PRE-WORKOUT VS CREATINE: IS CREATINE PRE-WORKOUT?
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Time to read 5 min
Pre-Workout vs Creatine
You’ve probably heard this question floating around or maybe even wondered about it yourself. Well, we’re here to answer it.
Pre-workout vs Creatine. Which one should I use?
Firstly, you need to understand what Pre-Workout and Creatine are and how they can support your workout goals.
Your Guide to Pre-Workout
We’ll start with Pre-workout - every gym-goer’s typical go-to supplement before a heavy session on the weights or a draining hour on the treadmill.
What is Pre-Workout?
Pre-workouts are designed to give you energy when you exercise. Coming in a powder or pill form, pre-workouts are generally meant to be taken 15-20 minutes before a workout and can help you increase your overall performance.
Benefits
You can never go wrong with a pre-workout before a session. With a plethora of nutrients combined to improve your performance and reduce your fatigue, pre-workouts can provide that extra spark of energy and help you elevate your progress when you start to feel yourself dwindling (Muszalski, C. 2021).
What is in my pre-workout?
A lot of pre-workouts generally share the same core ingredients; we’ll tell you what they do.
Caffeine: Just like in your morning coffee, a core way that vital energy boost is delivered is through caffeine. Pre-workouts generally contain 150mg to 300mg of caffeine (2-3 cups of coffee), so if coffee isn’t your friend, you may want to try a caffeine-free (non-stim) formula.
Beta-Alanine: This ingredient is designed to help you complete high-intensity exercises while helping to lower fatigue and aid your recovery.
Amino Acids: BCAA’s are included to help you build lean body mass. It can also assist with muscle growth and help to reduce damage to your muscles after intense exercise.
Creatine: That’s right! Pre-workouts already contain creatine. We’ll go into more detail soon (Begum, J et al. 2021).
Where do I start?
If you’re looking for an excellent pre-workout to help you support your fitness goals, you can’t go wrong with Faction Labs - Disorder. A fully loaded pre-workout formulated to increase your energy, deliver razor-sharp focus and help you increase your muscle pumps, Disorder has all the ingredients needed to boost your performance and elevate your energy levels.
If you’re not big on caffeine or think pairing this with your daily coffee (or coffees) will overload your body, you may benefit from a non-stimulant pre-workout like Evolve Pump Action.
Your Guide to Creatine
While creatine is already found in most pre and post-workout products, a creatine supplement allows you to stack pure creatine monohydrate with other supplements you may be using.
What is Creatine?
Creatine is one of the most commonly used supplements amongst bodybuilders and performance athletes. So what is it? Creatine is a substance found naturally in your muscle cells and helps them produce energy during high-intensity training (Mawer, R. 2022).
Benefits
Creatine is a popular supplement among athletes as it can assist with muscle gain while enhancing physical strength and exercise performance (Mawer, R. 2022).
Additionally, creatine can help prevent muscle damage while enhancing the recovery progress after an injury. It may also have an antioxidant effect that can reduce cramping after an intense session at the gym (Wilson, D. 2017).
What is in a creatine supplement?
Creatine is generally formed with three amino acids, L-arginine, Glycine, and L-methionine. Different forms of creatine can be found in creatine supplements, including creatine monohydrate and creatine nitrate (Wilson, D. 2017).
Where do I start?
If the value of creatine has piqued your interest and you’re looking for an effective formula to take before training or mix with your favourite pre-workout, look no further than Evolve Creatine Monohydrate.
One of our best sellers at ASN, Evolve’s Pure Creatine Monohydrate can help you enhance your energy and endurance while helping your body gain muscle and strength.
Pre-Workout vs Creatine
So we’ve already established that they can coexist, as creatine can be stacked effectively with your pre and post-workout drinks, but what effects does this have?
Combining creatine with your pre-workout can boost your ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) levels, which is the most basic form of energy in your body and is crucial in boosting your metabolism and muscle function (Mawer, R. 2017). This ATP boost, in collaboration with the ingredients in your pre-workout, can advance your training performance, strength and lean muscle mass. The Beta-Alanine in your pre-workout has been studied and shown to have particularly beneficial effects on your performance when combined with your pre-workout (Hinchman, W. 2021).
Combining both creatine and pre-workout can help you maximise your results in the gym. While creatine is effective at helping your muscles produce energy during high-intensity exercise, it doesn’t spark the sudden surges of energy that pre-workouts can incite. Coupled together, they can optimise your results and elevate your performance (Ladon, J. 2021).
We know that some pre-workouts already contain creatine, so if you’re worried about taking too much, we can ease your stress. The recommended daily amount of creatine is between 5g and 20g, with most pre-workouts that contain creatine only having about 3-5g per serving. Both our Evolve Creatine RX and Evolve Creatine Monohydrate only contain 5g per serving. As long as you’re taking the correct quantities each day, you should be able to get the best out of combining both supplements.
The average person only naturally consumes 1-2g per day, which primarily comes from animal sources like chicken, pork, beef and fish. If you follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, you may find your creatine stocks lower, making a creatine supplement even more beneficial to incorporate into your diet (Van De Walle, G. 2019).
The Bottom Line
Pre-workout vs creatine should become pre-workout + creatine.
Not only do they work well together, but they can work well for you too. Combining both supplements can allow you to train at higher intensities for longer periods without fatigue.
Creatine can help you increase your strength, power and force, while your pre-workout can bolster your energy levels and increase your performance endurance. Both contain similarities while achieving their results through separate pathways, which can benefit you as they both work together to provide you with the best conditions to achieve your fitness goals.
So, now that you know the benefits of pre-workout and creatine, it’s time to get mixing! If you’re looking for a great pre-workout or creatine product to add to your shaker, we can help you out online or at one of our 32 Australian stores.
References
Begum, J et al. 2021, ‘Health Benefits of Pre-Workout Supplements’, Jump Start by WebMD. Accessed 12 September 2022,
Muszalski, C. 2021, ‘Benefits of Pre-Workout | What Is It? When To Take It?’, MyProtein, accessed 12 September 2022,
Mawer, R. 2022, ‘Everything You Need to Know About Creatine’, Healthline, accessed 12 September 2022,
Wilson, D R. 2017, ‘Should I use creatine supplements, Medical News Today, accessed 12 September 2022,
Mawer, R. 2017, ‘How Creatine Helps You Gain Muscle and Strength’, Healthline, accessed 13 September 2022,
Hinchman, W. 2021, ‘Creatine Vs Pre Workout: Which One Is Better?’ Swolverine, accessed 13 September 2022,
Ladon, J. 2021, ‘Mixing Pre-Workout With Creatine Could Take Your Gains to New Heights’, Generation Iron Fitness Network, accessed 13 September 2022,
Van De Walle, G. 2019, ‘Can You Take Too Much Creatine’, Healthline, accessed 13 September 2022,
