The best pre workout without L-Arginine

If you’re looking for the best pre workout without L-Arginine then you’ve probably experienced some side-effects or heard some not-so-great things about this particular ingredient.

There are lots of pre workout supplements on sale these days and most of them are designed to work in a variety of ways to help you get the very most out of your gym and training sessions.

While most pre workouts are primarily used to boost energy levels and help you feel on point in the gym, lots of them also contain ingredients designed to help with muscle pumps.

Basically, they work to increase the blood flow to the muscles by raising Nitric Oxide levels. This helps your muscles work harder and feel bigger during your gym sessions.

That’s where L-Arginine comes in. It’s known as a “conditionally essential” amino acid and plays a role in blood flow and Nitric Oxide levels.

However, when it comes to its pre workout benefits, it’s definitely not the most effective ingredient out there.

In this article, we’re going to explain exactly what L-Arginine is and why you should be looking for other ingredients in your pre workout supplement.

We’re also going to pick out the best pre workout that doesn’t contain any L-Arginine.

So, with the introduction out of the way, let’s get straight down to business.

What is L-Arginine?

As we mentioned above, L-Arginine is an Amino Acid. Amino Acids are basically the building blocks or protein.

L-Arginine is usually obtained through your diet, and it can be found in foods such as meats and seeds.

Athletes sometimes take L-Arginine because it’s believed to raise Nitric Oxide levels in the body. However, the evidence for this is limited at best.

The evidence suggesting that L-Arginine can raise Nitric Oxide levels in humans is not particularly convincing.

The problem with taking L-Arginine as a supplement is that it’s not absorbed particularly well by the body in healthy individuals, meaning that its effects are usually limited.

L-Arginine side effects

The one main thing L-Arginine is associated with in terms of side effects an increased risk of developing cold sores (you may have already read about this elsewhere, or even experienced it yourself).

You probably already know that both cold sores and genital herpes are caused by the HSV type 1 virus.

It’s believed that L-Arginine can cause this unwanted effect by lowering levels of L-Lysine when it’s orally consumed.

That’s because L-Lysine is thought to help prevent cold sores and genital herpes, so lower levels of this Amino Acid is not a good thing when it comes to this side effect.

With that in mind though, it’s believed that only dietary L-Arginine can put you at risk from this side effect.

Generally, L-Arginine isn’t believed to cause too many serious side effects. The main reason we’re not big fans of it is because it’s not just simply not a very effective ingredient for a pre workout.

What’s the alternative to L-Arginine?

Raising Nitric Oxide levels to boost muscle pumps and increase blood flow during your gym sessions has a number of benefits, but using L-Arginine to do so isn’t the best idea.

We don’t rate L-Arginine as one of the best pre workout ingredients because of its poor absorption rate in the body.

Instead, our preferred ingredient in this category is Citrulline Malate. Why? Citrulline is converted into Arginine in your kidneys and has also been shown to have a better absorption rate overall.

If you’re wondering what the difference between L-Citrulline and Citrulline Malate is, then feat not. Citrulline Malate is simply L-Citrulline with added Malic Acid.

Citrulline Malate is our top pick for a pre workout in our opinion because it brings all of the benefits of L-Citrulline, with the added bonuses of Malic Acid, which can help to boost strength and endurance.

There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that Citrulline is the better option if you’re looking to increase blood flow and raise Nitric Oxide levels (both good things for a pre workout).

That’s why we recommend going for a pre workout that contains Citrulline Malate, to help boost muscle pumps and increase blood flow during and after your gym sessions.

Best pre workout without L-Arginine

With the wealth of information available to us on the internet these days, more people are doing their extensive research in to the best supplements to achieve their fitness goals.

We’re tested and reviewed hundreds of pre workout supplements over the last 24 months, and they tend to range from the terrible to the excellent.

4 Gauge

Product website: www.4gauge.com

This is our top recommended pre workout supplement on sale right now, because it contains the widest selection of the best ingredients and also has great customer reviews.

4 Gauge is made by specialist supplements company Roar Ambition and yes, you guessed it, it doesn’t contain any L-Arginine.

Instead, 4 Gauge uses Citrulline Malate to boost muscle pumps, combined with a great selection of other ingredients to raise energy levels and improve focus.

It only uses safe, effecting and natural ingredients to help you get the very most out of your workouts.

Ingredients

As we mentioned above, 4 Gauge doesn’t use L-Arginine and instead uses Citrulline Malate as its main muscle pump and blood flow increasing ingredient.

Each serving of 4 Gauge contains 6g of Citrulline Malate, which is a solid dose. So many of the products we’ve tried use good ingredients but let themselves down when it comes to the individual doses.

4 Gauge also contains other great ingredients, including combining caffeine with L-Theanine. This brings about all of the positive effects of caffeine such as increased energy and focus, with the benefits of L-Theanine (an amino acid found in tea leaves) for a sense of calm and relaxation at the same time.

Also included in 4 Gauge is 1g of Creatine Monohydrate, which has been shown to reduce fatigue and improve hydration when consumed before training.

Other ingredients include Red Beet Extract and Coconut Water Powder.

Price, shipping and where to buy

One bottle of 4 Gauge is $45 / £30 / €35.

They have a deal on where you buy two and the third is half price, which includes free shipping to the USA and UK. That works out at around $37.50 / £25 / €29 per bottle.

You can’t buy this product in the shops. It’s only available directly from the manufacturer on the official website.

Any drawbacks?

• It’s a premium priced product, and so it might not fit into everyone’s budget.

• You can only buy it directly from the manufacturer on the official website.

The bottom line

If you’re looking for the best pre workout without L-Arginine, then 4 Gauge is the best option in our opinion.

It uses Citrulline Malate instead of L-Arginine to increase blood flow and raise Nitric Oxide levels.

It also combines a great selection of other quality ingredients such as Creatine Monohydrate, Caffeine and L-Theanine to deliver a pre workout experience superior to most products out there right now.

The only slight drawbacks are that it’s one of the more expensive products out there right now, and that it’s only available to buy on the official website at the moment.

Anything else to consider?

As we always like to remind you, remember that there is no ‘magic’ supplement that will give you the results you’re looking for.

Getting into great shape requires hard work, effort and dedication.

Before taking any supplement, we always recommend that you should make sure your diet and training regime is completely on point first.

Wrapping things up – our final thoughts

So there we have it, our thoughts on L-Arginine as a pre workout supplement.

We’ve explained why we don’t think L-Arginine is the best pre workout ingredient, mainly because it’s not very well absorbed when ingested orally.

Citrulline is the better option when it comes to boosting Nitric Oxide levels through supplementation.

Finally, we singled out 4 Gauge as our top recommended pre workout supplement on sale right now because it uses Citrulline Malate instead of L-Arginine and also combines a number of our top rated other pre workout ingredients such as L-Theanine, Caffeine and Red Beet Extract.

The Sport Review's product reviews are independent advice you can trust. Sometimes, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we don't allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are produced through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing.