For a long time, supplement companies have tricked us into thinking that by simply taking a super special, super powerful pill, we could magically shed pounds or melt fat, or whatever, without having to do a single sit-up!
Perhaps they’re right. You don’t necessarily have to do sit-ups, but you do have to do something related to fitness.
You don’t have to sit-up, but you can’t burn fat sitting down. That’s simply not how the game works. No, that’s why we spend so much time at the gym, right? But as much time as we spend at the gym, many of us still feel like it’s time not well spent when we look in the mirror to see, well …all that fat. And, yes, some fat is healthy—let’s not get obsessive here. But while we’re exercising and eating healthy, isn’t there something we can do to expedite this whole having-a-sexy-physique thing?
Yes. Here’s where fat burner supplements come into play.
But you don’t want just any ol’ fat burner supplement, given that any ol’ fat burner supplement tends to come loaded with heart-racing stimulants and other unhealthy ingredients.
You want a stim-free fat burner supplement that will:
A) help you lose fat
B) help you gain muscle mass
C) not funk with your heart health.
In this article, we’ll get into the best stim-free fat burner you can buy this year. But first, before we get into that (which you can just skip ahead to, I guess), let’s address why you want stim-free fat burns over the usual feel-good stimulant stuff.
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Stim vs. Non-Stim Fat Burns: What’s the Difference?
A general rule of thumb, regarding supplements and performance enhancers: if it’s easy to take and makes you feel really good, odds are it’s not good for you. Most truly healthy health products require ongoing supplementation until you start to feel good.
However, what “feels good” is somewhat loose and subjective, so let’s get down to the nitty gritty details of what makes stim vs. non-stim fat burns different:
Stimulant Fat Burners
Stimulants, such as caffeine, synephrine, amphetamines, etc., work on the central nervous system, primarily focusing on feel-good catecholamine neurotransmitters—e.g., dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine. These stimulants help you focus—like really, really focus; sometimes to the point that you can’t help but turn away from whatever project you’re working on. Which is great and all if it weren’t for the side effects.
Stimulants flush the brain and body with feel-good neurochemicals that promote cognitive focus and metabolic energy expenditure at the cost of heart and cardio health. It’s not good to stimulate the brain and body to such a degree, even if it does allow you to workout harder for longer at a greater intensity, thereby burning more fat.
The increase on heart rate plus the reduced appetite may go too far for many, especially when you consider the addiction factor of these stimulants.
Non-Stimulant Fat Burners
Non-stimulant fat burners may also promote catecholaminergic activities to spike fat breakdown, yet they do so in a way that doesn’t also hyperactivate the body’s sympathetic nervous system (i.e., “fight or flight” mode). Thus, non-stimulant fat burners promote energy expenditure without also increasing heart rate and blood pressure.
However, that’s not all non-stim fat burners do. Other than the catecholaminergic pathway, non-stim fat burners may also improve fat loss by optimizing enzymatic activity related to fat breakdown and protein synthesis (muscle gains), inhibiting new fat cell formation (adipogenesis), prioritizing stored fat as energy fuel, and suppressing appetite. Roughly speaking, non-stim fat burners optimize natural fat burning pathways, whereas stimulants unnaturally overexcite the brain and body.
The only downside to non-stim fat burners: they don’t come with the feel-good rush of energy associated with stimulants. (Although, this also explains why they’re not addictive.)
The Benefits of a Stim-Free Fat Burner Supplement
Okay, so if stimulants work really, really good at spiking energy expenditure, are stim-free fat burners essentially low-grade, albeit healthier fat burners as compared to stimulants? Yes, they’re healthier, but no they’re not low-grade.
While a stimulant may help you lose a bunch of weight quickly while feeling great, this comes at the cost of eating and sleep and having a normal heartbeat. Simply put, it’s not worth it.
Stim-free fat burners, on the other hand, pair well with exercise, amplifying your fat-loss exercise results by:
- Promoting stored fat as an exercise energy source;
- Optimizing anabolic (muscle building) pathways;
- Increasing energy expenditure (burnt calories);
- Regulating blood sugar and appetite;
- Decreasing new fat cell formation.
Minimizing burner-related side effects, stim-free fat burners are a long-term, sustainable fat burning option designed to sustain long-term fat loss.
Intermittent Fasting (IF), Fasted Training, and Fat Burners
Intermittent fasting, the health practice that essentially involves not eating for designated time periods, is great for burning fat. Most people we’ve spoken with tend to practice IF with a daily scheduled fast—e.g., say from 8pm until 2pm the next day—with a workout occurring between the fast (not eating) and feast (eating) periods.
