When Depending on Pre-Workout Supplement

When taking supplements during your workout, you can find many of the ingredients in pre-workout supplements the ones that research has shown to improve performance, like caffeine or nitric oxide in real foods, too. Plus, with those real foods, you also get other good nutrients for you.  Dieticians recommend a 'food first' approach for both recreational and extreme athletes who are looking to fuel their workouts. Real foods, rather than powders or supplements, are ideal because they offer the best variety of macro and micronutrients, tend to be easiest to digest, and are more palatable. Also, they recommend that keeping it simple with a snack one to two hours before a workout, making sure endurance athletes get a heavy serving of carbohydrates and weightlifters get a combo of carbs and protein. Watch the fiber and fat, as you'll digest those more slowly, which could lead to digestive discomfort. To make it clear, protein and a fast-digesting sugar to spike insulin should be on your list. Additionally, there are a few other ergogenic supplements you should consider.

Typical needs for using a pre-workout supplement:

Whey Protein Isolate (WPI)

Whey is the protein that's separated from the curd in the production of cheese. The best forms of WPI have limited fat and lactose; production processes like cross-flow microfiltration have helped in its purification. WPI is absorbed quickly and provides a steady stream of amino acids which enter the blood quickly. This has been shown to promote gains in lean mass and strength, reductions in body fat, and increased growth hormone release.

Creatine

From meat sources, creatine has been shown to increase protein synthesis by pushing water into muscle cells. It's also been shown to increase phosphocreatine stores in muscle tissue, which is used to make more energy for longer and more intense workouts. Research also indicates that creatine elevates insulin-like growth factor, an anabolic hormone.

Glutamine

Glutamine is important for protein synthesis and is often depleted during heavy exercise. Research has shown that supplementation increases muscular growth by boosting muscle cell volume and growth hormone release, while also reducing catabolism.

Caffeine

A stimulant that helps mobilize fat cells into the bloodstream, caffeine has been shown to increase muscle strength and intensity when taken pre-workout. Besides boosting metabolism, caffeine has also been shown to reduce post-workout muscle soreness by 50 percent.

Sugar

Fast-digesting carbs like sugar, dextrose, and maltodextrin quickly spike insulin levels, helping drive all the other ingredients in your post-workout shake into glycogen-depleted muscle tissue. Of note, since fructose must be broken down by the liver, it's not as fast as these other sugars.

If you're a recreational exerciser, you probably don't need a pre-workout supplement. Beet juice, whole-food protein sources, and natural caffeine sources like tea or coffee can likely provide the benefits you're looking to achieve when taking a pre-workout supplement but without the risk. A great pre-workout supplement should do all of the above, but it should do so without the addition of unnecessary artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners that are often used to mask the inherently bitter or sour taste of many of the ingredients