Many people who use pre-workout supplements usually complain about the itchiness and tingling sensation they experience after taking them. This sensation is called paresthesia and is caused by Beta-Alanine. [1]
If you, like many people, don’t like this feeling, or simply don’t want to take Beta-Alanine for any other reason, we have the solution for you. After reviewing many products, I finally selected the best pre-workout without Beta-Alanine in 2023.
I researched a lot of research papers and studies so I could recommend you products with ingredients that would be really effective in improving your workout performance and good substitutes for Beta-Alanine.
In the end, I concluded that the PreSeries PUMP by Transparent Labs is the best one. It contains the most effective doses of the most effective ingredients.
But we know that everyone has different needs, so we also show you different alternatives so you can pick the one that suits you the most.
Best Pre-Workout Supplements Without Beta-Alanine
- PreSeries PUMP By Transparent Labs (Best Overall)
- 4 Gauge (Best With Caffeine)
- Pre Lab Pro (Best Low-Caffeinated)
- SuperPump MAX By Gaspari Nutrition (Best High-Caffeinated)
- Truth Pre-Workout By Truth Nutrition (Best Keto-Friendly)
- Energy + Focus By Garden Of Life (Best Cheap)
PreSeries PUMP by Transparent Labs
Best Overall
Our pick for the best pre-workout without Beta-Alanine is the brand-new PreSeries PUMP by Transparent Labs. If you don’t have any special needs or requirements and want the best option overall, this is the one we recommend.
PreSeries PUMP comes with a massive L-Citrulline dose of 8 grams per serving. It benefits you by reducing your rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and muscle soreness after exercising. This makes you feel better and ready to exercise sooner, improving your gains. [2]
L-Citrulline also increases your exercise performance by reducing the time you take to complete your exercises. Additionally, studies have shown that this ingredient improves blood flow in older adults. This may enhance your exercise tolerance if you are in that group of people, helping you exercise more and increase your gains. [3, 4]
This supplement also contains a very good Betaine Anhydrous dose of 2.5 grams per serving. Betaine helps you by increasing your work capacity. This increases the amount of exercise you can do in your workout and, therefore, your muscle growth. [5]
One thing that we need to mention about this pre-workout is that it doesn’t contain caffeine. At first, we thought this was a problem and considered choosing the next pre-workout (best with caffeine), an inferior product compared to PreSeries PUMP, as the best overall, just because it has caffeine and its amazing benefits. But then we came up with the perfect alternative.
If you want or need caffeine in your pre-workout but also want to get all the benefits that PreSeries PUMP gives, then you can buy these extremely well-reviewed caffeine capsules. You just need to take one with your shake. They come in packs of 250 capsules and are pretty affordable. Each capsule contains 200 mg of caffeine, which is a great dose to get all its benefits. [6]
Caffeine boosts your workouts by reducing your rate of perceived exertion (RPE), increasing the number of repetitions you can perform, and also giving you an extra mental focus. Also, caffeine increases metabolism, which is good if you are trying to lose weight. [6, 7, 8]
But if you don’t want to consume caffeine, that’s also okay. The caffeine is only for people who really need it in a pre-workout, so they don’t miss out on this amazing product just because of that. If you don’t want caffeine and instead just want a stim-free pre-workout, then PreSeries PUMP is still the best for you.
This supplement doesn’t contain any artificial food dyes or sweeteners. This is always a good thing because this way, you know there aren’t any harmful or unnecessary ingredients.
Also, there aren’t any proprietary blends in this product. The company is fully transparent in their labels. We really value this because we like to know exactly what we’re consuming and in which doses. Also, it’s the only way we can fully evaluate the effectiveness of a supplement.
Since this is a new supplement, it doesn’t have many reviews yet. In fact, at the time of writing, it only has one review, a five stars one.
However, we don’t see this as a problem because Transparent Labs is a brand we fully trust. They have a total of more than 10,000 reviews in their supplements, are always completely transparent about their labels, and always back up all their claims with scientific research and studies. Also, the ingredient profile of this pre-workout is by far the best on this list.
That said, this supplement is one of the best pre-workouts on the market and is definitely the best and most complete pre-workout without Beta-Alanine.
