Lit af Beyond Raw pre-workout simplified
I know that not everyone likes to read lengthy reviews so for those who don’t here’s a summary of everything you need to know about Lit af Beyond Raw pre-workout.
First things first, this pre-workout is a great one. Unfortunately like most things, it’s not perfect. In this review we will dive straight into the ingredients, dosage, potential side effects, and other things. We will do this in a fact-checked no-bullshit way.
Pros:
- GNC is a well-known producer of supplements (86 years of experience in the field)
- Great experience from numerous people who bought and use this product
- The ingredients aren’t just randomly thrown together and work well with each other resulting in bettered performance
- Ingredients such as Citrulline Malate have a higher dosage than some other pre-workouts
- The inclusion of ingredients such as Creatine is always a nice addition as you don’t have to take them separately
Cons:
- 1 serving has 20 calories which is high in the world of pre-workouts when you take into consideration many have 0
- The price per serving is rather high
- Contains soybeans which can sometimes cause nausea, stomach aches, bloating, and constipation
Our Picks For 2023:
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Lit af Beyond Raw pre-workout – how does it work?
Lit af Beyond Raw pre-workout works like most other powder pre-workouts on the market. When taking pre-workouts many ingredients help your body get the energy and boost your strength/stamina so you can perform better than usual and see your results much faster. We’ll talk about the ingredients later on.
The consumption of the product is as simple as it gets. Just like every other pre-workout, you should take a serving of Lit af Beyond Raw pre-workout around 30 minutes before you start your workout.
With that being said there aren’t 2 humans that react to any substance the same so the right consumption time will require some testing on your behalf to consume any pre-workout most efficiently possible.
Although caffeine and some other ingredients may start working sooner, they will also last longer. In Lit af Beyond Raw they use 2 different types of caffeine that work together to prevent you from crashing during your workout. We’ll touch on them later on in the ingredient list.
As some people like double scooping, I feel like it’s necessary to mention early on that this product might not be the one for you if you plan on doing that. The reasoning behind this is stated in the Side effects part of the review, but to make a long story short many people report feeling itchy and dizzy from this pre-workout as it tends to have higher dosages of ingredients.
We can go on and on about how a specific pre-workout is great or horrible but till we go over the list of ingredients there’s no point in ranking the supplement.
Core ingredients
As far as the main ingredients go, they are as following:
Potassium (200mg)
This is a highly reactive mineral when in water. Potassium helps our body regulate fluid, as it is conductive it helps send nerve signals throughout our body as well as regulate muscle contractions.
Calcium (150mg)
Since we were little we were taught that drinking milk will make our bones stronger. This is because milk contains calcium.
Taking calcium is known to be beneficial to your bones and some research shows that taking calcium before a workout results in preventing calcium loss(while we sweat we tend to lose this mineral that is so beneficial to our bones).
Calcium also aids in recovery which is great in a pre-workout.
Sodium (40mg)
Sodium or more commonly known as salt is also a mineral we tend to lose while sweating during intense workouts. Including it in a pre-workout is great as it minimizes the loss of the mineral.
L-CITRULLINE DL-MALATE (8000mg)
Citrulline gets converted by the users’ kidneys into L-Arginine which is an amino acid that boosts your nitric oxide levels resulting in your blood vessels expanding and therefore letting more blood flow through them. The 8000mg seems to be on the higher end of the sweet spot for the Citrulline and that is exactly what we get in each serving of Beyond Raw Lit af pre-workout.
Caffeine (300mg)
One of the ingredients everyone knows and loves. Some people even use coffee itself as a pre-workout. Although it can help your workout when specifically dosed with other carefully picked ingredients it hits its peak performance.
GNC uses a blend of caffeine that consists of Immediate Release as Caffeine Anhydrous(250mg) and Targeted Release as ZumXR Caffeine(50mg).
They claim that you firstly get the 250mg release of caffeine followed up by the 50mg of caffeine later on in the workout to prevent you from crashing hard mid-way through your workout.
