  Do you ever lose steam by the end of spin class? Feel like you just can’t bear to finish your chest workout? Are you too sore to finish the last game in your volleyball tournament? Beta-alanine may be what you need. As an intracellular buffer, beta-alanine is a rate-limiting substrate in carnosine production, working to offset acid production in the muscle. Delaying acid production may delay muscular fatigue allowing you to train at a higher intensity while also improving recovery between high-intensity exercise sets or intervals. Greater intensity and volume over time will lead to greater performance gains.
If beta-alanine helps make up a substance called carnosine, why can’t we just take carnosine? When carnosine enters the digestive system, it’s broken down then reformed. Therefore, carnosine can’t be taken up into the muscle intact.
In order to really examine a supplement, it is important to take a look at the clinical research. One of the initial beta-alanine studies examined the effect of 4-6 mg of beta-alanine supplementation everyday for 10 weeks on cycling performance in men. After 4 weeks and 10 weeks respectively, the supplemented group was able to cycle for a longer period of time in comparison to the group taking a placebo. Just think of how this would benefit a competitive endurance athlete. You cycle or run for a longer period of time during training and that half marathon is a breeze on race day.
A few studies have also examined a combination of beta-alanine plus creatine in men and reported that this combination helps increase an athlete’s capacity to work harder and also increases strength and muscle mass, above and beyond creatine alone.
But is it effective in women? Dr. Jeff Stout set out to answer this question by providing 22 women with either 3.2 – 6.4 grams/day of beta-alanine or a placebo over 28 days. He then had them cycle continuously on a stationary bike to exhaustion while increasing the resistance incrementally. The beta-alanine supplemented group increased their physical working capacity and total time to exhaustion from pre- to post-test. Bottom line, they improved performance.
While intense training increases muscle levels of carnosine, supplementation even over brief periods can raise the levels even higher. Therefore, loading with 4 to 6 g/day beta-alanine over the course of 4 to 10 weeks should lead to prolonged exercise bouts by delaying acid production. This, in turn, might enable you to also recover from strenuous training more rapidly. And, anything we can do to extend the time it takes until we reach exhaustion as well as the quality of our workout in the gym or on the field will help provide a little extra insurance for reaching our goals. Whether these goals are physique related or performance based. If you are training hard, it makes sense to ensure you also have a sound nutrition program and supplement with the right products to maximize your gains.
BETA-ALANINE IN WOMEN
TIRED AND SORE NO MORE: REACH FOR BETA-ALANINE
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