4 KEY INGREDIENTS FOR YOUR PRE-WORKOUT!

4 KEY INGREDIENTS FOR YOUR PRE-WORKOUT!

Pre-workout supplements can give you an extra push in the gym, but it's easy to get lost in the sea of names and packaging. Start simple—and strong—with these 4 key ingredients!

VITAL STATS

Name: Vince Kreipke, MS, CSCS, USAW-L1SP

Education: M.S. in Applied Sports Sciences and currently pursing his PhD in Exercise Physiology at Florida State University

Looking for an added edge in the gym? Pre-workout supplements are a great place to start! The trouble is, if you're new to the supplement world, it can be incredibly difficult to sort through the mountain of choices, labels, and ingredients.

As you search, you'll likely scratch your head as you come across "creatine-this," "citrulline-that," and "beta-ala-what?" To compound the problem, those ingredients are often blended into combinations with flashy names like "Ultra-Nasty Uber Pump" and "Explosive Blood-Rush Blend."

With all the hard-to-pronounce compounds and extreme marketing, it can feel like you're drowning—and all you wanted was a solid edge to hit some nice PRs or increase your training energy! Don't worry, I got you.

When searching for or building my own pre-workout, I like to focus on four key ingredients—or, as I call them, "The Big Four." While each of these ingredients has multiple benefits, I'm going to focus on how important each one is to conquering your next training session.

Yes, there are many other supporting ingredients available in pre-workouts, but these four have the most scientific research backing their use, which is why I suggest starting with this bunch of ingredients above any others.

Next time you hit the pre-workout market or start gathering ingredients for your own killer pre-workout blend—make sure you give it a solid name!—reference this list first. It will help you decide which ingredients and doses you really want, and why you want them.

1

CAFFEINE

Primary purpose: Energy

Optimal dose: 200-500 mg, or 1.8-2.7 mg per kg of body weight

Benefits: Caffeine has repeatedly been shown to be an effective ergogenic aid (performance booster) in both endurance exercise and short bouts of maximal exercise (e.g., sprints). Although there haven't been many studies showing increases in one-repetition max, caffeine has been shown to increase workloads by decreasing the rate of fatigue and lowering the perception of effort—even in sleep-deprived situations!1 And remember, more workload means greater gainz!

CAFFEINE HAS REPEATEDLY BEEN SHOWN TO BE AN EFFECTIVE ERGOGENIC AID (PERFORMANCE BOOSTER) IN BOTH ENDURANCE EXERCISE AND SHORT BOUTS OF MAXIMAL EXERCISE.

It is important to note that doses will vary from person to person. If you are a habitual caffeine user, you are going to need more to get you up. If you aren't, well... you won't. You are going to have to play within the ranges so you can figure out what works best for you.

Finally, if you work out at night, pay attention to how much you take. The effects of caffeine might take a while to wear off, keeping you up at night. And you need sleep so you can grow!

Why Number 1? You are going to need energy to get through your workout. Caffeine is a quick source to get you on your game and ready to crush some weight.

2

BRANCHED-CHAIN AMINO ACIDS (BCAAS)

Primary purpose: Foster an anabolic environment

Optimal dose: 5 g in pre-workout, 20 g total throughout the day

Benefits: BCAAs—leucine, isoleucine, and valine—are key when it comes to regulating protein metabolism, increasing protein synthesis, and suppressing protein breakdown. It is important that you get the right ratio of leucine to isoleucine to valine. You are looking for 2:1:1, respectively.

BCAAS— LEUCINE, ISOLEUCINE, AND VALINE—ARE KEY WHEN IT COMES TO REGULATING PROTEIN METABOLISM, INCREASING PROTEIN SYNTHESIS, AND SUPPRESSING PROTEIN BREAKDOWN.

Leucine is king in this situation because it has been shown to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, so that's why it should be the highest amino acid in your blend. Looking for roughly 3 g of leucine per dose of your BCAAs is another effective way to shop.

