Pre Workout vs. Collagen and Protein Powder: What Works?

I don’t know about you, but I find it super confusing to keep track of which fitness supplements I should take to support my health. There’s pre workout supplements, protein supplements, collagen powder, electrolyte powder… What’s the difference between each of these? And when do I need one vs. or the other? Are there any I can do without? Or any that are especially effective? A big part of adulting is adequately supporting our health. In this article, I’ll go over the benefits and drawbacks of each workout supplement so you can make a more informed decision about what’s worth adding to your routine.

Before I dive in, remember that I’m not a nutritionist, personal trainer, or doctor. This information is solely for informational and entertainment purposes. Before making any changes to your diet or health routine, speak to a professional.

Pre-Workout Supplements

Pre Workout Supplement Benefits and Drawbacks

Pre-workout is a relatively new supplement that has exploded in popularity. The main purpose of pre-workout powders is to give you an energy boost. They typically do this via a few key ingredients, including caffeine, beta-alinine, creatine, and essential amino acids. We’re all probably familiar with caffeine’s effects on our energy levels. Plus, research has found that caffeine has tons of other health benefits from lowering our risk of skin cancer to protecting our livers. 

Beta-alinine also boosts energy in our muscles. It’s not clear how it does so and there’s some debate as to its effectiveness. However, some studies have shown that it increases the time people can spend doing high intensity exercises.

Similarly, creatine helps replenish ATP. If you don’t remember ATP from high school biology, it provides the energy our body needs to move. It is therefore yet another way that pre-workout can give you a boost of energy. 

Finally, pre-workout has amino acids that help with muscle growth and muscle recovery.

Drawbacks of Pre Workout Supplements

While the main ingredients in pre-workout supplements come with a lot of benefits, they can also come with unfortunate side effects if taken in excess. For example, too much caffeine can lead to anxiety and insomnia. Because pre-workout powder can often have up to 3 cups of coffee worth of caffeine, you’ll want to adjust your caffeine intake in your diet if you are taking these supplements. Additionally, you may want to use a partial dose of pre-workout powder if you are sensitive to caffeine.

Likewise, beta alinine can interact negatively with heart and erectile dysfunction medicine.

And excess creatine use can come with a cascade of unfortunate side effects, like digestive problems, muscle cramps, and high blood pressure.

This all highlights the importance of talking to your doctor before adding supplements to your routine. It also demonstrates the importance of moderation when it comes to these kinds of supplements.

Moreover, pre-workout supplements frequently have artificial sweeteners and other artificial ingredients in them. If you are avoiding artificial ingredients, you might look to whole foods for these nutrients. Coffee and tea are great sources of caffeine. And meat and fish have creatine, beta alinine, and amino acids. 

When to Use Pre Workout Supplements

Pre-workout supplements are an easy way to increase your energy levels before a tough training session. Because they have so much caffeine in them, you may therefore want to reserve your use of these types of supplements for when you have an especially difficult workout session planned or if you are tired before a training session. For example, pre-workout is a good option before a long run, a heavy weight-lifting session, or any other activity that involves a lot of strength and/or endurance.

For best results, you should consume pre workout supplements 30-60 minutes before your physical activity. This will give the nutrients time to absorb.

Of course, your personal preferences (and discussions with a doctor, nutritionist, and/or personal trainer!) will also help dictate the most effective way to use these supplements.

Pre Workout Supplement Options

Pre-workout generally comes in powder form and mixes with water for a pre-workout shake or drink. It also come in a variety of flavors. When you’re choosing a pre-workout mix, look for mixes that contain little added sugar and that have the key pre-workout ingredients mentioned above. Some mixes do not have creatine or amino acids, for instance.

Protein Supplements

Protein Supplement Benefits

While pre-workout is mainly aimed at increasing your energy, protein supplements are mainly aimed at increasing your muscle mass and aiding in muscle repair. Indeed, protein is made up of amino acids, which are the building blocks of muscles.

Consequently, protein helps increase muscle size when its used in tandem with strength building exercises. Protein cannot build muscle on its own. When we engage in exercise, our muscle tissue gets slight tears. Protein builds our muscle strength by repairing those tears bigger and better than before. This is also called muscle protein synthesis.

On top of the benefits of protein for muscle gain, dietary protein also aids in weight loss. Protein helps keep us full, thereby preventing over-eating.

