Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - The Definitive Guide to Synephrine Supplementation

Episode Date: May 18, 2018

If you’ve spent any time in the fitness space, you’ve heard more weight loss pitches than a TV-loving insomniac. You know, stuff like… “This powder is the ‘secret’ to losing 10, 20, even 30 pounds in just a month!” “This pill blocks the absorption of carbs and suppresses your appetite!” “A few of these per day and you can eat anything and still lose weight!” And if you’re like most people, you’ve probably gone in for a few. “Who knows?” you’ve thought. “Maybe it actually works?” Well, it’s okay. We’ve all been there. And now we’re skeptical of anything that claims to help us lose weight faster. That’s good. We should be. (We should be equally skeptical of any supplement that claims to help with muscle building, too.) That brings us to this episode and to the supplement synephrine. It’s commonly found in pre-workout supplements because it’s a light stimulant and in fat burner supplements because it purportedly accelerates weight loss. How beneficial is it really, though, and what kind of results can you really expect? And what about dosages and side effects? Let’s tackle all those questions and more and find out if synephrine is worth your money and attention. 4:00 - What is synephrine? 5:36 - What are the benefits of synephrine? 10:51 - What is the clinically effective dosage of synephrine? 11: 43 - What results can I expect with synephrine supplementation? 14:00 - What are the side effects of synephrine? 15:00- What are the best synephrine supplements? Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

So, synephrine can aid in mobilizing these stubborn fat cells by blocking the activity of those alpha receptors in the fat cells. So, in other words, synephrine can help prevent the alpha receptors in your fat cells from putting the brakes on fat mobilization. Hey, Mike Matthews here from Muscle for Life and Legion Athletics. Welcome to another episode of Muscle for Life podcast. And this time around, we're going to be talking Senefrin, which is a very popular weight loss supplement. And if you've spent any time in the fitness space, you've probably heard more weight loss pitches than a TV loving insomniac. You've heard a lot. You've heard

stuff like this powder is the secret to losing 10, 20, even 30 pounds in just a month. This pill blocks the absorption of carbs and suppresses your appetite. A few of these pills per day, and you can eat anything you want and still lose weight. And if you're like most people, you've probably gone in for at least a few of these, you know, just because. Who knows? You've probably thought maybe it actually works, whatever. It's 30 bucks. How bad can it be? And I understand we've all been there. And many of us are now skeptical of anything that claims to help us lose weight faster. And we should be. I think we should also be skeptical of really any supplement that claims to do anything these days, especially muscle building and fat burning, though. Those are the two supplements that we really need to regard with the

most skepticism, which brings us to sinephrine, which is what of course we're gonna be talking about today. This is commonly found in pre-workout supplements because it is a light stimulant and in fat burner supplements because it purportedly accelerates weight loss. How true are these things though? How beneficial is Sinephrin really and what kind of results can you really expect from it? And what about dosages and side effects and safety and so forth? Well, we are going to tackle all that and more in today's podcast and find out if Sinephrin is worth your money and attention. This is where I would normally plug a sponsor to pay the bills, but I'm not big on promoting stuff

that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead, I'm just going to quickly tell you about something of mine. Specifically, my fitness book for men, Bigger, Leaner, Stronger. Now, this book has sold over 350,000 copies in the last several years and helped thousands and thousands of guys build their best bodies ever, which is why it currently has

over 3,100 reviews on Amazon with a four and a half star average. So if you want to know the biggest lies and myths that are keeping you from achieving the lean, muscular, strong, and healthy body that you truly desire, and if you want to learn the simple science of building the ultimate male body, then you want to read Bigger, Leaner, Stronger, which you can find on all major online retailers like Amazon, Audible, iTunes, Kobo, and Google Play. Now, speaking of Audible, I should also mention that you can get the audio book 100% free when you sign up for an Audible account, which I highly recommend that you do if you're not currently listening to audio books. I love them myself because they let me make the time that I spend doing stuff like commuting, prepping food, walking my dog, and so forth, doing stuff like commuting, prepping food, walking my dog and so forth.

