Shred Matrix vs. Iron Cuts is like a match between two fat burners who like to divide the work into small parts to get them done in a more efficient manner. By divide we mean stages and blends and by work we mean melting fat off our hides.
Shred Matrix is quite fond of this technique, imploring an 8-stage strategy or MATRIX as they call it. We’ve seen this in a beastly fat burner before and we gave it the proper merits it deserved (we loved it a lot). Is Shred Matrix walking down the same path?
Iron Cuts seems to have a more focused division of work as the strategy is all about gaining muscle to burn fat. A long-term yet logical and ideal approach to fat burning the likes we don’t really see much. Will this Arnold style fat burning tactic beat Shred Matrix’s…err…MATRIX?
Let’s see for ourselves, shall we?
Table of Contents
Tale of the Tape
Shred Matrix |
vs. |
Iron Cuts |
||
Ingredients | Dosage | Ingredients | Dosage | |
Vitamin B3 (as Niacin) | 3 mg | Muscle Building Maximizer | 1000 mg | |
Vitamin B6 (as Pyridoxine Hydrochloride) | 15 mg | D-Aspartic Acid, AminoShield® Eriobotrya Japonica Leaf Extract Proprietary Blend of 20% Pentacyclic Triterpenoids, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Boron Citrate, Fenugreek (Trigonella Foenum Graecum) Seed Extract 50% Saponins, Pumpkin Seed (Cucurbita Moschata Poiret) Extract | ||
Biotin | 15 mg | Thermogenic & Fat Metabolizer | 930 mg | |
Chromium (Chelate) | 50 mcg | L-Carnitine Tartrate, Green Tea (Camellia Sinensis) Leaf Extract, Caffeine Anhydrous, Panax Ginseng Root Powder, N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine, Thermodiamine™ (98% Evodiamine), Vinpocetine, Inositol | ||
8 Stage Weight Loss Proprietary Blend | 2176 mg | Estrogen & Cortisol Metabolizer | 144 mg | |
Stages 1 & 2: Energy & Fat Metabolism | Grape (Vitis Vinifera) Seed Extract, Diindolylmethane (DIM), Cinnamon (Cinnamomum Cassia) Bark Powder, Phosphatidylserine Powder, Banaba (Lagerstoemia Speciosa) Leaf Extract 1% Corosolic Acid, Chromium Picolinate | |||
Guarana (Paullinia Cupana) Seed Extract, 22% Caffeine, Green Tea (Camellia Sinensis) Leaf Extract, (45% EGCG), 98% Polyphenols, Kola (Cola Nitida) Nut Powder, Caffeine Anhydrous (150mg), Cayenne (Capsicum Annuum) Fruit Powder 40,000 HU/g | ||||
Stages 3 & 4: Appetite Balancing & Weight Management Control | ||||
Glucomannan (Amorphophallus Konjac) Root, White Kidney (Phaseolous Vulgaris) Bean Powder, Razberi-K® Raspberry Ketone | ||||
Stage 5: Anti-Stress Mood Balancing Matrix | ||||
Panax Ginseng Root Powder, Griffonia Simplicifoloia Seed Extract, Containing 98% 5-HTP | ||||
Stage 6: Brain Power Matrix | ||||
Acetyl‐L‐Carnitine HCl, pTerOPure® Pterostilbene, Vinpocetine | ||||
Stage 7: Diuretic Complex | ||||
Uva Ursi (Arctostaphylos Uva‐Ursi) Leaf 20:1 Extract, Dandelion (Taraxacum Officinale) Root Extract 10:1, (Contains Taraxol & Taraxerol) | ||||
Stage 8: Sugar Stop™ & Enzyme Aid Matrix | ||||
Apple (Malus Domestica) Pectin, DigeSEB® (Acid Stable Protease, Bacterial Protease, Alpha‐Galactosidase, Amylase, Bromelain, Cellulase, Fungal Protease, Hemicellulase, Lactase, Diastase, Papain, Peptizyme SP® (Serratiopeptidase), Glucoamylase, Invertase) | ||||
*These are not full supplement facts, just a comparison of dosages & ingredients. |
Round 1: Formulas
Both Shred Matrix and Iron Cuts built formulas that were meant to give you that shredded and cut look every bro in the bodybuilding world aspires to have. While they both want to get to the same finish line, these two probably wouldn’t agree on how to get there.
