The Best Nootropics As Pre-Workouts

Zhou Energy and Focus, offered by Zhou Nutrition, aims to increase your energy without the nervous or irritable feeling that can come from brewed coffee. These low priced capsules each deliver 100 mg of caffeine, about what you'd find in an 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee. The Zhou capsules contain no calories or sugar, either.

The other ingredient in the supplement is L-Theanine. This is an amino acid, one of the building blocks your body needs to build muscle and regulate your immune system. L-Theanine is not produced naturally in your body. Zhou and other manufacturers say that L-Theanine will reduce stress and enhance executive functioning. There is some scientific evidence of the stress relief component.

Zhou Nutrition prides itself on its clean manufacturing process. Energy + Focus, and Zhou's other supplements contain no soy or gluten. They are also lacking peanut and tree nut ingredients, with no preservatives.

Grinds is a medium-sized company that makes coffee pouches. The pouches are designed to be placed in the mouth and chewed. You do not use this product to make coffee. Many reviewers praise it as a tool to help oral tobacco users quit the habit.

The sample pack offers mocha, cinnamon roll, wintergreen, cherry, vanilla, and caramel flavors. It is a pretty good blend of sweet and more traditional flavors. You don't need to add water, creamer, or sugar to the pouches. You could stash a few of them in your glove compartment or gym bag for easy pre-workout access.

In addition to the caffeine from coffee, a Grinds pouch includes water, B vitamins, taurine, and a flavorant. Though the taste and experience are like coffee, the Grinds product has the makings of an energy drink, with just ten calories per serving. Best of all, Grinds pouches contain no sodium, fat, cholesterol, or sugar. However, the stripped-down formula also means there is no protein for muscle building in the pouches.

Grinds pouches contain no tobacco or nicotine.

One of those ingredients, maca root powder, comes from a plant native to Peru that has ginseng-like properties. Some preliminary research indicates the roots can increase both energy and endurance. However, we did some math and the amount of maca root in each capsule may not do much for you. More on that in our expert articles.

One thing Smarter Vitamins is very adamant on is the lack of filler ingredients in their supplements. On the site, you can find a list of things the caffeine capsules do not contain. They include soy, milk, food dyes, gluten, wheat, and corn oil. Other than the gelatin capsule components, caffeine, maca root powder, and coconut triglycerides, each capsule just has beeswax and sunflower lecithin as bonding agents.

Those coconut ingredients are part of MCT oil, the final active ingredient in the capsules. We're happy to report that MCT (medium train triglycerides) have medical use as a fat source for people whose bodies cannot tolerate natural fats well. Here, Smarter Vitamins is promoting MCT oil as a mental clarifier and energy booster. There is decent scientific evidence that this is the case.

The first thing we noticed about this product is its simplicity. The only active ingredient is the gingko Biloba. Inert ingredients are used to construct and adhere to the capsule container. These agents are all vegetarian, with the capsule walls being made of cellulose from plant fibers.

It may sound like the bar is pretty low, if all we expect from a gingko Biloba supplement is that it's mostly made of Gingko Biloba. But you might be surprised at how some companies will make supplements with a bewildering list of ingredients, bill the product as containing Gingko Biloba, and cut the dosage in half or less while using the other ingredients to convince you of added value. It is a deceptive practice, though not strictly illegal; those companies depend on customers not taking the time to research and verify the benefits of each ingredient on the long list.

Anyway, Life Extension does not play the ingredient game, and that is why we like them. For around forty dollars, you get a year supply of 120 mg Gingko Biloba capsules. While there is no recommended dose of Gingko Biloba, the 120 matches up with typically used therapeutic doses. There are few side effects associated with Gingko Biloba, so it is a safe supplement for everyday use. We appreciate the simple and straightforward presentation used by Life Extension, and we are sure you will, too.

In addition to the Ginko Biloba, you get several herbal extracts that are mostly made from leaves and roots. These include lion's mane, maca root, astragalus, Rhodiola, and Stevia, which acts as a sugar and calorie-free sweetener. Moon Juice products contain no GMOs. They are also gluten-free and vegan. Brain Dust contains no caffeine.

The claim here is that Brain Dust will reduce stress. This, in turn, will give you mental endurance and make you more alert, so you are able to focus better. That added endurance and focus are what can help you have a more effective, productive workout.

We would have given Brain Dust a higher rating if we could have. However, the additional root and leaf additives are mostly not based on science, so their benefits are unclear. It doesn't mean we advise against the product, because Brain Dust doesn't show signs of playing the ingredient game we talked about. Rather, the company is appealing to users who have heard about lion's mane and the other additions and would like to try them out. Reviews indicate the product acts quickly, giving you a feeling of alertness without making you feel buzzed. Moon Juice provides several tasty-looking recipes for mixing their product into coffee and more.

