Pre Workout

A pre workout is caffeine plus, usually, a short list of ingredients that would each work at the right dose and rarely appear at it. That is the entire category in one sentence, and it is why we print the milligrams for every ingredient rather than hiding them in a blend.

What actually does something

Caffeine is the ingredient carrying most of the effect, at roughly 3mg to 6mg per kg of bodyweight taken about 45 minutes before training. For an 80kg person that is 240mg to 480mg. It improves perceived effort, alertness and output, and tolerance builds, so the dose that worked in January does less by March.

Citrulline malate has reasonable evidence for training volume at 6g to 8g. Most blends contain one or two grams, which is why people feel nothing from products that technically list it.

Beta alanine works by daily accumulation over weeks rather than acutely, so its presence in a pre workout is mostly responsible for the tingling rather than for any same session benefit. It is covered properly in the amino acids range.

The proprietary blend problem

If a label gives one total weight for a blend of eight ingredients, you cannot know how much of anything you are getting, and that is the point of the blend. A 6g blend containing eight ingredients cannot contain a working dose of citrulline, because citrulline alone needs 6g to 8g. The arithmetic gives it away every time.

Practical notes

Caffeine has a half life of around five hours, so an evening session can cost you sleep, and poor sleep undoes more than the pre workout gave you. Take a lower dose after mid afternoon or use a stimulant free option. If you drink coffee anyway, count that in your daily total.

You do not need one. Coffee and a decent night of sleep covers most of the benefit for most people. Everything we stock lists what is in it, and the full shop has the rest of the range.