A member walked up to the front desk last week with his phone out and asked what he should buy from 1st Phorm. Not what tastes good. What matters, and in what order.
I have owned Black Iron Athletics since 2013 and I get some version of that question every week. This page is the answer I gave him, with the labels pulled up.
What I Get Paid, Before You Read One Word Of This
I am a paying 1st Phorm Legionnaire. Four facts, up front, before any product:
- I pay 1st Phorm $115 a month out of my own account. That money comes back to me as product credit, which is how these five end up in my hands.
- I earn 40% commission on a new customer's first purchase only. First order. Not recurring, not lifetime.
- My personal discount starts at 15% off my own orders and runs as high as 50% off.
- I have not used any of these five products. Not one scoop, not one softgel.
One more thing you should have. 1st Phorm's public page for the program advertises "up to 25%" and talks about signing up "lifetime customers." Neither of those describes the deal I actually have, which is 40%, paid once, on a first order. The 40% is the number that could bias this page, so you get it from me rather than from their marketing.
The buy links below are my Legionnaire tracking links, so a first order placed through one pays me that 40%. It costs you nothing extra.
Every product page linked here is a Recon Report: unrated, hands-on review pending. No flavor takes, no mixability takes, no results. What you get today is a label read and the price math.
The Order That Actually Matters
My position on supplements has not moved. A calorie deficit with enough protein beats any stack ever sold. Supplements are force multipliers, and a multiplier on zero is still zero. Food and sleep first. If this is all new to you, read the Dad Stack and come back.
Once nutrition is handled, my top tier is short: protein, creatine, fish oil, vitamin D, and zinc. This lineup covers three of those five, so the order below is not by price. It is by what moves the needle for a normal dad.
One lane rule. Thorne stays my NSF Certified for Sport pick for anyone who gets drug tested. Nothing in this lineup carries a verified NSF Certified for Sport mark, so I will not tell you it clears a federation panel.
And the paperwork problem, named once, plainly. Micronized Creatine, Full-Mega, and Opti-Greens 50 each state no third-party testing, no certification, and no certificate of analysis anywhere on the product page. Phormula-1 shows an Informed Choice badge with no certificate linked to it, and NSF flavor certification appears only in that page's meta description, with no flavors named in visible copy. That is a genuine weakness. I pay them $115 a month and I am still telling you.
1. Phormula-1: The Deficit Protein
Phormula-1 is $69.99 for 30 servings, so $2.33 a serving one-time or $2.10 on subscription. Per the published label: 23g of protein out of a 28g scoop, 100 calories, 0g fat, under 1g of carbs, 0g sugar, 13 flavors. The Vanilla flavor lists a five-ingredient label with no proprietary blend, and the scoop works out to an 82 percent protein yield, which is genuinely strong for an isolate.
That yield is the whole reason it leads. In a deficit every calorie has a job, and 23 grams of protein for 100 calories is the best trade on this page.
Who it is for: the dad who is cutting and cannot spend half a meal's calories hitting a protein number. Know going in that $2.33 a serving is premium pricing for a 30-serving isolate, and that Informed Choice badge has no certificate behind it.
2. Level-1: The Meal You Skipped
Level-1 is $62.99 one-time or $54.99 on subscription. Per the product page: 23-25g of protein per scoop depending on flavor, 5g of naturally occurring BCAAs, 12 flavors, and no artificial dyes or flavors after a formula update, per the brand's FAQ. 1st Phorm calls it sustained-release. That is their positioning, not my verdict.
Then the number they do not print. Servings per container is never stated in 1st Phorm's own page copy. The 30-serving count comes from a label photo inside a customer review, and on that unverified count it runs about $2.10 a serving one-time and about $1.83 on subscription. The nutrition panels are images only, so calories, carbs, and fat never appear as text, and whey concentrate is the only protein source named in text. On a product sold as a meal replacement, those are the exact numbers that should not be buried in a JPEG.
