I take product testing very seriously. Each time I review a product, I put my name and reputation on the line.

Yes, This Supplement Sucks makes some of its income from affiliate sales. When you click a link and buy, I get a kickback from the company at no extra cost to you. But I will only recommend pre-workouts that pass my testing. 

And i you’ve looked around the site, you know that not many products pass it.

Don’t give a hoot about how I test pre-workout and just want to read the reviews? Click here to see all my pre-workout reviews.

But if you’re keen to know why my pre-workout reviews are the most comprehensive on the planet, keep reading.

My Pre-Workout Testing Process 

All pre-workouts I test go through the same fastidious five-step process that results in a numerical score from one to ten. 

Step 1: Buy the Pre-Workout

I use my own hard-earned cash to buy each product without the brands knowing I plan to review them publicly. (If there are ever any exceptions to this, I will note it at the top of the review.)

From the get-go, I take notes on the user-friendliness of the website, the ordering and payment process, and how many marketing emails they bombard me with in the next few weeks. 

I then note how long it takes for the pre-workout to turn up at my doorstep and whether the packaging looks like it’s been on a trek through Mordor and dropped into the fires of Mount Doom before reaching me.

If there’s an issue with the order, or the pre-workout is so bad I can’t use it without complaining, I contact customer service and evaluate that as well. This covers the speed of reply and whether the person at the other end was super helpful or a massive dick.

Step 2: Analyze the Ingredient List

Scrutinizing the ingredients list is essential. Read my article “Is Pre-Workout Worth It?” to find out exactly how critical this step is. 

First, I need to be certain each pre-workout has enough of the ingredients I care about (mainly caffeine and L-citrulline).

By enough, I mean not only that the ingredients meet the scientifically proven minimum effective dose, but also that there’s enough to my liking, which is usually more than the minimum effective dose. 

Second, I check if these ingredients are licensed and come from B2B (business-to-business) companies that license their products for B2C (business-to-consumer) companies to use in their pre-workout. 

Reputable B2B supplement companies prioritize the potency and purity of their products, putting them through strict internal and external testing to maintain their brand integrity. I don’t really care either way if an ingredient comes from B2B or B2C, but it must be third-party tested and follow strict GMP guidelines. We’ll get to that later.

Finally, I use my hammer of justice against any useless ingredients. While for the most part, such ingredients are harmless, they serve no purpose but to elevate the pre-workout’s marketing virility. 

Some pre-workouts also contain potentially harmful ingredients, even if they’re legal. My job is to make sure you know about this shit.

All in all, the fewer ingredients I see on the label, the better I score the product. 

Step 3: Check for Third-Party Testing and GMP Certificate

TL;DR: Third-party testing checks the product itself, and the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certificate covers the manufacturing process. 

Both are key to verifying the purity and potency of a pre-workout. Most pre-workout brands don’t do either, instantly putting them in the “do not buy” bin.

Third-party testing 

When a supplement company wants third-party testing and certification, it pays an independent organization to test the ingredients against safety, quality, and performance standards.

The absence of third-party testing doesn’t immediately mean the pre-workout is poor quality. But knowing the dishonest bullshitting going on in the supplement industry, third-party testing gives me peace of mind knowing a product is safe and has — and does — what it says on the box. 

With the stakes so high, I simply do not recommend products that have not been third-party tested and certified. Ever.

GMP Certification

GMP certification means the manufacturing facilities comply with the rigorous quality standards of regulatory authorities. It covers the entire manufacturing process, including sourcing raw materials, processing, packaging, and labeling.

GMP compliance is crucial because it helps ensure pre-workouts are produced safely and with consistent quality, meeting the specifications they claim. 

Step 4: Test the Pre-Workout for Two Weeks

Testing is usually the fun part unless the pre-workout is exceptionally shit (looking at you, C4) or has way too much caffeine for my liking. 

As I mentioned above, I buy and use all the pre-workouts I review to get first-hand experience. This means the energy and pump scores are subjective. Just because I rate the energy high or low with a particular workout doesn’t mean you would end up with the same conclusion.

For example, I usually need at least 200 mg of caffeine in my pre-workout to feel the difference in my training. Your tolerance might be higher or lower, reflecting how energized you feel with different pre-workouts.

To get multiple viewpoints in the more subjective testing areas, I typically hand out 5–10 servings of each pre-workout to a couple of my gym bros and get their input as well. 

