Best Pre-Workout For Pumps (TESTED)

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If you are looking to get a bigger pump in the gym, the type of pre-workout you choose can make a big difference.

I know this because I’ve tested over 30 different pre-workouts over the last few years, most of which I’ve reviewed on the FeastGood YouTube channel. 

The crazy part is that for some of the pre-workouts that claim to work for muscle pumps, I barely felt any effect. 

This is why you can (sometimes) NOT trust the marketing behind these products.

However, I’ve personally tested each pre-workout on this list and can verify that they DO work well for maximizing muscle pumps.  

The List: Explained

I’ve included two products that are caffeine-free and that are strictly “pump” products.  For these products, don’t expect to get any significant performance benefits outside muscle pumps, like increases in strength or energy.

Then, I’ve included two products that are considered more of your well-rounded pre-workouts, one with a moderate amount of caffeine and one with a high amount of caffeine–both provide excellent muscle pumps, as well as some other general performance benefits. 

I’ve then also included two honorable mentions that, based on my testing, did provide excellent muscle pumps, but for some reason, I got some negative side effects (mostly stomach upset).  I include them on this list only because side effects are personal, so even though I experienced some digestive upset, you might not experience the same thing. As such, they’re worth mentioning because I did get GREAT muscle pumps from them.

Key Criteria 

1.  Effective Pump Ingredients

I looked at whether or not the pre-workout contained ingredients that are proven to be effective for nitric oxide production in the body, which ultimately increases your muscle pump.

For example, these ingredients can include: 

• L-Citrulline
• Arginine
• Agmatine
• Beta-alanine
• Betaine Anhydrous

2.  Effective Doses

Another criterion I looked for was whether there were clinical doses present of the key ingredients meant for increasing pump.

You wouldn’t want to consider a product that has the right ingredients for increasing muscle pumps but fails to dose those ingredients at the proper amounts that have been proven to be effective in research trials. 

3.  Rated 5/5 for Pump By FeastGood.com

Last but not least, I went through all my notes from the 30+ pre-workouts I’ve tested, and I only picked pre-workout products where I rated a 5/5 for “pump.”

Non-Caffeinated Pump Pre-Workouts

Transparent Labs Pump

• Caffeine: 0 mg

Product Overview

Transparent Labs Pump is a caffeine-free and stimulant-free pre-workout that includes nitric oxide-boosting ingredients.

This is going to be a great pre-workout choice for anyone who wants a pre-workout that prioritizes pump but wants to cycle off/ avoid caffeine or stimulants.

This product comes at an affordable price, especially when considering its quality. It costs $1.66 per serving, which is just slightly above the average pre-workout cost of $1.61 per serving.

It contains clinical doses of nitric oxide boosters like citrulline and arginine, which are your classic pump ingredients. 

However, astragin is another ingredient that is found in Transparent Labs Pump, and has been shown to actually enhance the effects of ingredients like citrulline, since it can greatly increase the absorption of amino acids in the body.

Pump also contains two ingredients that are not typically found in pre-workouts: L-Glutathione and BioFolate^Ⓡ.

When L-Glutathione is paired with L-Citrulline, it has been shown to keep nitric oxide levels elevated for 30 minutes post-exercise, helping to boost recovery and give you a pump that lasts longer after you workout.

BioFolate^Ⓡ is another pump ingredient, which has been shown to increase nitric oxide production by converting more arginine into nitric oxide, giving you a better pump.

This product only contains seven ingredients and uses natural ingredients like stevia leaf extract for sweetness, instead of artificial sweeteners. 

The low number of ingredients is actually good because this means you’ll be less likely to experience negative side effects. 

In addition to this, Transparent Labs is a company that takes pride in utilizing third-party testing of all of its products for quality and purity, and these results can easily be viewed at any time online. 

This means you can trust that what’s on the label is actually in the product, with no hidden ingredients or contaminants—giving you peace of mind and confidence in the quality of what you’re consuming.

