Crazy Bulk

Medically Reviewed by Anthony Dugarte, M.D., C.S.C.S

CrazyBulk is a weightlifting supplement company that markets its 11 different supplements as legal steroid alternatives.

Their supplements are attractive to weightlifters and bodybuilders because they claim to be just as effective as outlawed anabolic steroids like Dianobol, Clenbuterol, Winstrol and HGH.

A natural supplement alternative to steroids also eliminates the notorious side effects of steroids: aggression, paranoia, acne, rashes, baldness, liver and kidney damage, and heart issues.

If true, CrazyBulk’s claims would be revolutionary for bodybuilders and weightlifters who want to cut fat and build bulk and strength.

In this review, we will help you understand each of CrazyBulk’s 11 supplements, address their claims of providing results similar to steroids, and talk about the scientific efficacy of CrazyBulk’s main ingredients.

Understanding CrazyBulk’s Product Line

CrazyBulk’s website has 11 different supplements in three groups: cutting (fat loss), bulking, and strength. They also have a category called “stacking,” which is a program comprised of supplements from multiple groups.

Their website lists the name of each supplement with its illegal steroid equivalent. We will include these below, along with instructions for use, ingredients, and purpose.

Bulking

These supplements are meant to build muscle mass quickly. Each bottle has 30 days of servings. The company recommends taking these in a two-months-on, 1.5-weeks-off cycle.

D-Bal (Dianabol)

• Directions: 3 capsules with water 45 minutes before your workout
• Ingredients: Vitamin D3, magnesium, MSM, L-isoleucine, suma root, ashwagandha, tribulus terrestris, sodium hyaluronate
• Purpose: Build mass and strength, cut down on soreness and boost testosterone

HGH-X2 (HGH)

• Directions: 2 capsules with water around 20 minutes before breakfast
• Ingredients: Maca root, hawthorn berry extract, mucuna pruriens extract, L-arginine
• Purpose: Build size and lean mass

Trenorol (Trenbolone)

• Directions: 3 capsules with water around 45 minutes before your workout
• Ingredients: Beta-sitosterol, samento inner bark, nettle leaf extract, pepsin
• Purpose: Muscle gain during cutting and bulking

Cutting

The goal with a cutting regiment is to lose fat and increase lean muscle definition. Each product comes in bottles of 90 capsules, which is enough for 30 three-capsule servings. CrazyBulk recommends taking them in cycles of two months on and 1.5 weeks off.

Clenbutrol (Clenbuterol)

• Directions: 3 capsules with water 45 minutes before your workout
• Ingredients: Vitamin B3, garcinia cambogia, bitter orange extract, guarana extract
• Purpose: Increase your body temperature, resulting in a higher metabolism rate that breaks down fat

Anvarol (Anavar)

• Directions: 3 capsules 15 minutes after your workout
• Ingredients: Soy protein, whey protein, branch-chain amino acids (BCAA’s), yam, adenosine
• Purpose: Gives muscles more energy to contract for longer periods of time during workouts. Results in better muscle definition

Winsol (Winstrol)

• Directions: 3 capsules with your biggest meal of the day
• Ingredients: Acetyl-l-carnitine, choline, wild yam, dimethylaminoethanol, safflower oil
• Purpose: Eliminates water retention and burns fat so you can build lean defined muscles

Strength

CrazyBulk’s strength supplements are designed to build muscle strength and stamina. Like the other supplements, these bottles have enough capsules to last one month. CrazyBulk recommends taking these for two months on and 1.5 weeks off.

Testo-Max (Sustanon)

• Directions: 4 capsules 20 minutes before your workout
• Ingredients: Vitamins D3, K1 and B6; magnesium, zinc, D-aspartic acid, nettle leaf extract, ginseng red powder, fenugreek extract, boron, BioPerine
• Purpose: Build size and strength, provide energy to get you through your workouts

Winsol (Winstrol)

• Directions: 3 capsules with water during your main meal
• Ingredients: Acetyl-L-carnitine, choline, wild yam, dimethylaminoethanol, safflower oil
• Purpose: Increase strength and performance

Anadrole (Anadrol)

• Directions: 2 capsules a day with water around 20 minutes before breakfast
• Ingredients: Tribulus terrestris, soy protein isolate, whey protein concentrate, shilajit concentrate, acetyl-l-carnitine
• Purpose: Building size, strength, and stamina

Decaduro (Deca Durabolin)

• Directions: 3 capsules with water about 45 minutes before you work out
• Ingredients: Wild yam, ginseng, L-arginine alpha-ketoglutarate, acetyl-L-carnitine, L-citrulline, tribulus terrestris
• Purpose: Building size, strength, and stamina

NO2-Max

• Directions: 2 tablets with water about 20 minutes before your workout
• Ingredients: Calcium, L-arginine alpha-ketoglutarate
• Purpose: Building size, strength, and stamina

Does CrazyBulk Work as Good as Illegal Steroids?

