These days, it’s not uncommon to see people do “funny” or dangerous things just to get a piece of internet fame and likes on social networks. Recently a TikToker did such a thing just for a little fame on the network. Namely, he loaded himself with 8 scoops of pre-workout in hope to gain more followers. What happened next is a lesson for all those using more than one scoop.
The story was shared by Bernard Hsu, a Youtuber who works in the medical field and shares extraordinary stories that have happened to him and his colleagues in the line of work.
One of those stories was the experience with a 25 year old man, referred to as JA, who though he would be interesting and famous if he load himself with a dangerously high dose of pre-workout.
JA has already posted some videos where he would dry-scoop pre-workout supplements. Dry-scooping is a well known practice in the fitness circles, where an athlete would down a whole scoop of pre-workout without any liquids in order to supposedly get “quicker” effects out of the supplement.
You probably heard how athletes joke around, saying that two scoops is better than one, right ? Well, JA posted a video where he downs 2 scoops of pre-workout to see what happens.
After he noticed that he gained a number of new fans after posting this video, JA decided that in his next video he would consume 4 scoops of pre workout.
“Clearly, this was nonsense intended to sensationalise an unnecessary class of supplement, but JA was determined,” Bernard Hsu explained.
The guy took 8 scoops of pre-workout
After he dry-scooped 4 scoops of pre-workout and started choking with the powder, JA then decided that he should water down the powder with additional 4 scoops of the supplement for an even stronger effect. So he consumed a total of 8 scoops of pre-workout in a matter of minutes.
When he went to the gym, JA started feeling sick even before he started hitting the weights. He began experiencing a huge headache, cold sweats, shivers throughout his body and nausea. When he got back home he was feeling so unwell that he dropped unconscious.
The TikToker was brought to the hospital where it was discovered that he has taken eight scoops of pre-workout. His heart rate was so fast, his pupils had abnormal size and his blood pressure was through the roof.
Apparently, the very high dose of caffeine and beta phenylethylamine combined with the lifting in the gym had increased JA’s blood pressure to such extent that it caused bleeding and a stroke in his brain – Dr. Hsu said.
“The combination of huge amounts of caffeine and beta phenylethylamine in eight scoops of pre-workout swallowed all at once, with heavy lifting, all together could have increased JA’s blood pressure so high that it caused his brain to start to stroke in the form of a bleed,” – Bernard Hsu said.
He was rushed to surgery where pieces of his scull were removed in order to make room for his swolen brain and alleviate pressure.
Miraculously, his life was saved and he made a full recovery in a few months.
Dr. Bernard pleads with his viewers not to go the route that JA went. He says that overusing pre-workout is not just unnecessarry, but very dangerous as well.
We can all agree that a good pre-workout is a valuable tool in our training tool-box, but one scoop is just enough. Taking 2,4 or 8 scoops is plain stupid and dangerous.