If you’re an athlete who has been wanting to run longer and perform better while running, there are all kinds of recommendations on the Internet about how you can do that. One of the frequently occurring suggestions is to use a pre-workout prior to your run, so as to provide an energy burst right at the time you’re planning your workout.
There’s no question that a good pre-workout could improve your running session dramatically, but you have to be careful about which pre-workout to select to assist your workout routine. There are now literally hundreds of supplements on the market and not all of them are actually designed to give your workout the required boost.
Some of them contain the wrong ingredients for delivering that extra energy you need, some make ridiculous claims about their effectiveness, and some actually include ingredients that will cause you harm rather than help you. Because there’s so much variability among the numerous pre-workouts on the market, it has been necessary to research them and come up with pre-workout supplements that are really effective.
Those are the products that can be trusted to actually live up to their claims and provide the extra energy for your intense workout. In addition, most of these elite products will also allow you to come down from your workout intensity gradually, rather than going through a crash-and-burn session where you’re completely exhausted afterward.
If you were to choose any of the pre-workouts listed below, you wouldn’t go wrong. It’s just a question of which one of them works best for your goals and objectives, and which one suits your needs the best.
XWERKS Ignite
This supplement is universally acknowledged to be the King of the Hill, and it delivers focus and concentration that will keep you thinking about your performance the entire time you’re working out. The manufacturers of this product designed it with maximum performance in mind, and they included a synergistic blend of ingredients that significantly increase your stamina, focus, and your energy level.
This will all help you to work out more intensely, and for a longer period of time. The company shuns the use of proprietary blends, and therefore clearly lists all ingredients and dosages on the product label. You can count on all ingredients being scientifically backed, so that they will help you maximize every session you start.
The stated intention of the manufacturers was to provide a product that delivers a long-lasting, refreshing supply of energy without simply overwhelming the body with a number of different stimulants that temporarily boost energy. Some of the ingredients found in this product deliver nootropic benefits, and you can count on energy that will last throughout your workout and beyond.
These ingredients include l-tyrosine, carnosyn beta-alanine, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, rhodiola, and a useful amount of caffeine. Altogether, the blend of ingredients provides continuous energy all throughout your workout, and the nootropic ingredients boost your mental functions such that you can concentrate on your training to the utmost.
You’ll also be able to sustain your workout for a longer period of time, completing longer running sessions, and then recovering faster than with any other work pre-workout. This company has acquired a strong reputation for using scientifically proven ingredients, and that’s one reason why they’re at the top of the heap in the pre-workout market.
This is the ideal product for anyone who is serious about their long distance running, and who wants to take their fitness to the next level. You can even enjoy several delicious foods when using this product, for instance watermelon, blue raspberry, orange, or green apple.
Pre Lab Pro
This is a pre-workout implementation that supports your running session in a number of different ways. If you were to read the content on the manufacturer’s website, you would find that the formula was designed to improve strength and stamina, while also contributing to your endurance and boosting your immediate speed rate.
It also provides significant benefits when you’ve reached the recovery phase of your workout, helping you to get back to normal much faster than with many other pre-workouts. Some of the unique ingredients included in this formula are designed to deliver nootropic benefits and to support homeostasis.
This is one of the more affordably priced supplements on the market, it is available in a pleasing berry flavor. This pre-workout has quickly come to be strongly favored in the industry, partly because of its excellent taste and partly because customers know they can totally rely on the list of ingredients and dosages.
The company has gone to great lengths to ensure that both are strongly certified by a third party, so that all consumers can have total reliance on what’s included. Some of the most useful ingredients in this formula include beetroot powder which boosts your nitric oxide levels, natural caffeine, l-theanine and a setria blend which delivers even more nitric oxide to the formula.
Because of its strong certification and excellent list of ingredients, this pre-workout supplement gets included in our top eight performers in the category.
CrazyBulk Intensive Pre-Train
CrazyBulk has become one of the most popular brand names in the entire pre-workout industry. If you’re looking for a high-quality alternative to taking steroids, this would be a great choice for you. The pre-train formula marketed by CrazyBulk has helped to establish the stellar reputation of the company, as it delivers high intensity training, lower levels of fatigue, and lasting energy, amongst a number of other desirable benefits.
The formula also includes the caffeine booster known as EnExtra, along with a number of other high-quality ingredients. Unique to this list of elite products, the manufacturer has also included KSM-66 ashwagandha extract, which also provides a major boost to your workout performance. The manufacturer states that this supplement should be taken daily by runners to increase their focus, and to enjoy a higher energy level when engaging in either long-distance running or sprinting workouts.
It will also delay the effects of fatigue until well after the workout, so that you can maximize your performance while running. The manufacturers will ship this product anywhere in the world, and since it’s one of the most affordable priced on the marketplace, it has quickly become one of the supplements of choice for serious runners.
If you’re looking for an affordable-priced product that delivers on all fronts, and is marketed by a respected manufacturer, this would be an ideal choice for you.
