Have you ever found yourself tired during a workout? You’ve lost focus, you’re exhausted and you just want to go home – but you have 3 sets left. Getting gassed in the gym is the end-result of every workout, and that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. However, when failure comes in the middle of a workout, it can hurt your progress.
Whether you have a little bit of a hangover, you were up late, or you’re achy from that flag football game yesterday, trudging through the first few sets of your workout and dreading the rest of them will lead to using lighter weight, loss of muscular endurance and a half-assed effort in the gym. Pre-workout supplements are designed to combat this common plight and keep you energized, focused and pumped throughout your workout. However, there are some pre-workouts on the market that are all buck and no bang, which can leave you twitchy and still fatigued at the end of your workout. Let’s take a look at the best cheap pre-workout supplements on the market that will do the job without breaking your bank.
Top Pick: Cellucor C4
Not only is this the #1 best-selling pre workout supplement in the world, but now it’s also the winner of our Best Cheap Pre-Workout showdown: Cellucor C4. Cellucor is still a relatively young brand in the sports nutrition and fitness industry, but it has been growing steadily with C4 serving as its flagship product.
C4 is highly regarded in pre-workout genre of supplements for providing your muscles with an extreme pump, a boost of energy, and an increase in strength. One of the great features of C4 is that it contains creatine. Creatine, when ingested before a workout, helps provide energy to your body for use in high-speed muscle contractions. When you have more energy focused into your muscle contractions, you can lift more weight and add a few pounds to your squat or bench press.
In terms of ingredients, C4 has a profile that is preferred by builders all over the world. C4’s foundation is built on vitamins C, B6 and B12, which provide a solid boost of energy. But a few vitamins aren’t going to kick your workout into overdrive. On top of that foundation lies several muscle building compounds: beta-alanine, creatine nitrate, arginine and Cellucor’s patented “Explosive Energy Blend” containing caffeine anhydrous, L-Tyrosine and tetramethyluric acid.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what does all of this mean?” If you’re unfamiliar with these compounds and ingredients, let’s run through them. Beta alanine and arginine are muscle building components that many people take as separate supplements. Creatine nitrate contains nitric oxide and creatine, which will not only increase strength, but it will provide you with a great pump (NO is used in most pre-workouts to deliver a pump). The rest of the ingredients are to keep your energy levels up and maintain mental focus.
“But what is this ‘pump’ and why is it good?” Great question! You know that feeling when you exercise and your muscles feel bigger than normal? This is a pump. Scientifically what’s happening is that your muscles are being flooded with blood as a result of increased blood flow. The blood that saturates your muscles when exercising help supply nutrients to your muscles, which in turn helps them grow.
Training for pumps isn’t everyone’s training style, and a pump is not necessarily required to grow muscle – but it helps quite a bit. If you’re a strength athlete and don’t achieve pumps very often due to low rep ranges, lightening the load and increasing the rep ranges to get that pump can help with mind-muscle connection and to prevent overtraining via a de-load.
So what makes C4 the best of the affordable pre-workout supplements? In short, it gives you a great pump, a boost of energy, induces muscle growth and also comes in several flavors that are all highly rated, such as watermelon and strawberry margarita. If you’re looking to increase your energy and focus at the gym while priming your body for growth and feeling an insane muscle pump without emptying your pockets, you can’t beat C4 by Cellucor.
Runner Up: Evlution Nutrition Engn
Our runner up on this list is the power-packed Evlution Engn Pre-Workout by Evlution Nutrition. Like Cellucor, this is a relatively young supplement company, but the Engn pre-workout has all the signs of a veteran manufacturer.
Creatine monohydrate, beta-alanine and a “Mind-to-Muscle Matrix” all make this a pre-workout that packs a huge punch – but why is this our second choice and not number 1? Well, when we say that this pre-workout packs a punch, we mean it. In fact, the punch is a little over the top.
As a quick comparison, Cellucor C4 contains 371mg in its “energy matrix”, while Engn’s equivalent contains 2,213mg – almost 6 times the amount. For reference, a cup of coffee contains 90mg of caffeine. These energy and mind-to-muscle complexes contain a large amount of caffeine, with some other stimulants added in. All of this stimulant in one serving causes a tingling sensation in your muscles and almost always ensures that you’ll have something left in the tank after your muscles are fatigued; but is that so great?
