The last 5 years there has been an absolute craze in the bodybuilding supplement industry over Nitric Oxide (NO) supplements. Many bodybuilders have not looked at the research and just listened to what other bodybuilders or supplement companies have said. The supplement companies promise increased muscle growth, pumps, vascularity, and even sexual benefits. However, NO supplements may really be the biggest supplement scam to ever hit the bodybuilding industry.

What are NO (Nitric Oxide) supplements?

NO supplements contain some form of arginine, an amino acid. There are many different forms of arginine compounds in the NO supplements today, promising to be better than the other. The goal of NO supplements are to have the arginine break down into NO (Nitric Oxide) into the blood. Arginine can break down into the bloodstream by enzymatic action, into citruline and Nitric Oxide. NO is a vasodilator and is thought to play a role in muscle building. There is some research showing NO levels increase post workout, leading some bodybuilders to believe it is crucial to protein synthesis. Many have theorized that because NO supplements increase blood flow due to NO in the blood, that increased blood flow from NO leads to better muscle growth. NO in the blood is also the same mechanism by which viagra works too.

NO (Nitric Oxide) studies

There is not one single legitimate scientific study showing arginine supplements taken orally directly increase NO levels in the blood by a significant level. Yes, that is right you have all have been duped by the supplement companies and bodybuilding “gurus” for years now!

Now I did mention earlier, arginine does convert to NO so, why doesn’t arginine supplements increase NO in the blood? Arginine indeed does increase NO levels in the blood, but only when taken intravaneously. Why? Because if you took the doses orally that required a big increase in NO, you would be a vomiting mess. Arginine causes extreme nausea at high doses, that is why all the studies at high doses were done intravaneously. Unfortunately, the upper limit for oral doses, doesn’t seem to increase NO levels much.

Every few months there is a new “male enhancement” pill showing up on T.V. The newest fads are Extenze and Magna-Rx+. Although they call them male enhancement pills, the advertisements lead you to think they are for penis enlargement and increasing erection strength and stamina. At least that is what they are supposed to do. Some supplement manafacturers have gotten sued over making similiar claims in the past. Is Extenze or Magna-RX anything different than these past male enhancement pills or is it just the same hype under a new name?

Extenze Review:

The easiest way to know if something works is to see what the ingredients are.

Serving Size: 1 Tablet Servings Per Container: 30
Folate (Folic Acid) 400mcg
Zinc (as Oxide) 25mg

Extenze Male Prohormone Support
Micronized DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone)
Pregnenolone (3?-hydroxypregn-5-en-20-one)

Extenze Bio-Enhancement Support
Black Pepper (seed)
Piper Longum (seed)
Ginger (root)

Extenze Sexual Responce Enhancement Support 600mg
Medically Designed, Proprietary Blend of the finest quality herbal and nutritional Sexual Response Enhancement Support Ingredients:

Yohimbe Extract (bark) Provides 12.5mg yohimbine alkaloids
Tribulus terrestris Extract (aerial part and fruit) Provides 50mg furanosterols
Korean Ginseng Extract (root) Standardized to 10% ginsenosides
Cnidium monnier (seed)
Eleutherococcus Extract (root) Standardized to .8% eleuthrosides
Xanthroparmelia scarbrosa (aerial part)
Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - GABA
Velvet Deer Antler
Horney Goat Weed (leaf)
Damiana (leaf)
Muira puama Extract (stem)
Pumpkin (seed)
Stinging Nettle (root)
Astragalus (root)
Licorice Extract (root)
l-Arginine Hydrochloride
Ho Shou Wu Extract (root)
Hops (Strobile) Extract (blossom)
Boron (as Chelate)

Most of these herbs and minerals are pretty well known, but many are unproven and even debatable on how well they work. DHEA is a precursor to testosterone, estrogen, and other hormones and has been used by middle aged men as a hormone replacement. DHEA may give a long term benefit to boosting your sexual health through improving your hormone levels. The yohimbe extract is a popular bodybuilding stimulant used for fat loss, but it also has been used commercially for erections and sexual stamina. Yohimbe does seem to increase libido, erection strength, and sexual stamina. Tribulus terrestris extract ancedotally has been thought to be an aphrodesiac and there is some research on rats I have found, that may support that. Zinc is good for boosting testosterone levels as it prevents the conversion of testosterone to dht. It also is good for prostate health. Ginseng will only give you more energy. Velvet deer antler and horny goat weed have been for years thought of as aphrodesiacs, but how well they actually work is debateable. L-arginine is a common ingredient for bodybuilders to increase muscle building and pumps. It is thought to cause a increase in NO in the blood, dilating the vessels. This is the same mechanism by which viagra works. However, there is a lot of new research studies showing that arginine supplementation does not effect NO levels in blood unless it is intravaneously injected. Most of the other herbs are unproven and just sort of thrown together. Extenze is basically a combination of herbs, stimulants, amino acids, minerals, pro-hormones, aphrodesiacs (some that work some that probably don’t), and a bunch of other herbs that probably don’t work. They throw a little bit of everything, proven or unproven.

Magna-RX+ Review:

Magna-RX+ has many of the same ingredients of Extense, but not quite as many.

