Have you ever considered using an essential pre-workout powder? Something that is foundational in nature and great for every gym session. Not something that will keep you awake for a week or includes the kitchen sink. But something that is great for beginners, advanced lifters, and athletes alike.
It's no secret that the pre-workout market is saturated with products that promise lightning in a jar for energy and have every ingredient you can think of in the formula. But what if you just want a good old essential pre-workout that gets the job done and doesn't break the bank?
In this article, we are going to break down what you should look for in an essential pre-workout supplement, what they are good for, and some of the ingredients you need to ensure are in the formula to help you get the best results possible.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to treat or diagnose any condition. It is recommended that you speak with your doctor before starting any exercise program, changing your daily nutrition, or adding any supplements to your regimen.
What is an Essential Pre-Workout Powder?
An essential pre-workout powder is a base or foundational supplement that contains ingredients that every pre-workout supplement should have. While many hardcore lifters would call it "basic," the purpose of an essential pre-workout is to be perfect for every gym session and not just for those hardcore training sessions where you're pushing your 1 rep max.
For example, when we formulated NutraBio Base Pre-Workout, we had ingredients that were non-negotiables that absolutely had to be included, such as L-Citrulline, Beta Alanine, Betaine, Tyrosine, Taurine, and Caffeine.
Building a solid foundational pre-workout will allow you to formulate and stack other products or ingredients to suit your wants and needs. For example, NutraBio Base Pre-Workout has everything you need, but if you want to add something like creatine monohydrate, you can easily do so.
NutraBio Base Pre-Workout is truly an essential pre-workout that has everything needed to make your workouts better. With 4g of L-Citrulline, 3.2g of Beta Alanine, and 200mg of Caffeine, it's perfect for everyone from beginners to avid lifters.
This pre-workout comes in three tasty flavors and provides long-lasting energy without any unnecessary stuff thrown in.
What Are Some Key Ingredients of an Essential Pre-Workout?
An ideal essential pre-workout should always contain key ingredients like Caffeine, L-Citrulline, and Beta-Alanine. Each ingredient plays a crucial role in boosting energy levels, enhancing blood flow and muscle pumps, as well as increasing endurance during training sessions.
Below, let's break down some of these key ingredients in a little more detail.
1. Caffeine Allows You to Push Harder
Caffeine plays a big part in pre-workouts. You'll typically see an essential pre-workout adding around 200mg of Caffeine to their formula. This helps you stay alert and feel less tired during workouts — allowing you to push yourself every rep.
Additionally, Caffeine helps keep you energized so that you can start and finish your workout with the same energy level.
2. L-Citrulline is a Muscle Pump Must
Next on the list is L-Citrulline. L-Citrulline is a must-have in every essential pre-workout, and it's there for a good reason. Packing 4g per serving, this powerhouse boosts blood flow and feeds your muscles every gym session.
More blood being pushed out to your muscles means more oxygen and nutrients getting to where they need to go. This helps you get better pumps and lets you work out harder and longer.
We've seen firsthand how L-Citrulline transforms gym sessions. With it, our endurance shoots up, allowing us to seemingly push ourselves almost effortlessly. You feel the difference from the first rep to the last, making every workout count.
3. Beta-Alanine for Better Performance
Beta-alanine is a powerful ingredient in an essential pre-workout, helping to reduce muscle fatigue and boost endurance during intense workouts. With 3.2g of beta-alanine packed in each scoop, it's crafted to help you power through plateaus and push your limits with ease.
So, if you're looking to enhance your workout but not get over-stimulated, an essential pre-workout ensures you have a great workout every time.
What Are the Advantages of Using an Essential Pre-Workout Before Every Gym Session?
Personally, I love a good essential pre-workout before my workouts. I push myself hard in the gym despite getting up in age, but that doesn't stop me from getting after it. I need a foundational supplement that can help me get the most out of my gym sessions.
An essential pre-workout should help boost your energy, increase endurance, and enhance blood flow. Below breaks down why each of these traits is important.
1. Boost Energy Levels
An essential pre-workout powder that contains around 200mg of Caffeine is very straightforward — it provides you with a burst of energy. It enables us to push through our workouts from beginning to end. As a result, we experience strength and concentration throughout every gym session.
2. Increase Endurance
Increasing endurance is vital for excelling in intense workout sessions. Ingredients like Beta-Alanine and L-Tyrosine are critical ingredients in an essential pre-workout to boost endurance, allowing you to push yourself throughout your entire training session without hitting the wall.
3. Enhance Blood Flow and Muscle Pumps
To optimize blood flow and muscle pumps, an essential pre-workout with 4g of L-Citrulline along with Betaine is important. This powerful combination helps increase nitric oxide levels in the body, promoting improved blood circulation and delivering more oxygen and nutrients to muscles during exercise — helping you achieve a muscle pump that provides added muscle fullness and volumization.
How to Choose the Perfect Essential Pre-Workout Powder
Selecting the perfect essential pre-workout supplement is crucial for achieving the results you're looking for. The pre-workout should absolutely align with your fitness goals and offer transparent ingredient quality. This ensures you get the most effective and safe supplement to support your workouts without compromising on health.
At NutraBio, we are an open book. What you see is what you get with full transparency and the highest quality ingredients possible — and our Base Pre-Workout is no exception.
Below are some things you need to consider before choosing an essential pre-workout powder.
1. Align with Your Fitness Goals
When choosing an essential pre-workout, ensuring it aligns with your fitness goals is vital. Consider the ingredients in the supplement and how they can support your specific workout objectives. Look for high-quality ingredients like Caffeine to boost energy levels and focus, L-Citrulline for improved endurance and muscle pumps, and Beta-Alanine to fight fatigue and maximize workout performance.
Assessing how these ingredients match your fitness goals is crucial in selecting the perfect essential pre-workout supplement. For instance, if you're trying to bulk, the last thing you would want is a pre-workout with thermogenic properties in it that will increase your metabolic rate more than what already naturally happens from exercise and a clean diet.
2. Assess Ingredient Quality and Transparency
Consumers are getting smarter about supplement labels and are better educated on what to look for. When looking at an essential pre-workout, carefully check the ingredient quality and transparency. Are there proprietary blends? If so — RUN.
At NutraBio, we want to ensure that the product contains the right amounts of essential components like 4g L-Citrulline, 3.2g Beta Alanine, and 200mg Caffeine. We even allow you to look up the lab results on the batch you received so that you feel confident in what you purchased and what the label says is exactly what you're putting into your body.
The NutraBio Base Pre-Workout stands out with its fully dosed formula and known high-powered ingredients — making it an ideal choice for everyone from beginners to elite athletes and everything in between.
NutraBio Base Pre-Workout is the PERFECT Essential Pre-Workout
NutraBio Base Pre-Workout is the ultimate choice for maximizing your gym performance. It's packed with essential ingredients to boost energy, endurance, and muscle pumps for all fitness levels.
This foundational formula comes in three delicious flavors and can be stacked with individual ingredients like creatine to further enhance the benefits and results. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned lifter, our essential pre-workout has everything you need and nothing less.
Try NutraBio Base Pre-Workout for yourself and experience why this is the best essential pre-workout on the market to maximize results at an incredibly affordable price!
Author:
Matt Weik, BS, CSCS, CPT, CSN
