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Bodybuilding Success Blueprint: Firefight for Firepower
By: Jerry Brainium
What limits muscular gains? Certainly not training hard enough will prevent an acceptable rate of progress. Not paying enough attention to diet will also inhibit rapid gains in muscular size and strength. On a more elemental level, however, muscle fatigue is a major damper of muscular gains. The actual causes of muscle fatigue during training can vary, ranging from a lack of sufficient carbs and calories to dehydration. But the most familar sign of impending fatigue during any particular set is an intense burning sensation in the trained muscles.
This burn is caused by a buildup of lactic acid, although it's the acid part, rather than the lactate portion, that is the true problem. If you could douse the fire that causes muscle flame-out during a set, you should be able to train harder, and thus speed gains in size and strength.
Creatine is considered one of the most effective food supplements. While creatine works mainly by increasing muscle energy stores, a secondary effect is that creatine provides some muscle-buffering effects. In short, it helps to soak up acid produced during hard training. That increased acid, among other effects, inhibits energy production in working muscle.
But the primary muscle-buffering substance is an amino acid product called L-carnosine. Carnosine is a dipeptide, consisting of two amino acids'beta-alanine and histidine'bonded together. Several studies clearly show that the limiting factor for carnosine synthesis in muscle is beta-alanine.
Beta-alanine is a comparatively obscure nutrient, and is one of the few known 'beta' amino acid. Other amino acids are 'alpha' amino acids and are found in the natural 'L' configuration, or 'D' configuration, which isn't usable by the human body. Beta-alanine exists in several foods, mainly protein foods, and also forms part of the structure of the B-complex vitamin, pantothenic acid. Beta-alanine is metabolized into acetic acid, better known as vinegar in its dilute form.
To find out the facts about using beta-alanine, I interviewed John A.Wise, Ph.D. Dr. Wise is qualified to discuss the topic because he has co-authored most of the recent studies examining the athletic use of beta-alanine supplements. He is currently the chief science officer of Natural Alternatives International in San Marcos, California. Will beta-alanine make a difference in your training? Read on to find out.
JB: What is beta-alanine, and how does it work in the body?
JW: Beta-alanine is an amino acid that isn't involved in structural proteins. Its function is to combine with another amino acid, histidine, to form a dipeptide. That dipeptide serves as a buffer in the muscle. In human muscle, this dipeptide combination of beta-alanine and histidine is called L-carnosine.
JB: Can the body synthesize beta-alanine?
JW: Yes, the body can synthesize beta-alanine. But the synthesis is under some kind of limited control. Using a supplemental form of beta-alanine can significantly increase the synthesis. JB: When were the effects of carnosine first discovered by scientists?
JW: Scientists have speculated about the effects of carnosine for some time, based on the known effects of other dipeptides existing in muscle. Something in muscle was providing a buffering, or anti-acidity, effect. The debate was just how much these intramuscular dipeptides contributed to intramuscular buffering.
JB: Why would a bodybuilder want to use a beta-alanine supplement?
JW: The main advantage for a bodybuilder using beta-alanine would be a training effect similar in magnitude to creatine, although the effect of beta-alanine differs from that of creatine. Using creatine allows you to train harder and recover faster. That's also the category that beta-alanine falls into. By increasing muscle levels of carnosine, beta-alanine use allows you to train harder and longer before fatigue sets in.
JB: So would it be fair to say that while beta-alanine isn't a direct anabolic promotor, such as the case with hormones, by promoting increased training intensity with less fatigue, it would promote gains in muscle size and strength?
JW: Yes, exactly.
JB: Since carnosine is the key to how beta-alanine works, why not just use carnosine supplements?
JW: Carnosine does work as a supplement, but it's very expensive. In addition, using it in doses that are efficacious as an ergogenic aid would cost hundred of dollars a month. We also know that ingested L-carnosine is rapidly degraded into beta-alanine and histidine as soon as it enters the blood through the activity of the enzyme, carnosinase. As such, there is no advantage to using direct carnosine. Beta-alanine is far less expensive, and it's the limiting factor to promoting carnosine synthesis in muscle.
JB: Some studies seem to show that ingested carnosine is more rapidly taken up in slow-twitch or endurance muscle fibers rather than the fast-twitch muscle fibers. In other words, would using a supplement that promotes carnosine synthesis in muscle, such as beta-alanine, be more suitable for use in endurance events?
JW: Current research shows that beta-alanine affects both types of muscle fibers. The effect in anaerobic, or fast-twitch, effects would be greater because this is the type of activity where you get an increased acid buildup in the muscles. The levels of carnosine are also higher in fast-twitch fibers compared to slow-twitch fibers, regardless of training. Using supplemental beta-alanine results in an average increase of muscle carnosine content by 60 percent.
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