Pre-workouts are multi-ingredient dietary formulas designed to boost energy and athletic performance. They’re typically a powder that you mix in with water and drink before you start to work out. Vitamins, caffeine, and creatine are often in those drinks, but quantities can vary widely depending on the brand.
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Is Pre-Workout Bad for Teens?
In today’s article, we will see how beneficial pre-workout is for our bodies and if it even is as effective as it says it is. From water retention to unknown side effects from pre-work drinks will be solved today in this article and come to a solid conclusion to see if they are harmless or really bad for your body.
See our list for the Best Pre-Workouts with Creatine here
Pre-Workout for Teens
Pre-workouts are generally risk-free, but there are some downsides to heavily using them. If you are considering using pre-workouts, you should note these potential risks like elevated blood sugar levels, caffeine intake, and could cause other issues like diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea since these are very prevalent in drinking pre-drinks due to their chemicals and preservatives. According to Healthline,
“In particular, high intake of sugar alcohols may trigger uncomfortable symptoms, such as gas, bloating, and diarrhea — all of which can disrupt your workout. Some people report a similar digestive response from eating certain artificial sweeteners like sucralose. However, such symptoms haven’t been scientifically proven. Excessive intake of this stimulant can lead to negative side effects, such as increased blood pressure, impaired sleep, and anxiety.”
Pre-workout drinks help a lot to give you that “boost” in your workout, but you should also be wary of them since it is affecting your body in many mysterious ways. But overall, the drink should not impact you harshly unless you have existing heart conditions or diabetes.
Are Pre-Workouts Necessary?
Are Pre-Workouts necessary? They are not necessary for a good workout, but they are very helpful in increasing muscle mass and improves your fitness. Pre-Workout can also be potentially dangerous because it increases blood pressure and increases your blood sugar levels. According to Healthline,
“Pre-workout supplements have become increasingly popular. Advocates claim that they can improve your fitness and give you the energy you need to power through challenging workouts. However, many experts say that they’re potentially dangerous and wholly unnecessary.”
Pre-Workout, as I stated before, is not inherently bad but comes with risks when using it. Personally, I believe working out normally and eating a balanced diet will go long way for you in your workout career as you slowly develop muscles and lose weight.
Pre-Work Effects
There are multiple effects that pre-workout can give you. One of the effects is caffeine, which will help you get that energy boost you would need to keep on pushing to get that last rep in. Some downsides come to drinking caffeine, specifically that jittery that you get after ingesting it, which could ruin your entire workout flow. According to Healthline.
“In theory, caffeine allows you to get more out of a given workout. Nonetheless, caffeine has several potential side effects, especially if you consume too much. These include insomnia, nausea, increased heart rate, drowsiness, headaches, anxiety, and jitteriness or restlessness.”
To conclude my thoughts, there is nothing wrong with drinking caffeine or having it in your pre-workout drink, but remember to always check how much you are drinking since caffeine would cause more damage than a benefit to your body in the long run.
Another thing would be the digestive upset that you can get from drinking too much. Considering the number of formulas in a lot of protein drinks, if you drink too much of it in a small amount of time or drink a lot throughout the day, you would definitely get an upset stomach. According to Healthline.
“Several ingredients in pre-workout formulas may cause digestive upset. These include sodium bicarbonate, magnesium, creatine, and caffeine. Sodium bicarbonate may cause problems when consumed at 91–227 mg per pound of body weight (200–500 mg per kg). However, most pre-workout supplements do not contain this much. Magnesium, on the other hand, may have laxative effects — especially in the form of magnesium citrate. Thus, taking too much may cause diarrhea.”
But, in retrospect, Pre-workout drinks are not that harmful if you take them in moderation. If you do drink too much, then prepare for a nice close “encounter” with the bathroom all night and possibly for tomorrow.
Another major pre-workout effect would be the creatine that is in it. Creatine is a workout supplement that helps you grow muscles a lot faster and you can start seeing results more consistently, but it does have one downside which is the water retention that creatine causes. According to PMC.
“Creatine monohydrate is the most effective ergogenic nutritional supplement currently available to athletes in terms of increasing high-intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass during training. Although creatine has recently been accepted as a safe and useful ergogenic aid, several myths have been purported about creatine supplementation which includes: Creatine supplementation causes cramping, dehydration, and/or altered electrolyte status.”
Overall, Creatine is not as bad as consuming caffeine, but constantly consuming Creatine could cause unknown effects in the distant future, since not many people really care about researching Creatine which leads to unknown and potential unhealthiness. Creatine in general is relatively harmless to your body so using it would not cause too much damage to your body, but moderation is still key to keeping a healthy body.
Pre-workout Summary
Pre-workout drinks are not entirely bad they do have their cons, but it is outweighed by their pros. Pre-workout has been shown to help out in muscle growth, gain healthy weight, and generally able get you into shape. But, moderation is always key with these things, since drinking too many pre-workout drinks could cause uneasiness and might generally harm you in the long run. Teens should be allowed to use pre-workout drinks since it appears that it does not do any harm to them, but as I stated before, taking them in moderation will greatly help teens and even adults to improve their workout regiment. Thank you for reading the article.
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