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Everyone knows those days when you need to train but don’t know where to find the strength. You eat well and also want to complete every workout as effectively and intensively as possible. Unfortunately, there are days when motivation is hard to come by. For those days, pre-workout supplements are a solution.
Working pre workout
Pre-workout supplements are designed to provide your body with energy, focus, and intensity so you can train heavier and longer. You often take this form of supplements half an hour before your workout, and after half an hour, you often feel the urge to train hard. The increased intensity and endurance contribute to better
muscle growth. Additionally, pre-workout supplements often contain a number of ingredients, such as
arginine, which promote blood circulation.
The ingredients of pre-workout supplements are basically similar. They often provide extra energy to the muscles and contain substances that promote blood flow and counteract
muscle breakdown. The effects of pre-workouts are often as follows:
- Increase in strength
- Increasing endurance
- More energy and mental focus
- Countering muscle breakdown
- Improved transport of nutrients
- Fat burning
- Optimal hormone balance
Buying Pre-workout
The range of pre-workout supplements is incredibly large. Many supplements are renewed and offered in a different composition. Below you can make a choice from the different pre-workout supplements:
Composition of pre-workout supplements
Because the effects of pre-workouts are often divided into multiple parts, a different substance is necessary for each effect. We highlight a few of these substances.
Increase in strength
To provide the muscles with extra energy, creatine is often used. Creatine ensures that more ATP can enter the muscles, allowing more energy to be delivered. ATP is an abbreviation for adenosine triphosphate and these are the phosphates that contain energy in our cells. When you exert yourself, the ATP in the cells is tapped into, and this in turn is converted into ADP and energy. ADP is short for adenosine diphosphate. When ATP is converted into ADP, energy is created. This comes at the expense of the ADP. By administering creatine, the body can convert the ADP back into ATP and can deliver energy again.
Increasing endurance
To delay fatigue and increase endurance, caffeine is often used in pre-workout supplements. Caffeine is also an excellent ingredient for fat burning. Caffeine and products containing caffeine are fantastic tools to stimulate your fat burning. This is due to the stimulating effect of caffeine on heart rate and an increase in metabolism throughout the day.
More energy and focus
Energy doesn’t just come from
caffeine. In addition to caffeine, these supplements often contain Taurine. Taurine owes its fame mainly to energy drinks, such as Red Bull. The amino acid taurine promotes the conversion of glycogen into glucose. And that is the main fuel for muscles and brains. Taurine is therefore able to quickly dispel physical and mental fatigue. This amino acid powerfully stimulates the breakdown of lactic acid in the muscles, which is important for optimal performance in sports.
Countering muscle breakdown
The last thing you want is to achieve muscle breakdown rather than muscle growth during your training. Because a lot of cortisol, the stress hormone, is released during training, this is not unthinkable. That’s why many pre-workouts also contain BCAAs. The abbreviation BCAA stands for
Branched Chain Amino Acids, which are the essential components of muscle proteins. They counteract muscle breakdown caused by intensive training and are indispensable for the production of extra muscle mass. In addition to BCAA, Beta-alanine is often added.
Beta-alanine is a naturally occurring amino acid that forms the dipeptide Carnosine together with another amino acid, L-histidine. During intensive exercise, lactic acid is formed, which is the cause of muscle acidification, making the muscles perform less and become damaged. Carnosine is a substance that can be produced by the body itself and can help counteract acidification.
