamine and L-Glutamate, commonly found in green tea and Xerocomus badius (mushroom)
Recommended Dosage: 200-800mg per day
Actual Dosage: 100mg per day
Side Effects: non-toxic and generally regarded as safe for consumption, shouldn’t be mixed with medication for high blood pressure
L-Tyrosine
Benefits: boosts cognitive function, boosts catecholamine levels in the brain, improves cognitive performance under stress or in high-pressured situations, works in conjunction with stimulants, stimulates the production of T3 and T4 thyroid hormones, boosts libido, memory, focus, concentration, and mood
Source: amino acid, converted into L-DOPA in the brain with the help of tyrosine hydroxylase (enzyme), which is then converted into dopamine, excess dopamine is converted into noradrenaline and adrenaline with the help of dopamine-beta-hydroxylase
Recommended Dosage: 350-1,000mg per day
Actual Dosage: 250mg per day
Side Effects: non-toxic and generally regarded as safe for consumption, but can experience stomach issues and nausea when taken in higher doses than what’s recommended
Performance Lab Stim Dosage, Packaging, & Pricing
The entire Performance Lab supplement line comes in similar packaging, so it’s easily recognizable by those that are fans of the brand. Their Stim packaging is unique for its orange gradient box on the front of the label, along with the “+” logo in the top right of the square.
The capsules come in a white bottle with a white cap and black lettering. There aren’t a lot of claims listed on the label, and it has a minimalist design to it. The box that the bottle comes in mimics the same design as the bottle. Overall, it’s a clean, basic, and not-so-busy package.
Each bottle comes equipped with 30 capsules, and you’re directed to take one capsule per day. It’ll cost you $39 per bottle (one-month supply), but you can save quite a bit of money by purchasing three bottles at once ($117) because they’ll gift you a free bottle — a great deal!
Get up to 25% off Performance Lab StimWe scour the web for the best deals on supplements. Want to save up to 25% on Performance Lab Stim? Click the button below to check out the deal!GET THE BEST PRICEPerformance Lab Stim Pros vs. Cons
We’ve learned a lot about this supplement above, including how it works, how trustworthy it is, what ingredients are in the formula, how well those ingredients work together, and how effective it is when taken daily. Overall, we have a lot of good things to say about Performance Lab Stim.
With that said, you might still be on the fence about whether this is the right supplement for you — or you might be looking for a quick summary of everything we’ve learned thus far. Don’t worry; we’re going to list out everything there is to know about this formula in a pros vs. cons list below!
Pros
- NutriGenesis® vitamins that are lab-grown to be just as good as those found in whole foods
- Vitamins B2, B6, B9, and B12 improve energy metabolism
- Natural Caffeine gives you an energy boost and improves cognitive function
- L-Theanine helps reduce the side effects of caffeine while relaxing and calming the nerves
- L-Tyrosine helps the body perform better when under stress or in high-pressured situations
- Only 50mg of caffeine, which is a safe dosage for most people
- NutriCaps® capsules are vegan-friendly and infused with prebiotics for easier absorption
- 00-size capsules that are easy to swallow
- 30-day money-back guarantee and worldwide shipping
- Free bottle when purchasing three bottles at once
- Validated by a third party, eco-friendly, non-GMO, vegan-friendly, GMP-certified, soy-free, synthetic additive-free, soy-free, gluten-free, allergen-free, free of banned substances, and non-irradiated
- Only need to take one capsule per day
- Not that expensive for a caffeine-containing supplement
Cons
- 50mg isn’t a huge dose, but you can take several doses per day (if safe to do so)
- Shouldn’t be taken if you already consume a large amount of caffeine per day
- Not available in retail stores or on Amazon, just on their website
- Not going to work well for everyone, but that’s true with ANY supplement
Claims vs. Reality
If you’re looking for an energy-boosting supplement that contains caffeine, this is the one for you. With most energy-boosting supplements (including energy drinks) today, they contain an unhealthy amount of caffeine and a world of other ingredients that the body doesn’t need.
That’s not true with Performance Lab Stim. It contains just enough caffeine to give you the energy boost you need while avoiding all the ingredients that either don’t work or put you in harm’s way. As long as you consume no more than 300mg of caffeine, this is a safe dose.
