Pre-workout products are a combination of various ingredients designed to improve your workout. They are popular as an energy kick due to the majority of pre-workout products containing caffeine. If you have ever used a pre-workout you may have experienced skin tingles or itchiness.
Why does this happen?
This itchiness or tingling skin is caused by an ingredient called Beta-Alanine. Pre-workout products which feature this ingredient, especially in doses higher than 2g per serve, will most likely cause this sensation. This is due to Beta-Alanine causing acute paresthesia. This paresthesia will be felt as tingling, itchiness , numbness or slight burning of the skin. For some this can be annoying as it can become distracting during a workout.
But is this harmful to you?
No. If you feel this sensation from Beta-Alanine it is not harmful to your body. Beta-alanine will normally cause this sensation if taken in a large, bolus dose. One way to avoid the tingling sensation is to split your Beta-alanine intake into smaller doses and spread them out throughout the day. This can be hard to do if you are using a pre-workout formula as you can’t split up your dosages of each ingredient. This is why I am personally not a fan of commercial pre-workout formulas.
How does Beta-alanine help me and my performance?
I’m glad you asked. Check out our article on Beta-alanine where we go into depth about the benefits and actions of Beta-alanine. I personally think it is a great supplement to use pre-workout as it has positive performance benefits.
