You are here: Home » Articles » Fitness » Bodybuilding Supplements » Best Pre-Workout Supplements: How to Train Longer, Harder and Develop Your Energy

Best Pre-Workout Supplements: How to Train Longer, Harder and Develop Your Energy

Few people would disagree that in today’s age, appearance is very important to say the least.

Six packs, bulging biceps and everything else is thrown in the face of men – who just want to look like “that” in order to strut down the street and generally impress members of the opposite sex.

train harder and longer

Unfortunately, these bodies don’t grow on trees. While some people might find it easier than others to build muscle, it takes work for everyone.

Finding a way to train longer and harder is the way to get the most out of your body and subsequently build a body that you (and everyone around you) is going to be proud of.

Getting the basics right

basics of workout

Most men invest in personal trainers and other highly expensive methods to try and perfect their appearance. Suffice to say, a lot of the time these steps just don’t work. Most of the time these men just fail to get the basics right.

Fortunately, as the name suggests, the basics really are, well, basic. At a glance, here are four areas that you simply must perfect in order to perfect your own body.

Gaining a mental edge – Building muscles might seem to be completely physical, but never forget the mental side of this training. Eradicating any sort of negative mental thought, whether it’s the worst case scenarios or even paranoia, is the sure-fire way to get the most out of any training that you take part of.
Slow and steady – It might be tempting to go hell for leather during your first few weeks of working out, but this is one of the easiest ways to get injured and burn out. It all needs to be a gradual process and taking the beginner as an example, you should be looking to start with high-rep bodyweight movements, before slowly adding strength-related exercises into your schedule. If you’re always flogging your body on high-intensity training, injury will be around the corner.
Never stop learning – You may have reached one milestone, but don’t for a minute switch off. The best athletes always look to find ways to improve and ultimately make their training even more effective. Keep trying new training methods, finding a way that’s even better than what’s working at the present time.
Never negate the diet – There’s never any substitution for a good diet, it’s the thing that can make a solid training plan. Firstly, find any nutritional deficiencies you may have; the most common range from water to protein. Then, make sure your portion sizes correlate to your training goals, before assessing and analysing your diet at any opportunity. It all goes back to learning, and fine-tuning your entire training schedule in every way possible.

Developing your energy systems

energy

While shrewd planning is one way to enhance your training, developing your energy systems is another.

It’s all about allowing your body to make the most of adenosine triphosphate – also known as ATP. This is an energy module that’s part of our body and powers all of our movements.

To boost our ATP reserves, there are numerous methods:

Cardiac output training – Used to improve the way our body produces energy using oxygen, cardiac output training involves training at a low-intensity. Aim for 130-150 beats per minute – which should gradually increase the size of the heart chambers and allow more oxygen to be delivered with each beat.
Cardiac power training – As the name suggests, this is more focussed on strength. It will help your body use oxygen more effectively at the point when you would normally start to tire. These sessions involve working at one to two minute intervals at a high, but sustainable, effort. Generally, you’ll reach your maximum heart rate in the latter part of the interval.
Alactic-aerobic training – The aim of this training is to gradually improve your endurance. This is done by increasing your fast-twitch muscle fibre density. The idea is to work at maximum intensity for 6-12 seconds, before resting until your heart rate is below 140 bpm.
Lactate threshold intervals – The goal with this type of training is to increase the time which it normally takes the body to turn to the lactate or glycolytic system. You should look to work with intervals; spending 4-6 minutes at high-intensity before resting for 3-5 minutes.
Lactate power and capacity intervals – In order to stay in the glycolytic energy phase for as long as possible, it’s advisable to turn to this type of training. It means that you’ll have to train at maximum intensity for anywhere between 20 seconds and 2 minutes.

Are there any products to help with training efficiency?

Post by Men’s Answer.

Unsurprisingly, the bodybuilding market has opened itself up to those individuals who want a helping hand in achieving their training goals.

There are several products which are now available to help in this way, with Capsiplex Sport and Body Fuel Creatine Powder a couple of the most popular:

Capsiplex Sport

capsiplex sport for harder workouts

Capsiplex Sport has been developed to help train your body in multiple ways. It will improve your energy levels, focus and endurance to make longer training sessions so much easier.
In addition to the above, studies have shown that Capsiplex Sport makes it much easier to burn calories before, during and after every session. In fact, one test showed that the average person will burn 278 extra calories a day.
As well as the calorie-factor, there’s the small issue of increasing your oxygen uptake. Another test has shown that you will have 7.5% more oxygen available and as we have already found, this is paramount to enhanced training sessions.
The product is based on pure science – there are no myths here. It uses chili to encourage thermogenesis and make your body burn more calories, while taking advantage of vitamin B3 and caffeine to increase your energy levels and focus.
All of the components are natural, meaning that no side effects exist.
The product is consumed in capsule format, meaning that your daily activities won’t be hindered in the slightest.
Capsiplex Sport costs just £29.99 for a one month supply, although it’s possible to purchase six for the discounted rate of £119.85.
The manufacturers, Advanced Health, have become hugely established in the four years they have been in business and are now one of the biggest players in the supplements industry.

Read Our Full Capsiplex Sport Review

Body Fuel Creatine Powder

creatine-powder_1

Body Fuel Creatine Powder is designed for a slightly different user, with the product primarily focussed on stimulating protein synthesis and providing you with more intense workouts.
As such, there is less of an emphasis on calorie burning, but more on building muscle.
As well as its muscle-building principles, Body Fuel Creatine Powder has been associated with enhanced brain function and recovery times – allowing you to get more out of your workout via other means.
Just like Capsiplex Sport, it relies on natural ingredients meaning that side effects are a thing of the past.
It’s also based on pure science, taking advantage of Creatine to replenish ATP levels and prompt those higher-intensity workouts.
Another big difference with Body Fuel Creatine Powder is the method of consumption. This is a powder and you’ll have to take three portions of 5g every day for it to be effective.
The product is priced at £24.99, making it similar to Capsiplex Sport.
Bauer Nutrition are perhaps even more established in the market, with this company behind a number of hugely successful products in the weight loss and sports nutrition industry.

Read Our Full BodyFuel Creatine Powder Review

About the Author
Latest Publications

About George Allen

George Allen – Author – An AFPA Certified holistic and preventative nutrition professional. George is a well known exercise physiology and sports nutrition expert, the co-founder of MensAnswer.com.
Syracuse University graduate: bachelor’s degree in nutrition/dietetics (B.S.) and a master’s degree in nutrition science with a concentration in counseling (M.A.)
Follow me on Twitter