The problem with 90% of supplement review sites on the internet are that they are owned buy an internet marketer, written by freelance eastern europeans and have little to no actual basis in reality.
There’s nothing wrong with this per say, many websites, TV shows, celebrities and industry “experts” review things and share their opinions without actually trying the product themselves. This is the way of the world.
Real Tested Reviews Instead of Bologna
But this isn’t how Skinny Yoked operates. We only review things that we’ve personally tried. Why? Because this is the kind of testing that results in the type of review that WE would want to read ourselves. We want more then just generic “this will give you a pump and here are the ingredients copied from the product label” review.
We want first hand reviews and so that’s what we’re going to give. This means we can’t give as many reviews as the next guy, we can however excel at providing quality reviews.
What goes into a Skinny Yoked review?
We aren’t your typical review site. We don’t mass outsource our supp reviews to eastern europeans, we do it ourselves.
We look for products that will help the lean ectomorphic type lifter gain as much lean mass as quickly and efficiently as possible.
How do we find the products we want to review? Well, first…
1. We Keep an Ear to the (gym floor) Ground
Our editor personally is a gym addict. He is always following the industry and paying attention to what guys at the gym are talking about. True, much of this is merely “bro science”, but some of it is actual quality advice. First hand experience from other lifters has to count for something right?
And so Skinny Yoked separates the wheat from the chaff in gym gossip and industry buzz to identify brands and products worth looking into.
2. Initial Product Research
After we here guys talking about the fun tingles and beast 2 hour workout they got after they started supping with clinical doses of Beta Alanine we decided to look into it further.
First we start by researching the active ingredients. We check out their chemical compositions on Wikipedia and look at what the science journals have to say over at Examine.com. (We recommend checking out chemicals yourself in Examine as well, although sometimes they can be a bit vague/inconclusive in there summaries)
If the chemical sounds promising we start looking into products that contain what we want. We hit up Amazon.com and Bodybuilding.com to find products to review and also check out initial reviews on those sites, although they don’t often provide much besides “Watermelon is my favorite flavor”. Yeah, thanks “Monstercalvz74” for that wonderful insight..
3. Purchasing the Product & Testing
After we a product that A. has been received well online B. has our active ingredients we want and C. is within our budget (sorry Transparent Labs and Jim Stoppani, for the time being you’re a bit out of our price range).
We spend our own money and order the product and have it delivered to our personal addresses. We then start using it as recommended for at least a full month.
We don’t just try it for one workout and write up our review. We only write our reviews once the tub is completely empty. (For some products, like Musclepharm’s Iron Mass, we went through a full 6 tubs before writing our review!)
When using it we take pictures on our iPhones to show the packaging, how well it mixes, the color, consistency and if we mixed it with anything else. This is real POV supplement testing.
4. We Write up an Honest Review
If the product didn’t really impress us we won’t review it. Why give free publicity to a completely mediocre product? If the product was very bad we’ll write a negative review to warn people.
A few things that we WON’T EVER DO:
- Accept free samples in exchange for positive reviews (if you send your product you have to believe in it and accept whatever review we publish)
- Review fat loss products (we’re ectomorphs and want to gain weight, not lose it)
- Lie about a product. (We don’t have a brand allegiance, we’ll review what is good and what is bad)
- Just try a little bit. (We finish what we start)
Is There a Product You’d like to See Reviewed?
We’re always looking for the latest and greatest in terms of nutritional supplements. If there is a chemical or specific product you’d like to see reviewed or you want more information on head over to our Contact page and shoot us a message.
Ultimately, just use caution when searching the web for any “item” + “review”. There are tons of salesmen publishing all types of garbage (and some publishing quality reviews as well) so differentiating can be difficult. Take into account the websites feel (is it cheap or is it quality and branded), whether they have a name/face attached to it or if they are anonymous (there’s probably a reason).
Browse with caution, buy confidently and make gains!
