Effects of Preworkout?

I know it's terrible for you, but I lift 2x better when I use it versus when I don't. It gives some people the tingles and makes them nauseous, but whenever I take it, I extend my workout by an hour.

I use LIT Gummy Worm. I hadn't used it in a few months, but today I needed a little pick me up because I wasn't performing great.

What about y'all?

 

Nothing wrong with good pre-workouts. Some are just a bunch of shit in a bottle but there is some good ones.
my pre workout stack is
Pescience High Volume non stim
with Legion athletics pulse and love my workouts!

 

I wouldn't say they're terrible for you but some are certainly better than others. Many can be loaded with crap though so do your research on what's actually in it.

Personally, I tend to workout fasted early in the morning so I make my own pre-workout that also has less than 10 calories so I don't pull my body out of a fasted state. I buy the functional ingredients you find in pre-workouts, omit the sugar and other crap I don't want/need in a fasted state, and then add it all to matcha green tea for my morning pre-workout.

Here's my recipe for anyone interested:
-Morning Pre-workout recipe-
K-Cup Matcha Green Tea (feel free to use black coffee, I just don't like coffee)
1tsp Citruline Malate (2,800mg)
1tsp Carnatine (3,000mg)
1/4tsp Taurine (908mg)
3/4tsp Creatine (3,750mg) - 1tsp is 5g
3/4tsp Beta Alanine (3,000mg)
1/4tsp Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
1/4tsp Potassium

It tastes salty & awful but I noticed an increase in my work capacity and strength after a short period. My guess is that with black coffee you will have a better flavor as coffee has a more powerful flavor that will likely override the other stuff in here. I do Crossfit so my needs will differ from your weight lifting needs (even though we have strength phases & my focus is strength training in my supplemental workouts) but I find that this concoction gives me the best capacity for my workouts and over time those percentages from every workout add up to a noticeable amount for sure. I know that when I lifted weights I needed that additional motivation from the sugar & caffeine that you find in off-the-shelf preworkouts but now that I do Crossfit 1) I look forward to every workout so I don't need it to get me motivated plus 2) you really don't want something that's going to artificially increase your heart rate as the workout will do that plenty on it's own and the challenge becomes slowing things down to keep your heart rate/breathing at an optimal pace.

 

I usually fast before workouts as well. I'll go between 11am-12pm for like an hour and a half, and I used to drink pre workouts, but I never tried one that I particularly liked enough to continue drinking it.

TLDR answer, I just stick to my gallon a day (or 3.875 litres) of water especially on workout days and make myself high quality protein isolate shakes. I have gotten bigger than I feel comfortable with being in less than a month by following this regimen religiously.

 

Methinks you're missing the spirit of tl;dr if your tl;dr is actually longer than the initial post.

 

Lol. I know. I'm just sick and killing sick time in bed by posting crap that doesn't belong in parts of my posts.

 

I stopped using actual pre-workout energy sups because it felt like I downed 3 red bulls. I just use a light whey protein and drink plenty of water. Then I take a bunch of post workouts like aminos and such.

 

Caffeine pills

 

Extend your workouts for an hour? If your naturally lifting and looking to gain size i wouldnt see how extending your workout for that time can be beneficial. You would have to consume so much more calories just to maintain or increase your weight. Now if your working out to drop weight i can see where thats a benefit. Typically for a Natural lifter looking to build size and strength id try to time your workouts for 45minutes to an hour. I use to down pre workout but havent in years. Really just started focusing on vitamins and proper nutrition and good damn music in the weight room and im energetic and focused enough.

 

I tend to lean toward C4 in regard to pre-workout.

My GF swears drinking Green Tea gives her more energy and prolongs her workout.

 

It puts me off my ass if I have too much. The first time I felt like I was wired and my eyes were super big.

 

I used C4 Fruit Punch but it tastes like absolute shit.

 

Interesting, I'll try and give that a shot if I can get my hands on some of those ingredients. Tea FTW.

