Top Pump Supplements 2021
Real reviews based on sales data and staff testing.
Back in the day when pre-workouts came to market, the only thing people cared about was the ability to get "jacked up". Stories of laying on locker room floors, trying not to die and calm the crazy anxiety were all too common. Now days, the market has changed and people have fallen in love with the pump, which to us, seems much healthier. Nonetheless, the issues with the supplement industry still stand as marketing trumps reality. The purpose of this article is to give you real feedback on which pump supplements are the best of 2021. As the years change, the products, science, and brands change as well so this list is exclusively of the ones that are out during Q1 of 2021.
With almost a decade of retail and e-tail experience, we've sold millions of products throughout our time, listening carefully to customer feedback and watching the reviews on our website. Additionally, we don't put products on our shelves that we haven't tried, especially pump supplements which have become our favorite category of performance supplements.
What are pump supplements? They are products specifically designed with pump ingredients to provide you nitric oxide for increased blood flow, hydration, and cell volumization within the muscle. Pump supplements are also caffeine free and only intended to give you great pumps, although some will have some unique other features to them. Although these products are taken pre workout, they're different than pre workout supplements and depending on the formulas, some can be stacked directly with a pre workout. The best formulas aren't about 1 or 2 ingredients, but the combination of those ingredients working together.
Remember folks, "if it clumps, it pumps".
PUMP PRODUCT'S BENEFITS
- Increased Key Nutrients To The Muscles
- Increased Hydration
- Enhance Blood Flow
- Perform Better at the Gym
THE NUMBER 1 PUMP PRODUCT
Innova Pharm's NovaPump Neuro is the number one, comprehensive pump formula on the market today. Although it's paired with nootropic ingredients to set itself apart from the competition, even the standard NovaPump would be number 1 if this wasn't available. Plain and simple, if you want the best pumps of your life, you want NovaPump.
Citrulline malate is one of the main ingredients in NovaPump that helps deliver that nasty pump. Citrulline helps increase nitric oxide putting more blood into the muscle cell while you train it. Next up is 4g of glycerpump, which is the new form of powdered glycerol. This is superior than HydroMax form of glycerol powder strictly for the mixability purpose.
InnovaPharm introduced spinach to the world in 2018 with the Super Spinach. People underestimate how much this ingredient on it's own can contribute to a good pump. We test ran this ingredient for a year before NovaPump hit the market. We were ecstatic to see it in there. Spinach extract has 4x the potency as beet root and your blood vessels will tell you the same.
Agmatine Sulfate was tremendously popular when we entered the supplement retail market in 2014 but since then it lost it's sex appeal to the masses due to it's high costs. That does not make it any less effective. Doses of agmatine between 1000mg and 2000mg are extremely effective on it's own, let alone coupled with other ingredients like in NovaPump.
The nootropics provided in NovaPump Neuro are just icing on the cake. Nootropics will help you focus and stay locked in during your workout but still act as a stim free pre workout since caffeine is not included. Neuro has all of our favorite nootropic ingredients, including Acetyl-L-Carnitine, L-Tyrosine, Alpha GPC, and Huperzine A. Typically when you have a "combo" supplement, you get partial dosing of each, but with Neuro you're getting full doses of pump and full doses of nootropics. We're not sure how it could get better.
Aside from NovaPump Neuro delivering some of the most ridiculous pumps we've ever had, it's surprisingly easy to get down. Some of the flavors are so good, we crave them. With any good pump product, you're going to get some clumping but once you scoop it into your shaker bottle it mixes right up. Keep in mind that high dosed pump products have a gritty texture to them and won't be as smooth to get down as BCAA's.
When choosing a flavor, it's important to figure out if you're going to be stacking it with another product or drinking it solo, but either way we think you'll be happy with these 4 flavors.