Why Number 2? BCAAs give you some immediate protection against the catabolic environments produced when exercising. Moreover, drinking BCAAs may help decrease delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) the following day so you can get back to training hard faster.2

3

BETA-ALANINE

Primary purpose: Increased muscular endurance

Optimal dose: 1.5-5 g

Benefits: This is another ingredient that can help improve your overall training volume, but it works by buffering hydrogen ions (H+), giving you the ability to keep your intensity up for longer periods of time. In other words: more volume; more gains.3

BETA-ALANINE IS EXCELLENT FOR PUMPING OUT EXTRA REPS AND SQUEEZING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR WORKOUT.

If you take a larger dose of beta-alanine, you will most likely experience a tingling sensation. Don't worry, your skin isn't melting. You are experiencing what's called "paresthesia," and it is completely normal. If you're not a fan of the feeling, consider splitting your dose into smaller portions to take throughout the day.

Why Number 3? Beta-alanine is excellent for pumping out extra reps and squeezing the most out of your workout. The reason I have it at number three is because you don't need it right before you work out. As long as you are taking it throughout the day, you will still build up your stores and increase your ability to buffer H+.

4

CREATINE MONOHYDRATE

Primary purpose: Explosive strength

Optimal dose: 5 g in pre-workout, up to 20 g per day

Benefits: Creatine is the ingredient that is going to help most with your lower-rep workouts. Simply put, it helps saturate your muscles with the substrate (energy source) needed to produce a fast, big energy pump required for those really big lifts.

SIMPLY PUT, CREATINE HELPS SATURATE YOUR MUSCLES WITH THE SUBSTRATE (ENERGY SOURCE) NEEDED TO PRODUCE A FAST, BIG ENERGY PUMP REQUIRED FOR THOSE REALLY BIG LIFTS.

Note the dosage range. Huge, right? The reason is that most manufacturers suggest a "loading" phase to speed up the saturation process. This process is typically prescribed for about a week, and then dropped down to a "maintenance" phase at about 5 g per day. Honestly, if you are not looking to do a super-fast bulk phase, you don't need the 20 g. Just stick to the 5 g, which is about 1 teaspoon.

Why Number 4? Creatine is an amazing ingredient. I mean, I really love this stuff. I put it down at number four because, as with beta-alanine, you can really take it whenever you want. To date, there has only been one study showing a benefit, albeit a minimal one, to taking creatine post-workout. (4) The majority of the literature suggests that the timing of creatine has very little influence on strength.

Until more supportive evidence comes out, I say take creatine when you want and focus on the others in "The Big Four" for your pre-workout.

9.3

JYM
Pre JYM

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8.3

MusclePharm
Assault

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9.1

Nutrex
Outlift

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* Ratings as of article's date of publication

BONUS INGREDIENTS VASODILATORS

Primary purpose: Increase blood flow

Benefits: The primary role of vasodilators such as L-arginine, L-citrulline, and beetroot is to increase nitric oxide levels in the blood, leading to an increase in blood flow, which can stimulate the always-desired "pump."

There are a lot of these ingredients on the market today. As such, there are a lot of dosing recommendations, depending on which one you prefer. I personally tend to stick to pomegranate extracts, which are a dietary source of nitrates that have been shown to enhance blood flow and delay fatigue in highly active individuals.5

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

I suggest focusing on pre-workout ingredients in the order I've proposed here. However, I cannot stress enough that these ingredients are placed in this list, in this order, for pre-workout importance only. Each of them has multiple benefits in different scenarios. When you go to buy your next pre-workout, make sure that the product contains enough of the aforementioned ingredients, or it may not be as effective as possible for your purposes.

Additionally, if you have or find a pre-workout that contains a proprietary blend—a blend in which the ingredients aren't listed separately, but are lumped under a total amount—the individual doses of the ingredients are fixed. In this case, it can be hard to determine how much of each ingredient is included, but you can always supplement your pre-workout with a little more of any ingredient that may be lacking in your mix.

Finally, let's talk about timing. Most pre-workouts should be taken roughly 30 minutes before getting to your workout. I typically drink mine while driving to the gym or getting ready in the locker room. This ensures that all the ingredients start to metabolize and become ready for use by the last set of my first lift, which is when I really need it.

