What are the benefits of taking a pre workout supplement?
Many people who are serious about fitness take both pre- and post-workout supplements. Pre-workout supplements are especially necessary, as they nourish your body when you need it the most and help you to get in a harder and more energetic workout.
What are Pre-Workout Supplements?
Pre-workout supplements are nutritional supplements that serious performers drink before an intense workout in order to power their muscles, increase their energy, make the most of their gains, and speed their recovery.
Many pre-workout supplements have their own proprietary blends, but almost all pre-workout supplements feature a few key ingredients.
Pre-workout supplements usually contain some kind of carbohydrate for giving you energy to last throughout your workout and caffeine or natural energy boosters for that helpful “jump start” to motivate and power you up.
To help build your form, pre-workout supplements also frequently include amino acids, protein, or vitamin compounds that your body can use to stimulate muscle growth and speed healing to get you back in the gym and feeling great.
As someone who pushes themselves, you’ll have to decide which blend is right for your goals. Do you want muscular growth or endurance? Do you need a turbocharged boost or a slow supply of energy? Reading up on pre-workout supplements can let you know what to look for on a label — and in the gym.
Here are some important ways a pre-workout supplement will help you.
Increased Energy
Most of us are fitting in a workout between work and other obligations. Despite your busy life, it is important to give your workout your max effort.
Pre workout supplements have compounds that increase your energy, which can be guarana, green tea, or even good old-fashioned caffeine.
Energy-boosting supplements get a bad rap because we use them too often and in the right situation; however, pre workout is one of the times when they can do a lot of good by increasing your energy and endurance.
Increased Metabolism
The energy-boosting compounds in a pre workout supplement will naturally boost your metabolism as well. This means more fat loss per pound lifted or calorie sweated off. However, many pre workout supplements also include special compounds to increase metabolism.
This may be just the jump start you need to see greater rewards and stay motivated.
Increased Blood Flow
Increased blood flow means increased oxygen and nutrients to your muscles, which always improves your workout. Many pre workout supplements are filled with amino acids, B vitamins, and other compounds that increase the production of nitric oxide.
Nitric oxide improves your cardiovascular function. In addition, it dilates blood vessels slightly to allow better blood flow to muscles and extremities. You may even notice that your muscles are more veiny after taking this supplement, which can make you feel like an Iron Man in the gym.
Feed Your Muscles
The amino acids and B vitamins that are essential to nitric oxide production also are important building blocks of muscle. You cannot build muscle unless you have an excess of these important nutrients in your body. What better time to have some extra aminos and vitamins flowing through your veins than when you are in a workout?
Recovery
Leg day is always going to hurt, but maybe not as much if you take a pre workout supplement. Studies have shown that taking proteins or amino acids pre workout will decrease the amount of muscle breakdown and wear-and-tear.
Those torn up muscles are responsible for a lot of the soreness and pain we associate with a painful workout recovery. Taking a pre workout supplement will allow you to get back in the gym as quickly as possible and see faster results.
Improve Your Confidence
We’re sometimes so busy improving our bodies that we forget the most important partner in our workout: our minds. If you’ve ever said, “Wow, I don’t think I can do this,” you understand negative self-talk can get in the way of your dreams. It’s an old saying that our heads quit before our bodies do.
A pre-workout supplement can help with your confidence by providing you with a natural chemical attitude adjustment. By giving you energy and helping your body heal faster, a pre-workout supplement can help push yourself and feel as if you still have gas in the tank.
That increased energy will help you have a more successful workout, and from there, it gets easier to believe in your ability to work up to your maximum effort and see yourself achieve.
Boost Your Endurance
If you’re going for a hard workout, you need to go the distance, not hit a wall halfway through. Pre-workout supplements containing natural energy boosters like caffeine can help supply your body with the quick energy it needs right away, but you’ll need more.
Pre-workout supplements can also supply your body with the long-term energy it’ll need over a marathon training session, a SISU or Tough Mudder endurance preparation, or any other endeavor where endurance counts.
Many pre-workout supplements come with protein, a vital boost for muscle endurance. Protein keeps the body from essentially cannibalizing its own protein stores (that is, your hard-earned muscle). You worked too hard for those muscles to lose them, right?
Pre-workout supplements that focus on endurance often contain an amino acid called creatine in addition to protein. Creatine helps with cell inflammation and damage, helping the body use oxygen more efficiently, like getting a whole new carb for your body’s engine.
Don’t hit the wall at mile 20; a pre-workout supplement can help you finish strong.
What we think are the best pre workout supplements:
We think these three supplements below are some of the best pre-workout products to take a look at. They’re not very expensive and from our experience get the job done.
Pro Supps Mr. Hyde
$40.39 at amazon.com
Cellucor C4
$39.95 at amazon.com
Betancourt Bullnox Androrush
$32.89 at amazon.com
Final thoughts
Many pre-workout supplements make outlandish claims. However, most actually do offer real benefits. Adding pre and post workout supplementation can make a huge difference in both your outcome and the time it takes to achieve it. Better and faster gains will keep you motivated to continue your fitness journey.
SOURCES:
https://www.bodybuilding.com/
https://www.livestrong.com/
https://examine.com/