Raw Nutrition - Essential Performance

Raw Nutrition Essential Performance is a five-ingredient, zero-stimulant pre-workout built for lifters who want full performance support without caffeine — 6,000mg L-Citrulline, 5,000mg Creatine Monohydrate, 3,200mg Beta-Alanine, 2,500mg Betaine Anhydrous, and 2,000mg L-Tyrosine per scoop. No caffeine. No proprietary blends. Every dose disclosed. Part of Chris Bumstead's CBUM Essentials line — the stimulant-free companion to Essential Pre, with Citrulline increased from 4g to 6g and 5g of Creatine Monohydrate added in place of caffeine. 25 servings per container. Mix 1 scoop in 8-12oz water before training. Can be stacked with Essential Pre or Essential Charged for users who want to add a stimulant layer on top. Suitable for late-night training, caffeine cycling, and tested athletes. California Prop 65 Warning applies.*

Supplement Facts — Raw Nutrition Essential Performance (Per 1 Scoop / 25 Servings)

• L-Citrulline — 6,000mg
• Creatine Monohydrate — 5,000mg
• Beta-Alanine — 3,200mg
• Betaine Anhydrous — 2,500mg
• L-Tyrosine — 2,000mg

• Zero stimulants. Zero caffeine.
• No proprietary blends — all doses fully disclosed.
• Other Ingredients: Citric Acid, Malic Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Calcium Silicate, Silicon Dioxide
• 25 servings per container.
• Mix 1 scoop in 8-12oz of water before training. New users: start with half scoop.
• Do not exceed 2 scoops per day.
• Manufactured on shared equipment that also processes Egg, Wheat, Fish, Shellfish, Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Soy, Milk, and Sesame.
• California Prop 65 Warning applies.

Essential Performance vs. Essential Pre — What Changed and Why

Essential Pre is Raw Nutrition's entry-level caffeinated pre-workout: 4g L-Citrulline, 3.2g Beta-Alanine, 1g Taurine, 2g L-Tyrosine, 200mg Pink Himalayan Salt, and 200mg natural caffeine from Green Coffee Bean Extract. It's a clean, moderate-stim formula designed for all experience levels. Essential Performance takes the same design philosophy and rebuilds it for zero-stimulant use — removing the caffeine and adding two meaningful upgrades. Citrulline increases from 4g to 6g, providing a fuller pump dose. Five grams of Creatine Monohydrate replaces the caffeine as the formula's performance anchor — daily creatine dosing at 5g is the research-validated maintenance dose for maximizing intramuscular phosphocreatine stores and the strength and body composition benefits that follow.†

Betaine Anhydrous at 2,500mg is a notable addition not present in Essential Pre at this dose — at 2.5g it sits at the top of the range used in published research on betaine's power output and body composition benefits. The result is a formula that actually covers more total performance ground than Essential Pre on a per-ingredient basis — the non-stim version is not the lesser product, it's the differently-optimized product for a different use case.†

The Five Ingredients — What Each One Does

L-Citrulline — 6,000mg — Pump and Blood Flow

L-Citrulline at 6,000mg is pure L-Citrulline — not Citrulline Malate. At 6g of actual Citrulline, this is at the top of the range used in published sports performance research documenting ergogenic benefit. Citrulline converts to arginine in the kidney, which drives nitric oxide synthase to produce nitric oxide in vascular endothelial cells — the NO-mediated vasodilation that produces the pump, increases nutrient and oxygen delivery to working muscle, and improves exercise capacity and endurance during both strength and cardiovascular training. Six grams of actual Citrulline exceeds the Citrulline content of many products listing 8,000mg of Citrulline Malate 2:1 (which only contains approximately 5,333mg of actual Citrulline). This is one of the most important numbers to look at when comparing pump formulas — total Citrulline, not total Citrulline Malate weight.†