Now, armed with "The Big Four," go forth and hit your best lifting session to date!

REFERENCES

1.       Cook, C., Beaven, C. M., Kilduff, L. P., & Drawer, S. (2012). Acute caffeine ingestion's increase of voluntarily chosen resistance-training load after limited sleep. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 22(3), 157-164.

2.       Shimomura, Y., Inaguma, A., Watanabe, S., Yamamoto, Y., Muramatsu, Y., Bajotto, G., ... & Mawatari, K. (2010). Branched-chain amino acid supplementation before squat exercise and delayed-onset muscle soreness.International Journal of Sport Nutrition, 20(3), 236.

3.       Smith, A. E., Walter, A. A., Graef, J. L., Kendall, K. L., Moon, J. R., Lockwood, C. M., ... & Stout, J. R. (2009). Effects of B-alanine supplementation and high-intensity interval training on endurance performance and body composition in men; a double-blind trial. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 6(1), 1-9.

4.       Antonio, J., & Ciccone, V. (2013). The effects of pre versus post workout supplementation of creatine monohydrate on body composition and strength. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 10(1), 36.

5.       Trexler, E. T., Smith-Ryan, A. E., Melvin, M. N., Roelofs, E. J., & Wingfield, H. L. (2014). Effects of pomegranate extract on blood flow and running time to exhaustion 1. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 39(9), 1038-1042.

It's Time For Bodybuilding And CrossFit To Make Peace

It's Time For

 Bodybuilding And

 CrossFit To Make

 Peace

Hating on each other stopped being cute a long time ago. It's time for all of the dominant fitness paradigms to stop infighting and unite against a common enemy!

VITAL STATS

Name: Cassie Augustine

Location: Denver, CO

Occupation: Writer, partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Agency Zero advertising

Website: http://agencyzero.com/

Like most people, my workout path has had many turns, bumps, ups, and downs. I'm not even sure you could call it a path—more of a partially cleared trail, really. Lots of valleys, occasional peaks, and more than a few long roads to I'm-not-sure-where. I may never find the "perfect" fitness activity, but it won't be for lack of looking.

I grew up in a sports-crazed family, so being strong and fast was always in the front of my mind. But in the '90s, the small town I grew up in didn't take girls' sports seriously, so I never got much direction on how to "make gains." The weight room was a place I primarily used to strut around in short-shorts and talk to football boys. Even so, I learned enough to know that I wanted to be a chick with muscles, not a weak one.

Since then, I've been a basketball player, runner, yoga novice, beach volleyball aficionado, HIIT freak, trail junkie, wanna-be cyclist, and Zumba-class dropout. Most recently, I've been hanging around a bodybuilding gym. Predictably, I've seen my body go through a broad range of shapes and sizes with each activity and training style. I've been kinda pudgy to a little too skinny, pathetically weak to surprisingly strong, a cardio beast to a sweaty mess, flexible to inflexible and back to flexible again.

Right now, I'm feeling pretty good. Just the other day, a guy told me my arms were "too big." Since the peeps at my gym, Armbrust Pro, consider my muscles to be newborns, I took this as a compliment of epic proportions!

THE AGE OF HATERS

Anyway, throughout this detailed quest for athletic nirvana, I've been given a lot of unsolicited fitness advice. To be clear, I'm not a great lover of advice. But lately, it seems like it's becoming more common—and more judgmental. Everywhere I go, someone is talking about the style of exercise that I should—or more specifically, shouldn't—be doing for optimal results.

I'm not talking about the "all exercise is good, but this is what works best for me" person. I'm thinking more of the runner or CrossFitter who says (in so many words), "Curls? Those are for vain bodybuilders. You might as well start eating six meals a day." Or the bodybuilder who calls CrossFit a cult that causes you to lose gains, forget proper form, and snap your spine within minutes.

All this talk set me to wondering: How come everyone seems to care so much how others get fit? What's behind all the hate? Is it friendly competition, insecurity, or some kind of particularly nasty groupthink? I want to know.

