# Your Pre-Workout Is Making Your Pre-Game Anxiety Worse Published 2026-04-04 · Brooke Bytheway · Tags: anxiety, athletes, athletic performance, caffeine, energy, L-theanine, pre-game, pre-workout > High-dose pre-workouts cause anxiety and tachycardia in elite athletes before competition. NIH research explains the mechanism and what to take instead. High-dose pre-workouts were not designed for competition. They were designed to make gym training feel more intense. The sensations they produce — flushing, tingling, accelerated heart rate — register as performance in a squat rack. On a basketball court or a field, those same sensations read as anxiety, and NIH research confirms they degrade exactly the skills games are decided by. The short version: Pre-workouts with 150–350mg caffeine cause tachycardia in 92% of users — a problem in gym training, a liability in competition (PMC10566444, 2023). High caffeine alone induces measurable anxiety in 33% of elite athletes. The L-theanine combination drops that to 8% — below placebo levels. Competition requires calm focus, not maximum arousal. Pre-workouts built for training are the wrong tool for the job. STRIPPIES ENERGY contains 50mg caffeine + 30mg L-theanine — the research-validated ratio for athletic cognitive performance, not gym-mirror performance. Like this? We'll text you insights like this weekly. Get the TLDR → Why Do Pre-Workout Supplements Cause Anxiety? Most commercial pre-workouts contain between 150mg and 350mg of caffeine per serving. At those doses, caffeine independently stimulates adrenaline release and raises cortisol — the same hormonal cascade that produces competitive anxiety. Stack the supplement on top of natural pre-game arousal and you've doubled the load on a nervous system that's already working hard. For the gym, this isn't necessarily a problem. Lifting with elevated heart rate and high arousal is fine — even productive. But competition demands a different physiological state. Fine motor control requires relaxed muscles. Decision-making under pressure requires attentional focus, not scattered arousal. The same dose that helps you push harder in training actively degrades the skills games are decided by. What Does the Research Say About Caffeine and Pre-Game Anxiety? An NIH double-blind study on elite curling athletes (PMC10566444, 2023) measured the direct effects of caffeine and L-theanine supplementation on shooting performance, cognitive accuracy, and physiological markers before competition. The results on caffeine alone are striking. Tachycardia appeared in 92% of subjects on standard caffeine supplementation. State anxiety — the acute, situation-specific anxiety that affects performance — appeared in 33% of subjects. One in three elite athletes got measurably more anxious from the supplement meant to help them perform. The caffeine + L-theanine combination told a different story. Tachycardia dropped to 17%. Anxiety dropped to 8% — below the placebo condition. The same caffeine dose, a different performance profile entirely, because L-theanine modulates the adrenaline response without blunting alertness. What Makes Pre-Workouts Wrong for Competition (Even When They Work for Training)? Pre-workout supplements optimize for perceived effort. They're built to make hard training feel achievable — to reduce the activation threshold for pushing through fatigue. That's a valid goal in training. Competition doesn't need more activation. It needs better signal-to-noise ratio. Athletes in high-stakes moments already have maximum motivation. The problem is channel management: keeping the nervous system focused on the task without tipping into the overstimulation that narrows attention, increases muscle tension, and slows the prefrontal processing that executes strategy under pressure. High-dose caffeine narrows that margin. The athletes who perform best in clutch moments are those who've managed their arousal curve throughout the game — not those who spiked it highest at tip-off. What Should Athletes Take Before a Game Instead? The research points to a specific profile: 50–100mg caffeine paired with L-theanine. Not the 200mg+ dose in a pre-workout, not a standalone energy drink, and not nothing. The combination produces the focus benefit of caffeine while L-theanine suppresses the anxiety side effects. STRIPPIES ENERGY contains exactly this. 50mg Green Coffee Bean Extract (caffeine) and 30mg L-theanine, alongside 1000mcg B12 and 20mg Korean Ginseng. Every dose published. No proprietary blend. It melts on your tongue in seconds. No water needed. No mixing required. Physician formulated. Made with clean ingredients. Every strip. More control. Nothing wasted. Read more: The Pre-Game Energy Problem Every Athlete Knows (And Most Supplements Make Worse) Pre-Workout and Pre-Game Anxiety: Frequently Asked Questions Can pre-workout cause anxiety before a game? Yes. High-dose caffeine in most pre-workouts independently stimulates adrenaline release, compounding the natural pre-game arousal athletes already experience. NIH research on elite athletes found caffeine alone induced measurable state anxiety in 33% of subjects — and tachycardia in 92%. These effects directly degrade fine motor control and decision-making under pressure. What's the difference between pre-workout for training vs. competition? Training pre-workouts optimize for high arousal and perceived effort — the right state for pushing through heavy sets. Competition requires calm, focused alertness with precise motor control and decision-making. The same dose that improves training performance can degrade competitive performance by pushing the nervous system past the optimal arousal threshold. Does L-theanine cancel out caffeine for athletes? No. L-theanine preserves caffeine's alertness and focus benefits while reducing the anxiety and tachycardia side effects. NIH research on elite athletes found the combination improved reaction time, accuracy, and cognitive performance better than caffeine alone — while dropping anxiety incidence from 33% to below placebo levels. The Right Edge The supplement that makes your training feel harder isn't the same one that makes your game feel sharper. Pre-game preparation is a separate discipline from pre-workout preparation. Athletes who understand that distinction stop leaving performance on the warm-up floor. Try STRIPPIES ENERGY today — 50% off your first order → These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. 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