Phil Heath is the current Mr. Olympia and one of the most successful bodybuilders of all time. He doesn’t appear to be putting the brakes on his career any time soon either.
His nickname is ‘The Gift’, owing to what can only be described as a genetic advantage in the world of bodybuilding. He owns a supplement company called Gifted Nutrition and has released a line of products aimed at bodybuilders, weight lifters and fitness enthusiasts.
S3 is the testosterone booster in the Gifted line up, and comes in the usual capsule format. Does Phil use this product? Who knows. Does the fact that he is associated with it mean loads of people buy it? Of course.
Whether or not the The Gift, or any other famous bodybuilder is selling supplements, the product itself has the same potential, and is limited by the same factors as any other supplement that comes in a bottle of pills. Let’s take a look.
What is S3 and How Does It Work?
S3 is advertised primarily to enhance the user’s natural testosterone level using a blend of mainly herbal plant-sourced ingredients. The marketing copy goes further to promise that the formula supports lean muscle mass, expedites recovery and improves libido – actually they use the words ‘sexual health’.
The total weight of active ingredients in a single serving (1 pill) is 742mg, and the user should take two pills a day according to the directions on the bottle label. That makes the total daily weight of inclusions 1484mg, which seems a little on the light side to us, but that’s a very relative factor because inclusion weights depend on the type of ingredients being used. Nonetheless, if it mostly uses common T boosters, you’d expect the daily dose to be more in the 3000mg range.
Prime Male: Most Recommended Testosterone Supplement
Our testosterone booster of choice is Prime Male. Each daily dose packs a whopping 3000mg of active ingredients in them, including the most proven and effective ones you can get hold of. It really is that simple.
While many companies are trying to scrimp and save where they can, adding the bare minimu of ingredients they can get away with.
Prime Male has taken the opposite route, i.e. make the best product you can and customer will keep coming back for more. We certainly did, and we can feel the effects from the first dose. All that being said, we write a full review which you can find by following the link immediately below.
Prime Male is available worldwide.
We’ll note the ingredients before making any assumptions:
Ingredients
The following components are all locked into a 742mg (per pill) proprietary blend:
- Horny Goat Weed extract (Icariin): the name says it all really, which is in reference to goats and sheep found to be more sexually active after eating the aphrodisiac herb. It’s a libido enhancer and a testosterone booster.
- Tongkat Ali extract (Eurycoma Longifolia/Longjack/Malaysian Ginseng): Longjack has a good reputation for being an estrogen reducer and testosterone booster, again, with libido enhancing behaviour
- Saw Palmetto extract: blocks an enzyme that converts testosterone into another compound, retaining T levels and potentially reducing male pattern baldness.
- Wild Yam Root extract: may have effects similar to DHEA, a natural steroidal compound
- Sarsaparilla extract: believed to demonstrate steroid-like behaviour, but further research should be conducted
- Nettle Root extract: another plant based product well liked in the weight lifting community. It seems to bind to the binding protein of testosterone, which would usually bind to T itself and inhibit it.
- Boron Amino Acid: Boron is a mineral which boosts testosterone
- Orchic Substance: extracted from the testicles of cattle!…this substance reputedly improves male testicular health, the implication being it can also boost testosterone
An ideal dose for many, if not all, of these ingredients has not been verified yet so the earlier comment that the total proprietary blend’s dose might be low cannot be qualified. The efficacy of the dosage cannot therefore be critiqued by us at this time. From anecdotal reports, the inclusions could be effective.
Potential Side Effects
At the time of writing, we could not find any reports of negative side effects. Gifted Nutrition is a reputable brand of products and there is no doubt that their formulations are manufactured from quality sources.
The only ingredient of concern would be Wild Yam root, which can have possible negative effects on the liver and kidneys. There is not much cause for alarm though as the dose would have to be much higher than it is present in S3 to effect any fibrotic damage.
Price and Availability
Gifted Nutrition’s S3 is available from high street and online supplement stores and of course the company website. The product page has the price at $59.99.
Alternative Recommendations
There are a handful of testosterone boosters available that we highly rate. However, Prime Male is probably our #1 choice due to the combination of strong, effective ingredients and very competitive price points.
The ingredients in Prime Male are arguably some of the best for augmenting exercise induced muscle gains, which some testosterone boosters lack.
