How Long Does Pre-Workout Last in Your System?

In the world of fitness supplements, the two most important options that anyone serious about improving their fitness and optimizing their gains is pre and post-workout supplements.

Pre-workout supplements are essential for improving your gains while in the gym, while post-workout supplements help to ensure your body has enough energy to move throughout the day while also assisting in the repair process.

Both options are very important the more advanced and focused on fitness you become, though – between the two – the pre-workout supplement is the only option that directly helps to improve your gym performance.

The challenge, for many, when it comes to pre-workout supplements, is that taking them at improper times can potentially nullify any benefits you may have been looking for. Not only that, but they may potentially have an adverse effect on your overall health depending on the time of day you take them, the nature of the supplement, or your workout’s intensity.

As an example, if your supplement contains caffeine and other stimulants, it could potentially disrupt your sleep patterns if taken later on at night before a relatively lax or casual workout, leaving you with a lot of excess energy and jitteriness.

It’s because of these issues that it’s important to know how long most pre-workout supplements will last in your body’s system, when to take them before your workout starts, and what time works best so that the rest of your life isn’t impacted. Here, in addition, we’ll go over the amount of time it takes before you’ll feel the effects, some of the different ingredients that your supplement might have, what outside factors influence your supplement’s time in the body, as well as what to be on the lookout for to know if it’s influencing your body or not.

 

When Should Pre-Workout Supplements Start Working?

Though we’ll go more in-depth later, several factors influence a supplement’s effect on your body. For instance, the general body type of a slimmer and healthier person should potentially feel the effects much faster than someone that is overweight or obese. In addition, things like a supplement’s ingredients, your body’s physical tolerance, as well as your overall metabolism all play a role in exactly when you should start to feel the effects.

Generally, you can expect to it to kick in within 30 minutes of the time they’re taken. As a result, you’ll want to gauge exactly when you plan to do your workout and how intense it will be. For relative beginners, it may make more sense to take it right before getting to the gym, while for others it may be better to take it before getting dressed and doing your warm-up routine. For more advanced and thorough fitness enthusiasts, it may be better to take it immediately before starting your warm-up routine so that you get the benefits throughout the workout itself when you need that extra surge of energy.

 

What Are The Signs That Your Pre-Workout Supplement Is Working?

One of the biggest worries people have when it comes to supplements (in general) is the worry that they won’t be able to discern when or if the effects are even happening. For most people, there is an expectation that they’ll have a coffee-like experience, where the body feels radically different.

While that’s not necessarily out of the question, generally the effects should be a bit less intense, where you simply can push longer and harder than you normally would without the supplement. You’ll usually note a change in three major areas:

• Mental Focus
• “Tingling” Sensation In The Body
• Increase In Physical Performance

#1. Mental Focus

Arguably the first thing you’ll notice when taking a pre-workout supplement is your mind’s ability to focus. This is due to the various stimulants that are included in most pre-workout supplements, such as caffeine. These stimulants cause the mind to run faster and focus more intently throughout your workout.

You want to make sure you aren’t taking too much caffeine before your workout if you’re overly sensitive to caffeine or other stimulants. Similarly, this is why you ideally want to avoid taking this later on at night, as that could affect your sleep cycle if your workout isn’t intense enough.

If you find that you are particularly sensitive to caffeine and other stimulants, you’ll want to consider a stimulant-free alternative.

#2. “Tingling” Sensation In The Body

Another area that you’ll likely immediately take note of is your body experiencing a mild “tingling sensation”. For many, this is often described as an itchy feeling along the skin or the muscles. And while it may feel a bit odd at first, it’s not something to be worried about.

The reason for this feeling is because of one of the key ingredients known as Beta-alanine. Beta-alanine is a commonly used ingredient in most pre-workout supplements and works to increase your body’s physical strength and endurance. It’s one of the main reasons why you’ll be able to push longer and harder throughout your workout.

It’s also because of this impact on your muscles that Beta-alanine also affects the skin’s nerve ends, giving you that tingling feeling. You should expect the feeling to be very mild and to only last a couple of hours after taking the supplement.

Potential Histamine Response

If you find that the tingling sensation is more severe or lasts longer than a few hours, your body may be suffering from a histamine response due to one of the ingredients. If that’s the case, you’ll want to see a doctor or medical provider learn what things your body is likely to have an allergic reaction towards.

#3. Increase In Physical Performance

Lastly, you can reliably expect to gain an adequate increase in energy and physical performance during your workout. Again, you shouldn’t expect a surge of energy like your hyped up on sugar or coffee, but rather a steady and gradual increase in performance, where you’re able to pump harder than you could when not taking the supplement.

If properly timed, you should expect an easier time performing isolation and compound exercises while also being able to last longer when performing stamina-based exercises like squat holds or cardio.

 

Related: 7 Side Effects From Pre-Workouts and How to Avoid Them

Related: The Best Pre-Workout Supplements Without Artificial Sweeteners

 

How Long Should A Pre-Workout Supplement Last In Your System?