So much more valuable and productive. So if you want to take Audible up on this offer and get my book for free, then simply go to www.bitly.com slash free BLS. And that will take you to Audible. And then you just click the sign up today and save button, create your account and voila, you get to listen to Bigger, Leaner, Stronger for free. Alrighty, that is enough shameless plugging for now, at least let's get to the show. All right. So let's start as we always do at the beginning. What is Sinephrine? Well, let's start as we always do at the beginning. What is Senefrin? Well, Senefrin is a naturally occurring substance known as an alkaloid that is found in plants. And it is particularly abundant

in the bitter orange fruit, which is why it's also often referred to by that name. In traditional Chinese medicine, Senefrin has been used for thousands of years now, and it was obtained mainly via citrus peels. And it's very chemically similar to ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, which you will find in many over-the-counter cold and allergy medications and weight loss and energy supplements that contain the herb mahuang. And accordingly, synephrine impacts the adrenal system of the human body and increases basal metabolic rate,. If you want to lose fat, you need to burn more energy than you are eating. And of course, then anything that helps you burn more energy like sinephrine, caffeine, and exercise can help you lose fat faster if you are also regulating your intake. Now, sinephrine is also often sold as a stubborn fat burner,

something that helps you burn the stubborn fat around your, for guys, it's usually the lower abs and the love handles. And for girls, it's usually the hips and thighs. And of course that sounds like hooey, but there is actually some science to back it up, which we will get to in a minute. Now let's talk about efficacy. What are the benefits of sinephrine? How well does it work? Well, as you would expect from a mild stimulant that does increase energy expenditure, the main benefit of synephrine supplementation is faster weight loss. For example, one study found that a single dose of 50 milligrams of synephrine increased basal metabolic rate by 65 calories over the course of the next 75 minutes. And

interestingly, research shows that this metabolic boost can be significantly increased to over 180 calories by combining sinephrine with two other molecules that are found in the bitter orange fruit, naringin and hesperidin. That's significant. That's the same amount of calories burned in about 20 minutes of jogging. That's an additional 1,300 calories burned every seven days or so, which is a little more than one third of the calories in a pound of fat. Now I know you have to burn a bit more than that to actually lose a pound of fat, but a pound of fat does contain about 3,500 calories. And that amount of energy expenditure, that boost matters. And that amount of energy expenditure, that boost matters.

And that's why I've included a clinically effective dosage of all three of those molecules in my fat burner, Phoenix, which you can learn more about at legionathletics.com slash Phoenix. Now, furthermore, studies also show that sinephrine works synergistically with caffeine to enhance both caffeine and its own fat loss properties. So in other words, if you take caffeine and synephrine together, you're going to burn more fat than if you took them separately. It's also worth noting that the synergism in a standard ECA stack, ephedrine, caffeine, aspirin, you've probably heard that in bodybuilding circles, that synergism also applies to synephrine. Research shows that another benefit of synephrine is it can increase the thermic effect of food, which is the amount of energy at cost to digest

and absorb the food that we eat, which is also a pretty significant portion of our daily energy expenditure. It ranges between 10 and 20% depending on the breakdown of our diets. And this effect of sinephrine, this boost in the thermic effect of food is particularly present in women. And what this ultimately means is more energy expenditure and thus more fat loss. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. So if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media,

definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at MuscleForLifeFitness, Twitter at MuscleForLife, and Facebook at MuscleForLifeFitness. Another benefit is something I touched on a few minutes ago, and that is sinephine's effects on stubborn fat. Now, the physiology in play here is fairly complex, but the long story short is the fat burning process in your body is regulated by chemicals called catecholamines. These molecules bind with receptors on fat cells and then trigger the release of stored energy for burning. The problem though is some fat cells are very resistant to mobilization. That is, they don't respond to the catecholamines like other fat cells, which are much easier to burn and get rid of. Now, this is why when you start a fat loss regimen,