My Experience

The first thing I noticed when mixing up this pre-workout was the bright blue color from the blue spirulina.

Even though it was quite foamy when I first mixed it, it settled into a nice drinkable texture, and while the taste was a bit bitter, it didn’t catch me off guard, as I have found this with most pump products I have tried.

As expected, I didn’t experience any noticeable increases in energy or strength. However, I DID notice an improvement in my stamina and recovery, which I was really pleased with.

This pump product truly lived up to its name for me. I noticed both muscle volume and vascularity improvements during most of my workouts.

I experienced the pump benefits more so during workouts that were later in that day, as I had consumed more food and water. This made a difference compared to my fasted morning workouts, where my pump was less noticeable.

I also noticed more of a pump in my delts, glutes, and arms, but that’s likely because my training has more isolation exercises focused on these body parts. 

If you want the benefits of increased strength and energy alongside a good pump, I recommend pairing the Transparent Labs Pump with a high-quality stimulant-based pre-workout. 

For example, something like Transparent Labs Bulk, which I’ve done with great success.   My recommendation is to start with a full scoop of Pump and a half scoop of Bulk.

• Read my in-depth review of Transparent Labs Pump

Gorilla Mode Nitric

• ·  Caffeine: 0 mg

Product Review

Gorilla Mode Nitric is another stimulant-free pre-workout and is among one of the highest-dosed pre-workouts on the market.

For example, it contains a whopping 10,000 mg of the nitric oxide boosting ingredient L-Citrulline, which well exceeds what is needed for clinical dosing.

If you are taking two scoops, the tub contains 40 servings. However, if you choose only to take one scoop, you are still getting a sufficient dose of the ingredients to help support muscle endurance, recovery, and a good pump.

Gorilla Mode Nitric contains an ingredient called GlycerPump^TM.

GlycerPump^TM (otherwise known as glycerol) helps to balance water both inside and outside the cells and can help to maintain hydration. When paired with nitric oxide boosting ingredients like Citrulline and Agmatine, it will help to deliver great muscle pumps.

Gorilla Mode contains another patented ingredient called Nitrosigine^Ⓡ, which is made from arginine and is engineered to help increase nitric oxide production in the body (giving you more of a pump). 

Over 30 different studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of nitrosigine^Ⓡ, and the results are summarized here.

While also being caffeine-free, Gorilla Mode Nitric also does not contain any beta-alanine. 

This is great news for anyone who wants the benefits of a good pump pre-workout without the skin-tingling side effect that beta-alanine can sometimes cause. 

Cost-wise, this pre-workout is the most expensive pre-workout I’ve tested if you are opting for the 2-scoop serving. This product’s cost per serving is $3.00 per 2 scoops, which is much higher than the average pre-workout cost ($1.61 per serving).

If you lower your serving size down to 1.5 scoops, you are still getting clinical doses of key ingredients, and the cost goes down to about $2.00 per serving.

My Experience

I found that Gorilla Mode Nitric really came through in terms of increased muscle pump, and I also noticed substantial increases in my strength.

Since this pre-workout is caffeine-free, I found it to be really great to use for my evening workouts.

I saw an increase in my strength when I was performing my accessory and isolation exercises in the gym.

After performing exercises like glute bridges, bicep curls, and tricep extensions, I noticed a really great aesthetic pump.

Personally, when I used this pre-workout for my morning workouts, I was really missing the increased energy that I normally get from a stimulant pre-workout.

 For this reason, I found this product to be great for evening training sessions (it is also a great product for those who are very sensitive to caffeine and want to avoid it).

I didn’t mind the taste (I tried Firefly Lemonade), but I really disliked the gritty texture. I found the texture to be the most gritty when I went with the 2-scoop serving. Adding extra water to your mix helps slightly. Gorilla Mode recommends adding the scoops to 2 cups of water.