For most people, pre-workout supplements tend to last between four and six hours. For some ingredients, these effects could last much longer, while other more immediate stimulants could only go for up to an hour.

Depending on the nature of your workout, the amount of time spent exercising could vary. For instance, fitness enthusiasts may only need to go for two or three hours, while weightlifters and bodybuilders may need the full four or six. Starters in the workout space should be able to push well into the 90-minute range through the use of pre-workout supplements.

What Are The Top Ingredients To Consider?

Various pre-workout supplements carry various ingredients worth paying attention to. Generally, however, the top ingredients you want to pay attention to are the following:

• Caffeine
• Beat-Alanine
• Green Tea Extract
• L-Carnitine
• CLA

Caffeine

Though it is primarily only in pre-workout supplements that carry a stimulant, caffeine does have a lot of benefits. As mentioned earlier, it is great for an initial surge of energy while also helping to focus the mind.

Caffeine, while able to remain in the body for up to five hours, doesn’t have more than an initial spike in stimulation. You’ll usually only feel the effects for around an hour or 90 minutes.

Beta-Alanine

Similarly mentioned earlier, Beta-Alanine is the ingredient that is used to help increase your muscle strength while also causing an itchy-tingling sensation in the body. Like caffeine, you can expect the energy-boosting surge to fade away after about an hour. Depending on the nature of your workout, you should generally not deal with the tingling sensation after about an hour to two hours, with an hour reserved for the more exhaustive exercises. (1)

Green Tea Extract

Green tea extract works in the same vein as caffeine, though the amount is significantly reduced by comparison. One thing you’ll note is that the detoxification effects aren’t stimulating, meaning you won’t notice its effects on the body after the initial hit. (2)

L-Carnitine

L-Carnitine is useful for a few things in the body, namely in improving muscle recovery and fueling your body with energy. Your body naturally produces L-Carnitine and, when taken, will generally begin to take effect within 30 minutes before running out of your system after around an hour.

CLA

Also known as “Conjugated Linoleic Acid”, CLA has recently become quite popular as a pre-workout ingredient. Not only does it not have any stimulating effects, but it allows your body to more easily burn fat and convert it into energy while also enhancing your overall performance. It also is known for increasing testosterone production in men by increasing the production of cells in the testicles.

You can reliably expect the effects to wear off after around 90 minutes.

What Can Influence Pre-Workout Supplement’s Duration Time?

Supplements of all kinds can vary in their effectiveness and duration based on the nature of the person and their lifestyle choices. The two biggest factors, however, deal with your dieting habits as well as your overall use of supplements. These two factors are incredibly important, as they both deal with the body’s ability to quickly absorb and use the supplement’s different effects.

#1. Diet

A huge factor you’ll have to consider is what you’re eating and how much you’re eating. Your body has to break down and digest the ingredients in supplements the same way that it does for any other type of food. If you’ve eaten a large amount of heavier foods (burgers, mashed potatoes, steaks, etc.) your body can require a longer time to metabolize and absorb the nutrients from any supplements you’ve recently taken.

On the other hand, if you’re someone that is fasting, you may find yourself burning through your supplements at a faster rate than normal. Similarly, if you are suffering from nutritional deficiencies, like zinc, magnesium, vitamin C, or calcium, you can suffer from an altered absorption or metabolism of the supplements.

#2. Excessive Supplement Use

In addition to your diet, the number of supplements you’re taking can also play a huge factor in how well they absorb into the body or how long they last. In many cases, people are often taking a lot more supplements than they need, which can potentially begin to become unhealthy. This is especially true for people just starting and not exercising at an intense enough level.

Because many of the different workout supplements all have their stimulants and are made with the expectation that you aren’t taking anything else, it can be very easy to overload your system, slowing down the overall effects or greatly speeding them up to the point of being not particularly effective.

Conclusion

Ultimately, it can’t be overstated that pre-workout supplements are incredibly useful for just about anyone looking to see dramatic improvements in their fitness results. By understanding when to take them, how long they should last, and what may affect their duration, you can fine-tune your workouts to get the most out of them and walk away with a stronger body, fitter, and more capable than it would be otherwise.

 

References

1. Hoffman JR, Ratamess NA, Faigenbaum AD, Ross R, Kang J, Stout JR, Wise JA. Short-duration beta-alanine supplementation increases training volume and reduces subjective feelings of fatigue in college football players. Nutr Res. 2008 Jan;28(1):31-5. doi: 10.1016/j.nutres.2007.11.004. PMID: 19083385.
2. Abdul G Dulloo, Claudette Duret, Dorothée Rohrer, Lucien Girardier, Nouri Mensi, Marc Fathi, Philippe Chantre, Jacques Vandermander, Efficacy of a green tea extract rich in catechin polyphenols and caffeine in increasing 24-h energy expenditure and fat oxidation in humans, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 70, Issue 6, December 1999, Pages 1040–1045,