Supplements

Best Pre Workout Without L-Arginine

You’ve probably seen dozens of pre workouts containing L-Arginine. In fact, it’s actually one of the most common ingredients seen in these supplements.

However, the worrying thing is that L-Arginine isn’t as effective as companies make it out to be.

Ever bought a pre workout that dissapointed you and just didn’t work?

If you answered yes, then it’s likely that it contained L-Arginine – along with numerous other ineffective nutrients.

Luckily for you, we’ve got your back. In this article, we’ll expose the truth about L-Arginine, and show you how to choose the best pre workout that doesn’t contain it.

You’ll learn:

  • What are pre workout supplements?
  • What is L-Arginine
  • Side Effects of L-Arginine (increased cold-sores)
  • Better Alternatives
  • Best pre workout without L-Arginine
  • Conclusion

What Are Pre Workout Supplements?

Before we get stuck into this article, first you’ll need to know what pre workout supplements are.

Now, we’re writing this for a range of people; from those that have just began their fitness journey, to others who have more advanced knowledge of supplements.

So stop complaining that you know what these products are and skip to the next section if you do, bro…

The question answered 

Simply put, pre workout supplements are designed to be taken around 20-30 minutes before your gym session – in order to deliver benefits needed to help you progress faster.

What are the key benefits pre workouts should offer?

  • Energy boosts
  • Improved focus
  • Increased strength & endurance
  • Enhanced muscle pumps

The last bullet point is why many believe consuming L-Arginine is a good thing. However, we’ll take you through everything you need to know about this ingredient.

By the end of this article, you’ll know whether L-Arginine is a useful addition to a pre workout or not.

What Is L-Arginine?

L-Arginine is basically an amino acid that’s naturally found in food sources; such as turkey, pork, chicken, seeds, beans, legumes and dairy.

However, you can’t achieve an optimal amount of L-Arginine from these foods. And because it has a poor absorption rate, it’s not the best addition to oral supplements.

What does it do? 

You’re probably wondering what L-Arginine is actually supposed to do.

Well, this amino acid plays an important role in regulating your nitric oxide levels; simply put, an increase in L-Arginine has shown to directly improve your blood flow.

Ultimately, increased blood flow leads to you experiencing enhanced muscle pumps in the gym (which improves your endurance and reduces muscular fatigue).

Poor absorption rate 

We briefly mentioned this at the start of this section.

Well, L-Arginine has shown to have a poor absorption rate when orally supplemented – meaning your body doesn’t make full use of this nutrient when consumed in a pre-workout.

As a result, this means that L-Arginine isn’t actually able to increase your nitric oxide levels in pre workout supplements.

There is a better alternative that’s proven to get the job done. But let’s see if L-Arginine can cause any side effects first.

Side Effects of L-Arginine

Increased risk of cold sores 

Right, so we’re not saying that L-Arginine directly causes cold sores. You should know that both cold sores and genital herpes are caused by the HSV type 1 virus.

However, it can cause an increase in cold sore & genital herpes outbreaks.

Here’s why; L-Arginine can lower levels of L-Lysine when orally consumed.

Basically, L-Lysine is an essential amino acid that can help prevent cold sores and genital herpes, so a reduced amount of L-Lysine in your body is bad news.

However, it’s worth noting that the studies have shown that only dietary L-Arginine can put you at risk from this side effect.

Better Alternatives

We’ve mentioned that L-Arginine has a poor absorption rate, and when orally consumed, can even increase outbreaks of cold sores and genital herpes.

So understandably, we’d rather try some other options.

Well, this is when we began researching about the different forms of amino acids, and whether any could be a direct replacement for L-Arginine.

Ultimately, the best nutrient we found was L-Citrulline.

L-Citrulline

In case you’re unaware, L-Citrulline is an amino acid naturally found (and extracted from) watermelons.

It’s able to convert into L-Arginine once in your kidneys; this takes away L-Arginine’s poor absorption rate issue. And because you’re not consuming L-Arginine orally, you won’t be at increased risk from cold sores or genetial herpes outbreaks either.

We did pretty good, didn’t we?

Well, after taking a closer look at this nutrient, we found that L-Citrulline had proven to be reliable at enhancing muscle pumps in numerous studies – making it reliable too.

How does it work?

We mentioned that L-Citrulline converts into L-Arginine once in your kidneys.

Well, studies have shown that this is effective at raising your nitric oxide levels; this leads to increased blood flow, which results in you experiencing enhanced muscle pumps in the gym.

But one thing you need to remember, is that L-Citrulline has only shown to work in dosages of 3,000mg and above.

Citrulline Malate

You might be wondering ‘what makes this any different from L-Citrulline?’. 

Simply put, Citrulline Malate is L-Citrulline with added Malic Acid. This means that Citrulline Malate comes with the added benefit of being able to enhance your strength and endurance.

How does it work? 

As Citrulline Malate contains L-Citrulline, it works in the same way.

However, the Malic Acid is able to raise your ATP levels (in a similar way to creatine monohydrate).