I take the pre-workout for two weeks before each training session and keep notes on all of this:

• Energy: Each time I review a pre-workout, I ask myself how awake, alert, and focused I felt in my training. The more awake, alert, and focused I feel, the higher the energy score will be.
• Pump: I focus on how the product increases blood flow to the muscles. A good pump should make my muscles feel and look fuller and tighter. 
• Taste: Taste is subjective, so don’t get too hung up on this. I often find that a pre-workout that initially tastes like nuclear plant wastewater gradually becomes tolerable as I get used to the flavor. 
• Mixability: I expect something smooth and grit-free that doesn’t get stuck on the side of the shaker.

Step 5: Rate the Pre-Workout 

Once I get here, I run all my notes through my scoring system, what I like to call the “grinder of truth.” 

I rate the pre-workout based on the factors I covered earlier as well as its ingredients, testing and certifications, and customer experience. I then see how it all aligns with what I paid for the product to add the eighth factor: price.

That said, not all these factors have the same weight in the final score.

I don’t care how smooth and white-gloved the customer experience is if the ingredients are crap. It doesn’t matter how well C4 mixes or how good it tastes. It’s still a shit pre-workout and no one should take it.

Here are the “weights” I assign to each factor:

• Ingredients: 40%
• Price: 5%
• Pump: 10%
• Energy: 10%
• Third-party tested/GMP certified: 31%
• Taste: 2%
• Mixability: 1%
• Customer experience: 1%

Once I finish rating each factor, my scoring system spits out the overall score.

Keep reading, and you’ll see why some factors have more impact on the overall score while others barely matter.

How I Score Pre-Workout

Ingredients: 40%

The formula and ingredients in pre-workouts are the number one thing I look at when choosing pre-workouts.

The idea here is that no matter how good it tastes, how cheap it is, or how outstanding the customer support is, if a pre-workout formula sucks, the product sucks.

It’s not that the actual ingredients in a pre-workout are hard to find. Most supplement companies show them on their websites or Amazon listings, so it’s easy enough to review. 

But you need to know what to look for and what each ingredient does (often, nothing), as well as the various minimum effective doses. I’ve spent hours and hours researching pre-workout ingredients to learn the good, the bad, and the ugly of what’s in these products.

Third-Party Tested and GMP Certified: 31%

The pre-workout industry is full of shady, dishonest brands with loose morals.

I only recommend pre-workouts that have both third-party testing and GMP certification. 

Third-party testing is the only way to ensure your pre-workout has what it says on the label — nothing less and, perhaps more importantly, nothing more.

GMP certification is the only way to guarantee your pre-workout is sourced following strict guidelines and processed using clean equipment.

Energy: 10%

Out of all the effects I look for in a pre-workout, this is the one I care about the most. I want to feel psyched and focused for my strength training. Not psyched to the point of yelling at walls and eating chalk, but to feel like I am ready to lift some heavy shit.

After each training session, I also pay close attention to the caffeine crash. 

If you’ve ever drunk too many cups of coffee in one day, you know exactly what I mean. Now imagine exceeding your daily amount of caffeine in one hit and then having to deal with the exhaustion, tiredness, inability to concentrate, and irritability that follows. It sucks. 

If I feel slightly lethargic, I deduct a point from the energy score. If I feel like I can’t focus or function as a normal human being, I will deduct more points.

Since I metabolize caffeine well, I can handle more before getting a crash. Again, your tolerance might be different. 

Why doesn’t the energy score have more weight than 10% in the total score?

Since the energy you get from pre-workout correlates with caffeine, the ingredient score reflects the energy score. If I’ve rated the ingredient score low, you can guarantee there’s not enough caffeine in the pre-workout.

Pump: 10%

As I mentioned earlier, the pump is the second-most important effect I look for in a pre-workout — even if it won’t make a humongous difference in my training, even if it’s all a placebo. The psychological benefit I get from feeling and seeing my muscles pumped up means I might manage an extra rep or two.

Since pre-workout will only give me a 1% edge in my training (at most), I want to squeeze out every little benefit I can. So, I pay attention to whether I can bang out more reps or sets than usual or if I experience less fatigue during my workout.

Based on these factors, I assign a pump score to the pre-workout. A higher score indicates a stronger pump, while a lower score suggests the pre-workout may be less effective. 

As with energy, my pump scores are subjective and based on my experience, so your results may differ.

Why doesn’t the pump score have more weight than 10% in the total score?

As with caffeine and energy, the amount of L-citrulline reflects the pump. Hence, the ingredient score reflects the pump score. If I’ve rated the ingredient score low, you can guarantee there’s not enough L-citrulline in the pre-workout for a solid pump.

