The best pre-workout supplement. Which pre-workout supplement should you choose?

In real life, it is very rare that we adjust our entire day to fit in training. Usually, only professional athletes can afford to do this. The rest of us fit training into our daily schedule.

Therefore, we usually exercise either in the morning or late afternoon/evening. Both the morning, when we are not yet fully awake, and the evening, when we are already tired after a whole day of work/study, mean that training does not always go as planned...

Sometimes, to combat this, we reach for coffee, but most of us choose a pre-workout supplement, as it usually allows us to combine the possibility of a better workout thanks to stimulation, but also to work out more effectively thanks to other ingredients contained in pre-workout supplements.

1. What is a pre-workout supplement?
2. Is it worth using pre-workout supplements?
3. However, energy for exercise alone is not enough!
4. What should they contain?
5. When should pre-workout supplements be used?
6. The main advantages of using pre-workout supplements
7. Are pre-workout supplements safe?
8. What should I expect from a pre-workout supplement?

What is a pre-workout supplement?

A pre-workout supplement is a multi-ingredient product that works in many ways. It often contains substances that stimulate the nervous system, most commonly thanks to its caffeine, taurine and tyrosine content. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Pre-workout supplements often also contain substances from the no-booster group, which have the ability to stimulate the production of nitric oxide and, among other things, help to achieve the muscle pump effect. Arginine and citrulline are most commonly used here. However, this is still just the tip of the iceberg.

Thanks to pre-workout supplements, we can better nourish the muscles working during training. A large proportion of pre-workout supplements also contain substances that contribute to the onset of anabolic cascades - muscle growth - here, free amino acids such as BCAA are most commonly used, as well as substances that limit the scale of catabolic processes, i.e. muscle tissue breakdown - in this respect, glutamine or the aforementioned BCAA and taurine are often used.

In a nutshell, pre-workout supplements allow for more effective training, both in terms of the energy needed for exercise and the optimisation of the muscle working environment.

Is it worth using pre-workout supplements?

People who regularly use pre-workout supplements will undoubtedly say that they are worth it. And most of those who have not yet used them will confirm this after incorporating them into their supplementation routine. The substances contained in pre-workout supplements allow the body to give 100% of its potential during every workout! And often even more...!

This means that when you lack the strength and desire to train, when your motivation to train drops, a pre-workout supplement will successfully help you ‘find the right path to training’ by increasing your exercise capacity.

However, it should not be used as a remedy for other training, nutritional and recovery mistakes. Success must be based on a complete and correct picture, i.e. training must be appropriately matched to recovery capabilities in a given period, and this must be additionally supported by proper nutrition!

However, energy for exercise alone is not enough!

Remember that pre-workout supplements usually also contain many ergogenic substances (the best known of which are probably creatine and beta-alanine). Thanks to these substances, pre-workout supplements can also have a direct impact on the development of muscle mass and strength, as well as improving muscle endurance.

What should they contain?

Here, the ingenuity of supplement manufacturers is enormous, but so are customer expectations. Most often, pre-workout supplements are based on substances that complement each other's mission, exerting a multidirectional effect that supports the efforts of athletes/exercisers.

As a rule, they contain:

• a complex of stimulating ingredients - e.g. caffeine, guarana, taurine, tyrosine,
• a complex of ingredients that enable greater production of nitric oxide - e.g. citrulline, arginine,
• a complex of ingredients with anabolic and anti-catabolic effects - e.g. BCAA, EAA, taurine, HMB, glutamine,
• a set of ergogenic substances - e.g. creatine, beta-alanine.

However, this is not always the case. Not everyone expects a pre-workout supplement to provide all of the above effects. Therefore, you can find pre-workout supplements that do not contain, for example, a complex of stimulating ingredients or substances that increase nitric oxide production. There is a wide selection to choose from. All this is so that exercisers can tailor their pre-workout supplement to their individual needs and combine it with their current training goals. So, before you buy a pre-workout supplement, think carefully about what you want to use it for.

When should pre-workout supplements be used?

Some people who use pre-workout supplements take them before every workout. There is also a group of people who use them only before the most difficult workouts or when they are most tired.

As the name suggests, a pre-workout supplement is a preparation to be used before strenuous exercise, mainly strength training. It is best to consume it 40-60 minutes before strength training. This ensures that the active substances in the supplement will be present in the bloodstream in sufficient quantities during training and can be optimally utilised by the working muscles, among others.

However, remember that a meal that takes longer to digest should be consumed well in advance of training, e.g. 2 hours before training. Otherwise, undigested food remaining in the stomach may slow down the release of the ingredients of the pre-workout supplement, and you may find that the stimulation comes much later, after the workout.

The main advantages of using pre-workout supplements

Pre-workout supplements can potentially have the following short-term and long-term effects that support an athlete's performance:

• Greater stimulation
• Increased nitric oxide production - the possibility of feeling a greater pump during training
• Better motivation to exercise
• Greater concentration during training
• Anabolic effect
• Anti-catabolic effect
• Better nutrition for working muscles
• Ergogenic effect
• Increase in muscle mass
• Increase in muscle strength
• Delay and reduction of fatigue
• Support for post-workout recovery.

Are pre-workout supplements safe?

All supplements legally sold in Poland, including pre-workout supplements, contain only ingredients approved for consumption. This does not apply to auction sites.

However, it should be noted that some ingredients taken in excess, such as the aforementioned caffeine, can cause health problems, e.g. increased blood pressure in people with this type of problem.

When starting your adventure with pre-workout supplements, it is worth following the golden rule, which says: use the lowest effective dose. This way, you can check your reaction to the individual ingredients of the pre-workout supplement and, at the same time, when you need a stronger effect, e.g. in the case of greater fatigue, you will be able to safely increase the dosage to the values indicated by the manufacturer.

Generally speaking, healthy people who consume pre-workout supplements in the doses recommended by the manufacturer have nothing to fear.

What should I expect from a pre-workout supplement?

The effects of a pre-workout supplement are both immediate and rapid. Here we should mention stimulation, greater motivation during training, better concentration, less fatigue during exercise, greater muscle endurance, and if the supplement contains a complex of ingredients aimed at increasing nitric oxide production, also muscle pump and long-term effects, i.e. muscle growth, better post-workout regeneration and increased strength.