In case you’re wondering what ATP is, it’s basically what your body uses as energy (which is why it’s able to deliver these benefits).

Best Pre Workout Without L-Arginine

We promised you that we’d show you the best pre workout without L-Arginine. And here at SpotMeBro, we always keep our word.

You better appreciate that we’ve tested dozens of different products for this…

We were actually quite surprised by how many pre workouts contained L-Arginine; especially as studies has shown it to have a poor absorption rate when orally supplemented.

Not only that, there was a serious lack of pre workouts containing an optimal dosage of either L-Citrulline or Citrulline Malate.

But eventually, we found one that ticked the right boxes.

Check it out:

4 Gauge by Roar Ambition

The shotgun shell packaging caught our attention, so we wanted to find out whether it was as good as it looked.

After ordering a bottle and taking our first serving, we weren’t disappointed. We’ll give you a quick review about why we’ve decided 4 Gauge to be the best pre workout below.

How It works:

  • Stronger mind-muscle-connection – increased focus allows you to make the most of every rep and set.
  • Set new personal records – experience that ‘kick’ you need to break through a plateau or achieve the dream start.
  • See faster changes to your physique – transforming your body can take time, but pre workouts help you see results quicker.
  • Clean energy boosts & muscle pumps – feel your arms and legs expanding as you make gains, while never feeling tired half-way through your session again.

Drawbacks:

  • Premium price – this might be more expensive than others, but it’s safe and effective, making it better than dozens we’ve tried.
  • Only 1 flavor – Fruit Blast, but it’s one of the best tasting pre workouts we’ve tested.
  • Can only buy from official website: www.4Gauge.com

Quick Summary

If you’re looking for explosive energy, strength, muscle pumps and focus in the gym – then 4 Gauge is a great choice of pre workout.

When it arrived in a shotgun shell container, we were expecting big things. And it lived up to the hype.

Before placing our order, we read numerous great reviews on different websites; it’s rare to see a product with this amount of positive feedback.

It sounded too good to be true at first, but after taking our first serving, we knew it was the real deal. We never felt tired during our workouts, even after long days in the office.

Most importantly, we could feel the blood rushing to our muscles while pumping weights. The optimal 6,000mg dosage of Citrulline Malate has shown to work in studies, and we can confirm this to be the case.


To Buy, Visit
www.4Gauge.com

or

Read Our Full
4 Gauge Review Here


Conclusion

You came here looking for the best pre workout without L-Arginine. And after we spent time and effort finding one for you, you’ve got the job done (thank us later).

Ultimately, L-Arginine is a great example of supplement companies not doing enough research; they continue to add this ingredient in their pre workouts, even though studies have clearly shown that it has a poor absorption rate when orally supplemented.

For this reason, you can always tell when a company has dedicated time to formulate their pre workout properly. Like we did, they’ll find that Citrulline Malate is the best nutrient when it comes to muscle pumps, in dosages of 6,000mg or above.

Out of all of the pre workouts without L-Arginine that we tried, 4 Gauge was the safest and most reliable at delivering the key benefits – to help us make real changes to our physique.

This post was last modified on March 16, 2021 11:40 am

View Comments

  • Thank you so much for this, I have been using pre work out and creatine for six months and wondering why I kept having reoccurring cold sores when I hadn’t had one in years. I stopped taking everything because I was so sick of it, but have been lacking in my work outs. So thank you again. Btw I’m a 40 year women and am in the best shape of my life and want to stay that way. If you have any more recommendations regarding no arginine products let me know.
    Bless you
    Stacey

  • This is misleading information for people suffering from cold sores! Citrulline Mullate converts to arginine and at a dosage of 6000MG that is more likely to give people cold sores considering it is an higher dosage more than regular arginine pre workouts at 1G.

    So I would consider re-phrasing the information as this is misleading people to purchase the product!

  • I know first hand citrulline causes cold sores and shingles fairly quickly. In the first week. It’s even more harsh at times on the virus in my opinion. I used citrulline because of another article I read like this. Shortly realizing it was a huge mistake. I never get cold sores ever. That is unless I take arginine or CITRULLINE

Published by
Chad Stan

Recent Posts

Losing Fat for Teenagers: A Comprehensive Guide to Training, Cardio, and Nutrition

Being a teenager and dealing with excess body fat can be challenging. Many teenagers struggle…

August 20, 2023

Best Arm Workouts for Older Guys

Muscle loss in the arms can significantly impact quality of life. Everyday activities such as…

August 13, 2023

What supplements do vegan athletes need?

As the popularity of veganism continues to grow, more and more athletes are adopting a…

July 27, 2023

Should I Do Cardio Before or After Weights?

In the realm of fitness, the conundrum of whether to perform cardio before or after…

July 14, 2023

How Much Cardio Should I Do When Cutting? – Understanding its role in weight loss

‍Cardiovascular exercise, or cardio, is a key player in the weight loss game. It helps…

June 19, 2023

The Ultimate Guide to Foods to Avoid Before a Workout: Fuel Your Body Right

Working out is an essential part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but what you eat…

June 9, 2023