Back in the 2000s, Maximuscle Cyclone reigned supreme as the undisputed champion of muscle building supplements.
Wanna gain size? Start using Maximuscle Cyclone!
Wanna get stronger? Get on the Cyclone, bro!
Wanna get 3 weeks of protein powder for the price of 12? Cyclone!
But how good is it nowadays?
Well, you wonder this with perfect timing. It turns out Cyclone was recently re-released, with an updated formula to boot! During this in-depth review I’m going to pit it against the best of the best, to determine whether it is still the king of size and strength supplements. Can the new-look Cyclone survive my deliberately harsh supplement rating system with a big score?
(Remember, no product has ever received 5 stars – yet!)
Let’s find out together.
The Troubled Story Of Maxi-who?
Man, these guys have been on a heck of a journey!
Old-schoolers like me will know this brand as Maximuscle, but if you discovered them in the last five years you’ll probably know them better as their more recent gimmick; Maxi Nutrition.
So what gives?
Is it even the same company?
Yes it is. Back in 2011, original Maximuscle founder Zef Eisenberg sold his creation to GlaxoSmithKline for £162 million. Maximuscle were Europe’s number one supplement brand at the time but, not satisfied with their enormous market share, the new owners decided they could grow even bigger by re-branding as Maxi Nutrition.
(They thought that the word ‘muscle’ was scaring potential customers away.)
And so began one of the worst decisions in the history of everything.
In their ill-fated quest for world domination, GSK figured that they could make even more profit by creating a line of budget supplements (known as Maxi Raw) to face-off against the growing threat of Myprotein, and they even created a separate product line aimed just at ladies (Maxi Tone).
Of course it failed.
Customers did not know what the fuck what going on, and within just one year of the lucrative takeover, Maximuscle Maxi Nutrition Maxi Raw Maxi Tone Maximuscle had lost their spot as Europe’s #1 sports nutrition company. The boffins at GlaxoSmithKline had somehow fumbled what appeared to be a golden goose, and by the end of 2016 it looked like this brand was finished.
And then they weren’t.
Because in 2018, GSK cut their losses and sold to German food giants Kruga.
Sensing that the previous owners had broken something which didn’t need to be fixed, Kruga wasted no time putting things right. Their first move was to erase all of the silly names which had been created and return to Maximuscle (yey!). They also wiped out all of the products which had been developed under GSK, and announced that they would be returning to the core product line-up which made the company a household name in the 2000s (Cyclone, Promax, etc).
Holy flaps!
This was a very smart move, because it appeased Maximuscle users while also enabling Kruga to hit the ground running with an established brand and product familiarity. Their next move was to bring each product into the modern era with a new formula. Early reports indicate they’ve even managed to keep the trademark Maximuscle taste, too!
Whew! So now you’re up to date!
And I imagine the question you’re probably wondering is… did Kruga manage to turn things around?
Well, yes! Profits have risen year-on-year since 2018, and they’ve landed clever sponsorship deals within UK rugby and athetics (just like back in the day). Whatever name you knew them under, they’re BACK and they’re set on reclaiming their spot as Europe’s #1 supplement company!
Which brings us to Cyclone…
Maximuscle Cyclone Review: The Good & The Bad
Cyclone is an all-in-one shake designed to help you build muscle size and strength.
Each serving contains:
- 31g protein
- 12g carbs
- 1g fat
- 10g glutamine
- 5g creatine monohydrate
- 1.5g HMB
- 2.5mg zinc
- 1.4mg vitamin B6
There’s a lot to unpack here, and most of it is GREAT!
If you used the original Cyclone back in the day, then you’ll notice the new version contains more protein, less carbs, and less fat. Awesome start! They’ve also re-vamped the protein blend to ensure a higher quality of ingredients (more on that in a sec!).
31 grams of protein is tremendous because it lands near the top end of the “sweet spot” for building muscle. A 2009 trial published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition discovered that 20 grams of protein creates a similar anabolic response to a serving twice as large, and Maximuscle go slightly above this baseline figure in order to ensure you’re getting maximum bang for your buck. (1)
I’m always telling you to look for protein supplements which provide at least 75% protein-per-serving (because you’re likely buying it to boost your protein intake), but I’m going to give Maximuscle Cyclone a free pass on its 51% protein-per-serving ratio because it’s an all-in-one post workout supplement, not a protein shake.
Maximuscle deserve a high five regarding how much they’ve improved the Cyclone protein blend, because the old product was made up of mostly whey protein concentrate (the cheapest form of protein around). This new version contains 16.7 grams of whey protein isolate, 13.3 grams of whey protein concentrate and 1 gram of whey protein hydrolysate.
That’s a big step up.
Up next we have 5 grams of creatine monohydrate.
This is another area where Maximuscle Cyclone gets it dead right!
It’s one of the very few bodybuilding supplements that is genuinely proven to work. The benefits of include more explosive strength and more reps to failure – both of which mean more muscle growth! There was a brilliant meta-analysis on creatine relating to weight training back in 2012, in which researchers compiled the data of 22 separate studies spanning almost three decades and noted that (on average) trainees see a strength increase of about 8% and can perform around 14% more reps per set. Wowza! (5)
Offer any seasoned weight lifter those kind of improvements for something as simple as adding creatine to your protein shake and they’d gladly snap your hands off!