• Read my in-depth review of Gorilla Mode Nitric

Caffeinated Pump Pre-Workouts

Ryse Godzilla

• Caffeine: 200 mg (1 scoop)

*Ingredients meet clinical dosing standards with a 2-scoop serving

Product Review

Ryse Godzilla is a high-performance stimulant pre-workout, and while it just falls short of meeting clinical doses for every key ingredient in a single scoop, it easily meets this criterion when you increase to a 2-scoop serving.

Per 1 scoop serving, this pre-workout costs $1.42, making it a very affordable pre-workout compared to others on the market. 

However, if you opt for two scoops, the price will be up to $2.84 per serving, making it one of the more expensive products on the market.

One scoop of Ryse contains 200mg of caffeine and 5.5mg of citrulline (almost meeting the 6mg clinical dose), along with clinical doses of key ingredients like beta-alanine and betaine.

Beta-alanine helps delay fatigue. Betaine helps convert fat into energy.

In addition to this, Ryse also contains a clinical dose of VasoDrive-AP^Ⓡ. 

VasoDrive-AP^Ⓡ  has been clinically proven to have positive effects, such as decreasing inflammation, providing an intra-workout pump, reducing fatigue and muscle soreness, and improving recovery and cognitive function.

This pre-workout also contains caffeine in two different forms: quick-acting caffeine anhydrous, and zumXR Extended-Release Caffeine. This effective combination allows fast-acting energy to last.

Ryse Godzilla comes in five unique flavors: Blue Raspberry, Passion Pineapple, Monsterberry Lime, Blackberry Lemonade, and Strawberry Kiwi.

One important thing to note is that this product may not be suitable for those with a dairy allergy since it does contain Hydrolyzed Casein Tripeptides.

My Experience

I tested Ryse Godzilla using a range of serving sizes, beginning at about half a scoop and going all the way up to a 2-scoop serving. I personally started to notice the positive effects at about 1-1.5 scoops of the product.

While the ingredients are listed per 1 scoop serving on this pre-workout, those more experienced with pre-workouts will likely want to increase their serving to 1.5-2 scoops in order to get a clinical dose of every key ingredient.

I was really impressed with my increases in strength and performance while using this pre-workout, and I found it gave me energy without making me feel buzzy, which can be a side effect with other pre-workouts.

While I expected to feel extremely itchy from the high dose of beta-alanine, I actually found the tingling to be quite subtle. It was never enough to be distracting during my workout. 

I noticed that the ingredients on the website did vary slightly for this product depending on the flavor that you chose. I tested Passion Pineapple, so that is what I listed for the ingredients above.

Finally, while I did love the pump, strength, and energy improvements from this product, I did experience very minor digestive side effects, which others also experienced based on the product reviews. The side effects didn’t disturb my workout though, it was only after my workout that I felt like I had to go to the washroom. 

• Read my in-depth review of Ryse Godzilla

Legion Pulse

• Caffeine: 350 mg

Product Review

Legion Pulse is a high-stim pre-workout that uses simple yet effective ingredients that provide a good pump along with increased mental focus and energy.

It contains clinical doses of ingredients such as Citrulline Malate, Beta-Alanine, Betaine, L-Theanine, and Alpha-GPC.

Talking specifically about L-Theanine, this is a unique ingredient that is not found in any other pre-workout on this list. 

It is an amino acid that can be naturally found in tea, along with some mushrooms, and can help to promote relaxation without making you drowsy.

It is especially effective when paired with caffeine, since this combination can help to improve mental focus and reduce any jitters that are normally felt with caffeine.

It is important to note that this product is very high in caffeine (350mg) and should be used by those with experience with high stim pre-workouts.

The Legion brand uses all-natural ingredients and avoids using artificial flavors, colors, and sweeteners in their products. 

Legion also uses third-party testing for all of their products, giving you added peace of mind about the quality of what you are purchasing.

It is a pricier pre-workout at $2.25 per 2-scoop serving, but it does provide excellent quality in terms of ingredients and clinical dosing.

If you wanted to benefit from the clinical doses of L-Citrulline, Beta-Alanine, Betaine, and Alpha-GPC without the heavy hit of caffeine, you could try mixing one scoop of Legion Pulse with one scoop of the Legion Pulse Stim Free formula. This combination only contains 175mg of caffeine.

