Pre-workouts are designed to be taken before a workout to help people to maximize their workout and get the best results.
They do this through a combination of ingredients which are designed to increase mental focus, stamina, and energy levels. These can help you to push through fatigue and get the most out of your workout.
Whilst pre-workouts have grown in popularity in the last couple of decades, many people have concerns about taking them.
One of the main concerns is whether pre-workout products are addictive or not, and if they are, how can you avoid becoming addicted to them?
Here, I’ve explained whether or not pre-workout is addictive, as well as what can be done about pre-workout addiction.
Table of Contents
Is Pre-Workout Addictive?
Pre-workout supplements generally don’t contain addictive compounds. However, some ingredients common in pre-workouts such as caffeine can be addictive.
People can also become dependent on pre-workout products, especially when these products are used regularly.
To expand on this further, pre-workout supplements generally do not contain compounds that would be classified as addictive. So, in this sense, they should not be addictive to use.
However, there are some exceptions to this.
Many pre-workout products contain stimulants such as caffeine which can be addictive.
High doses of caffeine are often used in pre-workouts because caffeine provides a large boost in energy which can help to increase stamina and mental focus.
But, caffeine has addictive properties that can lead to a physical dependence.
Caffeine dependence can be a problem. This is because caffeine can cause side effects such as insomnia, anxiety, as well as heart problems.
When taking high doses of caffeine through a pre-workout you can also be susceptible to energy crashes.
Regularly using caffeine also leads to tolerance. Essentially, your body becomes used to this ingredient and it doesn’t feel as effective anymore.
Related – Why your pre-workout stops working (tolerance test)
As a result, you need higher and higher doses for it to feel effective. But having higher doses increases the risk of serious side effects.
Being physically dependent on caffeine can also mean that you experience withdrawal symptoms when you stop consuming it. These symptoms include:
- Headaches
- Low energy levels
- Difficulty concentrating
- Agitation and irritability
So, due to the caffeine content, some pre-workout products can be addictive.
As well as being addictive due to caffeine, people can also become reliant on pre-workout products for other reasons.
Pre-workout products can make people feel good by providing a boost in energy and focus, and this can be addictive for people.
It can similarly be the case with working out. Some people become addicted to working out because it provides a boost and makes them feel good.
People can also become reliant on pre-workout products.
If you regularly use pre-workout such as before every workout, then you may feel as though you can’t workout without them or that you won’t have a good workout if you don’t use them.
This can lead people to taking pre-workout everyday, including on days when they aren’t working out.
However, this isn’t what pre-workouts are designed for. They’re supposed to be taken before tough workouts to give you an extra boost in energy in order to get through an intense workout.
Using pre-workout more often than you should can be a sign that you’ve become dependent on it.
Pre-Workout Addiction
With the exception of caffeine, most ingredients in pre-workouts are not addictive, however, people can get addicted to taking pre-workout because of the effects and people can even become dependent on them to workout in the first place!
Pre-workouts are a stimulant so they give you the feeling (feeling is important here) that you have more energy and focus than if you don’t take a pre-workout.
It can be common to think that taking a pre-workout directly leads to a good workout. For any workout that involves heavy rep maxes and major compound lifts, internal motivation isn’t always enough.
Pre-workouts can give that external “kick” to get you focused for a hard session.
When you successfully finish that session, it’s easy to then want to repeat the habits that resulted in such a good session.
This could include the meal you had before training, the warmup sets you did, but more commonly you associate the stimulant with the end result.
If you train on an empty stomach and have low energy and ultimately a bad workout, then next time you will eat first.
Well, the reverse is true with a pre-workout.
Because you feel the effect of the pre-workout more (due to the stimulant ingredients) and then have a good workout, you mentally think you need to supplement to repeat that result and have a good workout next time.
People then become addicted to this an mentally can’t have a good training session without a pre-workout.
This is definitely psychological and these habits are common in elite level sports but also everyday life.
Therefore, while the ingredients won’t necessarily be addictive themselves, the effect and end result from supplementing a pre-workout will often get people addicted to taking them from a mental perspective rather than a physiological craving that’s the result of a chemical withdrawal.
