Pre-Workout Supplements and My Opinion

I often get asked about what my opinion on pre-workout supplemention is and what products I use or have used to give me energy in the gym during workouts. So today, I'll go ahead and give a "brief" overview about pre-workout supplements and give my opinions on which ones I like, whether or not to use them, and how to use them as well.

Pre-workouts are supplements designed to stimulate your body into becoming more energized and/or focused during workouts. Pre-workouts can work in a variety of ways depending on what is included within the profile of the supplement, including fatty acid oxidation, nervous system stimulation, and / or providing an environment of readily available energy in the body / cell. Some popular pre-workout supplements include C4, Craze, JACK3D, Assault, and many more.

  

Source: nasnutrition.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Popular Ingredients Used in Pre-Workout Supplements:

There are many different active ingredients that make up some of the more popular pre-workouts in today's supplement market. It seems like every day a new active ingredient is being promoted by a new workout supplement promising to give you better results than the last pre-workout supplement. I'm only going to highlight a few of the most popular ingredients here that seem to be popping up in a lot of pre-workout supplements. If you're looking for a really good in-depth analysis of the ingredients used in some of your favorite pre-workout products, I found a really good overview on muscleandfitness.com which you can look at by following the link here.

Caffeine:

There is no doubt that you've heard of caffeine before. It is one of the most well-known stimulants around, and is a friend of coffee drinkers around the world.

Caffeine is a methylxanthine (more specifically, a trimethylxanthine), a class of chemicals that are used for bronchodilation (a widening of the bronchi to aid in increased respiratory function), and act as a diuretic and central nervous system (CNS) and cardiac muscle stimulant. Chemicals in this class also relax smooth muscle. The chemical structure of caffeine can be seen below.

 

Source: theteaspot.com

Caffeine works by inhibiting adenosine, a chemical that, when binded to receptors in the brain and other parts of the body, stimulate fatigue, lethargy, and slows down nerve function. Caffeine blocks adenosine by competing for the receptors and, when binded, releases epinephrine (adrenaline) which increases heart rate, blood flow to muscles, blood pressure, causes the liver to release glucose, and other functions as well.

Caffeine is quickly removed from the brain and so the effects of its supplementation are short-lived (source: about.com chemistry). As with a lot of pre-workouts and stimulants, the body can grow tolerant to caffeine and so the energy you feel from supplementing with caffeine may grow weaker and weaker over time. Furthermore, increased supplementation of caffeine leads to a sensitivy to adenosine that, once someone stops supplementing with caffeine, causes such side-effects as a drop in blood pressure and a resulting headache, among other things.

Beta-Alanine:

Another popular ingredient in pre-workout supplements. Beta-Alanine is an amino acid whose chemical structure has the amino group two atoms away from the carboxylate group (source: wikipedia). Beta-Alanine works by promoting the synthesis of a dipeptide (two amino acids joined together) called carnosine by binding to the amino acid histidine in muscle cells (source: betaalanine.info / muscleandfitness.com). Carnosine is used by the body as a buffer in muscle cells to control the pH (the measure of acidity or bacisity of an aqueous solution) within the cell so that the environment does not become too acidic. Acidity is bad for the muscle cell because at an acidic pH, muscles are not at optimal strength and the muscle contractions aren't as strong as they would be at an opitmal pH range.

 

 Source: chemsythensis.com

As your muscle cell starts to accumulate hydrogen ions (H+), the environment within the cell becomes more and more acidic, and you start to feel the "burn" and fatigue as you reach muscle "failure" during your reps. This phenomenon happens more frequently as more and more hydrogren ions overwhelm the carnosine ions in the cell that would buffer the environment. With beta-alanine supplementation and binding of histidine to form carnosine, more carnosine becomes available to buffer an overload of hydrogen ions and thus allows you to fatigue less quickly.

Beta-alanine pre-workout supplements are popular for the "tingling" sensation you get when supplementing with them. I think it's fun when that sensation hits, but a lot of people are turned-off by the semi-burning, tingly, fire ant sensation they get when beta-alanine supplements start to work.

1-3 Dimethylamylamine / DMAA / methylhexanamine

Not sure if this ingredient has been successfully wiped from all pre-workouts containing it, but I do know that the FDA is trying to remove all products containing it off of the market. Whether or not this substance is now banned, I'll give an overview of it.

DMAA has similar effects of caffeine, with greater effects on stimulation, focus, and fat loss (from appetite suppression) (source: muscleandfitness.com). DMAA is an aliphatic amine, meaning that it is composed of carbon and hydrogen with a nitrogen-containing base (which also makes it an alkaloid), and is also not aromatic (source: wikipedia).

