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Beta Alanine for Fighters

For the fighters out there, think back to the first time you rolled against a resisting opponent or the first time you did a grueling grappling session or an intense padwork session. If you’re like most people, you were probably gasping for air only a minute into the session.

What caused this reaction was an accumulation of lactic acid from the workout. Lactic acid is a bi-product of anaerobic metabolism that among other things, weakens the contractile strength of the muscles.

How Beta Alanine Supplementation Benefits Fighters
It looks as though beta alanine has the potential to become the next big breakthrough supplement and in an industry where supplements constantly come and go – product longevity really means a lot.

The benefits of beta alanine are not from the beta alanine itself. Rather, the beneficial occurrences are from a dipeptide known as carnosine. Carnosine is formed through the combination of beta alanine and histidine (another amino acid).

Carnosine has been shown to effectively buffer lactic acid accumulation (discussed above), allowing you to train at a higher intensity for a longer period of time before fatigue sets in. Fighting, as we all know, is a high intensity sport so prolonging the inevitable rise in pH levels through beta alanine supplementation are fairly obvious.

The elevated levels of carnosine, triggered through beta alanine supplementation, have also been shown to enhance the maximum contractile speed of your muscle fibers. Faster and more efficient muscle contractions – sounds good doesn’t it?

If all this wasn’t enough, beta alanine supplementation may also lead to enhanced neural recovery between training sessions. It’s long been thought that the nervous system takes longer to fully recovery from intense workouts than your muscles do. This delayed neural recovery can be quite a hindrance as your muscles may be ready for the next training session but your nervous system isn’t.

It is speculated that the elevated carnosine levels, triggered through beta alanine supplementation, protect the nerve cells against oxidative damage. In other words, supplementing with beta alanine may help your nervous system to recover at the same rate as your muscles, in turn, allowing you to train more often.