In our subculture, the word “natural” gets tossed around all the time. In reference, often to the varying degrees of processing and adulteration of foods. An item can be deemed “natural” or “organic” or “non-GMO”, for example, based on what has been done chemically in order to create a finished product you can consume—how far the ingredients have strayed from their original form before they reach your mouth.

“Natural” is often a title assigned to athletes who have taken measures to avoid performance enhancing drugs, but even that is often a semantic argument, with technical debates ranging from anabolic steroids, androgens and growth hormone through prohormones and even touching legal supplements. I once suggested to an especially physically gifted friend that he should try supplementing with creatine while he trained to which he responded, “Nah G, I’m gonna stay natural and just stick with Gatorade.” As you can see, everything is a matter of perspective, context and degree on a really broad spectrum, so there are certainly more productive and worthwhile topics to debate.

The word “natural” has always had a certain important significance to our brand at GCode Nutrition, but not necessarily for the obvious reason you might think. Yes, at our core, we have a commitment to authenticity. Whether that means transparency in labeling, honesty in our discourse with our supporters, staying true to ourselves as we deliver our own unique style and aesthetic and breaking down the barriers of bureaucracy so typical in the relationship between consumer and company, we strive every day to “keep it real”.

But “natural” also has meaning as it relates to the GCode Nutrition formulations. Our goal, is to create the most powerful and effective training supplements in existence, but always with the overall health of the athlete in mind. To deliver everything you need, with nothing you don’t. Doing away with grey market stimulants, overhyped sci-fi ingredients, artificial dyes, empty fillers like non-dairy creamer. And anything else that stood in the way of building the strongest and cleanest performance products we could, where you could easily account for what was in each scoop you ingested. But in this quest to formulate truly special tools to help power your process, we had an omnipotent but unlike ally—Mother Nature.

Some of the most effective and impactful constituents of the powerhouse GCode Nutrition family of products are the most basic and natural. But as always, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Beet Root

The reason all flavors of VICE are bold red in hue, beet root is a potent natural source of nitrates which raise nitric oxide levels in the body. Beet root can heighten circulation, improving blood flow to the lungs and

working muscle and enhance the ability for muscle to contract. If you love “the pump” experience on VICE, beet root powder is one of the important reasons why.

Coffee and Tea Extracts

As beet root powder works in synergy and as support for some of the other nitric oxide boosting ingredients in VICE, the coffee and tea components help to enhance the 180 mg of caffeine anhydrous found therein in every scoop. Loaded with antioxidants and polyphenols, green coffee bean and green tea extract can help boost natural energy and metabolism. These natural components, as opposed to more shady and “grey market” ingredients like amphetamine analogues recently popularized in the preworkout category, while being far safer, also are less likely to build up a tolerance in those who use them, one of the key reasons you’re seemingly less likely to get burned out, crash or experience weird, undesirable side effects while taking VICE.

Sea Salt

One of the most ancient of edible commodities, sea salt is a game changer for hard-training athletes, optimizing hydration and intracellular fluid retention and muscle contraction, improving endurance, electrolyte balance and “the pump”. We added it to both VICE and RISE for good reason. If you pay close attention, you’ll see that some of the highest level athletes in the sport add sea salt to their preworkout and/or intraworkout solutions. We took care of that ahead of time.

Coconut Water

A low calorie and low sugar alternative to the traditional sports drink electrolyte drinks, coconut water, when taken in conjunction with sea salt, helps to promote rapid rehydration. If you train hard and push your limits, especially in extreme conditions, you tend to sweat a lot. As such, we enhanced the intraworkout aspect of the RISE amino formula by adding the myriad benefits of coconut water powder, optimizing its usefulness for competitive athletes of all backgrounds.

Green Vegetables

Your Mom always made you eat your vegetables, because she had your best interests in mind. The darker green vegetables are loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, making them crucial for ideal immune function and tissue repair, plus they have anti-inflammatory properties and even provide natural energy. That’s why, instead of adding a synthetic vitamin blend when we endeavored to formulate the world’s most complete and nutrient dense protein supplement, we opted to include a full dose of Tru Serv organic greens in every last scoop of FEAST. That’s right. 14 leaves of spinach, 4 leaves of kale and a broccoli floret in every Mighty Chocolate Milk or Cinnamon Toast Crush-flavored serving of FEAST. Safe to say that Ma Dukes would approve of FEAST.

A common theme among all three GCode Nutrition formulas—VICE, RISE and FEAST, is the incorporation of natural elements. Incredibly powerful ingredients, in all their natural glory, functioning exactly as Mother Nature intended, to power the human machine. Decades ago, the first icon of our subculture, Steve Reeves published a book, detailing his full training protocol and nutrition philosophy. It was titled “Building the Classic Physique, The Natural Way”. In 2019, we have picked up Hercules’ mission. To build something classic. Something rugged and durable. Something real, that will stand the test of time. And to do it, the natural way.