 

FWIW I get most all of my supplements on Amazon since we have Prime and the prices are tough to beat. I also tend to largely get, in this order:

Bulksupplements
Now
Optimum Nutrition

...and that's about it. That first one probably comprises 90% of my supplements because they tend to be inexpensive. They're dirt effing cheap and my monthly expenses for supplements are pretty low since that recipe I posted is about all I take (lunch time I take Boron, fish oil, Vitamin D & more potassium) & they're all cheap. Most are not flavored so I can just throw them in whatever I'm drinking and not really notice it too much. That green tea thing is weird but it works pretty damn well for me. I noticed lots of increases in energy and performance once I started taking that concoction beforehand. It doesn't go down easy (sometimes I will drink a zero calorie monster alongside to wash the taste out of my mouth) but it's worth it IMO.

 

The caffiene is what can be terrible. You want preworkouts that focus on aminos and B Complex vitamins.
If caffiene is high thats where the issue comes in.

I also agree with the comment that adding an hour to a workout isn’t good.
You can either workout long or hard but not both.
Not sure what your goals are and how your workouts are structured but I’m a powerlifter and if I’m putting in 100% effort in a main lift for the day... no way I can train longer than about 45-60 minutes anyways.
I think if you are doing shit for two hours your really just fucking around and have no focus in your workouts.

Now it could be your routine is not focused so you have all this energy and just jump around until you get tired.
Use the energy you have on a few important main lifts. It will be better for mass and strength gains.

I personally do not use preworkouts. I already have ADHD, a lot of energy, a caffiene addiction, and anxiety. I also have extreme intolerances to dye and some flavorings. Not even worth trying to find something as natural as possible.
Plus I can honestly tell you its very uncommon for me to have a bad lifting day... and when I do its usually my bidy asking for a break.

 

I'm working out to build muscle, I don't need to drop any weight. You're probably right, I usually set the baseline at 30 minutes and build from there if I feel like it. I usually work out on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

 

If you have some lifting experience, and by that I mean you know how to deadlift, squat, bench, and overhead press correctly, I highly recommend Wendler 531.
Great plan that focuses on those 4 main lifts to build mass. 4 day per week plan and is efficient (not a long workout day).

Also come check out the Official Fitness Thread. All of us are bodybuilders or powerlifters.

 

I'll look into that, I need to get a routine down pack. I'm using my ghetto home gym for the time being though. I'll check that thread out as well, thanks!

 

What I take to increase my cardio? Increase and make me faster? I do a lot of running and swimming.

 

Check post #3 above. Lots of science (by folks who actually know what they're doing) went into that concoction. The other day I had an interesting day at Crossfit because I was sucking eggs. Much more so than usual. We got into the car after we were all done and I realized that my concoction was still full. I had forgotten to drink it during the drive in.

Now, had I intentionally not mixed/drank it I could chalk it up to placebo and knowing I didn't drink it somehow causing me to "think" I was going to do worse & then carrying out that assumption. In this case, I went into the workout thinking I had drank it and everything was as it should be and was noticeably down on cardio & muscle endurance which caused me to struggle mightily in a workout that I should have nailed.

It should be mentioned that this personal anecdote is very unscientific as it's missing controls and comparisons, etc. but it is was enough for me to have even more confidence that this stuff works. While I agree that this could be coincidental it was enough evidence for me (in addition to the noticeable increase in performance when I first started taking it) coupled with the science/research/videos I've seen that I'm sold on it. Plus it's cheap to make so it's not like I'm out anything unlike the high-priced name brand preworkouts.

While I don't think this (or anything for that matter) will make you immediately faster it will increase the other items you mentioned which will allow you to train better and longer which, if you focus your efforts properly, could make you faster in the long run. Nothing is going to be an instant result though other than some high-end technique work if you have some glaring inefficiencies.

Just my opinion worth exactly what you paid for it.