THE NUMBER 2 PUMP PRODUCT
Our second best pump product is only by a slim margin. It also comes in at our best value, meaning cost per serving. Even though this product has a higher up-front cost, it comes with 30 servings instead of the now-standard 20 servings. Like A Pro Supplements Outsized is no joke. The Like A Pro Supplements line has some of the highest dosed performance supplements we've ever seen and when the founder, IFBB Pro Jeff Long formulated Outsized, nothing changed.
Outsized, like NovaPump Neuro, features 8g of Citrulline Malate which helps deliver those vascular, high volume pumps. The glycerol source, glycersize, is the same as NovaPump Neuro as well, which is dosed slightly higher at 5 grams per serving. Agmatine, you guess it, it's 1000mg per serving as well.
Where Outsized starts to differentiate itself from NovaPump Neuro is the remaining ingredients. Nitrosigine, a newer ingredient that is an arginine nitrate, is heavily dosed at 1000mg to pair nicely with citrulline malate in delivering high levels of nitric oxide. FitNox stacks on top of those, delivering even more N.O. to your body through it's patent pending plant based matrix technology. What's unique about FitNox is its ability to keep the pump feeling for longer periods of time. Who doesn't want longer lasting pumps?
Over 2020, Astragin really made it's way throughout the supplement industry with its ability to increase the update and absorption of ingredients into the body. This means your body is bringing in more and wasting less. Outsized has a nice dose of 50mg per serving.
Founder Jeff Long recently revised some of the outsized flavors, which are all naturally sweetened to reduce the amount of sucralose ingested. For a stevia sweetened product, they're actually pretty good.
Many say that outsized is the best pump pre workout they've ever used. It's creatine monohydrate free so those looking to stack, can add that, or even a caffeinated pre workout such as the Like A Pro Supplements Pump and Focus.
THE NUMBER 3 PUMP PRODUCT
Without a doubt in our mind, number 3 is the most unique, cutting edge of the pump products we've tried, reviewed, or have even looked at. Nutristat's Pumpscript is iconic in it's out right and has taken our company by storm. Loved by the customers, employees, and desired by everyone who even looks at it.
Pumpscript is the simplest of products we have on our list, as it's only three ingredients. The main ingredient is glycerol. Previously when we mentioned glycerol it was in the form of glycerpump which has a 65% yield. Meaning if you have 5g of glycerpump, you have 3.25g of active glycerol. Still enough to give you a pump, but it does not compare to the 23g of glycerol at 100% yield that PumpScript has. Due to this, PumpScript has to be in a liquid form, which means you're drinking it a little differently.
Glycerol helps pull subcutaneous water into the muscle cell, so prior hydration is extremely important. Not only will the product work better, but it's going to prevent any dehydration. If you're fully hydrated when it's time to use PumpScript, take a cap full shot. If you're not, throw the shot into a full shaker bottle of water and drink it together.
Paired with glycerol is the newer antioxidant and NO producer, S7. S7 is a blend of 7 antioxidants consisting of: Green coffee bean extract, green tea extract, tumeric extract, tart cherry, blueberry, broccoli, and kale. This will help with some vascularity.
The pump from this product is unlike any other. Although it takes roughly 30-40 minutes to kick in, when it does it feels like you need a larger shirt to train in. The vascularity is subpar, as that's not quite what the ingredients do, but the pump itself is amazing. Some customers claim their performance in the gym is better when taking this because of the water being pushed into their muscles. A good muscle pump is an understatement.
THE NUMBER 4 PUMP PRODUCT
Number 4 for us is a newcomer. This product was launched in late 2020 and has been picking up ever since. If you're looking for a scenario where ingredients can synergistically work together to create something great, it's this product. I-Prevail's ForgePW is a great pump supplement that delivers exactly what you're looking for. I-Prevail has built a reputation around innovation and affordability, but ultimately around products that deliver the desired result. Isn't that what we all ask for out of supplements?
