Almost every pre-workout supplement on the market contains caffeine. It is a staple ingredient in a pre-workout. It helps to boost energy levels, allowing people to work out longer and harder. The problem?
A lot of people aren’t brilliant at handling caffeine. This is why companies are now starting to introduce caffeine-free pre-workouts. While they don’t quite have the popularity of the caffeine versions, they are gaining a lot of traction.
We wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually end up in gyms around the world, just like the standard pre-workouts.
What Caffeine Normally Does in a Pre-Workout Supplement
Caffeine is included in pre-workout supplements to help benefit energy levels and focus. When caffeine is added, people are able to work out for longer. They will also find it much, much easier to focus on the task at hand. Obviously, workout out for longer periods in a more-focused workout session means quicker gains.
The Downsides of Caffeine Pre-Workouts
The problem is that caffeine isn’t dealt with well by some people. If you regularly consume caffeine, then you’ll be fine. However, if you aren’t used to caffeine then it isn’t uncommon to suffer from jitters and, eventually, caffeine-withdrawal symptoms such as light headaches. This happens even with smaller amounts of caffeine.
Some people may not even be able to see the same benefits as caffeine. For example, there are some people with ADHD that get tired when they take caffeine, so that isn’t really going to help with their energy levels, right?
How Caffeine-Free Pre-Workouts Are Changing Things
While caffeine-based pre-workouts are still dominating the market, a lot of companies have started to realize that they need to introduce caffeine-free products. Customers are demanding them. Because caffeine-free products are generally much more pleasurable to consume (even for those used to caffeine), it probably won’t be long before these caffeine-free products start to take over.
As we mentioned before, the main ingredient in a pre-workout supplement is caffeine. It provides an energy and focus boost. So, manufacturers can’t just pull the caffeine out and call it a day. They need to replace it with another ingredient. Thankfully, there are multiple options that they have available to them. This includes:
- Citrulline
- Tyrosine
- Choline
There may be a few other ingredients included in your pre-workout supplements, but these are the main ones. They each do broadly the same job as caffeine, but in ever so slightly different ways.
Take Citrulline, for instance. This ingredient helps to boost blood flow throughout the body. As blood rushes through your body, your muscles are kept well-supplied. This means that they don’t tire as easily, ensuring that you can work out for far, far longer periods of time.
Tyrosine doesn’t really impact your muscles. Instead, it boosts dopamine levels in your body. You feel ‘better’ about working out. You get much more pleasure from it.
Choline benefits both. It helps your muscles, while also assisting in keeping you feeling great throughout your workout session.
As we said, other ingredients may be used. There are lots of caffeine-free alternatives that can provide a stimulating effect. When you are picking up a pre-workout supplement, we suggest that you read through the ingredients list. This should give you an idea of the impact the pre-workout will have on your body. Obviously, avoid any product that hides the stimulants it uses (or doesn’t list stimulants at all) because they generally won’t work.
Because all the caffeine-free pre-workouts work on the body in slightly different ways, they are far less predictable than caffeine. We can give you caffeine and almost guarantee that it will boost your energy and focus levels. That’s the job. We can’t say that Citrulline will increase blood flow, because you may already have great blood flow. So, you’ll want to experiment with multiple products and see which ones work the best for you.
Research into caffeine-free pre-workout supplements is still very new, but it seems to be going in a good direction. As more and more people discover they don’t need to be dosing with caffeine to improve their workout sessions, we reckon a lot of people will pick up the caffeine-free options, especially if they are normally caffeine adverse.
Final Thoughts
Caffeine is an important ingredient in many pre-workout supplements. In fact, those pre-workouts just don’t work without caffeine in the mixture. Mostly, because the goal of pre-workouts is to have you working out for longer periods of time. The problem is that many people don’t really want to take caffeine. Supplement manufacturers have taken note.
There are plenty of caffeine-free pre-workouts on the market, and more are looking set to be introduced. If you aren’t a fan of caffeine but still want to try a pre-workout, it may be worth trying out some of the alternative options.
