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!

When searching for or building my own pre-workout, it’s best to focus on four key ingredients—or, “The Big Four.” While each of these ingredients has multiple benefits, lets 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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 it’s at number three is because you don’t need it right before you work out. If 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 big lifts.

Note the dosage range. 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.

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.

Putting It All Together
Try focusing on pre-workout ingredients that have been listed here. However, I cannot stress enough that these ingredients are placed here due to the amount of research that has been done on them. I’m sure there are plenty of other ingredients that produce great results but haven’t been on the market that long to study. When you go to buy your next pre-workout, make sure that the product contains enough of the ingredients listed above, or it may not be as effective as possible for your purposes.