Nootropics for Bodybuilding: Strong Body Strong Mind

Nothing derails a good workout quicker than a lack of focus and an easily distracted mindset.

Mindset is everything in bodybuilding.

Because when energy levels are low, and stress levels are high, finding the motivation to undergo a grueling, challenging workout can be difficult.

Likewise, when you think your body's had it, and you can't find the stamina to go one more rep, mindset is what lifts you —and the weights.

"Mind over matter."

It's a phrase that gets banded around a lot. But what does that mean?

For bodybuilders, a strong mind dominates. It’s important to get your mind right before tackling the body.

How to Enhance Mental Performance

One of the best ways to bolster a workout-ready mindset is to take nootropics.

In case you're wondering, nootropics are a class of natural cognitive enhancers that benefit the mind muscle connection by firstly enhancing mental focus, so you can reach peak performance.

When taking nootropics for bodybuilding, what you’ll find is that the relationship between the mind and body is a two-way street...

...not only does improving your cognitive function benefit your athletic performance, but improving your bodily fitness in turn supports a healthier state of mind.

Modern nootropics are like performance enhancing mind-to-body-to-mind boomerangs!

They can help you push through physical limitations, gain mental clarity, help you reach your fitness goals and take your training sessions to a whole new level.

The Beginner’s Guide on Nootropics for Bodybuilding

Typically, the types of supplements associated with bodybuilding primarily focus on physical performance enhancement.

These workout-related supplements fall under the following general categories:

Pre-Workout

Supplements taken prior to exercise to quickly enhance muscular energy, endurance, strength, stamina, and enhance blood flow.

Intra-Workout

Supplements taken during exercise to replenish energy reserves—e.g., carbohydrates for glycogen replenishment—and prolong exercise performance.

Post-Workout

Supplements taken after exercise to kickstart anabolic muscle growth, repair, and recovery, and to combat exercise-related oxidative stress.

Maintenance

Supplements taken on off-days to help optimize lean muscle growth, increase muscle mass and reduce muscle soreness.

Because bodybuilders are primarily building body (as their title aptly suggests), little thought is put into the mental factors that go into bodybuilding, such as: motivation, intensity, focus, concentration, energy, endurance, stress management, and even cognitive relaxation during recovery.

Much of bodybuilding success relies on mental strength and willpower.

Both of these can be boosted by taking nootropics.

This extends far beyond simply taking caffeine as a pre workout.

Caffeine is classed as a nootropic (more on that later). But there are far more nootropics out there that can be taken to strengthen various aspects of your mind-body connection. From the brain itself to the neuromuscular junction that literally connects mind (neural tissue) to body (muscular tissue).

When taken altogether, the best stack of nootropics for bodybuilding may significantly improve your overall brainpower for more intense workouts and more relaxed post-workout recovery.

How Nootropics Can Boost Your Bodybuilding Performance

For long-lasting boosts on athletic health and fitness, stimulants fail to make the cut. The brain and body are both far too complex for such temporary “quick fix” boosts on mental performance.

Natural nootropics, on the other hand, can more sustainably improve your bodybuilding results by targeting the following areas of fitness-related brainpower:

Motivation and Intensity

Motivation is a finicky thing. Even the most dedicated athletes and bodybuilders struggle to stay motivated on a day-to-day basis, given the high intensity requirements of a consistently good workout regimen.

While it might be possible to just “show up” in many other areas of your life—e.g., putting in a minimal effort at your day job, yet still get paid your full hourly wage—bodybuilding doesn’t allow you to just simply “show up” at the gym.

The motivation to work out (and, consequently, exercise intensity) drastically wavers due to:

1. Catecholamine Status: dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine—these catecholamine neurotransmitters play a key role in stimulating alertness and mental arousal, so when catecholamine status is impaired, exercise intensity suffers. ^{(1, 2)}
2. Energy Levels: whether due to sleep deprivation or malnutrition (or, typically, both), operating on low energy levels is one of the best ways to sap your motivation dry.

