Pre-workout nutrition is crucial to your performance in the gym. I pay special attention to all the nutrients that I take in the period of 2-3 hours before working out, since this is the time when you have the opportunity to either supercharge your body or fail your training. Knowledge and experience has lead me to these important factors that can influence the outcome of your training. Here we go…
1. No carb meals 2-3 hours before training – I personally prefer no carbs right before training, since carbohydrates create an insulin spike, which in turn cause you to feel sleepy. This is the last thing you would want happening when you are about to go to the gym. I suggest your last carb meal to be at least 3 hours before training. Try it for yourself and you will feel much more energy, mental focus and nervous sensitivity.
2. Pre-workout Complexes – Most well known pre-workout products are the so called nitric boosters, since they are based on arginine as a main ingredient, which improves blood flow to the working muscles and cause vasodilation – an increased volume of blood vessels due to improves blood flow to the localized areas. I suggest reading the labels of such products very well and making an educated choice. My advice is to look for products that contain the following ingredients: beta-alanine, creatine, arginine, bcaa and caffeine. These are the most worthy in terms of effect nutrients. Be careful, because most of these pre-workout products have very shiny covers and are powerfully advertised, but in reality don’t have a very good choice of ingredients and are dosed low. Take it approximately 30 minutes before working out.
3. Drink Coffee – While many pre-workout products have caffeine inside I strongly suggest you drink a quality coffee, since there are very few substances beating caffeine in terms of efficacy. Drink it after your pre-workout booster. A small cup of coffee is enough.
4. Take BCAA – Branched-chain amino acids are crucial to muscular performance, thus their consumption is strongly advised. They are present in some pre-workout products, but unfortunately they are expensive and are dosed very low. Take 5-10 grams of BCAA along with you other supplements.
5. Liquid Carb/Isotonic drink – As you’ve already read above, I do not recommend carbs before training, but if you are bulking and want to gain mass the combination of coffee, isotonic drink and pre-workout booster works very powerfully. I suggest trying Gatorade/Powerade/Isostar type of drink. Start drinking it 10 minutes before your workout and make sure you do more repetitions. Combined with coffee, bcaa and no-booster, this will yield a powerful combo, which will increase your strength and pump significantly. You will be able to train more intensely, longer and harder.
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