Rhodiola Rosea has some effectiveness in stress management, mood improvement, and freedom from fatigue. Taking it before a workout, even a few hours before, can give you increased focus and help you get through the workout with effective and concentrated results. The plant grows in very cold mountainous regions of Europe and Asia, as well as in the Arctic; another name for Rhodiola Rosea is Arctic Root. People living in these regions have used the plant for centuries to treat depression and other psychological conditions and as a vitality increaser.

There is decent evidence surrounding these claims, but the two best-known studies were small, limited in scope, and have not been replicated yet in other studies.

These capsules contain no soy, GMOs, dyes or flavors, lactose, wheat, or gluten. Each of the 150 capsules contains 400 mg of the active ingredient. Reviewers noted that the supplement helped them with long days and late nights, so this is definitely a good fit for those of us who work a regular job and go to the gym after hours.

This one comes in bags weighing 100 grams, 1 kilogram, or 5 kilograms. 5 kilograms is 11 pounds, enough powder to share with everyone at the gym more than once. You'd have a hard time making everyone a smoothie, though, because Bulk Supplement powders are designed to be swallowed and don't dissolve in liquid. They do not contain any flavors or fillers, either.

The Spartan approach is hard to get past for many users, but it results in a consistently low-cost product with an easily verified supply chain. You don't have to worry about vetting every entry on a long ingredient list. Reviewers state that the supplement is good at controlling stress and providing energy.

One way to overcome the need to swallow in bulk is to buy a capsule machine, which lets you make your own water-soluble capsules. It is possible to dissolve small amounts in hot coffee, with decent all day results.

Creatine improves and promotes greater muscle and strength gains by giving you the energy to push harder in your workouts. Its benefit is largely anaerobic, suiting it to sports or activities that rely on bursts of strength rather than sustained cardiovascular efforts. Sprinters, powerlifters, and baseball players are examples of people who can benefit from creatine.

You can benefit from creatine, too, and you can be confident in Onnit's product because it is NSF certified. The NSF, or National Sanitation Foundation, is a nongovernmental organization that helps develop standards for safety and health. The NSF also uses its various groups to evaluate products and give them the NSF mark of approval. The certification status means that Onnit creatine is safe when used effectively and that Onnit meets high standards for safe manufacturing and honest advertising.

A serving of Onnit creatine is 5 grams, or two scoops, mixed with an 8-ounce drink of your choice. It is unflavored, or at least there are no flavors on the Onnit website at the time of this writing.

Klean Creatine does not contain artificial coloring or preservatives, GMOs, gluten, dairy ingredients or soy. It comes in 5-gram servings, with a scoop, and is not flavored. In addition to the strength benefits during your workout, creatine may also make recovery time shorter and easier.

Klean Athlete provides a chart, on its website, where it suggests when to take each of its supplements. Other supplements include multivitamins, electrolytes, and supplements for endurance as well as others. Klean Creatine is meant to be taken between 15 and 30 minutes before a workout, making it a true pre-workout supplement. You can also take a serving after activity, which is what gives you the enhanced recovery.

Both Klean Creatine and Onnit Creatine are made from Creapure. Creapure is synthesized by AlzChem Trostberg Gmbh, a German lab company. It is recognized in the industry as the best and most potent creatine available for purchase.

Ingredients, according to the Onnit website, include:

Bacopa-a plant that grows wild in India, where people use it to boost their memory and live longer lives.

Cat's Claw-a plant native to the Amazon rainforest, it is supposed to strengthen the immune system.

Huperzia Serrata- this extract comes from the northern firmoss plant. It makes more of a chemical called acetylcholine available for your brain to use. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter responsible for muscle contractions, pain response, REM sleep, and the proper running of your endocrine system. The idea behind giving your brain more acetylcholine is to help you build strength through more efficient muscle contraction.

Oat straw-improves cognitive functioning in healthy users demonstrated in some lab tests.

We found writeups of several small studies that partially validate the use of Bacopa for decreasing memory loss. there is no evidence that cat's claw can improve performance or immunity, according to the NIH. Huperzia is actually used to treat Alzheimer's in China, but not in the U.S. Clinical trials are sparse and use small sample groups, so conclusions are unclear.

Finally, we are happy to report that there are clinical studies, more than just one, linking oat straw or Avena sativa to healthy cognitive functioning.

So. Is Alpha Brain a good supplement? Yeah, we think so. At least some of the ingredients will improve your focus and performance, while others have not been proven in lab tests. If it seems like we gave you a lot of information for a product with just four plant-based ingredients, it's because we were making a point. Stacking ingredients, the way some makers do, makes it more and more difficult to track down the validity of each one. It gets worse when you consider some of these ingredients may interact in ways the average person wouldn't know. So while we give every supplement and maker a chance, we also will always tell you to beware of the overpriced and overstuffed supplement trick.