Everyone wants to see results when they’ve been working out for a while. But when it starts to get a little dull in the gym, many choose to take pre-workout as a way to give themselves a little bit of an edge. If you’ve taken it before, you know what it does to your body. It gives you a tingly feeling depending on how much you take – the more, the worse – and bumps up your heart rate and blood flow. All of these physical effects may seem great when you’re in the gym, giving it your all, but what is actually happening to your body? What are you really getting from that supplement?
Pre-workout has many ingredients, all contributing to the bumped-up, energetic feeling that you get. Common ingredients are guarana, caffeine, creatine, beta-alanine, and branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). The primary focus of these is to supply the users with energy, stimulating an increased blood flow, heart rate, and a mental effect somewhat resembling a placebo. Another focus is explosive strength coming from the creatine – controversial because of the potency of some products and what they expose the user to, essentially filling their muscles with water in an effort to build strength for lower rep workouts. Beta-alanine gives the user increased endurance (this is where the itchiness/tingly feeling comes from). And lastly, BCAAs give the user the protein synthesis and breakdown that they need to build muscle.
The primary danger in pre-workout is the same as any other drug – not knowing how much is a good amount. Pre-workout is meant to stimulate your body and mind, giving you the feeling that you can and should get up and go do anything that you put your mind to. The direct physical effects on the body aren’t as diminishing as they are on the mind. It’s very easy to develop a dependency to a product like this,
making it difficult to workout without taking pre-workout. It destroys motivation and induces mental fatigue. On top of that, the company that makes the pre-workout is very important. If they don’t have an extensive history, it’s very possible that they’re experimenting with a new ingredient – something that could be detrimental to your health, but hasn’t had time to go through proper testing.
The main thing to take from this article is to be careful with anything that you put into your body. Research the products, the company, the ingredients, and make sure that you’re only exposing yourself to things that won’t damage you mentally or physically, no matter how great the immediate results may be.