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Protein Rotation …why?

One of the best strategies you can apply with success to a bodybuilders diet is protein rotation. In essence, eating ...

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MI40 Strength: Intro to Coach Adam, & Boss of Bosses Meet – Part 1

MI40 Strength Coach Adam Miller coming at you with an intro into the world of powerlifting... and how you can ...

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Leptin: How Your Body Fat Influences Appetite

When starting a diet, have you ever wondered why exactly hunger and cravings suddenly sky rocket? Obviously a reduced food ...

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The Essentials of Bodypart Specialization: Arm Training

Training arms is so important to the common bodybuilder or fitness enthusiast that there is absolutely no shortage of information ...

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RDA = Really Dumb Advice (when it comes to nutrition)

If you look on the back of a vitamin or food package you will see that ingredients are rated as ...

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The Essentials of Bodypart Specialization: Delt Training

There is no need to go into detail about how important shoulder development (specifically deltoids) is to a complete physique. ...

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  • All
  • Back / Lats
  • Biceps
  • Chest
  • Coaches Corner
  • Delts
  • Exercise Execution
  • Hormones & Physiology
  • Legs
  • Nutrition
  • Premium Articles
  • Supplements
  • Training
  • Triceps

Should My Calories Be The Same On Arm Day and Leg Day?

Energy expenditure can vary greatly from large muscle groups to small muscle groups. This is evident easily by the poundage ...

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Fast Twitch vs. Slow Twitch: Fated For Gains?

Building the Perfect Beast - How Our Fast and Slow Twitch Muscle Fibers Determine Athletic Success...

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What Carbs Are Best For Gaining Muscle and Losing Fat?

Muscles store carbohydrates exclusively as glycogen, which is basically a long chain of glucose molecules linked together. The level of ...

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MI40 Strength: Hypertrophy & Strength Periodization Programming – Part 2

The process of muscle growth is best stimulated with high volume using relatively moderate weights. But to get stronger faster, ...

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MI40 Strength: Intro to Coach Adam, & Boss of Bosses Meet – Part 1

MI40 Strength Coach Adam Miller coming at you with an intro into the world of powerlifting... and how you can ...

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Are Advanced Training Methods for You?

Just because that insane workout technique sounds excruciatingly awesome, that doesn't mean you should add it into your routine. You ...

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Beta-Alanine: Tingle Your Way to a Better Body

Red Protein Scoop Picture this, it’s Sunday, the gym is empty, you had plenty of rest the night before, and today…is leg day. You are about to embark on a voyage that is sure to bring you to your knees. With an impregnable mindset and a bulletproof leg routine at the ready, you initiate your pre-workout routine. You slam a FULL SCOOP of your most potent pre-workout, spend thirty minutes watching workout videos and blasting heavy metal, and then make your way over to the gym. On your way, you continue to blast the beats, your energy is rising, and suddenly, your pre-workout kicks in. You feel a surge of energy accompanied by a curious tingling sensation throughout your face and the rest of your body. You start to think, what the hell was in that pre-workout? You get even more amped — and as you make your way through the door, you are ready to dominate. That strange tingling sensation you took for granted, is a sign of what is going to get you through those brutal drop sets to come. The feeling is called paresthesia, and it’s harmless. The thing that will get you through the drop sets, is beta-alanine, and it’s potent.

Beta-alanine is probably the most popular non-stimulant pre-workout supplement on the market today. Proven to increase lean body mass and bolster exercise performance, beta-alanine is an asset to anyone interested in physique and performance enhancement.

How It Works

Beta-alanine is used primarily for its abilityFire Dumbbell to increase work capacity. In other words, it helps you to perform more reps. Beta-alanine exerts its effects by way of the chemical carnosine. Carnosine is a compound which is abundant in the brain and muscle. It is formed by joining the amino acid histidine and the beta amino acid, beta-alanine — and somewhat surprisingly, the two are actually better at raising carnosine levels than supplemental carnosine alone.[2] After carnosine is synthesized, it is either metabolized immediately, or it makes its way to muscle where it is stored for later use.

