Pre-workout supplements, ranked honestly

Pre-workout supplements are a $4 billion category sold mostly on vibes. The evidence-based components are limited; the formulation differences across brands are mostly marketing. Here's the honest version.

The ingredients with real evidence

Caffeine (150–400mg). The actual ergogenic. Improves perceived exertion, output, and time-to-exhaustion across nearly every exercise modality. Effect size is moderate-to-large. Half-life ~5 hours; don't take after 2pm if you train evenings.

Creatine (3–5g). Already in your normal supplementation; a pre-workout that includes it is fine but redundant. The benefits are chronic, not acute, so timing doesn't matter much.

Beta-alanine (2–5g). Modest evidence for high-rep work in the 1–4 minute range. Causes the famous "tingles" (paresthesia) that's harmless but distracting. Evidence is real but modest.

Citrulline malate (6–8g). Some evidence for pump and reduced soreness. Effect size small. The dose in most pre-workouts is below the therapeutic threshold (often 4g vs. needed 8g).

Sodium bicarbonate (300mg/kg). Real evidence for high-intensity work. GI side effects severe enough that few people use it. Not in most commercial pre-workouts.

The ingredients with weak evidence

Tyrosine. Marketed for focus. Evidence is mostly for stress-related cognitive performance, not training. Mild effects.

Taurine. Marketed for everything. Evidence in healthy adults is mostly negative or null.

L-arginine. Was a pump-promoter darling in the 2010s. Better evidence for citrulline (which converts to arginine more efficiently).

Betaine anhydrous. Some evidence for power output. Effect size small.

Theobromine. Caffeine cousin. Mild stimulant. Marketed for "smoother energy."

Adaptogens (rhodiola, ashwagandha). Evidence for chronic stress, not acute performance.

Nootropics (alpha-GPC, huperzine A). Marketed for focus. Evidence in healthy non-deprived adults is weak.

The ingredients with no evidence

Various exotic-sounding plant extracts. Mostly added for marketing purposes.

"Proprietary blends" without dose disclosure. A red flag. If they don't tell you the dose, the dose is probably below threshold.

B-vitamin megadoses. B12 in your pre-workout doesn't make you stronger.

The honest pre-workout evaluation

For ~95% of the ergogenic effect of any commercial pre-workout, you need:

• 200–300mg caffeine (~$0.10 worth of generic caffeine pills, or one strong coffee)
• Optional: 5g creatine (you should be taking this anyway)
• Optional: 8g citrulline malate (~$0.50 if buying bulk)

Total cost: <$1 per workout. Total benefit: ~95% of the $50 commercial pre-workout.

Why people buy commercial pre-workouts

Beyond the marginal ingredient evidence:

• The ritual. The act of mixing and drinking signals "training mode."
• The flavor. Most pre-workouts taste like blue raspberry, which is somehow appealing.
• The "tingles." Beta-alanine paresthesia is a felt placebo trigger.
• The pump. Citrulline + creatine + hydration produces visible vascularity that feels like working.

The vibes are real even when the ergogenic effect isn't.

Brands worth knowing about

Not because they're better than DIY, but because they're cleanly formulated and reasonably priced:

Legion Pulse. Transparent labeling, reasonable doses, single ingredient list. ~$45/tub.

Transparent Labs Bulk. Similar — full disclosure, evidence-aligned doses. ~$50/tub.

Bare Performance Nutrition. Solid formulation, decent flavors. ~$45.

Cellucor C4 (Original). The boomer pre-workout. Functional, cheap. ~$25.

What to avoid

• Pre-workouts with "proprietary blends" hiding doses
• Pre-workouts marketed as "DMHA" or with banned/grey-market stimulants (DMHA, methylhexanamine)
• Pre-workouts with 400+ mg caffeine if you're caffeine-sensitive
• Pre-workouts marketed for "fat burning" — same caffeine, more marketing tax

When to use vs. skip

Use:

• Hard training sessions (heavy compound lifts, intervals, hill repeats)
• Days when you slept poorly and need a kick
• The 1–2 sessions/week where you need to push

Skip:

• Recovery / easy sessions (caffeine doesn't help)
• Daily use (tolerance builds within weeks)
• After 2pm if you train evenings (sleep cost > training benefit)
• Pregnancy, hypertension, arrhythmia history

The DIY pre-workout

A reasonable home formulation:

• 200mg caffeine (a strong cup of coffee)
• 5g creatine (you're taking it anyway)
• 8g citrulline malate (bulk, ~$15/month)
• Pinch of salt + lemon for "flavoring"
• Mix in 16oz water 30 min before training

Cost: ~$0.50 per session. Performance benefit: equivalent to most commercial products.

What CalorieScan tracks

Caffeine intake (Settings → Tracking → Caffeine) — useful if you stack pre-workout with daily coffee and want to know your total. Most adults should cap at 400mg/day; competitive adults may push 600mg occasionally.

We don't track "pre-workout" as its own category because it's mostly caffeine + ergogenic combinations. Track the underlying ingredients.

A cynical-but-fair summary

Pre-workout is mostly caffeine in a flavored shaker. The other ingredients add modest acute effects, mostly placebo-driven, mostly marketing-driven.

If the ritual helps you train harder, the price is justified.

If you just want the ergogenic effect, coffee + creatine + citrulline is 95% of the benefit at 5% of the cost.

If you train hard 4–5 days a week and your recovery, sleep, and nutrition aren't dialed, no pre-workout will fix that. Address the upstream first.

The supplement industry's profit margin is the difference between caffeine and the box it comes in.