Pre-Workout NZ

Pre-workout is a powdered drink you take before training for energy, focus and pump. Caffeine drives the energy, citrulline the pump, beta-alanine helps on high-rep sets, and tyrosine or L-theanine are added for focus. It does not build muscle by itself: it helps you train harder. Commonly used doses are 3.2 g of beta-alanine and 6 to 8 g of citrulline malate (about 4.5 g as pure L-citrulline). Some formulas add creatine, from 1 g in Cellucor C4 Original to 5 g in CBUM Thuper Pump, so check before adding a separate creatine. Our pre-workout ingredient and dosing cheat sheet explains each one.

For most people, the best pre-workout is a 200 mg all-rounder: our most common strength, and half the commonly cited 400 mg daily figure. CBUM Essential and Basic Supplements Pre both list 200 mg in a one-scoop serve; only CBUM Essential is in our Tested for Sport range. By need:

• First tub: CBUM Thavage (130 mg) or Cellucor C4 Sport (135 mg), at half a scoop
• Budget: Cellucor C4 Original, 200 mg, from $1.48 a serve (September 2026)
• Drug-tested sport: CBUM Essential, CBUM Thavage, CBUM Essentials Charged or Raw Nutrition Essential Tingle Free, checked against your programme's register
• No caffeine: CBUM Thuper Pump (8 g citrulline)
• No tingle: Raw Nutrition Essential Tingle Free lists no beta-alanine

Compare every pre-workout we stock by caffeine and price per serve.

The pre-workouts we stock list 130 mg to 420 mg of caffeine a scoop (September 2026), so check the label and whether a serve is one scoop or two. A long black sits around 120 to 150 mg. Our Low Stim range stays under 300 mg a scoop, and High Stim runs 300 mg to 420 mg. Ryse Loaded varies by flavour: four list 270 mg of caffeine anhydrous plus a small delayed-release dose, and two total 390 mg. Nexus PER4M 2.0 sits in Low Stim, yet every flavour lists a two-scoop full dose of 500 mg, or 250 mg a scoop. See how strong each pre-workout is, tier by tier.

By caffeine per scoop, the strongest pre-workout we stock is Ronnie Coleman Yeah Buddy at 420 mg, followed by two Ryse Loaded flavours at 390 mg, Inspired DVST8 BBD at 375 mg, and CBUM Essentials Charged and Raw Nutrition Essential Charged at 350 mg each. All of them sit in our High Stim range. A single Yeah Buddy scoop is past the 400 mg daily figure commonly cited for healthy adults, so these tubs are for experienced users only: start at half a scoop and keep your whole day, coffee included, at or under 400 mg.

Choose stim if you want caffeine for energy and drive, and stim-free if you train in the evening, are caffeine-sensitive or drink coffee through the day. Stim-free formulas skip caffeine and lean on pump ingredients such as citrulline, listed from 1.5 g in Gaspari Proven Pump to 8 g in CBUM Thuper Pump. Our Non-Stim & Pump range lists no caffeine on its labels, with one exception: Gaspari Plasmajet lists green tea and green coffee extracts, both sources of caffeine in an undisclosed amount, so count it as a stim product, not stim-free. Read what stim-free pre-workout does without caffeine.

Take pre-workout about 20 to 30 minutes before you train, the window where caffeine and the pump ingredients come online. Mix each scoop with plenty of water, measure it with the supplied scoop and never dry scoop the powder. If caffeine on an empty stomach upsets you, a small snack 30 to 60 minutes before helps. Save stim scoops for morning and midday sessions.

Pre-workout caffeine stays active for hours: its half-life runs around five to six hours, so about half of a 5pm scoop is still in your system around 11pm. You start to feel a stim pre-workout about 15 to 20 minutes in, and it tends to peak around the 45 to 60 minute mark. Train late? Use a caffeine-free pump formula such as Ghost Pump V2 or CBUM Thuper Pump instead.

It can be, for healthy adults who stick to the label dose and keep total caffeine in check. The commonly cited figure is around 400 mg a day from all sources, so do not stack a scoop with coffee, energy drinks or fat burners. Skip pre-workout if you are under 18, and check with your GP first if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, have a heart condition or high blood pressure, or take medication. Read the whole label: Yeah Buddy, DVST8 BBD and Nexus PER4M add bitter orange (synephrine), and Yeah Buddy, DVST8 BBD and both Charged tubs add theacrine or methylliberine, extra stimulants on top of caffeine. None of the pre-workout labels we have checked list DMHA, DMAA or yohimbine. Read our full pre-workout safety guide.

The usual side effects are jitters, tingling, an upset stomach and poor sleep, mostly down to dose:

• Jitters and a racing heart, usually from stacking a scoop with coffee
• The beta-alanine tingle, harmless and usually gone within 60 to 90 minutes
• A queasy gut on an empty stomach
• Poor sleep after a late stim scoop

Start at half a scoop, count all your caffeine, and switch to a tingle-free or stim-free formula if one ingredient does not suit you. Daily use builds tolerance, so a week off stimulants every 6 to 8 weeks, or a stim-free tub on lighter days, lets it reset. Our guide to your first pre-workout covers the half-scoop start.

C4, Ghost, Ryse, Nexus and CBUM are the pre-workout brands shoppers search for most. We stock all five, plus Raw Nutrition, Ronnie Coleman, Inspired, GAT Sport, MusclePharm, Gaspari and Basic Supplements. Shop six by brand: C4 pre-workout, Ghost pre-workout, Ryse pre-workout, Nexus pre-workout, CBUM pre-workout and Raw Nutrition pre-workout. Picking a flavour? Most ranges list the same caffeine in every flavour, so choose a taste you will finish: Blue Raspberry is the easiest first buy in CBUM Essential (see CBUM Essential flavours ranked). Ryse Loaded and MusclePharm Assault Sport vary by flavour, so check yours.