CrazyBulk’s main claim is that their supplement blends work just as well as steroids. In fact, here’s what a chat rep told us: “You’ll get all the benefits of real steroids with none of the side effects.”

We reached out to experts in weightlifting to verify CrazyBulk’s claim. What we found is that there is very little chance that CrazyBulk’s supplements will provide the results you’d get by taking illegal steroids.

We talked to Robert Herbst, a member of the Amateur Athletic Union’s Strength Sports Hall of Fame and a winner of multiple powerlifting national championships in the 165-pound division of three different age classes.

“Bodybuilders and weightlifters should approach supplements like these with a huge degree of skepticism and an iron grip on their wallet,” Herbst told us. “There are no natural alternatives to anabolic steroids.”

This is because anabolic steroids are synthetic, supercharged versions of testosterone that provide a shortcut to building a massive physique, the National Institute on Drug Abuse notes.

Furthermore, the steroid doses that athletes take far exceed what you’d ever get if a doctor prescribed steroids for a medical condition.

What this means is that the potency and the dosage levels are so high that illegal steroids are truly in a class of their own and unmatched by any natural “steroid alternative.”

“Yes, it is legal to take steroid alternatives without a prescription, and, yes, you can take them instead of steroids but they can never match the effects of banned steroids because those steroids work based on their chemical structure and the resulting effect on your body,” Herbst said.

We heard the same thing from Jamie Hickey, an International Sports Sciences Association-certified personal trainer and nutritionist.

“Nothing will approach the results you’d get from illegal anabolic steroids,” Hickey told us.

Efficacy of Ingredients

Because CrazyBulk sells 11 different supplements, a breakdown of every single ingredient would be time-consuming.

The majority of the ingredients contained in these supplements are included in non-weightlifting supplements. And, based on our extensive research of hundreds of supplements, the track record for most of those ingredients’ effectiveness is spotty.

That being said, there are ingredients in CrazyBulk’s products that Hickey said can have benefits for weightlifters and we will focus on these.

• Whey protein: Anvarol, Anadrole
• BCAA: Anvarol
• Acetyl-L-carnitine: Winsol, Anadrole, Decaduro

Whey Protein

Whey protein is a popular ingredient in weightlifting supplements because it has a high content of BCAA’s, which, according to Hickey, are the building blocks of our body. You need BCAA’s to build muscle.

Whey protein is effective in building muscle.

“Whey protein supplementation combined with resistance exercise appears to offer up greater gains in muscle strength and muscle mass over just resistance exercise alone,” she wrote.

This can be advantageous as low dietary protein intake has been linked with age-related muscle loss. Also, consumption after training or post-competition is proven to aid muscle recovery.

The protein RDA dose for adults is 0.8g protein/kg body weight daily, though athletes often consume 2-3x this amount. This means that a 185lb individual should consume roughly 70g of protein, whereas recommendations for an athlete may exceed 170g each day.

CrazyBulk’s daily dose of Anadrole contains 200 mg (0.6 grams) of whey protein and Anvarol contains 450 mg (0.45 grams) of whey protein.

Clearly these quantities don’t come anywhere near recommendations, so the bulk of your protein intake would come from your diet.

BCAA

As we noted earlier, Hickey said that branch-chain amino acids (BCAA’s) are the building blocks of your muscles. They help generate new muscle and repair damaged muscles.

As such, BCAA’s are part of Hickey’s daily supplement regimen (2 to 4 grams per day) and, furthermore, are generally accepted as a good way to build muscle.

BodyBuilding.com’s Dr. Layne Norton wrote in a 2019 article that BCAA’s build skeletal muscles and they help you maintain mass when you go on a low-calorie diet.

“Branched-chain amino acid supplements have made a comeback in the bodybuilding and fitness communities, and with good reason. There's more research that supports the use of BCAAs than most other supplements on the market,” he said.