And, for the record, I encountered this in person before I ever saw it online. But once you glimpse how nasty and pervasive it is in forums and comments sections across several popular fitness sites, it's hard to forget. And oddly, the two camps that seem to be beefing the most are CrossFit enthusiasts and bodybuilders.

Forgive me, but I just don't get it. These two disciplines have far, far more in common than they differ. For one thing, my CrossFit instructor and my bodybuilding coach both think I suck at deadlifts—so that's one bit of common ground, right? But the two camps—and all other strength sports—share plenty when it comes to lifts, programming, and lifestyle. The difference is one of dialect, not language.

And even though no one following either methodology seems to want to admit it, there are some pretty serious similarities between paleo-style eating and the classic, "clean" bodybuilder diet. I've eaten both plans, and it's a whole lotta protein and no Doritos either way.

HAVE YOUR WOD AND BIG ARMS, TOO

Of course, I'm not the only one thinking about this. Check out this video where professional physique competitor and Bodybuilding.com athlete Steve Cook takes on CrossFit Games star Brooke Ence in a bodybuilding and CrossFit-style workout:

PHYSIQUE MEETS FITNESS WITH STEVE COOK AND BROOKE ENCE
WATCH THE VIDEO - 12:15

These two seem to be getting along pretty well, huh? Impressive. There are lines being crossed all over the place, yet everyone involved is having fun getting crushed and feeling strong. Just don't read the comments.Never...read...the comments.

OK, I admit I read the comments, both on that video and everywhere else. And what I found was no surprise: 10 negatives for every positive. Hater A says Steve is a traitor who joined the cult. Hater B says bodybuilders are human mannequins who lack functional strength and agility. When the apocalypse comes, the zombies will catch them easily and feast on them first. Hater A counters with his squat PR, and says CrossFitters have no regard for form.

And so on and so on, until both people log off and head back to the gym—to do more or less the same thing.

THE REAL VILLAIN? THE COUCH

Instead of losing sleep over the well-being of some of the fittest people on the planet, let's talk about what we all should really be worrying about: health. Yep, I'm going there. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation reports that 2.1 billion people—nearly 30 percent of the world's population—are either obese or overweight. In the U.S. alone, Let's Move estimates annual health-care costs of obesity-related illnesses at $190.2 billion—that's 21 percent of annual medical spending.

Those stats are big, scary, and getting scarier. To me, they show that we're all on the same team—and that we need to be helping as many people as possible to join that team, rather than worrying which position they play.

Who cares if you do your pull-ups fast or slow, when there is a global health epidemic going down all around us? Stop hating, and start moving. It's that simple.

HEY ARNOLD, WANNA SIT WITH ME AT THE GAMES?

Instead of spending our time tearing down our fellow athletes, we could put that energy—and we have plenty of it, because we are fit as hell!—into an overall movement toward healthier people everywhere. For the rest of this year, let's give our fellow athletes a pass. Even better, let's become fans!

CrossFit-style workouts are killer for burning fat and making you feel like you've seriously accomplished something—because you have. We can all appreciate intense, fat-incinerating cardio that doesn't require plodding away on a boring machine! And clearly the majority of the CrossFit crew loves a heavy lift.

Know what else they like, whether they'll admit it or not? Looking good, and looking like they lift; feeling good, and feeling strong. We all like that—and we should!

I follow Christmas Abbot on Instagram. I follow Pauline Nordin, too. I can't decide whose feed is more inspiring between those two, and the great thing is, I don't have to. They approach fitness in very different ways, but in both cases, seeing their results gets my ass off the couch every day. And that's what counts.

5 GYM MYTHS YOU NEED TO IGNORE

Hugh Jackman’s trainer debunks the fitness fiction in your gym

By Thomas Ling Posted on May 4, 2016

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Guys training in back-to-front caps. Jocks spending 15-minutes on the weight bench just looking at their phone. The smith machine. There’s plenty in the gym that makes for little logic. But the most senseless thing to grace the weights room? Terrible workout advice.

And it’s more common than you’d think. According to a recent survey of 1,000 Brits, over 68% of guys dish out unsound fitness guidance that’s neither from a health or training professional. It’s this advice that could lead at best to poor muscle-growth and at worst serious injury.