Performance Enhancement

Beta-alanine’s role in exercise performance comes by way of its buffering effects in muscle. The carnosine formed by beta-alanine supplementation sits in the muscle where it can be relied upon to reduce acidity when needed — for example, during anaerobic exercise (e.g. weightlifting). Acidosis, or a rise in acidity, is a natural process that occurs as a result of weightlifting and other high intensity, short duration exercises. The burning sensation that often accompanies an intense set is due to a rise in acidity in the working muscle. Buffering is the process of neutralizing this acidity, and the purpose of beta-alanine is to help buffer this acidity. Buffering acidity can mean more reps, particularly towards the end of a gruelling set when acidity is at a maximum, and the burn intensifies. This property makes beta-alanine especially useful for extended sets, such as drop sets, partials, and  rest-pause, or exercises like wingates and HIIT — basically anything that causes a boatload of metabolic stress. Given that beta-alanine helps to buffer acid, but considering the fact that it has not been shown to boost strength, beta-alanine is best suited for high TUT (time under tension) metabolic-style workouts, as opposed to low rep strength routines.[3]

Physique Enhancement

Beta-alanine shows promise in physique enhancement as well as exercise performance. Although the mechanisms are not quite clear, the research clearly shows that beta-alanine is able to increase lean body mass in individuals engaging in interval training and resistance exercise. [1][4][5] In a study conducted on collegiate wrestlers, researchers examined the effects of beta-alanine compared to a placebo on a number of physiological factors, including body composition.[1] The goal of the wrestlers was to gain strength and increase performance, all the while dropping weight to meet weight-class requirements. Although the beta-alanine group attempted to lose weight, they were unable to drop as much weight as the placebo group due to the concurrent accrual of lean body Leanmass. In other words, although the wrestlers tried to drop weight to fit into their weight class, they didn’t drop as much weight as the placebo group because they actually gained a significant amount of muscle. The beta-alanine group actually lost fat and gained muscle at the same time! Needless to say,  this is a desirable quality in any supplement, and it may prove useful especially when one is trying to lose fat.

Maximizing the Effects

Although beta-alanine is a common and relatively simple supplement, its minutiae are often taken for granted. In fact, there are a number of different strategies that can be used to optimize its effects.

Consistent Dosing

First of all, contrary to popular belief, beta-alanine does Black Calendarnot need to be taken immediatelysaturated, muscle carnosine levels tend to last for a relatively long time. Additionally, due to the rapid metabolism of beta-alanine and the slow buildup of muscle carnosine, consistent supplementation is required to achieve high intramuscular levels. Taking this into account, beta-alanine can be taken at any time throughout the day, but should be taken consistently for a few weeks to ensure that carnosine levels build up in the muscle before its effects can be truly realized. pre-workout for maximum efficacy. Beta-alanine supplementation is similar to creatine in that muscle levels need to build up over time in order to achieve maximum effect. As we mentioned before, beta-alanine is used to synthesize carnosine in the body. Carnosine is sequestered in muscle and used to buffer acidity during exercise. Once

Best Taken With MealsUtensil Silhouette

Pharmacological studies have shown that ingestion of beta-alanine with meals leads to significantly higher levels of muscle carnosine than beta-alanine consumed in between meals.[7] To put things in perspective, consuming beta-alanine with meals can lead to a 56% greater increase in muscle carnosine over the course of five weeks. Additionally, there is no effect of specific macronutrients on absorption, meaning that beta-alanine can be consumed with any meal, regardless of the composition.

CreatineBlack Supplement Container (2)

Quite a number of studies have examined the effects of the coingestion of creatine and beta-alanine.[8][9] Since both compounds have the ability to increase work capacity, especially towards the end of a gruelling set, many have theorized that there may be a synergistic effect from coingestion. When compounds are synergistic, it means that the total effect is greater than the sum of the individual effects. Although the two lack a synergistic effect, they still make a great combination, since both achieve similar goals of increased exercise performance via different mechanisms. Beta-alanine increases work capacity by buffering acid, while creatine increases work capacity by increasing energy availability. As such, the two can be used in combination to help squeeze out the absolute maximum amount of reps from every workout.

