The PricePlow Podcast

On December 7, 2021, Ben sat down with Darin Decker and Michael McClane of Kaged Muscle, who had a lot to say about the future of the brand. You may remember Darin from Episode #047, where we learned of the great things coming for the end of 2021. This episode takes things a lot further. Right off the bat, for those who watch the YouTube video, we get to see the new Elite Series that comes with all new branding. Kaged Muscle Becomes Kaged The major announcement is that the team is shifting the branding from Kaged Muscle to simply Kaged. While exercise is still the epicenter of health and wellness, helping customers live their best lives is more than just building muscle. Simply put, Kaged is more than muscle. The details are below on video and in our audio feeds (subscribe to the PricePlow Podcast with your favorite podcast app), and also be sure to sign up for our Kaged news alerts before checking out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FygqwrAjFSY The Kaged Background Before getting into the rebrand, Michael takes us back through the inception of Kaged Muscle, where it was a “no-brainer” opportunity: they’d seen what brands were succeeding on Bodybuilding.com, some of which Kaged formulator Brian Rand had actually created (flashback to our 2016 article titled Meet the Man Who REALLY Formulated Pre-JYM). By partnering with Kris Gethin, there was perfect alignment in terms of their goals. They decided to develop better supplements, accept lower profit margins, and use forward-thinking marketing strategies to make it come to life. The push worked, and over time, they were still able to sell in major stores, changing the retail landscape away from a period where only ultra cheaply made formulas could maintain profitability. “We’re never going to launch a me-too product” Michael explains that Kaged is never going to launch a product that doesn’t innovate. Innovation isn’t just in supplements, either – Kaged also has some of the best training programs in the industry. Ben lists some of the recent supplements that, despite being in a “legacy” category, have been very innovative: Clean Meal (meal replacement protein) Kaged Omega-3 (extraordinarily high purity fish oil) Kaged Multivitamin (multi with whole foods sources) And of course, innovations like Pro-Biotic, the ioPea in Plantein, and CreaClear creatine monohydrate shouldn’t be forgotten either! So what about their legendary pre-workout supplement, Pre-Kaged? Meet Pre-Kaged ELITE Two years in the making, Darin introduces Pre-Kaged Elite to PricePlow Nation. “More pumps, more energy, more focus”. Put simply, this label is bombastic. It is the epitome of it all. For example, it has 10 grams of fermented citrulline, an insane dosage – especially given the recent supply chain crisis! There’s creatine, there’s nitrates, and far more with… Read more on the PricePlow Blog

November 11, 2021 marked Glaxon’s second birthday, a day now celebrated as Goon Day! The team at Glaxon invited us to their world headquarters in Houston, TX so that we could participate in the activities and put together some incredible content regarding their new products. After a day of filming videos, drinking unique supplements, and training, we came back to record a podcast with Glaxon CEO Michael Bischoff and Chief Science Officer / Formulator Joey Savage. A Goon Day to set the standard This was one of the most fun recordings we’ve ever done in PricePlow history. The session went three hours long, and we came away with some incredible laughs, new product explanations and teasers, ingredient insights, industry inside information, and a ton of supreme knowledge from Joey himself. The audio feeds are below, followed by two YouTube videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L4Omvcw0S4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFxVo8ZbYJk A podcast for the ages There’s too much to list here, but in this video, we: The sample the first run of both Protos Whey (a humanized whey protein) and Protos Vegan Discussion on GNC’s new Glaxon partnership and promotion The upcoming Specimen V3 pre workout What makes Specimen G.F.Y so special and what more can be done to it Dietary supplement testing Ongoing scams Mushrooms (both supplemental and “magical”) and CBD disappointments Beta alanine, our favorite source of argumentation Pumpkin Pie Wonder Collagen Joey’s training stack Sponsoring Bill Murray and putting him in the space suit Choline sources Ingredient of the year You can also see our video where Joey explains Glaxon’s upcoming products for the end of 2021. Overall, it was a wild, fun, and entertaining day capped off with an incredible conversation. Since this podcast, we’ve come out with so much more Glaxon content that you can find on our Glaxon News page – sign up for alerts there so that you don’t miss the latest happenings. As always, subscribe to the PricePlow Podcast feeds and leave a review on iTunes or your favorite app!

