Natural Energy Boosts for Workouts
Today, we’re talking about natural energy boosts for workouts. So many people use refined sugars and energy drinks as a pre-workout boost (myself included). But I’m here to tell you that you don’t always have to reach for cookie or candy bar or the energy drink before you work out! There are healthier and more natural options out there and I’m here to share them with you.
Eat an apple!
An apple has 19 g of sugar, in comparison to a Hershey chocolate bar that has 17 g of sugar. Yes, the apple has more sugar. So what exactly am I saying here? Well the apple has more sugar, but it’s also full of fiber and vitamins, which makes it a much healthier alternative to plain sugar or empty calorie options like a Hershey bar. Also, not all sugar is bad for you! Sugar in excess, whether it be from a manufactured food or natural produce, is bad for you. But natural sugar to give you a boost before a workout is far better for you than manufactured sugar. So before you reach for a candy bar (which I recently found out is particularly characteristic of guy gym rats lol), try an apple!
Green Juice or smoothie
Homemade is best, but you can also do cold pressed or store bought (just be sure to read your labels!). Make sure it’s full of green veggies and a little fruit for taste if you need it, more veggies than fruit is the goal. It’s a good pre and post-workout drink, and it’s also a good replacement for drinks like Powerade and Gatorade that are full of nastiness! I’m not giving you an exact recipe because it’s completely up to you! There are tons of recipes online, Google is your best friend boo. Again, just make sure there’s lots of greens in it like kale, collards, spinach, spirulina, celery, broccoli, etc.
Spicy Lemonade
I am absolutely OBSESSED with the version of spicy lemonade that I buy from my local juice spot. But it’s pricy and I can honestly make something very similar myself. The recipe is super simple: water, lemon, and cayenne pepper. Lemon balances your pH, relieves respiratory and breathing problems, and has lots of vitamin C which is an energy booster. Cayenne pepper boosts your metabolism and is a natural thermogenic, which basically means that it increases your basal metabolic rate, which therefore increases your energy expenditure. In other words, it’s a win-win lol. It gives you more energy and helps you burn more calories.
Celsius Energy Drink
Alright so here’s my last suggestion, and I saved this one for last because it’s store bought and it comes with a back story.
So just to give you a little background, I recently developed an intolerance to caffeine. I’ve never been a coffee drinker and I don’t drink a lot of stuff with caffeine in it besides tea, which has a minimal amount. So my first real exposure to caffeine was when I started drinking a natural energy drink in college. That’s when I started working out at 5:30/6am, so getting out of bed to get to the gym was really difficult sometimes! I found this fairly natural and healthy energy drink that I liked. For about 6 months, I would drink a can or half a can in the mornings, just to kind of jumpstart my workouts. I never experienced jitters or a crazy crash or anything like that, and I never had any issues until a couple months ago when I started having heart palpitations. It’s nothing to really be concerned about if it happens every once and a while (at least that's what I've been told), but for a couple days I was having them a couple times an hour. So, obviously, I went to the doctor because I wanted to make sure that everything was okay. Long story short, I stopped drinking this energy drink, and my heart palpitations stopped. But for the average person, it’s fine. I know people who drink it and have never had the issue I had.
So with that being said lol this is a great, natural energy drink that I was pretty faithful to! It has thermogenic properties which I described above, it’s only 10 calories per can (and half a can was enough to get me through a workout), it is free of preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, and gluten. It also comes in carbonated, non-carbonated, and powder forms. The caffeine equivalent is about the same amount you’d get in two cups of coffee. Best of all, I never experienced a crash or jitters. So if you’d rather go the store bought route, I’d definitely recommend this drink! It’s reasonably priced. You can get a pack of 12 on Amazon and it’s also sold at Vitamin Shoppe and individually at 7-Eleven. But if you have a caffeine intolerance, be careful!
I related these suggestions specifically to energy boosts for workouts, but obviously you can try these for an energy boost throughout the day too. And that’s it! I hope you guys found this useful! As always, thanks for journeying with me.