Shred Matrix takes the word matrix to a whole new level
Shred Matrix is not your ordinary hard hitter as it shreds fat in a unique yet complex manner that requires 8 stages to complete.
Stage 1 & 2: Energy & Fat Metabolism
First blend resembles your typical fat-burning stack. Caffeine, Guarana, and Kola are all known energy sources with the last two added for a slow-release effect. Standardized Green Tea Extract and Cayenne add the kind of hotness you can expect from some of our best fat burning ingredients. That’s why they are found in our top stacks for fat-burning, too.
Stage 3 & 4: Appetite Balancing & Weight Management Control
Glucomannan takes the bulk of this blend and it’s probably for the best. Glucomannan is a known appetite suppressant and having small amounts of it is next to useless. Supporting it are White Kidney Bean for blocking carb absorption and Raspberry Ketones for boosting overall metabolism.
Stage 5: Anti-Stress Mood Balancing Matrix
Ginseng and 5-HTP function as adaptogens and 5-HTP doubles for appetite control too.
Stage 6: Brain Power Matrix
Acetyl-L-Carnitine aka ALCAR is not a brain power nootropic but it is good for brain health. It also drops in a premium brand of Pterostilbene called pTerOPure. This ingredient is an antioxidant that promotes long-term brain health. Vinpocetine is our #4 best nootropic and boosts brain circulation.
Stage 7: Diuretic Complex
This is their “piss” complex which makes you remove lots of water weight which should help you see those “cuts” you want your girl to post on Instagram. This blend utilizes concentrated amounts of Uva Ursi (20:1) and Dandelion (10:1) which are great choices.
Stage 8: Sugar Stop & Enzyme Aid Matrix
This blend is a bit weird and seems to fall on “digestive health” rather than fat burning. Regardless, it has Apple Pectin which acts as soluble fiber and a premium brand of probiotic-like super enzymes call DigeSEB.
Now let’s look at what Arnold has in store for us.
Iron Cuts burns fat after building muscle
Its Muscle Building Maximizer starts strong with ingredients that increase T: DAA, Boron, Standardized Fenugreek, and Pumpkin Seed Extract. DAA and Boron are in our top T-Boosting ingredients list. It also adds in ALA which supports muscle mass and Eriobotrya Japonica for a possible reduction in muscle atrophy (that’s science talk which means your body won’t eat muscle for fuel, bro).
Thermogenic & Fat Metabolizer is the blend we want here. It has L-Carnitine which can perform as a fat burner, muscle recovery booster, and pain reliever, and our top 2 best fat burners Green Tea Extract and Caffeine. This blend also contains Panax Ginseng and a premium brand of Evodiamine called Thermodiamine which both help fan the flames of this fat burning blend. Inositol is a B-vitamin that might have weight loss benefits.
This blend also incorporates two good nootropics. N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine or NALT is the best form of Tyrosine and is capable of improving focus. Vinpocetine is more of a brain booster but it’s been shown to help reduce lipid accumulation in the body.
Estrogen & Cortisol Metabolizer is the last blend and was added to manipulate your hormones to enter fat-burning mode. It has Grape Seed Extract and DIM to prevent aromatase, the T-converting enzyme, from getting to your precious T. For the stress part are ingredients capable of preventing cortisol spikes: Cinnamon, Bark Powder, Phosphatidylserine, Standardized Banaba Leaf Extract, and Chromium Picolinate.
Both fat burners have HUGE fat-burning stacks but only one of them is denser than the other and that is Iron Cuts for keeping the focus on fat burning (building muscle counts as fat burning too). Shred Matrix is intelligently formulated but perhaps too smart for its own good.
Round 1… Iron Cuts Wins.