In Fall of 2021, we hosted Jamie Giovinazzo of Eat Clean Bro on the PricePlow Podcast. Eat Clean Bro is the fresh meal delivery company based in the Northeast that Jamie founded, and is going through monstrous growth. In this episode of the PricePlow Podcast, we talked about Jamie’s story from humble beginnings, food quality and craftsmanship, entrepreneurship, and fame. This was a strong and passionate discussion, and of all of the business owners we’ve talked to, none seem to love their business and their customers as much as Jamie – and that says a lot given the intense industry we deal with. You can watch on YouTube or listen to the discussion on our audio podcast feeds below, and as always, sign up for PricePlow’s Eat Clean Bro news alerts so that you get notified anytime new meals are developed, but you can also head right on over to EatCleanBro.com and see what’s new on their homepage as well! If you’re new to Eat Clean Bro, see our introductory article titled Eat Clean Bro: Fresh, Healthy Meals Delivered… Fresh! Talking Eat Clean Bro with Jamie Giovinazzo “New Jersey is the epicenter of bro”, but Jamie tells us that they also have a kitchen in Atlanta, GA and are looking at Boston and Washington DC expansion. Jamie discusses where he operates in a way where he puts other people first, and it breeds cooperation, loyalty, and appreciation. Jamie nearly has “celebrity status” because he knows so many people in the Northeast, but of everyone he deals with, he’s easily the most relatable person. He shares his rather strong opinions about social media, but tries to “bring people back to earth”. From humble beginnings Jamie discusses that he’s learned from mistakes, 5:27: “I’ve seen the rise and fall of many great entrepreneurs, and over the years, the most apparent trait is the ego. When you start feeling invincible, that’s usually when you fall the hardest. I’m very aware – I’m not invincible.” — Jamie Giovinazzo A company to support 6:30: “We make every single meal in-house… There’s a lot of national meal brands that do not cook the food, they outsource, they use copackers to make their food, they outsource their customer service wherever they can get it the cheapest, and they’re literally just a marketing company hammering coupons and they’re collecting customer information, and they’re taking that data, and that’s the data they’re using to sell to bigger companies who want that information… And really what I’m getting at man, is I’m trying to be relatable and trying to encourage people and trying to get people to understand the real entrepreneur grind and to support your local entrepreneur and support local.” — Jamie Giovinazzo Customer service: a real human on the phone and live chat 8:20: “I always tell people about the customer service. When you call, there’s no ringtone. There’s no ‘please press 1 for sales or press 2..’ dude.. You call, we pick up the phone. If you’re calling, chances are, you want to talk to somebody. I mean come on, any business that has that f’in ‘press this or press that’, and they’re not even that busy, I’m like come on man, somebody just answer the phone, why do I gotta press these buttons… …So when you call Eat Clean Bro with one or two rings, there’s a real person who answers the phone, and our live chat is the same way.” — Jamie Giovinazzo Food cooked from scratch 9:08: “I don’t know if I do a good enough job promoting the t… Read more on the PricePlow Blog

On October 29, 2021, Ben interviewed Sara Perez Ojalvo, the Director of Research & Development at Nutrition21, the ingredient development powerhouse that’s behind key sports nutrition, dietary, and performance ingredients like Nitrosigine, nooLVL, Chromax, and Velositol. Meet Sara Perez Ojalvo and the Nutrition21 Way of Doing Things Sara has been with Nutrition21 for seven years. When she first started, the brand’s focus was on Nitrosigine, a new patented nitric oxide booster in the form of inositol-stabilized arginine silicate, but it only had one study published at the time. Sara’s job is to design new research to demonstrate to the scientific and consumer communities that the ingredient is safe, efficacious, and beneficial for its purposes. Sara graduated from the prominent Wesleyan University in Connecticut with a degree in Biology. She decided against medical school and lab-work, wanting to be in science yet not in the lab on a day-to-day basis. When she began, Sara oversaw three simultaneous studies with funding the company had available. It’s her job to work with sales and marketing to see what consumers and brands are asking for, and to see if they can deliver an ingredient that works both in the lab and in the real world. The full story is below, but you can subscribe to the PricePlow Podcast or watch the embedded