Pre-Workout Doses Compared Against What the Research Used
The citrulline studies use 6 to 8 grams. C4 Original contains 1 gram and Gold Standard contains 0.75. Two of the best-selling pre-workouts in the world are roughly eight times under the dose on the ingredient they are sold for.
| Pre-workout | Citrulline | Beta-alanine | Caffeine | Label | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transparent Labs Bulk Black | 8 g | 4 g | 275 mg | Every dose disclosed | Fully dosed |
| Legion Pulse | 8 g | 3.6 g | 350 mg | Every dose disclosed | Fully dosed |
| Cellucor C4 Original | 1 g | 1.6 g | 150 mg | Partly blended | Under-dosed |
| ON Gold Standard Pre | 0.75 g | 1.5 g | 175 mg | Disclosed | Under-dosed |
| What the research uses | 6–8 g | 3.2 g daily | 3–6 mg/kg | — | — |
Two of the four disclose every dose and put the actives where the research put them. Two do not, and both of those are among the best-selling pre-workouts in the world. Legion Pulse carries 8 g of citrulline malate against C4 Original's 1 g and Gold Standard Pre's 0.75 g — roughly eight to eleven times the dose, on the ingredient those products are sold for. That is the entire argument, and it is on the labels rather than in the marketing.
Doses as printed on each label, August 2026. Legion Pulse figures are for its full two-scoop serving.
Legion Pulse
- 8 g citrulline malate
- 3.6 g beta-alanine
- 350 mg caffeine
- 350 mg L-theanine
- 2.5 g betaine
- 300 mg alpha-GPC
- Every dose disclosed - no proprietary blend
- 4.6/5 from 22,589 reviews
Legion Pulse Stim-Free
- Same actives as Pulse, zero caffeine
- Every dose disclosed
Legion Pulse Burn
- Pre-workout with a thermogenic profile
- Every dose disclosed
One caveat, stated properly
Beta-alanine is the exception and it matters. It works by saturating muscle carnosine over weeks, so what counts is the daily total of about 3.2 g, not the amount in one scoop before training. A product with 1.6 g is not useless if you take it every day and get the rest elsewhere. Citrulline and caffeine are different: those act acutely, on the day, and an under-dose is simply an under-dose.
What "proprietary blend" hides
A proprietary blend lists ingredients in order of quantity and then gives one total for the group. You learn that the product contains something and never how much. It exists for exactly one reason: at full disclosure, most of these doses would look like the table above.
Both fully dosed products here disclose everything. That is not a coincidence — a brand that has dosed to the research has no reason to hide the number, and a brand that has not is the only one who needs a blend.
What actually earns the money
Caffeine does most of the work in every pre-workout, and it costs almost nothing. 3–6 mg per kg of bodyweight is the researched range, which is 200–400 mg for most adults. If the rest of the tub were water you would still feel a pre-workout containing 300 mg of caffeine, and that is what a large share of this category is selling.
Of the tubs compared above, this is the one that carries citrulline malate at the dose the studies used — 8 g, printed on its own ingredient panel.
The honest summary
If you want the ingredients at the doses the studies used, two products here do it and both cost more. If you want a stimulant before training, caffeine tablets cost a fraction and are the same molecule. The middle ground — a premium price for a gram of citrulline — is the part worth avoiding.
This opens the product page on Amazon, where price and availability are live.
Where we send readers now
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