I also love the fact they used good old creatine monohydrate. Lots of supplement brands have fallen into the trap of using fancy new creatine blends (like creatine HCL, creatine ethyl-esther, or kre-alkylyn) which are more expensive but no more productive.
Next we have 1.5 grams of HMB (betahydroxybetamethylbutyrate). This is a metabolite of leucine (the amino acid which plays a key role in the muscle building process). It has grown in popularity as a bodybuilding supplement in recent years after research linked it with increased muscle growth, but new studies have since shown that HMB is no more effective than leucine (which you’re already getting thanks to the BCAAs in Cyclone). (6. 7)
However, there is one useful aspect of HMB which rarely gets discussed and that’s its anti-catabolic effect. You see, while it’s not superior to leucine in terms of protein synthesis, research suggests it may be upto 20x more effective at preventing muscle breakdown. (8)
Holy fuck!
Let me put that into perspective; if you are an athlete trying to maximize hypertrophy on a high volume training program, adding HMB to your supplement stack could make it significantly easier for you to hang on to your lean mass as you power through your workouts!
The new Cyclone formula also contains zinc (2.5mg), and its billing as a “muscle building” ingredient relates to its role in the support of optimal testosterone levels. Zinc is lost via sweat, so many athletes can be low on zinc without knowing, and this can lead to drops in testosterone production or maybe even depression.
However, it’s little more than a filler ingredient here. If you genuinely want to increase your zinc intake you’d be better off just grabbing a zinc supplement. They’re cheap enough. You see, research indicates that we’d need somewhere between 5g-45g zinc per day to reap the benefits it offers, but Cyclone provides just 2.5mg per serving, which is about as effective as the 2016 Ghostbusters remake. (9)
And finally, the elephant in the scoop:
Glutamine.
Coming in at a whopping 10 grams, Maximuscle have decided to go BIG on this amino acid, just like they did in the original formula.
It’s long been touted for its ability to build muscle and improve recovery between sessions, but despite all of this, there’s one catastrophic problem of nuclear proportions… it doesn’t work.
(Seriously!)
Supplement expert Sol Orwell from examine.com explains:
“The more glutamine we can get into our muscle cells, the more they will grow! It’s a great muscle builder! Except – that’s not how it works in real life. Your intestines are going to hoard it, so it’s great for gut health, but it won’t reach the muscle cells and therefore it won’t make your muscles bigger, which is often the reason we bought it.”
To confirm; if you have a glutamine deficiency (vegans, vegetarians, low dairy diet) then you may benefit from supplementing with additional glutamine supplementation, but if you don’t, then it’s wasted space in your scoop. (2, 3, 4)
Maximuscle Cyclone Review: Russ’ Rating
Everyone loves a comeback!
It’s great to see Maximucle return to the top tier of the supplement industry after the crazy journey they’ve endured, and a lot of that success hinged on whether Cyclone could pack a punch, which it most certainly does. The new formula has been greatly improved versus the original, and the reports are true; the classic Maximuscle taste is still intact!
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though.
Let’s talk about the price…
A tub of Cyclone costs £40, and because it’s meant to be used once per day after training it’ll last about three weeks (despite looking f**king tiny when it first arrives!). Make no mistake, this is a post-workout supplement, not a whey protein supplement. If you’re the type of person who always struggles to hit your daily protein target then you’ll probably want to pick up an additional whey protein supplement as well..
That means Cyclone is proably not a good coice if you are training on a budget.
(By the way, you could essentially create your own version of Cyclone for less by grabbing each key ingredient separately: whey protein, creatine, HMB, zinc). Five tubs of Cyclone costs £240 and would last four months, but doing it this way you’d spend about £110 for the same duration – however, it wouldn’t taste anywhere near as nice!)
In summary, Kruga deserve lots of praise for helping Maximuscle rise like a Phoenix from the ashes, and reclaim their spot among Europe’s elite. Cyclone was always their flagship product, and I’m pleased to say it’s back to its best. It gets a solid 3 stars from me today.
References:
- Moore D. R., et al. Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin protein synthesis after resistance exercise in young men. Am J Clin Nutr (2009).
- D. G., et al. Effect of glutamine supplementation combined with resistance training in young adults. Eur J Appl Physiol (2001).
- Bassini-Cameron A., et al. Glutamine protects against increases in blood ammonia in football players in an exercise intensity-dependent way. Br J Sports Med (2008)
- D. G., et al. Effect of glutamine supplementation combined with resistance training in young adults. Eur J Appl Physiol (2001).
- Rawson E. S., et al. Effects of creatine supplementation and resistance training on muscle strength and weightlifting performance. J Strength Cond Res (2003).
- Dunsmore K. A., et al. Effects of 12 weeks of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate free acid gel supplementation on muscle mass, strength, and power in resistance trained individuals. J Int Soc Sports Nutr (2012).
- Kreider R. B., et al. Effects of Calcium β-HMB Supplementation During Training on Markers of Catabolism, Body Composition, Strength and Sprint Performance. J Exercise Physiol (2000).
- Gallagher P. M., et al. Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate Ingestion, Part I: Effects on Strength and Fat Free Mass. Med Sci Sports Exerc (2000).
- Kilic M. Effect of Fatiguing Bicycle Exercise on Thyroid Hormone and Testosterone Levels in Sedentary Males Supplemented With Oral Zinc. Neuro Endocrinol Lett (2007).