A hot topic that many people ask us about is pre-workout supplements. Do you really need to take them? How will they benefit you if you are a healthy person? And, how does one find the best pre-workout product out there on the market?
No matter if you are a professional athlete or simply want to improve personal fitness, it’s often hard to find supplements suited to your specific needs and goals.
Of all the supplements you take to support your active lifestyle, the pre-workout you choose is critical. Finding a good pre-workout supplement can be tough, but it's a lot easier if you know what to look for.
Truth is, we’re here to help you know what you’re buying into. It’s easy to watch beautiful athletes and bodybuilders or some well-known fitness influencer go on about his or her favorite pre-workout. But is it right for you?
This article will break down the most important facts about pre-workouts in detail. We hope that by the end of reading it, you can confidently purchase the product that you need, and that will help you reap the biggest benefits.
Confidence + Knowledge + Work = Benefits!
Let’s make one thing clear from the start: Supplements are not a Magic.
Remember that your fitness habits — finding a good workout program, training right, eating the proper diet, and having an overall wholesome, healthy lifestyle — these are the essentials.
Everything else is secondary.
What are the Three Essentials? At 1UP Nutrition, we like to break down the essentials to simplify your fitness journey. They are the Top 3 Things we think you should focus on:
- Proper Training
This means doing the workouts that are right for your body, finding a coach who can help you on your journey, and surrounding yourself with the kind of people who will encourage your goals and fitness lifestyle.
- Proper Nutrition
Whether you are taking protein bars, natural vegan products, fat burners, or testosterone boosters, none of them will work if your diet is messed up. Stay on top of your fitness goals by putting nutrition as a top priority.
- Proper Rest
You may be smashing it in the gym, but then going home and wasting time on digital devices. Perhaps it is hampering your sleep and causing a lack of rest. If this sounds familiar, then it's one step forward and two steps back every time you train.
Taking It to the Next Level
Once you have those three things covered, that’s when you can start thinking about supplements.
The idea of a pre-workout is to ramp up and take your training to the next level by energizing you. Yes, there are both natural and man-made ingredients in most pre-workout powders or shakes. The bottom line is knowing what your body needs and can handle.
The Truth About the Fitness Industry and Supplements
Many companies put the cheapest ingredients and proprietary blends together, hoping you will buy into them. Most companies sell separately a stim pre-workout and a pump pre-workout so people can spend double the money and buy both.
But you know what? Everyone who’s done the research realizes that a person can get both in one product.
The sad truth is, these are companies that do not care about the best results. By selling under dosed products they care about making the largest profit margin.
The question is not if the ingredients inside the products are effective, they are. But they must be takes at the right proper high dose.
What Goes Into a Good Pre-Workout?
When we decided to make a pre-workout supplement, we knew we wanted to give you, our tribe members, the honest truth, along with all the nutrients you deserve. So here’s the deal:
Our pre-workouts are non-proprietary properly dosed. (Not under dosed, as some might manufacture to cut corners.) Our products have all fully disclosed and fully transparent labels.
You know exactly what you pay for with us — including absolutely no hidden proprietary blends with dubious names or unknown ingredients!
Unlike most mostly cheat stim-based pre-workouts with proprietary blends, we offer a complete pre-workout that is all-in-one. It covers not only energy and focus but also the most important part: The Pump and Endurance.
Our Solution: An All-in-One (Energy, Focus, and Pump and Endurance)
The top supplements in the world are effective because they are backed by scientific research and real proof. If you guys have seen our YouTube videos or listened in on our podcasts, you know us.
You know how important it is that we make sure you are only putting the best supplements into the body you are working towards.
Let’s Delve Into This Further…
This covers those four components you need to aim for: energy, focus and pump, and endurance.
Energy
You know that to get the most out of your workouts, maximum performance is required. However, at the rate that most people are balancing life these days, most of us are barely hanging in there.
Focus
When you're working out, your mind can't be drifting. You've gotta have a clear focus, and that will translate into the best workout experience. When your mind and body are in sync, that is when you get results.
Pump
Everyone wants to achieve maximum muscular growth. But for this, you need pump. However, it requires more than just heavy lifting. You must be sure that you are enabling sufficient oxygen and blood flow to the working
muscles. A muscle that does not receive adequate oxygen will give in, limiting the intensity of an exercise.
Endurance
What do we mean by endurance? How long and how hard those muscles are able to work without fatigue. Working muscles need oxygen, nutrients, and elimination of waste such as lactic acid and carbon dioxide.
We are exhausted — from daily stress, from work, by relationships, and because of other personal reasons. You may have started the day with a coffee, but by the time you hit the gym after a long day of work, your energy is sapped. And we know some of you have families and kids at home, mouths to feed, extra energy all exerted. Life is tiring on most days!
Fitness Foundations for Men and Women
1UP Nutrition products for Men and Women were designed with the athletic body in mind. And at the core foundation of our fitness products, we wanted to ensure that the four main things a pre-workout should achieve were all present.
The harder you work out, the better the results. And with the right pre-workout, a person will get the most out of their workout, guaranteed.
How and Why We Came Up With This Pre Workout All-in-One
We were tired of seeing brands selling less-than-stellar, under-dosed pre-workouts. It seemed they never had enough of the most important and expensive ingredients! Most important essentials like Citrulline Malate (we have a full dose), Carnosyn Beta-Alanine (we have a full dose), Agmatine Sulfate (as AGmass™), and L-Norvaline
We were also tired of seeing companies sell stim pre-workout and a pump pre-workout separately when we knew a person needs both of these in one product to get the best workout.
Our open, non-proprietary formula means you know exactly what you're paying for. Highest quality ingredients Dosed High, Dosed Right!
