There are so many workout products on the market, and pre-workout drinks are the most varied when it comes to dosages, ingredients, and effects. It can be a challenge to find the right pre-workout supplement for your fitness needs.
Nutrition, sleep, and hydration are all key to the perfect workout, but pre-workout supplements can help give you something a little extra.
However, choosing the perfect pre-workout drink isn’t easy. Other than caffeine, there are tons of ingredients, like plant extracts, amino acids, etc., that are meant to improve your power output, endurance, blood flow, fat loss, and focus.
We’ve tried the best pre-workout drinks on the market, from the largest brands to ones that aren’t as widely known; these are the ten best pre-workout drinks for men and women.
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1. Best Overall Pre-Workout Supplement
Topping our list of the best pre-workout drinks for men and women is Breinfuel. It’s a natural alternative to typical pre-workouts that are packed full of ingredients to give you the strength and energy you need to make it through the most intense workouts.
Breinfuel’s blend of natural caffeine, green coffee bean extract, and green tea extract provides you with 360 mg of caffeine — the highest on our pre-workout list — to ensure you don’t run out of energy mid-set.
It also contains D-ribose to give you more of an energy boost, collagen for your protein needs, and MCT oil for slow-release energy so that you don’t crash. In addition, Breinfuel is made with vitamins and antioxidants like beetroot to support your caffeine response and improve blood flow during your workout.
With the caffeine and sustain fuel blends that make up Breinfuel, it’s the best pre-workout on the market, fuelling athletes, bodybuilders, frequent gym goers, and workout newbies around the country.
Ready to see how Breinfuel can fuel your workout? Order a variety pack today and find your favorite flavor — fruit punch, citrus, peach mango, and mixed berry!
2. Best Overall Pre-Workout Supplement Runner Up
The next best pre-workout on our list is packed full of research-backed ingredients with clearly-listed dosages. After Breinfuel, you can’t go wrong with the Wrecked Pre-Workout from Huge Supplements.
The Wrecked Pre-Workout has everything that makes a pre-workout drink excellent, and it’s also one of the strongest on the market, containing over 17 clinically-proven ingredients.
This pre-workout has a relatively high dose of caffeine — 350 mg. 250 mg of that caffeine is anhydrous, while 100 mg is di-caffeine malate. It also has a high dose of beta-alanine at 3,500 mg.
On top of those stimulants, Wrecked Pre-Workout also contains plenty of other ingredients designed to help your workout, including l-citrulline and betaine anhydrous.
Wrecked is available in four flavors (peach rings, rainbow burst, raspberry mojito, and bomb popsicle. In addition, it’s reasonably priced when you compare it with other pre-workout drinks on the market.
3. Best Pre-Workout Supplement for Men
Most men work out to gain muscle and strength; it’s essential to select a pre-workout drink with specific formulations to help build muscles and strength while still providing the energy you need for the perfect workout.
Our pick is Promix Pre-Workout, which contains 3.2 grams of beta-alanine to provide plenty of energy, three grams of L-tyrosine (an amino acid), 200 mg of caffeine extracted from coffee beans for an even bigger energy boost, and 250% of your daily value of vitamin B12.
That last ingredient (B12) is extra beneficial for most men—they are more likely to have a deficiency than women. Plus, the amino acids in this pre-workout can help repair your muscles after an intense workout, aiding in the creation of muscle mass. And, of course, the added caffeine is an extra perk, totaling about two cups of coffee.
Promix Pre-Workout comes in various flavors and formulas, including:
- Lemon
- Strawberry lemon
- Mixed Berry
- Cherry lime
- Raspberry lemon
- Tingle-free lemon (no beta-alanine)
- Stim-free raspberry lemon (no caffeine)
And at about a dollar per serving, Promix Pre-Workout is all-natural and comes at a fair price for its ingredients and possible benefits.
