Pre-Workout vs Energy Drink (Which One Is Best for You?)

The main difference between energy and pre-workout drinks is their effect on you.

Energy drinks are made to give you a quick energy boost, whereas pre-workouts are designed to make you work out more effectively.

They're both designed to energize you before a workout, but pre-workouts generally help with endurance and delaying fatigue.

Below are some of the other differences between energy drinks and pre-workout:

• An energy drink can be used for a quick energy shot at any time of the day or any activity, whether it's exercising, studying, gaming, or working. A pre-workout supplement is specifically designed for your workout window so your body is at its prime physical performance.
• Energy drinks are more flavorful, and people tend to drink them slowly, so the effects come in slowly. On the other hand, people usually take pre-workout quickly, so they're more likely to feel the energy from the caffeine faster.
• Energy drinks are available mostly in liquid form. Pre-workouts are mostly in powdered form (a powder that you mix with water).
• Energy drinks typically contain between 50–100 calories (unless they’re zero-calorie energy drinks), and most pre-workouts contain little to no calories.

Another major difference between the two is their pre-workout ingredients. Let’s take a better look.

Most pre-workouts contain a mix of some or all of these ingredients:

• Caffeine: It can boost physical and mental performance during exercise [1].
• BCAAs: Amino acids that improve exercise performance and functional recovery [2]
• Beetroot or pomegranate extract: It helps reduce high blood pressure [3].
• Beta-alanine: An essential amino acid that improves muscle size and performance [4].
• Creatine monohydrate: A naturally found chemical that improves muscle recovery [5].
• L-Citrulline: It helps increase blood flow in your muscles [6].
• L-Glutamine: It can give you a good energy boost before working out [7].
• Other vasodilators: These allow for greater blood flow into your muscles [8].
• B vitamins and carbohydrates

The average energy drink contains some or all of these ingredients:

• Ginseng: It’s believed that ginseng increases testosterone and helps with exercise performance, but no solid data backs that claim [9].
• Taurine: An amino acid that may help with muscle recovery [10].
• Green Tea Extract: Green tea as a pre-workout may improve exercise endurance [11].
• Green Coffee Extract: Popular supplement that may help with weight loss [12].
• Guarana: A plant native to the Amazon that contains caffeine and is dangerous in large amounts [13].
• Ginkgo biloba: Popular supplement known for improving brain function [14].
• Carnitine: A compound that plays a critical role in energy production [15].
• Sugar, B vitamins, and caffeine

Note that both energy drinks and pre-workouts share caffeine and vitamin B as common ingredients. Energy drinks rely on sugar for sweetness (with the exception of sugar-free energy drinks), whereas most pre-workout drinks will use artificial sweeteners.