When you look at the label of Plazma it seems like it’s just carbs(dextrin), fast protein, some sodium, and stuff you can get in PWO(citrulline malate, beta alanine, etc) what makes 20 servings of it worth $70?
Why would it be superior to a Gatorade(dextrose) with BCAAs and PWO that has the same pump ingredients? Twice the servings for half the price
Try it. Buy a bag of Plazma, a Tub of the other Intra workout cyclic dextrin product and then your Gatorade mix.
If you’re already doing the Gatorade you know how it’s working for you, Try the Plazma till it’s own, make note of your performance and how you feel.
Then try the other.
Then back to gatorade. I can assure you that you’ll feel better and perform better with the cyclic dextrin combos versus Gatorade.
Surge Workout Fuel would work better than Gatorade as well.
It has to do with the osmolarity of the solutions and how they enter the gut and blood stream. Along with their effects on glucose and other things.
It’s science. It’s proven. It works. If you can’t afford it and are getting the results you want on Gatorade, continue to do that. Results are what matters. Personally Plazma is my goto, I prefer it over some other versions even if they cost a smidge less.
I’m not the biggest or the strongest so take this all for what you want.
I wasn’t trying to bash Plazma. I believe it works, Im just not completely sold on the insane claims being made on this (Biotest run) site, or the huge price tag for the tiny number of servings. What exactly do you mean by cyclic dextrin combos?
Im pretty sure my post would get editted if I explained, but there’s other sites that sell other cyclic dextrin products.
I find I like Plazma better than several of them.
The price is often justified if you can buy in bulk and take use of the discounts they offer for prices over 100/200$
It is indeed an investment.
I sincerely doubt you can combine Gatorade powder and BCAAs and a workout mix with similarly-dosed ingredients and still end up under $3.50 per serving, or like Corst said, there are always discounts to bring the cost down even further. Get two bottles with the 10% off and you’re looking at $3.15 per serving. (And unfortunately, outside links don’t fly here to try proving contrary.)
Also, Gatorade and BCAAs are to cyclic dextrins and hydrolyzed casein what a used barbell from Craigslist is to an Eleiko barbell. It technically does some degree of the same job, but it’s not in the same class.
It’s easy to find plenty of testimonials from regular members. This thread is one example and this thread has people discussing their “Top 5 Biotest Supps”. Plazma is nearly always at the top for most.
Thanks for the reply man. I read up more on cyclic dextrin and realize that it is way better than Gatorade dextrose. But as far as hydrolized casein goes, I thought it was superior because of how fast it’s absorbed. Wouldn’t BCAAs still be faster since they’re already broken down? Sorry if these questions are dumb, I’m not that well versed in supplements
Only if they’re in peptide form, which not all BCAA mixes are. And even then, a hydrolyzed casein would be preferred to just BCAAs because of the complete amino profile that compounds the insulinogenic effect.
“Wheys are comparatively light in the insulinogenic amino acids arginine, phenylalanine, and glutamine, whereas casein hydrolysates are high in arginine, glutamine, threonine, and total number of insulinogenic amino acids.” - From the Whey vs Casein article.
A BCAA powder, by definition, wouldn’t contain those other aminos.
Great info, bro. Thanks for the reply
If I may…
I’m 47, and beyond trying to apply bro-science and I’m not stuck on ‘what you should take’ because everyone is different (gasp!)…My advice? Try it. Cut through the hype, cut through the crap, just try it. Many on this board will tell you they love it - my bet is you’ll feel the same…If it works for you, keep using it. Sorry to simplify it, but it is that simple.
This is a great question and one many guys should fully understand because
So first pre workout/intra workout carb I ever had was Dextrose and although it is known to absorb extremely fast into the small intestine it has a high osmolality, which delays gastric emptying into small intestine where the carb is actually absorbed. And like a BB in a buffet line, it blocks anything else (in this case Protein or BCAA!!) trying to make its way to the muscle… Then once it gets through its dumbed all at once which can cause fat gain… Also a huge surge of glucose causes for a huge supply of insulin and Insulin takes its job very seriously so you can ( I have many time) even experience hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) after having 50-100 grams of carbs, sounds crazy I know!
Now HBCD (found in Plazma) passes through the stomach very rapidly, providing a quick but also sustained release of glucose into the blood stream. Unlike Dextrose in has a low osmolalty. Its all relative to their molecular weight I know this sounds like a different language but to give you an idea of the difference… Dextrose has a MW of 180 where as HBCD has a MW of 16,000 !!
There have been studies on athletic performance with HBCD, but forget all that. I will tell you what I noticed.
