If you’re new to this blog then you should know that we’re dedicated to helping out gym rats find the best workout routines, equipment, and supplements available on the market. We take a very no-nonsense approach when it comes to reviewing supplements, preferring to test them out ourselves over a period of time before writing up a review post.
What this translates to is seeking out the very best of whatever it is we are exploring, from bumper plate weights to rowing machines to ammonia poppers. Weightlifting and bodybuilding are honest sports. We combat gravity and there is no way to cheat this very fundamental law of physics. The same mentality can be applied to supplements; only ingredients that help us achieve our fitness goals and nothing else.
Sure, there are a few supplement brands that still don’t have fully transparent labelling in 2023 (which is amazing) that we still support, simply because of personal experience or recommendation, GAT’s Nitraflex being one of those we still frequently buy simply because of its proven track record.
Wal-Mart brands like Cellucor’s C4 or the old version of Musclepharm’s Assault are examples of two preworkouts we don’t recommend, at least in their original formulas most commonly marketed, because of the lack of scientifically proven ingredients at proven efficacious doses. Some of these big legacy brands DO have quality variants of their OG blends, but that’s a different story for a different day.
Today we are here to review a brand that puts transparency up front in all of their marketing, heck, it’s even in their name! Yes, Skinny Yoked is finally reviewing Naked Nutrition 🙂
What is Naked Nutrition All About?
Oh, another supplement brand you may be saying. And yes there sure are a lot of them out there, but not all supplements are created equal and this is where Naked Nutrition differentiates itself.
Naked Nutrition was founded in 2014 by all-American track star Stephen Zieminski because he struggled to find nutritional supplements that actually had quality ingredients in them and weren’t just a bunch of garbage “pRoPriEtaRy bLeNds”.
Zieminski’s principals were simple; no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial sweeteners, no mixing agents, and protein from grass-fed California cows (and raw yellow peas from the USA & Canada for the vegan protein powders). This is a mantra we can get behind.
Naked Nutrition Product Lineup: Everything You Need
From protein powder Naked Nutrition continue to expand its lineup as there was massive pent up demand for transparent labelling after decades of shady proprietary blends in the fitness industry. Today there are over 50 products under the Naked Nutrition banner, most of which contain “3 ingredients or less” in keeping with Stephen’s original vision of simple, quality, transparent sports supplements.
In addition to the original grass fed whey protein powder there are casein, egg white, and weight gainer there are complete vegan offerings including pea, rice, seed, and vegan weight gainer options.
Outside of protein powders Naked Nutrition now offers creatine, pre-workout, BCAAs, glutamine powder, hydration powder, recovery powder, collagen peptides, keto mixes, super green posers, fiber supplements, multivitamins, gut health supplements and immune system support supplements.
They’ve become a complete nutrition powerhouse offering just about everything a serious athlete could want, all with their simple branding and transparent labelling. We tried two of their newer offerings, their pre-workout and their recovery drink, to see if Naked Nutrition still got it or if they had lost their way by over expanding their product lineup.
Naked Energy Review: A Simple Yet Solid Preworkout
Pre-workouts are far more diverse of a supplement than most people think. There is no one-size-fits all offering. The type of pre-workout you use should depend on your fitness goals and the time of day you’re planning to go to the gym.
For example, pre-workouts whose main function is to infuse your bloodstream with intense energy, like GAT Nitraflex, Genius Brand, or 4Gauge for example are great for afternoon workouts when your main barrier to getting to the gym is simply energy.
Then there are other PWO blends for other purposes. There are pre-workouts that go light on the caffeine and instead heavy on the BCAAs and hydration, which are intended to be consumed as close to your workout or even during your workout, to pre-workouts whose main focus is simply increasing nitric oxide production to enhance them juicy pumps, optimal for tank-top adorned chest/arm days.
For most people, who are looking not for a specific scalpel and instead are looking for a more versatile utilitarian pre-workout that can easily be consumed any time of day for just about any type of workout, that contains standard proven ingredients to help provide energy, maintain focus, and increase muscle endurance, then Naked Nutritions Naked Energy is for you.
You’ve got your vitamins for immune support and healthy energy metabolism, you’ve got CarnoSyn beta-alanine for endurance, you’ve got creatine monohydrate for strength and volume, and AjiPure L-Arginine for blood vessel dilation and max pumps.
Overall we liked Naked Energy primarily because of it’s simple transparent label so we knew exactly what were were getting. We also like that the creatine content isn’t insanely dosed, like some manufacturers who go up to 2 or even 3 grams in their preworkouts. Creatine is great but we prefer dosing out not just in PWOs but in protein shakes too so having a PWO with some but not too much creatine that allowed for consumption via other methods was appreciated.
The flavor was another high note. In a day and age of cotton candy and Jolly Rancher PWOs, sometimes you crave something not quite as sweet or uh, candy-like. Naked Energy keeps it simple with two options, citrus and fruit punch. We had the citrus and it was a very mellow lemonade kind of flavor, very easily to put down and would probably be excellent mixed with something like orange juice in the morning for an extra tasty pre-workout beverage.
