A good pre-WOD is an incredible tool

A good pre-WOD is an incredible tool for athletes. The increase in focus and energy can turn an average workout into something you want to tell your friends about.

But you’ve also probably met someone who’s getting a little too attached to their pre-WOD supplement. Most of the time, these people are using low-end supplements that are essentially caffeine and sugar bombs.

The signs are obvious: wild eyes, jittery behavior, elevated heart rate before even touching the weights, can’t pipe down about how pumped they are for the workout (or the breakfast they had, or traffic, or deciduous forests, or anything else).

Sound familiar?

Read on. What you learn here could keep you or someone you care about from turning into a human squirrel. We’re going to cover a few rules for using these powerful supplements so that you can reap their benefits without becoming a slave to their effects.

Pre-workout supplements are gaining popularity every year as athletes continue to try to find any edge they can use to maximize their training time. These powders, normally a mix of energy-nutrients, protein, creatine, and caffeine, are made to give you a serious energy boost, both to your brain and muscles, so that you can give everything to your workout and, therefore, get everything you can from it. And they are great for doing that, but like everything, they are best used responsibly.

PreWOD Rules

Use Before a Workout

That’s what they were made for. Using the right pre-WOD just before exercising can increase blood flow, sharpen your reflexes, deliver nutrients more efficiently, and give you clean energy, all of which will help you make the most of your exercises.

Take the Recommended Amount

Most of these supplements have been tested and studied to give you just what you need for a good workout. Taking more will only mean you’re passing what wasn’t used into the toilet while you suffer the effects of getting over-hyped without any added physical benefit.

Take the right PreWOD

This is worth researching. As hard as it may be to believe, some companies actually capitalize off of you getting hooked on a feeling (gasp!) Some have very few nutrients, low-quality ingredients, and a boat-load of caffeine and sugar. You feel super-pumped and awake, but instead of physical endurance and mental acuity, you get hyperactivity. That does nothing for increasing strength and endurance; it just sets you up for injury.

Instead, get a pre-WOD that balances a careful mixture of ingredients that protect your muscles, reduce ammonia and lactic acid, regulate nitric oxide, and give you a clean, sustainable, but powerful energy supply. You’ll love the way it feels

Consider a Nootropic

Nootropics are strong cognitive enhancers that can sharpen focus, increase memory, and have a host of other benefits. A high-quality, stimulant-free nootropic can do wonders for you in and out of the gym but is specifically geared to be used before a workout. It not only reduces lactic acid buildup, enabling you to exercise longer and more efficiently, but also contains a blend of ingredients that work together as powerful vasodilators. This means that both your brain and your muscles will be getting all of the oxygen and nutrients they need to stay on point.

So by all means, use pre-workout supplements. Just be sure to follow the simple rules we’ve laid out for you here before you find yourself sweating and shaking during a surprise intervention. Driven’s delicious PreWOD will make your workouts energetic and effective without all of the extra junk that just hypes you up. It’s packed with amino acids, natural extracts, immune boosters, and antioxidants that will keep you in beast-mode without putting you in squirrel mode!

~ written by Jason Rule, Driven Nutrition