EAS Pro Science Push Review

Pro Science Push Supplement for Strength & Energy

EAS is one of the major sports nutrition and supplement makers that's been around for a long time. They have a large lineup of products, and some of their products, such as the Myoplex line is widely used. EAS and Abbott Nutrition has developed a line of sports supplements called "Pro Science", which offers quite a few different supplements such as Push, Finish, Reload, and Armor. We've been offered samples of several of these Pro Science supplements. You can read our review of Pro Science Finish here.

Disclosure: For full disclosure, I was contacted by a marketing representative for the Pro Science line of products. A request was made test out and review several Pro Science products, and I was happy to oblige. Please note, however, no payment or other forms of compensation were received in any way, and you can be sure that this review, like all other reviews on the site, are free from bias and free from manufacturer influence. I received roughly a two week supply of Pro Science Push.

Pro Science is a EAS line of products that's developed by Abbott Nutrition which offers advanced recovery proteins and sports supplements. The Pro Science line of products is targeted towards serious athletes and help provide them the nutritional requirements of their training. One of the highlights of EAS Proscience products is the inclusion of a few interesting ingredients such as beta alanine and other amino acids such as taurine and l-glutamine.

This review is for EAS Pro Science Push, which is a creatine, beta alanine, and taurine supplement.

EAS Pro Science Push Ingredients

Below is a list of Pro Science Push ingredients:

Serving Size1Packet(47g)
Servings Per Container14
Amount Per Serving %DV
Calories 140
Total Carbohydrate 34g 11%
Sugars 33g
Phosphorus (From Magnesium Phosphate, Disodium Phosphate, Potassium Phosphate) 175mg 18%
Magnesium (From Magnesium Phosphate) 50mg 13%
Sodium (From Disodium Phosphate) 95mg 4%
Potassium (From Potassium Phosphate) 75mg 2%
Creatine Monohydrate 5.25g
Taurine 1g
Beta Alanine 1.6g
‡ Percent Daily Values (%DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet
§ Daily Value (DV) not established
Other Ingredients:
Sugar (Dextrose), Citric Acid, Natural And Artificial Flavor, FD&C Red #40, Acesulfame Potassium, And Sucralose.

Looking at the label, the key ingredients in Push are creatine, taurine, and beta alanine. I think most already know quite well what creatine is and does. It's one of the supplements that's been around so long that almost everyone knows about, or have used it at one time or another. Creatine increases the energy of your muscles. It does this by increasing the amount of ATP available as the energy source for muscle contractions. You can read more about creatine here.

Taurine is a semi-essential amino acid, and it plays an important role and is found in the heart muscle, white blood cells, central nervous system, and skeletal muscle. It plays an important role in metabolism, and is essential for new borns, since they cannot make it. Adults bodies can make taurine, however, when not enough is made, the deficiency can be corrected by supplementation. Taurine also plays an important role in nitric oxide production, where lowered taurine levels leads to the reduction of nitric oxide production. Read more about Taurine here.

The third ingredient, beta alanine, is a very interesting ingredient. It is a beta amino acid that helps boost carnosine levels which helps to delay the onset of muscle fatigue. Carnosine supplementation has been found to help increase muscle carnosine levels and decrease fatigue, and studies have found beta alanine to help increase body mass. [1] There are many studies that have indicated that beta-alanine availability is the limiting factor in regulating muscle carnosine synthesis. [2] There is a high concentration of carnosine in skeletal muscles, and it is synthesized from the amino acids L-histidine and beta-alanine. Studies have shown that consuming beta-alanine can substantially increase carnosine content of human skeletal muscles by as much as 80%. The importance of carnosine is that it leads to improved performance in high intensity exercises in both trained and un-trained individuals. Individuals with high proportion of fast-twitch fibres are found to have a high concentration of carnosine. Women and vegetarians tend to have lower amounts of muscle carnosine, while athletes such as elite sprinters are found to have very high levels of muscular carnosine. [3]

One study was done on beta alanine and high intensity interval training (HIIT). 46 male subjects took part in this study. The subjects were given either a placebo or beta alanine (1.5g) packet four time a day for a total of 6g/day for the first 21 days and then 2 times a day (3g/day) for 21 more days - for a total of 6 weeks of HIIT training. The results showed significant improvement in VO2 peak, time to fatigue, and lean body mass for the beta alanine group. The study indicated that long term supplementation with beta alanine can further improve endurance and lean body mass. [4]

There are many studies that have found beta alanine to delay onset of fatigue and improve performance during high intensity exercises, and it does not appear beta alanine to have any significant side effects, at least none that I could find. One worth mentioning is paresthesia (tingling or pricking sensation on the skin). One study mentioned that doses above 800mg can cause this tingling sensation on the skin. More on this in a bit. The study also stated that "no important side effect was related to the use of this amino acid so far. In conclusion, beta-alanine supplementation seems to be a safe nutritional strategy capable of improving high-intensity anaerobic performance." [5] It is also worth mentioning that quite a few studies have found that prolong used of beta alanine seems to further enhance endurance, performance, and reduce fatigue.

