Scivation Xtend

Free form amino acids, especially L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine and L-Valine, continue to be one of the more popular supplements amongst weight training/bodybuilding enthusiasts. The role of BCAAs in recovery and muscle protein synthesis has now been studied for many years. In the past, I have written about XF ICE and recently had the opportunity to try out Xtend. One of the reasons I had not tried Scivation’s Xtend until now was because a lot of the feedback from the forums, complained of excessive sweetness and strong flavours of Xtend. This has changed as Scivation has recently re-formulated Xtend and removed up to 200 grams of sweeteners/artificial flavours/colours/additives in this new version.

I never tried the original Xtend but taste wise, this new version is pretty good. I had the “Watermelon Maddness” and it has a very nice flavour, good amount of sweetness (1 heaping scoop in 1 liter of cold water) and quite refreshing.

Scivation also made a slight change to the formulation by adding an electrolyte component (Trisodium Citrate Dihydrate, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Chloride). The aforementioned BCAAs, L-Glutamine, Citrulline Malate and Vitamin B6 continue to be part of the overall Xtend formula.

I think Scivation’s Xtend is a good value, good formula and good taste to make it a worthwhile addition to the supplement stacks of bodybuilders, weight trainers and athletes. Unlike many who sip these type of drinks during their workouts, I believe that a bolus dose pre-workout has a more profound impact (at least for muscle protein synthesis). So chug your Xtend pre and/or post-workout!