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Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Pre-workouts = HUGE waste of investment

Pre-workouts are a mockery of the fitness family. They are great at inflating your mindset and surging you with energy for the workout. But in the long run, they are a complete and utter waste of your time and money. 



A few years ago, back in freshman year of college. The norm was to chug a pre-workout before you rage out in the gym. It was a great cheat to getting more reps out of my workout. At the time I was using a popular pre-workout called Jack3d.

I’m not that old, I’m sure many of you remember this one. Man I thought I could shoulder press lions with ease. 

The popularity of Jack3d decreased after a 2013 decision from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, banned the active supplement DMAA or 1,3 dimethylamylamine and virtually making it illegal. DMAA has been reported to have adverse effects such as depression, vomiting, loss of consciousness, and even death.

But hey, that didn’t stop me!

The average premium pre-workout is about 112 grams which is 14 servings. Or if you’re an addict, then you’d go for the larger 240 grams which is about 30 servings.  Depending on how much you mix before the gym you can get about 25-32 workouts in there.

At an average of 29.99 USD you could definitely be saving some money. But cash money is not my beef with pre-workouts.

What stopped me from taking pre-workouts is the fact on how useless it actually is. Pre-workouts are Inflators.  Do you know what that means? They inflate your lifting mindset and make you think that you are naturally lifting heavier weight or doing extra reps on your own. Well hey there buddy, you indeed are not. 

A great example of inflators is the mineral and oil cocktail used over in Brazil. It is injected into the muscles. Inflating them as if they actually have big muscles. Until they stop injecting themselves or they die from stupidity.


This guy is a F***ing idiot. I digress.

Pre-workouts will inflate your “gym brain” making you think you can lift whatever you set your mind on. But once that bottle of pre-workout is all done and you haven’t re-upped, something happens.

You go back to normal.

Say bye-bye to surges of energy and gains galore. Many of the pre-workouts also become addictive. You may not know it right away, but you will gain a dependency on pre-workouts. And once you stop using them, you will lose energy, strength, and motivation.

You’ll sit there on that bench or squat rack asking yourself 
Why can’t I lift this?”
You don’t know what’s wrong since you were doing so well last week. Well I don’t want to bust your bubble, but your inflator is no longer with you.

Once you’ve become accustomed to pre-workouts, then it becomes an obsession. You need it, you want it, so then you’ll buy it and keep blowing away your money and inflating yourself with false hope.

Plus if you drink coffee throughout the day and then have a pre-workout at night, do you realize how much stress you’re putting on your heart? You might be looking good on the outside, but your insides are deteriorating. 

Let us not even start to mention the amount of pre-workouts that have become or have had an ingredient become illegal
  • Craze (contains an ingredient derived from methamphetamine)
  • OxyELITE pro (has been linked to 24 cases of liver failure and one death) 
  • Mesomorph (Geranium oil extract)
  • 1MR
  • Napalm
  • NOX Pump 
  • HydroxyStim 
  • Full list can be seen here 
But hey guys I get it. You just worked a 10 hour day, and you’re not 21 years old anymore. You need that little extra push to hit the gym after work. Since I’m all in favor for all natural. Here are a few suggestions to help you out.


      Alternatives

  1. Eat slow burning carbohydrates and sugars throughout the day (almonds, peanuts, sweet potatoes, barley, rolled or steel-cut oats, oat bran, whole wheat or pumpernickel bread, and pasta.)
  2. Fuel your body with food right before you work out.
  3. Save that 5th cup of coffee you were going to have earlier, for right before you go to the gym. 
  4. Drink TEA! Just because I love tea and it’s a better option to coffee and still has caffeine.
  5. Drink a mass gainer or Protein shake. Even though I do not, I have done this method in the past. You’d be surprised by the amount of energy you get from having one before the workout versus after.
Pre-workouts are an absolutely complete waste of time. Stop being a tool.

If you want to get to your fitness goals, all you need is persistence to achieve that goal. And yes you’re going to need energy to get there but you can easily gain that energy from eating right. Simply eating 30 minutes to an hour prior to your workout.  At least that’s what I do, and so far it has been showing results.

Caveat, I’m refereeing to a small meal or snack filled with slow burning sugars and complex carbohydrates. Sorry, there is no magic pill or powder. Don’t be a dumbass.


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