L-Arginine, Nettle Leaf, Cayenne, Muira Puama, OrchicSubstance, Oyster Meat, Tribulus, Zinc, Sarsparilla, Astragalus, Licorice Root, Pumpkin Seed, Boron, Pygeum, Maca, Catauba, Horney Goat Weed, Oat Straw

The biggest ingredient in Magna-RX is L-Arginine, which as said earlier doesn’t work for erections.

Does Magna-RX+ and Extense work?

If your looking for something to increase your penis size, then forget it. These pills definitely won’t do that, just like none of the previous “male enhancement pills” did. I think men thinking it might help increase their penis size is probably why most buy these male enhancement pills to begin with. If you want something to increase your energy, sexual stamina, and erection hardness, then Extenze probably could help. They add so many different ingredients, it should help you, especially if you are already struggling with weak erections or lack of stamina.

Magna-RX on the other hand probably won’t do much because it contains less ingredients, most of which are unproven herbs. Their main ingredient is L-arginine, which recent research is showing just doesn’t work when taken orally, for increasing NO levels in the blood to help with erections.

You may have stumbled on other glutamine reviews at other sites and many bodybuilders raving how well glutamine preserved their muscles during cutting. This article is going to be different than most, I’m going to tell you something that I’ve known all along:

Let’s first look at some Glutamine studies to see why I say this.

Glutamine research studies

J Strength Cond Res 17(3):425-438, 2003 published a study of 29 lifters on a strength training program. They were in 3 groups, creatine only, placebo, and glutamine and creatine. Both creatine groups gained muscle more than placebo, however no difference between the non-glutamine and the glutamine creatine combo. OK, but that is one study, why should we believe only one study? The same group actually did a seperate study, this time with ribose, glutamine, and effervescent creatine. Once again, no differences in muscle gains between the glutamine groups.

Still not convinced by these two studies?

I found a study done way back in 2001 published by Eur J Appl Physiol 86:142-149, 2001. I don’t know why no one knew about this study until recently, but it would have probably changed some peoples minds about Glutamine a long time ago. The study had 31 volunteers weight train for 6 weeks. There was no differences between those who supplemented glutamine (.4 grams per lb of bodyweight) and those who took placebo (maltodextrin). So we now have 3 studies showing that glutamine has absolutely nothing to do with muscle gains.

Glutamine study during dieting

Some of you may be pointing out the fact, that glutamine has usually been only recommended for bodybuilders who are dieting, to preserve their muscle. Well, I found a study that proves that glutamine doesn’t even help muscle preservation during dieting either! Another study in 2003 Published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2003) 2, 163-168 had 18 athletes for 12 days take glutamine at 0.16 g/ lb per bodyweight, while they were cutting. They saw absolutely no difference in muscle preservation between the groups.

The research overwhelmingly shows that glutamine is not good for bulking or cutting, despite almost every website and bodybuilder giving it a positive review for the last decade. I personally tried glutamine years ago during cutting and it never helped me maintain any extra muscle. I felt the science supporting glutamine was always weak anyways, bodybuilders were already on high protein diets, so taking extra glutamine isn’t likely to help much no matter how hard you try to spin it.

If you are a new to the bodybuilding world, you may not realize how many vultures are waiting on the sidelines ready to steal your money. We all at one time (and some of us still are) hoping for that magic muscle building supplement that no one knows about yet. It’s in our nature to want something that causes big muscle gains, but without any side effects. I come across many small websites on the net all the time, advertising supplements that promise roid like gains and claim to be side effect free. The sites usually use studies and testimonials to back up their product. The problem is the studies they use for these products are usually very weak and often not done on humans.

Another common trick many of these supplement sites use, is they repackage a worthless supplement under another name. In this way, they can continue to try to push a supplement with the same old argument and research at a much higher price, even though it is the same junk supplement that bodybuilders discounted years ago.

Then of course, there is the “legal steroid” websites, which try to market steroids to the gullible. They use fancy names closely resembling actual illlegal steroids. The active ingredients in these rip-offs are really nothing more then common pro-hormones found on the market, but at 2 or 3 times the price. Even well known bodybuilding supplement brands, make outrageous claims that become the butt of jokes by veteran bodybuilders.

You are probably wondering why everyone is able to get away with all of this? Well, it is hard for a supplement to be proven beyond a doubt to not work. Secondly, they use very weak science or far reaching studies and they use that as justification for their claims. If you can’t prove beyond a doubt it doesn’t work and the company basis their claims on actual science or research, there is little that can be done.

At the moment, the only way to get a true consensus on what bodybuilding supplements may actually work, is to find out what other bodybuilders say in the forums. You can’t listen to supplement companies or those bought off by them because they have a biased agenda driven by money. When listening to other bodybuilder’s ancedotal experiences on supplements, you have to also remember the placebo factor too. If the overwhelming majority see results, then it probably works. Placebo strongly influences strength gains, so when deciding if a supplement works, I would pay more attention to those claiming muscle mass gains or losing fat.

I recommend you check out Bodybuilding Store Reviews to see what kind of scams are on the net and see reviews on some quality stores.