Pre-workout supplements are some of the most sought-after in sports nutrition for those determined to hit their fitness goals. These powders, filled with ergogenic aids and other performance-boosting nutrients, tend to be a staple in every fitness enthusiast’s supplement stack.
This is for good reason, too! Some of the key benefits of taking a pre-workout before a training session include enhanced energy, motivation, and focus, leading to improved athletic performance and increased strength, endurance, and power. (1)
Pre-Workouts Are a No-Brainer, Right?
The common problem with pre-workout supplements is that the market is saturated, often with products that contain proprietary blends or “fancy-looking” ingredients with limited effectiveness.
There are very few pre-workout supplements that actually contain ingredients that meet the specific needs of optimal exercise performance in the appropriate combination and doses. This is exactly why you might be tempted to formulate your own pre-workout.
The downside of building a homemade pre-workout supplement is that it can be costly and complicated.
However, if you’re up for the challenge, read on!
Here we’ll give you an informative overview of the right ingredients to look out for in a pre-workout supplement.
First, let’s take a look at the benefits of taking a pre-workout before breaking down the best ingredients!
The Benefits of a Pre-Workout
Pre-workouts are designed to enhance athletic performance and provide more energy through a variety of means. A high-quality pre-workout supplement can provide both acute and chronic performance enhancements. (2)
Taking a full dose of a pre-workout before exercise has been shown to:
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Improve physical performance
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Increase mental focus and concentration
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Delay muscle fatigue
With the ideal mix of nutrients, muscle performance may be enhanced, allowing you to make extra gains in strength, endurance, and power. (1, 3)
Key Pre-Workout Ingredients
These are the key ingredients you should be looking out for in high-quality pre-workout supplements. Alternatively, you could combine some of these ingredients individually to create your own pre-workout!
Caffeine
Caffeine is normally the key ingredient in pre-workouts, usually responsible for providing the majority of the benefits. Caffeine gives a boost of energy, leading to increased focus and delayed fatigue. (4)
Beta-Alanine
Beta-alanine works to buffer lactic acid build-up in the working muscles, allowing you to push a bit harder for a bit longer. (5)
Learn how beta-alanine can improve athletic performance.
L-Citrulline
L-citrulline is an amino acid that plays a significant role in producing nitric oxide. Nitric oxide dilates blood vessels, helping to improve blood and oxygen flow around the body and to working muscles. This can have many performance-enhancing effects, including experiencing “the pump.” (6)
Dietary Nitrates
Following on from the above, dietary nitrates, such as beetroot, have the same effect on blood flow. (7) If your pre-workout has a source of dietary nitrates, such as beetroot powder, you’re on to a winner!
L-Tyrosine
L-tyrosine is an amino acid that can help sharpen your focus and attention, and reduce the jittery effects of caffeine. (8) If you see this ingredient in combination with caffeine, you may find that you experience fewer side effects associated with the high (usually) caffeine content.
L-Theanine
L-theanine is another amino acid that can help strengthen the mental aspects of exercise, thus improving cognitive clarity and allowing for a calm, yet alert, mental state. (9)
Glutathione
Glutathione is a major antioxidant found in the body. It can help protect muscle tissue against damage during intense exercise and assist in boosting immune system function. (10)
Sports Nutrients That Stack with Pre-Workouts
Creatine
Creatine is the most robustly researched sports supplement in the industry. It has been shown numerous times to improve strength, power, endurance, and speed by increasing your supply of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) energy. (11)
Branched-Chain Amino Acids
Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are a trio of essential amino acids—isoleucine, leucine, and valine—that have been extensively studied in sports medicine.
How to Take a Pre-Workout
It is usually recommended to take a pre-workout around 30-60 minutes before a training session, which would allow some time for the ingredients, particularly caffeine, to digest and absorb.
The effects of a pre-workout can last 2-3 hours, though ingredients such as creatine will require long-term dosage to take effect. (12)
And, while creatine is a good ingredient to include in a pre-workout, it isn’t always essential and is usually recommended to take separately for the best results.
A pre-workout should primarily provide you with a quick burst of energy, motivation, and increased blood flow to improve your training session and enhance your performance.
The Best Pre-Workout Supplement
Struggling to find a pre-workout with most of the above ingredients? We’ve got you covered!
