Is It Beneficial To Take Pre-workout Supplements?

You have probably heard about those pre-workout supplements that you just have to buy. According to ads, they will allow you to give your 100% during workouts. Are pre-workout supplements really worth it? Let’s find out!

The substances in pre-workout supplements

If you think that you could benefit from taking supplements, then don’t let the smart marketing fool you! Although pre-workout supplements often have names like “Ultra Power”, or “Meatgrinder”, the name and the packaging don’t matter one tiny bit.

Instead, you should focus on the ingredients. If you have doubts about a particular brand, you could check thesupplementreviews.org before making a purchase. There are several ingredients that you are most likely to find in most of the pre-workout supplements:

Creatine

Creatine is one of the common ingredients in all kinds of products that are meant to boost your performance. Your body produces creatine on its own, but you can increase its amount by taking supplements. Although the studies have shown that creatine has a lot of benefits, if you want to improve your workouts, you should be most interested in three:

• It speeds muscle growth
• Improves your endurance
• Improves your peak performance

If you take creatine or supplements that contain creatine as one of the ingredients, you should drink a lot of water. That’s because your muscles will hold more water, which means that you could get dehydrated more quickly if you don’t drink enough water.

Caffeine

Another ingredient that can be often found in a majority of pre-workout supplements is caffeine. That’s no surprise – the studies have shown that it improves your alertness and boosts your physical performance.

Although it undoubtedly has positive effects on your brain and body, you should consider whether you really need supplements containing caffeine. There is a simpler and a much cheaper way to consume caffeine – just drink coffee!

You would need to consume a lot of caffeine to overdose on it, but it doesn’t mean that your body is immune to the side effects. Most people drink several cups of coffee every day. If you add to that the caffeine from pre-workout supplements, you will discover that the amount exceeds the recommended intake. People react differently to too much caffeine.

For some, their high caffeine intake might not bring any unwanted effects, though others may have increased blood pressure, anxiety, or issues with falling asleep at night. It is often the case that people who can’t get enough sleep at night try to remedy this problem by drinking too much coffee throughout the day. When they finally go to bed, their body is still affected by caffeine, which means that they won’t fall asleep easily, and the vicious cycle continues.

Vitamins

Other ingredients that are often found in products that are meant to boost your athletic performance are vitamins. You might think that well, at least those shouldn’t cause any side effects, and if you don’t take many times the recommended dose, then you should be fine. It doesn’t mean, though, that there isn’t a better way to provide your body with vitamins – just eat some fruits and vegetables!

Sure, it might be much harder during winter, but it doesn’t take that much to cover the daily recommended intake of the vitamins. If you are willing to pay the higher price, then it is undoubtedly more convenient to consume all the vitamins at once, but if you have time for that, then fruits are superior. This way, you would also save some money.

Is it worth it?

Even though most of the supplements that you will come across will have a beneficial effect on your body, you should be at least somewhat suspicious. If there are any men with big muscles on the packaging, then it doesn’t necessarily mean that your muscles will become just as big the moment you start taking this particular pre-workout supplement. You should focus on the ingredients. If you think that you are not getting enough vitamins in your diet, then such products could help you achieve top performance.

Other ingredients, such as creatine, are harder to get from food, though it is not impossible either. It must be noted, though, that when it comes to various ingredients in pre-workout supplements, creatine is one of the most effective ones. If you decide to start taking it, you should remember to drink much more water than you normally would.

Then there is caffeine, which works well to boost the physical performance, though it should be avoided in huge quantities. Why? Most likely, you are already consuming a lot of caffeine, which means that it would be pointless to supplement with caffeine. If you drink coffee only occasionally, then you might be better off just doing it more often, rather than buying supplements that contain caffeine.