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Pre&Post Pulse

The Decoder

Every tub, bar, and can speaks its own dialect. Here's the whole vocabulary in plain English — what each thing is, minus the hype.

01

Timing

Our whole name is a timing argument. Here's what "before, during, and after" actually mean on a label.

Pre-Workout
The scoop you take 20–30 minutes before training; as a category it's usually built around caffeine plus "feel-it" ingredients like citrulline and beta-alanine.
Intra-Workout
Anything you sip during the session — most often a mix of fast carbs, aminos, and electrolytes meant to keep the tank from running dry mid-set.
Post-Workout
The window right after you train, when most people reach for protein and creatine — the "Post" half of our name lives here.
Stim vs. Non-Stim
the caffeine question
"Stim" means it contains a stimulant, almost always caffeine; "non-stim" is the caffeine-free version for late workouts or people who've already had their coffee.
02

Protein

"Protein" is a whole shelf of different things wearing the same word. The differences are mostly about how it's filtered and how fast it digests.

Whey Concentrate
The most common and most affordable form of whey — a little lactose, a little fat, and the flavor most people already picture when they think "protein shake."
Whey Isolate
Whey filtered a step further, so it's higher in protein per scoop and lower in carbs, fat, and lactose than concentrate.
Hydrolyzed Whey
hydrolysate
Whey that's been partly "pre-broken-down" into smaller pieces, which is why it tends to mix thin and taste a touch more bitter.
Casein
The slow one — a milk protein that thickens like pudding and digests over several hours, which is why people file it under "nighttime."
Plant Protein
Protein from sources like pea, rice, brown rice, or soy, usually blended together so the amino profile lands closer to whey.
Collagen
A protein aimed at skin, hair, nails, and connective tissue — it's not a complete protein and not the muscle-building kind, so it's a different tool than whey, not a swap for it.
03

Aminos

Amino acids are just the pieces protein is made of. You'll see certain ones pulled out and sold on their own — here's the family tree.

Amino Acids
The building blocks that link together to form protein; a product sells them on their own when it wants to feature a few specific ones.
BCAAs
branched-chain amino acids
Three specific aminos — leucine, isoleucine, and valine — bundled together and sold as their own category.
EAAs
essential amino acids
The nine aminos your body can't make on its own; the simple way to hold it: BCAAs are three of the nine, EAAs are the full set.
Leucine
The headliner most amino formulas are built around; when a label brags about a "2:1:1 ratio," leucine is the "2."
Glutamine
The most abundant amino acid in the body, usually parked on the recovery-and-gut side of a formula.
04

Creatine

One ingredient, several spellings on the label. The forms mostly differ in how they dissolve and how big the scoop is.

Creatine Monohydrate
The original, most-studied, least-expensive form — the five-gram scoop that's been the category standard for decades.
Creatine HCl
hydrochloride
Creatine bound to hydrochloric acid so it dissolves more easily, which lets brands use a smaller dose and skip the loading phase.
Loading Phase
An optional first week of higher creatine doses to "fill up" faster, after which you drop to a normal daily scoop.
Micronized
Just creatine ground into finer particles so it mixes more smoothly and leaves less grit at the bottom of the glass.
05

Pump & Focus

The ingredients that give a pre-workout its personality — the tingle, the buzz, the "pump." Here's what's behind each sensation.

Citrulline
L-citrulline · citrulline malate
The "pump" ingredient in most pre-workouts; L-citrulline is the amino on its own, citrulline malate is that same amino bound to malic acid.
Beta-Alanine
The ingredient behind the tingly, prickly-skin feeling in pre-workout — that sensation has a name, paresthesia, and it's harmless.
Nitric Oxide
N.O.
Not an ingredient itself but the effect the "pump" ingredients are chasing; on a label it's more of a marketing umbrella than a thing you scoop.
Caffeine (mg)
The stimulant doing the heavy lifting in most pre-workouts and energy drinks; a strong scoop can run 200–350 mg, roughly two to three coffees.
Quick tell: add up caffeine from every source in a day — pre, coffee, and any energy can — before deciding a scoop is "a lot."
Nootropic
"focus" blend
A catch-all for focus ingredients — think L-theanine or tyrosine — added to smooth out the caffeine edge and sharpen concentration.
06

Hydration

The fastest-growing corner of the shelf, and one of the simplest once you know the three words that matter.

Electrolytes
The minerals — mainly sodium, potassium, and magnesium — you lose through sweat and top back up to stay balanced.
Hydration Multiplier
A marketing term for an electrolytes-plus-a-little-sugar blend designed to pull water in faster than plain water does.
Sodium
The electrolyte you sweat out the most of, which is why a good hydration mix is often saltier than you'd expect.
07

Label Literacy

The most useful section on the page. These are the words the back of the tub uses to tell you more — or less — than you think.

Proprietary Blend
When a label groups several ingredients under one combined number without listing each amount — so you know what's in it, just not how much of each.
Serving Size / Scoop
Always check whether a "serving" is one scoop or two; the dose — and the real price per serving — can quietly double.
Quick tell: divide the tub price by actual servings, not the number on the front.
Clinically Dosed
A claim that an ingredient is included at the amount used in studies, rather than a sprinkle just large enough to print on the label.
Fairy Dusting
Industry slang for adding a tiny, under-the-studied-amount pinch of a trendy ingredient purely so it can appear in the list.
Third-Party Tested
NSF · Informed Sport
An outside lab verified what's actually in the tub — worth looking for if you're drug-tested for sport, or just particular.
Sweeteners
"naturally flavored"
Most zero-sugar powders are sweetened with sucralose, stevia, or monk fruit; "naturally flavored" usually points to the stevia or monk-fruit route.
Net Carbs
Total carbs minus fiber and sugar alcohols — the smaller, friendlier number bars love to feature on the front; the full count is on the back.
No match — try a shorter word, or browse the sections above.
08

Sources & Method

These aren't our definitions. The Decoder plainly restates terms that are already widely documented in public, authoritative references — we just put them in one place, in plain English. Nothing here is a Pre&Post Pulse claim about what any product does. When you want to go deeper, go straight to the primary sources below.

  • NIH Office of Dietary Supplements
    "Dietary Supplements for Exercise and Athletic Performance" — the U.S. government's consumer fact sheet. Backs our creatine, protein, amino, caffeine, and beta-alanine entries.
  • U.S. Food & Drug Administration
    Dietary Supplement Labeling Guide (Nutrition Labeling). Backs the Label Literacy section — Supplement Facts, serving size, and proprietary blends.
  • Examine.com
    Independent, evidence-based supplement research database. General cross-check on ingredient descriptions across every section.
  • International Society of Sports Nutrition (JISSN)
    Peer-reviewed position stands on creatine and protein. Backs the Creatine and Protein sections.
  • NSF Certified for Sport & Informed Sport
    The two third-party testing/certification programs themselves. Backs the "Third-Party Tested" entry.
Fuel before. Fuel after.
@pre_post_pulse

One honest note. The Decoder explains what these things are — not what they'll do for you, and not in our own words alone: every definition restates widely-accepted, publicly-documented terms (see Sources & Method). It's plain-English education, not medical or nutrition advice, and none of it has been evaluated by the FDA. Everyone's different; check with a doctor before starting anything new.

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