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How Does Beta Alanine Improve Performance?

How Does Beta Alanine Improve Performance?

By now you know that beta-alanine is a performance booster for most types of activity. Understanding the kind of benefit that beta-alanine will have for your kind of training will allow you to take full advantage of it. Due to its variety of effects, beta-alanine will help different types of training in different ways.

Beta Alanine and Weight Training

Supplementing beta-alanine when you are performing weight training gives a great performance boost. During usual exercise you will experience a point when you are unable to continue lifting. If your sets are longer than 10-12 repetitions, you will experience the build up of lactic acid in the muscle which most likely prevents you from pushing harder. Taking beta-alanine will slow this build up of lactic acid. Reduced lactic acid in the muscle will allow you to lift more for longer. The stimulant effect of beta-alanine is also beneficial to weight lifters. Beta-alanine support your central nervous system and mental focus. Improved mental focus will allow you to push harder. Having your central nervous system working more efficiently through beta-alanine supplementation will allow the body to recruit more muscle fibres. Additional muscle fibres means a greater contraction and a stronger lift.

Beta Alanine and Cardiovascular Training

Cardiovascular training includes any kind of exercise lasting more than about 1 minute. Beta-alanine’s fatigue suppressing quality becomes very useful when training your cardiovascular system. Most people are restricted to how hard they can push their body by their lactic threshold. Your lactic threshold is the point at which your body begins to produce lactic acid. Lactic acid eventually builds up in the muscle and prevents it from working effectively. Beta-alanine increases how quickly your body can break down lactic acid. Breaking down lactic acid faster means your lactic threshold is higher. Consequently increasing your work rate enhances your gains and overall performance. You will have to be cautious of times when you are not using beta-alanine though. Your performance will drop when not using the supplement, so if your are competing then make sure you adapt to not using the supplements if you intend on not using it for the event.

Beta Alanine and General Activity

If you are using beta-alanine you should be aware that it will affect you during the entire day. The initial effect of beta-alanine will wear off within about 2 hours of having taken it. But the raised level of carnosine in your body is present all the time. This means that even leisure activity like going for a bike ride or swim will be affected. You will have more energy throughout the entire day, possibly even experiencing an improvement in your short term memory. Remember that beta-alanine is still a stimulant, so don’t keep taking it late into the evening.

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