We’ve all been there…you start your day off looking forward to the workout you have planned for later in the day but your excitement (and energy) start to dwindle as the day goes by.
The benefits and importance of a healthy diet and proper nutrition for exercise are well-known and post workout supplements have been widely studied. However, less is known about the effects of supplementation before a workout. Recent research suggests that the pre-workout supplement might be even more important than post-workout supplementation.
Pre-Workout Supplement Research
Many athletes consume supplements before a workout in hopes of increasing their power and improving their reaction time. Studies claim that pre-workout supplements can actually improve perceived feelings of focus, energy and alertness. This can result in an improvement in performance by reducing feelings of fatigue and actual fatigue.
Supplement Ingredients
Extreme Edge from Bluebonnet is one of our most popular pre-workout supplement lines. Better Nutrition Magazine named the Extreme Edge line a winner in its Best of Supplements Awards in 2012.
It contains this unique blend of ingredients designed to improve workout performance:
- Caffeine
- Â A stimulant that can help increase overall energy and reduce fatigue during exercise. Caffeine helps to mobilize fat stores and promotes the use of fat as fuel. This saves glycogen which is then available during the end stages of a workout where fatigue usually sets in. Caffeine may also help lower your perceived exertion and reduce your muscle pain during exercise.
- L-Arginine
- An amino acid that may help improve overall power and muscular endurance. Arginine plays an important role in muscle growth, fat reduction and immune system health. L-arginine works by increasing blood flow to the muscles which stimulates muscle growth. This increased blood flow can lead to quicker muscle repair after a heavy workout.
- Creatine
- Commonly used by athletes and body builders looking to gain muscle mass and improved athletic performance. Evidence suggests that short term creatine use can improve performance in high-intensity exercise.
- Taurine
- An amino acid that supports enhanced sport performance. Taurine may help improve mental performance by improving attention and verbal reasoning. It also may improve athletic performance by increasing the amount of time until exhaustion sets in.
Workout Benefits
- Increased energy without a crash later on during the workout.
- Improved mental focus.
- Greater blood flow to muscles resulting in improved performance.
- Recharge muscles to quickly reduce fatigue.
If your workouts have been lacking lately, consider trying a pre-workout supplement and see how it benefits you!
The Blender Bottle SportMixer is one of our most popular products for mixing sports and supplement drinks. It’s a fast, easy way to mix powdered drinks. You can also check out our complete line of sports and exercise nutrition supplements. We have a large variety of amino acid, protein and other supplements designed specifically for athletes.