As such, nootropics that increase catecholamine activity and energy levels may significantly improve a bodybuilder’s motivation to ramp up their workout intensity.

Examples of Nootropics for Motivation and Intensity:

• Caffeine: especially when paired with L-theanine (see below), caffeine is an effective ergogenic for boosting exercise intensity, including objective measures of maximal muscle strength and power. ⁽³⁾
• L-Tyrosine: as a precursor amino acid required to synthesize catecholamines, L-tyrosine may help enhance cognition and exercise capacity under conditions of catecholamine depletion. ⁽⁴⁾
• B-Vitamin Complex: involved in the catecholamine conversion processes, B-vitamins (namely B6) may assist with catecholamine status, while also potentially increasing the mobilization of free fatty acids for exercise energy fuel. ⁽⁵⁾

Focus and Concentration

In team sport and bodybuilding, focus and concentration are key to getting the most results out of your efforts, you can't waste them on momentum-killing distractions. Whereas team sport places a burden on the team player’s multi-tasking cognitive capacity, bodybuilders must keep their attention 100% focused on each rep and set, avoiding conversations and mental drift to keep their circulation up.

Much of this has to do with maintaining the “muscle pump”—i.e., muscular blood flow.

Ever notice how the most talkative members at the gym don’t seem to be making much progress on their gains, despite the many hours they spend per day supposedly “working out”? This level of distraction, of slowing down the heart rate and blood flow between each set, is not only bad for challenging one’s muscle endurance but is also ineffective for burning fat.

You need to "get in the zone".

If you feel you’re too easily distracted, taking focus-sharpening nootropics may help you have a more intense, timely efficient workout. Interestingly, too, you’ll find that your abilities to stay focused will improve with more exercise, as physical exercise seems to also improve attentional performance via exercise-related mental arousal.

Examples of Nootropics for Focus and Concentration:

• Citicoline (CDP Choline): one part cytidine, another part choline, citicoline is a powerhouse nootropic that benefits cholinergic cognition (memory, learning, neuromuscular function, etc.) while also improving concentration and sustained attention.
• L-Theanine: especially when paired with caffeine, this green tea-sourced amino acid improves cognitive performance and attention while sustaining calm, composed thinking. ⁽⁶⁾

Energy and Endurance

Though it's an effective strategy for quickening fat loss, fasted training (exercising on an empty stomach) can do some damage on your energy and endurance levels.

For one, having a ready supply of food energy fuel, namely carbohydrates (glucose), is key to sustaining high-intensity and/or long endurance exercise.

Secondly, brainpower and (especially) willpower suffer under fasting conditions, due to the well-documented link between glucose and self-control. And as any bodybuilder knows, self-control (i.e., willpower) is the key ingredient to any successful, long-term fitness regimen.

Maximizing lean muscle growth and fat loss while still sustaining high enough energy levels to fuel high-intensity exercise is difficult to balance. However, with alternative brain energy fuel sources, such medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), and natural cellular energy boosters, you may better increase your energy and endurance levels under metabolic conditions conduce to lean muscle growth.

Examples of Nootropics for Energy and Endurance:

• Medium-Chain Triglycerides (MCT): medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil is a must-have for bodybuilders seeking a non-glucose energy source that simultaneously fuels brainpower and mitochondrial energy output for enhanced exercise endurance. ⁽⁷⁾
• Creatine: an organic compound used to produce cellular ATP energy, creatine is a popular pre-workout energy booster that boosts cognitive performance, exercise endurance, and strength.
• L-Citrulline: as a nitric oxide (N.O.) booster, L-citrulline enhances delivery of oxygen and nutrients to neural and muscle tissue, while also promoting aerobic energy production for improved endurance. ⁽⁸⁾

Stress Management

While physiological stress is an important factor of exercise, excess stress may severely impact your fitness and health. No doubt, when you’re feeling stressed out, exercise is one of the best ways to “let off some steam,” so to speak, and let out all the pent-up energy fueling your stress and anxiety.