Striking a balance between having sufficient energy for your workout and not having a ton of leftover energy after your workout is extremely important for a pre workout supplement. If getting that big stimulant boost is what desire in a pre-workout, this could be the one for you; and, if it’s too much, you can decrease your serving size. However, if you decrease the serving size, you’re also decreasing the amount of all of the muscle-building and strength-inducing complexes in Engn, such as betaine and creatine monohydrate.
Now that we have the drawbacks of the Engn pre-workout out of the way, let’s talk about what makes this a pretty great pre-workout for the price. As C4 is more focused on producing a pump and widening the blood vessels to allow maximum blood flow through your muscles, Engn’s repertoire of ingredients is more focused on strength and endurance (besides the massive stimulant boost). There are two different types of creatine in this supplement, as well as betaine and agmatine sulfate, which have been found to increase strength through studies at the University of Connecticut, as well as others.
So all-in-all, Evlution’s Engn pre-workout is still one of the best cheap pre-workout supplements if you’re looking for value for your dollar. The important thing is just to be aware of the ingredient overload, as it may be too much for some people who would’ve been better off with less of an energy boost.
#3: ProSupps Mr. Hyde
Our bronze medal goes to Mr. Hyde by ProSupps. While our top two supplements were centered around producing a pump and enhancing strength, Mr. Hyde was designed with two goals in mind: strength enhancement and fat loss. As the only thermogenic pre-workout on the list, Mr. Hyde comes in third place because it is a great pre-workout, it just isn’t as potent as our top 2.
C4 was all about the pump, Engn was all about strength and endurance, but Mr. Hyde isn’t really all about anything. It contains creatine nitrate, agmatine, beta-alinene and citrulline for strength, pump and endurance but there doesn’t seem to be a central goal. Some may argue, saying that creatine nitrate and agmatine put the focus on producing a pump, but both of those ingredients are mild pump producers compared to arginine or nitric oxide.
With that being said, Mr. Hyde does contain a nice steady release caffeine system of about 400mg to get your energy levels up without overloading; and, as a unique component on our list, it contains thermogenics. Thermogenics produce heat the quickened metabolism, which helps you lose weight. If getting lean, but still gaining strength are on your agenda, Mr. Hyde looks like it could be your prize pony as far as pre-workout supplements go.
Potent thermogenics are usually compromised of two stimulants combined to get this effect, with one being caffeine. In this case, the other stimulant is Yohimbine, which is known to be a potent fat-loss compound. High energy levels and fat loss with moderate pump and strength enhancement make this pre-workout a great value, and certainly worth the reasonable price tag.
#4: The Curse by Cobra Labs
If you’re looking for a solid workhorse of a pre-workout that won’t give you the jitters but will give you a boost of strength and endurance, The Curse by Cobra Labs might just be the best cheap pre-workout for you. But first, let’s take a look at why The Curse took fourth place on our list instead of a higher position.
The Curse is a good pre-workout with some solid features, but if you’re looking for a huge burst of energy and laser focus, you’re looking in the wrong place. As a stimulant, The Curse has just under 160mg of caffeine anhydrous, which isn’t very high as far as pre-workouts are concerned. As a result of this, it doesn’t fit into the stimulant-free category by a longshot, but it also doesn’t wipe the floor with the competition in pre-workouts that do contain supplements.
With that said, some look at the diminished stimulant content in The Curse as a positive, under the rationale that it provides endurance throughout the workout and ensures you don’t burn out halfway through a set. Also, what The Curse lacks in stimulant power, it makes up for in strength and pump enhancement, containing healthy doses of creatine monohydrate, beta-alanine, arginine and citrulline.
Citrulline is a compound that isn’t contained in a lot of pre-workouts, and for no good reason. Citrulline is an extremely powerful fatigue fighter, and can keep you working through sets longer with no negative side effects. One of the most promising aspects (especially to the health-conscious out there) of The Curse is its short and transparent ingredient list.
There are dozens of pre-workout supplements out there with vague “matrixes” or “fuels” where the ingredients are listed, but the amounts per serving are not. For boosting your strength, increasing your endurance and building muscle with no mystery ingredient measurements, The Curse is a great pre-workout.
#5: Optimum Nutrition Amino Energy
Optimum Nutrition is one of the most trusted brands in the sports nutrition and fitness industry, which is why we’re not surprised they have a spot on this list. While Optimum Nutrition is best known for its whey protein and mass gainer supplements, their Essential Amino Energy pre-workout is definitely a best-seller, and has been for years. The beauty of Amino Energy lies in its simplicity – it’s just amino acids and caffeine.
