Pre-Workout supps.........

No caffeinated crap for me before working out. That includes a 5AM start time before work or 5PM start time after. Fix your sleep..

For a while, it was Tootsie Roll brand caramel apple pops (suckers). Now it's usually dried mangos, prunes, and/or a Godiva chocolate ganache heart. Once in a rare while, a Kind mini. My regular meals/snacks cover the nutritional bases, so I just use some tasty, fairly quick-carb thing before a workout if I'm feeling the need for a small energy boost.

When going to the gym, if I had back-to-back intense workouts (spin then kettlebell, say), I kept those "drinkable" no-added-sugar applesauce packets in my gym bag, because they're quick to eat, tasty, and shelf stable.

Honestly, I think the benefit is probably as much psychological as physical . . . well, maybe not in the back-to-back intense workout case.

If by "workout" you mean strength training, then nothing at all as I don't need or want anything. I've honestly never seen the point of taking stimulants before training. Being a very low responder to caffeine also makes most of them irrelevant to me.

If a more general exercise question, then for bike rides of three hours or more my go to drink before setting off is a load of granola in a milk shake with a scoop of whey protein.

I’m on wokeAF right now and I’m not sure if I like it or not. I get significant crash after about 2 hours. I used ghost pre workout before this and I liked it a little more.

jasondwightpowell wrote: »

BuckedUp Woke AF

Why:
Insane vascularity.
Crazy pump.
Oh and the grape flavor is fantastic.

Only reason I don't like it is it kind of makes my skin crawl for about 20 minutes after I take it.

The crawling skin is beta alanine. Its a common thing.

C4 preworkout and creatine, up at 5am to exercise so the extra kick start to the day helps

psuLemon wrote: »

jasondwightpowell wrote: »

BuckedUp Woke AF

Why:
Insane vascularity.
Crazy pump.
Oh and the grape flavor is fantastic.

Only reason I don't like it is it kind of makes my skin crawl for about 20 minutes after I take it.

The crawling skin is beta alanine. Its a common thing.

Yep. And if there's any trace of niacin (B3 complex) as well.


A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Following for pre-workouts.

I use to use c4, but I know there are so many more out there now.

psuLemon wrote: »

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

No caffeinated crap for me before working out. That includes a 5AM start time before work or 5PM start time after. Fix your sleep..

It's not always easy to fix your sleep. I have a 3 and 5 year old, who aren't the best sleepers, and due to the pandemic, we have to work shifts so i am at work at 5am. And the only time i can train my wife is after our kids get to sleep.

It might be worth you not making generalization based on your current experience. Some of us have a lot more going on.

Actually my experience is through raising 2 kids working a 9-12 hour a day job with 2 hours of commute time. So not based on current experience.

My point is one should be examining their sleep and nutrition honestly before supplementing for any reason.

Might not be worth you making generalizations/assumptions either.

janejellyroll wrote: »

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

psuLemon wrote: »

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

No caffeinated crap for me before working out. That includes a 5AM start time before work or 5PM start time after. Fix your sleep..

It's not always easy to fix your sleep. I have a 3 and 5 year old, who aren't the best sleepers, and due to the pandemic, we have to work shifts so i am at work at 5am. And the only time i can train my wife is after our kids get to sleep.

It might be worth you not making generalization based on your current experience. Some of us have a lot more going on.

Actually my experience is through raising 2 kids working a 9-12 hour a day job with 2 hours of commute time. So not based on current experience.

My point is one should be examining their sleep and nutrition honestly before supplementing for any reason.

Might not be worth you making generalizations/assumptions either.

Sometimes an honest assessment of sleep is going to result in the conclusion that a cup of coffee would be really handy before my workout. People juggle a lot of things in life. If someone is deciding to sometimes use caffeine, it's not a refusal to be honest or a lack of self-assessment.

In an ideal world, everyone would just decide to "fix their sleep" and it would happen as a result. The reality is that different people are going to try different strategies, face different challenges to their sleep, and it's not a one time "fix it and forget it" thing. I might have great sleep patterns most of the year, but still sometimes desire a pre-exercise boost.

At least you get it.


And there are several reasons to pre-workout with a supplement or drink coffee. And while i recognize that it can't replace a quality diet, it can augment a good workout plan. There is strong evidence for recovery with citrulline malate, energy with caffeine, and strength increases with creatine. And this doesn't even get into the placebo conversation which often comes from the "pump". And as much as i would love more sleep, it won't happen.

So since I can't optimize sleep, i personally have researched and use pre-workouts.