It always starts with the dream of becoming healthy, accompanied by emphasized and toned muscles that make one look lean and fit. And so, the journey towards hitting the gym begins. But after some time, maybe two days or longer, you realize that keeping up with your workout performance takes more than just willpower.
This is where workout supplements come into the picture. Besides getting enough sleep, eating the right kinds of food, and keeping yourself hydrated, pre-workout supplements, or simply pre-workout can give you that extra push you need to achieve peak performance. For this reason, it also makes them beneficial for strength and endurance athletes.
Pre-workouts offer a vast range of benefits than what you have previously known. Let’s take a look at some of them:
Table of Contents
Enhances Workout Performance
When exercising, it is part of the reality to feel tired, less energized, and unmotivated. Only rarely will you find someone who turns up to every workout session and still be up to their game 100%. Workout supplements are specially designed to address this. Nowadays, most exercisers take supplements beforehand to help them boost their athletic performance during a workout.
However, with many pre-workout supplements available in the market, it’s hard to know which one is the best that will match your individual needs. If you’re looking for supplements, visit https://barbend.com/best-pre-workout-supplements/ to know more.
Contains Ingredients Effective for Boosting Energy and Adding Muscle Mass
Besides the natural energy boosters, you can get from your diet, pre-workouts also contain a mix of ingredients that will help improve how your body responds to your daily workout routines. It is important to emphasize that though every nutrition brand doesn’t have the same formula, they usually contain a blend of:
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are one of the major nutrients that your body needs in large amounts, and one of their principal functions is to provide you with enough energy to do your daily tasks. To do this, carbs are broken down into glucose before entering the bloodstream, which the body uses to fuel your brain, muscles, and other essential organs.
When you do any intense physical activity, a great deal of blood glucose is used by your body as it is one of its main energy sources. Hence, supplying yourself with enough carbs before a workout increases your energy levels and, therefore, performance.
Caffeine
The most common ingredient in almost every kind of pre-workout supplement is caffeine. This is a natural stimulant found mostly in coffee and tea products. Generally, it stimulates the central nervous system, which helps you stay alert, improves your reaction time, and makes you feel less tired.
On the flip side, caffeine has been on the hot seat for its side effects on sleep and anxiety, but the benefits it gives when exercising is also promising. In fact, a systematic review of 21 already published meta-analyses that examined the effects of caffeine on exercise has found out that caffeine can potentially enhance aerobic and muscle endurance, strength, power, and speed.
When consumed in appropriate amounts, it can help boost your workout performance.
Creatine
Creatine is also another ingredient that pre-workout formulas are composed of. One of its wonders includes enhancing your body build by boosting protein levels, leading to the creation of new muscle fibers. Furthermore, they also increase muscle size through a process known as cell volumization.
This is when the water content is drawn from the blood plasma into the skeletal muscle, which helps gain muscle mass and, likewise, improve its strength and performance. A significant number of studies indicate that creatine also decreases myostatin levels, a protein that inhibits muscle cell growth.
Beta-alanine
Beta-alanine plays an important role in muscle endurance during High-Intensity Interval Trainings (or HIITs). It aids in producing a compound known as carnosine, the one responsible for reducing overall fatigue by acting as a buffer against muscle acidity, which reduces the muscles’ ability to contract, hence causing pain.
Taking sports supplements with beta-alanine allows your muscles to perform for longer periods before the first hint of exhaustion kicks in.
Vasodilators
Vasodilators such as L-arginine, L-citrulline, and betaine are included in some pre-workout supplements. They aid in producing nitric oxide levels of the body, which dilates blood vessels, therefore improving blood flow to working muscles and increases overall cardiovascular performance.
Improves Focus, Stamina, and Motivation
Taking pre-workout supplements 20-30 minutes before your exercise schedule can significantly improve your focus. This can be attributed to the various stimulants included in the ingredients, such as caffeine. Also, it enhances your ability to sustain intense physical activities for long as they can provide you with enough carbohydrates, beta-alanine, and other compounds you need.
An improved focus and stamina can likewise provide a renewed motivation to perform better.
Conclusion
Working your way out towards that muscle gain can be tiring and difficult, but with best tasting pre-workout supplements, you can get the most out of your workout sesh and give you even more advantages than just being energized.
However, it is crucial to keep in mind that it is never good to take these supplements with an empty stomach and dehydrated body. Proper diet, hydration, rest, coupled with workout supplements make the best combination.
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