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TESTMONIALS Start Your Transformation
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Are you willing to make a positive change? Join the thousands of individuals on the same fitness journey!

TESTMONIALS Start Your Transformation
English Macedonian

Updated on

November 24, 2022

Best Pre-Workout Supplements

You can immediately level up your performance with the best pre-workout supplements. Learn everything you need to know about pre-workouts and the best products on the market.

Tose Zafirov

Mr. Olympia Representative

Introducing Pre-Workout

You can’t expect to be fully prepared for every workout. Therefore, a top pre-workout supplement may be all you need to end your training slump, especially if you frequently arrive at the gym feeling worn out, lazy, and unmotivated.

Still, finding the ideal pre-workout supplement for your specific needs might be challenging because pre-workout supplements offer the greatest selection of ingredients, doses, dietary impacts, and results.

In this article, we’ll cover all the details about pre-workout supplements, including their benefits and how to choose the proper pre-workout supplement for your body. In addition, we will review the top 10 pre-workout supplements to facilitate your choice.

Key Takeaways:

  • Pre-workouts offer many benefits and are ideal for gym lovers
  • The ingredients of pre-workouts boost your body to perform better in exercise
  • There are different types of pre-workout supplements, so finding the most suitable one for your needs and budget is essential

What Is Pre-Workout?

A pre-workout supplement is a combination of ingredients that improve performance and give the muscles the correct amount of fuel to increase energy levels, avoid early fatigue, and maintain focus during workouts.

The common ingredients of a pre-work supplement include creatine, caffeine, and beta-alanine.

Important

Pre-workouts are ideal if you are feeling exhausted, low on energy, and don’t feel like going to the gym. Doing exercise while feeling like this affects your athletic performance and might cause a risk of injury. The best pre-workout supplements represent easy fixes that will prevent adverse effects.

How Do Pre-Workouts Work?

A decent pre-workout supplement aims to accomplish three goals: energy, focus, and pump.

  • Energy – You’ll need an energy boost when performing an intensive workout in the gym. The majority of people use pre-workout supplements primarily for this reason. Caffeine will be the primary energy source and is frequently combined with other stimulant-based substances.
  • Focus – Pre-workout supplements typically contain nootropic ingredients like Lion’s Mane Mushroom, Huperzine A, and Alpha GPC to help users focus and concentrate more. In this case, ingredients like Tyrosine and L-Theanine are also utilized since they may mitigate caffeine’s unfavorable effects, such as jitters.
  • Pump – You want to ensure enough blood is circulating to the muscles to provide them extra strength and endurance when completing challenging workouts. Pre-workout supplements frequently contain ingredients like Creatine, L-Citrulline, and Beta-Alanine to raise nitric oxide levels and blood flow to the muscles.

Note

Pre-workout supplements provide significantly more energy than a banana, an espresso shot, or a black coffee.

What Are the Benefits of Pre-Workout?

Why do you need to consider consuming a pre-workout before your next exercise session? Here are the main advantages of pre-workouts.

  • Keeps you mentally focused – Paying attention and maintaining mental focus when exercising is critical. Distraction may cause harm and impair performance as a whole. The most effective pre-workout supplements help maintain focus and reduce mental fatigue because they contain ingredients like L-Tyrosine, L-Theanine, and Rhodiola Rosea.
  • Improves your performance – Amino acids and creatine give you increased endurance and stamina, which improves your capacity to work out. Consequently, this steady supply of nutrients can increase the intensity of each training session.
  • Gives you explosive energy – Pre-workouts provide you with an instant energy boost. They enable you to lift more weight and exercise more intensively since they give you more power. Caffeine is essential because it increases your energy and endurance during a workout.
  • Speeds up your recovery – A full rehabilitation is essential to get ready for the upcoming training session. Pre-workout supplements have powerful components like caffeine, creatine, and leucine that reduce muscle pain, enhance muscle size, control insulin levels to replenish glycogen, stimulate muscle growth, and speed up recovery.
  • Prevents muscle cramps – You often lose a lot of electrolytes through sweat during exercise, which can imbalance your body’s fluid and electrolyte levels if it is not restored. Pre-workouts help you stay hydrated while exercising and avoid muscular cramps.

