Pre-Workout Drinks

Do pre-workout drinks really make that big of a difference? Is there really any benefit to taking a concoction of ingredients prior to your workout, in order to make yourself more productive? Well, the answer is yes and no.

While many pre-workout supplements focus on nitric oxide production, that is only one aspect of improving your training. An increase in the amount of nitric oxide in the body will produce much better pumps and dilate blood vessels, but that may not be enough. The increase in nitric oxide allows more nutrients to travel to the muscles, so it’s important to take advantage of that benefit. While the pump may look and feel impressive, we need to optimize it in order to build lean muscle mass.

Using pre-workout supplements that also contain additional nutrients like branch chain amino acids (BCAAs) help to actually build muscle mass, instead of just producing a greater pump for a period of time. The addition of creatine and beta-alanine in these pre-workout drinks also produces a greater anabolic response, giving the muscles the ability to train longer and harder, which is what is needed in order to stimulate new growth.

So what about those pre-workout drinks that get you amped up from stimulants? This is a good benefit, provided that you don’t get so hyped up that you can’t sit still or it becomes a danger to your health. Stimulants act on the Central Nervous System (CNS), and these side effects need to be handled with caution by anyone who has a history of health problems. Too much of a stimulant effect can also be negative for anyone who is an endurance athlete, as the crash from them can cause performance and endurance to suffer.

While I am fan of the pre-workout drink, there are guidelines to follow. Endurance athletes should be reluctant to use heavy stimulants, as should anyone who may be inclined to experience negative health effects. A single ingredient pre-workout drink does not offer the most benefits, so in order to make the most out of your pre-workout supplement, a variety of ingredients which effect several avenues of your training seems the most beneficial path to head down.