The Best Pre Workout Supplement You Should’ve Known About 10 Years Ago

Know what’s really dumb? Cigarettes. I doubt I’ll find many people (smokers included) who will disagree with me on that one.

The reasons are obvious; the product is laden with more chemicals than most people can count, is a well known carcinogen, and is highly addicting.

In Canada, all cigarette packages have full color, graphic images of people dying, organs rotting and showcasing how death is just around the corner. You know, just in case you’re too stupid to realize that inhaling the fumes of thousands of different chemicals at the same time is a bad idea.

But you know what’s not dumb? Nicotine.

And you know what’s really messed up? Since nicotine is in cigarettes, and cigarettes have a bad reputation, nicotine by default has ended up with a similar reputation. That’s like blaming a German farmer in the 1940’s for World War 2.

So I’m here to tell you today that nicotine, as an isolated substance, is pretty damn fantastic!

My curiosity for nicotine was piqued by two distinct moments in my life: the first was when I heard about how the Japanese (the crazy bunch they are) were using it in their energy drinks. The second was during a month-long cigarette experiment I did. During the experiment  I smoked regularly so I could get inside the head of a smoker to see what exactly made this fag stick so addictive in the first place. Yes, I’m crazy like that.

Needless to say, I now understand the whole “smoking” phenomenon a lot better. I’ve come to realize there are two things that go really well with cigarettes: coffee and sex. Both of which I indulge in regularly. Still, after the experiment was over, quitting came down to what I had always hypothesized – it’s all in your freakin’ head.

If you want to do it, you will do it. And you can.

I noticed one other thing during my time with the cancer sticks. I got a slight buzz every time I lit one up. After doing some digging, the culprit happened to be nicotine.

“Nicotine, as an isolated substance is pretty damn fantastic” (Tweet This)

So I decided to do another experiment, one where I would use nicotine as my stimulant of choice over caffeine whenever possible for a month. This usually meant in the mornings, before a workout and/or during the afternoon for a quick pick me up. Mind you, I still had my coffee. There’s no way in hell I’d ever give up that heavenly brew. But I wanted caffeine and nicotine to be separate from each other during time of ingestion.

Why? Partially due to boredom, partially due to curiosity, and partially due to the fact that I’ve been on the hunt for a stimulant that is awesome and cannot be banned by the nosey stuck-ups at WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency).

My delivery method of choice was smoker’s quitting gum. Also known as nicotine gum. Cost me $10.99 for a pack of 30 ($0.33 per serving), since I got mine on sale.

A few fun facts you should know about nicotine before I reveal my personal experience with it:

• There was a rumor floating around that Tim Hortons (popular coffee/donut chain in Canada) used to lace their ever-famous coffee with nicotine, which is why it is so addicting. This rumor was verified false(1), but it did get me thinking about the effects nicotine would have on my body once my gum supply was extinguished. Besides being responsible for the “buzz” you get from cigs, was it also responsible for their addictive qualities? More on that soon…
• Like caffeine, nicotine has been shown to increase heart rate in both men and women (2)(3). Logic therefore says that you should never stack the two, lest your heart may explode. Well near the end of the experiment I did just that, and I’m well and alive while I write this. Am I just one lucky case? Read two bullet points down to find out.
• Nicotine could be a potential fat loss aid since it assists in lipolysis(4). In plain English then, this means it helps break down lipids into FFA’s (free fatty acids), which can enter the blood stream, and then be used by the body for energy. Anyone that knows their shit about fat loss, knows that lipolysis is a stage that MUST occur in order for you to burn fat. If it doesn’t, fat loss is out of the question. If you’re interested, I go into more detail about the whole fat loss process in my book.
• Another interesting benefit I found was that nicotine (when stacked with caffeine) could be a good potential appetite suppressant(5). This could be of huge benefit to anyone following an extreme diet – either to make weight for a contest, or lean out for beach season. I guess it can also be useful for anyone that generally keeps their mouths open every time the thought of food enters their head.

The First Trial

I bought the gum which contained 2mg per piece, which is designed for regular (but not heavy) smokers. You can also buy this awesome substance in 1mg or 4mg doses.

