Once upon a time I took pre-workout powders, primarily because I wanted to see if they worked and was interested if there would be a discernible intra workout impact particularly on the back of a 12 hour day. Bottom line my view is they are redundant!
Invariably each concoction has some combination of the following:
- Anti-oxidants vitamin E, ALA etc well already take E so dont require an additional dose
- Endurance factors: Beta-alanine, Citrulline Malate, now last time I looked I'm a strength athlete and getting through 45 mins should require additional supplementation. Generally Beta-alanine helps endurance for higher reps and though studies show some efficacy I work most of my hard sets in the 1-5 range
- Cognitive enhancement: Some form of caffeine derivative. Funny I remember when No-explode first hit the market in ready to drink form and all those knuckle heads where shotgunning the whole bottle followed shortly after by shitting on the toilet and then lack of sleep 5 hours later!
Well happy to say my workout nutrition, note I don't use the fancy 'peri' term as it shits me (say pre and post!) consists of black coffee 40 mins out, protein during workout (maybe whey, often milk) with some carbs and that's it.
Guess what it doesn't cost me the ridiculous prices spotty teenagers pay at the local GNC and seems to do the trick!
Don't be fooled by the Niacin flush and Beta Alanine tingle, spend your money on the equivalent 10 kgs of quality beef premium mince for the month it will contribute much more to mass and strength!
Stay Strong
Thomo
Thomo
"spend your money on the equivalent 10 kgs of quality beef premium mince for the month it will contribute much more to mass and strength!"
ReplyDeleteTwist my arm why don't you. ;o)
I think it is easy to be seduced by supplements. They do give a feeling of 'covering all bases' but often we don't review the opportunity cost. Guys that spend $200k on supplements a month often have less than stellar nutrition and skimp on the big meals. I'd rather get the primary quality nutrition and then see how many $$$ are available for discretionary supplement spending. Even then I would keep it to protein, fish oils and creatine.
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