My Review of EAS Pro Science Push

As already mentioned, I received about a two week supply of Push to do an review of it. I tested it at several different times throughout the day, at no more than twice per day. I tested it at first thing in the morning, 30 minutes before workout, during workout, and immediately post workout. Some days I took 1 serving, and some days, I took 2 servings. So I mixed things up a bit while testing it out.

Let's quickly talk about the tingling sensation first. As some studies have mentioned, doses of beta alanine of over 800mg can cause a tingling or pricking sensation on the skin for some individuals. Each serving of Push contains 1.6g of beta alanine, so I can say for certainty that some users will experience this tingling sensation on the skin - myself included. Depending on when I took the serving, the tingling sensation was noticeable to varying degrees.

When taken on an empty stomach, such as first thing in the morning, or immediately post workout, the tingling sensation was most noticeable. However, when taken after a meal, the tingling sensation was not very noticeable.  This sensation usually lasted around 5 to 10 minutes for me, and was not bothersome by any means. It felt quite interesting. It was mostly located on the back of my hands, back of my forearms, scalp, and neck. No other side effect was experienced, except occasional upset stomach.

In terms of effectiveness, Pro Science Push will definitely help improve your performance in the gym, especially during high intensity training sessions. During my workouts while using Push, I was able to easily blast through my regular workout routine, and still feel quite fresh. I felt just as energetic for the final reps of each set as the first rep, and was able to increase my workout load in the gym.

I had a much bigger appetite, not from the supplement itself, but from the increased training output that was a result of Push. One of the major benefits of Push I noticed came during times when I took the supplement during workout (note: it also contains 34g of carbs). When I took Pro Science Push first thing in the morning, and then during my workout, I seem to have the most exceptionally intense workouts. I was lifting slightly heavier on every exercise while performing the same number of reps, and the rest times in between sets were also slightly shorter.

As for taste, I received a fruit punch flavor and an orange flavor. Both tasted very good. The fruit punch was a bit light tasting, but it tasted good, and mixed easily. The orange flavor was excellent - I have to admit that I personally really like orange flavors, so there might be a slight bias here. So, I did enjoy it more than the fruit punch. It had a nice, tangy orange taste that's also very refreshing. It was easy to mix as well with no fuss and no mess. There tends to be a bit settling at the bottom, but not an issue as long as you give it a swirl once awhile when you're drinking it.

Overall, Pro Science Push makes a good strength and energy supplement that will deliver results. Give it a shot, and I think you will not be disappointed.

>> Click here for EAS Betagen

>> Click here for EAS Supplements

>> Click here for Beta Alanine

1. J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Apr 7.
Six Weeks of High-Intensity Interval Training With and Without beta-Alanine Supplementation for Improving Cardiovascular Fitness in Women.
Walter AA, Smith AE, Kendall KL, Stout JR, Cramer JT.

2. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2009 May;106(1):131-8. Epub 2009 Feb 12.
The effect of 4 weeks beta-alanine supplementation and isokinetic training on carnosine concentrations in type I and II human skeletal muscle fibres.
Kendrick IP, Kim HJ, Harris RC, Kim CK, Dang VH, Lam TQ, Bui TT, Wise JA.

3. 2. Sports Med. 2010 Mar 1;40(3):247-63.
Muscle carnosine metabolism and beta-alanine supplementation in relation to exercise and training.
Derave W, Everaert I, Beeckman S, Baguet A.

4. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2009 Feb 11;6:5.
Effects of beta-alanine supplementation and high-intensity interval training on endurance performance and body composition in men; a double-blind trial.
Smith AE, Walter AA, Graef JL, Kendall KL, Moon JR, Lockwood CM, Fukuda DH, Beck TW, Cramer JT, Stout JR.

5. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2010 Jun;42(6):1162-73.
Role of beta-alanine supplementation on muscle carnosine and exercise performance.
Artioli GG, Gualano B, Smith A, Stout J, Lancha AH Jr.

July 2010