Creatine Monohydrate — 5,000mg — Strength, Power, and Cell Volumization

Five grams of Creatine Monohydrate is the established daily maintenance dose for maximizing intramuscular phosphocreatine stores — the number supported by more peer-reviewed research than any other performance supplement dose on the market. Including 5g of Creatine Monohydrate in a pre-workout is a practical convenience: it covers the daily creatine requirement in the same scoop as the pump and endurance ingredients, eliminating the need for a separate creatine supplement. Users who already take standalone creatine should account for the 5g in Essential Performance in their total daily intake — on days you take Essential Performance, the creatine is covered.†

Phosphocreatine in muscle tissue donates its phosphate group to ADP to regenerate ATP during the first 5-10 seconds of maximum-intensity effort. With a larger phosphocreatine pool from daily creatine supplementation, athletes sustain peak power output longer before depleting the immediate ATP buffer — meaning heavier loads, more reps per set, more total training volume, and better long-term strength adaptation. Creatine also produces cell volumization through intracellular water retention and directly stimulates muscle protein synthesis through IGF-1 and mTOR pathway activation.†

Beta-Alanine — 3,200mg — Muscular Endurance and Fatigue Delay

Beta-Alanine at 3,200mg is the full clinical dose — the amount used in the foundational research documenting ergogenic benefit through carnosine buffering. Beta-Alanine is the rate-limiting precursor to Carnosine synthesis in skeletal muscle. Carnosine is the intramuscular pH buffer that neutralizes the hydrogen ions produced during high-intensity anaerobic exercise, delaying the contractile failure and burning sensation that ends sets prematurely. Higher muscle Carnosine content from consistent Beta-Alanine supplementation allows more quality work per set before fatigue limits performance. The tingling sensation (paresthesia) that appears 15-20 minutes after ingestion is a benign, temporary cutaneous side effect confirming the dose is bioavailable and active.†

Betaine Anhydrous — 2,500mg — Power Output and Body Composition

Betaine Anhydrous (trimethylglycine) at 2,500mg is the dose used in multiple published studies documenting meaningful ergogenic benefit — specifically power output enhancement and body composition improvement over multi-week supplementation. Betaine operates through two complementary mechanisms. First, it is an osmolyte — like creatine and taurine, it draws water into muscle cells through osmotic pressure, producing cell volumization that amplifies the pump and creates an anabolic intracellular environment. Second, Betaine is a methyl donor in the homocysteine remethylation pathway — it donates methyl groups for the conversion of homocysteine to methionine, supporting the methylation reactions involved in creatine synthesis, DNA methylation, and protein metabolism. Research on betaine at 2,500mg has documented improvements in bench press volume, back squat volume, vertical jump power, and cycling sprint performance, as well as favorable changes in body composition (lean mass gain plus fat reduction) in resistance training subjects over 6 weeks.†

L-Tyrosine — 2,000mg — Focus and Catecholamine Support Without Caffeine

L-Tyrosine at 2,000mg is the most significant cognitive support ingredient in the formula and, in the absence of caffeine, carries more of the focus and mental clarity burden than in stimulant-containing pre-workouts. Tyrosine is the rate-limiting amino acid precursor for dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine synthesis — the catecholamines responsible for motivation, focus, alertness, and stress response. During heavy training, catecholamine demand increases and Tyrosine depletion can limit the brain's ability to maintain adequate dopamine and norepinephrine signaling. Supplementing L-Tyrosine at 2,000mg ensures the catecholamine synthesis pathway has adequate substrate throughout the session, supporting the focus and drive quality of the workout without any stimulant mechanism.†

Research on L-Tyrosine is particularly strong in high-stress, cognitively demanding, or sleep-deprived conditions — situations where the catecholamine system is under greatest demand. For users who train early in the morning before full cognitive arousal, late at night when mental energy is low, or during periods of high life stress, Tyrosine's catecholamine precursor role is especially relevant.†

Who Essential Performance Is For

Essential Performance is designed for five distinct user profiles. First: athletes training in the evening or late at night who cannot take caffeine within 6 hours of sleep. Essential Performance delivers the complete pump, endurance, strength, and focus stack without any sleep disruption risk. Second: athletes cycling off caffeine or managing stimulant tolerance who still want a full pre-workout performance experience. Third: beginners who want to build their training foundation on performance ingredients before adding stimulants. Fourth: tested athletes — Essential Performance contains no compounds prohibited by WADA or the NCAA. Fifth: users who stack it with Essential Pre or Essential Charged to control their total stimulant intake precisely — adding one scoop of Essential Performance alongside a half-dose of Essential Charged, for example, to get the full performance stack with a reduced caffeine load.†

