In the supplement aisle — whether physical or digital — marketing moves faster than science. Label claims multiply. New formats launch weekly. And behind every flashy pre-workout is a business dealing with cash flow, retailer terms, and the quiet threat of private equity. We sat down with Drew Peters, Chief Science Officer and longtime industry formulator, to cut through the noise.
Beyond the “Kitchen Sink” Label
Walk into any supplement retailer and you’ll find pre-workouts listing 30, 40, sometimes 50 ingredients on the label. It looks impressive. But Peters calls this “label dressing” — products that cram in a long roster of ingredients, each at doses too low to do much of anything, purely for visual impact at point-of-purchase.
Peters’ preference is what he calls a surgical approach: fewer ingredients, each chosen to target a distinct physiological pathway rather than piling on variations of the same mechanism.
The core problem with “kitchen sink” formulas: When multiple ingredients all work through the same pathway, you’re not getting additive benefit — you’re getting redundancy, and a label full of underdosed components that look good but underperform.
A Three-Pathway Approach to the “Pump”
Rather than stacking five vasodilators, Peters targets three distinct mechanisms that together support the training pump:
Pathway 01 – Vasodilation
Supporting blood vessel relaxation and enhanced flow, which sets the foundational circulatory environment for a productive training session.
Pathway 02 – Muscle Fullness
Using osmotic agents that draw water into muscle cells, promoting a “hyper-hydrated” cellular state and visible volume during training.
Pathway 03 – Nitric Oxide Retention
Incorporating natural inhibitors that slow the breakdown of nitric oxide, helping to sustain the pump beyond what vasodilation alone can achieve.
The Cumulative Ingredient Problem
Creatine and Beta-Alanine are two of the most well-researched ingredients in sports nutrition — but Peters argues they’re frequently misplaced in pre-workouts. Both work through cumulative, tissue-saturation mechanisms. Their benefits accrue over days and weeks of consistent use, not in the hour window of a single training session.
Including them in a pre-workout may check a box on the label, but it doesn’t deliver the kind of acute, session-specific benefit that a pre-workout is actually designed to provide. Peters’ view: take them at any time that supports consistency, and reserve pre-workout formulas for ingredients that genuinely work acutely.
The Gummy Revolution and Its Real Constraints
Gummy supplements are one of the fastest-growing formats in the industry, driven by consumer preference for taste, convenience, and a format that feels less “clinical” than capsules or powders. But Peters is candid about what the format can and can’t do.
The core manufacturing challenge: gummies are constrained by both size and flavor simultaneously — something capsules and powders don’t face together. Fitting a full clinically-studied dose of creatine (around 5 grams) into a single gummy often results in a gritty, unpalatable texture that undermines the format’s primary appeal.
The heat problem for sensitive ingredients: The gummy manufacturing process involves a “slurry” stage that reaches temperatures around 80–85°C. For ingredients like probiotics, that’s potentially lethal to the live cultures. Brands doing this well are selecting heat-stable strains and verifying survival through rigorous third-party testing — not just assuming the label claim holds after manufacturing.
The gummy format isn’t going away — but discerning consumers and formulators are asking harder questions about what can realistically be delivered through it at a meaningful dose.
The Longevity Stack: What Peters Prioritizes for the Long Haul
Peters maintains a lean 11–12% body fat year-round — not through aggressive bulk-and-cut cycles, but through consistent prioritization of recovery and cellular health. His philosophy: optimization isn’t about the next 12 weeks. It’s about performing well at 65 the same way you do at 35.
When asked which supplements he’d choose if limited to just a few for overall health, Peters points to three areas backed by a growing body of research:
- Creatine: Long established for supporting ATP production and muscle retention, creatine is also seeing growing research interest in its potential cognitive benefits — making it relevant well beyond the gym as we age.
- NMN: A precursor associated with mitochondrial health and cellular regeneration. While research is still developing, NMN has drawn significant interest from longevity-focused researchers and practitioners.
- High-Grade Curcumin: Targeting chronic low-grade inflammation — a factor implicated in a wide range of age-related health concerns. The “high-grade” distinction matters: bioavailability varies enormously across products.
Why Supplement Brands Fail (It Rarely Has Anything to Do With the Product)
Peters is direct about something the industry doesn’t often discuss publicly: the vast majority of supplement brands that don’t make it past their first 24 months aren’t failing because they made a bad product. They’re failing because of cash flow.
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