Amino Energy is not going to produce a world-shattering pump. It is also not going to make the hair on your skin stand up due to the obscene amount of caffeine contained therein. This is not an insane pre-workout supplement that is going to support pedal-to-the-metal training for hours on end. However, what it will be is one of the most versatile supplements in your sports nutrition stack and taste fantastic while doing so.
Amino Energy was designed to be a supplement you could take early in the morning to make sure you’re maintaining a good balance of amino acids in your body. Or, you could up the dose and have a solid pre-workout supplement that is going to produce a moderate pump, give you a boost of energy and promote protein synthesis in your muscles.
Amino Energy contains the lowest amount of caffeine on the list, at 50mg per serving. However, it is recommended to take up to 3 servings to fulfill its purpose as a pre-workout supplement, which bumps it up to 150mg – still low, but substantial to maintain energy levels through your workout. These servings would add up quickly if the flavor wasn’t exceptional, which many reviews say it is. With 15 flavors and counting, you’re sure to find a flavor you love.
Another great thing about this supplement is that it is good for you – like, actually good for you. It promotes fat loss via the combination of caffeine and green tea extract, and it contains 5mg of amino acids that you may otherwise be missing out on (at least in the quantities to make a difference in your training and recovery). All of these amino acids not only give you a boost of energy, they promote protein synthesis which will help to actively repair your muscles so they can grow back bigger and stronger from your workout.
This versatile pre-workout supplement, in addition to packing a punch and being a consistently widely used supplement is also the least expensive on the list, ringing in at less than $20 for 30 servings. For a pre-workout supplement that can wear a few different hats and still be a hard-hitting supplement that will keep you alert and pumped in the gym, Optimum Nutrition’s Amino Energy has been a bestseller for several years and will most likely continue to stay that way.
Things To Consider When Buying Pre-Workout
All pre-workouts were not created equally, or with the same set of goals in mind. There is quite a bit of diversity to pre-workouts, both in quality, purpose and price, and finding one that aligns with all 3 of those, plus fulfilling some other requirements can take some trial and error, as well as research. Here are the things to keep in mind when searching for the pre-workout supplement that’s best for you.
Types of Pre-Workout
Are you looking for an intense pump, a fat burn multiplier or a stimulant-free pre-workout supplement that will get you all of the benefits of a vasodilator and strength enhancer without the energy spike? Defining your goals and which type of pre-workout supplement is most aligned with those goals is the most important step to finding the right pre-workout supplement for you. If you’re looking to pack on some serious muscle mass and you get a pre-workout supplement that has a thermogenic fat-burning component, you’re going to short yourself on potential gains.
Main Components
Some pre-workouts prioritize flooding your body with energy, while others focus on strength and endurance. Once you determine your goals and choose a type of pre-workout supplement, you can narrow that choice even further by finding the general focus of each pre-workout supplement. Some are great blends that will give you a diverse effect with several benefits, and some will have a main goal and one aspect will be turned way up.
If you’re looking for muscle gain and strength enhancement in a pre-workout supplement, look for one with creatine, beatine or beta-alanine; if you’re looking for a pump, look for high amounts of nitric oxide or arginine; if you’re looking for energy, look for caffeine or caffeine anhydrous (basically, anything referencing “energy” or “mind-to-muscle”); and, if you’re looking for thermogenics to help burn calories, they’ll be clearly labeled and advertised for that purpose specifically.
Taste
While this isn’t a huge factor for die-hard gym rats, if you’re going to be drinking it, why not get it in a flavor you like? You’ll be pleasantly surprised to hear that unlike most supplements, pre-workouts almost always taste good, unless there’s a flavor that you don’t like. You can go off of ratings on marketplace or supplement websites, but this factor will be almost all a good mix on going with your gut and trial and error.
Price
This is the last thing to consider, but it’s a biggie. Finding a pre-workout in your price range shouldn’t be too difficult, as there are some hot contenders in each tier. Luckily, there isn’t that huge of a spread in the pre-workout genre and you can be pretty picky with your supplement. If you keep coming across strictly high-dollar pre-workouts, try one of pre-workouts on our list – they’re all great values and can help you hit your goals, whether they be a bench press PR, mass gain, etc.
Discussing The Different Types of Pre-Workout
We briefly mentioned above that choosing the right type of pre-workout is important. So, in order to help you find the best cheap pre-workout for your specific goals, we’re going to go over the different types below in further detail.
