Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard PreWorkout Powder Blueberry Lemonade 10.6Oz

Why it's worth it

Gold Standard is NSF Certified for Sport, runs a moderate 175 mg of caffeine, and dissolves better than almost anything else here. The formula is conservative — no citrulline, light on the performance side — but it's the one we'd hand a beginner or a tested athlete.

NSF Certified for Sport is the most demanding third-party certification available to a US supplement brand. It screens for more than 270 substances banned by the major sports bodies, audits the manufacturing facility, and verifies label claims against the finished product. If you compete under NCAA, USADA, WADA or a pro league policy, that certification is documentation you can point to. And the certification is only on the tub because someone kept paying to renew it.

The 175 mg of caffeine is the other reason this is easy to recommend broadly. It's enough to feel, and not enough to wreck your evening or spike your heart rate. Owner feedback is remarkably consistent on this — steady energy, no jitters, no crash comes up again and again. That's the profile you want when you're still learning how you respond to stimulants.

From our review of 5 pre-workout supplements, by Eleanor Vance, Health & Beauty Editor

What we like

• +NSF Certified for Sport is the most demanding third-party certification available to a US supplement brand
• +The 175 mg of caffeine is the other reason this is easy to recommend broadly
• +Mixability sounds like a trivial spec until you've choked down a gritty scoop
• +It includes 3 g of creatine monohydrate and vitamin D

What to know

• –There's no citrulline and no beta-alanine, and those are the two ingredients doing most of the performance work in our other picks
• –It uses artificial flavoring and coloring, so if you came here for a clean label this isn't it