Are There Any Drawbacks of Pre-Workout?

Yes, unfortunately, even the top pre-workout supplements might have drawbacks. While they are minor compared to the advantages you get, it’s still worth mentioning them.

  • It may cause overstimulation – It would be best to skip the pre-workout if it affects your sleep or causes jitters.
  • Can create digestion problems – This can be caused by magnesium, sodium bicarbonate, creatine, and caffeine. Try out a different pre-workout supplement that will fit you more.
  • Overuse can build up a tolerance – Excessive pre-workout consumption can make your body resistant to its benefits. In order to prevent this, it’s generally advisable to keep pre-workout for sessions where it’s “go hard or go home” or to experiment with cycling the supplement occasionally.

How To Choose A Pre-Workout?

The ingredients are the most important factor in choosing a pre-workout supplement because they hugely influence its efficiency. However, it’s not the only one.

Here are the things you should consider in order to choose the most effective pre-workout supplement.

Ingredients & Dosage

Each pre-workout supplement contains different ingredients. Here are the most common ingredients of pre-workouts and how they react with your body so that you know what to look for according to your needs.

  • Caffeine – It contributes to improved mental alertness while minimizing the impression of exhaustion as a central nervous system stimulant. Also, it can boost fat oxidation while sparing muscular glycogen.
  • Creatine monohydrate – It boosts training performance and muscular strength. Due to this, it is usually included in the most popular pre-workout supplements.
  • Taurine – Is a sulfonic acid in various animal foods that helps with fat metabolism while preventing oxidative stress during exercise.
  • B-Vitamins – The production of vitamins B1, B2, B5, and B6 significantly influences your energy and efficiency. For example, vitamin B12 stimulates blood production, while B3 supports healthier skin and DNA repair.
  • Beta-alanine – It is a non-essential amino acid that combines with histidine to generate carnosine. Carnosine works in your muscles as a hydrogen ion buffer to aid in slowing the development of exhaustion and enhance high-intensity workout performance.
  • Citrulline malate and arginine – These amino acids increase nitric oxide synthesis, which gives muscles pump and endurance. The increased vascularity enhances the delivery of oxygen and other nutrients to the muscles, resulting in greater muscular strength and endurance.

Pro Tip

We recommend you focus on pre-workout supplements that add to your current lifestyle and a nutrient-rich diet. Also, be mindful of unwanted added ingredients, such as added sugars.

Many pre-workouts are proprietary mixes, meaning you know the components but not the dosages. Manufacturers must legally arrange the components by weight, so you can typically get a good dose estimate. Unfortunately, that still implies you won’t know what works and doesn’t.

Proprietary blends are so common in the market that you don’t need to exclude a product with one, but it clearly loses points for the absence of transparency. 

Important

Pre-workout supplements need to include research-based doses of the ingredients. For instance, you should opt for at least five grams of citrulline. If you cannot find the precise dose that your supplement needs to include, at least rely on an educated guess.

Third-Party Testing

Some firms will hire a third party, such as Informed Choice, Informed Sport, or NSF, to test their goods (or their facilities) for World Anti-Doping Agency chemicals. You should give an advantage to these firms when choosing your supplement.

Warning

Your pre-workout must be free of prohibited substances if you are an athlete. So, it would be best to review the product carefully and verify it has passed batch testing.

Flavor

Nobody likes to drink anything that tastes unpleasant. Furthermore, everyone has distinct taste preferences. So, others may dislike the flavors you enjoy.

Fortunately, pre-workouts come in a variety of flavors, allowing you to choose the one you feel you’d like most.

