Top 10 Natural Alternatives to Pre-Workouts: Fuel Your Fitness Journey the Natural Way
The world of fitness is an ever-growing industry teeming with pre-workout supplements that promise to boost your energy levels, improve your endurance, and enhance your overall performance. But are these products as safe and effective as they claim to be? Many pre-workouts are loaded with artificial ingredients and have undergone minimal testing. That is where the power of natural alternatives to pre-workouts comes in. As a fitness enthusiast, vegan, personal trainer, or mom looking for weight loss, embracing natural pre-workout alternatives can offer you the energy boost you need with many health benefits. Explore the top 8 to 10 natural pre-workout options to help you achieve your fitness goals.
Top natural pre-workout alternatives
Caffeine
Caffeine is one of the most popular natural pre-workout alternatives in coffee and green tea. It helps increase alertness, sharpen focus, and enhance endurance. While indulging in a large cup is tempting, stick to 200-300mg of caffeine before a workout to reduce the risk of adverse side effects like jitters or increased heart rate.
Dark Chocolate
Delicious and nutritious, dark chocolate (with at least 70% cocoa content) is an excellent natural and healthy pre-workout alternative. The compounds in cocoa help dilate blood vessels, improve blood flow, and enhance energy levels. The presence of polyphenols and iron in dark chocolate stimulates the release of nitric oxide, which boosts your stamina during your workout.
Pomegranate Seeds
These ruby-red jewels are powerhouses of antioxidants like polyphenols, which help to reduce inflammation, increase endurance, and accelerate recovery after a workout. Consuming pomegranate seeds or drinking pomegranate juice before exercising can make a notable difference in your performance.
Banana
Bananas are a go-to pre-workout snack for numerous fitness enthusiasts. They are an excellent source of easily digestible carbohydrates and potassium, which help to provide energy and prevent muscle cramps during workouts.
Complex Carbs like White Rice
Carbohydrates are the primary fuel for your muscles during high-intensity workouts. Consuming complex carbs like white rice, quinoa, or whole-wheat pasta 2-3 hours before exercising provides steady energy to power through your session.
Oatmeal
Oatmeal is loaded with fiber and slow-digesting carbs and delivers consistent energy throughout your workout. As a bonus, oats are packed with essential minerals like magnesium, which boost your energy levels and support muscle function.
Beets
Rich in nitrates, beets are a fantastic natural alternative to pre-workouts that improve blood flow, reduce oxygen usage during exercise, and increase workout potential. Whether eaten raw, cooked, or juiced, beets are a fitting pre-workout supplement for endurance athletes and high-intensity trainers alike.
Coconut Water
Staying hydrated is crucial for successful workouts, especially during hot weather or intense sessions. Coconut water is packed with potassium and electrolytes, promoting hydration and maintaining muscle function.
Blueberries
These small but mighty berries offer many fitness-related benefits, from combating inflammation to protecting your muscles from oxidative stress. Enjoy some blueberries before your workout for slow-releasing energy, thanks to the natural sugars and fiber.
Salt
Salt is one of the best unknown natural pre-workout supplements out there. Salt will provide you with an insane pump during your weight training and will help you with fluid balance. Do not underestimate the power of salt!
Find out how to assess the best ingredient or combo for you!
Depending on your objectives, digestion, time of the day, and activity that you are planning to do, you might opt for different types of pre-workout alternatives. Here I will provide a few different examples for you:
Strength Training
If you want to focus on strength training, combining complex carbs and protein is your best bet. Think oats with nut butter or an omelet for breakfast, white rice with chicken for lunch, or quinoa with salmon for dinner.
Cardio
Eat a snack with high-quality carbs and electrolytes for cardiovascular activities like running or cycling. Good options include coconut water, banana, or dates with honey.
Cutting phase
You will prioritize staying in a deficit; however, no matter the deficit, you can sneak in a portion of white rice, a few berries, and an espresso shot!
My go-to natural pre-workout supplement combo
The pump you feel during your gym will make this the best natural pre-workout recipe you ever need! My favorite combo for any activity would consist of 100gm pomegranate seeds with 50gm dark chocolate and a double espresso, and 1/4 teas spoon of Himalayan pink salt 25-30 minutes before my workout routine. The mix provides sustained energy and nutrients to maximize my gym performance.
By mastering the science of pre-workout nutrition, you can maximize your gains and reach your fitness goals faster. Experiment with natural alternatives, assess what works best for you, and reap the rewards of improved performance!
Find out which are some well-known natural pre-workout supplements on the market.
Plenty of well-known natural and organic pre-workout supplements are on the market if you don’t have the time to mix and match natural ingredients. I will share some of my best natural pre-workout supplements that have helped fuel my exercise routine over the past years:
PreJym High-Performance Pre-Workout (naturally flavored)
Ripped To Shreds by HardBody Supplements (stimulant free)
Healthy Truth Organic Pre Workout Blend (No added sugar, no additives, 100% plant-based & organic)
C4 Ripped Sport from Cellucor
This pre-workout supplement contains green coffee extract, carnitine tartrate, and caffeine.
Pre-Jym from Jym Supplement Science
This pre-workout supplement contains branched-chain amino acids, creatine HCl, citrulline malate, beetroot extract, and more.
Redcon1 Total War
This powerful pre-workout supplement contains citrulline malate, L-carnitine tartrate, betaine anhydrous, and more that will increase your exercise performance.
Do you lose more weight with pre-workout supplements?
The way pre-workout supplements work is by increasing your blood flow via vasodilation. That gives your muscles more oxygenated blood, which helps them work harder and longer.
However, proper nutrition and physical activity will be more effective at burning fat or getting you to lose scale weight. So, pre-workout supplements don't make you lose more weight directly. Still, by allowing greater output during your workouts, you might burn more calories and create a better stimulus for muscle growth, which can help you get better weight loss outcomes in conjunction with a good diet.
Important note: pre-workouts can also hurt your recovery and sleep. Suppose you stimulate yourself too much and give a higher output during the workout than your body is primed for. In that case, you might overtrain, potentially hindering recovery and muscle growth. Also, some supplements filled with caffeine can affect your sleep if taken in the afternoon and evening hours. I strongly advise that you stick to natural pre-workouts!
Do you need a boost pre-workout?
First, if you do not like to exercise and have yet to develop the habit of working hard, no supplement on the market will get you the desired results. However, suppose you have built a quality routine and are on a healthy diet but still want something to help you enhance your physical performance. In that case, my advice is to go for natural pre-workout supplements, aka whole foods, as your pre-workout routine. If you still want to try out a pre-workout supplement that will give you an energy boost, be cautious of its ingredients, the time of the day you take it, and your output during your session.
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