video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1UFaA2i3l0 Nutrition21 the research company As we’ve said numerous times on PricePlow, Nutrition21 is more of a research company than just a novel ingredient developer. Much of this is covered in our article titled The Evolution of Nutrition21’s Sports Nutrition Ingredients. Ben also brings up the unique Arkansas study that pitted Nitrosigine against citrulline malate, and showed that Nitrosigine was comparable to citrulline malate at less than a fourth of the dose! Nitrosigine and cognitive function… leading to nooLVL When funding studies, Nutrition21 enjoys collecting as much data as possible, because you’re never sure what you’ll find. While Nitrosigine is a pre workout ingredient, they figured they would study some cognitive function parameters as well, not fully sure if they’d hit anything big. It turned out that Nitrosigine did improve cognitive function — within 15 minutes — and this eventually led to the creation of NooLVL, which was focused on gamers. NooLVL was then studied on gamers in their gaming studies, played with modern games, and much of that is covered in our article titled nooLVL: Next-Gen Focus Ingredient for Gaming Supplements. Mechanistically, the effect makes sense – the increased nitric oxide from both Nitrosigine and nooLVL don’t just increase blood flow and oxygenation for the muscles, they work for the brain as well! Future nooLVL research Sara discusses where nooLVL research may go next: in previous research, they allowed gamers to play their favorite games between their cognitive battery tests. However, because of this, there was too much variability, and they couldn’t collect consistent data regarding in-game performance data. In future studies, it’d be great to standardize on a single game altogether to look at performance as well. The latest nooLVL research is covered in our article titled… Read more on the PricePlow Blog

On October 18th, 2021, we interviewed Krik Angacian, co-founder and CEO of CandyCan, about his new “functional candy” gummy snacks. Before founding CandyCan, Krik also co-founded Protes, a company that was well-known for its delicious protein chips. We talked to Krik about how he transitioned from investment banking to the food industry, how the process of building companies differs from buying and selling them, and what he’s learned about the unique challenges of gummy production when it comes to both formulation and ingredient stability. What is “Functional Candy?” According to Krik, CandyCan is trying to fill a space somewhere between ordinary food and traditional supplements. In an industry whose marketing is skewed so heavily towards bodybuilders and high-performing athletes, Krik sees an opportunity to market beneficial supplements that can also capture the attention of more ordinary, non-athletic consumers: people who aren’t trying to push the limits of their bodies, but just want something a little healthier and more useful than ordinary snack food. Krik got this idea one day when he got caught by his co-founder eating multivitamin gummies like snack food, and realized that the deliciousness of the gummy form factor would always leave consumers wanting more than just one or two gummies. That’s why CandyCan is pairing up with one of North America’s top gummy manufacturers to launch a range of enriching gummy products, including Immunity, which is due to be released towards the end of 2021. Krik also talks us through the state of industry regulations and processing, and some of the challenges that came with formulating Immunity and other gummy products, including: I don’t want to sell snake oil… anything I put out, I wanna make sure it stays stable in a gummy. — Krik Angacian, CandyCan How do you get a gummy with turmeric and black pepper to taste sweet and sour? How do you keep more fragile ingredients from “cooking out” during production? How do you ensure that the bioavailability of ingredients is high? How do you find a good gummy production line? Launching efficacious products is Krik’s top priority. “I don’t want to sell snake oil… anything I put out, I wanna make sure it stays stable in a gummy.” Business Philosophy Krik tries to stay humble in his role as co-founder and CEO, freely admitting that he was caught off guard by the challenges of building a company from scratch, and that he doesn’t know everything. In his words, “I’ve been working out for about 17 years… but I’m still learning.” Ben talks to Krik about the central role of authenticity in branding, and how awesome it is that CandyCan’s brand aligns with who Krik really is as a person. In the middle of the show, Mike also provides his review (since Ben’s will be embedded below when it’s live), and is extremely bullish on both Krik and CandyCan.