Pro Tip

Make sure to choose a supplement you like, and cease to continue one that you don’t, whether due to its taste, texture, or digestion. This way, you’ll be more comfortable and likely to pursue consuming it.

Customer Reviews and Ratings

Read the customer reviews about the specific pre-workout to see if it will suit you. However, trust reliable sources, as supplements are frequently the subject of advertising.

Price and Budget

Last but not least, make sure to check the pre-workout price. The cost of pre-workout supplements varies greatly, as do the dosages and components. So, consider whether it provides good value for money.

Usually, pre-workouts cost between $1 and $2 per serving. And, of course, you can always get a more expensive alternative, just ensure the price is justified.

Note

While one product may be more expensive than another, the formula may be far more effective, thus justifying the cost.

Supplement costs can add up quickly, so it would be best to be mindful of what you get.

Main Considerations Before Buying Pre-Workout

Some people may be a little worried about side effects and unforeseen outcomes when using these types of supplements. Although there is little risk of harm because they are legal, there are still considerations that should be addressed.

Caffeine Is A Drug

Not all caffeine is harmful to your health. Instead, each person’s tolerance for caffeine varies. For some, it may result in anxiety, diarrhea, and possibly even brief blood pressure elevation. Furthermore, caffeine can disrupt the nervous system’s ability to unwind or transition into a parasympathetic state that is beneficial for recovery.

Pro Tip

We recommend you take a week off pre-workouts every few months to avoid developing an abnormal tolerance for caffeine.

Learn The Dosages

As mentioned before, each pre-workout supplement contains different doses of various substances. So, it would be best to keep the dosages in mind when determining whether a specific supplement is effective or ineffective for your requirements.

Understanding your unique tolerance and preferred dosage will help you decide much easier.

When To Take Your Pre-Workout

It’s not necessary to take creatine and beta-alanine straight before working out. No matter what time of day you take them, you will receive their benefits if you take them consistently.

Possible Side-Effect of Beta-Alanine

Beta-alanine might be the most popular non-caffeine pre-workout component, frequently resulting in paresthesia or a “tingling” sensation on the skin. Although some people enjoy the sensation of the ingredient kicking in, the feeling will not be pleasant for all.

The Importance of Carbohydrates

Going on without a lot of carbohydrates can make it difficult to have a terrific workout. For instance, having a breakfast full of protein and carbs can greatly improve your session. Similarly, it’s a huge advantage if your supplement includes carbohydrates.

Consult with A Doctor

Before incorporating any supplement into your regimen, always consult your doctor or physician if you have any pre-existing issues, concerns, or questions.

Conclusion

Pre-workout supplements are important for anyone doing regular exercise. We tested dozens of pre-workouts to come up with this list of the top 10 pre-workout supplements. And practically every athlete may use one of the recommended pre-workouts, whether they love or dislike caffeine, want to speed up their running, or are just looking to get a better pump.

Even though there are many different opinions on what makes a “great” pre-workout, we believe we’ve put together a fantastic guide for selecting the top pre-workout supplements for a wide range of fitness objectives. So, good luck finding your best fit!

Frequently Asked Questions

If you don’t adequately fuel yourself before exercises or intense workouts, you’ll feel less energized and weaker and will fatigue more quickly than usual. Pre-workout supplements solve these issues.

The effects of the pre-workout vary on the contents, but caffeine, beta-alanine, and betaine are associated with increasing energy, greater power generation, and higher endurance. Some components, such as tyrosine and taurine, may even boost focus.

Dry scooping is the practice of putting pre-workout powder straight into your mouth. However, this is very dangerous, so you should avoid it at all costs.

Many pre-workout supplements include hundreds of milligrams of caffeine, and diluting that powder with water gives your body extra time to absorb and metabolize it. Otherwise, you risk absorbing far too much caffeine quickly, which can cause jitters, stomach irritation, an increased pulse rate, and, in severe circumstances, caffeine poisoning.

