While there are countless pre-workout products available on the market, many of them come with major downsides. They are frequently under-dosed on the actual ingredients that enhance physical performance, over-dosed with harsh stimulants, and packed with unnecessary fillers that don’t support your fitness goals.
At Citizen Athletics, we focus on an evidence-based approach to training and nutrition. Making your own pre-workout formula gives you total control over the quality and regulation of what goes into your body. Best of all, purchasing isolated compounds directly is significantly cheaper than buying pre-blended commercial alternatives.
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Where to Source High-Quality Ingredients
When sourcing ingredients, visiting traditional brick-and-mortar supplement stores can be frustrating. It is often difficult to find completely isolated ingredients, prices are typically high, and you may face high-pressure sales tactics to buy unproven items.
To bypass these issues, we recommend ordering pure, isolated compounds directly from companies like Bulk Supplements or Canada Protein. They offer high-quality, direct products (like pure creatine or protein) at an inexpensive price point.
The 6 Evidence-Based Pre-Workout Ingredients
To build a scientifically backed pre-workout, focus on these six high-yield ingredients:
1. Creatine Monohydrate
Creatine is one of the most thoroughly researched and supported supplements on the market. Naturally stored within our muscle tissue, creatine facilitates the transfer of phosphate, which the body uses to generate muscle contractions. Supplementation increases your baseline muscle creatine storage, allowing you to lift more weight, jump further, sprint faster, and complete more repetitions. Over the long term, this directly enhances muscle mass development.
- Dose: 3 to 5 grams of micronized creatine monohydrate daily.
- Timing: Creatine works via systemic storage rather than an immediate acute effect. You can take it as part of your pre-workout shake out of simplicity, but it’s not necessary to take specifically before your workout. Just make sure to take it regularly.
2. Beta-Alanine
Beta-alanine is an amino acid that your body absorbs, passes into the bloodstream, and deposits into the muscles. Once inside the muscle tissue, it combines into a compound that buffers hydrogen ions. This buffering action is highly beneficial during high-intensity activities lasting a moderate duration, specifically one to four minutes, or during traditional weight-training sets of 8 to 15 repetitions.
- The Benefit: While creatine aids in immediate power and strength output, beta-alanine allows you to tolerate fatigue and push through more total repetitions. Studies show it can help lifters achieve 12% to 13% more total work within a set.
- Dose: 3 to 5 grams daily.
- Managing the “Tingles”: Beta-alanine often causes a distinct tingling sensation on the skin (paresthesia), which is a harmless nerve sensation that typically triggers when taking a dose larger than 1 to 2 grams at once. Because it relies on consistent daily storage rather than an immediate training effect, you can split your daily dose into multiple smaller servings throughout the day if the tingling sensation bothers you.
3. Caffeine
Caffeine is a premier performance-enhancing staple supported heavily by research. It consistently improves outcomes across aerobic, strength, and power tests.
- The Target Dosage: To achieve true performance-enhancing benefits, the scientific literature demonstrates you need 3 to 6 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight. For a 70kg (155 lb) individual, the baseline dose is roughly 210mg. For a larger 100kg (220 lb) individual, the baseline dose lands around 300mg.
- What About Lower Doses? Many individuals have concern and hesitation with the dosages above, whether it’s due to caffeine sensitivity or health related issues. If you are uncomfortable with higher amounts, taking a smaller dose is still beneficial for increasing alertness and mental cognition. However, the distinct strength and aerobic performance boosts require hitting that 3mg/kg threshold.
- Source Options: The specific vehicle (caffeine pills, liquid, powder, or coffee) does not matter. However, while a standard cup of coffee averages around 100mg of caffeine, the actual amount can fluctuate wildly between 60mg and 100mg per cup. Utilizing isolated pills, powders, or liquids provides strict, consistent regulation over your exact dose.
- Timing: Unlike storage-based supplements, caffeine must be timed strategically. You should consume it 30 to 60 minutes prior to your workout. The physical effects begin to manifest after 15 minutes and reach peak concentrations around the 60-minute mark, typically lasting between two to six hours. Consuming your pre-workout mix 30 minutes out ensures the caffeine peaks right as you finish your warm-up and begin heavy lifting.
4. Citrulline Malate
If your objective is to maximize your training “pump” and increase blood flow, citrulline malate is essential. Citrulline is an amino acid that ramps up internal arginine levels upon absorption, which directly increases nitric oxide production in the body to encourage enhanced blood flow. Beyond the pump, citrulline assists in buffering metabolic fatigue during intense anaerobic training, allowing you to train harder for longer periods.
- Which Type to Buy? When purchasing, you will choose between pure L-citrulline or citrulline malate (where citrulline is chemically bonded with malate to enhance absorption and utilization). It is commonly sold in a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio; the 2:1 ratio is slightly better, though both are highly effective.
- Pre-Workout Dose: 6 to 8 grams consumed 30 to 60 minutes before training to align its peak effect (which occurs at the 1-to-2-hour mark) with your primary lifting and accessory work.
- Non-Training Days: Emerging literature suggests that citrulline malate requires a baseline saturation to maximize its performance benefits, alongside offering overall cardiovascular and heart health advantages. Consider taking a lower dose of 2 to 6 grams on your days off.
5. Betaine
Betaine is an isolated compound found naturally in foods like beetroot juice and spinach. It has been shown to decrease body fat mass, increase lean muscle tissue, improve aerobic performance, and enhance strength.
- Diet Dependency: The performance boost you experience from betaine is highly variable based on your standard diet. If your daily nutrition is naturally low in betaine-rich foods, supplementation will provide a significant, noticeable performance jump. If you already consume large amounts of spinach and beetroots, the supplemental benefit will be lower.
- Dose: 2.5 grams daily. You can scale this slightly lower if your diet is naturally rich in betaine, or slightly higher if your intake from whole foods is minimal.
6. Salt (Sodium Chloride)
Common table salt is comprised of two essential electrolytes: sodium and chloride. Sodium plays a vital role in facilitating muscle contractions and transporting amino acids directly into muscle cells. Adding a minor amount to your pre-workout mix ensures proper electrolyte levels in the bloodstream and facilitates better absorption of the other amino-acid-based ingredients in your shake.
- Pre-Workout Dose: A tiny 50 milligrams (a single minor dash). For perspective, a single teaspoon of salt contains roughly 2,300mg, so you only require an exceptionally small amount. The specific type of salt used does not impact performance, so standard table salt is perfectly sufficient.
Summary Checklist
To mix your ideal, evidence-based pre-workout, blend the following quantities roughly 30 minutes before stepping onto the gym floor:
- Creatine Monohydrate: 3–5 grams
- Beta-Alanine: 3–5 grams
- Caffeine: 200–600 milligrams (adjusted to 3–6 mg/kg of body weight)
- Citrulline Malate: 6–8 grams
- Betaine: 2.5 grams
- Table Salt: 50 milligrams (a tiny dash)
Move, Lift, and Perform Like an Athlete
Optimizing your training results requires matching your internal nutrition with a premium, structured exercise framework. Take the guesswork out of your progression and maximize your physical capacity using our evidence-based, athlete-tested templates:
- Built for Athletics: Our gold-standard training system engineered to maximize raw strength, explosive speed, and movement efficiency.
- Sustainable Strength: The ultimate flagship training framework built for busy individuals looking to lift heavy, build muscle, and remain highly athletic for life.
Watch the Full Technical Breakdown
To see the exact step-by-step mixing process and learn more about the performance science behind these standalone ingredients, watch our full video here.