Pre-workout facts

It’s important to properly prepare and fuel your body before beginning physical activity to help sustain energy, combat fatigue and increase the duration and intensity of your workouts. Consuming carbohydrate rich foods before a workout will promote adequate blood glucose levels and energy for your body to function at optimal levels. Adding protein to your pre workout snack can help you feel satisfied for longer. Eating a snack or meal 1-4 hours before performing physical activity will help the body feel satisfied and reduce the risk of cramping or an upset stomach.

Stimulating elements such as caffeine and creatine are found in pre workout formulas and increase perceived alertness and focus. These ingredients may affect users to varying degrees and result in headaches or feeling jittery, similar to consuming coffee. Additionally, they may interfere with sleeping patterns if pre-workout nutrition supplements are taken later in the evening. Lack of water in combination with pre workout supplements may result in dehydration or stomach cramps.

Creatine is a chemical synthesized from the amino acids glycine, methionine and arginine. It has been shown in test trials to be effective in improving strength, endurance and power performance in short durations of anaerobic exercises. In a double blind study, researchers found that adding a daily supplementation of creatine in combination with strength training, amplified both the mynuclei concentrations and satellite cells present in skeletal muscle fibers. This increase allows for amplified muscle fiber growth.

Caffeine is the most commonly found ingredient in pre workout energy drinks. As a stimulant, caffeine helps to act as an ergogenic aid, increasing focus and alertness. It’s been suggested that caffeine’s ability to increase the metabolism by enhancing fat oxidization, may spare glycogen content in the muscles, increasing endurance. And also checking your calorie intake is important. Calories are a measure of energy, normally used to measure the energy content of foods and beverages. You use the calories that you eat and drink for essential functions such as breathing and thinking, as well as day-to-day activities such as walking, talking and eating.

Any excessive calories you eat will be stored as fat, and consistently eating more than you burn will cause weight gain over time. It’s quite common to hear that calories don’t matter and calorie counting is a waste of time. However, when it comes to your weight, calories do count. This simple fact means that counting calories and limiting your intake can be effective to prevent weight gain or lose weight, as long as you manage to stick to it.

Pre-workout nutrition products targeted for women can often be recognized by their pink or feminine labelling. Although such products claim to be more effective for woman’s needs, these claims are purely marketing and are not currently backed by scientific research. Pre-workout nutrition supplements can work effectively for both males and females, including all of the previously mentioned products. A proprietary blend is a number of ingredients listed together under a single label. The weight of the entire blend is given but not the amounts of the individual ingredients.