Does pre workout break a fast? In case you’re unfamiliar, fasting is a dietary programme that entails alternating between fasting and eating periods.
Pre-workout pills have become among the world’s best-selling exercise supplements in recent years.
Their emergence has also corresponded with the rise of various other fitness trends, one of which is intermittent fasting.
Of course, this implies that many standard drinks, like soda, energy drinks, sugary coffees, and so on, are prohibited during fasting time.
But is this to say that pre-workout beverages are also banned? Does pre workout break a fast?
There is no easy answer, either yes or no, to this issue since it depends on the type of fast you practice and the type of pre-workout you consume.
Continue reading to learn which pre-workout supplements will and will not break your fast.
What Exactly Is Pre-Workout?
A pre-workout supplement is a supplement that should be taken 30-to-60 minutes before exercise to improve performance. Pre-workout supplements often contain a combination of chemicals such as caffeine, creatine monohydrate malate, and beta-alanine, which boost energy, endurance, and focus while decreasing tiredness.
However, additional substances in pre-workout supplements range from nootropics and esoteric plant extracts to branched-chain amino acids, artificial food colours, and sweeteners.
Does a pre-workout break your fast?
The answer is straightforward: it depends!
The answer relies entirely on the components in the pre-workout pill you’re taking. For example, certain sweeteners used in pre-workouts include calories, which would result in your fast being violated.
However, there is some dispute regarding several times calories would be sufficient for breaking your fast. For example, some argue that exceeding 40 calories will not alter your fasting condition.
In general, most pre-workout supplements have modest calorie counts. However, you should avoid supplements containing sweets that might cause blood sugar spikes. This is often regarded as a chemical that breaks your fast.
If you want to ensure that the supplement does not break your fast, we recommend choosing a pre-workout supplement containing no sweets. This way, you can be confident that it will not harm your brief. The critical thing to remember is that certain pre-workout supplements include substances that will undoubtedly break your fast, while others do not.
Much of the answer relies on how rigorous you desire to be with yourselves on your fasting routine—consuming water solely while fasting is the most excellent approach to ensure that nothing will break your fast.
Three Disruptive Fasting Ingredients
- 1. Sucrose and artificial sweeteners
Most pre-workout supplements have an unpleasant taste by nature. As a result, producers frequently combine sugar, glucose, sucralose, or other organic or artificial sweeteners with flavors such as blue raspberry, green apple, lemon, candy, and so on to hide the poor taste and improve the product’s texture and color.
Sugar is used in pre-workout drinks to provide extra energy and enhance flavor.
Regular table sugar causes an instant insulin reaction, kickstarting your metabolism and breaking you fast.
Even though some recent findings indicate that low-energy artificial sweeteners do not have the same impacts on your blood insulin levels as high-energy artificial sweeteners, data from numerous studies show that any zero-calorie sweetener can cause an insulin response, activating your digestive process and breaking your fast.
- 2. Phosphorus
Whey protein pre-workouts will also disrupt your fasting because protein includes calories.
If you don’t want to break your fast, you can’t eat anything more than 40 or 50 calories when intermittent fasting.
- 3. Amino Acids
Almost every pre-workout supplement blend on the market contains one or more types of amino acids.
They have a certain number of calories.
Furthermore, proteinogenic amino acids have been shown to raise insulin levels, triggering the synthesis of protein pathways in the brain and signaling that you’ve eaten.
Ingredients for Pre-Workout That Won’t Break Your Fast
As you may have guessed, the vital pre-workout components that will violate your fast include calories, such as amino acids or carbohydrates. However, because most pre-workout substances are calorie-free, they will not break your fast. So let’s go through the most important ones.
- Caffeine
Studies show that caffeine increases metabolism, strength, muscular endurance, and anaerobic performance. So if you want a tasty caffeine source with five additional components that will improve your workout performance, this is the product for you.
- Creatine
Creatine is an amino acid complex composed of L-arginine, glycine, and methionine.
Creatine supplementation is supported by research:
- Improves muscle and strength growth
- Enhances anaerobic endurance
- Reduces exercise-induced muscle injury and discomfort
- Increases the capacity of your muscles to store glycogen
- Maintains lean mass and power while limiting calories
- Citrulline Malate
Citrulline malate is the amino acid L-citrulline bonded with malic acid, which in the body is converted into another amino acid called L-arginine.
According to research, l-citrulline malate supplementation enhances muscular endurance, reduces muscle pain, and improves aerobic performance.
Suppose you’re looking for a pure citrulline malate vitamin that includes five other compounds to boost energy, enhance mood, sharpen mental concentration, increase endurance and strength and reduce tiredness. In that case, this is the supplement for you.
- Beta-Alanine
Beta-alanine is an amino acid that occurs naturally and reduces exercise-induced fatigue while increasing the amount of work you can do during your workouts.
- Betaine
Betaine, also referred to as trimethylglycine, is an amino acid found in beets, spinach, and quinoa.
Although the physiological activities of betaine aren’t fancy, they’re advantageous during periods of physiological exertion, which is why research reveals that supplementing with it improves muscular endurance and strength.
The takeaway
Pre-workout may be beneficial when fasting. This is mainly because pre-workout contains caffeine, which might boost your body’s utilization of fat reserves for energy.
A study discovered that coffee could “significantly boost” fat use following fasting. This occurred during aerobic activity, but in our perspective, aerobics is the most beneficial type of exercise to utilize with fasting. As a result, pure caffeine is the most excellent pre-workout for fasting.
