The pros and cons of pre-workout
One cannot do without and the other should not think about it, namely pre-workout. But what exactly is it, what effect does it have on your body and what are the advantages and disadvantages?
What is pre workout?
Pre-workout is a powder that is popular with a younger audience of avid athletes. The powder is taken before you exercise and contains ingredients that ensure that you have a lot of energy to get through your workout.
What effect does pre-workout have on your body?
Pre-workout has the main effects that you are more focused and have more energy during training. Pre-workout contains a lot of caffeine. For example, most pre-workouts contain 200-300 mg of caffeine. A cup of coffee contains 85 mg of caffeine, so with pre-workout you already have about 2/3 cups of coffee.
In addition to caffeine, a number of other ingredients are often added, such as:
- Creatine > Creatine is a body's own substance that is produced by your kidneys and liver. To make creatine, your body needs the amino acids arginine, methionine and glycine. Your body produces about 1 gram of creatine per day, which you mainly get from meat and fish.
Creatine provides more energy, so that you get tired less quickly during training and you can train longer. Creatine also ensures that your body recovers faster after training.
- Beta-alanine > Beta-alanine helps if your muscles start to acidify during your training. Beta-alanine is a non-essential amino acid that your body produces itself and gets from food. This substance ensures the formation of carnosine. Carnosine regulates, among other things, the PH value of the body. This in turn affects the energy supply and the reabsorption of lactic acid by the muscles.
- L-Citrulline > L-Citrulline is a body's own substance and ensures the removal of toxins. In addition, it is mainly known for improving blood flow. This allows more nutrients and oxygen to be transported to your muscles. L-Citrulline allows you to do more repetitions in strength training, you have more endurance in endurance sports and it reduces muscle pain.
- BCAAs > BCAAs are also referred to as 'branched-chain amino acids'. These consist of three essential amino acids: leucine, isoleucine and valine. There are 9 essential amino acids in your body and they are very important for muscle building. The above three BCAAs therefore provide one third of the amino acids and 70% of the total muscle protein. BCAAs also provide more energy and reduce muscle pain.
Benefits pre workout:
- More energy and focus in the gym
- Improving performance and strength
- Increase in muscle mass
- Lower fat percentage
- Helps with blood flow
- Makes you more alert
Disadvantages pre workout:
- Worse night's sleep
- Decreased appetite
- If sensitive to caffeine: nausea, palpitations or headache
- Is addictive and you can no longer train without a pre-workout
- Energy dips due to the many caffeine, this gives you energy fluctuations
- Ignoring body. When your body correctly indicates that it needs rest and you still start exercising with pre-workout, you increase the chance of overtraining
In addition to the above disadvantages, the addition of junk in the pre-workouts is also a disadvantage. At Green Harvey we stand for 100% natural ingredients and this is reflected in our Vegan protein powders packed with superfoods . Discover now!