Pre Lab Pro® combines the following ingredients:
- Beetroot powder
- Glutathione + L-citrulline
- Caffeine
- L-theanine
- L-tyrosine
- Essential vitamins and minerals
- Himalayan pink salt
This formula includes the most effective pre-workout ingredients that promote a wide range of strength, cardio, endurance, and overall health benefits to help push you through the most grueling of workout sessions!
Take-Home Message
Pre-workouts are common in any gym-goer's supplement stack. They provide a potent boost of energy and motivation before training sessions, allowing you to push harder for longer.
Some pre-workouts you find on the shelves and online, though, can be full of pointless filler ingredients, proprietary blends, or very high caffeine content. These are expensive and often not much help for your sessions.
Finding a high-quality pre-workout can be tricky, which leads people to attempt to create their own homemade pre-workouts. While this is a good idea in regard to accurately dosing and building a personalized product for you, it can be costly and complex.
We have taken the hard work off your hands, though—Pre Lab Pro® contains all the ingredients you need for a performance-enhancing boost!
References
- Bella YF, Cupido SRS, Inacio PAQ, Sobral MLP, Vieira RP. Pre-Workout Supplements and Their Effects on Cardiovascular Health: An Integrative Review. J Cardiovasc Dev Dis. 2025 Mar 24;12(4):112.
- Martinez N, Campbell B, Franek M, Buchanan L, Colquhoun R. The effect of acute pre-workout supplementation on power and strength performance. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2016 Jul 16;13:29.
- Spradley BD, Crowley KR, Tai CY, Kendall KL, Fukuda DH, Esposito EN, Moon SE, Moon JR. Ingesting a pre-workout supplement containing caffeine, B-vitamins, amino acids, creatine, and beta-alanine before exercise delays fatigue while improving reaction time and muscular endurance. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2012 Mar 30;9:28.
- Guest NS, VanDusseldorp TA, Nelson MT, Grgic J, Schoenfeld BJ, Jenkins NDM, Arent SM, Antonio J, Stout JR, Trexler ET, Smith-Ryan AE, Goldstein ER, Kalman DS, Campbell BI. International society of sports nutrition position stand: caffeine and exercise performance. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2021 Jan 2;18(1):1.
- Jordan T, Lukaszuk J, Misic M, Umoren J. Effect of beta-alanine supplementation on the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) during treadmill running: Pre/post 2 treatment experimental design. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2010 May 19;7:20.
- Chen K, Pittman RN, Popel AS. Nitric oxide in the vasculature: where does it come from and where does it go? A quantitative perspective. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2008 Jul;10(7):1185-98.
- Shepherd AI, Costello JT, Bailey SJ, Bishop N, Wadley AJ, Young-Min S, Gilchrist M, Mayes H, White D, Gorczynski P, Saynor ZL, Massey H, Eglin CM. "Beet" the cold: beetroot juice supplementation improves peripheral blood flow, endothelial function, and anti-inflammatory status in individuals with Raynaud's phenomenon. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2019 Nov 1;127(5):1478-1490.
- Bloemendaal M, Froböse MI, Wegman J, Zandbelt BB, van de Rest O, Cools R, Aarts E. Neuro-Cognitive Effects of Acute Tyrosine Administration on Reactive and Proactive Response Inhibition in Healthy Older Adults. eNeuro. 2018 Apr 30;5(2):ENEURO.0035-17.2018.
- Razazan R, Hemmatinafar M, Imanian B, Jahaniboushehri N, Rezaei R, Nazemzadegan G. Performance-enhancing effects of caffeine and L-Theanine among Iranian elite wrestlers: a focus on cognitive and specific physical performance. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2025 Dec;22(1):2564238.
- Aoi W, Ogaya Y, Takami M, Konishi T, Sauchi Y, Park EY, Wada S, Sato K, Higashi A. Glutathione supplementation suppresses muscle fatigue induced by prolonged exercise via improved aerobic metabolism. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2015 Feb 6;12:7.
- Saito S, Cao DY, Okuno A, Li X, Peng Z, Kelel M, Tsuji NM. Creatine supplementation enhances immunological function of neutrophils by increasing cellular adenosine triphosphate. Biosci Microbiota Food Health. 2022;41(4):185-194.
- Ribeiro F, Longobardi I, Perim P, Duarte B, Ferreira P, Gualano B, Roschel H, Saunders B. Timing of Creatine Supplementation around Exercise: A Real Concern? Nutrients. 2021 Aug 19;13(8):2844.