Price: 5%

I look at the cost of the product and divide that by the number of servings in each container to get the price per serving. I then compare it against others in the industry to determine if it’s below or above the average ($1.51 per serving) of the pre-workouts I’ve bought and tested. 

Most importantly, I look at the price per serving to see if the money you’ll pay matches the value you’ll get in terms of ingredients, energy, pump, third-party testing and GMP certification, taste, mixability, and customer service.

Taste: 2%

Taste only factors in 2% of the scoring because it shouldn’t be anywhere near the top of your priorities when choosing a pre-workout. Besides, the great-tasting pre-workouts are often the worst in terms of effectiveness.

A shitty taste can even be an indicator of the quality of the pre-workout because it’s harder to mask high doses of L-citrulline, etc. But obviously, that’s not a hard rule anyone should follow.

As I mentioned earlier, the hard part about taste is that it really comes down to personal preference. I try my best to be objective; handing out samples to some of my gym bros helps with this.

For instance, I recently rated Transparent Labs BULK Strawberry Lemonade a 3/10 on flavor.

I thought it was just about the worst thing ever to pass my lips. However, my trainer rated it a 6.8/10. (Yes, he likes to be very specific.)

If you don’t like the flavor, you can always add more water to dilute it.

Side note: Yes, I have a trainer. And yes, I am trying to convince him to accept my payments in pre-workout. So far, no luck. 

Mixability: 2%

Unlike taste, mixability isn’t subjective. Either the pre-workout is silky smooth, a bit gritty, or lumpier than a teenager’s poetry. 

I’ve never had any problems mixing up pre-workouts, but I still test for it. If a pre-workout were Customer Experience: 1%

challenging to mix, I’d add 4–8 more ounces of water to the shaker and shake the shit out of it.

In the end, yes, it’s nice to have a pre-workout that doesn’t have the mouthfeel of a sandpit. But I can tolerate most textures as long as I don’t have to use a spoon for my pre-workout.

I take a pre-workout to improve my training, not because I crave its silky texture on my oral mucosa.

This is last on my list of things I care about with pre-workout because I can buy most products on Amazon.

They are typically cheaper on brand websites, but if the brand has a terrible website and shitty customer support, I’ll just get it from Jeff.

That said, most brands have a pretty easy checkout flow and good customer support. Out of all the pre-workouts I’ve bought, only EHPlabs has had a very confusing checkout. 

My Score Breakdowns of Two Popular Pre-Workouts

To give you an idea of how this scoring system works in practice, here’s one pre-workout review for each end of the spectrum.

Shitty Pre-Workout: C4 Ripped Sport

• Ingredients: 1/10
• Energy: 5/10
• Pump: 3/10
• Taste: 9/10
• Mixability: 10/10
• Customer experience: 10/10
• Price per serving: $0.86/$0.69
• Third-party tested/GMP certified: No
• Total score: 2.17

Good Pre-Workout: Transparent Labs BULK 

• Ingredients: 8/10
• Energy: 8/10
• Pump: 8/10
• Taste: 6.5/10
• Mixability: 10/10
• Customer service: 10/10
• Price per serving: $1.66/$1.49 if you subscribe
• Third-party tested/GMP certified: Yes
• Total score: 8.5

Don’t Settle for Crappy Pre-Workout

Pre-workout will only give you a tiny edge in your workout, but to get even that, you need a product backed by science, third-party testing, and GMP certification. Settling for anything less is like doing bicep curls in the squat rack.

Instead of obsessing over a pre-workout, focus on your nutrition, training, and recovery. If those three are not in place, you’re going nowhere.

After years of testing different pre-workouts, here’s my advice: Pick a good pre-workout and move on.

Two Pre-Workouts I Recommend to My Friends and Family 

Transparent Labs BULK

As you can guess from its name, BULK comes with third-party testing and complete transparency about its ingredients. For $1.66 per serving ($1.49 if you subscribe) BULK gives you 5,300 mg of L-citrulline, 200 mg of caffeine, and 4,000 mg of beta-alanine.

You can read my full Transparent Labs BULK review here.

Outwork Nutrition Pre-Workout

At $1.99 per serving, you’ll get 5,000 mg of L-citrulline, 300 mg of caffeine, and 3,200 mg of beta-alanine for the tingles. Plus, thanks to third-party testing, you can be 100% sure you get what you pay for — and nothing else. 

I did have a crash each time I took this.

You can read my full Outwork Nutrition Pre-Workout review here. 

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