Preworkout

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scattermouse
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Preworkout

Post by scattermouse »

Sometimes in the morning or evening I know I really need to get to the gym, and I want to, but I'm feeling way too tired but I can't move the work out to any other time. As I'm trying to diet very strictly at the same time as kicking up training schedule, I'm aware I'm going to feel pretty wrecked at times while body slowly eats its own fat and reveals lovely lovely muscles ... I'm sure they're there somewhere. Alternatively, it's eating them instead.

I've considered a lot of times getting a preworkout to help me with the times I would otherwise miss a workout because of temporary fatigue (I'm not saying I would use it to not sleep enough haha). I sort of already do this with energy drinks, which have helped. The great thing about those is that whether it's mostly placebo or not, I'm able to get the zero calorie energy drinks and feel like I've got enough of a boost to go lift some weights or whatever.

With preworkout, is there a way to get zero calorie/low calorie versions or is the point to boost sugar levels? What are your experiences and what can you tell me about delving into this?
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Boss Man
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Re: Preworkout

Post by Boss Man »

I just drink water. for me Pre-workout supplements are overrated tosh basically. They're a gimmick. At best all you need is something like a Powerade drink as an example and make sure you buy an energy drink that contains dextrose / glucose content only, not ones with stuff like ginseng, B vitamins etc, as those are gimmicky and you nearly always get less primary ingredient in them and added extras you don't really need.

If you get two drinks with the same levels of primary ingredient in them but one has added extras, it's still gimmicky and you'll pay more because of all those extra ingredients which may do something vaguely useful based on the amounts in the drink, but they aren't really necessary.

You want more energy, so you want something that gives you a decent amount of fast acting energy so you can stop fatiguing so soon when you train and frankly anything else in it is extraneous to the purpose and doesn't really need to be there.

Many training related supplements, are designed to play upon peoples desire to be 10% fitter, stronger, faster, better and many of them are just crappy, overpriced, overrated, useless or pointless, based on the products purported effects and their relationship to your goals.

So if you must use an energy drink, make sure it's got lots of primary energy providing ingredient, little to no secondary gimmicky ingredients and avoid those pre-workout things, because to me they're just potentially overpriced, gimmicky things and there's a risk depending on what you use, that you'll be paying mostly for the feeling you get off them, but potentially getting not much in the way of actual performance improving effect.
Swoley1
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Re: Preworkout

Post by Swoley1 »

I don't necessarily think all preworkouts are gimmicky. They aren't "necessary" but they do often give me that boost when I'm not feeling up for a lifting session. There's no doubt that the combination of caffeine, yohimbine and other stimulants get you excited about working out.

As far as sugar levels, there's plenty of zero calorie products on the market. I'm not even sure that there are many high-sugar PWOs...
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Boss Man
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Re: Preworkout

Post by Boss Man »

Caffeine can potentially affect your workouts, by causing blood vessel constriction, which could slow down the oxygen delivery rate to the muscles, brain, heart and lungs, potentially reducing aerobic capacity, VO2 max and potentially increasing lactic acid onset.

Also as ATP which helps muscle contract has oxygen bonds, anything that might reduce ATP formation, wouldn't be helpful with activity of any kind and muscles have myoglobin in them, created using iron, that stores oxygen in the muscle and caffeine blocks iron uptake, which could reduce myoglobin formation and haemoglobin formation also, meaning less red blood cells, erythrocytes, again affecting athletic performance potentially and increasing risk of anemia.

There's also a possibility of increased heart attack risk I would think, as heart stimulants like caffeine acting on someone who is hitting 90%+ Max Heart Rate, which I expect many lifters are, particularly the bigger ones, could cause the increased heart attack risk.