Similar to picks 1 & 2, Forge PW starts off with Citrulline Malate. Although it's dose is lower, we find this to be very synergistic with the following ingredients. A touch of glycerol monestearate help with muscle hydration, which was talked about heavily under pick 3. Where Forge PW gets fun is the dosing of agmatine sulfate. Again, agmatine is expensive and you usually won't see it dosed as high as 1500mg. This ingredient at this dose alone, will give you a great pump.
AmentoPump is an uncommon ingredient that's used to enhance strength and has the possibility of helping with fat loss. Everyone knows that the harder you train, the easier the pump comes, so this ingredient makes complete sense being in a pump product.
Pine bark extract has antioxidant properties that assist in NO production and can result in good vascularity when paired with ingredients like agmatine and citrulline malate. This ingredient is icing on the cake for the Forge PW.
Similar to outsized, Forge PW has 50mg of Astragin to help with the uptake of the supplement ingredients into your system. Forge PW is not the heaviest dosed pump pre workout on the market today, but it definitely delivers a desirable effect and is one of our favorites.
Like the previous pump supplements, you would take Forge PW about 15-30 minutes prior to a training session and it can be directly paired with a stim pre workout. If you are pairing it, opt for the unflavored version so you don't have to worry about flavor matching.
THE NUMBER 5 PUMP PRODUCT
Number 5 sounds like last place, but it's 5th place. We carry dozens of pump supplements and have tried just about every one worth trying, so our 5th place is probably still better than the one you're taking now!
Over 2020, Core Nutritionals faced a strong re-brand of it's line and with that came some overhauling of formulas. Core's PUMP, which features a very simple name, also has a pretty simple formula. PUMP is the only pump supplement in our top 5 that has beta alanine in it. It's also the only pump supplement in our top 5 to have pure L-Citrulline instead of the citrulline malate. We like this.
Although we're 50/50 on whether or not we want the beta alanine in the product, it completely makes sense when you look at the "why". Core Nutritionals formulated their Fury & Pump to match each other. This caters well towards the low stim and high stim users. Both Fury & Pump are 40/20 servings. For the full dose, you do two scoops. If you want half the stim, but the full pump, you'd do 1 scoop of Fury & 1 scoop of Pump and you're fully dosed without burning a hole in your wallet. For higher stim days, you'd just do 2 scoops of Fury.
Betaine is an amino acid that works similar to a creatine in aiding for cell hydration. Core uses the nitrate version for quicker absorption into the bloodstream and ultimately a better pump. Peak02 is a great ingredient that helps with increasing blood oxygen levels and has be touted by many to help with performance levels - something we all want.
The traditional HydroMax (glycerol) is dosed low, at 2g/ serving, which is less than our previous top 4, but can still help out a little. Low doses of glycerol also mean less clumping in the product which makes it easier to scoop out. The last ingredient is Alpha GPC. This is a focus ingredient from the choline family and is high effective - especially paired with a little caffeine.
If you're looking to maximize your workouts and achieve crazy pumps, these 5 products will not let you down. This article was not paid for by anyone and was compiled with actual sales data, customer interactions, and real reviews.
ABOUT OUR RANKING PROCESS
HONESTY over VIEWS
We've sold thousands, yes, thousands of pump products since we incorporated in 2014. We are a retailer, e-tailer, but most of all we are For Lifters, By Lifters. We're one of you, constantly searching for the best products at the best value. We are one of the industry's most difficult stores for brands to get into and we take tremendous pride in that. The following categories were considered when ranking these products.
- Effectiveness. Evaluating how well a pump product works and how balanced the ingredient profile is not only in comparison to other products, but for the general use of the people buying it.
- Value. Value is determined by what you're getting vs the cost. For example, if a pump product was a 5 out of 10, but it was $1 for 30 servings, it would be high on the value rating but mediocre on the above effectiveness ratings.
- Mixibility. This is an easy one. We assess how easy the product is to get from the container to the body and that's all.
- Flavor. Enjoying the product is important. After all, supplements are fun and pump products should be easy to get down.
