Posted on 07 Mar 2014
3 min read
Being a naturally skinny ectomorph, I’ve always been a big user of mass gainers to add in extra calories throughout the day.
But, as I’ve found over the last few years, it takes a lot to find a decent gainer that isn’t just loaded with sugar and doesn’t require an industrial strength blender and half an hour of your time to get into a drinkable state.
Bulk Powders tend to have a no-nonsense approach with their products, so I decided to investigate their topselling mass gainer: Complete Mass.
Let’s see how I got on…
Complete Mass is a 135g serving comprising 538 calories.
This includes 40g protein, 66g carbs and 8g fat.
The ingredients are very minimal and as such the product is relatively cheap (for a mass gainer).
A 135g serving is not too big for a mass gainer either – some can go up to 225g which is just mental!
The ingredients in Complete Mass are pretty damn excellent.
It’s a really simple no-bullshit kind of make up, with an excellent set of slow digesting and complete proteins including whey concentrate, milk protein, and egg white protein.
The carbs are purely from oats here, so naturally they are ridiculously low in sugar (1.6g per serving) and have added fibre and vitamins.
Along with the macronutrients we have added leucine (the most important amino acid for muscle protein synthesis) and glutamine (to help with recovery).
I really like that they added these two excellent aminos and not a ton of unnecessary fillers like some companies feel the need to.
One ingredient I think is missing here is creatine.
This is something which helped me as a beginner to put on strength and mass, but you can add your own very cheaply.
The texture of Complete Mass is pretty spot on, thick enough to be delicious but not too thick to the point that you’re chewing.
The taste of the Chocolate Cookie flavour, like most protein shakes, is great with water but a real treat with milk.
One gripe I did have with the texture is that the oats tend to sink to the bottom if you leave it to stand.
However this is not a problem if you give it a swish round in your shaker in between sips.
One thing about most mass gainers is that they tend to be so big that they just fill you up.
This means rather than being ‘supplemental’ to your diet they become a replacement for meals.
This is never a good thing, especially if you’re a hardgainer.
But Complete Mass doesn’t do that.
I could eat a meal at 8am, have a shake at 9:30, and still want to eat again at 11.
The high carb content also means you’re loaded up on muscle glycogen all day, which is a big help for training intensity.
I’d have one of these shakes about an hour before training, then a pre workout half an hour before, and just absolutely boss it in the gym.
One thing I will say though is that drink enough of this and you’ll be getting a visit from Proteinus: the god of a thousand farts.
Lifters will know what I’m talking about.
If you have 3 servings in a day, that’s 24g of fibre.
This is a hell of a lot, and you can expect the fibre to work it’s magic pretty good.
Complete Mass is pretty good value for money.
Because the product is a no-nonsense formula, Bulk Powders have cut down on a lot of unnecessary costs, meaning that each serving works out at just over a quid.
I’ve seen some mass gainers work out at £2.50 per serving at their cheapest, so this is very good in comparison.
Complete Mass is a great no-nonsense mass gainer with a simple and proven set of ingredients, making it ideal for the hardgainer.
It also adds in calories nicely without filling you up before your next meal.
If you’d like to order Complete Mass, or learn more about the supplement, shop here at the Bulk Powders website.
And don’t forget to use a Bulk Powders discount code to save money when you order.
Tried this product or any other mass gainers?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Will lives in London and is a Digital Marketing Executive by day. He first started going to the gym because being weedy and ginger doesn't really get the girls. Now he is muscly and ginger he still doesn't get the girls, but at least he can bench more than their boyfriends. You can find him blogging over at willkennard.com.