Who it is for: the guy who skips lunch three days a week and eats dinner standing at the counter, if he can live with a serving count the brand does not state.
3. Micronized Creatine Monohydrate: The Sure Thing
Micronized Creatine Monohydrate is $39.99 for 100 servings or $29.99 for 50. On the big tub that is $0.40 a serving one-time and $0.36 with subscription. Five grams of plain micronized creatine monohydrate, unflavored, single ingredient, zero fillers or additives per the brand. A hundred servings covers more than three months on one purchase.
This is what a creatine label should look like, and it is the cheapest thing per serving on this page by a mile. Monohydrate has the deepest research base of any creatine form, and it is still the first supplement I recommend to almost everyone in the building.
Two honest knocks: no third-party testing is stated anywhere on the page, no NSF Certified for Sport, no Informed Sport, no linked COA, and $0.40 to $0.60 a serving is a brand-name price for a commodity ingredient. The supplement facts panel is an image again, so the full label text could not be verified.
Who it is for: anyone lifting who has not started creatine yet.
4. Full-Mega: The One You Take For The Long Game
Full-Mega is $47.99 one-time or $44.99 on subscription, 45 servings from 90 softgels at 2 per serving. That is $1.07 a serving one-time and $1.00 on subscription. Per the label, two softgels deliver 900 mg of EPA and 600 mg of DHA, so 1,500 mg combined, a legitimate label-stated dose. Four ingredients: fish oil, gelatin, vegetable glycerin, purified water, from wild-caught Icelandic mackerel, herring, anchovy, and sardine, per 1st Phorm.
Fish oil sits fourth because you take it for the decade ahead, not for Thursday's session. It is also the category where testing paperwork matters most to me, and this page has none: no third-party testing, no IFOS or GOED certification, no COA, no heavy-metals language. The label math does not line up either, listing 2,500 mg of Total Omega-3 Concentrate against 1,800 mg of itemized omega-3s. Triglyceride or ethyl ester form is never stated.
Who it is for: the dad who does not eat fatty fish twice a week, which is most of us.
5. Opti-Greens 50: The Optional One
Opti-Greens 50 is $69.99 for 30 servings, so $2.33 a serving one-time and $2.00 on subscription. Two scoops in 8 oz of water or juice, in Natural Berry or Chocolate. The label lists 50 gluten-free, alkalizing ingredients including 8 organic grasses and greens, plus Gluten-Free, Non-GMO, and no artificial flavors.
One number here is actually quantified: over 5 billion CFUs from 10 probiotic strains. Everything else runs through proprietary blends with no individual doses disclosed anywhere on the page, including the flagship Glycemic Balance Blend, which has a name and no gram amount. No third-party testing, certification, or COA is stated.
It goes last because a greens powder does not replace vegetables and it is not in my top tier. At $2.33 a serving you are paying isolate money for a product whose doses you cannot see.
Who it is for: the guy who travels constantly, eats out of airports, and wants a floor under his produce intake. Buy it with your eyes open, not because a label counted to 50.
What I Test First
The product credit lands monthly, so this happens in order. Phormula-1 first, because protein is the macro nobody hits and a five-ingredient isolate has the most to prove on flavor and mixability. Creatine next, to confirm it dissolves like a micronized powder should. Then Full-Mega, watching for fish burps. Level-1 after that, run as the meal it claims to replace, and I will count the scoops myself. Opti-Greens 50 last, if at all.
When each one has been through a real training block, its Recon Report gets rewritten with a rating, my own photos, and an honest verdict. If a brand wants those reviews to go better, publishing a COA is a good place to start.
Full transparency: I am a paying 1st Phorm Legionnaire at $115 a month, credited back to me as product, I earn 40% commission on a new customer's first order only, and my own discount runs from 15% to 50%. The buy links here are my Legionnaire tracking links. Nothing was received free, no product here has been tested by me yet, and the product images are 1st Phorm's own.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Talk to your doctor before starting any supplement.