Not only that, but the additions of L-Theanine and L-Tyrosine only make this supplement better. They help you avoid those terrible side effects of caffeine while relaxing you, helping you perform under stress, and calming your nerves for a soothing and comfortable energy boost.
The inclusion of Vitamins B2, B6, B9, and B12 are just the cherry on top, giving your body the necessary vitamins to help improve energy metabolism. Overall, this supplement does exactly what it says it’ll do and won’t lead to any surprises once consumed — which is a good thing!
Performance Lab Stim Competitors & Alternatives
With most supplements that we review, we often go through some of the most popular and effective competitors or alternatives. With Performance Lab Stim, that’s not really necessary due to how good this formula is. To be honest, there aren’t many competitors to speak of.
While Performance Lab Stim is in a league of its own, there are several other Performance Lab supplements that you can stack with it to make it even better. If you’re looking to increase the benefits on a daily basis, we’re going to detail some of the best formulas to stack with Stim!
Let’s take a look!
Performance Lab Energy
If you’re not interested in adding caffeine to your daily diet or are looking for double the energy without double the caffeine, then you need a little Performance Lab Energy in your life. Instead of caffeine, it focuses on boosting energy at the cellular level by fueling your cell’s mitochondria.
There are four ingredients in the formula that do this — Acetyl-L-Carnitine, R-Lipoic Acid, BioPQQ, and Coenzyme Q10. It also contains a healthy dose of BioPerine, which improves nutrient absorption for an even more effective formula. Overall, it’s a safe and effective formula.
Each bottle costs you $49 and comes with 60 capsules. You’ll be directed to take two capsules every day, so each bottle will last you a month. The good news is you can take advantage of the same deal that was offered with Stim — buy three bottles, get one bottle free (total of $147).
Performance Lab Mind
Performance Lab Mind is one of the most popular and effective nootropics on the market today. It has a highly efficient formula that’s designed to boost brain energy, support focus, mood, memory, cognitive speed, and motivation, as well as enhance recovery from cognitive stress.
There are only four ingredients in the formula. It contains Citicoline and Phosphatidylserine, which improve cognitive health and function. L-Tyrosine improves performance under stress, and Maritime Pine Bark Extract improves blood flow to the brain and provides antioxidants.
There’s a lot to like about this formula, ensuring that your brain gets everything it needs and nothing it doesn’t. Each bottle costs you $49, and you’ll only need to take one capsule per day for results. You can also take advantage of the buy three, get one free deal, like the other formulas.
Performance Lab Vision
When you’re improving your energy levels and cognitive function, why not improve your vision as well? That’s where Performance Lab Vision comes in to save the day. It supports pristine vision, eye health, sharp visual performance, reflexes, focus, motion detection, and glare.
The formula contains seven highly effective ingredients, including European Freeze-Dried Blackcurrant, European Blackcurrant Extract, European Bilberry Extract, Lutein, Zeaxanthin, Astaxanthin, and Saffron. It’ll give you everything your eyes need and nothing your eyes don’t.
Each bottle comes with 30 capsules, and you’ll only need to take one capsule per day for effective results. A one-month supply will cost you $39, and you can earn a free bottle by purchasing three bottles at once. Don’t wait any longer, and pick up your first bottle today!
Final Verdict: Performance Lab Stim
Performance Lab Stim is one of the best energy-boosting supplements you’ll find on the market today. It’s safe and effective; that way, you don’t have to worry about consuming any harmful or unnecessary ingredients — which most energy supplements and energy drinks today contain.
If you’re looking to increase your energy levels, even more, you can add their Performance Lab Energy formula to your daily routine without adding any more caffeine. You can also improve cognitive function with Performance Lab Mind and eye function with Performance Lab Vision.
Either way, you know you’re getting a trustworthy and quality supplement when you shop Performance Lab. We mean it when we say they’re in a league of their own, and they have a wide range of supplements for you to choose from — so go buck wild in their online store today!
More reviews of Performance Lab products:
- Performance Lab MCT Oil Review
- Performance Lab Nutrigenesis Multi Review
- Performance Lab Energy Review
- Performance Lab Omega-3 Review
- Performance Lab T-Booster Review
- Performance Lab Burn Review
- Performance Lab Mind Review
- Performance Lab Prebiotic Review
- Performance Lab Sleep Review
- Performance Lab Flex Review