TestoPrime
Testo Prime is one of the more unique products in the category, in that it attempts to provide a huge boost in two different ways. Of course, it’s a very effective pre-workout supplement in its own right, but it also delivers an all-natural testosterone booster for males who are bothered by low testosterone.
To deliver benefits in this area, the product includes natural ingredients that help with protein synthesis, and which also target hormone levels in your body. The manufacturer claims that it is an excellent product for increasing protein synthesis, burning fat, boosting mental and physical energy, and significantly adding to your level of motivation.
It certainly delivers on the energy boost you need to get through a rigorous workout, and this product has sustained its popularity in the marketplace on the strength of its ability to enhance your testosterone level. If you are a person who’s interested in boosting performance during your running sessions, and would also like to increase your testosterone level gradually, this product provides the perfect way to do that.
Cellucor Pre-Workout Powder
This was one of the very first pre-workouts to hit the market, and you may have used it, or you may know someone who has used it. Given that it’s been around such a long time, almost everyone knows someone that at least started out using this product as a supplement for workouts. For more than a decade now, the manufacturers have been delivering high-quality products to consumers, and for that reason they have acquired a reputation of being one of the best supplement manufacturers in the marketplace.
Every portion of product that you ingest includes carnosyn beta alanine, arginine, creatine, and a liberal portion of caffeine to deliver a quick energy boost. These are all proven ingredients which contribute to better workouts and faster recovery times. This is also one of the more affordable products on the market, and that’s another reason for its continuing popularity. If you’re looking for a pre-workout product that can be highly effective and has stood the test of time, this might be an excellent choice for you.
Cellucor C4 Extreme
This is considered by the manufacturers to be the extreme version of its pre-workout product and is different from the original formula in several ways. If you’re looking for the extreme version, that would be the one that delivers the absolute maximum energy and endurance. There is no sugar, no additives, and no calories included in this formula.
Instead, you’ll find the same ingredients as with the original formula, e.g. caffeine, creatine, beta alanine, and arginine. These ingredients are enough to establish the formula among the very best workout supplements in the marketplace currently. As you might expect, there is a stronger dose of each of these ingredients included than you would find in the original blend of the same product.
As an example, the extreme version of this product delivers an extra 200 mg of caffeine, and 2 extra grams of beta alanine, in effect, a full 25% more than the dosage level of the original product. On top of all the other benefits it delivers, the extreme blend is also one of the least expensive products available today.
You just can’t go wrong making a purchase of this product, because you have the backing of one of the pre-eminent manufacturers, and the added confidence of having a powerful list of ingredients in significant doses.
Transparent Labs Pre-series Bulk Pre-Workout
This is another manufacturer that is well respected in the pre-workout industry, and it has taken great pains to nurture that excellent reputation amongst its followers. The company markets a whole range of bodybuilding supplements, all of which provide benefits that help consumers reach their goals and objectives with regard to fitness.
In the pre-workout supplement category, Transparent Labs markets six different products which you may want to consider. Some are a flat-out energy boost, while others are designed to increase muscle mass and muscle endurance. Some products in the category are also designed to help you lose weight, and some include stimulants while others have none at all.
Whereas many manufacturers tend to market standalone products which are designed to simply increase your workout performance, Transparent Labs has developed a number of different formulas which help you achieve very specific goals.
The ingredients included in each of their formulas have been certified, and are made available in fairly heavy doses. That makes their lineup of products very impressive, and it provides you with a number of different choices, depending on what your workout goals are.
Blackwolf Pre-Workout
This is a product that may not enjoy the popularity of some of the other strong brand names, but it does have a strong list of certified ingredients, and the product is also marketed in a number of very appealing flavors. Part of the reason for its lesser popularity is the fact that it’s a fairly new product to hit the marketplace.
While its manufacturer has been around for decades, it is based primarily in the United Kingdom, and that’s another reason why it has been slow to catch on in this country. Users of the product find that it has three terrific, tasty flavors, those being green apple, orange, and blue raspberry. The product is also marketed with caffeine and without, so if you’re looking for a stimulant-free supplement, you can choose the non-caffeine version of this product.
Every portion of the product ingested includes a significant dosage of l-Arginine, l-citrulline, beta-alanine, l-tyrosine and creatine. This powerful list of ingredients makes it one of the best options in the marketplace, and since they’re all included in significant dosages, you’ll get a healthy dose of each one of these useful ingredients.
If you choose to purchase the caffeinated version of the product, you will also get 200 mg of caffeine, which delivers a strong energy boost for your running workout.
Do pre workouts help your running regimen?
Yes, they do. A good pre-workout will deliver a strong energy boost, and it will also help to prevent an accumulation of lactic acid in your muscles. That lactic acid is what’s responsible for making your muscles feel fatigued and unwilling to perform. One thing you should be aware of however, is the fact that when you take a supplement every single day before a workout, you might lose some of the energy boost you originally felt when using the product.
For that reason, it might be more effective for you to take your pre-workout supplement every other day or every third day, just to avoid building up tolerance to it. If you use your pre-workout wisely like this, you’ll find that it consistently delivers the energy boost you’re looking for, and aids in your recovery process after a strenuous workout.