Fasted training, exercising on an empty stomach, helps the body prioritize fat as an energy source, thereby increasing exercise-related fat burns. Yet, post-exercise replenishment (eating) is also important.
Not to mention that while fasted training is great for fat loss, working out on an empty stomach may also impair one’s muscle gains.
A smart fat burner supplement thus not only focuses on expediting fat loss but preserving muscle gains without breaking the fast too early. And the following supplement does exactly all of that.
Check it:
Best Stim-Free Fat Burner to Buy in 2020
The best stim-free fat burner that money can buy in 2020: Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner.
It’s a stim-free, caffeine-free fat loss support supplement that promotes thermogenic fat burns with the added goal of increased lean muscle mass growth…
..Because, really, it isn’t straight up weight loss that’s the number one important factor here, especially if you’re a bodybuilder (in which case weight gains are the name of the game).
- Decreased body fat.
- Increased muscle mass.
These are the benefits of this stack. And what’s most impressive is how this supplement manages to do so much with so little.
Here, check out the supplement facts:
Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner Supplement Facts
Four ingredients, one of which enhances the fiery potency of the other three ingredients. Let’s take a look at them in greater detail:
Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner Ingredients
Coleus Forskohlii root (as Forslean®)
Forskolin so hot right now, figuratively and literally speaking. Many fat burner supplements (and other fitness-related supplements) have caught onto the bodybuilding advantages of this herbal extract, including Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner which supplies Coleus forskohlii in premium Forslean® form.
What’s so great about Forslean®? Well, for one the ingredient is a patented extract that’s shown to be safe, well-tolerated, and effective in several clinical trials. Plus, the extract supplies a standardized percentage of forskolin, the active fat burning component of Coleus forskohlii that seems to work by:
- Optimizing hormonal pathways that regulate metabolism, thermogenesis, and anabolic muscle growth, including the testosterone pathway;
- Indirectly stimulating lipase, an enzyme that breaks down triglycerides, the building block units of fat.
The idea: by breaking down fat and promoting anabolic muscle growth, forskolin is believed to improve body composition in an anti-fat, pro-muscle direction.
HMB (β-Hydroxy β-Methylbutyrate)
Fasted training is great for breaking down stored fat. However, fasted training is also not great for breaking down another part of the body: lean muscle mass. Which is why HMB is great (with not “not great” counterpart): this compound essentially sustains the fat loss aspect of fasted training without the lean muscle mass loss part.
As a metabolite of the branched-chain amino acid leucine, HMB seems to help with fasted training results by:
- Neutralizing muscle-damaging enzymes;
- Delaying lactic acid onset;
- Enhancing muscular strength and oxygen intake;
- Promoting protein synthesis;
- Encouraging the use of fat as energy fuel, not muscle tissue.
On its own, HMB is a fantastic fat loss ingredient. However, when paired with fasted training, this is almost a must-have, allowing you to achieve the desired goals of fasted training (fat loss, muscle gains) without the undesired side effects (muscle deterioration).
Cayenne Pepper Extract (as Capsimax®)
Spice, spice, baby – cayenne pepper is a popular dietary spice and an awesome fat burner, thanks to the spice’s pro-catecholamine capsaicinoid content. It’s the “pro-catecholamine” effects of this spice that gives it its fat burning properties: catecholamines, such as epinephrine and norepinephrine, increase energy expenditure. By activating the sympathetic nervous system, capsacinoids promote the release of catecholamines that in turn:
- Maximize calorie-burning potential during exercise;
- Promote lipolysis (fat breakdown) before and after exercise.
What’s profound about cayenne pepper extract’s catecholaminergic effects is how they’re achieved without stimulants that risk increasing heart rate and blood pressure. In other words, whereas stimulants promote fat burning catecholaminergic activity at the risk of cardiovascular side effects, cayenne pepper promotes the fat burning effects without the usual side effects.
Plus, the Capsimax® version of this spicy extract delays the release of cayenne’s bio-active contents for absorption in the lower intestine, eliminating the burning sensations associated with spices. So, no worries, if you’re a lightweight when it comes to spices.
Black Pepper Extract (as BioPerine®)
Speaking of spices! Black Pepper—yes, that black pepper that you shake onto your eggs—qualifies not only as a thermonutrient but also as a nutrient absorption enhancer. Meaning that this spice assists with fat burning on its own while also increasing the absorption, and thus bioavailability, of all the other ingredients in this formula.
