Pre-workout supplements are designed to help increase your performance by boosting energy, power, and stamina. They’re generally taken about half an hour before your workout, and the benefits include improved muscle strength, cognition, lean gains, and endurance. To better select the optimal shake for before your workout, consider what your goals are.
Taking a pre-workout consistently can help maximise its impact on your performance. They can help you feel more confident in taking the next step in your training sessions and provide the boost you need to reach your peak performance level and continue to advance your physical abilities.
There are supplements made to set you up with the energy to hit a great workout and aid your recovery, as well as a tonne of other benefits. If you don’t know about pre-workout, it’s time to get to know your new secret weapon. This article will delve into what this supplement does, how it works, it’s benefits and when exactly you should be taking it.
If you’re looking to increase your performance during your workouts and see greater changes to your body over time, using pre-workout supplements could help to give you the extra boost you need.
What is Pre-Workout?
A pre-workout is a way to boost your energy and optimise performance during your workout.
It typically comes as a powdered supplement that you mix with water. They generally contain combinations of ingredients, making them an easy alternative to taking several different supplements before hitting the gym. There are a few different formulations of this energy boosting supplement out there.
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What does Pre-Workout do?
Although each brand chooses their own ingredients, pre-workout shakes are often made up of caffeine, vitamins, creatine, and other various ingredients to enhance energy and strength.
The benefit is an increase in performance during anaerobic exercise (like weightlifting) or endurance exercise (like cardio) by giving an energy boost and delaying fatigue. Even though the ingredients in different shakes might vary, they all aim to maximise the results of your workout.
How do Pre-Workouts work?
Pre-workouts work by providing you with different nutrients that will improve your exercise performance. This can be through ingredients such as caffeine which can improve your time to fatigue during a workout.
Other ingredients such as beta alanine and vitamins can also be added to improve your performance by helping you to feel energised and well-fuelled your workout.For this reason, a pre-workout is usually taken before a workout to boost your performance and give you a hit of energy.
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What are the benefits of pre-workout?
If you’re new to working out and need an energy boost, or have been training for a while and feel like your progress has plateaued, then this shake might be beneficial for you. The benefits of pre-workouts are related to increasing energy, performance and strength.
Studies have shown short term increases in lean body mass and lower body strength when taking a pre-workout supplement consistently. Often, the combination of ingredients provides greater performance benefits than taking one supplement on its own.
Caffeine:
Caffeine is one of the most common ingredients found in pre-workout shakes, which has been shown to provide benefits such as improvements in muscle power and endurance, without increasing how hard the activity feels (the rate of perceived exertion). In other words, you’re able to accomplish more in your workout without feeling like you’re pushing yourself harder.
It works by dilating (widening) your blood vessels, which increases blood flow to your muscles. Caffeine can also help to improve brain power (cognition) in the short term, making it easier to focus on the muscles that you’re working.
Other supplements found in pre-workouts:
Vitamin B:
Another category of the common ingredients found in pre-workouts are B vitamins like niacin and vitamin B12. These vitamins play key roles in metabolism and energy. They may also contain creatine, a common ergogenic (building) aid, which increases performance in short-duration, high-intensity exercise, and also helps when taken consistently.
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Beta Alanine and L-Citrulline
Some pre-workout formulas may also contain beta alanine and L-citrulline, which have both been shown to improve energy in endurance-related exercise. You’ll find all of these key ingredients in THE Pre-Workout, benefiting both short-duration (strength training) and longer-duration (cardio based) activities.
BCAA:
Branched chain amino acids, or BCAAs, are often taken before a workout and are often part of your all-in-one pre-workout supplement. They’re usually included as either a single ingredient or as individual amino acids.
As building blocks of muscle tissue, amino acids may help to prevent muscle damage and muscle breakdown, as well as improve muscle rebuilding. They might also help prevent fatigue which impacts performance.
Carbs:
Some pre-workout mixes contain carbohydrates (sugar) to top off your available energy stores, while others are sugar and calorie-free. You might decide whether or not you need carbs based on whether you’ve eaten a meal recently or the type of workout you’re planning.
If you’re planning an endurance cardio workout (like running or cycling), the extra carbs can be useful, but if you’re planning on just lifting (anaerobic activity), you probably don’t need the sugar.
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Creatine:
During explosive exercise, the body uses creatine to make energy. To perform at a high level, your muscles need a good supply of energy so that you can perform harder for longer periods of time.
Being able to take your workout one step further every time can have a compounding effect, meaning reaching your aesthetic and strength goals sooner. These changes have the potential to improve your performance and keep making progress toward your fitness goals.
L-Glutamine:
This is an amino acid, one of the molecules that make up protein. Naturally found in food sources, they can help to repair new muscle. When you work out, your muscles suffer from tiny tears, that when repaired make them stronger. Make sure your stores are topped up ready for a tough workout.
Vasodilators:
When you’re working out, your body is working hard to pump enough oxygen to your muscles to make energy. Vasodilators cause the blood vessels to widen, which means an increased blood flow to the muscles, providing them with more of the nutrients they need to keep you moving.
The longer it takes for you to tire, the harder you can push your workout and the greater changes you can make. Overall, pre-workouts allow you to repeatedly increase your power, strength, and stamina over time. This can lead to more significant changes in lean body mass, loss of fat mass, and a faster metabolism.
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When to take pre-workout:
Because caffeine is a staple ingredient and it takes effect in about 30 minutes, the ideal time for you to take your pre-workout supplement is 30-60 minutes before your workout. Caffeine has a half-life of between 3 and 7 hours, meaning after this time, half the caffeine can still be in your system.
This can vary between individuals with some feeling the effects for longer than others. Therefore, caution should be taken when consuming a shake like this in the hours before you go to bed, especially for those who are more sensitive to caffeine.
Having your shake 30-60 minutes before your session gives enough time for the supplement to get into your bloodstream and give you the benefits you’re looking for. THE Pre-Workout is designed to be taken dissolved in water 30 minutes before your workout, which also helps you to stay hydrated.
Although caffeine impacts you immediately, some ingredients like creatine and beta-alanine need time to build up in your body and are most effective when taken consistently to maintain muscle stores. For this reason, regularly supplementing with a pre-workout product will help maximise the benefits and impact of its ingredients.
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Pre-workout side effects:
Potential side effects depend on the ingredients in your specific supplement. Typically, caffeine and other energy-boosting compounds could increase your heart rate and blood pressure temporarily, but there’s been no evidence of widespread negative effects.
Too much caffeine can result in side effects like nausea, heart palpitations, and headaches in those who are sensitive to caffeine, so be mindful of the timing of your pre-workout if you’ve recently consumed coffee and tea as well. It’s always a good idea to discuss supplements with your GP before beginning a new routine so they can advise properly and monitor the impact they have on you.
If you do have your shake in the evening hours, close to when you’ll be heading to bed, it can interfere with your sleep quality, which may affect your recovery. In order to give your evening workouts a boost, a caffeine-free pre-workout is a much better option for any night owls.
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