Each month (or thereabout) individuals are faced with a decision that will affect their energy, focus, training, and gains for the next 30 days -- which pre workout should I purchase?
This is no easy decision either, as there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of pre-workouts to choose from, and more offerings are entering the already overcrowded market each week.
So, how are you, the discerning customer, to choose among the litany of pre workout options and ensure you don’t waste your hard-earned bucks on something that isn’t just a glorified tasty caffeine powder?
With a little bit of help, of course!
Ahead, we’ll give you some important tips and pointers to keep in mind for how to find a top pre workout.
Let’s get started!
4 Tips for How to Find a Top Pre Workout
There are four (possibly five) attributes that all pre workouts should address before gaining consideration for purchase. Those traits are:
Now, let us begin our discussion of each of these 4 (or 5) attributes, and see how to find a top pre workout supplement.
#1 Energy
The number one reason people take pre workout supplements is to increase energy. Working out is hard, and many individuals struggle to bring themselves to the gym and give it their all, especially if they’re training first thing in the morning, or late in the afternoon after a full day of work.
Turbochargin the CNS with the use of stimulants like caffeine and/or yohimbine helps clear out the cobwebs, boosts motivation, and increases alertness primarily by blocking adenosine receptors and stimulating dopamine release. This combination of actions in the nervous system helps you feel upbeat, happy, and motivated to crush your workout.
As we said above though, there are four (or five) components to a top pre workout supplement.
Many pre workouts can get the energy part right, so long as they include enough caffeine.
But, a well dosed stim-profile does not a top pre workout make. It is a single (albeit a very important) component of a top pre workout, but it is not the only facet to consider…
#2 Focus
Increasing energy is fantastic. It is, afterall, #1 on this list for a reason.
But, greater energy and motivation is only helpful if it propels you to do something productive. Far too many pre workouts and energy drinks cram consumers full of caffeine, but don’t provide anything to harness that energy and stimulation.
That’s where nootropics come into play.
Nootropics are supplements that improve focus, cognitive function, particularly executive functions, memory, creativity, and/or motivation.
Caffeine can potentiate and enhance the effects of nootropics such that an individual is not only energized mentally and physically, but they are dialed-in and intensely focused on the task at hand.
In the context of pre workout, that “task” on which to focus is training, and training hard.
As we said above, stimulants are great for giving the kick in the pants needed to get off the sofa and get to the gym. Nootropics can amplify and refine the mentally stimulating qualities of stimulants into a productive, determined focus that can help gym goers stay locked and loaded for the duration of their workouts.
#3 Performance
The entire purpose of taking a pre workout supplement is to enhance and augment your performance in the gym and/or on the field of competition.
It stands to reason that one of the pillars of a top pre workout supplement is that it actually contains ingredients shown in research to improve performance.
The ingredient that immediately jumps to mind when discussing well-researched performance-enhancing supplements is creatine.
It is the undisputed king of sports nutrition.
But, creatine doesn’t necessarily have to be taken pre workout. It’s benefits are derived once your muscles are saturated with creatine. What this means is that so long as you’re getting in your 3-5 grams each day, you can take your creatine whenever -- pre workout, post workout, pre-bed, with breakfast, etc.
It offers benefits, but no acute effects.
Fortunately, there are other nutrients identified in the literature that do offer acute effects, including everyone’s favorite pre workout ingredient -- caffeine.
Taurine is also another alluring ingredient to take pre workout as it enhances cellular hydration, which improves fatigue resistance and training endurance.
L-Citrulline is another amino acid that is known to improve training performance, energy production, and fatigue resistance, in part due to its ability to buffer ammonia.
The takeaway here is that you want your pre workout to contain not only stimulants for energy and nootropics for focus, but also nutrients that actually enhance the muscles ability to perform and delay fatigue. This allows you to accomplish greater amounts of work, which leads to more gains!
#4 Pumps
While athletes are always most interested in improving their performance during a given training session, none will if they also get a savage pump in the process of shattering PRs.
Suffice it to say that getting massive pumps is precious, and something that most bodybuilders chase with reckless abandon.
Pumps aren’t only great for aesthetics, they may also promote muscle hypertrophy too!
The best pre workout supplements include ingredients that enhance and prolong the pump.
When it comes to fueling pumps, L-Citrulline is a must have in any pre workout that calls itself a pump pre workout.
Citrulline provides the “raw material” the body needs to generate nitric oxide, by way of its conversion to arginine in the body.
But, citrulline is only the start.
To have truly savage pumps, it helps to bolster the effects of citrulline by including an ingredient that simultaneously helps prevent arginine breakdown as well as stimulate endothelial nitric oxide (eNOS) -- the enzyme that catalyzed nitric oxide production.
That ingredient is none other than agmatine sulfate.
Beyond supporting blood flow and pumps, agmatine also possesses some neuroregulation/neuromodulation properties and it is also known to help reduce the perception of pain, which may help individuals to train harder and longer before succumbing to fatigue.
#5 Taste
In years past, pre workouts could get away with tasting awful.
That’s no longer the case.
Today, pre workouts must not only be effective; they also have to taste as good (if not, better) than they perform.
Taste doesn’t have to be compromised these days, especially considering all of the advancements in flavoring technology that have been made in recent years.
Here at Primeval Labs, we pride ourselves not only on creating premium-quality supplements, but premium-tasting ones as well.
We devote as much attention to flavoring and texture as we do to ingredient profile and effectiveness.
No longer do you have to choose between flavor and effectiveness. When using Primeval Labs supplements, you can have your cake and eat it too!
The Bottom Line on How to Find a Top Pre Workout
Pre workouts come in all shapes, serving sizes, and flavors. Some are better than others, but no two are really the same.
Given the mind-numbing quantity of options there are to choose from amongst the pre workout landscape, it helps to have a checklist to follow to help you identify which products are worth your investment.
Those five key facets to a top pre workout are:
- Energy
- Focus
- Performance
- Pumps
- Taste
Ape Sh*t pre workout is a hard-hitting, high energy pre workout supplement formulated to support increased energy, aggression, motivation and focus. In addition, Ape Sh*t also includes research-backed nutrients to support blood flow, performance, cell volumization and pumps like L-Citrulline, Agmatine, Beta Alanine, and Taurine.
Last, but never least, Ape Sh*t pre workout tastes phenomenal.
We’ve invested the same care and attention to flavoring Ape Sh*t as we have our best-selling pre workouts, amino acid supplements, and protein powders.
Click here to learn more about Ape Sh*t pre workout and how it can help you take your training to the next level!
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