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How long does a preworkout last?

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Pre-workouts are a great choice to ramp up your energy before a workout. Most people struggle to start workouts, more so challenging ones that require them to push themselves beyond usual. But with a preworkout, you get an instant boost of energy just before you get down to sweat.

The effects of preworkouts are clean but, how long does one last in your system before it depletes? Before buying and using one, you want to keep this in mind as different preqorkouts last different periods.

A simple guide, though, how much a preworkout lasts depends on the type of ingredients it has and the intensity of the said ingredients. That said, some preworkouts will deplete earlier than others, while some will push beyond your workout session.

Therefore, the type of preworkout you choose has to directly match how long your session will be and the fitness goals at hand.

The best approach to understanding how long a preworkout lasts is by studying the duration each ingredient lasts. For example, preworkouts with ingredients such as caffeine and arginine will take about an hour to an hour and a half to kick in. That means you will start to feel the boost or the effect after about 60 minutes after consumption.

The purpose of arginine in preworkouts is to widen blood vessels to increase blood flow. The half-life of this ingredient is between 30 to 120 minutes, and this depends on the dosage or arginine in the preworkout and how well your system can handle the ingredient.

On the other hand, caffeine has a half-life of about 5 hours. Depending on the individual and the dosage, the effects of caffeine can last between 1.5 to 9 hours. With the carrying half-lives of these two ingredients, a preworkout can last anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Most ingredients, however, have a half-life of between 4 to 6 hours; therefore, most preworkouts will last about 4 hours. The effects, however, may fade away as time goes by, with most lasting the first or second hour after consumption.

The kick-in time is quicker than the fade-away time for most ingredients, with most taking about 30 minutes to kick in. This is why most people take preworkouts 30 minutes before a workout. By the time they start the workouts, the ingredients have had enough time to settle in the system and bring about the expected effects.

From there, you can see that preworkouts have varying durations of how long they last. Some factors that come to play to determine this period are:

  • Your activity levels
  • The number of servings you take in a specific period
  • Your body mass
  • The amount of each ingredient per serving of the preworkout
  • Your sensitivity to caffeine and other ingredients.

Pre workouts are useful, and finding one that serves your fitness needs is a top priority. But, you cannot overlook the fact that different preworkouts will affect various people, including how long they last in your system. The idea is to check the ingredients and the dosages to ensure they are adequate to maintain the effects throughout your workout.

Story by Joe Austin

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