Pre-workouts are mostly full of nonsense. Here's amazon links to raw, much-cheaper forms of the chemicals that have good scientific evidence supporting them.

Pre-workouts are mostly full of nonsense. Here's amazon links to raw, much-cheaper forms of the chemicals that have good scientific evidence supporting them.I've been attempting to decide on a pre-workout to take and this led to a relative protracted research session on how many of the ingredients in this stuff actually do anything. The short answer is I believe I've found the top four things that have good scientific backing for increasing your performance. Creatine: There are quite a few studies showing positive effects for supplementing creatine for resistance training. Most pre-workouts underdose by quite a bit though. Please note that a "loading dose" is going to be recommended by most creatine brands, but I don't have any evidence that's going to make much of a difference. Creatine on Amazon: 120 doses for $13.50 Beta-Alanine: Good evidence exists showing a supplement of beta-alanine will help improve muscle endurance for either resistance training or running. The down side is that it isn't going to do much for a quick 30-minute workout, results tend to be best over serious distances or longer workouts. It can be taken in small doses over the day of about 1g 4-5 times, or one big dose. However, be warned that one big dose may result in some relatively strong (though harmless) tingling. Beta-Alanine on Amazon 50 doses for $16 or 200 for $33 Citrulline: Scientific evidence for reducing muscle fatigue and muscle soreness, increasing Nitric Oxide levels and sometimes correcting erectile disfuntion (bonus?). There seems to be argument about how to correctly dose this, either a bit at a time over the day or one big dose before a workout. I would suggest doing some reading and possibly testing the results for yourself. Citrulline on Amazon Caffeine: Relatively self explanatory for everyone I think. Quick note that many pre-workouts have, what I would consider, an immense amount of caffeine. You can supplement caffeine in a numerous different ways, but I'd recommend not going overboard and taking breaks for several days at a time if you're building a tolerance. Caffeine is habit forming and people do get withdrawal symptoms. Those are my four, if there are dissenting opinions or I left something out I'd love to learn more. As a note, I've left out Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs). I'm assuming you have a healthy diet if you're doing this and I haven't found good evidence that a healthy person with a healthy diet needs BCAAs (similar to multi-vitamins). submitted by /u/click_the_link [link] [comments]

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