Note: It comes with a moderate price of $1.67 per serving. However, we asked the brand if they could provide us with a coupon code so we could share it with you, which they kindly did. You can now use the code DREAM10 on your checkout to receive a 10% discount on everything on their website.
Also, if you want the best price possible on this product, the brand also gives you a discount if you buy more tubes. If you buy three tubes, you get a discount of 20% on each tube, bringing the price per serving down to $1.33. However, keep in mind that 20% is the best discount the brand offers, so our coupon code won’t give you any additional discount.
Pros
- Comes with great doses of two of the best pre-workout ingredients available
- No artificial food dyes or sweeteners
- Doesn’t contain proprietary blends
Cons
- Doesn’t contain caffeine, but you can overcome this by buying these caffeine capsules
4 Gauge
Best With Caffeine
If you are looking for an effective pre-workout without Beta-Alanine that contains caffeine, then 4 Gauge is a solid option. Above, we showed you how you could add caffeine to the best pre-workout overall, but if you don’t want to buy caffeine capsules separately, 4 Gauge is the best option we have for you.
It comes with a moderate caffeine dose of 150 mg per serving. While it isn’t an ideal dose, it should be enough to give you all the benefits of caffeine. Caffeine helps you feel more focused and increases the amount of exercise you can do in a workout. It also reduces your perceived exertion and gives your metabolism a boost. [6, 7, 8]
4 Gauge also contains an L-Theanine dose of 200 mg per serving. L-Theanine helps you reduce stress and anxiety. But more importantly in our case, when together with caffeine, it provides added focus, which is a great help for your more intense workouts. [9, 10]
This supplement also comes with a good Citrulline Malate (CM) dose of 6 grams per serving. This ingredient aids your recovery by decreasing your post-workout muscle soreness. It also reduces the rate of perceived exertion (RPE). This makes it easier for you to work out again soon, greatly improving your results over time. [2]
Citrulline Malate also helps you work out faster, which can be helpful in time trials. Furthermore, Citrulline can increase your blood flow if you are an older adult. This may improve your tolerance to exercise, helping you exercise harder or for longer, increasing your results. [3, 4]
4 Gauge also contains other ingredients, such as beetroot extract and acetyl-l-carnitine. We decided not to emphasize them because either the ingredients or the doses don’t produce any significant results or aren’t tested enough scientifically.
There are no artificial sweeteners or ingredients in this product. Thus, if this is important for you, you can rest assured that all the ingredients come from natural sources.
Also, this pre-workout supplement doesn’t contain any proprietary blends. This shows transparency from the brand, and we really appreciate it. This way, you can see all the ingredients and their doses for yourself and decide if this product is a good fit for you.
However, there is one thing we didn’t like and, in our opinion, showed a lack of transparency. The 4 Gauge is only sold on its website and doesn’t have any reviews system. This way, we cannot tell you if there are specific things that customers don’t like about this product. The website only has a testimonials section, but it’s obviously filtered by the brand.
Overall, 4 Gauge is a great pre-workout. We only wish that it contained Betaine and a proper reviews system.
Pros
- Good ingredient profile
- Doesn’t contain any artificial sweeteners or ingredients
- Doesn’t have any proprietary blends
Cons
- It’s not possible to find customer reviews
Pre Lab Pro
Best Low-Caffeinated
Maybe you don’t like the jitters that caffeine gives you, or perhaps you have a low tolerance to caffeine. Either way, the Pre Lab Pro is the best if you’re looking for a Beta-Alanine free pre-workout that is low on caffeine.
It comes with a low caffeine dose of 80 mg per serving. Low doses of caffeine such as this one haven’t been properly tested for their effects on athletic performance. However, if you have a low caffeine tolerance, you may (or may not) receive the benefits even with low doses. The benefits include more mental focus, reduced fatigue, and, consequently, more exercise done. [6, 7, 8]
It also comes with an L-Theanine dose of 160 mg per serving. L-Theanine has a synergic effect with caffeine that gives you even more focus. This helps you avoid distractions during your workout. It also has other benefits to your mind, such as reduced stress and anxiety. [9, 10]
Pre Lab Pro also contains a 2200 mg per serving dose of a blend containing L-Glutathione and L-Citrulline. There are only a couple of studies about this blend yet. However, one shows that its supplementation leads to an increase in muscle mass after four weeks of resistance training. [11]
This product doesn’t contain gluten, soy, synthetic additives, artificial flavors, or artificial sweeteners. Also, it is vegan and allergen-friendly. These are really good features to have in a pre-workout because they make it suitable for most people.