On October 9th, 2021, we sat down with Marc Lobliner, Chief Marketing Officer of TigerFitness and CEO of MTS Nutrition. Most recently, Marc is the inventor of the Outright Bar and Outright Breakfast Bar, and Ben traveled to Tennessee to discuss the history of the product and the unique advantages of its key protein-boosting ingredient, Velositol. Marc walks us through the thought process that led him to the formulation of the Outright Breakfast Bar, which he intended to be a “whole food protein bar” that could serve as a meal replacement, and help sustain athletes during long games by giving them a balanced macronutrient intake and good digestion. Listen to him explain why Velositol, which enhances the uptake of post-workout protein and increases muscle protein synthesis, was key to designing a bar that could fill this variety of needs. Talking Velositol, Outright Breakfast Bars, and More with Marc Lobliner Marc gives us some great insights on how a product can be formulated for the widest possible appeal. For Marc, this began as an emphasis on child nutrition — the idea for the Outright Bar was conceived during one of his daughter’s soccer matches, where Marc wanted to feed her something that would enhance her performance, but realized that the bars available to him were all going to detract from it. Then we pick his brain on the safety profile of Nutrition 21’s Velositol (spoiler alert: it’s very safe), and the general risks associated with being an innovator who’s the first one to market a new ingredient. Finally, Marc gives us some great thoughts on marketing a product and running a company, and what to look for when you consider buying someone else’s product. He also gives us some sage advice for anyone who wants to start a company of their own. If you enjoyed hearing from Marc as much as we did, check out the Outright Bar at our affiliate links below, and read our articles titled Velositol: The Missing Link for Protein Bars and Velositol: Enhancing Muscle Protein Synthesis with Science. More details from the conversation: Why Velositol in outright bars? Ben: over time, the protein content of “protein bars” has gone down Marc: Outright Bar was designed to be a “whole food” protein bar — something with a good mix of different macros and natural ingredients, as opposed to existing products which were full of gut irritants such as glycerol and prebiotic fiber, or caused blood sugar swings Velositol chosen to make Outright Breakfast Bars “better than breakfast” as a meal replacement, not just a supplemental protein snack — increases bioavailability of protein and gives it a longer, more even rate of digestion Because Velositol increases the uptake of protein, it allows one to use less protein but get the same effect Cuts costs Also helps people who can’t eat big meals in the morning, since Velositol decreases your protein requirements Outright Bar launched in 2018 Launched as individually wrapped product Marc: My original goal was to earn enough for my family to eat Outright bars for free T… Read more on the PricePlow Blog

On September 13, 2021, Raw Nutrition announced that they added a new partner to their ownership team — the 2019 and 2020 Classic Physique Mr. Olympia himself, Chris Bumstead! Chris had already been a sponsored athlete on the Revive MD team, and we covered his story (and his love for Revive MD Kidney) in an earlier athlete profile titled Chris Bumstead: “The Comeback Kid”. Now, however, he’s making his biggest move yet, joining Dr. Domenic Iacovone and Matt Jansen as co-owners of Raw Nutrition! In this episode of the PricePlow Podcast, we interview the three men and talk about their story, their plans for the brand, and what’s going to happen to Chris’ CBUM product line. We’re extremely grateful for this interview, since Chris is just 8 days out from Mr. Olympia! Video: Join Chris Bumstead, Matt Jansen, and Dr. Dom Iacovone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCOJiMVgHSU Update: The Raw Nutrition CBUM Thavage Pre Workout is now out! Additional Notes Chris parted ways very amicably with his former sponsor, Jacked Factory. Since they were already in the process of developing the CBUM product line, they decided to share the labels and for the first manufacturing run, both companies would donate profits to two different canine charities, since everyone involved are dog lovers. Upon joining Raw Nutrition, one of his first tasks was to reduce the price of Raw Pre Extreme, which his fans stated was too expensive. Chris actually reads his comments, and wants to pull his community into the Raw Nutrition picture. Matt and Dom talk about the decision, the collaboration, and how they’ve turned their facility into the elite training crew of this generation. We’ll also learn about Chris’ supplement stack (he loves his beta alanine, still uses Revive MD Kidney, and has plenty of others to share), learn his favorite snack recipes, get some dog stories, and more. You can follow Chris on Instagram at @cbum and Raw Nutrition @getrawnutrition, and sign up for our Raw Nutrition alerts below so that you don’t miss any news when the products drop! We definitely expect to have Dr. Dom and/or Matt back on in the future, so subscribe to the PricePlow Podcast too.

