4 Great Pre-Workout Supplements to Increase Blood Flow
May 28, 2021
When you’ve had a long day at work or you’ve been working out consistently for some time and your body feels fatigued, you might need a pick-me-up before your main gym session. And, with so many ingredients and products touted as great pre-workout supplements, you may be wondering what you should take to make sure you maximize your muscle-building results.
To choose a pre-workout supplement that boosts blood flow, increases muscle growth, and enables you to maintain power for longer, you need to understand when, how often, and why you should take a pre-workout in the first place.
We’re breaking down what makes pre-workout supplements essential to performing your best at the gym and how it can contribute to long-lasting muscle growth.
When Should You Take Pre-Workout?
Pre-workout supplements are designed to perk you up, increase blood flow to your muscles, and hydrate you so you can have a great workout. But taking them at the right time is also very important.
A good pre-workout will include caffeine on the ingredients list, so you first need to consider how long that takes to kick in. Usually, caffeine reaches its peak effect on the body within 30 to 60 minutes maximum. So, it’s essential that you don’t take pre-workout too early or you won’t feel the energy-boosting effects until it’s too late.
Caffeine helps boost your performance and enhances your focus during a workout, and it works great alongside branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) which boost protein synthesis and help prevent muscle damage. Taking a pre-workout with caffeine and BCAAs ensures your muscles will not only work harder, but they won’t be as damaged as they normally would be from hard efforts.
Finally, it’s best to take your pre-workout with a small meal to get the best results. If you’re working out in the morning, a healthy snack like a banana or some oatmeal will provide you with carbs for energy and additional benefits like potassium, which is one of the minerals we lose when we sweat during a hard workout.
How Often Should You Use Pre-Workout?
While pre-workout supplements help boost your performance and can give you some additional fat-burning benefits (for example, HYDE Thermo has added ingredients to boost your metabolism like capsicum extract), your body can eventually become used to them and not respond as well as it used to.
This is a normal reaction and you shouldn’t try to increase your dose beyond what the product label recommends. Instead, the best approach is to take pre-workout in cycles, with a few weeks of regular use followed by 1-2 weeks of a break. When you have spent some time working out without the ingredients in your favorite performance-boosting powder, going back to it will make a visible difference.
Take pre-workout before your gym workouts and consider alternating the products you use. For example, you could be working out twice a week with a caffeine-free product like HYDE Max Pump, which delivers creatine to support your muscle building and Arginine Nitrate (NO3-T™) to boost your blood flow to those muscles. It’s stimulant and caffeine-free, leaving your body ready for the impact of a pre-workout like HYDE Thermo, where you’ll get a kick from the caffeine content.
Finally, it’s important to note that you don’t want to take pre-workout outside of your workout sessions. It’s designed to prepare your body for a hard gym workout, but not suited for everyday use as a supplement.
Why Pre-Workout Is Your Secret Weapon
We’ve covered when and how to take pre-workout, but you may be wondering why pre-workout is so beneficial for you and how increasing blood flow will help with your strength sessions.
Firstly, a good pre-workout mix fulfills a number of roles:
- It ensures you are well fueled and hydrated before your session so you can push yourself to the max
- It feeds your muscles with BCAA, creatine, and other micronutrients that ensure that the muscles are ready for effort and protected from too much muscle damage (which happens naturally during weightlifting)
- It increases your focus and concentration when caffeine is among the ingredients
- It speeds up your metabolism, helping you burn more fat and creating a lean physique
- It helps you recover more quickly after your workout, having already jump started the processes that your muscles need for re-building (through the addition of muscle- and performance-boosting ingredients like creatine)
- It increases blood flow to the muscles, which means your muscles are receiving nutrients better, allowing you to push yourself and get more gains from every session
Increased blood flow leads to better delivery of nutrients to your muscles, as well as increased energy and improved cognition. During workouts, you automatically push more blood around your body through the effort you’re making, and this has been found to lead to athletes feeling more energetic and alert after exercising.
Research has also shown that athletes who use L-Citrulline, an amino acid that increases blood flow, are able to maintain hard efforts for longer and get more out of their gym sessions.
The Top 4 Pre-Workout Supplements to Increase Blood Flow
So, what are the best pre-workout supplements to get your blood flowing faster? Here are a few we recommend trying:
HYDE Xtreme
With arginine and L-Citrulline in the mix, this pre-workout powder is designed to increase your focus, strength, and performance. The two amino acids combine forces to boost blood circulation, while a serious dose of caffeine and TeaCrine give you increased focus and accelerate your metabolism. HYDE Xtreme is perfect for a kick of energy and maximum fat-burning benefits.
HYDE Pre-Workout
This pre-workout offers an ideal mix of energy, focus, increased blood flow, and ingredients designed to boost your recovery as soon as you’ve stopped your session. The Beta-Alanine content in HYDE Pre-Workout guarantees that you can keep going during longer sessions, while the creatine stimulates muscular development and prevents muscle breakdown.
HYDE Max Pump
To ensure the absolute maximum muscle-building benefits from your session, every serving of HYDE Max Pump delivers 4000 mg of L-Citrulline and 1000 mg of arginine. Both will boost nitric oxide production, delivering increased blood flow that not only gives your muscles a surge of energy, but also ensures you’ll be looking your best leaving the gym with a pumped and defined physique.
HYDE Thermo
The choice for fat-burning pre-workout supplements, HYDE Thermo increases blood flow while promoting thermogenesis to help you get lean, well-defined muscles. Between the caffeine and capsicum powder, you will also have razor-sharp focus during your workout.
Max Out Your Workout Results
Whether you’re looking to lose fat and get a leaner physique or wanting to ensure that your muscles get the most nutrients and support for your session, increasing blood flow thanks to a good pre-workout supplement will ensure that your workouts deliver the best results. Besides, a surge in blood flow will also improve your energy and focus levels, helping you feel great during and after your session, too.
Are you ready to order your pre-workout? Head to the online store today to stock up on all our supplements. You can also check out the store locator to find out where you can buy our products in person.
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