Yet, exercise combined with a high-stress work environment may throw the brain and body into “excess stress” territory, which may have a negative effect on your cognition and metabolism.

For bodybuilders, the two types of stress that nootropics may help mitigate to improve performance and anabolic muscle growth are:

• Cortisol: though critically important to exercise performance, can have a detrimental impact on bodybuilding health and fitness when the activity of stress hormones, such as glucocorticoids (including cortisol), becomes excessive due to chronic stress.
• Oxidative Stress: overtraining may contribute to an overproduction of harmful free radicals (oxidative stress) that damage brain cells, muscle tissue and catabolize proteins, in addition to many other negative health consequences.

Nootropic adaptogens, a class of supplements that help regulate the body’s stress response system, and nootropic antioxidants may help combat excess stress hormone activity and oxidative stress, resulting in clearer, calmer cognition and a more anabolic muscle metabolism. ⁽⁹⁾

Examples of Nootropics for Stress Management:

• L-Tyrosine: perhaps the ultimate stress relief nootropic, L-tyrosine may significantly improve cognitive performance under conditions of excess stress and fatigue, helping to lower overall stress levels in the body. ⁽¹⁰⁾
• Phosphatidylserine: involved in the formation and integrity of the cell membrane bilayer, PS is a phospholipid nootropic that may promote stress resistance, helping combat exercise-induced stress and the physiological deterioration associated with overtraining. ⁽¹¹⁾
• L-Glutathione: viewed as the “master antioxidant,” L-glutathione is a natural compound produced by the body to combat oxidative stress that, when supplemented, may significantly improve lipid (fat) metabolism and muscle acidification to reduce muscle fatigue during exercise. ⁽¹²⁾

Rest and Recovery

One of the biggest mistakes avid bodybuilders make when it comes to building body is not getting enough post-exercise rest and recovery. Namely in the form of sleep.

In fact, both bodybuilders and non-athletes alike are failing to get enough sleep to such a widespread degree that epidemiologists are referring to “insufficient sleep” as a legitimate global public health crisis. ⁽¹³⁾

However, with that in mind, the relationship between exercise and sleep is mutual:

• Poor sleep encourages daily inactivity.
• Daily inactivity promotes poor sleep quality.

In a sense, a good night’s rest has to be earned by a hard day’s work—i.e., by not skipping out on leg day.

But this is easier said than done when caught in a fatigue-inactivity loop, which is why taking sleep promoting nootropics at night may help you not only feel well-rested enough for an excellent workout during the daytime but also maximize your anabolic growth and repair processes overnight for an all-around boost on your bodybuilding health and performance. ⁽¹⁴⁾

Learn about the best nighttime muscle recovery supplement.

Examples of Nootropics for Rest and Recovery:

• Montmorency Tart Cherry: supplying joint-soothing antioxidants and natural sleep-supportive melatonin, Montmorency tart cherries are an excellent rest and recovery option for bone-tired, muscle-torn bodybuilder to get better sleep. ⁽¹⁵⁾
• L-Tryptophan: in addition to improving mood and sleep quality, L-tryptophan’s effects on the serotonergic system may also decrease fatigue perception during certain combinations of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. ⁽¹⁶⁾
• Magnesium: compounding our suboptimal magnesium intake in the diet, exercise also promotes magnesium depletion via the loss of minerals through sweating, making supplementation of magnesium, a mineral associated with cognitive composure and sleep quality, a must for bodybuilders. ⁽¹⁷⁾

Top 5 Nootropic Supplements for Bodybuilding

Adding nootropics to your workout supplement stack could significantly improve your bodybuilding result. The best nootropics for bodybuilding will not only enhance your exercise performance but also improve cognitive function which combined, can result in smashing those fitness goals and seeing greater gains.

To supercharge your bodybuilding brainpower and anabolic muscle gains, take any of the following Performance Lab® supplements alone, or combine them for ultimate overall performance enhancement.

#1 Performance Lab® Caffeine 2™

The smart, clean, Performance Lab® Caffeine 2™ is more than just a caffeine pill.

