Pre workout powder. Ye or nay?

I've never noticed any benefits from a preWO... I'm a big believer in just using my own strength and determination to get through a workout, I don't need another substance to pick me up.

I'd go for coffee/caffeine over anything else.

Do you enjoy feeling jittery and irate?
Could you be at risk of cardiac tachy-arrhythmias?
Are you okay with deranged liver enzymes?

pre-workouts work. period.

Some of them are better than others and some people tolerate them well, some don't. Whether or not you use one is up to you. I would base it on how well you do without them, how well you tolerate caffeine, and if you have any health issues. You might do just as well by eating a well planed meal about 1 hour beforehand, but even then, the pre will give you more energy on top of that, so it is really just a personal decision and how you feel about supplements.

I use them about half the time and I definitely work much harder than when I don't use them. I don't get jittery, tingly, or any of the other symptoms some people report, but caffeine really doesn't affect me much in general.

Most respectable pre-workouts are mainly caffeine and amino acids, and maybe some b vitamins, so the caffeine is the main concern. Some also have some herbals that you might need to be careful with. Then there are the shady ones that have some pretty nasty stuff that can cause you to fail drug tests. Just real the ingredients and do some research.

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Caffeine is the most proven and most effective pre-workout. You can get caffeine from lots of products/sources. After that, all the other vitamins and extracts and proprietary blends and whatever else that can be found in pre-workouts are, at best, iffy.

Pre-workouts are probably one of the best examples of "your mileage may vary" - only way to know if it works is to try it and see. Actually, to try a bunch and see. Not all pre-workouts are created equal.

My tears are my preworkout

AnvilHead wrote: »

GauchoMark wrote: »

pre-workouts work. period.

If the definition of "work" means they jack up my HR and blood pressure, make me jittery and queasy and make my skin itchy, I agree 100%.

A cup of coffee works fine for me if/when I feel like I need something PWO.

Like I said, different people have different tolerances. If you read the directions, most PWO say to test tolerance with 1/4 - 1/2 a dose. It sounds like you just took a full dose without seeing how you would handle it.

But, coffee works too. Caffeine is caffeine. It also raises your HR and BP, you just apparently don't drink enough to get the same response.

if the caffeine gives you the jitters you can take a supplement called, l theanine you will get same energy taking it with the caffeine but no jitters you will have lazer focus, heres a link on l theanine https://examine.com/supplements/theanine/

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I drink a cup of coffee before my workout. Sometimes since I workout right after work if I'm hungry when heading to the gym I will mix protein powder with a couple drops of mio(?) mocha flavor with caffeine just to get me through until dinner time. This probably doesn't have all the benefits of a preworkout but it's cheap and works for me.

For me, I love my preworkout. As someone who gets up early (after late nights juggling a second job and university) and goes to the gym before work, i'm a zombie without it. Placebo or not, my workouts are better quality with it and having it puts me in the right mindframe to get in the gym - just like you associate certain smells with memories, I now associate the taste with going to the gym

I tried a couple preworkouts and didn't notice any difference at all so I stopped buying them. Coffee is all I have now.