The only not great thing we noticed with Naked Energy was it didn’t quite entirely dissolve as easily as some other seemingly more finally granulated powders. Even after a solid minute of stirring we still had a few decently sized chunks at the bottom of the glass that stubbornly remained.
This isn’t a big deal since all you need to do is add a little bit more water, swirl it around, and toss it down the hatch, but we thought it worth pointing out as some people get anal with their PWOs.
Overall it was a solid preworkout that powered some solid upper body and lower body gym days. The caffeine is from unroasted coffee beans so it doesn’t smack you in the face like some PWOs, but it isn’t quite as subtle as more refined forms like di-caffeine malate for example. That said, using more processed ingredients kind of conflicts with Naked Nutrition’s pure ethos so not worth sweating over.
We’d definitely recommend Naked Energy to just about anyone. It’s high quality, trustworthy, and does what it says for a reasonable price, which is about $45 on Naked Nutrition’s website as we write this. Competitor pre-workouts would include Performance Lab products and probably PEScience, all solid brands with no-bullshit ingredients.
Naked Recovery Review: Anywhere Anytime Recovery Support
This recovery supplement was the one we were most excited to try. There are a million variants of the standard preworkout ingredient profile out there but very few companies are in the post-workout recovery game, even though that is actually when gains actually are created as the body rebuilds itself from the micro-damage sustained during intense resistance workouts.
First, not that it matters all that much, we have to give a shout out to the graphic designer who came up with this label. The lavender color with the little lavender and lemon drawings on the label are not only refreshing in a world of overly-masculine hype labels. It’s also cool because it clearly communicates the ingredients and thus purpose of this supplement to the user who may not be familiar with recovery supplements, via the beautiful and simple imagery on the label.
As the label clearly suggests Naked Recovery is all about post-workout recovery and is designed to address “post-exercise soreness, balance physical and cognitive stress, and promote quality rest and rejuvenation”. This is largely down to the magical mushroom (no not that kind) superfood ingredient.
Mushrooms have been blowing up in the supplement world, originally gaining popularity in the nootropic community before being recognized as advantageous in the fitness community as well. Mushrooms have been proven to contain all kinds of amazing health properties and it’s honestly incredible they are just now starting to be included in sports supplements as well.
If you’re looking to add mushrooms (in easy-to-ingest capsule form) to your supplement stack we’ve been taking Real Mushrooms Fiver Defenders for 6+ months know and recommend them to everyone.
Naturally, we were STOKED to see that Naked Recovery contains a whopping 1,000mg of Cordyceps, Reishi, King Trumpet, Shiitake, Lion’s Mane, and Turkey Tail, pretty much the best of the best when it comes to the world of performance oriented shrooms.
Backstopping the star of the show shrooms you have tart cherry extract (VitaCherry) designed to alleviate soreness and lemon balm which promotes relaxation.
Did our soreness disappear after drinking Naked Recovery? Of course not. It would take horse-grade pain killers to alleviate the hell that is a post leg-day soreness.
That said, we found ourselves reaching for Naked Recovery pretty regularly on the day-after big workouts, not only because there was definite soft calmness felt from presumably the mushrooms, but because of the lemon balm and tart cherry it just tasted good! Naked Nutrition’s website suggests mixing them with other superfood supplements into mega shakes which sounds awesome too.
Oh, and unlike Naked Energy it mixed perfectly every time, no chunks, no floaters. At $29.99 on Naked Nutrition’s website for 30 servings we think this supplement is a real steal, especially given how expensive quality mushrooms are, which of course Naked Nutrition uses (US-grown).
If you haven’t treated your worn out post-workout body to some recovery supplements we highly encourage you check them out and Naked Recovery is a great place to stat.
Skinny Yoked Summary
So, what do we think of Naked Nutrition? Well, anyone carrying the banner of US-derived ingredients and transparent labelling of efficacious ingredients gets two big thumbs up from us. The branding, the flavors, the price, they are all well within the “fair” to “good” range compared to all the other offerings out there.
If there is one suggestion we have it would be to add a creatine-free pump-oriented drink for those who are already supplementing creatine via other sources or who aren’t looking so much for the energy aspect but instead just want some beta-alanine, bcaa’s and nitric oxide precursors for late-day pump sessions at the gym.
That’s more of a “would be nice to have” than a critique and definitely is a very niche supplement. Regarding Naked Nutrition’s existing lineup they’ve got about everything someone would need which is nice for beginners to bodybuilding who are looking for a one-stop-shop to fill up their supplement pantry.
Naked Recovery to us was the real star of the show, not just because of the flavor and effect but because it’s paving the way for mushrooms and recovery-drinks in particular to become more mainstream, which we think is long overdue and would be enormously beneficial to serious weightlifters and bodybuilders.