Welcome to Season 2 of the PricePlow Podcast! Mike and Ben get together for a long-overdue podcast to catch up on 2021 and to kick off Season 2 of the PricePlow Podcast! We talk about several topics, including: The economy Hiring help at PricePlow Product Launches of 2021 What’s coming in Q4-2021 and 2022 Immunity, metabolic health, and dealing in dystopia FDA Enforcement (or lack thereof) Stimulants and caffeine detoxes Upcoming guests Video: Listen to Mike and Ben catch up on 2021 and discuss the world https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeJxO6Nwg-o Topics Covered in Detail Mike begins by mentioning who he’s interested in reaching, and speaks of “The Remnant”, which is an idea from Isaiah’s Job. They catch up and discuss the following: The economy Are supplements safe? Will our supply chains stay in tact? How bad will things get? Will we be able to safely hire someone (see next point)? Later on we also discuss the state of “hyperinflation” we’re seeing in the economy and how Millennials like Ben have been priced out of the housing market for now. Will it come back down to earth? Hiring at PricePlow We’re going to be looking for a like-minded individual who’s autonomous, zealous about supplements, and a great technical writer. The job’s not posted yet, but would love to hear from anyone with the following qualities: Incredible technical writer 11/10 in terms of organization Can post in WordPress (training provided) Can manage and engage our YouTube channel (training provided) Can post contest giveaways via Buffer (training provided) Contact us if you’re interested! Product Launches of 2021 We’ve been very impressed with the new Performax Labs rebrand, Unbound, everything Ghost has done for their year of the V2, ingredient launches at NNB Nutrition like ergothioneine, how much Doug Miller (Episode #050) is keeping us busy at CORE / Merica / Arms Race, how Dr. Dom Iacovone and Matt Jansen are literally taking over bodybuilding and bringing Raw Nutrition and Revive MD with them, and far more. Don’t sleep on Kaged lately either! Immunity, metabolic health, and dealing in dystopia Mike’s immunity stack for the “dark winter”: Zinc (either OptiZinc or Zinc Bisglycinate) Quercetin (zinc ionophore, green tea extract could also work) – Mike uses ForestLeaf Quercetin Bromelain, which also has Vitamin C Olive leaf extract (cheap way to inhibit ACE2 docking) … Read more on the PricePlow Blog

Doug Miller of CORE Nutritionals, Merica Labz, Merica Energy, and Arms Race Nutrition joins up with Team PricePlow to discuss some hot news in the supplement industry – supply chain woes and the rising prices of protein – especially dairy protein. Since this was Doug’s first time on the PricePlow Podcast, he gives a full introduction, with his background and entrance to the supplement industry. It all began with Core MRP, a meal replacement that didn’t contain Maltodextrin (a very rare thing 15 years ago), and as Doug’s bodybuilding career advanced, Core Nutritionals did as well. Then, we get into the meat of the conversation, which has to do with rising protein prices, and how the CORE team is responding to the issues in the supply chain: Video: Listen to Doug Miller discuss Core Nutritionals, supply chain, and protein prices https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePB6L3n8CCo “Figure it out” Beyond that, we also discuss CORE’s move to North Carolina, how working with the team involves a lot of “figuring it out”, and how everyone has to work multiple jobs until new full-time positions are made. Once prompted, Doug also explains the type of person he hires – he doesn’t look for education or training, but a mentality. Doug is incredibly open and honest in this episode, especially regarding the pricing issues, which many brands are hiding. He also makes it very clear that this was the option of last resort Finally, don’t miss some of the discussion on pre workout supplements, where we discuss how much we’ve been liking the new Merica Labz Red, White, & BOOM. Sign up for news alerts on all of Doug’s brands: CORE Nutritionals Merica Labz Merica Energy Arms Race Nutrition Use PricePlow to Save on CORE Nutritionals Supplements Use PricePlow to Save on Merica Labz Supplements Use PricePlow to Save on Arms Race Nutrition Supplements

