Marist Gym Rats May Need to Rethink Pre-workout

Pictured Jesse Armendariz '25 (left), James Gomez '25 (middle) and Casey Meunkle (right) use and believe in the benefits of pre-workout. Photo credit: Maddi Langweil.

Grunting sounds and wafts of strong body odor often come from intense workouts in Marist College’s James J. McCann Fitness Center, but there’s something affecting these gym enthusiasts that isn’t completely natural.

These sweating and exhausted individuals may feel they achieved a productive workout because of the one to two scoops of pre-workout they consumed to enhance their energy stores. However, the short-term benefits that pre-workout may give bodybuilders and athletes may not be worth it because of its long-term side effects. 

“I used pre-workout for about two months, but I recently stopped because I was having these really bad crashes at the end of the day,” Drew Taylor ‘24 said. “It made me more motivated in the gym, like I could produce more reps and I felt less intimidated by the heavier weights, but the side effects of how it impacted my mood, and my sleep was not worth it.” 

Pre-workout is generally a powdery substance that can be added to an athlete or weightlifter's drink. The supplement is known to enhance athletic performance that keeps energy levels high and increases one’s focus. To some people it is just like drinking an energy drink, coffee or caffeinated tea. 

“You could get the same results as if you were to drink tea or coffee,” Assistant AD/Sports Medicine Sports Jeffrey Carter said. 

While Carter does not condone drinking soda, he says that the feeling one feels with pre-workout could be the same as if someone was to drink it and “at least you would know what’s in it,” he said. 

Popularity for the physical performance supplement has been on the rise and the market is expected to reach a little over $21 billion by 2026 compared with 2019 when the market was approaching almost $13 billion. 

While the market continues to climb, there is restrain in its growth because of the potential side effects that people feel after taking the supplement. 

“[Pre-workout] can create a lot of side effects [that] aren’t the healthiest thing for you,” Chase Muller ‘25 said. “I had problems with my heart rate from it and my blood pressure for a little during and after I stopped.”

The rapid heart rate that Muller might have been feeling could have been from one of the seven ingredients typically found in pre-workout—caffeine. Besides caffeine, pre-workout can include beta-alanine, citrulline, tyrosine, taurine, creatine and niacin. Made of amino acids, beta-alanine can cause tingling sensations along the face, neck and the back of hands while niacin, vitamin B3, can cause your skin to become flushed. Another common ingredient such as creatine, can cause bloating and water retention. 

Muller didn’t want these side effects to continue which is why he stopped consuming the product after taking it for a year. “I didn’t want [the effects] to continue or get worse,” he said. 

While Muller was more sensitive to the effects of the performance enhancing supplement, Jack Spagna ‘23 doesn’t mind the tingling effects he feels. What initially got Spagna into pre-workout was social media and the bodybuilding influencers that showcased their use of the product. 

“On social media, the importance of pre-workout is exaggerated. People say they can't workout without it and preach that it's crucial for peak performance in the gym. In reality, most pre-workouts don't do much,” Spagna said. “Even if you choose a good pre-workout with good ingredients and proper dosages, it’ll only give you a tiny boost in your training.” 

For Spagna, he only consumes a dose of about 200 milligrams, which is similar to an average dose of caffeine of about 135mg because he believes taking over 300mg at once can induce some unhealthy side effects. 

For those in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), unlike Spagna and Muller, athletes need to be more aware of the ingredients they consume from these pre-workout supplements. 

Carter says about three to four athletes this semester asked him about certain pre-workout brands like Bucked Up, which ended up containing illegal NCAA supplements. Some brands contain deer antler velvet, Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMs) and some with above limit caffeine levels. 

Both deer antler velvet and SARMs are considered a “steroid alternative” that stimulates anabolism, which increases strength and muscle growth. Generally, pre-workout is made of mostly caffeine that is similar to a person drinking a couple cups of coffee. The only difference is a person knows what’s in it. 

“Caffeine is a mild nervous system stimulant with effects similar to amphetamines, only much weaker,” Dr. Nic Martinez, Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Exercise Science program at the University of South Florida, said in a 2016 study.

Martinez and his team of researchers studied the effects of caffeine and pre-workout and compared the effects of each.  The study found that caffeine is the principal ingredient shown to have an impact on high intensity exercises. 

“Caffeine...has been shown to enhance aerobic endurance performance through augmenting fat oxidation, thus preserving muscle glycogen content and increasing time to exhaustion,” Martinez and his team said in their paper. “Many of the other ingredients contained in this study’s pre-workout supplement have been shown to be ineffective at improving anaerobic performance independently.” 

To avoid pre-workout side effects or accidentally breaking NCAA rules, health experts suggest one can still improve one's workouts by eating complex carbohydrates and protein before workouts, staying hydrated before and during a workout and having a balanced meal following a workout that includes protein. 

Despite there being other alternatives to pre-workout, athletes and weightlifters will continue to make their own choices and do what is best for them. 

“It’s my choice, but I'm not going to dis someone for not wanting to use pre-workout, that's of course their preference,” Jordan Levene ‘22 said. “I still feel like I get a good workout in and still feel nice and big when I'm done working out.”