From what I recall, my first experience with nicotine (like any drug/stimulant) was the best and most noticeable. The way you eat nicotine gum is much different than a regular piece of Juicy Fruit. You chew it to oblivion for 10 seconds, then park it in your mouth against your cheek for few minutes – this releases the nicotine, which is then absorbed by the lining in your mouth. Your tongue will tingle and your throat will burn, but it’s more than manageable.

The buzz you get is also very different than the one you get from caffeine. It’s hard to explain this shit but here’s what I came up with: It’s as if someone inside your head is continually turning up the dial on the energy, mood, and focus levels. I never went over my 2mg dose, so I didn’t experience any type of crash or jitters… assuming those side-effects even exist with nicotine. At one point I wanted to push the limits but then I was like, “why fuck around with a good thing?”

I will say that if you’re a bigger individual, and you’re used to handling your fair share of stimulants, then a 4mg dose might be for you. This was certainly the case with a fellow trainer, John Romaniello, who I met at the PTDC conference in Toronto a few weeks back. I gave him a 2mg piece to try and he apparently felt nothing (besides the tingles and the burning in the throat). So I hooked him up with two pieces to try at a later date. Since he’s a busy guy he hasn’t reported back yet, but I highly doubt that 4mg didn’t produce some sort of response. If it didn’t, he’s not human.

Training On Nicotine

To put it bluntly – it’s good, but not as good as caffeine. Sure you are more alert and focused but after multiple training sessions in the past month, I’ve found nicotine as a more favorable stimulant for intellectual tasks (such as writing), whereas caffeine is more suited for physical activities (such as lifting, and naughty sex). I wish I had known this during my college years because consuming 3 cups of coffee might keep the body awake, but that anxious, jittery feeling is not ideal when you need to sit in one spot and concentrate.

Eating While On Nicotine

You definitely do not want to be taking this if you plan on bulking(6), let’s just put it that way. While people with appetites that resemble a bottomless pit will have no trouble swallowing food, most of you will have to waste willpower trying to meet your surplus of calories. Bulking usually requires you to be full all the time anyway. There’s no reason to make it any harder on yourself by introducing nicotine into the mix.

On the other hand, if you’re on a diet then I think nicotine may just be your next best friend.

Stacking Nicotine With Other Supplements

I’m not dead, so I guess that’s a pretty good testament to the relative safety of nicotine stacking. Also, some of my most intense and aggressive workouts came out of me stacking nicotine with a cup of coffee or a scoop of pre-workout supplement of your choice. If you’re the type that buys raw ingredients and formulates their own shit at home, here is my current favorite pre-workout stack:

• 2 mg Nicotine
• 5 g Creatine (Creapure Or KreAlkalyn. Both are high-quality monohydrates)
• 5 g Beta Alanine
• 200 mg Caffeine
• 10g BCAA or 20g Whey Protein

Additionally, you can throw in 25 mg of DMAA for good measure but be warned, that stimulant is banned by the suits running WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency)

This means if you play any type of professional sport where they do drug testing, you might want to omit it. This makes me sad, because DMAA is actually a pretty great stimulant. It’s just too bad that two young (and misguided) soldiers decided to take an obscene amount of the stuff right before a very intense military workout.

It’s always a pair of idiots that ruin the fun for the rest of us, but such is life.

Post Experiment Withdrawals?

Basically, there were none. Unlike smoking where I most definitely had the urge to light one up, the addictive qualities of nicotine were on par with coffee. Sure I always wanted a cup, but it wasn’t hard for me to go without. I could be an isolated case, or a minority, but I highly doubt it.

When all is said and done you have to treat this thing just like you would any other drug or stimulant – with some god damn respect. Know your tolerances, use it when needed, and don’t abuse the shit out of it. If common sense is applied, I think nicotine has a useful place beside other well known and well established supplements that we have floating around. It might even sneak its way into commercial pre-workout supplements at some point.

Enjoyed This Article? Then It’s Time To Step It Up A Notch…

References:

1: http://coffeetea.about.com/cs/whimsy/a/timsnicotine.htm
2: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17971108
3: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18331269
4: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=11477508
5: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15955118
6: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367209/