I can be an impatient person.
I’ve been having great results on the Kinobody programs for a while now…
… but lately I’ve been looking for just that 10-20% edge, something to really put me over the top.
I keep seeing Greg O’Gallagher preaching the benefits of his creatine and muscle gaining supplement, Kino Gains.
So I finally broke down and decided to give it a try myself.
Here’s my hands-on and honest Kino Gains (Gains by Kinobody) review:
I’ve been using Kino Gains for a month and so far, I’m really pleased with the results. My strength has maintained and even improved in some areas despite being in an aggressive cut (on the AFL program). I’ve lost fat due to my diet but noticed my overall weight has fluctuated a lot and held somewhat steady due to extra water storage.
My energy levels and workouts have been fantastic.
The flavor of Kino Gains isn’t great, however. I don’t particularly enjoy drinking it, but Kinobody has new flavors coming soon and I’m hopeful those will be a lot better!
Check out Kino Gains right here.
What is Kino Gains & what does it do?
Simply put, Kino Gains is a supplement that uses a couple of different key ingredients to:
- Encourage muscle growth
- Improve strength & performance in the gym
- Promote better recovery
It’s essentially a creatine monohydrate supplement, but with a few other goodies mixed in to take things up a notch.
Now let’s be super clear about one thing.
Creatine is not a steroid.
It doesn’t artificially force your body to grow more muscle by increasing testosterone levels or prolonging protein synthesis.
What it does is help you have better workouts, produce more power, lift heavier weights, and recover better.
Which IN TURN promotes more muscle mass and better results from your training.
How Kino Gains, and other creatine supplements, does this comes down to a few of the specific ingredients it uses.
What are the ingredients inside Kino Gains?
There are three main ingredients that make Kino Gains work.
(One thing I love about the Kinobody supplements, by the way, is their complete and transparent ingredient labels. No secret proprietary blends here!)
Inside one serving of Kino Gains, you’ll find:
Creatine Monohydrate – 5,000mg
Creatine is a compound naturally produced in the body and can be consumed through eating most meats.
However, supplementing it with around 5g per day can have amazing impacts on athletic and strength performance.
Creatine increases the production of ATP (the building blocks of energy) inside your muscles, giving you better output during high-intensity training.
It’s been studied again and again and again for decades and has been proven to increase strength performance in most subjects, in addition to improving lean body mass.
If it sounds too good to be true, well, it’s plenty well-documented by the scientific community.
You’ll only continue to receive these benefits as long as you’re supplementing creatine, however.
(As a side effect, creatine is known to pull water into your muscles, which helps make them look bigger and fuller. It shouldn’t make you feel bloated in the midsection, but your weight will likely go up while taking creatine as mine did by a few pounds.)
L-Carnitine L-Tartrate – 2,000mg
L-Carnitine does two main things, and it has some overlap with the functions of creatine in your body.
Supplementing L-Carnitine may:
- Improve your body’s ability to deliver energy to muscle cells
- Increase androgen receptors in key muscle groups, especially when paired with strength training.
Also, L-Carnitine L-Tartrate specifically has been shown to aid in muscle soreness and recovery, according to Healthline.
(Note that L-Carnitine is often peddled as a weight loss supplement due to the way it helps your body consume fatty acids for energy, but most studies show very little impact on weight loss from taking L-Carnitine.)
It’s best use is fueling better workouts and promoting strong recovery.
Choline Bitartrate – 500mg
Another naturally occurring compound, choline is again cited frequently as a weight loss aid.
It’s not.
But it is quite effective at helping your liver function properly and improving brain function (both short and long-term memory).
Some studies have even shown that it may help your body shed excess estrogen from the liver, as well.
My experience and results on Kino Gains
As I’m writing this, I am nearing the bottom of my first bottle of Kino Gains (which contains about 30 serving).
I’ve taken one level scoop of powder, mixed with water, every day for nearly a month.
On lifting days, I take Gains after my workout, usually right before or during my first meal of the day (using intermittent fasting).
On non-lifting days, I usually take Gains about 30 minutes before I eat and break my fast.
Here’s what I’ve noticed (positive and negative) about my experience with gains:
PRO: Excellent workouts
I won’t lie, I initially planned on taking Gains while bulking up to get the most out of its muscle building power.
But with a beach vacation coming up, I decided to enter a short cut to look my best at the end of the summer.
So even though I’m taking Gains, it hasn’t exactly been PR-city. I’ve been in a pretty aggressive cut, so I wouldn’t expect to make strength gains.
However, my strength on big lifts has maintained exceptionally well despite the low calories, and I’ve improved my lifts in a couple of areas in the 3 weeks since I started taking Gains.
It took about two weeks or so to start noticing a difference, but I’ve definitely felt more powerful and had better endurance in the gym since I started supplementing creatine with Kinobody Gains.
I’m excited to see how I’ll do into my second bottle as the creatine continues to load into my system, and when I resume a lean bulk.
CON: The taste
No getting around this.
Kino Gains is only available in one flavor right now, Kino Colada.
It’s… fine.
But I don’t enjoy drinking it.
(And it was terrible mixed with Kino Octane. I’ve since started drinking them separately.).
To be fair, there’s very little in the way of sweeteners inside Gains, but still, the taste just isn’t good.
Kinobody has some new flavors coming out so I’m excited to see if they can improve on this.
PRO: Muscle fullness
It’s been strange to see myself get leaner and leaner over a few weeks of cutting…
… while my weight has stayed relatively the same.
As the creatine builds up in my system, I’ve definitely felt my muscles become “fuller”.
It’s showed in the mirror and on the scale.
I attribute most of this to water retention in the muscles (but I rarely feel bloated around the middle), and possibly some muscle gains even while cutting.
CON: Performance boost is temporary
The benefits of Gains and creatine, in particular, are pretty well-shown to be fantastic.
I’m experiencing it myself right now, and I’m only a few weeks in.
(It takes time to get full results).
But I guess it bums me out a little that if I want to continue on this journey, I have to keep taking creatine… forever, I guess?
When you stop taking creatine, you should maintain the same levels of muscle and strength, but you’ll lose that little bit of an edge you had in the gym and your workouts may suffer some, according to some reports.
Wrapping Up
Overall, I’m really pleased I decided to take the chance and give Gains a shot.
I’ve had great results while on a cut, and I’m super excited to see how it helps me build muscle in bulking season!
Again, the taste isn’t great, but I love the transparency of the label, the quality of the ingredients, and the fact that, well, it works!
Grab a bottle of Kino Gains direct from Kinobody if you’re interested.
Or ask me any questions you might have below in the comments.
Hope this helps!
FAQ
Do you need to load Kinobody Gains?
No.
Loading creatine (meaning you take a higher dose, around 20g per day, for a short period of time, or about a week) in general is optional. It may help you see and experience results faster.
But you’ll get the same effect over time by simply taking 5g per day, and there’s really no need to shortcut the process.
Is creatine safe?
Creatine has been studied for years by dozens and dozens of independent labs and research groups.
It’s been found to be completely safe outside of very specific interactions with drugs or pre-existing medical conditions.
Consult your doctor before you start taking creatine or Kino Gains!