If you want to boost your athletic performance and get the most out of your workouts, a pre-workout supplement is a good investment.

In this evidence-based article, you’ll learn why pre-workouts can enhance your results. Plus, you’ll discover what to look for when buying such a product. So let’s dive in! 

Pre-Workout Supplements − What are They and Why Should You Care?

A pre-workout supplement is a product designed to help you get the most out of your workouts. These products can help you in various ways; for example, by:

• Improving blood flow to your muscles
• Increasing strength
• Enhancing endurance
• Supporting hormonal health
• Improving focus
• Boosting energy levels
• Enhancing motivation
• And more

In other words, the goal of a pre-workout supplement is to enhance performance.

So, let's say you can usually do, at most, eight reps with ninety kilos on the bench press. A well-formulated pre-workout may enable you to do one or two more reps with weight.

Such a boost in exercise performance enhances the results you get from your workouts. That's because you'll be able to place a more potent stimulus on your body.

But that's not all. Besides physical benefits, pre-workout supplements also provide psychological benefits.

They improve focus, alertness, and motivation. And that's why pre-workout products are especially beneficial on days when energy levels and motivation are low.

Because while you feel like slacking off on your workouts on such off days, a pre-workout product gives you that extra push to ensure you'll have a high-voltage workout every time you set foot in the gym.

Look for the Following Ingredients When You buy a Pre-Workout Supplement

If you select a pre-workout that contains the following proven ingredients, you’ll maximize your gym performance and results in a safe and efficient way.

Citrulline Malate

Citrulline malate enhances blood flow to your muscles, which helps you get more a severe muscle pump and aids recovery between workouts.(1)(2)

Plus, this compound helps you stimulate more muscle growth by increasing the number of reps you can do with moderately-heavy weights, which it does by helping your body clear ammonia from your muscles.(3)(4)(5)

Olive leaf extract

Even though most pre-workout supplements don’t contain olive leaf extract, this substance is another must-have if you want to maximize your performance.

That’s because olive leaf extract aids glucose metabolism. Human research found that olive leaf extract supplementation increased insulin sensitivity by 15% and reduces insulin secretion by 14%.

These adaptations are beneficial since they help your body burn more fat during your workouts. (Your body can’t burn fat effectively during times of elevated insulin levels.)(6)

L-Arginine

L-arginine is an amino acid that enhances blood flow by increasing nitric oxide levels. That’s why this compound improves exercise efficiency and exercise tolerance.(7)(8)(9)

Beta-alanine

Beta-alanine is an amino acid that helps buffer acidity in your muscles during your workout. That’s beneficial because such a reduction in acidity reduces the detrimental effects of fatigue.

As a result, beta-alanine helps you do more reps when you train within a moderate- to high-rep range (~more than fifteen reps). Plus, beta-alanine aids muscle growth.(10)(11)

Taurine

Taurine is an amino acid that provides many performance-enhancing benefits. For instance, this compound:

• reduces exercise-induced fatigue (12)(13)
• removes waste products from muscles (14)
• protects against muscle damage and oxidative stress (15)(16)(17)
• increases fat burning (18)
• enhances endurance performance (19)
• improves force output (20)

That’s why taurine is a must-have for all pre-workout products.

Caffeine

Caffeine is one of the most effective performance enhancers. This stimulatory compound improves focus, suppresses fatigue, and increases strength, power, and endurance.(21)(22)(23)(24)

The problem,  however, is that most pre-workouts overdose on caffeine, which can cause jitters, anxiety, and an energy-crash after your session. That’s why it’s essential to moderate caffeine intake. (More on that in a minute.)

Beetroot extract

Beetroots are some of the world's best sources of nitrates, which are small molecules that enhance blood flow.(25)

Consuming these nitrates reduces the amount of oxygen your body needs during exercise. That's why these molecules improve endurance performance.(26)(27)(28)

Guarana

Guarana is a Brazilian plant that reduces fatigue and improves focus. Plus, this compound also helps you burn more fat during exercise by speeding up your metabolism.(29)(30)

That’s it.

If you consume a pre-workout supplement that contains these ingredients, you’ll feel more energized and motivated and will experience a better ‘muscle pump.’ Plus, you’ll enjoy improved strength, endurance, and power output.

But Here’s the Problem

If you look at the labels of most pre-workout supplements, you'll see that they promise high-quality marinara with spaghetti while feeding you cheap  ketchup with egg noodles.

Instead of creating a potent pre-workout supplement based on the proven ingredients outlined above, they play smoke and mirror tricks in various ways. For example, most pre-workout supplements:

• Underdose active ingredients. While the label of a product may state that it contains a particular ingredient, the amount that is present is so low that you won't reap the benefits.

• Distort clinical research. While a study may show that a particular ingredient benefits a three-pound hamster, that doesn't mean it'll also benefit a full-grown man.

Plus, supplement companies often fund the research, and while that doesn't always mean the data is incorrect, there are some sketchy studies out there that can be misleading.

• Hide dangerous chemicals behind "proprietary blends." Proprietary blends often contain harmful ingredients that do more harm than good for your body.

In fact, the FDA recently sued a leading pre-workout company for using illegal ingredients that possibly could have caused liver damage, heart attacks, and even deaths.

• Use unethical amounts of caffeine. While caffeine effectively enhances performance, most companies over-dose the compound, which can hurt your health.

It’s a shame many of the supplement manufacturers use such gimmicks. And that's why it’s crucial that you’re careful about which pre-workout supplement you choose − both for your general health and fitness results.

The problem, however, is that it's tough to find a legit pre-workout supplement.

In Fact, We Couldn't Find the Pre-Workout We Wanted Either, So We Created It

Over at Half Human, we don't want to put our health in jeopardy with harmful compounds or smother our adrenal glands by over-dosing on caffeine.

Instead, we longed for an effective pre-workout supplement would maximise gym performance in a safe and affordable manner.

Since the supplement market lacks such a product, we created Half Human Pre-Workout.

We’ve based our product on the scientifically-proven ingredients outlined above and properly dosed them, so that you can get the most out of your workouts in a responsible manner.

Best of all?

Unlike most products, Half Human Pre-Workout doesn’t give you jitters or cause you to crash after your workout.

So, if you’re ready to try this revolutionary pre-workout product and upgrade your results, click here now to give it a try.