Disclaimer: This article doesn’t constitute medical advice and is just the opinion of the writer(s). We recommend that individuals speak with their doctor about men's health supplements.
Vintage Muscle is a men's health brand that sells supplements for muscle growth and hormonal optimization. Their products include ingredients not commonly seen in over-the-counter (OTC) supplements, like steroids and prohormones.
But do Vintage Muscle supplements contain ingredients proven to increase testosterone and support muscle growth? Does the brand use dangerous ingredients? Who's behind Vintage Muscle? And why do we disagree with some of the brand's marketing claims?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in two of Vintage's Muscle's most popular products (Alpha Test Stack and Muscle Growth Stack) to give our take on whether or not they're likely to be effective, and whether or not they're dangerous.
We'll share our concerns about some of the ingredients included in Vintage Muscle formulations, share our concerns about the team behind the company, and feature real Vintage Muscle customer reviews.
Key takeaways:
- Alpha Test Stack contains illegal active ingredient
- Muscle Support Stack contains active ingredient we cannot identify
- We very strongly recommend avoiding Vintage Muscle
Alpha Test Stack Ingredient Analysis
Vintage Muscle’s Alpha Test Stack consists of two testosterone (T) support supplements to build “hard, lean muscle and strength."
The active ingredient in the liquid formulation (Epi-Test) are shown below:
We apologize for the low quality of the image; it's the image uploaded by the brand.
Epi-andro is short for epiandrosterone, which is an illegal anabolic steroid, according to WebMD.
In 2021, the founder of a supplement brand called CCB Nutrition LLC pleaded guilty to a felony charge related to distributing anabolic steroids including epiandrostesrone according to the Department of Justice.
The capsule supplement included in Alpha Test Stack is called Methyl-Test.
It contains nine active ingredients: magnesium, zinc, Tribulus terrestris extract, chrysin, horny goat weed extract, tongkat ali, saw palmetto, hawthorne and Cissus quadrangularis extract.
Tribulus terrestris can increase sex drive, but a clinical trial published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology reported no increase in testosterone when this ingredient was supplemented at doses similar to that in Methyl-Test.
Chrysin is a plant-derived compound shown to have no effect on testosterone levels in a 2003 clinical trial.
Tongkat ali has been shown in research studies to naturally increase testosterone, but as we documented in our Nugenix review article, the minimum effective dose appears to be 200 milligrams (mg) daily.
Only 50 mg is included in Vintage Muscle's supplement.
The remaining active ingredients in this formulation are included at too low of a dose (50 mg each) for them to have any effect on testosterone in our opinion.
We strongly recommend avoiding this supplement and this brand.
Highly Questionable Health Claims
There are many uncited, unscientific and questionable health claims on the Vintage Muscle website. We can't feature all of them, but below are a select few.
The brand claims that their Epi-Test supplement is "10x more androgenic than testosterone" without any proof or citation.
image source: vintage-muscle.com
The brand claims that something called the "Estrogen Rebound" tries to "balance" natural testosterone increase:
image source: vintage-muscle.com
This is false and unscientific. "Estrogen Rebound" is not a clinically defined term, and the brand again provides zero proof to support this claim.
This claim essentially suggests that any attempt to naturally increase testosterone like resistance training, improved diet or increased sleep are futile, because the body will sabotage such efforts.
We consider it to be a red flag of a low-quality brand to make bold health claims without any proof of those claims.
Muscle Support Stack Ingredient Analysis
Vintage Muscle Muscle Support Stack consists of two supplements to help "increase natural testosterone production:" Cycle Support and Armidione.
The ingredients in the liquid formulation (Armidione) are shown below:
3b-hydroxy-androsta-4 6-diene-17-one is the active ingredient in this formulation.
It appears to be another prohormone, but we can't identify any clinical trials on this ingredient proving its efficacy or safety.
The Cycle Support supplement is a capsule formulation and contains three different proprietary blends: "EstroControl Blend," "TestSupport Blend" and "LivSupport Blend."
The TestSupport blend is the one with ingredients for testosterone support: fenugreek extract, Cissus quadrangularis, tongkat ali and 3,4- divanillyltetrahydrofuran.
Fenugreek extract has been clinically proven to increase testosterone levels, as we documented in our Ageless Male reviews article.
Cissus quadrangularis is a plant extract and we can't find any proof of its efficacy for increasing T levels in men.
Tongkat ali may be effective for improving T as we discussed in the previous Ingredient Analysis section.
3,4- divanillyltetrahydrofuran was shown in a clinical trial published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology to increase testosterone levels in mice.
This doesn't necessarily mean the same effect will occur in humans.
Overall, we consider this stack potentially effective for testosterone enhancement due to some research-backed ingredients in the capsule formulation, but we very strongly recommend avoiding this stack because we can't find any evidence that the prohormone in the liquid formulation is safe for ingestion in humans.
Who's Behind Vintage Muscle?
We recommend that consumers investigate who's behind the supplements they're taking.
It's a good sign if there are publicly-listed scientific experts like doctors, PhDs and clinical researchers.
Formulating dietary supplements requires extensive knowledge on the efficacy, safety and interactions between various compounds.
The Vintage Muscle website does not have an "About Us" page with any information about the team.
Some research determines that the founder of Vintage Muscle is a man by the name of Jared Van Yperen. He has a personal website and wants to “mentor entrepreneurs.”
His website makes no mention of any relevant scientific or medical credentials or education that would qualify him to formulate exotic prohormone supplements.
No Published Test Results
The only way you can know what you’re getting when you buy supplements online is if the company publishes (ideally third-party) test results proving that their products are accurately labeled and have no contaminants.
Vintage Muscle does not do this.
The need for independent testing is even greater for muscle building products than for most supplement categories, because this type of product is so frequently contaminated with harmful or illegal drugs.
The FDA publishes reports on tainted bodybuilding products, and those listed may make up a very small percentage of those available for sale, because the FDA “cannot test all products on the market” as they say themselves.
We do not recommend taking novel research compounds without any proof or test results suggesting those compounds are safe for long-term use.
Vintage Muscle vs. Popular Men's Health Supps
Here's how Vintage Muscle compares to other popular men's health supplement brands in terms of formulation quality, in our opinion:
King Maker
While we have some issues with active ingredient doses an inactive ingredient inclusions (such as added phosphates which are clinically shown to have negative health consequences), these pale in comparison to the health risks associated with Vintage Muscle.
We consider King Maker to be the safer choice.
Winner: King Maker
Drachen
Drachen is an oral spray that includes pharmaceutical active ingredients for the treatment of ED.
At the time of our most recent analysis, the brand failed to clearly publish a full inactive ingredient list.
However, Vintage Muscle is still a riskier brand, given its active ingredient issues.
Winner: Drachen
Nitro Wood
Contains research-backed active ingredients for circulation support (which may have favorable downstream effects on erectile function).
Unclear inactive ingredients, but still a safer choice than Vintage Muscle.
Winner: Nitro Wood
Vintage Muscle Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Capsule formulations contain some research-backed herbs
- Company removed an illegal steroid from one of their supplements after we called out this information
Cons:
- Some active ingredients have no proof of safety in humans
- Founder has no relevant background
- Highly questionable formulations
- Highly questionable, and in many cases false, health claims on brand's website
- Doesn't appear to be clinically tested
- Brand previously used an illegal steroid in one supplement we reviewed
- Supplements contain natural flavors
- We consider this to be the most dangerous bodybuilding supplement brand we've reviewed to date
- Less healthy than competitors