(Related: The six most pointless gym exercises you need to avoid)

Well, we’re making a stand. With the help of David Kingsbury, the PT Hugh Jackman said is “the best trainer I have ever worked with”, MH is calling out the worst gym advice you’ve ever heard.

Wolverine doesn’t put up with bro science. Why should you?

1. “You need a marathon weights session to gain muscle”

Wrong. “More sets doesn’t mean more muscle,” says Kingsbury. “If you want to get stronger then your aim is to train with the least amount of volume needed to produce an adaptive response.” Adaptive response? Essentially, it’s how your muscles get bigger to accommodate more weight – a big lift workout creates tiny micro-tears in your muscles that your body repairs with even stronger fibres. That creates stronger – and larger – muscles.

(Related: How to calculate how much you should be lifting)

So surely the more tears you create in a single session, the more muscle you’ll develop, right? No. “Further efforts to stress the muscles will only increase recovery time – keeping you out of the gym for longer – put you into a dangerously deep catabolic state [that’s when your body breaks down muscle] and lower your immune system,” warns Kingsbury. Lesson learned: keep your lifting limited to 45-60 minutes and go home early.

2. “Cardio makes you small and weak”

Zero points to Hufflepuff if you thought this was true. Cardio doesn’t have to be restricted to guys aiming for a Mo Farah physique, says Kingsbury: “Avoiding resistance workouts altogether is why you lose mass – not cardio. In fact, introducing cardio into your workout plan is key to bigger muscles.”

(Related: Is cardio really necessary to get a six pack?)

You read that right, cardio means more mass. The reason? “Intense intervalswill encourage the body to use energy more efficiently and increase the amount of glycogen your muscles store, which makes them bigger,” says Kingsbury. And that’s not all. Intense cardio sessions can improve your muscle buffering capacity (your muscles’ ability to neutralise lactic acid). “That means you can push reps even harder while avoiding DOMS.” All gain, no pain. We’re in.

You need to train every day”

Nope: wrong again. “A lot of people seem to train for the sake of training, but spending seven days a week in the weights room won’t get you anywhere,” says Kingsbury. That’s because rejecting a rest day leads to a long list of nasty symptoms including general fatigue, aching, decreased performance and – here’s the kicker – smaller muscles. Why? You guessed it: you need time to let those micro-tears in your muscle fibres repair.

So how long should you rest for? A major analysis of 140 studies on the question says you should never exercise the same body part more than once in a 48-hour period to allow for complete muscle recovery (as shown in our 60-day bulk up plan). But if you really can’t keep away from the sofa on your rest day then simply walk around the park; a study from Hirosaki University in Japan found low-intensity training will relax your muscles and speed up recovery.

4. “8-12 reps is the right range to build lean muscle”

If you hear this then you should follow it with a Family Fortunes style “uh-uh” buzzer (preferably as loud as possible). “Building muscle is not as simple as tapping into a specific rep range,” says Kingsbury. “To build muscle you need a stimulus. And this stimulus will be most effective from a selection of rep ranges.”

Why? “Solely keeping within one range fails to target all your muscle fibres. A broad stroke of rep numbers is the best way forward.” And just in case you want to argue with the trainer who got the X-Men’s finest into shape then here’s his full explanation of why reps don’t matter as much as you think.

(Related: How to build a body like Hugh Jackman)

5. “You need to keep your muscles guessing to keep them growing”

You don’t need a major shock in every circuit – your workout plan isn’t Game of Thrones. “Regularly swapping exercises around may leave you sore, but it’s not the best way to build strength,” says Kingsbury. “Muscles grow due to the progressive overload of exercises. Stick with the tried and tested classic exercises and gradually increase the weight for the best results.”

Moral of the story: booking yourself into a jazzercise class might seem like a fun idea at the time (it certainly won’t be during), but it’s not how you’re going to craft your dream body. The only way to conjure a muscle-building miracle is with the holy trinity of your body transformation: the deadlift, the squat and the bench press. Here’s your complete guide to the gym’s most important moves. There’s a reason why they’ve been around for so long, you know.