This innovative formula combines modestly dosed stimulation, nootropic amino acids (L-theanine + L-tyrosine) and B-vitamins.

Designed for cleaner, calmer stimulation.

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Caffeine 2™ Benefits for Bodybuilding

Performance Lab® Caffeine 2™ is designed to quickly enhance mental sharpness and help burn calories. Which in turn, can lead to fat loss. It focuses on improving brain function, athletic performance, and increasing metabolism.

Performance Lab® Caffeine 2™ formula takes a two-stack approach to boosting caffeinated brainpower and exercise performance without the brain-draining jitters and crash typically associated with caffeine:

Stack #1: Performance-Tuned Stimulation

The popular nootropic combination of caffeine + L-theanine is really the only way for nootropic nerds to truly enhance cognition with caffeine, thanks to the anxiolytic “performance-tuning” benefits of L-theanine when paired with caffeine.

By smoothing the jittery edge off stimulants, L-theanine sustains the energy and focus benefits of caffeine, while minimizing the stimulant’s performance-impairing side effects.

Stack #2: Caffeine Balance and Recovery

Though a reliable pre-workout performance booster, caffeine often leaves the brain feeling a bit mushy and burnt-out later in the day, resulting in poor post-exercise cognitive function.

This is due to caffeine’s depletion of catecholamines and B-vitamins, which Performance Lab® Caffeine 2™ replenishes with bio-advanced L-Tyrosine and NutriGenesis® B-Complex. Providing a smoother, crash-free caffeinated experience.

Shop Performance Lab® Caffeine 2™

#2 Performance Lab® Mind

The best stim-free cognitive enhancer for daily support on brainpower, brain health, and burnout resistance, Performance Lab® Mind may be stacked with Performance Lab® Caffeine 2™ or taken alone to drastically boost your natural brain energy levels. As well as more long-term cognitive measures for focus, attention, memory, speed, motivation, clarity, and more.

The only nootropic stack that enhances brainpower while helping your brain recover from intense mental exertion, Performance Lab® Mind is great for both pre-workout and post-workout cognitive performance.

Taken in the morning for daily motivation, Performance Lab® Mind also helps the mind bounce back from yesterday’s stressful brain-drain of key neurotransmitters and brain energy compounds. This “bounce forward” approach to brain health has an accumulative effect that, as opposed to other stimulatory cognitive enhancers, actually improves cognitive function with consistent use.

Mind Benefits for Bodybuilders

For bodybuilders, the benefits of these stim-free cognitive enhancers manifest in having a clearer head while exercising.

Think: calm, stress-free composure, the type of mental clarity required to keep your mind focused and your intensity levels up for a fluff-free workout sesh.

Especially when your exercise routine begins to take a toll on your mind, you’ll be happy to have Performance Lab® Mind on hand to protect against the usual brain-drain associated with high-intensity workouts (along with life’s many other inevitable stressors).

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#3 Performance Lab® MCT

Cutting fat is key to maintaining a lean, mean body composition.

And, yet, the brain is critically dependent upon beneficial fats, such as medium-chain triglycerides (MCT).

As a clean, pure MCT oil supplement sourced from 100% organic coconuts, Performance Lab® MCT is one of the best nootropic supplements for exercise-related brainpower, especially for intermittent fasting and exercisers training on an empty stomach to expedite fat loss.

Providing the two best MCTs, caprylic acid (C8) and capric acid (C10), Performance Lab® MCT is the ultimate performance fuel for brainpower and metabolic function.

MCT Oil Benefits for Bodybuilders

Sourced from 100% organic, non-GMO coconuts, extracted with hexane-free technology, and distilled 3X for enhanced potency, Performance Lab® MCT removes unsavory, ineffective MCTs (C6 and C12) and long-chain triglycerides (LCTs), leaving us with the two best MCTs for immediate performance enhancement:

C8 – Caprylic Acid: the most keto-active of the MCTs, C8 is the most popular MCT for promoting ketogenesis (the use of stored fat as energy fuel) and fueling brainpower under conditions of glucose restriction.