So caffeine should definitely be avoided when you're active, in humble opinion :)
PMMMH
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Re: Preworkout

Post by PMMMH »

I'm a newcomer to this forum so bare with me. I also unfortunately probably already know the answer to question, but I'm throwing a Hail Mary here. I was using a pre-workout supplement (loaded with caffeine) for a while. Specifically because I needed to be out of bed by 5am and working out full force by 5:30. I am not a morning person. The preworkout stuff I was using was AMAZING. It woke me up instantly and workouts were at least 20x better when I took it. And the results I was seeing was incredible in just a few weeks. Unfortunately, it did a number on stomach though. So much so that I needed to actually stop working out altogether for over a month. I feel like I'm back at square one and it's super depressing. So basically, the question is, does anyone have any suggestions on something that I could use that could get me up and awake enough to get a decent workout that won't destroy stomach lining?
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Boss Man
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Re: Preworkout

Post by Boss Man »

Hi PMMMH, good to talk to you.

One of the best things is a strong mentality.

I use nothing but water when I train. Admittedly I don't train early doors, but if I needed to get up early to workout, I'd use water and have had a good breakfast first.

Another alternative would be to use something like powerade or gatorade, or try powdered glucose in water if you could find any.

You could try pyruvate supplement, but in the past I've read that quite a few people don't rate it terribly well as an energy supplement, but you might find differently.

Maltodextrin powder might work for you too.

If you find powdered supplements a bit funny tasting, try using things like ground ginger, ground nutmeg, cinnamon, honey, vanilla essence and mocha powder as a way of perking the taste up.

Also you could try something like crushed oats, as that will help the oats digest more quickly and you should start to get some effect around about 30 minutes after consumption.

The other thing to be aware of if you are not, is that you must always do research in supplements, using independent unbiased sites that tell you about a supplement and / or the ingredients themselves. Don't use sites that sell the product, or contain offer codes or discount links and don't buy supplements based on the recommendation of any friends, family, famous people or even doctors.

Get yourself peace of mind, because 30-90 minutes good self research, could potentially save you from an issue in the short or long-term.

Also don't use caffeinated substances, as caffeine blocks iron uptake and that could affect the levels of oxygen carrying red blood cells and the oxygen storing myoglobin that is in your muscles and ATP that helps muscles contract has oxygen bonds and reduced oxygen can increase lactic acid buildup through the usage of muscle glycogen without enough oxygen present.

Caffeine also constricts blood vessels and that would slow movement of oxygen to the brain, muscles and organs and this could negatively impact on VO2 max potential.
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sveek
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Re: Preworkout

Post by sveek »

I started using pre workouts after coffee quit doing the trick.

They definitely help give that extra push but be careful because some pre-workouts have gotten ridiculous with how much caffeine they add in.

Edit: Couple of decent articles on this site about pre-workouts in general if your doing research.
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Boss Man
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Re: Preworkout

Post by Boss Man »

Pre-workout drinks though are gimmicky and entirely unnecessary and some are loaded with caffeine as you say and often have some fancy shmancy ingredients that many people know nothing about and many never bother to do any research on, but then the same can be said for protein powders with 10+ ingredients.

All people need for a pre-workout drink are things like water, or alternatively glucose / dextrose based drinks. So if it's in a plastic container and has one primary ingredient and maybe 1-2 other ingredients, but not caffeine, then fine, but if it has 4+ ingredients and definitely if it comes in a metal can, then don't waste your money, even on the small canned ones that have two mouthfuls of fluid in and cost as much as a 1 hour car parking ticket and seem good value, as they're pointless and people can become reliant on them, because they might make you feel slightly fresher when you finish training and let you do an extra rep or 2 on your bench for the of your life.

Also as many people have a bit of sugar in their urine, you could argue, not that I'm recommending it, that that might work as a pre-workout and like tap water, pee is a free liquid.
Rippedjym
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Re: Preworkout

Post by Rippedjym »

It depends on what your looking for. I use a non blend pump preworkout with some focus stuff and I can tell the difference . Do you need it ? Only if your more advanced and looking to take things to the next level .
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Boss Man
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Re: Preworkout

Post by Boss Man »

There's still an argument to say you don't even need them to go to the next level, when you could just increases calories maybe take do stuff like like take creatine, or a casein at night and perhaps alter training.

After all guys like Arnie and Ferrigno got pre-steroid big without these drinks so it's proof they're unnecessary.
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