Comparing pills to powder for pre workout and bcaa

Pre Workout Pills Vs Powder

Is it possible to get a full pre workout experience from a tiny pill or two? Our experts settle it here once and for all!

A growing question in the supplements industry has been the debate between pre workout pills versus pre workout powders.

Seriously, how convenient and easy would it be to get all of your supplements through pill form?

  • Pre workout – just pop a pill.
  • BCAAs – just pop a pill.

Here we are going to analyze the difference between these two forms of pre-workout and explain to you why it’s absolutely not a case of personal preference. There is in fact a superior way to supplement the before workout window.


Comparing the two: Pills vs Powder Supplements

The benefits of pre workout pills:

  • Highly transportable
  • Less water requirement
  • Zero Mixing

The benefits of pre workout powder:

  • Larger formula
  • Fast Acting
  • No swallowing hard objects

Why Pre Workout Pills fall short of Powder

At the end of the day, it’s all about proper dosage. Pre workout pills simply cannot meet the proper dosages that have been found to improve performance in clinical studies. Powder on the other hand can and often will if you choose the right supplement.

When you take a pre workout pill, you’re going to get energy. But that’s often all that you’re going to get. It’s very easy to put an effective dose of caffeine into a pill, but effective ingredients like BCAAs and creatine simply won’t make the mix in pill form. At least not in effective dosages.

Side note: If it was possible to fit a fully functional formula into a pill, then surely we’d have world hunger solved. This is the same case for protein pills – its just not possible to get 20 grams of protein into a 1/2 gram pill.

Pre Workout Powder is more effective goal wise

Pre workout pills can never beat a quality pre workout powder. Never. Pre workout powders are set free to dominate by the fact that they can exceed 10, 20, even close to 30 grams of active ingredients in one single serving. Pills on the other hand are limited to around 2 to 3 grams maximum. Very few ingredients have been found to increase performance clinically within that small a dosage, let alone alongside others.


How to take Pre Workout Powder and also make it more convenient

The biggest appeal for pre workout pills is the fact that they are versatile and convenient. That is very true. But, your powder can be as well.

If you are having a problem carrying powder around, or the container is simply too large for what you do; we have a solution:

In order to make your pre workout powder more manageable, get a cheap funnel from bodybuilding.com or a comparable source that has caps on each end. Then, simply load up your scoop in the morning into this funnel and cap it off and throw it in your bag. From there, keep a water bottle on hand and when you get to gym time, all you need to do is uncap your funnel and pour your pwo powder into your water bottle, shake, and drink.

Now, your hyped up to workout, have the right ingredient profile to perform, and will ultimately be better situated to meet your goals down the road.


So, pre workout pills are not the way to go; but a few classes of workout supplements can pull it off. Workout supplements that perform great in pill form include: fat burners, testosterone boosters, ZMA supplements, and nitric oxide boosters.

These 3 classes of supplements have traditionally been utilized in pill form. Mainly due to lack of ‘instant uptake’ need, the presence of harsh tasting ingredients, ability transport through stomach acid, and the simple fact that a large plethora of massively dosed ingredients is not needed. We have reviewed these supplements, and you can find those reviews as well as rankings via our toolbar up top, search box to the upper right, and even the top 10 list previews on the right sidebar.


Supplements that typically are not effective in Pill form

So, if the supplements above are effective and work well in pill form, what supplements do not? As you know, pre workouts do not work well in pill form due to the size restriction. The same principle goes for:

  • BCAA supplements
  • Protein supplements
  • Most Creatine Supplements
  • Weight Gain Supplements
For max effect, or often any effect at all, dosages of 10+ grams are needed; quantities that pills simply cannot deliver.

Conclusion on pre workout powder vs pills

As you can see, for pre workout supplements – powder form is far, far superior.

Yes, there are a few classes of workout supplements that perform well in pill form. But pre workout, intra workout, and post workout supplements are not one of them!

Comment below if you have any questions or useful information to add to this topic!

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