Can You Get Addicted to Pre Workouts?

Get a pre workout in your routine and your workouts will never be the same again.

Not only will you feel motivated and energized, your strength. endurance and power will be unparalleled. On the days when you’re lifting heavy or you’re gearing up for a tough interval session then this supplement is your key to blistering all-round performance.

Occasionally we get asked if pre workouts are addictive.

Could pre workouts really leave you depending on them?

Is getting amped up for an effective gym session using a supplement really a gateway to habit, compulsion or obsession?

In this article we take a look at whether you can become reliant on these pre workout supplements.

Read on to find out more…

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What Are Pre Workout Supplements?

Pre workouts supplements are designed with one goal in mind… to make your workouts as productive, powerful and performance-enhancing as possible.

They trigger physiological pathways that boost blood flow and heart rate, advance your focus and ambition and give you more energy where you need it most.

As all-natural products using specially selected nutrients they optimize both physical and cognitive characteristics to give you the best workouts possible.

Here are just a few of the things they can do…

• Stimulate your nervous system to boost explosive strength, power and speed
• Increases blood flow for better nutrient delivery and pumps
• Elevates autonomic functions for a better cardiovascular and muscular response
• Dials in attention, reaction time and drive

Pre workout ingredients

The key to a good pre workout is the ingredients that are used.

Doses are also important too as they tell you whether or not your product is optimally formed. While property blend don’t disclose doses and should be avoided, other manufacturers take the time to tell you exactly what, and how much of each nutrient you’re getting

Every brand of pre workout will contain slightly different ingredients, however most tend to contain nutrients that cover you from three specific angles:

• Stimulants – caffeine helps you harness energy, elevate epinephrine levels and control attention and mood
• Vasodilators – Red beet and citrulline malate are great ingredients for opening up your blood vessels, allowing you to better direct oxygen and substrates to your working muscles
• Cognitive enhancers – using nutrients such as L-theanine help to control the jittery, uncomfortable feeling you might get from caffeine. This makes pre workouts more targeted and helps with mental clarity

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Can Pre Workouts be Addictive?

Some pre workouts such as 4 Gauge are designed to be taken prior to every session. You don’t need to cycle it because the choice and ratios of ingredients are designed to optimize workouts week after week. Not only is it effective, it’s designed with you and your needs in mind.

However, some supplements might need to be cycled. That’s not for any health or wellness reasons, it’s simply because if you take them every time you train you can build up a tolerance to the nutrients in your pre workout.

It doesn’t mean you are addicted, it just means your body is getting used to the nutrients and as such they are becoming slightly less influential on your nervous and vascular systems.

Without cycling your product you could make it less effective. Having a short period away from using it helps you desensitize to its effects so that when you come back to using it for the first session back, it feels fresh and potent again.

Caffeine addiction – a real thing?

You might have come across stories of caffeine being an addictive ‘drug’. That regular consumption of coffee, tea or pre workout can leave you dependant on it.

Caffeine withdrawal is certainly a real thing. For those that ingest the compound on a regular basis there is a possibility that some withdrawal symptoms occur. And if they do, these could include mild headaches, tiredness or some slight nausea.

But caffeine is not addictive

Research from The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse [1] did a large study of the nutrient and found that caffeine does not fit the profile of an addictive drug at all.

The study reported that common sense needed to be taken when suggesting that caffeine was addictive, and that at best, regular consumption was irresistible – we use it because we enjoy it, not because we are addicted to it. 

The journal went on to suggest that while stopping caffeine consumption altogether may cause a couple of days of headache and lethargy, these symptoms are easily and reliably reversed, and suggestions of caffeine addiction are too inconsistent to constitute a reliably valid syndrome. 

And other studies back this up too.

Research from the Scandinavian journal Lakartidningen [2] suggests that the claims that caffeine affects the same parts of the brain as drugs such as cocaine were not correct and that caffeine use poses no threat to the individual or to society.

The concluded by stating the term ‘caffeine dependence’ should not be added to psychiatric manuals as a medical term.

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Summary

Pre workout supplements are powerful, potent supplements designed to improve the way you workout.

Although suggestions have been made that nutrients such as caffeine are addictive, there are no case studies or research articles that back this up. The only reason to cycle your supplement is if you feel that you are becoming too tolerant to its stimulatory effects and wish to have a short break to make it more potent.

However, in well designed products you shouldn’t need to cycle them at all.

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4 Gauge is an exhaustively researched, all-natural pre workout designed to rip the lid off your gym sessions, sports games or workouts.

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References

1. Satel, S. Is caffeine addictive? a review of the literature. Am J Druf Alcohol Abuse. 2006; 32(4): 493-502
2. Daly, JW et al. Is caffeine addictive? The most widely used psychoactive substance in the world affects same parts of the brain as cocaine. Lakartidningen. 1998; 16;95(51-52): 5878-83