4. Best Pre-Workout Supplement for Women
Although we picked this pre-workout as the best for women, it’s a well-rounded supplement that is an excellent pre-workout in general. It hits the priorities we look for in a pre-workout drink regardless of gender: High-quality ingredients, delicious flavors, and effective dosing.
Anyways, onto our choice: Powher Pre-Workout. This pre-workout drink combines a blend of typical ingredients, including taurine, citrulline, tyrosine, and beta-alanine, along with some unique ingredients.
Powher Pre-Workout contains 100 mg of caffeine, which offers a great boost without being overpowering. One less common ingredient that this pre-workout contains is RedNite: A strong beet extract that can help with strength training.
In addition, Powher Pre-Workout comes with 500 mg of coconut powder — perfect for those looking for a little extra hydration in their pre-workout supplement.
Powher comes in a pink lemonade flavor, although we think it has more of a raspberry taste without the citrus kick. However, we still enjoyed it!
5. Best Pre-Workout Supplement for Muscle Gain
Many pre-workout drinks contain a ton of stimulants and not much else. And while that’s great for energy, we prefer ones that pack in helpful ingredients for muscle gain and recovery, like BCAAs and beetroot.
Our pick for muscle gain is Swolverine PRE Pre-Workout — a supplement made from natural ingredients that really pack a punch. And when it comes to performance, this pre-workout drink is designed to help you train harder and train longer.
It contains five grams of citrulline and 3.2 grams of beta-alanine, which are higher levels of these ingredients than found in many other pre-workouts. Beta-alanine helps improve how long it takes to get tired, potentially allowing you to get a few more sets and reps in to achieve higher gains.
In addition, Swolverine PRE can also help your pump and blood flow, thanks to its 2.5 grams of betaine anhydrous — an ingredient derived from beetroot that can help open up your veins to improve blood flow.
One thing about this pre-workout that can be positive or negative is that it contains no stimulants or caffeine — it only uses ingredients to help you power through each set by sheer force.
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6. Best Pre-Workout Supplement for Pumps
When we say you’re getting a “pump” in your workout, we mean that you’re increasing the blood flow to your muscles. And for some, it’s more than an aesthetic benefit: It can also help with muscle soreness and hypertrophy because of the increased blood flow.
Remember our runner-up? Wrecked by Huge Supplements is a great pre-workout to facilitate pumps by increasing the blood flow to your muscles.
Workout buff Arnold Schwarzenegger believes that the pump is one of the best feelings in the world, and we tend to agree. Many gym goers, particularly ones interested in maximizing their muscle size and bodybuilding, prefer pre-workouts that contain ingredients to help provide that pump.
Pumps happen when lots of blood goes into a certain muscle (or group of muscles) because they’re working extremely hard. However, some supplements can help increase those effects.
Wrecked Pre-Workout contains the right ingredients in the correct doses to help open your blood vessels and get your blood flowing, including:
- 8,000 mg of l-citrulline
- 3,000 mg of betaine anhydrous
- 3,500 mg of beta-alanine
- 350 mg of caffeine
This pre-workout drink contains everything you need to get a boost of energy while chasing the pump.
7. Best Pre-Workout Supplement for Weight Loss
Most of us know that the key to losing weight is burning more calories than you consume — how can a pre-workout help with that?
Transparent Labs makes some great pre-workout drinks, but the company’s LEAN formula contains many ingredients found in fat-burning supplements, including synephrine, which some studies found to help increase how many calories you burn in a day.
Hordenine is another ingredient in the LEAN pre-workout that is thought to work with synephrine, enhancing its effects.
In addition, some of LEAN’s ingredients may help support thyroid health, and it’s well-dosed with many popular pre-workout ingredients, including beta-alanine, theanine, and citrulline.
8. Best Pre-Workout Supplement for Vegans
If you follow a vegan diet, finding a pre-workout that’s effective and caters to your restrictions can be a challenge. However, plant-based eaters can rest easy knowing that there’s an excellent pre-workout drink that’s 100% free of any animal-based products — BULK from Transparent Labs.
