Pre-workout supplements have become massively popular in the wellness space over the last decade. They can be great for building muscle mass fast, rejuvenating after tough workouts and are often adopted by athletes of all levels in the space.

However, if you are just starting to learn about the fitness world, there's a lot to know about the pros and cons of the supplement, as well as what makes one "better" than another.

What makes a Pre-Workout GOOD?

Before you start here, ask yourself this: What's your goal for using pre-workout? Are you looking to gain muscle faster, maintain high energy levels, or are you focusing on better fatigue recovery?

The supplements range in extremity a great deal, particularly with caffeine content, targeted vitamins, and the amount of servings you'll get in each jar/case. All these little details will be highly impactful on the results you get in the gym, so be mindful as you get going of which ones work best for you. The more you get introduced to the different pros and cons of each blend, the more you'll find yourself looking for a core group of essentials. 

Creatine

The ultimate performance booster. For helping your athletic performance, quickly increasing muscle mass, and expediting recovery time, creatine is going to be the cornerstone of your pre-workout support. 

Beta-Alanine

Next to creatine, beta-alanine is excellent for increasing endurance in your muscles, and extending high-intensity stamina. While it is naturally occurring and already an essential part of your body function, adding it into your diet through pre-workout is a great support for bulking/muscle building efforts.

Caffeine

Caffeine goes into almost every pre-workout blend as a foundational route to more energy. While we should try to avoid it when we can, chances are you're going to have a few vices in your life. Caffeine is far from the worst, and when used in moderation, can be an excellent asset to developing in the gym.

Taurine

As a major neurotransmitter for the brain, taurine is an asset from pre-workout that's excellent for developing stronger workout routines by boosting cognitive connection. This allows you to stay locked-in for longer, avoiding getting sidetracked or losing focus on your workout.

As you try each of these ingredients and see which is best/most optimal for your own results, there are behavioral points to consider as well.

Key Points to Consider When Trying Pre-Workout

Overworking Muscles

When you just start using pre-workout, overworking your muscles is almost inevitable. You'll feel just a bit more energized, like you can go a little further than before, or hit a new PR almost overnight. Take it slow when you're adding pre-workout into your usual gym sessions. While there's no perfect science that applies to everyone, maybe taking half the serving of a usual workout for the first few weeks is a good idea. 

Flavor Isn't Everything

If you want a supplement that tastes good, pre-workout is usually a pretty good bet for fun, fruity flavors. However, don't let flavors fool you. If you're least favorite tasting blend actually helps you get the best results, it might be best to just keep using it. If you aren't as focused on results though and just want a little extra boost, the tastier blends might be more your speed. Either way, be mindful how these choices impact the blends you try.

Using Pre-Workout Sparingly

This is certainly not an every-workout type of supplement, although it can of course be used in regularity. Just consider how your body's adjusting when you go from not using pre-workout at all to using it every single gym session. You see how hard that can hit your muscles? Those micro-tears you're looking for to gain muscle

Natural Alternatives to Pre-Workout

Now, if you are considering trying pre-workout and haven't got going on it yet, there are a handful of alternatives you should be aware of as well. 

Coffee

Having a cup of coffee about 30 mins before your workout can be a major natural kickstarter for alertness, better endurance, and hitting your exercises in stride. As a natural superfood straight from the Earth, coffee is a huge antioxidant supporter that keeps the body's physical performance in-tune with your cognition.

Still, coffee is prone to give you the jitters when you're hitting a workout. Especially if you are early in your day at 5:30 or so, maybe jampacking another cup of coffee into your morning routine isn't the best way to get into your routine.

Fruit Smoothies/Juices

Fruit has natural sugars that are powerful for getting energy naturally without overcharging your diet with processed sugars and caffeine. Packing some of the most impactful ones into a green juice that combines with fresh veggies as well is a great alternative to pre-workout blends. These are perfect for clean eating habits to be a launch board for higher performance gym sessions, and also keep your immune system on track.

Medicinal Mushrooms

Mushrooms like cordyceps are a fantastic place to start with getting on track in your daily wellness, but also can work as a pre-workout supplement. Of the 14,000 mushroom species discovered in the world, there about 10-20 that are the cornerstones of starting pre-workout efforts.

What are Medicinal Mushrooms?

Medicinal mushrooms carry functional properties that extend beyond your basic vitamins and minerals. They actually can be linked to:

• Stress relief
• Higher cognitive function
• Increased workout performance
• Better energy
• Improved sleep habits
• Quality immune function

Together, each of these elements are amazing for your wellness routine overall, and can be the perfect way to get better results in the gym without flooding your body with caffeine, sugar, or other add-ons to your workouts. It just takes finding the right blend for workout-centric benefits.

How to Try Mushroom-Powered Supplements

Powders

Powders are probably familiar if you're looking to try/have tried pre-workout supplements before. They're easy to toss into any drink, have zero prep time, and are a perfect way to kick off your morning. 

Unfortunately, sometimes these can have severely earthy flavors. This makes it a little less exciting to give them a try, and difficult to stay consistent with. 

Capsules

One step, high concentration on ingredients, and instant impact. Capsules are about as fast as it gets when it comes to trying medicinal mushrooms effectively, and there's a lot to love if you are strictly looking for the benefits of medicinal mushrooms. 

Who wants to take medicine, though? If you're just taking a capsule, it might remind you of every other vitamin/prescription you take in a given day. 

Gummies

As an alternative to other pre-workouts, gummies with energy-boosting mushrooms in them can be a delicious, caffeine-free alternative that makes your workout much easier to get through. 

Try Troomy Boost Today!

Overall, gummies are a perfect place to use cordyceps mushrooms as a natural pre-workout, lightly introducing you to the space and getting the most out of your routine. With delicious lemon-lime flavors and zero caffeine in every gummy, they're fantastic for virtually any diet, and taste great, too.

Check out Boost and find your "True Me" with Troomy today!