Best Pre-Workout Supplement Without Creatine – 2024

The reason to avoid creatine in a pre-workout supplement is quite simply that there is no reason to put creatine in a pre-workout. Creatine is not a stimulant in that it will not cause you to have an immediate surge of energy the way that drinking a cup of coffee does. Creatine work by mean of a chronic effect - it builds up phospho-creatine levels in the muscle tissue cumulatively over a period of weeks. As a result, timing is immaterial when it comes to taking creatine.

In addition to causing no beneficial effect to your pre-workout, creatine is potentially negative when put into pre-workout. That’s because of creatine’s tendency to draw water into the stomach. This can cause stomach upset in some people. So, including creatine in your pre-workout may actually give you stomach issues while you are working out.

The whole point of taking a pre-workout is that the ingredients are meant to be timed to do something to benefit you during the workout. If you are a person who does not get any stomach issues from taking creatine and want to add it to your pre-workout, you can certainly do that. It will not do you any harm, but it will not specifically benefit your performance because it is taken pre-workout.

Creatine free supplements are similar to those that do not contain them, except that they focus more on their purpose, which is to provide you with ingredients that will provide an immediate effect on your training. Creatine free supplements will allow you to avoid the potential bloating that some people get when taking creatine. You will probably also find that creatine free pre-workout supplements are considerably cheaper than those that do contain creatine.

If you want the benefits of creatine, it’s best to take it after your session at the gym. After you work out, your muscles will do their best to recover from being torn up, beaten, stretched and pumped vigorously. If you take creatine after exercising, creatine will rush to your muscles to help them recover faster and grow more. Throw protein and carbohydrates into the mix, and you have a great recipe for improved muscle growth and recovery. All in all, creatine serves to prepare you for your next session, so it should be taken after your gym appointment!

When it comes to finding an effective creatine free pre-workout formula, you definitely need to do your homework. A lot of products out there are ‘kitchen sink’ formulas that throw a whole lot of ingredients together in a proprietary blend. This leaves you scratching your head as to whether each ingredient has been effectively dosed. Some of them even contain ingredients that are potentially dangerous.

Here are the ingredients that you should look for in your creatine free pre-workout. First things first, we have citrulline. This is an amino acid that helps your body create more nitric oxide, which is a natural vasodilator. This just means that it helps your blood vessels dilate, which enables more blood and oxygen to travel to your muscles. This is great if you are into endurance training, but it can be useful for strength training as well.

Caffeine is a common ingredient found in many pre-workout supplements. Caffeine is an effective fat burner that helps you cut down fast. It also gives you an energy boost, something that coffee lovers already know. Caffeine can have side effects, however. It can make you feel jittery, or “wired”, as many users would describe it. If it’s a higher dose, it can increase your heart rate too, making it unsafe for people who suffer from heart disease. The crash after your session can be quite intense, and you could even become addicted to it. Last but not least, it can cause insomnia, which is especially notable if you exercise in the evening.

Vitamin B is a natural tool that gives you an energy boost. This is especially true if you are a little vitamin B deficient. They give you an energy boost by extracting the nutrients you get from your food. Red blood cell creation also depends on this vitamin. Thiamin, niacin, riboflavin and pantothenic acid are the vitamins you lose when you work out. By taking a vitamin B complex, you will replace them, and won’t feel so tired as a result.

Beta-alanine is one more amino acid that is commonly found in pre-workout supplements. It’s a non-essential amino acid, which means that it is naturally produced by our body, and does not need to be sourced from our diet. They do make proteins, but they also have a few other significant roles. Beta-alanine improves your performance, it builds lean muscle mass. If you are older, it may even delay muscle fatigue.

Betaine is also an amino acid that is found naturally in beets and some other vegetables. This is a fairly new ingredient, so we do not know yet how exactly it works. It has been thought that it does improve endurance and strength.

The rest of the ingredients found in your supplement are likely to be flavor enhancers and sweeteners, and maybe even preservatives. These ingredients can vary a lot from one producer to the other, so we won’t waste time explaining them.

Some supplements have something called a proprietary blend. This means that the blend that certain producer uses is unique to their brand. Although that may sound like a great thing, it should be in fact avoided, if possible. This is because we do not know the proportion of the ingredients inside their blend. You do know that you will be getting 1000 mg of their blend, for example, but you don’t know what that blend actually looks like. This is bad because sometimes a blend can have too much caffeine, or it could be all filler, and you wouldn’t even know it, and could suffer as a result!

Using your supplement the right way could mean a world of difference for your session and recovery. As the name suggests, you should be taking your supplements before you work out. Do not take it right before you go to the gym though!

Most of the ingredients found in your supplement take at least 30-60 minutes to reach their full potential, and you should consider this when drinking your pre-workout supplement. If you take it as you enter the gym, you could be well done with your work out and only then feel the effects you craved so much. It’s safer to take your supplement earlier than later. Do not worry about taking it too early - caffeine, the ingredient that gives you that energy boost, has at least three hours to course through your blood at full potential. The effects are doubled down only after 3-5 hours! So, taking it 30 minutes to an hour before you go to the gym will give you maximum benefits. If you work out in the evening, this could be a problem though since the caffeine could make it hard to fall asleep.

One more mistake you could also be doing is taking your supplement on an empty stomach. If you ever had coffee on an empty stomach, you know what we are talking about. That jittery feeling, the shakiness of your limbs, light-headed feelings and nausea are all side effects of taking caffeine on an empty stomach, and they are something you do not want to experience while focusing on working out. A small meal 30-60 minutes before you exercise can be all that you need. Plus, having a meal before you work out will boost your energy by itself. If you want to maximize the potency of your supplement, have a meal that doesn’t have so many fibers in it, so avoid nuts, raw fruits, and raw vegetables.

Pre-workout supplements usually come in big bottles and jars, and sometimes we may not be able to spend all of it before the expiration date. The expiration date is simply the time when your supplement will start losing its potency - it will not go completely bad. So you shouldn’t rush to throw it out as soon as it reaches that date stamped on the bottle. But if you do decide to drink them after that date, you may find yourself feeling more tired, simply because the supplement lost its efficiency.

Sometimes, as the expiry date approaches, your pre-workout can become clumpy, or hard. Most pre-workouts contain something known as hygroscopic ingredients, meaning that they attract water molecules and hold them at normal temps. If your supplement tends to get clumpy, it could mean that it is 100% natural. This is because artificial colors and sweeteners tend to stay dry, making the whole supplement powder-like for a long time. If you want to avoid this clumpiness, it’s a good idea to keep the silica gel packet you received with the supplement inside. If you didn’t receive one, you can always just head out and buy one.

Keep the packet buried in the powder at all times, and your powder will be usable until you spend it all. You should also regularly stir and shake your powder. If left alone for a longer period of time, the powder will turn clumpy, because it absorbs moisture. You can fix this by keeping your jar in a cool and dry place, like the fridge.

If you already have a clumpy powder, don’t worry, it’s still safe to use! All you need to do is throw it in a blender, or break it up with a knife until it returns to its normal state. Make sure that it’s completely powdery - clumps could lead to you taking a larger dose than recommended, causing side effects we don’t want to experience.