you immediately see results in certain areas of your body, like your chest, arms, and face, but then next to nothing in other areas of your body, like your stomach, arms, and face, but then next to nothing in other areas of your body, like your stomach, hips, and thighs. And the reason for this is fat cells have two types of receptors for these catecholamines. They have alpha receptors and beta receptors. These receptors are pretty much diametrically opposed in function in that alpha receptors actually hinder fat mobilization and beta receptors activate it. So fat cells that have a lot of beta receptors are relatively easy to burn. Well, shrink really, but you get the idea. You're not actually burning away fat cells, you're just shrinking them.

Whereas fat cells with a high amount of alpha receptors are not easy because again, they just do not respond as quickly to catecholamines. And sinephrine can aid in mobilizing these stubborn fat cells by blocking the activity of those alpha receptors in the fat cells. So in other words, sinephrine can help prevent the alpha receptors in your fat cells from putting the brakes on fat mobilization. Last but not least is the fact that anything that has the ability to increase catecholamine activity, which synephrine does of course because it's a stimulant, can also suppress hunger between meals simply because that's a component of the fight or flight response of the body. That's why synephrine's appetite blunting effects have been demonstrated in animal research and also have a fair amount of anecdotal support as well. Many people do find

that synephrine is an effective appetite suppressant. So what about dosage? How much synephrine do you have to take to get results? And really what we want to know here is the clinically effective dosage, which is the amount of something that is used in this case, a supplement, or it could be a drug that is used in a scientific study that demonstrated benefits because it's not enough to just know that sinephrine can improve fat loss. You also, of course, need to know how much you need to take to see results. And when you review the literature on sinephrine, you find that a wide variety of dosages have been used for weight loss purposes.

However, the most effective dosages were in the range of 25 to 50 milligrams per day and 50 milligrams significantly outperforms 25 milligrams. Okay. So let's say you are looking at taking 50 milligrams of synephrine a day. What type of results should you experience? Now, the first thing you need to know here is that like all natural supplements, sinephrine is not a wonder pill. You don't want to pin unrealistically high expectations on it. Remember that supplements do not build great physiques. No amount of pills or powders is going to give you the body you want. Proper training, proper diet. Those are the things

that get you there. Supplementation can help. It can be supplementary by definition, but it's never one of the pillars. That said, here's what you can expect from synephrine supplementation. You can expect a slight increase in your basal metabolic rate. You can expect a slight decrease in the activity of fat cell receptors that prevent fat mobilization. And you can expect a slight increase in the thermic effect of food, which of course, again, is the energy cost of metabolizing food. Those are three reliable, scientifically validated benefits that you can expect. And if that doesn't sound all that sexy, I do understand, but I am just calling it like it is. I'm not going to oversell synephrine to you. That said, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't supplement with it. It

just means that you shouldn't supplement only with it if you really want to see improvements. But the same can be said about most natural supplements. By themselves, individually, they're usually pretty underwhelming. If you combine them in the right ways, though, if you take the right ones together, the cumulative effects can become noticeable. So for example, if you pair sinephrine with naringin and hesperidin, you can triple the metabolic boost. And then if you add caffeine in as well, the effects become even more pronounced. Now, in terms of bottom line results, bottom line fat loss, if you did take these four supplements every day, sinephrine, naringin, hesperidin, caffeine, and especially before

working out because that makes them even more effective, it is very reasonable to assume that you can lose an additional half pound of fat per week. And that is definitely enough to matter, especially if you need to lose a fair amount of weight and you're going to be cutting for a fair amount of time and you also consistently train hard and eat right. And I should also mention that you can lose fat and stubborn fat in particular even faster when you add yohimbine into the mix. So that's my personal natural fat loss stack. It is yohimbine, sinephrine, naringin, hesperidin, caffeine. Okay, so what about side effects? Does sinephrine, Naringin, Hesperidin, Caffeine. Okay, so what about side effects? Does Sinephrine have side effects? If you poke around on the internet for an answer, you are going to find dire warnings

