This is a description of what is in Prefuel, our pre-workout, written to the same standard as everything else on this blog: the label, the arithmetic, and where the arithmetic does not flatter us, the arithmetic anyway.
What is on the panel
A 12.19 oz (345 g) jar, orange flavoured. One scoop is 11.5 grams and the jar holds 30 servings. A serving is 10 calories and 1.5 g of carbohydrate, with calcium 50 mg, magnesium 20 mg and sodium 40 mg. Sweetened with stevia leaf extract; the other ingredients are citric acid and natural flavors.
The active material is 8,970 mg across six named blends:
- Nitric oxide and cell volumizing, 4.5 g. L-citrulline, L-glutamine, taurine, L-glycine, L-arginine.
- Anabolic strength, power and endurance, 2.9 g. Creatine monohydrate, beta alanine, BCAA (leucine, isoleucine, valine), betaine anhydrous.
- Energy, focus and fatty acid oxidation, 940 mg. L-tyrosine, L-carnitine L-tartrate, green tea leaf extract, green coffee bean extract.
- Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, 435 mg. N-acetyl-L-cysteine, green tea extract, grape seed extract, turmeric root extract.
- Adaptogen, 170 mg. Organic maca root, ashwagandha root, Siberian ginseng root.
- Absorption, 25 mg. Astragalus root, panax notoginseng root, black pepper fruit extract standardised to piperine.
The useful parts
The electrolytes are a genuinely useful piece. Calcium, magnesium and sodium in a drink you are having before you sweat is sensible, and sodium in particular is the one most people under-consume around training rather than over.
Now the part that does not flatter us
Every one of those six groups is declared as a blend total. You are told the group weighs 2.9 grams; you are not told how much of it is creatine.
This matters more here than it does in a green powder, because the ingredients in a pre-workout have studied doses and those doses are large. Look at what the arithmetic forces:
- Creatine monohydrate is studied at 3 to 5 g a day. The entire blend it sits in is 2.9 g, shared with three other ingredients. So the creatine in a serving of Prefuel cannot be at a maintenance dose. It is not close.
- Beta alanine is studied at 3.2 to 6.4 g a day, accumulated over weeks. Same blend, same 2.9 g ceiling. Same conclusion.
- Betaine anhydrous is studied at about 2.5 g. Same blend.
- L-citrulline is studied at 6 to 8 g for a blood-flow effect. It leads a 4.5 g blend shared with four other amino acids.
None of that makes the product useless. It does mean that if you bought Prefuel because you wanted a clinically dosed creatine or beta-alanine product, it is not that, and you should not take it as that.
We used to say on this product page that Prefuel has no proprietary blend. Read against this panel, that claim did not hold up: a named blend declared as a single weight conceals per-ingredient dosing in exactly the way an unnamed one does. We have taken that line off the page.
What to do with that
If you want what Prefuel is actually good at: a light, low-calorie drink with electrolytes and a broad amino acid profile that does not taste like sweetener, take it as directed and it does that.
If you want creatine, buy creatine monohydrate and take 3 to 5 grams a day, every day, training or not. It is the cheapest and best-evidenced supplement in sports nutrition and it does not need to be in a pre-workout to work. The same goes for beta alanine at 3.2 g or more if you are chasing the buffering effect. Stacking a properly dosed single ingredient alongside a pre-workout you enjoy drinking is a better plan than hoping a blend covers it.
How to take it
One serving (11.5 g) in 8 to 16 oz of cold water. For training, two to three servings 30 minutes before; one serving after; one in the morning or between meals if you just want the aminos. Start with one serving and see how it sits with you before going up.
Not for use by anyone under 18, or by women who are pregnant or nursing. If you take medication or have a heart condition, talk to your doctor before using a pre-workout. If you are drug tested in your sport, note that Prefuel does not carry a banned-substance certification such as Informed Sport or NSF Certified for Sport, check with your governing body.
The short version
Prefuel is a sensible, light pre-workout with a real electrolyte contribution and a broad amino profile, sweetened with stevia. It is not a clinically dosed creatine or beta-alanine product and its panel does not let you verify what is. If you want those, dose them separately. We would rather tell you that than sell you a blend total and let you assume.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
