What ingredients are in high-quality pre-workouts?

The label on some preliminary workouts looks quite simple. In other cases, this is a list of styles from hard-to-pronounce words and covertly sounding “blends” or “matrices.” In addition, with so many different brands and products, it can be difficult to understand what is doing better than others.

Especially if you're just starting out, it's usually best to keep it simple. Here are four key ingredients to look for and how they help you improve your workout:

1. Caffeine

Many athletes and other athletes consider caffeine to be the best training partner, and for good reason. “The study after the study showed that caffeine can increase alertness, increase focus, improve tolerance to pain caused by exercise, help burn fat and help athletes work more for a long time in the gym and in sports,” writes Robert Wildman, Ph. D., RD, RISSN, in the article “Increase your caffeine workout”.

Caffeine gives you quick energy that you can use for both endurance exercises and for shorter durations, high intensity work, such as lifting or sprinting. It has been shown that it increases maximum strength, strength, endurance and even reduces muscle soreness.[1],

Is sound effective? It is definitely. “In fact, caffeine works so well that until 2004 its use was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency,” says Wildman.

Fortunately, the ban ended, and since then, he notes: "More than 75 percent of elite athletes usually use caffeine during competitions." And the rest of us, too, too 80% of Americans consume caffeine daily!

Some people are sensitive to caffeine, no matter what dose, while others do not seem to pay attention to the physiological consequences of this. Studies have also shown that you can create a caffeine tolerance, although this tolerance will not interfere with the physical effects that increase the effectiveness of caffeine.[2,3]Some people believe that they have created a tolerance for the product they are using, and simply change the pre-workout every few months to see if only the “scenery change” helps.

Keep in mind that for those who are sensitive to caffeine, it is better to avoid or limit caffeine intake after 4 pm. (assuming that you are not a night worker), as this may interfere with the quality of sleep or sleep. For those who are sensitive to caffeine and exercise at night, decaffeinated foods are probably the best option.

2. BCAA or EAAs

Provided that you consume enough calories and proteins, branched chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine help you regulate protein metabolism, which means an increase in protein synthesis and a decrease in protein breakdown. In other words, BCAAs help you build muscle and minimize muscle damage. By taking a preliminary workout, they can also help reduce delayed muscle soreness (DOMS) so that you can quickly return to your workouts, and they reduce mental and physical fatigue during your workout.[4]

The most popular and science-oriented relationship for BCAA is 2: 1: 1 — two parts leucine to one part isoleucine and one part valine. You want more leucine, because research has shown that it is the best amine when stimulating muscle protein synthesis. If the brand you are interested in does not reflect the ratio, find at least 3 grams of leucine per serving.

All the benefits of BCAA can also be obtained by taking the necessary amino acid mixtures or EAA, which are becoming increasingly popular in pre-workout and autonomous amino mixtures. In the end, the BCAAs are part of the EAA. EAA includes three BCAAs, as well as six other amino acids that your body cannot produce on its own. That is why physiological physicist Nick Cocker includes the EAA in his article "The Best 3 Supplements for Getting a Mass."

3. Beta-alanine

Beta-alanine is the main ingredient for pre-training with a unique goal: to help you resist this burning sensation and throw out a few more repetitions, making the most of each set.

When you do high-intensity exercises, acidity can begin to grow in your body, increasing muscle fatigue and reducing performance. Beta-alanine binds to histidine to increase the level of amino acid carnosine, which buffers the hydrogen ions that form these acids, ultimately helping to maintain your intensity for a longer period of time. In other words: more volume; more profit.[5] In the article “Your expert guide on beta-alanine,” add-on specialist Chris Lockwood, Ph.D., CSCS, calls it “Probably the most consistently effective addition to performance to get into the sports nutrition market since creatine” and says: beta-alanine – This is an ingredient that I highly recommend to athletes to keep in their arsenal. "

If you take a large dose of beta-alanine, as in many preliminary workouts, you will most likely experience tingling, often on the neck and face. This is a condition called “paresthesia,” and the first time someone takes a preliminary workout, they often notice it as much as caffeine. Scientists are not sure why some people experience paresthesia after taking beta-alanine, but they are harmless and temporary.

However, the benefits of beta-alanine come with a catch: it must be carried out consistently within 2-3 weeks before the results begin to appear. Fortunately, you do not need to take beta-alanine right before training. If you take it in small doses throughout the day, it will provide the benefits of a workout with less tingling. The International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends a dose of 4-6 grams of beta-alanine per day, divided if necessary.[6]

4. Amplifiers of nitrogen oxides

These are pre-workout ingredients that increase blood flow to the muscles and help you get a serious pump during a high level lift.

Once upon a time, l-arginine was the most popular NO enhancer, but in itself it is quite rare these days. Today, there are many different ingredients that can help in the production of NO, but the most popular is probably the essential amino acid citrulline, either in the form of L-citrulline or citrulline malate.

L-citrulline is a natural form of citrulline found in watermelon. It helps to increase the level of nitric oxide, which can help expand your blood vessels to get more oxygen and nutrients in your muscles. As nutrition consultant Mike Roussell, Ph.D., said in the article “Citrulline Malate: Fatigue Fighter”, he also plays a role in removing ammonia from your blood, which is known to cause exercise fatigue.

Citrulline malate is L-citrulline, to which malic acid or malate is added. In addition to increased blood flow from citrulline, “Malate is also believed to have its own ability to fight fatigue, supporting the body’s own ability to process the lactic acid produced by exercise and use it for energy,” Roussell notes. This one or two combos can mean improved endurance during a workout, i. E. More repetitions before failure, and even less muscle soreness.[7]

Other Ingredients

It seems that every day a new workout comes out with a lot of potential and the dosage of ingredients supported by science. Some of the most popular include:

• L-Tyrosine: To increase energy and fatigue resistance
• L-Theanine: To increase mental alertness and combat “displeasure” that can accompany caffeine
• Huperzine-A: For mental energy
• Yohimbin: To increase energy and mental tension (although note that for some people, using this natural alpha antagonist can cause anxiety).
• Nitrosigine: A unique form of arginine for increased blood flow, reduced muscle damage and greater concentration
• Beet Extract: For endurance and pumps
• betaine: For long-term durability, size and profit from recovery

What about creatine? Many pre-workouts contain it, and there is no shortage to accept it before workout. However, at this time it is not much better than any other. More important than when you take creatine is just that you take it consistently. In the article "5 reasons why your creatine cannot work," Chrissie Kendall, Ph.D., writes: "If you rely on your preliminary training to deliver a daily dose of creatine, you will probably come up with a short one." Instead, she recommends taking 3-5 grams per day of this inexpensive performance enhancer in addition to what is in your pre-workout.

This is not a complete list! If you see something new that you don’t find out during pre-workout, do your research to make sure that this is what you want to accept. And only buy pre-workouts from established companies that participate in third-party testing and don’t make horrendous complaints.