By Mark Wood
There are also things like BCAA’s (the most overrated supplement ever), Synephrine and other ‘natural’ additives that have no evidence to their claims.
Mention pre workout supplements in a gym and there are usually two very opposing views.
On one side, people live by them. They can get some of the best training sessions of their life.
On the other, there are people who’ve either tried it or heard stories about them and hated the feeling or experience they had.
Do pre workout supplements (PWS) benefit and aid the CrossFitter, or are they simply a well-marketed stimulant?
INGREDIENTS THAT WORK
CAFFEINE
The first thing most people think of with PWS is the effect of being stimulated for your workout.
The most popular stimulant is our good old friend Caffeine. Apart from being a good pick me up when you need a boost; it also has some awesome performance benefits too.
- Increases the metabolism and ability to burn fat
- Improves strength
- Increases anaerobic performance
- Improved muscle endurance
The ideal amount is around 3-6mg/kg of bodyweight which for a 80kg body is at least 240mg. Bear in mind the average cup of coffee has around 40mg…
Of course you do need to have days without such high numbers as you can develop a tolerance to it. 1-2 days off per week usually works fine.
If you’re chasing performance, being a jittery mess is going to negatively affect your workout. You do need to find the right balance of arousal that will help your performance.
BETA ALANINE
For a CrossFitter, Beta-Alanine is such a powerful supplement to train with. BA increase the Carnosine storage capacity in the muscle allowing:
- Less fatigue
- Improve anaerobic capacity
- Increase in workload
2.6-6.4g per day has been found effective for performance.
MAJOR KEY The tingling you get with a pre-workout is the Beta-Alanine getting to work.
CITRULINE MALATE
One of the best nitric oxide producers, CM can help boost your performance by increasing the blood flow to the muscle by dilating the blood vessels. This can:
- Reduce soreness
- Boost endurance
- Improve muscle stamina
BETAINE
Betaine can help improve:
- Muscle Endurance
- Strength
This is becoming one of the most popular additions to pre workout supplements and can help a CrossFitter looking to get the most out of their training.
Around 1.25-25g per day is the suggested dose
CREATINE
Without a doubt creatine is one of the cheapest but best performance enhancers available legally. Increasing the resynthesis of ATP it allows you to perform better in short powerful bursts. It’s great for strength and sprint style work.
5g a day is fine with no need to load or cycle.
OTHER INGREDIENTS
There are some other additions such as Tyrosine, L-Arginine and Taurine which can help but are mostly unreliable or unfounded.
There are also things like BCAA’s (the most overrated supplement ever), Synephrine and other ‘natural’ additives that have no evidence to their claims.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Apart from the suggested ingredients, a warning sign of any over hyped pre-workout is the use of the term ‘propriety blend’ which can often have low measures of ingredients that are ineffective.
A good sign is a small ingredient list that shows their individual values.
So do Pre-workouts work for the CrossFitter? Absolutely! The science shows the benefit from them, we just have to remove the stigma from the marketing. Combined with some solid pre-workout nutrition and adequate sleep, the pre workout supplement could be just what you need.