There are several advantages to making your own pre workout drink as opposed to purchasing one.
First you are in control of the ingredients in it. Thus you will not be paying for any filler/useless ingredients and you can make adjustments as needed. For example, I don’t want any BCAAs because I believe that they are useless unless you are training fasted. I also don’t want creatine in my pre workout because when I do supplement with creatine, I take it with a meal.
Next you are in control of the dosages. You can take an optimal dose of the ingredients based on your own needs and body weight. For example you can take less caffeine if you are training late in the day.
Finally you will almost certainly save money because with commercial pre workouts much of what you pay for is the brand name. My drink per serving costs 1/3 to 1/2 of what a commercial pre workout drink would cost. You could make it even less by buying powder in larger quantities from for example Bulksupplements. There is a bigger upfront cost but over the months you will save money.
Here are the ingredients that I have been using:
I start out with some flavored drink mix packets which provide the flavoring as well as caffeine. Pictured above are True Lemon Energy (wild blackberry pomegranate) and Crystal Light Pure Energy (tropical citrus) which I purchased at a supermarket for 2-3 dollars for a box of 6 packets. I chose these two because they have no artificial sweeteners like many products like this have.
Next I add the amino acid powders purchased online from Amazon and Vitacost. The dosages I use are pretty conservative. For example, many people I’ve seen take 4-6 grams of L-Citriline Malate before a workout which is a lot more than I take.
L-Citriline Malate: 2 - 4 grams: increase nitric oxide and pump
(pictured below is NutraKey L-Citriline Malate 200 grams which cost $19)Beta-Alanine: 1.5 - 3 grams: increase endurance
(pictured below is MRM Nurition Beta-Alanine 200 grams which cost $18)L-Tyrosine: 500mg – 1 gram: increase focus
(pictured below is NutraBio L-Tyrosine 150 grams which cost $12)Taurine: 1 – 2 grams: increase energy and focus
(pictured below is Now Foods Taurine 227 grams which cost $8)
Keep in mind that any legal pre workout drink is not going to work magic. The placebo effect of the drink is probably stronger than the ingredients in the drink. But I’ll take any increase in performance during a workout even if it is the placebo effect. Though I will say using this drink definitely does seem to make me less sore/recover quicker.
I would also only recommend them if you’ve been working out for a while. Because if you’re a beginner you will be making progress and strength gains so quickly that any supplements you take will not make a noticeable difference.
To keep things simpler you could just drink coffee or use some Matcha Green tea powder before a workout. The cheapest and easiest solution would be to drink plain water. But I still enjoy taking a pre workout drink as part of my workout routine. Having control over the ingredients and doing it as cheaply as possible makes it more sustainable for more.
Thanks for reading
NinjaMike