L-Tyrosine Pre-Workout: Should You Take It?

When it comes to pre-workouts, there are a few ingredients you’ll see time and time again. After the classic and trusty caffeine, tyrosine is probably one of the next in line to the point where you generally won’t form a good pre-workout without it.

And you’re looking for one good reason why you always see it... it’s simple—focus. As we all know, focus is one of the most critical parts of killing a training session.

So, if you’re not familiar with L-tyrosine, you’re in the right place. We’re talking about what it is, why it’s all over the fitness space, and answering the question—is L-tyrosine really going to improve your workout?

Let’s find out.

What is L-Tyrosine?

L-tyrosine is one of the most commonly misunderstood amino acids. It’s often added to fat burners but doesn’t really play a role in fat burning.

In pre-workouts, however, it’s a different story. This amino acid is a precursor to some of the most powerful neurotransmitters that sharpen attention, support laser focus, and ramp up your workouts to an entirely new level.

It also happens to be a precursor to the catecholamines most impacted by intense training sessions, and changes in the availability of L-tyrosine to the brain can influence the synthesis of both dopamine and norepinephrine.

With acute stressful situations (like intense exercise) the body cranks up the release of the catecholamines, which means that levels eventually start to decline. But when you use L-tyrosine, you naturally boost levels to help correct any potential for imbalance ¹.

However, L-tyrosine doesn’t appear to enhance the release of catecholamines in normal situations with normal neuronal firing, but it does do so when rates increase due to stress.

L-tyrosine is so effective in mitigating stress because it turns into a molecule called L-DOPA. L-DOPA then converts into the neurotransmitters collectively referred to as the catecholamines—epinephrine (noradrenaline), dopamine, and adrenaline.

These catecholamines play key roles in many brain functions, including attention, memory, cognition, and emotion ².

What Does Research Say About L-Tyrosine?

The reason people choose to supplement with the amino acid L-tyrosine is almost exclusively because of its link to the catecholamines, which means that it can either increase catecholamine production or prevent catecholamines depletion.

For most people, that’s really all it’s known to do.

With tyrosine supplementation, however, what you’re really trying to do is make sure you have adequate building blocks around when it comes to catecholamines.

It’s not so much that tyrosine increases your levels of catecholamines, but rather serves as a reserve when you encounter an acute stressor that’s powerful enough to deplete those catecholamines. Really, it supports your body in making more.

When it comes to scientific support for L-tyrosine and your training abilities, it’s not down the alley of boosting your catecholamine to amp it up. It’s more along the lines of improving focus and preventing fatigue during exercise.

The vast majority of studies surrounding L-tyrosine look at highly acute stressors. We’re talking about soldiers under duress. Dropping a 75lb. dumbbell on your toe at the gym. Something that really packs a serious blood-rushing adrenaline punch.

That’s where the neurotransmitters are depleted, and that’s where you run into potential problems.

Here are a couple of examples for you to support the role of L-tyrosine:

• One study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology had athletes cycle for one hour to exhaustion in 30 degrees Celsius (86F) with 60% humidity ³. They found that acute tyrosine supplementation improved endurance capacity in the heat.
• The same is true for cold. Another study published in Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior had eight males perform a memory-based computer task in 4 degrees Celsius (39F) ⁴. Results showed the group supplementing with tyrosine consistently performed better.
• A similar study in the Brain Research Bulletin found that supplementing tyrosine can stabilize mood and maintain performance in stressful environments like cold and low oxygen levels ⁵.

These studies obviously aren’t exactly on par with the kind of workouts you’re likely doing (or at least we hope not…), but you can see how L-tyrosine may add some benefit. Training is stressful; you get hot, exhausted, and your catecholamines are through the roof.

And adding in a bit of tyrosine may help slow the depletion of these important hormones and mitigate the side effects of neurotransmitter depletion.

Should You Take L-Tyrosine Before Workouts?

If you’re looking for a fitness supp to take religiously that will always offer benefits, tyrosine is it.

And if you want to maximize these benefits, taking it in conjunction with low-to-moderate dose caffeine offers a slew of cognitive effects; many of the effects caffeine produces relate to stimulating catecholamines.

For many people, chronic caffeine consumption causes habituation to some of its effects—including the catecholamine response.

So, if you’re constantly downing dose after dose of caffeine daily, it’s a wise idea to give your brain a bit of a boost to ensure it has the building blocks needed to support those compounds.

In Pre Lab Pro®, you’re not just getting any old L-tyrosine. You’re getting a form of L-tyrosine designed to sharpen focus under stress and maintain the essential neurotransmitters depleted by caffeine and intense training.

Caffeine stimulation and exercise-induced stress burn through catecholamine brain chemicals, and when these compounds are replaced, you’re going to see things like diminished athletic performance, poor focus, mood issues, energy crashes, and fatigue.

Taken pre-workout, L-tyrosine provides the main raw material for making and recycling all catecholamine neurotransmitters to drive athletic intensity and mental recovery, and propel you to peak performance and a healthy recovery.

The Takeaway

If unleashing your inner beast to achieve the greatest muscle and fitness results is what you’re looking for, investing in a next-gen pre-workout formula that delivers next-level results is the way to do it.

And when you have a top-of-the-line product that includes L-tyrosine like Pre Lab Pro®, you’re supporting more than just a good training session.

You’re getting more energy, focus, intensity with fewer jitters, crashes, and side effects. It’s there to help you train like an animal and get on with your day (or night) like a human.

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