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can I stack Essential Performance with Essential Pre or Essential Charged?
   Yes — this is one of the intended use cases. Essential Performance provides the complete performance stack (Citrulline, Creatine, Beta-Alanine, Betaine, Tyrosine) with zero stimulants. Stacking it with a serving or half-serving of Essential Pre (200mg caffeine) or Essential Charged (350mg caffeine) adds the energy layer with full control over how much stimulant you're taking. Note that at full doses of both products, total creatine and Tyrosine content will be doubled — account for this when building your stack.†
2. Do I still need to take a separate creatine supplement if I use Essential Performance?
   No — the 5g Creatine Monohydrate in Essential Performance covers your full daily creatine maintenance dose. On days you take Essential Performance, you don't need additional creatine. On rest days, you can take 5g of standalone creatine (like NutriStat Creapure) to maintain continuous daily creatine saturation. Consistent daily creatine — including non-training days — produces the best results.†
3. Is Essential Performance appropriate for tested athletes?
   Yes. L-Citrulline, Creatine Monohydrate, Beta-Alanine, Betaine Anhydrous, and L-Tyrosine are all permitted by WADA and the NCAA. None of the five ingredients in Essential Performance appear on any current prohibited substance list. Unlike Essential Pre (which contains caffeine, permitted but monitored) or higher-stim Raw products, Essential Performance has no ingredients that raise any compliance concerns for tested athletes.†
4. What does Essential Performance feel like without caffeine?
   Different from a caffeinated pre-workout — and this is worth setting expectations for first-time non-stim users. You won't feel the immediate surge of alertness and energy that 200-350mg of caffeine produces. What you will feel: the muscle fullness and vascular pump from Citrulline and Betaine building over the first 20-30 minutes of the session, the Beta-Alanine tingling confirming the endurance stack is active, and a focused, calm mental clarity from the L-Tyrosine that many users describe as more sustainable and less anxious than caffeine-driven energy. The performance benefits — more volume, better pump, longer endurance before failure — are real and measurable. The experience is just quieter on the stimulant side.†

How to Take Raw Nutrition Essential Performance

Mix 1 scoop in 8-12oz of water 20-30 minutes before training. New users: start with half a scoop to assess individual response to Beta-Alanine paresthesia. Do not exceed 2 scoops per day. Can be stacked with Essential Pre or Essential Charged for a custom stimulant-plus-performance stack. Take consistently daily — including non-training days at half-dose — for best creatine saturation results. Not for persons under 18. Not for pregnant or nursing women. Manufactured on shared equipment processing common allergens — not suitable for individuals with severe allergies to Egg, Wheat, Fish, Shellfish, Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Soy, Milk, or Sesame without physician clearance. California Prop 65 Warning applies.*

Why Buy at Get Yok'd

• Real-time inventory across all five Southern California stores
• Available in Burbank, Glendale, Glendale Galleria, Pasadena, and North Hollywood
• Authorized Raw Nutrition retailer — carrying the full CBUM Essentials lineup
• Staff who can help you build the right Essential Pre vs. Essential Performance vs. Essential Charged stack for your goals and training schedule
• One of the best loyalty programs in the supplement industry — earn rewards on every purchase

Who Should Not Take Essential Performance

• Not for persons under 18 years of age
• Not for pregnant or nursing women
• Individuals with kidney disease should consult a physician before use — contains 5g Creatine Monohydrate, which increases creatinine excretion and can affect kidney function markers in individuals with pre-existing renal conditions
• Individuals with severe food allergies should note that this product is manufactured on shared equipment with Egg, Wheat, Fish, Shellfish, Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Soy, Milk, and Sesame
• Consult a physician before use if taking any prescription medications or having any medical condition
• California Prop 65 Warning applies.
• Keep out of reach of children.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.