Pre-Workout

[KCasey]

Hello! I was wondering about anyone's experience with Pre-Workout. I wake up at 3:45 to get my workout done first thing in the morning. For the past two years I have had a Pre-work by Beachbody prior to my workout. According to the ingredients it would not be Whole30 approved because of the Stevia. Has anyone drank pre-workout in the past but found a successful way to do without it? I do not want to sacrifice my workouts but also do not want to cheat on the Whole 30

[kknoer]

I used to drink aminos and UCAN pre-workout and am now having a hard boiled egg and a handful of nuts with my bottle of water - seems to be working fine!

[nikki1973nikki]

Honestly, no. I ended up really slacking on morning workouts, and ended up way WAY scaling it back. Most of the workouts I skipped. I made sure to be active each day with minimally walking my dogs.  So yeah, I sacrificed my workouts. TBH, I needed a break. Badly. I don't know what you are trying to preserve, but over 30 days, I did lose weight, my energy is fine and my anxiety is better. I also seem to not have lost any strength or tone. So any/all benefits from working out weren't lost over 30 days.

I know they suggest an egg or whatever- definitely try it, but.... it wasn't the same for me as pre-workout. It just did not give me the pop to get my 5am workouts rolling. But I'm not so sure killing myself at the gym at 5am because I had a bunch of C-4 on board was doing me any favors. I guess what I'm saying is don't cheat on the Whole 30 even if you slack on your workouts. 

[jmcbn]

I'll just add here ladies that the preWO as recommended during W30 is NOT going to provide fuel for your work-out in the way that a shake or a supplement does. Solid protein takes around an hour or more to peak in the blood as fuel so your WO will be done before that happens. Liquid protein is broken down into fuel much faster than solid, and so the preWO during your W30 is merely sending a message to your brain/body that it CAN burn FAT STORES as there is no shortage of fuel to be had... It's the postWO that is key in allowing for protein muscle synthesis, and therefore recovery & repair.

[KCasey]

On 3/6/2017 at 10:26 AM, nikki1973nikki said:

Honestly, no. I ended up really slacking on morning workouts, and ended up way WAY scaling it back. Most of the workouts I skipped. I made sure to be active each day with minimally walking my dogs.  So yeah, I sacrificed my workouts. TBH, I needed a break. Badly. I don't know what you are trying to preserve, but over 30 days, I did lose weight, my energy is fine and my anxiety is better. I also seem to not have lost any strength or tone. So any/all benefits from working out weren't lost over 30 days.

I know they suggest an egg or whatever- definitely try it, but.... it wasn't the same for me as pre-workout. It just did not give me the pop to get my 5am workouts rolling. But I'm not so sure killing myself at the gym at 5am because I had a bunch of C-4 on board was doing me any favors. I guess what I'm saying is don't cheat on the Whole 30 even if you slack on your workouts. 

Thank you very much for the response. I see working out as my release of stress and anxiety so I have been drinking my pre-workout and continuing. You are right, workouts fueled by copious amounts of pre-workout are probably not the greatest idea. Sacrificing my workouts is better than cheating on the whole 30 experience. 

 

[ThyPeace]

 

If you're drinking Energize by Beachbody, here is a link to the ingredients list:

https://www.beachbody.com/text/media/supplements/bbperformanceline/pdf/bbp-energize-label.pdf

The first ingredient is beet sugar, which is not a compliant ingredient.  Stevia is also not compliant.  Essentially, it's lemonade mix with some electrolytes and caffeine mixed in.  I'd say you will need to either find something else to use before your workouts or decide not to do a Whole30.

ThyPeace, sorry to be the bearer of bad news.