Pump-Inducing
This is the most popular type of pre-workout. Like N.O. Xplode and our top pick C4, these supplements aim to give your muscles a pump. They do this by including vasodilators (compounds that dilate, or widen your veins) in their ingredients. As we’ve talked through previously, increasing the blood flow to your muscles floods them with nutrients, helping to facilitate growth. These pumps are most suited to hypertrophy-style training, at moderate weight for high reps (8-15), as getting a lot of blood into the muscle requires high time under tension.
Stimulant-Free
To people with low tolerance to stimulants, or already have enough energy during their workouts and throughout the day may opt for a stimulant-free pre-workout supplement. As the title implies, these pre-workouts are free from stimulants like caffeine or certain vitamin complexes. Sometimes stimulants can cause “the shakes” in large doses, which can be disconcerting for someone who isn’t a die-hard weight training athlete who is used to the effects of a particularly strong pre-workout product, and switching over to stimulant-free pre-workouts completely eliminates that side effect.
Thermogenic Weight Loss Pre-Workout
For people hitting the gym with the opposite of gaining mass in mind, there’s a pre-workout product for you too. These pre-workouts have weight loss supplements built right in, so during your workout you’re burning the maximum amount of calories and have the energy to hit your workout hard and decrease fatigue so you can keep it up. Make sure to follow the directions on these and drink plenty of water!
How Do Pre-Workouts Work?
You’ve probably noticed a trend in the common ingredients used in pre-workouts by our list. Most pre-workouts follow a pretty similar format, although there are deviations where they only use one or two components. The format is this: stimulant, strength enhancer and a vitamin complex. Let’s take a look at these components individually:
Stimulant
Although the vitamin complex has a stimulant effect, it isn’t very substantial when you consider the purpose of a pre-workout; this is why other stimulants are added to them. The most popular stimulant to include is, of course, caffeine. Whether it’s caffeine anhydrous or some other wacky, scientific name, caffeine is present in most pre-workouts. L-Tyrosine is an amino acid that improves focus, and it is usually included in the stimulant complexes in pre-workout supplements. Other stimulants include green tea extract and ephedrine, which is very rarely used in the U.S. now due to restriction after several test subjects demonstrated negative side effects.
Strength Enhancer
I’ll leave it to you to determine what the purpose of a strength enhancer is. But here’s how it works: several chemicals (usually creatine or betaine) increases the supply of energy to muscular contractions. A contraction with more energy will be stronger, and will allow you to put a few extra pounds on your lifts. Also often included are compounds that will cause your muscles to fatigue more slowly, allowing you to put in harder work for a longer period of time. Beta-alanine usually plays this role, but there are some substitutive compounds out there.
Vitamin Complex
Every pre-workout is built on top of a base of vitamins. These vitamins boost the overall health benefits of the pre-workout compounds, as well as providing an initial boost of energy for the stimulants to add on. The vitamins most pre-workouts generally include are B6, B12 and niacin. As with the other categories, there are several pre-workouts that add or subtract to this combination, but this is the rule of thumb.
Benefits of Using Pre-Workout
Using a pre-workout can completely turn around your training if you find yourself sluggish in the middle of your workouts. Going into a workout with energy and mental focus, with it lasting the entirety of the workout is going to lead to a better mind-muscle connection and less fatigue. With the added bonus of muscle-building and strength-enhancing compounds, your muscles will be more responsive to neural impulse and more receptive to the training and throughout the day. Adding a pre-workout into your sports nutrition supplement stack will get you bigger and stronger faster.
However, there is something to keep in mind when using pre-workouts: your body can become dependent on them. Remember when you first started drinking coffee or tea and then it started taking more to get the same stimulant effect? Your body can get accustomed to the stimulant component of a pre-workout supplement and won’t produce as strong of an effect if used every single day. To combat this effect, it’s best to either restrict usage to 1 or 2 days per week or employ a de-load phase where you abstain from taking your pre-workout supplement to weaken your bodies tolerance to the stimulants.
Final Thoughts
Choosing a pre-workout can certainly be tricky, but think if it like the phrase, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Cheesy proverb, maybe, but an accurate way to describe choosing a pre-workout. Even if you don’t completely hit the nail on the head the first try, it doesn’t mean your body will go to ruins; you’ll still get all of the benefits of that particular pre-workout and get more out of your training session than if you didn’t take one.
If your goal is to gain lean mass, gain strength and maintain energy and focus throughout your workout, C4 by Cellucor is the best bang for your buck. If you have other goals, use this guide to help you on your way to getting the most out of your training by choosing the right pre-workout supplement for you.