Sergeant Steel is a popular testosterone booster in the UK and U.S. that claims to set a new standard in testosterone boosting through its formula of 16 of the most effective ingredients, expertly dosed. Read on to find out whether Sergeant Steel is the T-boosting equivalent of SEAL Team Six, or more of a M*A*S*H up of ingredients hoping for the best.
Fair warning: this review contains lots of military themed metaphors, some of them highly questionable.
About Sergeant Steel
Assault Labs have set out to create one of the most powerful T-boosters on the market and the formula for Sergeant Steel seems very keenly focused on doing just that. There are other benefits to some of the ingredients here, but the bulk of the effective ingredients are straight down the line testosterone boosting badasses.
Some are much more effective than others though, and ultimately this fact is a mark against the overall formula because no one likes wasted space, especially when you need to swallow 10 of these bullets per day. Yes, that’s 10 capsules a day. This product is a big commitment.
Formula notes:
- Multiple monster ingredients. The formula contains some of the biggest hitters of all proven T-boosters, and in decent doses too.
- Some dubious elements and low doses. It is a little bloated in places and some of the doses are on the low side.
- Excellent T-booster with additional benefits. Overall this is a solid product that will also support increased workout performance, rapid muscular recovery and enhanced fertility.
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Sergeant Steel – Supplement Facts
So, there you have it, a whopping 16 ingredients containing many of the tried and tested compounds you would expect to find, plus a few leftfield additions that might prove decisive in the final analysis.
Check out our detailed look at each ingredient individually to find out which are leading from the front, and whether any would be better off left in the trenches.
* The dosages mentioned below are per one serving (5 capsules), hence a daily dose would be double.
Vitamin D (from Cholecalciferol) 1500ug
First to present themselves for inspection is Vitamin D – a veteran of many T-boosting formulas thanks to its proven ability to raise testosterone levels. Most studies are conducted at doses of around 3,000mg which is exactly what you get from 2 servings of Sergeant Steel. A serving of 3,300mg has been proven to boost testosterone levels versus a placebo by 20%.
Vitamin D deficiency is becoming more common because people spend less time outside these days. You travel from home to work to the gym to home again and don’t get exposed to enough sunlight to produce the vitamin D your body requires. Supplementing your vitamin D intake in order to boost your testosterone is a plan we can all get behind.
Magnesium (from Magnesium Bisglycinate) 50mg
A hard-working mineral that has steadily climbed the ranks of T-boosting ingredients, magnesium has a crucial role to play in helping your body maintain an anabolic state and keep testosterone levels healthy.
Magnesium can increase free testosterone in all people, whether you work out or not. The good news for those of us that do work out is that its effectiveness goes up dramatically when taken alongside physical training. However, this study was conducted by giving participants 10mg magnesium per kg of bodyweight, so a day’s worth of Sergeant Steel only provides enough magnesium if you weigh 10kgs.
We feel like the overall formula could be improved either by upping the dose massively or issuing magnesium with an honorable discharge.
Calcium (from Dicalcium Phosphate) 18mg
Like Magnesium, Calcium has been shows to increase free and overall testosterone levels in everyone, but has a much greater impact on individuals that train. The Calcium in Sergeant Steel will help to raise your testosterone higher than the stars & stripes at full mast as long as you’re not slacking in the gym!
You don’t want to go too mad with calcium supplementation as this can cause unwanted symptoms on your skin, in your lungs or in your gut, but even so the dose here is maybe a bit too safe.
Zinc (from Zinc Chelate) 7.5mg
No squad would be complete without a combat medic, and Zinc fulfils that role in Sergeant Steel’s squad. The main benefit of Zinc is that it reduces the natural decline in T-levels following intensive exercise.
Without Zinc, prolonged periods of training will lead to inhibition of thyroid hormones and testosterone concentration, but using Zinc can stop this from happening altogether and result in higher testosterone and increased exercise performance over time.
We’d like to see a higher dose here as well, but you should be getting plenty of zinc in your diet anyway (it’s found in meat, shellfish, nuts, seeds, dairy, legumes, eggs and whole grains to name a few).
D-Aspartic Acid 1500mg
Here we have the veteran soldier of the troop. The Sarge might be in charge, but when he’s not around everyone looks to Corporal DAA – he’s been around longer than most, he’s seen it all, and he always gets the job done.
D-Aspartic Acid is one of the most reliable ingredients for increasing T-levels and it does this by increasing production of Luteinizing Hormone (LH), which in turn signals testosterone production. It can boost T-levels by up to 45% and this has been proven to happen in as little as 12 days from starting supplementation. Note that the subjects in the study above used 3g (3,000mg) of D-AA, which is the same as the daily dose you’d get from Sergeant Steel.
It’s also worth noting that a conflicting study published in Nutrition Research identified few potential T-gains in resistance trained men, suggesting it works better for men with lower testosterone levels to begin with. Experts also suggest the T-gains may be temporary in healthy men, but last longer and be more effective in infertile men.