This is one of the lesser obvious side effects when taking pre-workouts as you don’t realize that you’ve become dependent on it.
As I’ll go on to explain in the next section, there are things you can do to stop becoming dependent on pre-workout and things you can do to address it if you have become dependent on pre-workout.
How To Prevent Pre-Workout Addiction
To prevent pre-workout addiction, you should only use pre-workout products when necessary. You should also take these products infrequently, so you don’t become dependent on them.
You should also cycle your pre-workout product to ensure that you are taking a break from the ingredients it contains.
To expand on this further, there are different things that can be done to prevent becoming dependent on pre-workout.
Step 1 – Only Take Recommended Doses
Firstly, it’s crucial to only use pre-workout in the way that the manufacturer advises. On the side of the tub or bottle will be instructions for taking pre-workout and it’s important to follow these.
This is because these instructions give information about how much is safe to take and how often.
By following these instructions it’s less likely that you’ll be taking higher doses more frequently than necessary, which can help to avoid becoming dependent on pre-workout.
Step 2 – Limit Pre-Workout Usage
Secondly, take pre-workout infrequently. Pre-workout supplements aren’t supposed to be taken everyday. Like I said, they’re designed to provide a boost to get people through tough workouts.
Limiting your use of pre-workouts helps to stop becoming addicted to ingredients such as caffeine as you won’t be exposed to them.
It also helps to stop becoming mentally dependent on it, as you’ll often be working out without using pre-workout.
One thing you could do it make use of a non-stimulant pre-workout which removes addictive ingredients (stimulants) so that you don’t become so depend on their effects.
Step 3 – Don’t Take Pre-Workout Everyday
Thirdly, cycle your pre-workout.
Product cycling is when you take pre-workout supplements for a set period of time, usually a few weeks, before swapping to a different product that contains different ingredients.
Or, stop taking pre-workouts all together for a couple of weeks.
For example, if your pre-workout contains caffeine then after a few weeks you would switch to a pre-workout without caffeine, or just go without pre-workout, for a couple of weeks.
Going without pre-workout may seem like it would reduce the results you’ll see. However, this approach has many benefits.
Importantly, it can help stop pre-workout addiction because you’re changing up the product or stopping it for a set period of time. This way, you’re ensuring that you don’t become dependent on the ingredients within your pre-workout.
By changing the ingredients, it also helps to ensure you don’t become tolerant to the pre -workout ingredients, which can make your pre-workout more effective in the long-term.
This is a serious issue for many lifters as a tolerance will usually mean you don’t feel the same effects when taking a pre-workout. As humans, a natural response is to therefore take a higher dose to get the same desired effect.
This is something that of course leads to much greater risks and side effects if you are taking more than the recommended dosage!
As I explained, stimulants like caffeine can become less effective over time as your body builds up a tolerance to them.
By taking a break from caffeine, you don’t build up this tolerance which means that the next time you use it, it will still be effective.
Summed Up
Pre-workouts are a powerful supplement with active ingredients that cause many beneficial but also unwanted side effects. One in particular is becoming addicted to pre-workout.
It’s not that you’d become addicted to a pre-workout but rather certain ingredients that they may contain and ultimately the effects you get from consuming it.
If you take a pre-workout, get more mental focus, energy, and a general buzz and go on to have a great workout, then this is something you’d want to repeat again.
Unfortunately, pre-workout ingredients have a diminishing impact over time as you become more tolerant to the ingredients and in many cases overuse the supplement, reducing the feeling you get from taking it over time.
Therefore, pre-workout can be addictive so to combat it and prevent pre-workout addiction you should use some of the following steps:
- Only take the recommended dosage as provided by the manufacturer or healthcare professional
- Don’t take pre-workout on non-training days and try not to take it for every workout
- Cycle a pre-workout brand and ingredients to stop you becoming tolerant to certain ingredients and doses
- Use a non-stimulant pre-workout which contain less addictive compounds
- Minimize other stimulants usage around taking a pre-workout like coffee or energy drinks
As always, this should not be taken as medical advice and is based on research and opinion. Before taking any form of supplementation you should always seek advice from your medical practitioner or healthcare professional.