Taurine deficiency

It should be noted that among its many benefits, beta-alanine does have one notable drawback — it can lead to a taurine deficiency, especially with prolonged intake.[6] Taurine is essential for central nervous system signalling, muscle function, and a host of other process. Since Beta-alanine and taurine compete for the same receptor in the body, one can block the effects of the other — with beta-alanine showing a greater ability to block the effects of taurine than the contrary. Given this, it may be prudent to supplement with taurine alongside beta-alanine, especially when supplementing with beta-alanine over an extended period of time.

In Conclusion

Beta-alanine is an effective supplement that has stood up to the rigors of academia and real-world testing. By increasing levels of intramuscular carnosine, beta-alanine reduces the negative effects of acid buildup in the muscle during extended sets and metabolically demanding workouts. Through this mechanism, beta-alanine can increase the amount of reps we can achieve, the number of seconds we can pump out on wingates, and the work we can do during HIIT. What’s more, there is a great deal of evidence showing that it can help increase lean body mass, even when calories are low. And if all that isn’t enough, recent research suggest that beta-alanine may have roles in anti-aging, reducing harmful metabolic byproducts, and exerting general antioxidant effects. Beta-alanine has so many benefits, and given how safe and effective it is, I suggest it should find its place in your supplement arsenal.

**For your convenience: Average daily doses range from 2-5g. The tingling sensation often accompanied by supplementation, called paresthesia, is harmless, but can be avoided by dividing doses and spreading them throughout the day.[10]

References

[1] Kern, B., & Robinson, T. (2009). Effects Of Beta-alanine Supplementation On Performance And Body Composition In Collegiate Wrestlers And Football Players. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, P2-P2.

[2] Everaert, I., Stegen, S., Vanheel, B., Taes, Y., & Derave, W. (2013). Effect of Beta-Alanine and Carnosine Supplementation on Muscle Contractility in Mice. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43-51.

[3] Kendrick, I., Harris, R., Kim, H., Kim, C., Dang, V., Lam, T., … Wise, J. (2008). The effects of 10 weeks of resistance training combined with beta-alanine supplementation on whole body strength, force production, muscular endurance and body composition.Amino Acids, 34(4), 547-554.

[4] Walter, A., Smith, A., Kendall, K., Stout, J., & Cramer, J. (2010). Six weeks of high-intensity interval training with and without beta-alanine supplementation for improving cardiovascular fitness in women. Journal Of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(5), 1199-11207.

[5] Smith, A., Walter, A., Graef, J., Kendall, K., Moon, J., Lockwood, C., … Stout, J. (2009). Effects of beta-alanine supplementation and high-intensity interval training on endurance performance and body composition in men; a double-blind trial.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

[6] Dawson, J., Biasetti, M., Messina, S., & Dominy, J. (2002). The cytoprotective role of taurine in exercise-induced muscle injury. Amino Acids, 309-324.

[7] Stegen, S., Blancquaert, L., Everaert, I., Bex, T., Taes, Y., Calders, P., … Derave, W. (2013). Meal and Beta-Alanine Coingestion Enhances Muscle Carnosine Loading. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 1478-1485.

[8] Kresta, J., Oliver, J., Jagim, A., Kreider, R., Fluckey, J., Reichman, S., & Talcott, S. (n.d.). Effects of 28 days of beta-alanine and creatine monohydrate supplementation on muscle carnosine, body composition and exercise performance in recreationally active females. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, P17-P17.

[9] Okudan, N., Belviranli, M., & Gokbel, H. (2014). The effects of beta alanine plus creatine administration on performance during repeated bouts of supramaximal exercise in sedentary men. The Journal Of Sports Medicine And Physical Fitness.

[10] Beta-Alanine – Scientific Review on Usage, Dosage, Side Effects. (2014, October 26). Retrieved February 11, 2015, from http://examine.com/supplements/Beta-Alanine/