Pre-workouts commonly use animal products like gelatin (for consistency), lanolin (found in vitamin D3), and bee pollen (often called a pre-workout “superfood”).
The BULK pre-workout supplement contains none of those ingredients; instead, the company relies on calcium silicate to keep the drink’s consistency how you would expect it.
Aside from not using animal products, BULK is a relatively standard pre-workout drink featuring full-bodied and well-researched ingredients to help gym goers hone their focus, bolster their endurance, and increase their energy without the jitters or a crash.
While it’s more expensive than other options, it’s our number one pick for vegan-friendly pre-workout supplements.
9. Best Natural Pre-Workout Supplement
If you want to avoid artificial colorings, sweeteners, and flavors, we have the pre-workout drink for you.
NutraBio PRE pre-workout sets the standard for supplements with hard-hitting amino acids. It’s designed to help you push through the most intense workouts with ease by including a potent mix of amino acids and an all-inclusive stimulant complex designed for bodybuilders and athletes.
And with no artificial flavors, sweeteners, or dyes, this powerful pre-workout is loaded with potent ingredients to enhance your endurance, power, and strength, including:
- 3,500 mg of L-Leucine
- 3,200 mg of beta-alanine
- 2,500 mg of betaine anhydrous
- 500 mg of Creatine MagnaPower
NutraBio PRE also includes caffeine, choline, l-tyrosine, l-theanine, agmatine, and l-citrulline. If you’re looking for an all-natural pre-workout to take your workout to the next level, NutraBio PRE might be your solution.
Looking for other natural pre-workout drinks? Try Breinfuel today—packed full of 360 mg of caffeine and other ingredients designed to fuel your workout!
10. Best Pre-Workout Supplement for Beginners
If you’re new to pre-workouts, you might want a formula that includes ingredients for stamina and focus, and a good pump that offers various flavors to choose from — the pre-workout for beginners that does all of this is Kaged Pre-Kaged.
This pre-workout from Kaged includes a robust list of ingredients that focus on improving your stamina in the gym, including betaine and beta-alanine. In addition, it contains BCAAs like isoleucine, valine, and leucine, which can all aid in muscle repair after an intense workout.
Plus, with 6.5 grams of l-citrulline, Kaged Pre-Kaged can also help you get a solid pump during your workout. It contains 274 mg of caffeine — about three cups of coffee — to help provide you with the focus and energy you need to crush your workout.
And because each container is only 20 servings, you don’t have to overcommit to trying this great beginner pre-workout supplement — it also makes switching up flavors easy. Pre-Kaged flavors include:
- Orange Krush
- Berry Blast
- Grape
- Fruit Punch
- Pink Lemonade
- Krisp Apple
- Cherry Bomb
At a little over $2 per serving, Kaged Pre-Kaged pre-workout isn’t the most affordable option, but it has a stacked ingredient list that makes it worth its price tag.
Related: Best Coffee Alternative for Natural Energy
Benefits of Pre-Workout Supplements
Most people associate pre-workout drinks with their stimulative effects, which affect almost every part of your workout.
Caffeine is an obvious ingredient in pre-workout supplements that act as a stimulant, but it’s also linked to better endurance, cognition, perceived exertion, and power.
A normal cup of coffee has around 100 mg of caffeine. On the other hand, pre-workouts can contain anywhere from no caffeine to 360 mg — like Breinfuel.
However, the best pre-workout drinks contain much more than caffeine. For example, beta-alanine can increase endurance, betaine can improve power, tyrosine can help you focus, and citrulline to help your blood flow. These ingredients can all give you the boost you need to get more out of your workout.
If you want to improve your workouts, pre-workout supplements can be helpful. They can increase your energy and make your workouts more effective.
No matter what you want to get out of your pre-workout, one of the ten on this list is sure to be the perfect fit.