Pre-workout Supplements Fuel Lifts and Runs

January 23, 2025

Whether you’re a seasoned runner or a novice, you’ve likely contemplated using a pre-workout supplement prior to a run. Numerous pre-workout products cater to runners, with benefits and key ingredients tailored to individual needs.

Pre-workouts are most commonly available in powder or capsule form, though newer formats—including gummies, gels, and even topical muscle rubs—have gained traction. The primary aim of pre-workout supplementation is to enhance both mental and physical performance. Ingesting combinations of these supplement ingredients has been shown to improve anaerobic capacity, time to exhaustion, upper-body muscular endurance, and other functional capacities (1).

Most active individuals can derive benefits from supplements that boost energy, focus, and workout performance. Common ingredients include tyrosine, theanine, L-citrulline, alpha-glycerophosphocholine (alpha-GPC), beta-alanine, betaine anhydrous, and caffeine anhydrous. Combinations of these ingredients offer multifaceted benefits for runners. Below, we highlight the most notable advantages, alongside our top product recommendations.

Improved Readiness and Alertness

One of the greatest challenges in running is initiating the workout. Research indicates pre-workout supplements can enhance wakefulness and alertness—a critical factor, as motivation to begin is often half the battle. For example, beta-alanine-containing supplements induce a tingling sensation (paresthesia) in the face, which can create an overwhelming urge to move, effectively priming you for activity.

Beyond motivating you to start your run, pre-workouts can sustain alertness during activity—especially if you feel fatigued beforehand. Key ingredients in pre-workouts are linked to improved focus, which is a vital safety consideration for runners (2).

This is particularly relevant for trail runners, where a momentary lapse in focus can lead to tripping over roots or losing balance. Enhanced alertness also heightens situational awareness—such as monitoring competitors during a race—which can positively influence both personal performance and race outcomes.

For those seeking pre-workout excitement and motivation, we recommend Pro Supps Mr. Hyde Signature.

Increased Time to Fatigue

Studies demonstrate that highly trained endurance athletes who use pre-workout supplements prior to activity experience a longer time to fatigue—i.e., the duration between starting activity and feeling exhausted increases. This effect is most consistent when running at threshold pace—a demanding intensity sustainable for approximately one hour (3).

Building running endurance through safe volume progression is a gradual, often tedious process. However, physical readiness to sustain hard or prolonged effort does not always translate to sufficient energy availability.

Pre-workout supplementation can make hard efforts feel more manageable, as time may pass more quickly during intense activity. Instead of hitting a wall at a challenging pace, you may experience delayed fatigue during a 10K—potentially enabling a strong finishing kick, as residual energy remains for the final stretch.

For athletes targeting improved endurance, Thentic Pre-Workout Non-Stim is our top pick.

Improved Rate of Perceived Exertion

The rate of perceived exertion (RPE)—a 1–10 scale used to quantify how hard an individual feels they are working during exercise—is a common metric coaches use to assess workout effort. The ideal outcome is to sustain a high intensity (fast, hard effort) without perceiving the effort as matching the physical output—a marker of improved fitness for coaches, though it can also reflect training adaptation.

Research suggests runners who use pre-workout supplements experience a significantly lower RPE compared to those who do not—though this effect is most pronounced during the first 20 minutes of exercise (4). Even so, the benefit extends to longer workouts: a perceived easier start can facilitate sustaining longer distances or harder paces. Pre-workouts are therefore particularly advantageous for shorter races and high-intensity workouts.

For those looking to reduce perceived effort during workouts, we suggest Signature Pre-Workout.

Pre-workout supplements are not one-size-fits-all. Select a product aligned with your specific goals, and test it over multiple sessions to evaluate its impact on your performance.

Sources

1. The effects of a pre-workout supplement on measures of alertness, mood, and lower-extremity power. (2022, Cureus)

2. The acute effects of multi-ingredient pre-workout ingestion on strength performance, lower body power, and anaerobic capacity. (2016, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition)

3. The effect of a multi-ingredient pre-workout supplement on time to fatigue in NCAA division I cross-country athletes. (2021, Nutrients)

4. Effects of One Versus Two Doses of a Multi-Ingredient Pre-Workout Supplement on Metabolic Factors and Perceived Exertion during Moderate-Intensity Running in Females. (2020, Sports)