This sounds amazing on paper but reality hits once again. While researching the product I haven’t found how they do this, in other words, scientific explanation and the experiences of users differ in this area.
Beta-Alanine (3200mg)
In a nutshell, this ingredient has been shown to enhance muscular endurance, just the thing you would want in a pre-workout, right? Large dosages can result in the tingling effect which is one side effect depending on if you like the feeling, although a harmless one.
Betaine Anhydrous (2500mg)
On a personal level I quite enjoy this ingredient. It is sometimes compared to Creatine Monohydrate as it improves hydration, improves power, and supports protein synthesis.
Creatine Monohydrate (2g)
Creatine is often taken by itself. I use it daily.
Although it can be found in meat and fish the process of cooking removes most of it. For that reason, we take creatine powder by itself or in a combination such as a pre-workout.
The benefits of creatine are the increase of strength and power output during resistance exercise and is also known for improving anaerobic running capacity.
Another benefit is an increase in lean mass.
One thing about creatine is that you must drink a lot of water when consuming it as stomach cramping can occur when not enough water is consumed.
Arginine Silicate Inositol (1500mg)
This ingredient works beautifully with citrulline malate which is found in this pre-workout. The reason is that it helps with the nitric oxide created by the citrulline malate.
Taurine (1g)
Taurine is yet another popular ingredient. If you ever looked at an ingredient list from an energy drink can you noticed taurine. It is used as a way to prevent sudden energy spikes that are then followed by crashes.
It is also an osmotic agent which means it helps with drawing water into cells. This is important in the recovery phase as cells with more water in them result in better anabolism and recovery.
Adenosine 5′-Triphosphate disodium (400mg)
Improves low peak muscle torque and fatigue caused by repeated high-intensity exercise sets. In other words, it provides faster muscle recovery time.
Alpha-Glycerol Phosphoryl Choline (150mg)
Some small case studies have shown that Alpha GPC can increase maximum power and velocity, as well as increase lower body force.
Side effects
Just like any other pre-workout, you should care for potential side effects. One way to combat a potentially unpleasant experience is researching the products before buying, well done, if you’ve made it this far you are doing your homework.
The other way is to experiment with the supplement. As I mentioned at the beginning you shouldn’t double-scoop any pre-workout before testing how your body reacts to it first. Taking a single dosage will give you an idea of how your body is accepting the ingredients you are taking.
After some experimenting with a single dosage and different times of consumption before a workout feel free to double-scoop if you have a feeling you are not getting enough from the supplement.
The only side effects I have managed to find are related to the tingling effect caused by beta-alanine, problems with falling asleep(taking the supplement later in the day and the ingredients that get you pumped up still work), digestion problems in a form of diarrhea.
Some people may be concerned about the caffeine, this as well is dosed safely so it’s nothing to worry about.
With the side effects being said they are rather minor and can be avoided with the right dosage and time of consumption with most people.
Price and where to buy
The price of this product is around $45 for 1 package of 20 servings.
By doing some simple calculations we conclude that 1 serving will cost you $2.25 which is on the rather expensive side, especially if you are looking for a product that is a bang for your buck. If that is the case I would steer you in the direction of 4 Gauge pre-workout instead as a Lit af Beyond Raw alternative.
If the price of the product is not a problem for you this is a product most people will be satisfied with.
As to where you can buy this product, well it’s available on most fitness-oriented shops, as well as Amazon and the official site. This is not so great for you since this means the company uses middlemen and therefore the product costs more than it otherwise would.
Conclusion
Lit af Beyond Raw pre-workout is a decent option, but in our opinion 4 gauge pre-workout is a better product when you consider all things. The price is the biggest thing we have a problem with concerning this product.
The pre-workout seems to be well-liked by its users and people seem to love the taste of it, especially the gummy worm flavor.
When you take into consideration how much you pay per serving you could find a cheaper and better alternative such as a 4gauge pre-workout or just check out our Top 3 Pre Workouts.
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