Should you spend money on a pre workout supplement?

What is pre workout

Pre workout supplements are very popular but what do they do, what is in it, and does it even have any actual benefits?

I remember that about ten years ago there was a new supplement on the market. It had everything you needed to fuel your workouts. It promised you would set new records and would look more ripped than ever before. The pre workout era was born.

A pre workout supplement usually has some sort of ‘upper’ like caffeine and some ingredients to increase your pump in the gym, like citrulline or arginine for example. What it basically is supposed to do is give your temporarily more energy so you can perform better.

The first pre workouts didn’t just have caffeine. Supplements companies used to experiment with the legal boundaries here. The result, something closer to amphetamine ending up in the product. This still happens sometimes, that’s why it’s important to research the product and company before choosing a new supplement.

What’s the purpose of pre workout?

Pre workout is designed to make you perform better in the gym. Make you stronger temporarily, increase your cardio and delay fatigue. Overall, it’s designed to increase your athletic performance.

That all sounds awesome for everyone that wants to perform to the max every time. But do you really need to go all out, and does it increase athletic performance in general?

Pre workout for bodybuilding/ powerlifting: For a form of exercise that’s purely anaerobic I would say a pre workout works best. It can really motivate you to push harder and temporarily become stronger. The only question would be, do you want to go all out during training every time? Risking exhausting your body into overtraining. Maybe it’s a bit better to let the extra motivation to come from within and take the pre workout at a powerlifting competition. At a time where you actually need to give a bit more. But that’s up to you guys because it can be fun, lifting weights on a couple of scoops with your earphones blasting your favorite workout music.

Pre workout for aerobic sports: Since I’m a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete let’s take that as an example. BJJ is a combination of anaerobic and aerobic exercise. It’s full of short energy bursts, like sprinting, but combined with lower intensity aerobic moments. You just can’t be explosive all the time in an 8- or 10-minute round and do that for 5 rounds in a tournament.

I tried pre workout supplements because training three times a day and having to go to work requires some enhancement. What I noticed is that my cardio got a lot worse instantly. Turned out I was overheating because of the caffeine, raising my heart rate too fast. Result was no cardio. I know in BJJ, pre workout is becoming more popular but I would never recommend it.

Most popular pre workout ingredients

BCAA: Branched Chain Amino Acids, in short BCAA. Taking these important amino acids before working out will make sure you protect your muscles during strenuous exercise. Note that it will only protect, it does not help to build because you need all 20 amino acids for that.

Arginine: they add arginine because of it’s potential vasodilating effects. It could give you that desired pump effect in the gym. In my experience it doesn’t do much. Caffeine already got you covered here and just eating enough protein in your diet will be sufficient. The only moment I would use it is if you do feel you need help with blood flow to your muscles and don’t want to take caffeine.

Citrulline: when you ingest citrulline your body turns it into arginine. It does exactly the same. You probably ask, why ever take citrulline and not just straight up arginine? Because it has been shown that people taking citrulline actually had more arginine in their body than taking arginine. Making citrulline the more efficient supplement here.

Beta Alanine: If you are wondering, why does pre workout make me itchy? It’s the beta alanine. Beta alanine prevents lactic acid from building up fast. That would mean your muscles can go on longer. It’s only been shown to have a very short effect so if it really benefits you is hard to tell. One of the side effects is an itchy feeling. For this expresses mainly in my hands and face. It’s completely safe if you just follow the doses on the bottle and you will get used to it.

If pre workout makes you itch too much, you can always look for one without beta alanine. You won’t miss out on much without this ingredient since it’s never been proven to work for an entire training.

Creatine: it’s very common your pre workout contains caffeine. Caffeine increases ATP and will give you a longer explosive energy burst. Creatine has to build up in your body to have this effect. Just taking it on work out days in your pre workout is just not enough and will not get you the desired effect. It looks good on the label but it’s a bit useless to put in there.

Caffeine: here is where you will notice the effects of your pre workout the most. Caffeine will almost instantly give you that extra burst of energy. It’s a vasodilator…so all you guys chasing that pump, caffeine’s got you covered. Studies have shown that it does make you stronger.

It’s a good ingredient that works but you should keep in mind that taking in the evening is not ideal and that the extra energy is borrowed. It’s not actually extra.

Is pre workout illegal?

Pre workout supplements are not illegal and can be bought in any supplement store. That doesn’t mean there are no prohibited pre workouts out there. Back in the days I remember taking a pre workout called Noxipro. When I arrived at the gym I was confused, did I come to train or was I there to party?

Turned out it they added 1,3-Dimethylamylamine. It’s an upper and works really well. It’s does feel that it would work better in a nightclub then a gym though. Also, it’s illegal. So, if you are an athlete that get’s tested, this can get you into trouble.

This almost twenty years ago, but still, you see some companies play with the rules. Unfortunately, with new chemical compounds you get somewhat of a grey area of what’s legal and illegal. Legislators are always behind the facts so it’s up to you to always research the products you use and make sure it’s safe. It would even worth it to see your physician and discuss if you should be taking it.

Pre workout alternative

There are definitely some good alternatives out there that are cheaper and, in some cases, even less dangerous.

Coffee:

If it’s borrowed energy, you look for, what about just coffee. A strong espresso will do the trick here too. In most pre workout supplements the caffeine is the ingredient that will benefit you most anyway. Just having a cup of coffee half an hour before training will give you those same benefits.

Good thing about coffee is that it’s actually very healthy, when consumed moderately of course. A nice cup of black coffee is full of antioxidants.

Another nice benefit is, is that you know what is in there. I’m assuming you’re not going to Starbucks for a triple vanilla latte here. A cup of black coffee doesn’t come with a lot of filler ingredients like sweeteners etc. It just has some caffeine, antioxidants, and water. No extra calories.

Dosing your caffeine with coffee is also easier. Not everyone takes caffeine like a champ. Especially not in the beginning. Where your average pre workout comes with 200mg per scoop, coffee has about 85mg. You could also start with half a scoop of pre workout. But then you’re underdosing all the other ingredients to a point where you might as well could have gone with just coffee. If you feel one cup of coffee is not enough, you just take two. With pre workout you have the problem that if one scoop is not enough you don’t just take extra caffeine when doubling up. It comes with lots of other stuff too.

If you are thinking, ‘but what about my pump?’. Coffee has got you covered here too. Caffeine is already a vasodilator. Taking 1-2 cups of coffee before training will increase blood flow as well. No need to take a pre workout with specific ingredients like arginine or citrulline to increase blood flow to have a bigger pump in the gym or extend fatigue. Caffeine is already doing this for you. You’re cup of coffee simply is enough.

If you are looking for something to increase the blood flow and you don’t want to take a stimulant it would be interesting to look at things like arginine and citrulline.

On the major downsides of caffeine is of course, it can keep you up at night. In the end it is a stimulant and one of the side effects when you take this before an evening training is that sleeping might be a problem. Personally, I can’t take coffee or pre workout too late otherwise I don’t sleep. If you don’t sleep, you don’t recover properly and if you don’t recover well the last thing you should be doing is enhancing your next training with more stimulants.

Conclusion

Always be careful when buying, study the ingredients and make sure you don’t buy a product with lots of dangerous ingredients. Ask yourself if you really need it, do you want to exhaust your body to the maximum during training already, or is it better to save it for competition.

As a bodybuilder or powerlifter, I think you can benefit from taking pre workout supplements. When you’re practicing another sport, especially if it’s cardio heavy. Don’t touch it. It will just get your heart rate up faster than usual which will make you gas out faster.

Pre workout supplements are completely legal but when you’re competing it’s always good to double check what you put into your body. Especially with supplement companies that are operating in a grey area. You are responsible for what you take, and everything comes with a risk.

The most important ingredient in most pre workout supplements is the caffeine. This you will feel immediately and will benefit you the most. Makes you wonder if you need all the other ingredients. In my opinion a cup of coffee does the trick too. Be careful with taking caffeine too late though. With a half-life of about 5 hours, it can keep you up at night when taken too late. Not sleeping will mess up your recovery. If your recovery isn’t optimal, the last thing you want to do is enhance your training.

Last thing, always take your pre workout with water. You see people nowadays taking their pre workout dry. First of all, this is just disgusting. Second, it can be dangerous. Some of the ingredients can make you dehydrate and raise blood pressure. You don’t want to go all out under those circumstances, and you wouldn’t be the first to end up in the hospital like that. If you want to know how to dry scoop pre workout? Just don’t.

When bodybuilding and powerlifting I took pre workout all the time. I tried it with doing BJJ and didn’t like it. I know now that coffee is a good alternative so for me that’s enough. That doesn’t mean you can not benefit from pre workout supplements yourself and for sure it is fun taking one or two scoops, putting on your headphones, zoning out and being completely focused on training.

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