A pre-workout supplement is probably the most common thing people buy after protein powder. The problem with them is they’re really expensive compared to what you can make on your own. Most of the time the ingredients are pretty similar in all of them. Sometimes you’ll even run into proprietary blends where they do not tell you what’s exactly in them. It’s best just to stay completely away from these. Not always, but most of the time that means you’re not getting an effective dose of said ingredients.
In my opinion, it’s far better to make your own. This way you know exactly what you’re getting. You can customize it to which things work for you and which ones don’t. Another issue is most have high doses of caffeine which I don’t always want. I’m not against caffeine, but if I just had a cup of coffee, I wouldn’t want extra caffeine in the pre-workout 15 minutes later. Personally, I’m not doing high doses of caffeine. If you want to, I would suggest getting the pills. That way you can accurately dose.
The only downside to making your own is it’s not quite as convenient, and you probably don’t have access to all the wild flavors that they do. I’ll take the cost savings over the flavors. Also, I found these disposable containers at Walmart which make it easy to mix up an entire week’s worth at once. A lot of people talk about meal prep, but prepping your supplements for the week is a thing too.
OK, so now you want to know what’s in it
Creatine 5g
The first is obviously creatine. This is one of the most studied supplements that there is. It has tremendous benefits with virtually zero downsides. Stick with the cheap monohydrate version. All the fancy ones are no better and usually a lot more money.
L-Citrulline 3g
The L-citrulline I use has malic acid mixed in to increase absorption and bioavailability. I used to take Arginine to boost nitric oxide production. This works better with less gastric stress.
Betaine Anhydrous 1.5g
Betaine is one of the chemicals in beets. It causes reduced homocysteine levels and may increase exercise performance.
Beta-Alanine 1.5g
I’m only taking a half dose of this. If you get that face-stinging effect from pre-workouts, this or niacin is the ingredient causing it. They like putting it in because if you feel it working you will be more likely to buy their product again. I don’t particularly like that sensation, so I take a half-dose. Supposedly you will build up a tolerance to it. This one is not as helpful for lifting as it is a longer-duration exercise
5-HTP 300mg
Increases serotonin. This may get switched to sleep stack, but I’m not taking any powders at that time right now.
Conclusion
You don’t really need any of this. Or you could just go with creatine. It is the biggest bang-for-your-buck supplement on this list. Generally what this does is give you better blood flow. And you get a slight but noticeable performance gain. Maybe another 1-3 reps. Another benefit not talked about much is ritual. The L-Citrulline takes an hour to get into your system. Shaking this up and starting to sip it will start getting you mentally in the right place to have a great training session.
That may be the most important benefit of all.
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