Pre Lab Pro is only sold on its own website, and all the customer reviews we could find are from there. At the time of writing, there are only 13 reviews on the website. With such a small number of reviews, it’s impossible to know if the problems that affect one person affect others too. With that in mind, one person complained about bad taste, and another one about the price ($2.95 per serving).
Pros
- Suitable for most people
Cons
- There aren’t many customer reviews
- Expensive
SuperPump MAX By Gaspari Nutrition
Best High-Caffeinated
In the review above, we showed you a product with low caffeine content for people with low caffeine needs. But if you instead have a high tolerance to caffeine or just like the rush that caffeine gives you, we have the right option for you. The SuperPump MAX by Gaspari Nutrition is the best pre-workout without beta-alanine with a high caffeine content that we could find.
Unfortunately, Gaspari Nutrition hid most of the doses of the ingredients that this pre-workout contains behind proprietary blends. This shows a lack of transparency from the brand and makes it harder for us to properly review this product.
SuperPump Max comes with a high caffeine dose of 250 mg per serving. This is a high dose, and customers report that they experience a crash hours later. Because of this, we only recommend this product to people who already have at least some caffeine tolerance. Caffeine helps you boost your mental focus and gives you energy so you can work out more and harder. [6, 7, 8]
This pre-workout also contains a low L-Citrulline dose of 2 grams per serving. Although it’s a low dose, a study shows that even a daily dose of 2.4 grams improves exercise performance, so you’ll most likely experience its benefits with this dose too.
L-Citrulline helps you complete your exercises faster. It also reduces perceived fatigue and muscle soreness after working out. Additionally, it can increase blood flow in older people. This increase may enhance your exercise tolerance if you are in that group of people. This helps you exercise more and, consequently, increases your gains. [2, 3, 4]
Most of the customers of this supplement report that it tastes good, so if you care about the taste of pre-workouts, this one might be a good option.
Pros
- Tastes good
Cons
- Has proprietary blends
- Customers report they experience a crash with this supplement
Truth Pre-Workout By Truth Nutrition
Best Keto-Friendly
If you are on a ketogenic diet and want a pre-workout without beta-alanine that won’t make your efforts be in vain, then the Truth Pre-Workout By Truth Nutrition is the best option we could find. Unfortunately, we don’t consider this product a particularly good supplement. We chose it because it was the best keto-friendly we could find, as the options are really limited.
The Truth Pre-Workout comes with a moderate caffeine dose of 150 mg per serving. We would like this dose to be slightly higher, at 180 mg. However, this is still a good dose and should be enough to get the benefits of caffeine. Caffeine reduces your perceived exertion and gives you energy. This helps you work out harder and for longer, improving your gains. [6, 7, 8]
This pre-workout comes with many other ingredients such as BioPerine®, L-Tyrosine, and a branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) blend. However, we won’t talk about them in detail here because either the doses are insignificant or the ingredients aren’t well researched yet.
This supplement is entirely free of any synthetic flavors, colors, or sweeteners. Thus, there’s no need for you to worry about having unnecessary artificial ingredients in your pre-workout.
Also, this pre-workout supplement is vegan-friendly, which is a nice thing since there is still a low number of pre-workouts suitable for vegan people, especially ones without Beta-Alanine.
Most of the users of this pre-workout report that it tastes pretty bad. If you care about the taste of your drinks, it’s important you keep that in mind. However, if you see a supplement with an ingredient profile you like, we don’t think you should refrain from buying it. Everyone’s taste is different, and you may even like it.
Pros
- Doesn’t contain any synthetic flavors, colors, or sweeteners
- Vegan-friendly
- Keto-friendly
Cons
- Has a low number of effective ingredients
- Tastes bad
Energy + Focus By Garden Of Life
Best Cheap
If you are looking for a more affordable pre-workout powder without Beta-Alanine, then the Energy + Focus by the popular supplements brand Garden Of Life is the best choice.
However, it’s important to note that, in this case, you get what you pay for. This pre-workout lacks almost all the ingredients we deem essential. We only put it on our list to give an alternative to people who are low on money. However, we only recommend it to people who have a low caffeine tolerance, because, otherwise, you most likely won’t feel anything.