that Sinephrine can increase the risk for high blood pressure, fainting, heart attack, stroke, and other very severe side effects. The reality though is several studies have demonstrated that Sinephrine does not increase blood pressure and research shows that it is generally safe and well tolerated. The reality is if you're like most people, you're not going to notice much of anything when you take sinephrine. It's just not that powerful of a stimulant. Most people report a slight increase in energy with none of the downsides generally associated with any stimulants, including caffeine, like jitters, nausea, rapid heartbeat, and so forth. That said, if you have any medical conditions or if you take any medications that might contraindicate supplementation with sinephrine, definitely consult your doctor

before using it. Examples here are high blood pressure, antidepressants, and HIV slash AIDS. Okay, so what are the best sinephrine supplements? Well, when you go synephrine shopping, you're mostly going to find fat burners. And of course, you know that no amount of fat burners are going to get you lean. A good fat burner can help, but it is not going to allow you to eat whatever you want and skip your workouts. You have to be on point with your diet, on point with your training, and then supplementation can make a difference. Because unfortunately, there just aren't any safe, natural fat-burning compounds that are powerful enough to all on their own just cause meaningful fat reduction. Now, as I mentioned earlier, the problem with sinephrine is its effects are rather mild and

inconsequential when taken by itself. We recall that 50 milligrams can increase the basal metabolic rate by 60 to 70 calories, and that's just not going to move the needle much. As we know, we can amplify these effects by combining synephine with a few other molecules. And that's why, again, my fat burner Phoenix contains clinically effective dosages of each of them. again, my fat burner Phoenix contains clinically effective dosages of each of them. I also left caffeine out of it because chances are you're like most of the fitness folk out there and you'd rather get your caffeine from things other than fat burning pills like coffee or pre-workouts and so forth. So the bottom line here is Senefrin is one of the few fat loss supplements that are

affordable and proven to accelerate weight loss, and especially when combined with several others, as we have discussed. If your budget permits, I do think these are a worthy addition to your supplement regimen, especially when you're cutting. Don't buy into the hype though. Senefrin alone isn't going to triple your fat loss or melt stubborn fat off your body. It definitely can help you burn more calories and thus more fat. And it can also help you attack the blubber covering your abs, hips, and thighs. And that in time can result in greater progress toward the body you really want. Hey there, it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and don't mind doing me a favor and want to help

me make this the most popular health and fitness podcast on the internet, then please leave a quick review of it on iTunes or wherever you're listening from. This not only convinces people that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better.

I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. So please do reach out. All right, that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode. And I hope to hear from you soon. And lastly, this episode is brought to you by me. Seriously, though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead I'm going to just quickly tell you about something of mine, specifically my fitness book for men, bigger, leaner, stronger. Now this book has sold over 350,000 copies in the last several years and helped thousands and thousands of guys build their best bodies ever, which is why it currently has over 3,100 reviews on Amazon with a four and a half star average. So if you want to know the biggest lies and myths that are keeping you from achieving the lean, muscular, strong, and healthy body that you truly desire, and if you want to learn the simple science of building the ultimate male body,

simple science of building the ultimate male body, then you want to read Bigger, Leaner, Stronger, which you can find on all major online retailers like Amazon, Audible, iTunes, Kobo, and Google Play. Now, speaking of Audible, I should also mention that you can get the audiobook 100% free when you sign up for an Audible account, which I highly recommend that you do if you're not currently listening to audiobooks. I love them myself because they let me make the time that I spend doing stuff like commuting, prepping food, walking my dog, and so forth, so much more valuable and productive. So if you want to take Audible up on this offer and get my book for free, then simply go to www.bitly.com slash free BLS. And that will take you to Audible.

And then you just click the sign up today and save button, create your account. And voila, you get to listen to Bigger, Leaner, Stronger for free.