Drinking a pre-workout drink and not working out?

June 7, 2018 8:30 AM

I have issues with energy and concentration at work. Recently, a friend informed me that she drink the Beyond Raw: LIT pre-workout in the mornings on her way to work. She stated this helped her get much more done through the day. She brought me some to try, and I love it. I can absolutely tell a difference. I'd like to incorporate this into my daily routine instead of the sugary, carb fueled coffee I have in the mornings. My question is: What is the benefit of this and what harm could I be doing by NOT working out after I drink this? I do work out, but only a few days a week and generally at night, not in the mornings. (This does not work for my schedule with my children, etc) I can't seem to get clear answers on this. I also don't have any friends in the fitness community who can answer this question.

Possible effects/benefits of incorporating this into my daily routine?

posted by Sara_NOT_Sarah to Health & Fitness (11 answers total)

The creatine shouldn't do you any harm - it improves recovery, and is considered pretty safe in general. My wife takes it, and it seems to help her exercise intolerance quite a bit. But I suspect what you're really feeling is the 250 milligrams of caffeine - it's a good couple cups of coffee, right there. If you don't already have a caffeine habit, then yeah, it'll be a noticeable difference.

The problem with caffeine is you build up a tolerance pretty fast, and then stopping leads to some nasty withdrawal. So consider that!
posted by restless_nomad at 8:34 AM on June 7, 2018 [15 favorites]

That stuff has 250 mg of caffeine per scoop. Coffee has about 40 mg of caffeine per cup. No wonder you feel an effect- you're basically drinking 6 cups of coffee per serving of that stuff.

Maybe just cut some sugar out of your coffee, add cream or even butter or coconut oil instead to make a Bulletproof (fat is an energy source), and drink 2 coffees instead of the equivalent of 6 coffees?

Also, some people who love the effects of caffeine may be unknowingly self-medicating for ADD- you could consider trying ADD behavioural strategies to help with concentration.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 8:37 AM on June 7, 2018 [13 favorites]

My feeling is that there's a lot of stuff in there that you don't really "need" including the extra caffeine. You could always do an experiment. Try it for a week and then see how you feel on a Saturday without it.
posted by amanda at 8:38 AM on June 7, 2018

It seems pretty unlikely that the effects you saw from it came from the non-essential amino acids included in that pre workout (l citruline and beta alanine). As the other comments suggested, its the caffeine.

In the non-coffee but gives me a caffeine boost that feels stronger (and is enjoyable) I really like Runa products, they make both tea bags and prepared teas/energy drinks. Most have upwards of 150 mg per 12oz serving.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:40 AM on June 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

That stuff has 250 mg of caffeine per scoop. Coffee has about 40 mg of caffeine per cup.

What? No. An 8 oz cup of coffee has about 95 milligrams of caffeine on average, and lots of coffee shops START with a 12 oz size as their 'small.'
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:01 AM on June 7, 2018 [15 favorites]

FWIW when thinking about the comparison to caffeine intake per cup of coffee, the two claims by pseudostrabismus and showbiz_liz are not as far apart as they might first appear. The standard unit of volume one cup is equal to 8 oz, but when coffee drinkers talk about cups they are often referring to only about 5 oz, because that's what coffeemakers in the US tend to use when describing how many cups the device makes.
posted by solotoro at 9:45 AM on June 7, 2018 [5 favorites]

A Venti Americano from Starbucks has around 300mg of caffeine from what I've read, if you normally get a flavored drink like a frappe even the plain coffee fraps only have 130mg at a Venti size and a lot of the other not coffee flavored ones have barely any caffeine. So if you should drink this or not really depends on what your normal morning coffee is. You might want to look to making your own coffee & making a Bulletproof one like suggested above if carbs are your concern, but really the main thing I suspect you are feeling drinking this is a sudden increase in caffeine consumption. A couple of black coffees will get you there without the carbs or expense.
posted by wwax at 11:52 AM on June 7, 2018

Yeah, agreeing with the other greeners that this is just the caffeine in the drink and not because of some special ingredient. If you continue down this road, eventually you'll build up a tolerance to the caffeine and you won't feel the effects anymore.
posted by un petit cadeau at 12:27 PM on June 7, 2018

From the ingredients, it has sucralose and sorbitol as its sweeteners, so for me that would end in an upset tummy. (Sugar alcohols do that to me.) If it doesn't for you, if you do go with straight coffee switching to a sugar substitute will give you the same impact on going lower-carb.
posted by warriorqueen at 12:50 PM on June 7, 2018

I don't see much of a difference between this and a large tumbler of coffee, if you feel a positive difference, it's fine to drink this instead of your morning coffee routine.
posted by quince at 1:14 PM on June 7, 2018

Yeah lots of caffeine feels great at first. Then you build up a tolerance and need a lot of caffeine to feel normal. I also get morning headaches when my regular caffeine intake get really high. There are other side effects to consider if you're drinking a lot of caffeine everyday. So maybe just drink these on days you feel like you need an extra boost.
posted by Kalmya at 2:22 PM on June 7, 2018