We’re at it again with another post in our series of articles from readers that are giving their experiences with supplement products. Jennifer has written a review post for NDS Cardio Cuts. Take it away Jennifer:
I had been reading a lot about Cardio Cuts by NDS Nutrition so I wanted to try it out. I figured I’d write this review to help others that are thinking of trying it. It’s a pretty popular supplement these days.
I’ve used it 4 times as a pre-workout supplement and have a good sense of how effective it is. Overall, my experience was pretty positive and I’d recommend it to people. It’s a good pre-workout supplement for women that have a big workout day planned.
If you have any questions about my review, feel free to ask in the comments below and I’ll try and answer.
What is supposed to do for you:
Sometimes supplements don’t fit into neat and precise categories – like pre-workout drink or post-workout recovery drink. It is one of those products that straddles a few categories.
It bills itself as a “pre cardio and thermogenic” supplement. On one hand it’s a pre-workout supplement because it gives you energy.
On the other hand, it’s a thermogenic fat burner because it helps accelerate fat burn. When we look closer at the ingredients, it also has things that aid in post-workout recovery (like BCAAs and glutamine) – so it’s clearly trying to be a real all-in-one supplement.
The marketing materials claim to give you 4 things (taken right from NDS’ website):
- Maximize Energy: It uses various ingredients to give you enough energy to get through your workouts and also adds to your focus and alertness.
- Greater Endurance: Kind of similar to the above, it gives you more energy so that you can get further with endurance exercises specifically. They cite beta-alanine as the key ingredient in this respect.
- Quicker Recovery: Cardio Cuts also aims to give you better recovery – it has BCAAs and glutamine to help your muscles recover.
- Weight Loss/Toning: The product also cites several ingredients that will help burn fat.
So in summary, it has ingredients that are similar to a pre-workout supplement, a thermogenic supplement, and it has BCAAs and Glutamine to help with recovery. What’s kind of unique about it though, is that it is specifically aimed at giving you energy for a cardio type of workout.
What are Cardio Cuts’ Ingredients:
There are a few ingredients I’d highlight here. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, but just a few points to help us understand how it works:
Caffeine:
- Caffeine is listed as an ingredient, but they don’t actually say how much is in each serving. In any event, it’s in there and you’ll feel it.
- So if you’re sensitive to caffeine (or don’t drink it), you may want to stay away from this product.
- But it’s a common ingredient in energy supplements and we all know what kind of boost it can give. Overall, I’m a fan of caffeine based pre-workout drinks.
Arginine:
- Arginine is another popular ingredient in this type of energy product. It is known for heart health, helping immune function, and a range of other beneficial properties.
- Arginine is converted into Nitric Oxide which helps your blood vessels relax and thus improves circulation.
- But there are mixed results coming from the research about arginine’s effectiveness, so that’s something to think about. (that being said, it’s in most pre-workout supplements so this isn’t unique to Cardio Cuts).
- It’s obviously a lot more complicated than this summary.
Glutamine:
- A very important ingredient that combats muscle breakdown and promotes muscle recovery.
- This is a great supplement in its own right that has been written about elsewhere.
- But you’ll want to think about your overall glutamine intake, if you’re already taking this as a supplement elsewhere.
Glycerol:
- An ingredient that is aimed primarily at long duration endurance events (more than 1 hour).
- It primarily aids by allowing your body to keep your cells hydrated for longer.
Overall, the ingredient profile is good and has a lot of popular ingredients that you’ll find in other supplements or sold on their own. There is nothing that is too unique, but it has the right stuff to give you a boost for your workout.
How well Does Cardio Cuts Actually Work:
First off, it’s important to tell you how I used it. I’ve been taking it for about 3 weeks. I’m primarily a runner, so that is my bias here. I do weight training, but I’m definitely not trying to bulk up with muscle. My focus is training, (this is why cardio cuts was attractive).
I also only used it as a pre-workout. They say you can take 1-2 scoops before your workout, but I just stuck to 1 scoop each time I used it. If I developed a tolerance to it, I’d start adding more after each use, but I didn’t get there.
I didn’t use it as a daily dose fat burner supplement. So this is more about its effects as a pre-workout supplement.
So, when you take it for your workout, you’ll notice an extra kick from Cardio Cuts pretty early on. Each time I used it I felt a rush of energy after about 20 minutes.
I also noticed that it lasted a while. I’ve used enough pre-workout supplements to know that a lot of them start well but then you crash.
I didn’t find this when I was doing my workouts. I think this is probably the best feature of it – the extra energy is still around towards the end of your workout, when you need it most.
I used it for 45 min to 1 hour workouts, and it kept up with me throughout.
I didn’t get a jittery feeling, but I did get a bit of a buzz. It wasn’t uncomfortable or excessive, but you’ll definitely feel that it’s working. This is common with pre-workout products though.
For these reasons, I’d recommend it as a good pre-workout. If you do a lot of cardio, this is a product that you should definitely try.
The price is a little on the higher side, so that’s something to think about. At the time I’m writing this, it’s about $60 for a container that has 40 servings.
If you have any questions about my review, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll try and give you an answer. Or if you’ve tried it and want to share your experience, let me know what you think below!
