Pre-Workouts



A few thoughts from me:

@safc_graeme makes a cracking point - it's very easy to use them to give you a boost for a particular workout and then think next time 'ah, I'll need that again to get back there' - need to be on your guard for that.

What is it you feel like you're missing in order to feel the need for one? They are a supplement like any other, and should be there to make up for something you feel you're lacking - e.g. energy = caffeine. You're probably better de-bundling and focusing in on supplementing whatever you're lacking. E.g. I train first thing on a morning - if I've had a poor night's sleep with my diabetes/the children I'll take a couple of Pro-plus (couldn't stomach a coffee at that time).

Look at the dosing. Take, for example, citrulline malate, a common ingredient. The research has focused on doses of 8g pre-workout. That's not to say doses of less than that would be effective, but they don't have the research to support them. Some pre-workouts will contain 2g/serving.

Beta alanine can make you tingle (particularly face and arms for me) - completely harmless but a really odd sensation. a) Don't panic if you experience this. b) You could use this as a trigger to get you into the zone.
 
Tried a few. Only one that worked for me was an early version of Dorian Yates Nox Pump. Possibly the most foul thing I have ever tasted but gave me a huge boost during training. That might or might not have been due to the DMAA it was rumoured to contain. That product sadly was discontinued/banned (not sure which) and I cant even find old deadstock on ebay anymore.

Subsequent versions of NOX pump did nothing for me

No-explode I tried a couple of times. Didnt feel any different during training and had come downs a few hours later so binned it

Strong coffee with a sugar all the way now.
 
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Simpsyla said:
A few thoughts from me:

@safc_graeme makes a cracking point - it's very easy to use them to give you a boost for a particular workout and then think next time 'ah, I'll need that again to get back there' - need to be on your guard for that.

What is it you feel like you're missing in order to feel the need for one? They are a supplement like any other, and should be there to make up for something you feel you're lacking - e.g. energy = caffeine. You're probably better de-bundling and focusing in on supplementing whatever you're lacking. E.g. I train first thing on a morning - if I've had a poor night's sleep with my diabetes/the children I'll take a couple of Pro-plus (couldn't stomach a coffee at that time).

Look at the dosing. Take, for example, citrulline malate, a common ingredient. The research has focused on doses of 8g pre-workout. That's not to say doses of less than that would be effective, but they don't have the research to support them. Some pre-workouts will contain 2g/serving.

Beta alanine can make you tingle (particularly face and arms for me) - completely harmless but a really odd sensation. a) Don't panic if you experience this. b) You could use this as a trigger to get you into the zone.
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Main reason is I've gone from a nice "work" at home routine when I could do the weights whenever I fancied right back into full time work with an 11 hour day, so just feel a bit goosed when I get back in.

Still, reading this I think I'll stick with coffee and a pro plus.
 
Northern_chappy said:
Tried a few. Only one that worked for me was an early version of Dorian Yates Nox Pump. Possibly the most foul thing I have ever tasted but gave me a huge boost during training. That might or might not have been due to the DMAA it was rumoured to contain. That product sadly was discontinued/banned (not sure which) and I cant even find old deadstock on ebay anymore.

Subsequent versions of NOX pump did nothing for me

No-explode I tried a couple of times. Didnt feel any different during training and had come downs a few hours later so binned it

Strong coffee with a sugar all the way now.
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Jack3d contained DMAA, which is why it was banned. Not sure if you can source DMAA legitimately. Certainly seems to work, although death may be an unwanted side effect :lol:
 
Lord Alfred said:
Jack3d contained DMAA, which is why it was banned. Not sure if you can source DMAA legitimately. Certainly seems to work, although death may be an unwanted side effect :lol:
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Yes, If I remember rightly all 1,3 supps got banned shortly after somebody took one before running a marathon and died. Not sure how much of a link between the two there was.
 
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Lord Alfred said:
Jack3d contained DMAA, which is why it was banned. Not sure if you can source DMAA legitimately. Certainly seems to work, although death may be an unwanted side effect :lol:
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That stuff was crazy. It added a good 5kg to your lifts. Well, it did for me.

The one I use now is far tamer in comparison, USN Hyper Drive. I typically only use it when I’m training after a long day at work to give me a little bit of a kick.
 
Lord Alfred said:
The original Jack3d formula was wonderful stuff. :lol:

Great workout and a chilled buzz for the rest of the day. If i'd known it was going to be banned I'd have bought thousands of them.
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I genuinely think I had some kind of mild heart attack from that :lol:

The first time I took the stuff was actually the day Fabrice Muamba keeled over and had to retire from football. I remember finishing work at 4pm and was going out on the drink later on that day. I took it for the first time and I did what normally takes me 70 minutes, it took me 45 mins in gym. I was on incline bench press and after I finished a set, it felt so amazing that my heart wanted to jump out my chest and do more reps as my body could not haha.

Anyway after getting used to the stuff, about a year later I was having 3 or even 4 heaped spoonfulls of the stuff. Then one day walking to my car after gym, I had a pain all the way from neck to elbow on left side of body, I found it hard to turn my neck. Stopped Jack3d and all was well, started taking it again months later and that feeling came back, so stopped it again.
 
Lord Alfred said:
The original Jack3d formula was wonderful stuff. :lol:

Great workout and a chilled buzz for the rest of the day. If i'd known it was going to be banned I'd have bought thousands of them.
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I remember taking this when i was about 17 working part time in Sainsburys whilst at sixth form, used to go to the gym before hand and remember being absolutely ill at work, literally fucked to get through a shift.
 
jackynutmeg said:
Citrulline malate, aakg, beta alanine, caffeine tablet, Aldi energy drink
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It’s L-Citrulline which will get you the best results.

Without going deep into the myriad reasons and how the supplement industry works in a sort of smoke and mirrors fashion. L-Citrulline and Citrulline Malate aren’t actually the same thing. The former will help you look ridiculously jacked with increased vascularity, the latter is a vastly less concentrated version (probably mostly to do with profit margins) which has Malate acid added to it and is kind of meh. ;)
 
Thurston said:
It’s L-Citrulline which will get you the best results.

Without going deep into the myriad reasons and how the supplement industry works in a sort of smoke and mirrors fashion. L-Citrulline and Citrulline Malate aren’t actually the same thing. The former will help you look ridiculously jacked with increased vascularity, the latter is a vastly less concentrated version (probably mostly to do with profit margins) which has Malate acid added to it and is kind of meh. ;)
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Yes I meant L-citrulline
 

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