When looking for a good pre-workout to boost your running passions, there are some standard ingredients you should be looking for on the product label. Beta-alanine is an important amino acid which helps you sustain energy and delivers greater endurance for longer runs. It will also help to avoid muscle fatigue that can inhibit your workouts.
Creatine is an ingredient which helps build muscle strength and can be used by both males and females. It also has the ability to deliver short-term energy for sprinters, while assisting with more sustained supplies of energy such as are needed by long distance runners.
Caffeine is a universal ingredient included in most supplements and of course it’s designed to deliver an immediate boost of energy. It is also capable of improving workouts for both sprinters and long-distance runners, because it delivers both a short-term boost and a longer-term sustained energy supply. You can also count on it staving off the effects of fatigue, so that it doesn’t slow down your running effort.
Branched-chain amino acids are another good ingredient to look for on the product label, because these manage protein levels in your body, and can help you to avoid that soreness which typically comes the next day after a workout. Included in this group of amino acids are valine, leucine, and isoleucine.
When you’re looking for the right ingredients in your pre-workout, you should also be sure that each of these ingredients is included at the right dosage. For caffeine, that would be somewhere in the range of 200 to 500 mg, for BCAAs, 5 to 20 grams, for creatine it would also be 5 to 20 grams, and for beta-alanine, you should have a dosage somewhere between 1.5 and 5 grams.
Benefits of pre-workout supplements for running
There are actually quite a few benefits provided by a good pre-workout to a serious runner. First of all, you’ll be able to enjoy increased energy when engaging in either sprint-type workouts or long-distance runs. That can be crucial for helping you to maximize your workout every time you lace up your running shoes. If you don’t have the right energy level when approaching either one of these types of workouts, you simply won’t be able to perform at your best, and that means you won’t be increasing your strength or stamina because you’re only going through a lackluster workout.
Another benefit is to minimize the effects of soreness after a workout. When you can avoid a buildup of lactic acid in your muscles, much of the soreness that you would otherwise feel from a strong workout can be avoided. Since you are significantly stressing a great many of the muscles in your legs, chest, and arms, it’s only natural that you would feel some level of soreness after a heavy workout. Much of this can be avoided by taking a good pre-workout supplement which has been specifically formulated to minimize the effects of such soreness.
Muscle strength is another benefit delivered by a good pre-workout supplement, and many runners are definitely looking to improve muscle strength in their workouts. When you build muscle strength through each workout, that will equip you to perform even better the next time, because you’ll have a more powerful group of muscles to carry you through more strenuous workouts.
Another benefit which you may not have been aware of is the fact that a good supplement can reduce the feeling of ‘perceived effort’. What’s meant by this is the fact that you exaggerate in your mind the effects of a strong workout, whereas in truth it may not be impacting your muscles as strongly as you think. When you feel you are exerting yourself to the maximum, and it’s still not as effective a workout as you know you’re capable of, that means your perceived effort is higher, whereas your actual results don’t measure up. A great pre-workout supplement can help you to feel like you’re not going all out, whereas you are actually achieving significant results.
Another big benefit of a really good pre-workout is to increase the energy level for your muscle cells. The more energy your muscles have, the better able they’ll be to deliver a strong performance when you go on a long run, or when you’re engaging in sprint workouts. Your whole workout depends on energy level, and when your muscles have a higher energy level, it stands to reason they will be able to perform better and achieve maximum results.
One final benefit delivered by a good pre-workout is that it provides a significant boost to your metabolism. If you’re someone who is looking to burn calories while also getting in a strong stamina-building session, this is something you should make sure to include in your supplement formula. By boosting your metabolism, you’ll burn calories at a faster rate, and that means you can lose a little more weight from each running session than you would otherwise. Once your metabolism has been boosted for a running session, it will stay at an elevated level for a while afterward, and this will also contribute to the fat-burning process.
The beauty of engaging in running sessions and taking pre-workout supplements to improve your sessions is that runners of any level can benefit significantly. It’s not only elite athletes and world-class runners who receive the most benefits from a pre-workout, but runners of all classes can expect a performance boost from taking a pre-workout.
For everyone who ingests these products, it will supply an energy boost and strong support for your muscles. While pre-workouts are not specifically designed for weight loss in most cases, it can definitely have that effect if you schedule your workouts frequently enough, and you really make a good effort during each session.
When you have started a regular program of running and exercising, you may also notice that one other benefit you get from it is increased self-confidence. The fact that you are able to perform at such a high physical level will give you much greater confidence in yourself, and you’ll feel like a new person, because your physical capability has grown significantly.
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Disclaimer:
Please understand that any advice or guidelines revealed here are not even remotely substitutes for sound medical or financial advice from a licensed healthcare provider or certified financial advisor. Make sure to consult with a professional physician or financial consultant before making any purchasing decision if you use medications or have concerns following the review details shared above. Individual results may vary as the statements regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration or Health Canada. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA, or Health Canada approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or provide any kind of get-rich money scheme.
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