One of the most popular dietary supplement ingredients on the planet — especially in terms of metabolic health — is berberine. Today we discuss a new ingredient that actually makes berberine obsolete. Berberine is a powerful plant alkaloid that improves the body’s insulin response, with large amounts of scientific research showing significant improvements to insulin sensitivity, fasting glucose levels, HbA1c reduction, nutrient partitioning, and far more. It’s even outperformed pharmaceutical drugs. We’ve covered berberine in detail in the article linked above, ultimately finding that while it’s the most impressive ingredient in any blood sugar supplement or glucose disposal agent, it has drawbacks, which include high doses required and GI distress. Both of those problems are solved with one of its derivatives that we specifically cover in this article: dihydroberberine. Think berberine is good? Take a look at dihydroberberine Research suggests that dihydroberberine is up to six times better than standard berberine, bringing incredible effects at lower doses — and fewer side effects. In this article, we assume you have knowledge of berberine’s effects (if not, you can see our berberine article linked above), but jump directly into discussion of this dihydro form. It’s sold as GlucoVantage from NNB Nutrition, one of the supplement industry’s most promising novel ingredient developers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdaS8QsGaV4 Audio Podcast Version and Free Subscription Options Burn fat, not sugar The world of diet and fat loss can be overwhelming, but one quick rule to live by is this: when you’re burning sugar, you’re not burning fat. In fact, we’ve known for decades that when either blood glucose levels or insulin levels are elevated, fat oxidation significantly slows. If these levels remain elevated for too long, we introduce insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia, which brings with it a myriad of diseases. This isn’t to say that we’re against foods like carbohydrates that raise blood sugar (and insulin) levels, because we’re not. Instead, it means that we need to get our carbs to where we want them (muscle tissue!) and get back to a fat-metabolizing state as soon as possible. Berberine, and to a greater extent, dihydroberberine, make that happen better and faster. We of course still recommend a healthy diet low in refined carbs and void of industrial processed seed oils high in omega-6. But with the above supplemental strategy (which is highlighted in our main berberine article), we can remain more insulin-sensitive, and less likely to be as toxic with sugar and insulin in our blood stream wreaking havoc. With that goal in mind, we can talk about a new, more-efficient way to achieve it, all while avoiding the massive doses (1.5 grams per day!) and gastrointestinal distress that can be brought by standard, low-bioavailability berberine: What is dihydroberberine? Dihydroberberine (DHB) is one of the 17 metabolites of berberine, and a major part of the greater berberine life cycle as the body metabolizes it. Structurally, it’s a hydrogenated metabolite of berberine, which itself has markedly better oral bioavailability than berberine itself. The berberine end-around play The concern, at this point, is that if you take the more-bioavailable dihydroberberine, do you miss out on the 16 other metabolites that may have been providing some of berberine’s benefits? The answer is no, because of the way be… Read more on the PricePlow Blog