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Pre-Workout

Alternatives to Pre-Workout: Caffeine Free & Natural

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Giving your workout a jump start by chugging vitamin and nutrient shakes is a very trendy way of boosting your energy and preparing your body for a workout.

However, doing that every time you’re going to go to the gym can be expensive, time consuming, and even boring.

The good news is, there’s more than one alternative to pre-workout juices and smoothies. We are going to share some of those with you, and you can pick from these options to determine what might be best for you.

Feel free to mix them around and try different ones on different days, just to keep things interesting.

Caffeine Alternative Pre-workout

If you’re already a coffee drinker, it makes sense to use coffee as a way to give your body a boost before you start your workout. Caffeine is a natural alternative to pre workout that spurs your energy levels and helps you to feel invigorated.

You have to be careful about drinking too much coffee and using too much caffeine before your workout, of course. If you’re not paying attention or you overdo it, you can end up with a serious energy crash afterwards.

You could also dehydrate your body a little bit or give yourself some jitters that will make working out difficult.

Coffee isn’t the only caffeine product you can use to start your workout off on the right foot.

You could try green tea as well or one of any number of energy drinks or sodas. Obviously, the energy drink and soda options are packed with sugar and not very healthy for you. So, if you’re trying to lose weight, we suggest avoiding those.

However, they can be stimulating alternatives to try once in a while for boosting your energy output and powering you with caffeine.

One thing to keep in mind about caffeine products is that they take about 45 minutes for the caffeine to kick in and start giving you the full effect.

Make sure you have a large enough window there between when you drink your beverage and when you need the energy for your workout.

Pre-Workout Alternative to Caffeine

If caffeine is something you are trying to avoid for health reasons (or any other reason), then there is a healthy alternative to pre-workout staples and to caffeine as well.

You could try concentrated breathing, which is a type of breathing exercise that stimulates your body. It gets your blood pumping and your heart racing a little bit as it mimics that action of cardiovascular exercise, without the actual exercise.

Start off in the focused breathing pose. You have likely seen cyclists or swimmers do this before an event. You stand with your hands on your hips and push your index and middle fingers into your stomach.

From that position, start breathing in through your nose deeply. Breath in for a full seven seconds and then hold your breath there, keeping it in for an additional seven seconds. Then, breathe out through your nose for another seven seconds.

This 7-7-7 method is very effective at oxygenating your blood and preparing your body for exercise. As soon as you finish one set of breaths, start into another, keeping that going for a total of three rounds of breathing.

Then, you need to speed things in and breathe in quickly through your nose and then blow it out fully and quickly through your nose as well. Do this 20 times to get the full effect.

From there, go back to the 7-7-7 breaths. That should finish you off and prepare your body for a workout.

This kind of breathing is not natural, so it can take some time to get the hang of it, but it does a great job of revving you up and energizing your body for the exercise to come.

Healthy Alternative to Pre-Workout

Another healthy and simple option you do to prep for the workout is to take a cold shower. This stimulates the body, getting all the nerve endings to be receptive and increasing your heart rate. The shock of a cold shower really speeds up your pulse and can make your breathing faster as well.

You do not have to wait until your workout is done to hit the showers. Take a few minutes to shower ahead of time so that you start your workout clean, refreshed, and energized. We promise this will wake you up and make you feel mentally focused and ready to go.

This alternative to pre-workout methods that are most common is simple and effective. It costs you nothing, which is why it is such a good option. You may not always have coffee or another caffeine stimulant available, but you should have access to a cold shower when you are ready for a workout.

Best Alternative to Pre-Workout That You Can Eat

Do you like the idea of a snack before your workout? There are some great options that don’t require you to pour liquids in a blender and chug them down.

Oatmeal is a healthy choice that will produce long-lasting energy. The protein and fiber content are great for your energy levels and ensure you don’t crash afterwards.

Salt is a good choice as well. You can either have some salt on its own or eat salty foods like nuts that are high in protein and fiber. Remember that when your body sweats a lot, it loses salt, and this will help ensure that you have enough salt for the workout and the recovery time afterwards.

Bread and pasta can be good choices as well due to their complex carbohydrates. That means they will give you a long energy boost. Just be careful about eating too much, as you can feel full and bloated and not have the immediate energy for the workout.

Bread is a better choice than pasta because it tends to have some sugar, which means a quick energy boost for you as well as a long-term boost.

Fruit is great for your pre-workout snack too since it is a healthy source of sugar. Unlike processed sugars, the sugar in fruit is relatively good for you, in reasonably-sized quantities. Chomping down on an apple or having a banana before your workout will give you a quick energy spike to stimulate your body.

These are some alternatives to the standard pre-workout options, and maybe you can find a few that you like and that offer you a good boost of energy so that your workout is not so draining.

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