 

Source: sigmaaldrich.com

DMAA is synthetic and was originally developed in a laboratory as a nasal decongestant (source: WebMD). It works by serving as a releasing agent of norepinephrine, a catecholamine (an organic compound with a catechol group and side chain amine) that is responsible for increasing alertness and focus (source: wikipedia). DMAA is often paired with caffeine in pre-workout supplements to give both the energy and focus that many people are after during workout sessions.

DMAA has been linked to the narrowing of blood vessels, which in turn causes elevated blood pressure that can lead to adverse cardiovascular events from shortness of breath to heart attack, which someone may be more susceptible to when performing taxing cardiovascular activities that come with working out. It is for this reason (I believe), that the FDA is removing products containing this substance from the market. (I actually still have a pre-workout in my cabinet that contains this!).   

Creatine:

Is not a pre-workout in my opinion. But it gets grouped here a lot. So I'll talk about it.

Source: structuresearch.merck-chemicals.com

 

To me, a pre-workout is a supplement that provides immediate energy within a short time of its ingestion. In my opinion, you need to ingest creatine well before a workout for it to be fully assimilated into your muscle cells for optimal effect. To read up on how creatine works, please visit my nutrition page where I discuss it here.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How to use Pre-Workout Supplements:

It's very important to cycle pre-workout supplements. As discussed above, a lot of the popular ingredients used in pre-workout supplements are substances your body can grow a tolerance to. In my experience, the best way to use pre-workout supplements is to go a week or two on them, and then taking at least that same amount of time off them (perhaps even one more week off than on). Or, simply only use the pre-workout on days you think will be super strenuous and grueling from a workout perspective, and then do not use them at all on days you don't. Do not exceed the recommended dosage.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Favorite Pre-Workout Supplements:

Creatine - A very well studied supplement that has been proven effective. It increases your muscle size from pulling in fluid, and definitely gives you a noticeable increase in the weight you can push and how many reps you can push the weight for. Take 5-10 grams every day and drink plenty of water while doing so. 

Source: pics2.ds-static.com

Black Coffee - Simple caffeine with none of the ripping off from purchasing some heavily marketed scam pre-workout that does the exact same thing. Simple, cheap, effective. As with all pre-workout supplements, cycle it so that you do not become tolerant to it.

 

Source: zeusbox.com

Sleep - Go ahead, laugh. But sleep is the most underrated and effective pre-workout around. It also costs you absolutely nothing but time. Repairs your muscles for mass, increases your immune function, and keeps your nervous system functioning at optimal levels.....which is where your energy comes from in the first place. Get at LEAST 6-8 hours a night. It's different for everyone. But no joke guys, this is the best pre-workout around. Don't sleep on sleep. It's not a joke.

Source: health.com

 

Sugary Cereal - Yep, you're probably laughing again. But think about it. The stuff is high in carbs and simple sugars that your body can immediately use as energy. Take two cups of your favorite super sugary, super processed cereal in two cups of skim milk and tell me your workouts aren't intense. It may be different for some people, but it definitely works for me. I do believe however, that you should cycle this method too, as I've seen my performance decrease more and more the more and more I tried this method on a daily basis.

Source: reelgirl.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Opinion on Pre-Workout Supplements:

Have I experimented with pre-workout supplements? Of course. Do I think they work and have some efficacy behind them? You bet. But if you were to ask me right now if I think they're required or a necessary part of your workout I would say absolutely not. In fact, I would steer people away from using the cool looking, attractive, intense looking pre-workout supplements that are so well marketed by the supplement industry. You can get the same effect by eating the right foods and getting a good night's rest. Black coffee costs you almost nothing and works just as well, and sleep DOES cost you nothing and works very well. And what most people blame as a lack of energy is really a lack of motivation and willpower to grind in the gym. Conquer that first before you consider using a pre-workout supplement.

With many supplements, and pre-workouts especially, people get turned into consumers before they get turned into bodybuilders....or fitness gurus, or whatever. They get so caught up in what the industry claims is necessary for optimal workouts without focusing on the things that really matter. Don't be that guy / girl who's constantly talking about their new supplement stack. I know it's flashy. I know it makes things fun. But at the end of the day, you gotta focus on the monotony of the grind that is necessary for your goals, and realize that the supplements are not always or are never the answer.

If you think they're necessary though, go nuts. I hope the information I provided above gives you a better understanding of what to look for and how to go about things. Pre-workouts are an effective tool to help you achieve your fitness goals, but are not necessary, and there are many nutritional alternatives that can be used that are just as effective and less costly than the pre-workouts currently on the market.

-Jtrain


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*Have a question about natural bodybuilding / fitness / nutrition / stress? Need some advice? Email me at jtrainfitness@gmail.com and I will answer it on this blog! Be sure to enter your email to receive alerts for when the next blog post has come out, and be sure to tell your friends about this blog! Follow me on twitter @jtrainfitness and tell your friends to do the same!*
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------