The Ugly Truth About Most Pre-Workout Supplements

Written by James C., M.S.(C), PT

| Published on

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Pre-Workout supplements have become increasingly popular in the last decade and are now used by lifters, athletes, bodybuilders, and even runners worldwide.

Most pre-workout supplements are designed to increase energy levels and muscle pumps and boost performance, focus, and stamina.

Even though many great pre-workout supplements on the market have proven ingredients, there are more supplements out there made with cheap formulas and simply not that effective.

I’ve seen on the market that many of these poorly formulated pre-workouts have gained a lot of popularity, and some of them are even best-sellers on many supplement websites.

This post will discuss pre-workout supplements and how you can determine if a product is really good or poorly formulated.

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This is the ugly truth about most pre-workout supplements that supplement companies don’t want people to know about.

How Can You Tell If A Pre-Workout is good or not?

Most pre-workouts have a high caffeine dosage, so even though the other ingredients listed in the formula are low, it will still work because of the high caffeine dosage.

You will feel a kick from a high caffeine dosage, but is that all you are after when you buy a pre-workout supplement?

High caffeine dosage can help raise energy levels, alertness, focus, and much more.

However, if you buy a pre-workout, aren’t you looking for something more than just caffeine? Because you could buy an energy drink or make yourself a cup of coffee to get a decent amount of caffeine, right?

So many of these companies put a high caffeine dose in their formula, and caffeine is a cheap ingredient.

On top of that, they put a “proprietary blend,” so you can’t see how much of each ingredient is in the formula.

Usually, these pre-workouts have a small scope of around 5-8 grams per dosage, and by looking at the ingredients, you can determine if the pre-workout is under-dosed.

Many pre-workouts contain Citrulline malate; the recommended effective dose for that ingredient alone is around 6-8 grams.

Let’s say your pre-workout formula has citrulline malate and other ingredients, but the scoop is only 5 grams; you can see that you aren’t getting the best effective dose for citrulline malate.

According to some studies, beta-alanine is also a popular ingredient, and the effective dose is 3.2-6 grams daily.

So if your pre-workout only contains Citrulline malate, beta-alanine, and caffeine, to get suitable dosages from all of these ingredients, the dosage would need close to 10 grams to get the proper dosage of each ingredient.

Most market pre-workouts contain more than just three ingredients; many pre-workouts contain around 5-10 ingredients.

The dosage in many of these pre-workouts is less than 10 grams; it may even be around 5 grams in some cases.

Even though the pre-workout may give you a “kick,” it’s probably because the only ingredient they didn’t underdose was the caffeine.

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I encourage you to look at the ingredients list the next time you purchase a pre-workout supplement.

If the product contains a proprietary blend with a small serving size, chances are that the product is underdosed in many areas.

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Best Pre-workout options on the market right now

Now you should have the tools to determine if a pre-workout is good; here are some suggestions from us on pre-workouts with good ingredients.

These pre-workouts mentioned do not have proprietary blends; they have high doses of key ingredients and are more than just a high caffeine dose.

Because ultimately, you don’t want to buy a pre-workout supplement just because of the caffeine.

You can get caffeine everywhere, so why not get ingredients that help you also with muscle pumping, blood flow, hypertrophy, and focus?

Here are our top 3 pre-workout suggestions:

1 PreFierce

PreFierce has been around for a few years now and what I like about the formula is that no fillers or proprietary blends are involved.

The serving size is 17.5 grams and contains impressive dosages of key ingredients such as Betaine anhydrous, beta-alanine, and citrulline malate.

On top of that, you have a nice 250 mg dose of caffeine paired with L-theanine for smooth energy.

If you look at the formula, you can see no proprietary blend; the dosages are enormous, so you know they are not underdosing any of the ingredients listed.

It’s just a simple formula with some of the best and most popular pre-workout ingredients on the market.

I like this formula more than others that are similar because this pre-workout has such a good taste; it’s not often that companies manage to put in so many ingredients in large doses and make the product taste fantastic.

Go ahead and check them out on their website to see the deals they are offering on this awesome pre-workout—> www.Prefierce.com

2. Blackwolf

Blackwolf is another pre-workout formula that I like, it has similar ingredients to Prefierce, but the downside is that it doesn’t taste as good.

There are no proprietary blends and a good dose of Citrulline malate and beta-alanine; they even have L-tyrosine for extra focus.

Overall it’s a solid product that will work for much more than just energy levels.

This is the formula you should look for in a pre-workout.

The serving size is an excellent 18.5 grams.

There is one thing I don’t like too much about the formula, but that’s just my preference, and someone else would probably disagree.

I wouldn’t say I like the inclusion of creatine because it is only 3 grams per dose, it’s a cheap ingredient, and you would want at least 5 grams if you use creatine.

However, that doesn’t matter much and is just my opinion.

Go ahead and check them out if you want to look at some of their deals: —-> www.Blackwolf.com

3. Bulk

Bulk from Transparent Labs has become a very popular pre-workout (thankfully). It’s nice to see a product that is good reach success.

The formula contains approximately 22 grams, with everything you need in excellent pre-workout supplements.

Bulk contains a good dose of citrulline malate, beta-alanine, and Betaine.

What I disagree with in the formula but doesn’t matter because the dosage is so huge is that I don’t think it’s necessary to throw cheap BCAA in the mix.

However, that doesn’t matter because they aren’t underdosing any ingredients at its expense, and it’s one of the most enormous pre-workout doses you will ever see.

Overall it’s a solid choice that you can’t go wrong with.

Go ahead and check them out on their website for deals: —> www.Transparentlabs.com

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