C4 Pre workout Ingredients

The main reason this blend has a lower dosage is because vitamin C has been removed. Knowing that, and seeing 150mg of caffeine, we can deduce the doses to a decent degree:

L-DOPA is a precursor to dopamine, and when supplementing it, it boosts dopamine[31] and thus the appropriate dosage feels downright good.

Many users are confused to see it in a pre workout supplement, since it’s often in nighttime sleep supplements. It may help sleep, but it doesn’t make you sleepy. Understand the distinction.

The reason it’s in those sleep formulas is because it’s to boost growth hormone levels alongside its dopamine boost[32, 33], and your GH levels are already being boosted and put to work when sleeping, so it makes sense to include them in those formulas.

At extremely high doses, L-DOPA can improve sexual health[34, 35, 36], but at this point in the formula, there is not enough room for much of a dosage here – a maximum of 71mg, but likely a bit less.

So you’ll get a little dopamine boost (synergistic with the next ingredient), it will feel good, but it likely won’t have any massive hormone-boosting effects.

TeaCor™ Tetramethyluric acid (Theacrine)

We think that Theacrine is going to be hugely popular because it behaves similarly to caffeine, yet has way less tolerance issues, so these tubs will make you feel great all the way through.

Cellucor’s hope is that complaints like “two scoops isn’t doing it for me anymore” should be a thing of the past.

Looking at the science and origin, Theacrine is an alkaloid that is naturally synthesized from caffeine in certain plants, such as certain Kucha plants[37] (Kucha tea is actually quite popular in some parts of the world).

The best research has been performed on rodents, but Kucha has been studied for a while in humans.

Works similarly to and in parallel with caffeine

Just like caffeine, it’s actually a sedative at a very low dosage[38], but stimulatory past a certain threshold dose. We don’t know how much is in the new C4 formula, but we hope it is high enough to make this happen.

Adenosine and dopamine signaling

This research shows that its best involved in adenosine and dopamine receptors.[39]

Adenosine is most commonly known for its role in energy transfer in nearly all cells. It is a part of ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, as well as cAMP (cyclic adenosine monophosphate). Some of the best-performing supplements, such as creatine, boost cellucor levels of these hugely important compounds.

When the rats were given an adenosine antagonist, theacrine actually counteracted that antagonist and re-boosted adenosine, making up for “lost” energy.[39]

Meanwhile, the same study showed that it had some level of influence on dopamine signals, working similarly to caffeine. This provides a feel-good boost from caffeine, but one that you won’t get used to like you do with caffeine.

Locomotion

The research also showed that rats were active and nimble in their movements – something known as locomotion.[38]

This is good news for athletes who are looking for a new kind of edge, and we hope it translates to speed and basketball-style athleticism.

A lack of tolerance!

The best part of the locomotion study showed that the rats didn’t get sensitized to the substance over the course of a week, whereas you do with caffeine![40]

This isn’t enough data to completely say that you won’t gain tolerance to it, but it’s promising, and anecdotally, users are agreeing that the ingredient’s effects don’t “get old”.

Safety and side effects?

It took extremely high amounts of Theacrine to hurt the mice – about 800mg per kg of bodyweight was the LD50 (median lethal) dose.[41]

The total amount in the new C4 won’t be anywhere near that much, to say the least. Toxicity generally behaves like caffeine’s.[42]

Overall, we’re excited to try this out, and we look forward to more research coming over the next year. From what we’ve heard from users who are taking other Theacrine-based supplements, they absolutely love it.