Given the low dosage requirement of this ingredient, there’s really no excuse for not having this ingredient in your formula. Only a few milligrams of black pepper extract may help:
- Ignite thermogenesis;
- Promote efficient nutrient absorption;
- Inhibit the formation of new fat cells.
Raw black pepper supplies a concentration of 3-9% piperine, the bio-active spice of interest here. However, BioPerine® boosts that number up to 95% piperine, hence the low dosage requirement.
How to Take Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner
It’s easy: with your mouth! Really, for best results, Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner should be taken as part of a fasted training routine. And, as part of that routine, you should take this supplement essentially as a pre-workout.
When taken with fasted training, this supplement improves both fat loss and lean muscle gains, making it more a bodybuilder supplement than a simple fat loss stack.
With that in mind, here are the “Suggested Use” directions on the supplement’s label:
“For best results take 2-4 capsules 15 minutes prior to training.”
Where to Buy Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner
Like all other Performance Lab supplements, you can buy Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner through the Performance Lab website: performancelab.com – in fact, this is the only place to buy this fat burner supplement.
By exclusively selling their own supplements, Performance Lab doesn’t list their products on Amazon or GNC, or any other third-party retailer. This comes with the upside of their website being exceptionally informational regarding the ingredients they use, manufacturing processes, etc.—i.e., all the key information that’s otherwise not readily made available on a keyword-jargony Amazon listing.
How Much Does It Cost?
While buying Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner, there are basically three purchasing options available to you:
- One Bottle: $50 for 60 pills
- Two Bottles: $95 for 120 pills (5% saving)
- Three Bottles: $135 for 180 pills (10% saving)
Here’s how Performance Lab product pricing works across the board: one bottle costs you the full price, whereas each additional bottle added to the order tacks on an additional 5% discount to the total cost. (Up to three bottles.) Given that you can take Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner daily without the need for an on/off cycle, buying in bulk seems your best, most affordable option.
Other Frequently Asked Questions
Is it okay to add caffeine to Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner?
Yes. If you have a separate supplement with caffeine or you enjoy a cup of coffee before exercising, the additional caffeine won’t have any negative interactions with this formula.
Can I stack Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner with other supplements?
Of course. The Performance Lab line of supplements splits into two categories: CORE and SPORT. Really, you can stack any and all Performance Lab supplements. However, for better exercise results and body composition, the following SPORT stacks work well with this fat burner:
- Performance Lab SPORT Pre-Workout: Powered by creatine and N.O. muscle pumps, this pre-workout supplement also helps with muscle performance and endurance without the use of stimulants, including even caffeine. Non-stim PWO energy and pumps, baby. More on Performance Lab SPORT Pre-Workout.
- Performance Lab SPORT Post-Workout: For even greater strength and muscle gains, this post-workout stack supplies more creatine in addition to antioxidants and coconut crystals that help rehydrate and replenish over-trained muscle tissue. More on Performance Lab SPORT Post-Workout.
- Performance Lab SPORT BCAA: Branched-chain amino acids, all three of them—nothing more, nothing less—delivered in a muscle-optimized 2:1:1 ratio. Great for on-the-spot muscle replenishment. More on Performance Lab SPORT BCAA.
Yet, the party doesn’t stop with these three. Performance Lab also supplies testosterone boosters, nootropics, energy boosters, and more, all of which you can find on their website: link here.
Will these other supplements disrupt my fasted training results?
Generally, it’s best to time your workout at the end of your fasted period—i.e., right before the feast period, so that you can follow your workout with post-workout supplements, replenishment, meals, and so on.
Having said that, you don’t want to interrupt the benefits of fasted training with any disruptive supplements. Fortunately, these Performance Lab supplements, including Performance Lab SPORT Pre-Workout, work just fine with fasted training, with exception to the BCAA stack, which should be taken immediately after fasted training. BCAAs break the fast.
Final Thoughts
Fat loss comes easier with muscle gains. Perhaps big, bulky muscles aren’t exactly a goal within your “git fit” agenda; however, the remains that fat loss comes easier with muscle gains. Think about it: the more muscle, the more energy your body needs to burn just to maintain itself.
Does that mean Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner only works as part of a bodybuilding routine? No. Whether bodybuilding or long-distance running, or even swimming, defines “working out” for you, Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner may help shed those pounds much quicker, specifically those fat-related pounds. Not your vital heart-related pounds.
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