Here Is Exactly What Goes Into Our All-in-One Pre-Workouts
By now, you should be convinced that reading labels is the first thing you should do. Before ever putting any money down for the promise of a hot, new product on the market, be informed.
But to make it even clearer and more transparent for you, here is a rundown of each of the top 4 ingredients in the pre-workout supplements in our online shop:
Citrulline Malate
Other clinical studies Helps boosts nitric-oxide levels, which can help widen your blood vessels, allowing more oxygen and nutrients to be delivered to your muscles. It also has a role in the removal of ammonia, a compound known to cause exercise-related fatigue, from your blood.
Combining Citrulline with Malate provides the one-two punch of transporting additional blood, oxygen and nutrients to exercising muscles, as well as providing amplified energy to boost performance levels.
Carnosyn Beta Alanine
Is a naturally occurring amino acid that promotes strength, lean body mass and muscular endurance by supporting the pH of the muscle cells. In other words, it will help to buffer the acidic buildup that can occur in muscle, which allows you to maintain your strength, speed, and power for a longer period. In essence, you can train harder and longer because of it.
Agmatine Sulfate (as AGmass™)
Promotes Nitric Oxide Production which helps widen your blood vessels to allow for greater blood flow and a greater amount of nutritional ingredients to your muscles. This in turn provides many benefits, including improved strength, vascularity & muscle fullness.
L-Norvaline works by provides muscle tissue with massive amounts of oxygen and nutrients allowing you to achieve maximum pumps and keep producing nitric oxide throughout your workout. This makes your pumps stronger and longer lasting.
Who Should Take a Pre-Workout?
If you are a beginner when it comes to supplements, it’s okay to go slow and really study all the research. But pre-workouts, as with other aids, come down to you answering the essential questions:
- Do you want to push your limits?
- Do you want maximum results, or are you content with the bare minimum?
- Do you want to know what you are truly capable of?
- Do you want to be better at what you are already doing?
- Do you want a pre-workout supplement that helps you be your best?
- Do you want to really smash out those reps?
- Do you get excited every time you hit the gym?
- Are you willing to go the extra mile, do those extra reps, if it means staying on the right track?
- Are you willing to work harder?
If you are someone who loves to achieve those maximum results from their workout, this is for you. If you are the kind of person who doesn’t like to waste time, and wants to excel NOW, today, look into the pre-workout supplement.
Here is who our product is for: A person who loves to get the maximum results from their workout. A person who doesn’t like to waste time. The harder you work out, the better the results. And with our pre-workout, you as a person will get the most out of your workout.
What About Complete Beginners?
If you have never taken pre workouts before, or are new to the world of supplements, go slow. It is true that beginners must take all supplements with caution, however, as they may not be used to the buzz effect.
If you are a beginner, always read the label on a pre-workout. This is also why we can't emphasize enough the importance of reading labels, and knowing what they mean.
How Often Should You Take a Pre-Workout?
Our fitness ambassador Heidi Somers claims that the pre-workout from 1UP Nutrition gives her more energy, helps her focus, and optimizes performance and endurance. For more firsthand insights, you can watch her workout Vlog here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9jCl9Tb-mU
"On crazy, stressful days, I rely on this. Pre-workouts help you get through your workouts and smash them!”
Who Should Not Take Pre-Workouts?
So, yes, this brings us to the next big question: Who shouldn’t be downing this stuff?
Basically, we don’t recommend it to folks under the age of 18. It's not for pregnant or nursing women, either. Same goes for anyone with a history of high blood pressure or heart disease, or if you are using a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) or any other dietary supplement.
Because this is a super-effective product, you should not take it within three hours of sleep (rest is in our top three essentials for fitness, remember?) and don’t combine it with coffee or other stimulants.
Do not use it on top of prescription drugs or over-the-counter drugs. When in doubt, consult a medical professional.
Listen to what our other ambassador, Gabrielle Ttongol, has to say about them taking control of their fitness:
“ I was tired of feeling uncomfortable in my own skin and decided it was time to make a change. There’s nothing worse than not being happy when you see yourself in the mirror, trying on clothes, or see yourself in photos. So, I knew that something had to change and that at the end of the day it was up to ME to make that change! I hired a coach, changed my mindset and perspective, and dedicated myself to making a change FOR MY HAPPINESS and HEALTH..
I’ve learned a lot throughout the 5 years of my fitness journey and the important takeaways that I always share with others is that great things take TIME, CONSISTENCY is key, ENJOY the process (ups, downs, and everything in between), you can’t be afraid of HARD WORK, and you have to be committed to something for the RIGHT reasons!"⠀
Do you have a similar story? Are you longing to make a change?
Do you sometimes feel that no matter how hard you work, or how much you sacrifice, it's still so hard to attain your goals?
We hear you, and want to help guide you on your fitness journey. It can be a struggle, yes, but it can also be a lot of fun!
Choosing the Pre-Workout That Is Right for YOU
Nowadays, there are endless products available to consumers. Their long lists of ingredients, proportions, and doses can be confusing.
If you tend to doubt the effectiveness of a product, stay away from the ones where the dosage amounts of each ingredient are not disclosed by the manufacturer. Typically, these are the products shown as proprietary “blends.”
You also have a better chance of finding the pre-workout formula that works for your body, based on those needs and goals.
It is completely okay to do some experimenting to find out which products are best suited to your body and its needs. You can also always shoot us an email or join our social pages to find a community committed to quality products and a happy, healthy lifestyle. Don't forget to take care of your recovery so you can keep building muscle even while sleeping!
Check out our podcasts for more fitness inspiration, or search your favorite social media channels by using the hashtags #1UPNUTRITION #BECOMEBETTER.