Round 2: Dosages
Here’s a problem. Both fat burners have A LOT of ingredients but each one is hidden under huge prop blends. This is normally a problem for the noob reviewers but take comfort at the fact that we are experts in making guesstimates.
Shred Matrix has 8 hidden blends but to make this less complicated, let’s focus on the ones linked to fat burning: Stages 1 & 2 and Stages 3 & 4.
With only Caffeine at 150 mg being revealed to us, we can try to assume the dosages before it hit the most minimal dosages. That counts Guarana, Green Tea Leaf Extract, and Kola. That adds up to roughly 900 mg or 2/5 of the total formula and that’s just the first four ingredients. If we assume Cayenne to have 50 mg then that leaves the rest of the formula with around 1200 mg left.
The second blend starts with Glucommanan and that’s usually a good sign since glucomannan often works in doses of 1 gram and up. If we assume it to have at least 1 g, then the rest of the formula is badly underdosed. Pretty jacked up job you did there, Shred Matrix.
- Meanwhile, our #1-ranked fat-burner supplies glucomannan too… but they give you a fat 1800 mg dose and show it right on the label. Transparent labels earn big point, bro.
What about Arnold’s Iron Cuts? It also has 21 ingredients but we see a good bulk of it, at least 930 mg, were allotted to its fat burning blend.
Let’s assume it also has 150 mg of Caffeine just to keep it fair. Carnitine and Green Tea Extract can operate at 250 mg each so the three of them make up a total of 650 mg. That leaves 280 mg for four other ingredients in the blend which are most likely underdosed.
From the looks of it, both fat burners have underdosed a good chunk of their formula but the fact that Iron Cuts had relatively fewer dose-hungry ingredients overall to work with makes it somewhat better than Shred Matrix.
To make it clear, both of them were pretty awful in this round and only being the lesser evil made Iron Cuts gain a slight advantage.
Round 2… Iron Cuts Wins.
Round 3: Ingredient Quality
Both of them have plenty to show for this round but let’s once again focus on their fat burners.
Shred Matrix impresses us with plenty of premium ingredients but we specially like its standardized Green Tea Extract and Razberi-K for Raspberry Ketones. Iron Cuts’s fat burners aren’t as stellar at all, giving us just Thermodiamine for Evodiamine.
Even if the doses were jacked up earlier, we have to give merit where it is due and Shred Matrix outshines Iron Cuts in this aspect of the battle.
Round 3… Shred Matrix Wins.
Round 4: Price
Shred Matrix | VS. | Iron Cuts | ||
1 Bottle (40 servings) | $24.86 | 1 Bottle (30-day supply) | $14.50 | |
Price Per Capsule | $0.21 | Price Per Capsule | $0.16 | |
Price Per Serving | $0.62 | Price Per Serving | $0.48 |
Round 4… Iron Cuts Wins.
Round 5: JUDGEMENT
These two had one huge fight with both of them boasting 21 ingredients each. Both are respectable fat burners on their own but our reviews speak of a huge divide that made the real big supplement stand up:
- We’re talking 3 (Shred Matrix) vs. 4 (Iron Cuts) out of 5 stars.
Similar quantity does not always reflect similar quality.
The big decision is still up to you.
If you prefer to go with Shred Matrix’s 8-Stage Fat Burning strategy, including diuretic and gut health function, then perhaps Shred Matrix should be your own winner. It has the ingredients that make up a decent fat burner but you might have to double the serving size if you want to feel it working 100%.
For us, we have to consider looking at it from a legit bro’s perspective and bros want to burn fat while building muscle. Shred Matrix’s approach is standard and all but the overall dosing doesn’t make it look like it’s set to work the way it should. Our main gripe is Shred Matrix overcomplicating a formula without the dosage to back it up.
Iron Cuts on the other hand, while also suffering from underdosing, shows us much more promise despite being a fat-burner second and being a muscle-builder/T-Booster first. In this regard, Iron Cuts’ approach to fat burning is much more efficient if only because its ingredients were much more suited to its servings size.
In the Shred Matrix vs. Iron Cuts fight, the winner by a MAJORITY Decision is…
Iron Cuts
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