C10 – Capric Acid: an under-appreciated MCT, C10 is often removed from MCT oil supplements, despite this MCT’s remarkable benefits on brain mitochondria biogenesis and ATP energy production.

The combination of fast-acting ketone brain fuel and mitochondrial energy enhancement makes Performance Lab® MCT’s C8 + C10 stack a powerful source of pre-workout bodybuilding energy and brainpower enhancement.

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#4 Performance Lab® Pre Lab Pro®

Free of artificial sweeteners, additives, and stimulants, Performance Lab® Pre Lab Pro® primes exercise performance without derailing cognition or gut health, as is typical with today’s synthetic-loaded PWO formulas.

For the smarter, cleaner bodybuilder, this is a smarter, cleaner pre-workout stack.

Pre Lab Pro® Benefits for Bodybuilders

The two most common problems with pre-workout supplements:

1. Too much caffeine
2. Too many artificial additives and sweeteners, which, let’s face it, any artificial additives is too many.

Though effective for performance enhancement on paper, an excess of caffeine paired with zero-calorie, sugar-free additives poses potential metabolic and gut health risks that may negatively impact your long-term fitness health—and possibly your mental health via the gut-brain axis.

By stacking the most powerful, natural ergogenic aids for peak muscle performance, anabolic muscle growth, and energy enhancement, Performance Lab® Pre Lab Pro® acutely promotes fitness in service of long-term bodybuilding health.

Pre Lab Pro® is a clean, PWO drink you can safely take on a daily, long-term basis.

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#5 Performance Lab® Sleep

Powered by natural, cherry-sourced melatonin and fused with joint-soothing fruit antioxidants, Performance Lab® Sleep is the best sleep supplement for overnight muscle repair, anabolic growth, and cognitive recovery.

By using all-natural ingredients, Performance Lab® Sleep works without overstaying its welcome in the morning.

Unlike synthetic melatonin supplements, Performance Lab® Sleep encourages natural sleep and recovery with natural melatonin, pure L-tryptophan, and easy-to-absorb magnesium.

Sleep Benefits for Bodybuilders

When you need to get better sleep, you take melatonin. This is—and has been—an effective sleep boosting strategy for both athletes and non-athletes alike.

However, the problem(s) with many melatonin supplements:

1. Synthetic melatonin tends to vary unpredictably in potency.
2. Common melatonin doses tend to overdo it, resulting in next-morning grogginess and the occasional headache.

What’s the point of getting better sleep, if you’re only going to wake up to a headache and a cloudy mind?

Whereas many sleep aid stacks supply an overdose of synthetic melatonin, Performance Lab® Sleep supplies a minimally effective dose of natural melatonin, which is to say just enough of the good stuff to help you fall asleep.

Not to mention that bodybuilders receive the added recovery and repair advantages of Performance Lab® Sleep’s CherryPURE®’s anthocyanin antioxidant content, which may help further reduce muscle and joint soreness for a livelier workout session tomorrow.

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Conclusion

What benefits the brain also benefits the body—and vice versa.

Typically, many of the supplements and substances classified as “nootropic” tend to also directly benefit your physical health and performance.

As such, it’d be a huge mistake for bodybuilders to strictly focus on supplements strictly designed for the body.

And what makes the Performance Lab® line of supplements the best isn’t only the “mix-and-match” diversity of fitness and health supplements but also each formula’s dedication to ingredient quality and safety.

Inside and out, Performance Lab® supplements use only clean, all-natural, well-researched ingredients, additives, and manufacturing practices that are safe for both brain and body health.

All Performance Lab® supplements are vegan-friendly, eco-friendly, non-GMO, additive-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and all-around safe for daily, long-term use.

The point of taking nootropics for bodybuilding is “connection,” namely the connection between mind and body.

And so, by connecting you to the best nootropics and ergogenic aids without any artificial additive barriers or gut-damaging synthetics, Performance Lab® offers the most effective and healthiest cognitive enhancers for a more long-term, sustainable fitness boost.