Dope is the flagship competitor from the UK-based supplement company Bulk, which came to market about a year ago, and it’s relatively well-rounded. It has all of the usual suspects, including citrulline malate and pure citrulline for pumps, 3g of creatine for strength, a typical 3.2g of beta-alanine, and 200mg of caffeine. Almost right on the anniversary of Dope, Bulk has dropped some spin-offs, one of them being more potent than the others.
Bulk’s Dope Max is a hardcore, black-branded version of the pre-workout that is intensely marketed as a “maximum strength formula”. The supplement is a more advanced and in-depth formula compared to the regular Dope, but that is to be expected with a name like Dope Max. The product actually has a lot of the same ingredients, including 3g of creatine, half a gram of taurine, and a relatively moderate amount of energizing caffeine at 200mg.
What separates Dope Max from Bulk’s regular Dope is that you get more for muscle pumps and an infusion of focus. The brand has bumped up the beta-alanine to 5g for the Max spin-off, a slightly higher 3g of citrulline malate and 2g of pure citrulline, and 25% more arginine AKG to push pumps. It is the nootropics that’ll have the biggest effect, as Bulk has packed Dope Max with tyrosine, n-acetyl l-carnitine, and ginseng.
With the sharp branding and intriguing name, we expected a bit more stimulants, maybe a higher level of caffeine, or even bigger dosages of most things, similar to the many premium pre-workouts now out there. Instead, Bulk has only mildly stepped things up, with a bit more pumps and a few new focus ingredients for a complete performance. To be fair, the price from regular to Dope Max isn’t that big of a jump, costing £5 more at £34.99.