As we said above, this product comes with a low caffeine dose, of 85 mg per serving. This dose is much lower than the recommended dose to get the benefits to your exercise performance. For this reason, this supplement is more suited to people who have a low caffeine tolerance. Caffeine gives you extra energy and focus, helping you exercise more and increasing your gains. [6, 7, 8]
Unfortunately, it’s not proven that the other ingredients of this pre-workout improve athletic performance, so we won’t talk about them.
This product is completely plant-based, vegan-friendly, and gluten-free. So, if you like or need natural pre-workouts, this one can be an option for you.
There is no consensus about the taste of this product. Some of the customers said they liked the taste, and some of the customers said they didn’t. If you are interested in this product, we think you should buy it and see if you like the taste, as we don’t have a definitive answer.
One common complaint from the customers of this pre-workout is that it doesn’t boost their workouts. This is most likely caused by the low caffeine dose.
Pros
- Cheap
- Plant-based
- Vegan-friendly
- Gluten-free
Cons
- Lacks most of the essential ingredients
- Low caffeine dose
Tip: We also have a list of the top cheap pre-workout supplement in 2023. You may want to check it if you want a more economical supplement.
What Is Beta-Alanine?
Beta-Alanine is a non-essential amino acid present in many foods but is also produced naturally in the body. Unlike what happens with other amino acids, the body doesn’t use Beta-Alanine for protein synthesis (the process in which cells make proteins). Instead, together with Histidine, another amino acid, it helps the body produce Carnosine. [12, 13]
Carnosine is the substance responsible for the benefits you get when you take a supplement containing Beta-Alanine. It increases the intracellular pH buffering, reducing the acidity in your muscles and consequentially reducing muscle fatigue. This way, in the same amount of time, you can get more exercise done, improving your gains. [14]
So, when you take a supplement that contains Beta-Alanine, you are actually boosting the production of Carnosine, and, consequently, receiving the benefits we talked about above.
To conclude, it’s important to note that the Beta-Alanine benefits are only significant on exercises that last from 1 to 4 minutes. Outside this range of time, supplementation with this ingredient doesn’t seem relevant. [15]
What Are The Side Effects Of Beta-Alanine?
To this day, only one side effect of Beta-Alanine is proven by science. It’s called ‘paresthesia’ and is the tingling sensation you feel on your skin after taking a supplement containing Beta-Alanine. [1]
Apart from the discomfort it causes, there’s no indication or evidence that paresthesia isn’t safe. Also, studies show that it’s possible to reduce this tingling. You can take Beta-Alanine in a sustained-release form or take it in multiple doses of 1.6 grams. [15]
There’s also been some controversy about whether or not Beta-Alanine decreases Taurine levels in the body. However, studies show that this decrease was only proven in animals and that no data supports that this happens in humans too. [15]
Concluding, Beta-Alanine is currently considered safe, without any dangerous side effects. [15]
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Pre-Workouts Without Beta-Alanine Effective?
Definitely! All the pre-workouts we showed you in this article are completely effective and free of Beta-Alanine.
The truth is that the presence (or not) of Beta-Alanine isn’t a crucial factor when measuring the effectiveness of a pre-workout. A good and effective pre-workout has effective doses of effective ingredients. If a pre-workout doesn’t contain Beta-Alanine but contains other effective ingredients in good doses, then it is effective.
Is Beta-Alanine Bad For Your Health?
No. It can only cause discomfort due to paresthesia, which gives you a tingling sensation. Apart from that, it isn’t dangerous for your health in any way. [15]
The Verdict
If you are tired of that tingling sensation you feel after taking your pre-workout drink, then a solution is to try a pre-workout without Beta-Alanine. However, you need to ensure that you choose one with effective ingredients that will really improve your athletic performance and compensate for the lack of Beta-Alanine.
Our top recommendation is the PreSeries PUMP by Transparent Labs. It comes with the most effective ingredients in really good doses. It just lacks caffeine, but if you need it, you can buy these affordable caffeine capsules to overcome this problem and still benefit from this great supplement.
Always talk to your nutritionist if you want to change your diet. They will be the best person to guide you on making a good combination of exercise and diet to better achieve your goals.
