Pre-Workout as poison

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle exceeds your two a days at the gym and starts with your pre-workout regiments. These may include drinking water throughout the day, snacking on fruits and vegetables and pro-hygienic habits. However, the consumption of energizing chemicals should not hold a place in your daily routine. Pre-workout is an energy supplement, usually in the form of a soluble powder, which transforms your performance into that of a superhero; you can run faster, lift heavier, and squat deeper. It may sound like a heaven-sent supplement, but what gym junkies fail to realize are its negative effects. Harmful ingredients are usually disguised within the nutrition label, hidden by a falsified name. When natural energy sources exits, pre-workout just seems like an unnecessary risk. So, put down the dumbbells, and pour out your pre-workout.

According to The Daily Wildcat harmful stimulants have an infamous history with the Food and Drug Administration. In 2012, alone, 11 companies were issued warnings by the FDA to eliminate the damaging chemical, dimethylamylamine or DMAA, from pre-workout mixtures.

“There is an incentive on the company’s part to dope these products because then people feel better and look better, so they keep buying it,” said the co-chair and department head of chemistry and biochemistry at the UA, Roger Miesfeld, “It’s like adding extra nicotine to a cigarette.”

But why would people who care so heavily about the look and feel of their body, risk the damaging of it? Gym goers have forgotten the main purpose of the gym, which is to aid in a healthy lifestyle. However, this new generation of shirtless mirror pics is putting pressure on young men and women to bulk up. Their resorting to unnatural energy sources proves fitness fiends to be hypocrites as they negate the benefits of cardio, for example, with consuming one of the worst possible things for your body.

Dangerous Chemicals are originally approved by the FDA due to the manufacturer’s labeled lies. Dimethylamylamine, for instance, was printed as “geranium extract,” which is an alias, posing no threat. However, chemicals such as, DMAA can generate toxic byproducts in the liver, put stress on your kidneys, cause dehydration, and may even have addictive properties. ABC news reported that Greg Shaw, a senior sports dietician for the Australian Institute of Sport, agrees with many of the allegations. He mentioned the positive doping tests, returned by athletes, after taking pre-workout. Many of these instances occur because of the unknown chemicals being consumed. If you wouldn’t take steroids then you shouldn’t use pre-workout, for they are evidencing to be quite comparable through drug testing.

Those jacked up selfies may help on social media, but ask yourself: are they worth the previously stated effects? If you are still hesitant to stray away from the scooper, take into consideration, the many options for a natural source of energy. They are a safer and more natural way to pump you up and respect the body’s limits. Pre-workout pushes consumers to overwork their body which, in my opinion, should not be commended. People, who take their time to progress at the gym, are truly impressive due to their actual achievements.

Men’s Fitness promotes the use of pumpkin seeds to provide energy, in addition to edamame. Soybeans, loaded with B-Vitamins, help to break down carbs, converting them into glucose for fuel. The obvious cause of fatigue, however, is de-hydration which can be cured by drinking water. If this sounds like a boring alternative, add some citrus fruits for flavor and natural energy.

Yet, the most fun way to stay energized is to surround you with a high-energy crowd. Remember, that the gym should be a fun experience, complemented by a fun work-out partner and an intense fitness playlist. All of which, have no negative effects on the body.