And finally, protein can support blood flow by dilating (opening up) our blood vessels. This can also help decrease blood pressure. However, keep in mind that high-protein whole foods (like red meat) often come with a lot of saturated fat which can undo that benefit.

How Much Protein Is Enough?

Despite the different functions and benefits of protein, many fitness enthusiasts do not get enough protein. For example, the average person needs 0.8-1 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (that translates to 0.36-0.45 grams per pound). 

However, according to the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism (what a mouthful!), athletes who want to maintain their weight should aim to consume 1.3-1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. And athletes who want to maintain or gain muscle should try to have a daily protein intake of 1.6-2.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.

This advice is for anyone who is regularly active in moderate- to high-intensity exercise like long runs, weight training, etc.

Drawbacks of Protein Supplements 

Overly high levels of protein can come with some unfortunate side effects. Consuming protein beyond the recommended intake doesn’t come with any physical performance benefits. However, it is associated with digestive problems, headaches, and even an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, liver and kidney disorders, and blood vessel problems.

When to Use Protein Supplements

For best results, we want to consume protein throughout the day. However, the best time to consume protein is arguably in the hour after a training session. This is called the anabolic window and some people believe it’s when our body is most ready to use nutrients for things like repairing and building muscle. It’s important to note that some people in the nutrition and fitness industry believe the anabolic window is a myth and that our body is just as good at using nutrients throughout the day. 

Regardless of whether this protein timing is fact or fiction, you may benefit from being mindful of your post-workout protein consumption in order to ensure you’re getting enough protein throughout your day. Most nutritionists recommend consuming about 10-20 grams of protein after a workout.

If you’ve just done strength or resistance training, you want to aim for a 2 to 1 ratio of carbs to protein. So 20 grams of carbs and 10 grams of protein. And if you’ve just done an aerobic workout like running or biking you’ll want to aim for a 3 to 1 ratio of carbs to protein.

Protein Supplement Options

You can get protein in many different forms. A convenient way to get protein after a workout is with protein powder supplements. Protein powder supplements come from a variety of sources including pea protein, casein protein (found in milk), whey protein (also found in milk and dairy), hemp protein, egg protein, brown rice protein, and plant-based protein powder mix.

Each of these types has their own benefits and drawbacks. For example, whey protein and egg protein are the most easily digested and absorbed forms of protein. Hemp proteins and brown rice proteins are easily absorbed, but they are not complete protein sources. In other words, they don’t have all of your essential amino acids for building muscles. And pea and casein protein are complete proteins but they’re not as easily absorbed.

Moreover, some people, myself included, don’t like the flavor or have more digestive troubles with one type of protein vs. another. Looking at you hemp and whey protein powder!

Consequently, choose the type of protein powder that works best for you. If you find protein powder supplements you like, try adding them to a post-workout shake or smoothie to give your body easy, high-quality protein. I love using Tailwind’s Recovery Mix which includes electrolytes and a 3 to 1 ratio of carbs to protein.

You can also get plenty of high-quality, whole food protein sources through a balanced diet. For example, meat, fish, poultry, eggs, tofu, beans, and dairy are all great sources of protein.

Collagen Supplements

Collagen Supplement Benefits and Drawbacks

Another dietary supplement beloved by many fitness enthusiasts is collagen. Collagen is actually a type of protein. However, we don’t consider it as one of the protein powders above because the collagen we get from the store is usually just made up of 2 or 3 amino acids that are key for collagen production, while the protein sources above are generally made up of 8 or 9. 

Collagen has a variety of different purposes in the body. For example, it helps form and repair our skin, hair, muscles, tendons and ligaments. It also protects our internal organs. Consequently, it may help prevent injury from torn tendons and ligaments. It may also help in muscle building. And it may correspond to a more youthful appearance.

That being said, the research on collagen supplement effectiveness is super limited. Plus, collagen companies are responsible for most of the research… awkward. Our bodies also can’t actually absorb whole collagen. Our bodies break collagen down into its amino acids. They may then reconstruct collagen from those building blocks or they may not. So consuming collagen doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll make more collagen.

There are also side effects from consuming too much collagen, like digestive distress and skin rashes. You should aim to keep your collagen supplement intake to less than 15 grams per day. So keep this in mind before dropping the big bucks on collagen. You can also get collagen from plenty of whole food sources noted below.

