Food? check! Pre-workout? check! Training playlist up-to-date? Check!
What does your pre-workout ritual look like?
The pre-workout ritual
I am a pre-workout skeptic, or at least a pre-workout critic. When people say they are “going hard” on a pre-workout, I think two things:
1. It’s in their heads. Or
2. There’s something in the pre-workout that shouldn’t be there (think amphetamines and derivatives).
Not that pre-workouts couldn’t work. Besides, there are too many different pre-workouts to make general statements about them.
There are just other supplements I prefer to spend my money on. Whether that’s due to my supplement budget or my appreciation for pre-workouts is a matter of perception.
The last few times I used a pre-workout was to write a review about it (#angrysponsors). Also, in recent weeks, I’ve been using a pre-workout to write a review and I notice that I develop some extra pre-workout habits because of it.
My pre-workout ritual
My pre-workout ritual is currently as follows:
About an hour before the workout, I take about 700ml of cold Brinta. I would prefer to do this a bit later, but then it’s pre-workout time.
According to the instructions, I have to take this T minus 45.
Unfortunately, I have to report that I’ve never had such a hard time with the taste of a pre-workout. I’ll go into detail about this in the review, but for now, it means I need at least 500ml of water to get it down.
Then I immediately throw coffee down to taste as little of the pre-workout as possible.
A quick roar like an ape and then the second half of the pre-workout, which is even nastier because the powder has settled by now.
More coffee, more roaring.
Hardest part of the workout done.
“Hygienic quarter hour”
I think many pre-workout users often drink it just before the workout in the rush of daily life.
I’ve learned always to wait at least fifteen minutes before heading out the door.
There is nothing more annoying than walking into the gym only to have to do your warm-up in the toilet.
Some things you’d rather do at home.
So at least fifteen minutes of waiting time.
Now it wouldn’t be surprising if my stomach would protest, 700ml of Brinta, 500ml of pre-workout that my brain thinks is poison, followed immediately by coffee.
Surprisingly, I don’t have any issues with that with this pre-workout.
A fifteen-minute drive to the gym, a few minutes to get going, maybe a warm-up, and three quarters of an hour is gone in no time.
Right on schedule then.
Playlist prep
But for now, I have fifteen minutes to fill.
With the focus on my training, Spotify is a nice filler. A recent habit, developed since I’ve been reminded how wonderful it is to train to the flow of a hard song. You know, completely immersed in your own action movie with your favorite song as the soundtrack.
Eye of the tiger stuff.
Until someone taps you on the shoulder after your first set to ask how many sets you have left.
That favorite track is never my favorite track for long, so it’s important to regularly feed my training playlist with new get-in-my-zone tracks.
Battery Check
More irritating than those taps on the shoulders are the words “low battery.” Besides my own batteries, I now also have to check if my phone and Bluetooth headset are charged.
It would be handy if that were step 1 of my pre-workout ritual, but of course, I always think of that T minus 5.
Clothing check
Raise your hand if you’ve ever walked into the gym without your workout pants.
Training in my socks is one thing, but no pants means going back and forth home.
Of course, on that occasion, there was beta-alanine in my pre-workout, and so on the way, the tingling sensation in my fingers told me that the pre-workout was already entering my bloodstream.
Back in the gym: T plus 15 minutes.
Shit, “wasting my pre-workout!”.
Post-workout prep
My clothes are in order, playlist filled, batteries charged, and I’m charged up. Now just preparing for the moment when I’m empty.
So, preparing my post-workout shake.
Measured powder in my bag?
Check!
Charged up and pumped, banging my chest a few times, ready to hit the gym.
Once I’ve found my car keys…