A recent review of 11 studies concluded that BCAA’s can aid post-exercise muscle damage.

To be effective, the researchers noted that muscle damage must be low to moderate and that BCAA intake must be greater than 200mg/kg of body weight for a minimum of 10 days. Also, consumption prior to activity was more effective than after.

This dosing regimens used in these studies are much larger than CrazyBulk’s Anavar 225mg dose.

Acetyl-L-Carnitine

This ingredient is included in CrazyBulk’s Winsol and Anadrole. BodyBuilding.com’s Dr. Jim Stopanni notes in a 2019 article that this ingredient can “boost both your training and your physique.”

Acetyl-L-carnitine is a form of L-carnitine that exists in the nervous system and, Dr. Stoppani wrote, plays a role in producing energy.

In general, this class of ingredients helps your body burn fat as fuel and increases your endurance. Furthermore, Dr. Stopanni pointed out, acetyl-L-carnitine offers the advantage of being more easily absorbed into your body.

A review of 9 studies examining the weight loss effects of L-Carnitine in adults, concluded that L-carnitine was associated with greater weight loss and a greater reduction in BMI, though these benefits diminished over time.

Stoppani went on to point out that “as little as 1 gram” of the ingredient can be effective but that “your best bet is to take 2 to 3 grams per dose for maximum benefit.”

Anadrole contains 50 mg of acetyl-L-carnitine per dose, Winsol contains 555 mg and Decaduro contains 75 mg.

Key Takeaways

Some of CrazyBulk’s supplements contain ingredients that have a good reputation for effectiveness in the weightlifting world.

However, the critical drawback is that none of the supplements contain anywhere near the dosage levels recommended by weightlifting experts for building muscle and aiding recovery.

Furthermore, a chat representative with whom we corresponded said that CrazyBulk doesn’t use a third-party to test the accuracy of its ingredient dosages.

Hickey said this is one of the first things he addresses when clients ask him for advice about weightlifting supplements.

“You need a company that uses third-party testing to prove that what they’re saying is in the bottle is actually in the bottle,” he said.

Possible Side Effects

CrazyBulk’s supplement production facility meets FDA requirements, which means their operating standards are in accordance with federal standards for cleanliness and safety.

None of the research we conducted nor the experts we talked to noted anything dangerous about the main ingredients in CrazyBulk’s supplements.

Protein supplements are generally safe as this macronutrient is found in a variety of plant and animal-based foods that you probably already consume on a regular basis.

While CarzyBulk supplements don’t match the RDA for adults or suggested intake for athletes, many individuals safely consume protein quantities far beyond these recommendations.

Thus, protein toxicity is rare, though this does not mean it isn’t possible. Our bodies don’t use excess protein very efficiently, so your kidneys, bones, and liver may be negatively affected if you consume too much.

Signs that your protein consumption may be excessive can include dehydration, stomach pain, nausea, headaches, or diarrhea.

For these reasons, it’s always safest to speak to your physician before making drastic alterations to your diet or adding a supplement to your daily routine.

Pricing and Return Policy

Single bottles of CrazyBulk’s supplements ranged in price from $54.99 to $61.99. Stacks ranged in price from $129.99 to $274.99

You have 14 days after your purchase date to request a refund. Only unopened bottles can be refunded.

If you need to make a return, you’ll have to contact the company’s customer support to get a return authorization number (RMA).

Analysis of Customer Reviews

On our website, customers have a low opinion of CrazyBulk. There are numerous complaints about poor customer service, transaction issues, orders that never shipped, and a lack of promised results. The product’s overall star rating is 2.1 stars.

The same trend is evident on TrustPilot, where the company has an average rating of two stars as well. Customers shared the same complaints there that they did on HighYa:

• Delayed shipments
• Canceled orders
• Poor results

The Bottom Line

There’s a very good chance CrazyBulk supplements will not provide you with the results you’re hoping to get based on the company’s claims.

First, experts told us that there’s no way a “legal" steroid can produce the same results as illegal anabolic steroids.

Second, even though some of CrazyBulk’s supplements include some ingredients that are well-supported by bodybuilding science, those ingredients’ dosages are far below the typical recommendations.

Furthermore, the majority of customer reviews we read were negative, highlighting a lack of results and poor customer service.

The totality of this evidence makes us conclude that CrazyBulk’s supplements do not have the potency to meet the usual standard for weightlifting supplementation, let alone the level of results you could get from an illegal steroid.