Collagen Supplement Options

For best results, you should consume collagen with Vitamin C, zinc and copper. Your body needs all these key ingredients to actually create collagen. Vital Protein’s Collagen Peptide Advanced formula is a great way to get collagen and Vitamin C together. It’s what I use daily. I mix 2 tablespoons in with my yogurt, berries, and homemade granola that includes nuts and seeds. The nuts and seeds help give me my zinc and copper. There are many other great brands of collagen. You should look for ones that:

• Are third-party tested for safety and purity.
• Are labeled hydrolyzed (meaning your body can digest it).
• Contain the type of collagen you’re looking for. Types I and III are best for skin and nails. Type II is best for joints and cartilage.
• Have limited artificial flavors and added sugars.

Aside from the powder form of collagen, you can also get collagen supplements in gummies, capsules, and even candy bars. 

Additionally, you can find collagen in many whole foods sources. Meat, poultry, and fish are especially good sources because of their connective tissue (which is made up of collagen). You can find copper and zinc in many nuts and seeds. And citrus fruits, berries, leafy greens, and bell peppers are great sources of Vitamin C.

There isn’t any recommended time to take collagen supplements. No research suggests it’s better in the night vs. morning vs. after a workout.

Electrolyte Supplements

Electrolyte Supplement Benefits

I did a deep dive into electrolytes in my post on whole food electrolyte options. You can reference that for more info on electrolytes!

To do a quick sum up, electrolytes include sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, chloride, and phosphate. The thing each of these nutrients have in common is that they help our brain send messages to our body and vice versa. These messages help control our body’s pH balance, coordinate muscle contraction, aid in nerve and heart function, and so much more.

When to Use Electrolyte Supplements

When we sweat, we lose electrolytes. It’s therefore important to replenish them. Most of us get the necessary amount of electrolytes through our diets just fine. However, you should aim to supplement your electrolytes when you sweat a lot or if you’ve worked out for an hour or more. You’ll tend to sweat more (and need more electrolytes) if you’re working out in hot weather or especially intensely.

If you have salt rings on your clothes or salt dried to your skin after a workout, that’s a good sign you need electrolytes. Likewise, if you experience nausea; diarrhea; muscle cramps, spasms, or shakes, you may need electrolytes.

If I’m going for a long run, I like to consume electrolytes before my workout (and sometimes during if it’s real long!) Some research finds that consuming electrolytes before your workout can help in fluid retention. However, in most cases, you’ll do just fine by waiting to supplement until after you workout.

Electrolyte Supplement Options

When we sweat, we mostly lose sodium and chloride (the building blocks of table salt!), and very tiny amounts of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphate. Consequently, for better results, you’ll want to focus on electrolytes supplements that have sodium and chloride in them.

Be careful not to over-consume electrolytes. Consuming too much electrolytes can lead to irritability, fatigue, muscle spasms, nausea, and more. Unfortunately, these symptoms also largely correspond with electrolyte under-consumption, so be mindful of when you both may be over- and under-doing it.

You can find food sources of electrolytes in my post on this topic.

Comparing Pre-Workout Powder, Protein Powder, Collagen, and Electrolytes

I hope this provided some useful guidance in choosing the best supplement for you. The right supplement will depend on your specific fitness goals and your broader diet. For example, if you’re comparing pre-workout vs protein powder, you’ll focus on pre-workout when you need an energy boost for tough workouts and protein powder for recovery after tough workouts.

Likewise, the main difference between collagen and other protein powders is that collagen is a unique type of protein that is used more for skin, hair, nails, joints and ligaments than in building muscles. Both are, however, important for fitness performance and often come from the same whole food sources.

Finally, electrolytes are often confused with pre-workout. However, electrolytes don’t give you an energy boost, they help your brain and body communicate. Replenishing electrolytes after a workout is key. While the energy from pre-workout is more useful before a workout.

Consequently, you need all of these nutrients for optimal health. However, this doesn’t mean you need to go out and buy all of the most popular supplements. Many of us get enough of these nutrients from food. And if you want to save money and avoid artificial ingredients, you can focus on whole food sources of these nutrients.

Maintaining a balanced diet that incorporates lean meat, fish, beans, nuts, dairy, and tofu is a great way of getting protein and collagen (and even electrolytes from salted nuts!). Coffee and tea can give you a caffeine boost. And many whole foods can give you electrolytes. As with everything, however, moderation is key.

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Do you use any of these supplements? Are there any you really like? Let me know in the comments!