Most people consume pre-workout 30 minutes to an hour before working out, but simply because it’s called pre-workout doesn’t indicate you have to take it before your workout. For instance, you may postpone it for extended sessions until an hour into the session.

Pre-workouts are fine to use on a daily basis but bear in mind that stimulants, such as caffeine, might cause tolerance.

On the one hand, we advise that you take a 6- to 8-week break from stimulant-containing supplements every few months. This will allow your body time to recover. On the other hand, stimulant-free pre-workouts may be used daily without cycling on and off.

Pre-workout supplements are completely safe to take. However, there are a few crucial considerations to remember while using them:

- Staying hydrated and consuming enough fluids while using a pre-workout supplement is critical.

- Exceeding the prescribed dosage might cause pain and an increased heart rate.

- Females who have a hormonal disorder should pick a pre-workout carefully.

- Ask for advice from a fitness professional to determine the right dosage.

- A caffeine-containing pre-workout drink may interfere with your sleep when ingested late in the evening.

Excessive consumption of a pre-workout supplement may trigger jitteriness, stomach pain, headache, indigestion, or an elevated heart rate.

The majority of pre-workout supplements cost between $1 and $2 per serving. Plenty are more expensive, and the price is typically justified. Still, more than a dollar per serving is usually an expensive territory.

It differs by brand, but the average pre-workout includes 200 to 250 mg of caffeine. That’s approximately the same amount as a cup of black coffee.

Many pre-workouts include 350 to 400 milligrams of caffeine, although others (particularly those intended for women) have less than 150 or even 100 mg.

Caffeine is the primary ingredient in both coffee and pre-workout supplements. It has been proven to improve athletic performance and does not include the additives and extra substances that other pre-workout supplements may include.

Caffeine concentrations peak around 45 minutes after consumption, with effects diminishing subsequently. So yes, you may use coffee as a pre-workout substitute.

It’s ideal to have your pre-workout before you hit the gym, as it may take up to thirty minutes for effect to kick in. If you’re in a rush, taking pre-workout on an empty stomach is beneficial so that it digests rapidly.

Pre-workout supplements are typically regarded as safe to use for healthy people when taken as prescribed. However, some populations, such as pregnant women and teenagers, should avoid them entirely. Always consult your doctor before beginning a new supplement regimen.

If you’re trying out a new pre-workout, start with half the amount to observe how your body reacts, then slowly raise from there. Never exceed the suggested amount, particularly if the product contains stimulants such as caffeine.

You want to get your workout started as soon as possible. Most individuals should take their pre-workout supplement 30 minutes to an hour before their workout. This gives the supplement sufficient time to enter their bloodstream and amp them up before their session.

Caffeine and other stimulants in pre-workout supplements may interfere with your ability to fall or remain asleep. Except you have a strong tolerance for caffeine, pre-workout will most certainly affect your sleep if you consume it near bedtime.

Typically, the performance-enhancing ingredients in pre-workout pills do not include calories and hence will not break your fast.

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are an exception since they contain calories and raise insulin levels sufficiently to break a fast.

While most pre-workout drinks will not appear because they include natural chemicals like creatine and caffeine, it depends on the pre-workout supplement you are taking.

If your results are positive, your pre-workout powder most certainly contains DMAA (Dimethylamylamine), usually added for fat-burning benefits.

In some cases, pre-workout supplements can cause kidney stones regardless of whether you have a pre-existing kidney illness or not. In addition, using a pre-workout supplement while suffering from pre-existing kidney disease can be challenging for your kidneys and may damage your kidney health.

Still, bear in mind this research is not conclusive and doesn’t apply to all.

Most pre-workout mixes contain more than 200 milligrams of caffeine, which can boost energy but also raises the risk of high blood pressure, arrhythmias, and perhaps a heart attack in individuals who have severe coronary disease.

Your pre-workout is expired when you notice mold, changes in how the product mixes, uncommon clumping, or an unpleasant smell.

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