Pre workout nutrition are pretty popular, and you can find them from pretty much any company that also sells protein powders .They typically come in powdered form, are meant to be mixed with water, and taste like a flavored sports drink which makes sense because they’re loaded with artificial sweeteners, coloring agents, and other ingredients.
What to avoid
If you're going to stray from this list, there are a few things you should keep in mind. Be sure to avoid fatty foods before working out fat leaves the stomach very slowly, which means you’ll feel full and sluggish and could cramp up easily. Although carbohydrates are good, you should not get them from raw sugar or candy. Either of those foods will cause a sugar rush and probably a crash while you’re mid-workout. Also, don’t overeat before you workout. These are all snack suggestions, not meals. Eating too much can cause indigestion, sluggishness, nausea and vomiting.
Caffeine is commonly used by athletes, especially those in endurance sports, to improve their exercise performance. It helps you focus more and feel less fatigue exactly the claims the supplement labels make! So, in reality, when you feel like you’re ready to take on the entire weight room, you can thank the caffeine for that, not the supplement.
While some of the research shows promising lifting benefits with high doses of caffeine. The caffeine dose is typically tailored to the individual—about 6 to 9 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of bodyweight. That’s 409-612 milligrams for a 150-pound person. Unfortunately, these supplements too often provide an enormous hit of caffeine, without letting you dose an appropriate amount for yourself. Plus, you get a bunch of other fluff. If you’re looking for that extra performance edge from caffeine, you’re better off getting it from other sources, like coffee or caffeine pills, where you can control the dosage yourself.
Nitrate
Nitrates are found in green leafy and tuber vegetables, such as in spinach and beet roots, and in the stuff that’s used to cure ham. You typically supplement with beet juice and eating leafy greens, and in pre-workout supplements, the ingredient is beet extract. When you take in nitrates, they get broken down in the body into nitrite and converted into nitric oxide during hard activity where you have a hard time getting enough oxygen.
The more nitrates, the more available nitric oxide there is. This aids exercise since nitric oxide widens blood vessels, increasing blood flow, and seems to help you work harder, longer. Another reason pre workout nutrition supplement love to emphasize nitric oxide is that you tend to feel like your muscles are bigger than they really are (known as “the pump” in fitness circles) from the increased blood flow.
Regardless of the pre workout nutrition supplement you choose, it’s important to remember that they’ll do little for you unless you already have a solid foundation of good health habits in place. Sleep, a nutritious diet and safe exercise habits are the most important ingredients for workout success.