My Experience

I personally loved this product and tested it for several weeks. I experimented with mixing this product with the Legion Pulse Stim Free pre-workout during times when I wanted the benefits of the clinically dosed ingredients without as much caffeine.

I found that this pre-workout gave me amazing energy and focus. I was so impressed by the great muscle pump I got during my workout and how strong I felt.

Even with longer duration workouts (longer than 1 hour) I found that Legion Pulse worked amazing and helped with my strength and endurance. I even noticed that I was able to increase my weight in some of my last sets when I would normally feel pretty gassed.

I also noticed faster recovery between sets, which allowed me to increase my overall volume.

I really loved the Fruit Punch flavor that I tried. It had a tart flavor but not sour.

I also found that it mixed really easily with water, and I didn’t have any leftover residue that I was constantly having to re-mix.

The only reason I had to shift away from using this pre-workout exclusively was because of its high caffeine content.

There were certain instances when I didn’t want to have that much caffeine, such as workouts that were later in the day or if I had already had a cup of coffee earlier in the day.

With the FDA recommending that the safe upper limit for caffeine is 400mg, there is not much room in your day for any other sources of caffeine if you are taking the full 2 scoop dose.

If you are unsure of your caffeine tolerance, I would recommend starting slower with this product at 1 scoop and slowly working your way up.

• Read my in-depth review of Legion Pulse

Honorable Mentions

While I did experience an insane muscle pump from both of the honorable mentions below, I did feel sick while testing both of them.

That is not to say that you are going to get sick if you try them, too, since side effects can be very unique to the individual. 

Different people can respond differently to certain ingredients or even different combinations of certain ingredients.

This is why I always recommend starting out with a half serving of any new pre-workout you are trying and build up your tolerance while gauging how it makes you feel.

Kaged Elite

• Caffeine: 388 mg

Kaged Elite is a very high-stim pre-workout that is definitely not for beginners.

This pre-workout is also quite expensive at $3.00 per serving.

This product contains over 20 ingredients that are all meant to improve energy, strength, endurance, recovery, pump, and mental focus for your workouts.

This product would not be recommended to anyone who has a low tolerance for caffeine or has not already tried a stimulant pre-workout.

Unfortunately, I experienced really uncomfortable and unpleasant nausea when I tested this product. Despite it making me feel very strong in my workouts, I would often have to make emergency bathroom trips in the middle of training.

If you want to learn more about Kaged Elite, go and read our in-depth product review to see whether this pre-workout is for you. 

Wrecked

• Caffeine: 325 mg

Wrecked pre-workout is a high potency, high stim product that not only focuses on increasing pump but also on energy, strength, power, and mental focus.

Wrecked advertises itself as the “Strongest Pre-Workout on the Market,” and it lives up to its name with a total of 31 ingredients and 325 mg of caffeine per serving.

While it says that it contains 40 servings per tub, this is only based on a 1-scoop serving. In order to get the full clinical dose of every key ingredient, you have to increase to 2 scoops. This increases the cost to $2.50 per serving, and only gets you 20 servings per tub. However, I feel that the price can be justified due to the number of high-quality ingredients.

I experienced a euphoric mood boost and prolonged energy effect from this pre-workout, which lasted long past my training session and is not an effect I’ve noticed as much with other pre-workouts.

However, I did find myself running to the bathroom quite a bit. 

The pump I experienced while taking this product was definitely impressive and not surprising, given the high doses of nitric oxide boosting ingredients.

To learn more about Wrecked pre-workout, check out our review article here.

References

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Kahathuduwa CN, Dassanayake TL, Amarakoon AMT, Weerasinghe VS. Acute effects of theanine, caffeine and theanine-caffeine combination on attention. Nutr Neurosci. 2017 Jul;20(6):369-377. doi: 10.1080/1028415X.2016.1144845. Epub 2016 Feb 12. PMID: 26869148.