It depends on the pre-workout formula, but pre-workouts can make you hot!
Pre-workouts are supplements that help people get ready for exercise. They’re usually taken 30 minutes to an hour before working out.
Many pre-workouts contain stimulants and other ingredients that can make your temperature increase.
Many pre-workouts contain ingredients that may help increase the intensity of your workout.
For example, creatine and citrulline malate help improve your performance.
The stronger you are, the more intense your workout can be.
And, the more intense the workout, the hotter your body gets.
The more common ingredients of pre-workouts and the ones that can affect your body temperature more are caffeine and thermogenic.
The caffeine content of pre-workouts varies widely. Some contain zero to small amounts of caffeine, but many contain large amounts.
As you may know, caffeine is a stimulant that increases energy and alertness that can help improve performance.
Regular coffee is the most common form of consumable caffeine.
A cup (240ml) of coffee contains about 95 to 100mg of caffeine.
In comparison, pre-workouts can contain 150 to 500 mg per serving.
For your reference, the healthy levels of caffeine are around 400 mg daily.
Caffeine affects the nervous system and makes the body release hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Cortisol and adrenaline are fight or flight hormones. They can increase the heart rate and will eventually cause an increase in body temperature.
Basically, thermogenics can increase the body’s metabolic rate and core body temperature.
It promotes the biological process known as thermogenesis.
Thermogenesis is the process in which heat energy is produced in the body through metabolism.
Often, pre-workouts include thermogenic ingredients such as Capsicum, CLA, Green Tea Extract, and L-Carnitine, which are thermogenics.
Yes, that same capsicum that you can find in chillies which gives the chillies, and you, the “heat.”
Some pre-workout supplements even contain hot pepper extracts.
Capsicum can increase your metabolism rate and help you burn fat even after your workout.
CLA is an unsaturated fatty acid commonly found in animal fats and milk. It helps burn body fat and increase muscle mass.
Conjugated linoleic acid or CLA is a fatty acid that can be found in dairy and meat products of some animals.
Aside from increasing metabolic rate, it can also help with fat loss and reduce muscle mass loss.
Green tea extract helps burn fat in several ways.
It contains caffeine, which, as mentioned above, increases metabolic rate.
It also contains polyphenol compounds which help promote thermogenesis.
L-carnitine is an amino acid naturally present in red meat.
L-carnitine helps transport fatty acids from your bloodstream into the cell’s mitochondria. There, they can be broken down into usable energy.
While they help burn fat and provide energy, they also help prevent muscle failure.
We learned above how pre-workouts can make you hot. And sweating helps cool you down. So, the more intense your workout, the more you get hot, and the more you’ll sweat.
Human bodies are tightly regulated machines that must stay within a narrow temperature range to stay healthy and alive.
Sweat cools us down by using up the heat in our bodies to evaporate. Just getting out the sweat from our skin doesn’t cool us down. The water or sweat must evaporate for our body temperature to go down.
Pre-workouts may make you sweat at night – depending on when you consumed your pre-workout.
If you took it at night or even late in the afternoon, it might cause night sweats.
Also, if you exercised at night, your body temperature will still be high, and that will cause night sweats as well.
Some pre-workouts may make your sweat smell.
Other pre-workout supplements contain Betaine and Choline.
Betaine helps speed up muscle growth, increase strength and endurance, and aid weight loss.
Choline is a vitamin-like compound that enables and enhances body functions. It’s essential in making a chemical called acetylcholine in our bodies. Acetylcholine allows nerve cells to communicate, making our bodies function.
Taking large doses of betaine and choline reduce levels of these compounds in your gut.
If you take a pre-workout pre-workout supplement containing these two compounds, you might experience trimethylaminuria.
Trimethylaminuria is a metabolic condition where your sweat, breath, saliva and even pee smell like rotten fish or rotten eggs.
But don’t panic yet; trimethylaminuria is extremely rare.
Sweating during workouts isn’t a clear sign that you’re making the most out of your session.
We learned that there are ingredients in pre-workouts that increase body temperature and sweating is our bodies’ attempt to regulate that.
We sweat when sitting out under the sun or in hot temperatures, but that doesn’t mean we’re getting a workout then.
You can also work out and not sweat as much, like when you run outside in cold temperatures. You still get the fitness benefits in that workout session even when you didn’t sweat a lot.
Sweating may have some detoxifying effects.
Detoxing mostly happens through the liver and kidneys. There is little scientific evidence about it, but it’s also believed that sweat can help with detoxifying too.
When we sweat, water, sodium chloride, and potassium are released.
Sweat may help release some water-soluble toxins, but it’s definitely not the most effective way to detox our bodies.
You shouldn’t fear that your pre-exercise-induced sweating will cause you serious harm.
The average person can sweat anywhere between 0.8 to 1.4 litres per hour of exercise. That’s a lot if you think about it, but it’s normal.
There are a lot of factors that can affect an individual’s sweat rate released during their workout. But, if you just make sure to drink plenty of water every now and then, you should be fine.
Pre-workout supplements aren’t just for athletes anymore.
In fact, they’re becoming increasingly popular among non-athletes who want to gain more from their workout session.
While these products are certainly helpful, it’s important to keep in mind that they’re not a magic bullet. They won’t turn you into a superhero overnight, nor will they help you shed pounds like a snake sheds its skin.
They can definitely help you achieve your fitness goals faster than you ever thought possible. But, they will also have effects on your body other than fitness gains.
Remember to stay hydrated, and see you in another article!