With Plazma I noticed a considerable increase in pump! I’m not taking about a feeling or some placebo BS, I noticed it in the mirror and so did everyone around me! But what was really appealing to me is my all out max intensity lasted longer… You may workout for hours and hours but your max strength only lasts a given time (certain number of sets and reps depending on the athlete)… I was stronger for longer is what I’m trying to say…
P.S. I’m not sponsored by any supplement company or receive any endorsements lol, just my experience and 2 cents over 20 years of trial and error.
(although not mentioned, Ive tried every single carb supplement on the market)
What difference would there be if I just bought a bag of pure cyclic dextrin (very cheap) and mixed it with pure PeptoPro (hydrolyzed casein, not that cheap but still affordable) plus some flavoring?
I tried citrulline malate in the past and noticed no difference, so I don’t care about that ingredient.
The Z in PlaZma is what makes it special 
Less of a difference than if we were talking about gatorade and bcaas. Still it’s not plazma so make sure you’ve got some sodium in there as it’s important to it all working correctly.
Give it a shot and see if it works for you.l
Look into hydrolysed whey -only slightly less effective(say 5%) but still fantastic and cost about 40% less than hydro casein.
Pretty much any hydro protein product is a big step up from just about all other natural supps out there at the moment, especially in terms of recovery.
Well to be honest I have not seen that much benefit - maybe it’s better for bodybuilders rather than old fat powerlifters like me. I echo what other folks said - give it a try, see if it helps it. It won’t give you steroid results, nor will it get close the way the old mag10 pro hormone did. But if you have the time and energy to workout twice a day to get your pump on maybe it helps with the recovery. But the results for me were not enough to justify the price tag.
It took you three years to let us know?
You don’t need to train twice a day to benefit from Plazma and plenty of powerlifters use it (Dave Tate has discussed getting many guys at the Compound on it), it’s not just for “bodybuilders”. Sucks to hear you weren’t happy with it, but you’re definitely in the minority on that.
[quote=“lothos, post:16, topic:218239”]
It won’t give you steroid results, nor will it get close the way the old mag10 pro hormone did.[/quote]
Yeah, um, why would it? It’s nothing remotely close to a prohormone. That’s kinda like saying “Front squats won’t help you knock someone out, they won’t even get you close like working a heavy bag will.”
I may be preaching to the choir here, but there are so many factors that go in to training. And if anyone believes that any supplement anywhere is going to make that much difference you are fooling yourself. Despite what the Ad used to say - it’s NOT the shoes, its you. Everyone reacts differently.
I prefer to look at it this way - if you look good you feel good, if you feel good you play good. In this case, I like the way I feel while using Plazma…which in turn helps me train better. It will work for some and not others.
I say that because of articles that imply someone could gain 20 pounds of muscle while being more shredded since they could train so much on Plazma
I’m a powerlifter, and I find Plazma to be extremely valuable. I don’t ever lift without it. I’m not old and fat though…
And no, it does not give you steroid-like results. But that being said, it has immense value. It’s the only product I’ve used consistently for the past several years. It’s one of the few supplements out there that has a true tangible effect on body composition.
I took Plazma for 2 years straight. I was also using Mag-10 for all of that time and Indigo / Micro PA for most of it as well.
I made decent progress but it’s not like I gained a dramatic amount of muscle. It’s impossible to say how much of my progress was helped by the supplements vs the fact that I was training 4-5 times per week and counting every gram of protein/carbs/fat.
But overall I don’t think in my experience that Plazma was a “game changer”. (I think I would have gotten virtually the same results without it). That’s just my guess of course, I could be wrong but until we have an actual clinical study accounting for the placebo effect and controlling other factors all we have to go on is subjective opinions, right?
The main reason I stopped using it besides the $$$ was I was just so sick of mixing the stuff in advance (dealing w/ the foam), taking the pills, etc… and consuming 500+ calories in liquid form (w/ a bunch of sugar) during a workout. I’m leaning out now so the extra real food I can eat during the day is more than worth it.
I’m now taking just BCAAs and creatine. If my progress noticeably deteriorates in the next few months I may switch back to the Biotest supps and update this post but my guess is that this won’t happen.
I’m not saying Plazma is bad if someone is specifically looking for a high-carb intra-workout – it may well be the best thing on the market – but in my opinion it’s not going to make a significant difference for a natural lifter who just consumes the equivalent macros in normal food at other meals during the day. And I have difficulty not concluding that a lot of the claims made on this site – e.g. Micro PA provides “50% greater muscle gains” – are complete nonsense.