KSM-66® Ashwagandha Root Extract 337.5mg
We’re bringing out the big guns now! Ashwagandha extract (or withania somnifera to give it its scientific name) is an herb commonly used in eastern medicine. It can significantly increase testosterone levels as well as having a massive impact on overall physical performance and muscle size.
Take this study for example that showed that 8 weeks supplementation with just 2 x 300mg ashwagandha daily resulted in 50% more gains in 1RM for bench press and leg extension, and roughly 50% additional gains in arm muscle size (8.6cm on ashwagandha vs 5.3cm on the placebo). Sergeant Steel delivers a little bit more than this, but remember these studies are typically conducted on fresh recruits, not battle-hardened warriors like you.
In terms of the direct impact on T-levels, it could increase yours by 10-20%.
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Mucuna Pruriens Extract L-DOPA 250mg
Hailing from Africa and Asia, mucuna pruriens is a dark colored bean that has been used to treat all sorts of things including snake bites and scorpion stings. We’ve reviewed the intel and it appears that this ingredient can have a significant positive impact on levels of T, LH, dopamine and adrenaline.
L-DOPA is the main constituent of mucuna pruriens. It’s a non-essential amino acid that directly impacts the quality and production levels of sperm in your body.
Nettle Extract (root) 250mg
Whilst this may not increase the amount of total testosterone in your body, the nettle plant has been proven to increase the amount of available testosterone in your body by running interference across the SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) process.
In your body there is a limited amount of testosterone and most of it is bound to SHBG and not usable for any other purpose, such as increasing muscle mass. The kind of counter-espionage work carried out by the nettle extract means a greater percentage of your testosterone will be ‘free’ and bioavailable.
Fenugreek Seed Extract (Xenith F™) (trigonella foenum) (20% Protodioscin) 250 mg
Fenugreek is thought to be effective because it reduces the amount of aromatase in your system. Aromatase is an enzyme that convert testosterone into estrogen, so less of it in your body means less test is converted to estrogen.
A study of college-age men demonstrated that the daily use of an alleged aromatase and 5-α reductase inhibitor (AI) helped to increase strength, muscle size, free and total testosterone.
Fenugreek is generally dosed at between 500mg and 750mg in studies, but there are many T boosters out there that skimp on it. Assault Labs could have packed more in here, but the formula offers a just-about-acceptable 500mg per day.
There’s one downside with fenugreek, however: it seems to block the production of DHT, the male sex hormone that’s even stronger than testosterone.
Purified Shilajit (PrimaVie®) 100mg
Shilajit is an ancient ingredient popular in Indian medicine and found in the Himalayan mountains. It looks gross, but it can work wonders to boost T and increase muscle mass. In fact, Shilajit has been shown to significantly increase T levels in a clinical study.
The specific version of Shilajit used in Sergeant Steel, PrimaVie®, was proven to have amazing benefits to muscle adaptation, elasticity, repair and regeneration.
But there’s a problem. These studies were conducted using 2 x 250mg of Shilajit per day and Sergeant Steel contains less than half that amount, so nowhere near the kind of firepower we’d expect from something ‘military grade’.
LJ100® Eurycoma Longifolia Extract (22% Bioactive Eurypeptides, 40% Glyco Saponins) (Root) 100mg
You may recognize this plant by one of its other callsigns – Longjack or, more commonly, Tongkat Ali. It has been used to treat male infertility and can improve sex drive. It has decent T boosting chops, with one study showing a 37% increase in test after 4 weeks of supplementation.
More good news – the dose is bang on with 100mg twice per day. This is the exact amount that was used in the study mentioned above. Whilst extract ratios can vary, the LJ100® product is high quality and reliable.
Dehydroabietic Acid (DHAA) 52.5mg
Like Fenugreek, DHAA acts as an inhibitor to aromatase and should therefore increase the amount of free testosterone your body has. There is some evidence to support this effect, but it’s not 100% conclusive. Some studies have gone the other way and suggested that DHAA could actually damage your cells.
This might be a controversial call, but we would have been happier without the DHAA, especially if the gap in the formula could be filled with a little more of some of the low-dosed ingredients.
Tribulus Extract (fruit) 45% Saponins 50mg
The fruit of the Tribulus plant has been used to treat a range of conditions, some of them relating to infertility and sexual performance, but the evidence points to a lack of effectiveness at raising testosterone levels.
One of the largest studies to date found that Tribulus can improve nitric oxide levels, but has no effect on testosterone levels.
Maca Extract (root) (Lepidium meyenii) 50mg
Something of a rookie in terms of T-boosters, Maca has been linked to a number of health benefits and improvements in strength, libido and testosterone, but there is not enough evidence yet to know whether these claims have any substance.
