Is It Safe To Take 2 Scoops Of Pre-workout?
Is It Safe To Take 2 Scoops Of Pre-Workout?
Written by Jonathan Fletcher
It was 2pm and I was fading fast. The dog was sick last night and I only slept 3, mayyyyybe 4 hours tops.
Tonight was supposed to be my night at the gym. The final workout of the CrossFit Open, and I was within striking distance of the top spot in our gym.
Somehow, I rallied at work and made it to 4:30 without falling asleep on the job. Before I grabbed my bag and high-tailed it to the gym for the 5 o’clock class, I went through my daily ritual.
I filled my shaker bottle with ice water and pulled my secret weapon out of my bag.
My pre-workout.
The perfect proprietary blend of caffeine, beta-alanine, watermelon flavor, and a bunch of other hard-to-pronounce ingredients in questionable dosages.
I had to perform my best tonight to ensure I’d take over the top spot (and bragging rights) in the gym.
I needed a little extra boost to make up for the time I traded my 3rd R.E.M. cycle for cleaning up dog puke.
Without hesitation, (or looking closely at the label), I did what many others before me have done.
I double-scooped that bad boy.
2 heaping scoops straight into my ice-cold 16oz shaker bottle.
Off I went on the 10-minute drive from my office to the gym.
Chug chug chug.
By the time I pulled in, I was nearly done with my performance-enhancing secret.
I was feeling better already.
The music was loud and the energy in the gym was electric.
I slipped into the bathroom and started changing clothes.
“Tonight’s my night!”
Oddly, by the time I was dressed and ready I was feeling more nervous than usual.
The workout I needed to do to lock up the top spot was safely in my wheelhouse.
Why was I feeling so anxious?
I just needed to sit for a minute and get my mind right.
My friend Nathan rolled in and made a beeline over to the bench I was perched on.
“You alright man?”
“Yeah, I’m ok. Just a little nervous and my head feels a little weird.”
I didn’t tell him that it felt like my heart was also doing double-time and that I was on the verge of being able to see sounds.
Nathan responded: “I’ve felt that way before man. Did you take a pre-workout?”
Crap.
Right then it hit me. “Maybe I shouldn’t have taken 2 scoops at once?”
I grabbed my bag, pulled out the container, and started scanning the label closely for the first time ever.
BOOM. There it was in fine print at the bottom. 250mg of caffeine per scoop.
During my 10-minute drive to the gym, and the 5 minutes it took me to change clothes I’d had 500mg of caffeine.
That’s the equivalent of about 5 and a half cups of coffee. Yeah. Not good.
By the time I realized what I’d done to myself, I wasn’t feeling good at all. Scratch that. I felt terrible.
My stomach was on the verge of WW3, and I couldn’t get my heart rate down.
Not only was I not able to do the workout, but boy did I have a hard time sleeping for the second night in a row.
Instead of reading this story and deciding to never take 2 scoops of pre-workout yourself, let’s look more closely, and then you can decide for yourself.
The question is…
Is it safe to take 2 scoops of pre-workout at once?
The main benefit of a pre-workout supplement comes from caffeine. It’s one of the few supplements that we use, and recommend to our clients. Research has shown that caffeine is a proven (and legal) performance enhancer.
Another common ingredient in pre-workouts is Beta-Alanine. It’s an amino acid that gets converted into carnosine, which helps control the acidity that can accumulate in your muscles during a tough workout. One of the side effects of beta-alanine is a tingly feeling on your skin and scalp that kinda feels like spiders are giving you a once-over.
Some people love it, but others can’t stand it.
Most pre-workouts will have a blend of other ingredients like electrolytes, taurine, amino acids, or other trademarked special blends of chemicals.
The main reason they have this stuff in them is to differentiate them from the millions of other pre-workouts out there, not because it makes them work any better.
Back to the question of safety…
If a pre-workout is going to be unsafe, it’s probably going to be because the dosage of caffeine is outside of the recommended amount for healthy adults, or because it was simply too much caffeine, too fast.
Another thing to consider is how double-dosing beta-alanine or the other secret blend ingredients may affect you.
How much caffeine is too much in a day?
The FDA recommends that healthy adults (that aren’t pregnant) limit their caffeine intake to less than 400mg per day.
Caffeine is an interesting drug though. Everyone’s sensitivity to it is different.
We have clients that can drink 3 cups of coffee (~300mg of caffeine) and feel great, and we have some that feel like the small amount of caffeine in chocolate winds them up like a spring.
Like many drugs, your tolerance to caffeine builds up the more, and the longer that you use it.
If you typically have an afternoon pick-me-up with 100mg of caffeine, you might find that it stops doing the trick for you after a few months.
Our advice when it comes to the caffeine in your pre-workout is this…
Know your own personal tolerance for caffeine.
Start paying attention to how much caffeine you’re getting throughout the day. The google machine is a great resource to find out how much caffeine is in common drinks at coffee shops.
If you’re drinking canned drinks like soda, diet soda, or energy drinks… They’ll have the milligrams of caffeine per serving listed somewhere on the can. You might have to hunt for it a little.
Be sure to check the nutrition facts on the can to make sure that the can isn’t 2 or 3 servings. It can happen!
As you become more aware of how much caffeine you’re having, pay attention to how it makes you feel.
Do you feel great after 100mg but anxious if you have 200mg?
Do you feel crazy if you have an energy drink on an empty stomach, but fine if you have one after a meal?
Awareness is always the first step before you start making changes, or deciding to double up on your pre-workout.
If you find out that you’re already having more than 400mg of caffeine every day, adding even more by double-scooping your pre-workout probably isn’t a great idea.
Instead, try pulling down the amount you’re having earlier in the day, or going through a period with very little caffeine overall, to reset your body’s sensitivity to the quite addicting drug.
For most people, about 2 weeks off of caffeine is long enough to resensitize yourself to the benefits.
If you find out that you’re overall caffeine is within a healthy range and you want to experiment with doubling up on your pre-workout, make sure you find out how much caffeine your particular brand has per serving.
Some brands like C4 have 135mg per serving (about 1.5 cups of coffee’s worth), while brands like Ghost have 200mg per serving. And for people who need to be awoken from the dead, brands like Hooligan have 600mg per serving! WOW!
Can you see how important it is to know your own tolerance, and to pay attention to how many milligrams of caffeine are in each serving?!?
If you’re ready to experiment with more than 1 serving at a time, remember that you don’t have to go straight to a double serving in a single step.
Try 1.25 servings and see how you feel. That little extra boost might be enough.
Oh yeah, if you’re interested in even more down-to-earth info on nutrition and supplements, check out our Free Nutrition 101 Seminar and E-Book.
Last thing before we wrap up…
Ask yourself this question…
Why do you feel like you need more than 1 serving of pre-workout to perform your best?
Are you trying to make up for a lack of sleep?
Are you dieting too hard and having no energy throughout the day?
Are you drinking too much alcohol at night and waking up in a fog?
If any of these are true, more caffeine isn’t the answer.
You’ve got to get to the root of the problem if you’re going to get lasting results.
Supplements will only take you so far friend.
At Digital Barbell, we believe that if you work hard, you deserve results.
If you’re ready to see more progress than you have in years, we can help.
Set up a free call with the button below. You’ve got nothing to lose.
Happy lifting!
Jonathan
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