Boron (as Boron Citrate) 2.5mg
Unlike Maca, Boron is well researched and widely regarded as being an excellent supplement for increasing free and total testosterone. Although the effects are not significant at low doses on healthy males, plenty of studies have been conducted using higher doses of between 5mg and 10mg per day. Within this range, Boron has proven to increase testosterone by around 40%.
Assault Labs have dosed this ingredient a little on the low side at 5mg (2 x 2.5mg) per day but it does fall within the effective range.
Black Pepper Fruit Extract (BioPerine®) 2.5mg
BioPerine® is a patented form of piperine, the active ingredient in black pepper. It doesn’t affect testosterone levels directly, but it does increase the bioavailability and effectiveness of all the other ingredients in the formula.
This is useful because Sergeant Steel contains so many other ingredients. Without BioPerine® your body could end up wasting some of the 3000+mg of goodness in each serving. BioPerine® is a highly effective product that is present in many quality formulas.
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Formula Analysis
OK, so we have looked at each ingredient individually, now how do they all hang together? It’s probably fair to say that although almost all the ingredients pull their weight, our Navy SEALs are carrying one or two goddamn greenhorns out of enemy territory.
Don’t get us wrong, this stuff works. Assault Labs have pretty much nailed it with the vitamin D, DAA, Ashwagandha, Longjack, L-DOPA (from the Mucuna Pruriens) and Boron. Some of the remaining ingredients could do with beefier doses and arguably a couple of them could be dropped altogether to streamline the formula a little.
Maca, Tribulus and Magnesium are the weaker links here and could usefully make way for increased doses on the more proven and effective ingredients like Shilajit.
Among the more effective ingredients you find straight up T-boosters and aromatase inhibitors so you can be assured that you will experience increases in free and total testosterone, but it falls slightly short of true greatness thanks to some low dosed ingredients and a couple of dud elements.
Sergeant Steel Benefits
Sergeant Steel will help to increase the total amount of testosterone in your body as well as the amount that is free and bioavailable to help you pack on muscle and smash some PBs in the process.
You’ll experience benefits to overall physical performance too. These benefits and the increase in testosterone will be more noticeable among the older generation of bodybuilders, but there’s plenty here for all ages and experience levels.
Who Takes It?
Whatever your motivation for wanting to increase testosterone, Sergeant Steel is a great option for straightforward T-boosting. There are other supplements available that might focus more on fertility-boosting ingredients for the older man, and others that work more passively by supporting other areas of male health and exercise performance. They all have their place. Sergeant Steel’s place is on the front lines, rallying the troops and doing everything he can to skyrocket your T-levels with evidence-based, direct-impact ingredients and we like the no nonsense approach.
Some ingredients may be more effective for men with lower testosterone levels to begin with, but others should work for everyone.
You could call it Shock and Awww Yeah!
Any Side-Effects?
Outside of the list of possible side-effects that are associated with any test boosters, Sergeant Steel poses little risk in terms of adverse side-effects. Many of the ingredients can have mild effects like headaches, dizziness, restlessness etc. so if you experience anything like this you should consult a doctor before continuing the course.
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Sergeant Steel Summary
Pros
- Contains many proven ingredients. DAA, Vit D, Ashwagandha, L-DOPA, Longjack and Boron make for a powerful T-boosting combination.
- Full disclosure on doses. Assault Labs are fully transparent with their doses and Sergeant Steel contains no proprietary blends, and we love that.
- Quality proprietary elements. The proprietary ingredients here are all market-leading in terms of their quality; BioPerine®, LJ100® and PrimaVie®, KSM-66® and Xenith F™.
- Very testosterone focused. The effective ingredients are almost all straight-shooting T boosters…but the formula does offer a decent array of secondary benefits too.
Cons
- Allergens. The formula contains milk, so avoid it if you have a dairy allergy or intolerance.
- Slightly bloated formula. A couple of ingredients don’t really earn their place in the formula as much as the others do. We’re looking at you, Maca and Tribulus!
- Some low dosed ingredients. Frustratingly, some excellent ingredients sacrifice space in the formula for the more questionable elements, and we’d love to see more Shilajit, Zinc, Calcium and maybe a little more Ashwagandha too.
- Not cheap. Not crazy expensive either, but there are better value options around.
Pricing & Where to Buy
You can pick up Sergeant Steel from the Assault Labs website for $59.95 for 300 capsules (30 days’ supply).
Final Word on Sergeant Steel
Despite its shortcomings (which in fairness are little more than mildly irritating in the context of the overall formula) Sergeant Steel delivers the goods and sits on the mid to upper end of the scale in terms of effectiveness.
It has broad appeal and should be considered a strong choice. For anyone looking for increased testosterone without a strong emphasis on libido or sexual performance.
Ultimately, we’re not sure if Sergeant Steel earns the right to call itself “military grade”.
Why? Answer: because it is outgunned by some of the more powerful formulas on the market. But it shows heart, grit and dedication to the cause. Semper Fi.
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