Description

L-Citrulline Malate

We all know to drive your car faster, we press on the accelerator, which provides more fuel for the engine and we accelerate. In the human body, increases in circulation naturally brings greater amounts of nutrients (fuel) and oxygen to working muscles, while also providing greater waste disposal, including the lactic acid removal (you know, the burning pain we all get when he hit the gym, run or ride).

The combined effects of greater circulation leads to vast improvements in muscle strength and power, while reducing muscle soreness. This results in us being able to train harder, perform better, while reducing the muscle soreness that halts our training in its tracks. There is a chemical that resides within our blood vesicles which allow the wall of the blood vessels to relax and thus increases the circulation. This amazing chemical is known as nitric oxide.

HITTING THE GYM WITH L-CITRULLINE MALATE

The benefits of L-Citrulline Malate doesn’t just help with circulation, L-Citrulline Malate will boost your workouts, without the usual ‘stimulant’ action. In a recent study, subjects completed significantly more repetitions throughout upper-body exercise when consuming CM versus placebo (34.1 ± 5.7 vs. 32.9 ± 6.0, respectively). When consuming CM, similar significant improvements in total repetitions completed were observed for lower-body exercise (66.7 ± 30.5 vs. 55.13 ± 20.64, respectively). This means you can get through more squats! Overall rating of perceived exertion score was significantly lower  in upper-body exercise when subjects consumed CM versus placebo (7.9 ± 0.3 and 8.6 ± 0.2, respectively), meaning the subjects thought they were doing it easy in CM. Interestingly, CM exhibited no significant effects on heart rate at any time point. This means it was working at the level of the muscle and NOT working as a simple stimulant. CM is real muscle food and works where it is needed.

Wanna do more chin ups?

CM won’t just help you get through your ‘leg day’, it works throughout the whole body. In a study using trained male athletes, CM when compared to a placebo ingestion significantly increased the amount of repetitions performed for each exercise when compared to a placebo (chin-ups: placebo = 28.4 ± 7.1, CM = 32.2 ± 5.6; reverse chin-ups: placebo = 26.6 ± 5.6, CM = 32.1 ± 7.1: placebo = 89.1 ± 37.4, CM = 97.7 ± 36.1). Collectively, the study found that CM increased upper-body resistance performance in trained college-age males.

Aerobic Performance

L-Citrulline malate (CM) is a precursor to nitric oxide (NO) in the NO synthase (NOS) pathway and is known to increase exercise performance in younger individuals. With age, NO production decreases and augmented NO production may provide beneficial effects on sports performance among older athletes, due to NO’s ability to increase circulation to muscles. One study using 51 year old found that consuming CM before competition has the potential to improve tennis match-play performance in masters tennis athletes.

L-Citrulline Malate Summary

If you are keen at all about getting more out of your training sessions, you should be taking CM before each bout of exercise. The studies are in and this works. Whether you are keen on hitting the road for a 10km run or hitting the gym for a workout, taking CM will help you in the following ways.

• Improved blood circulation to the muscles
• No artificial stimulation, meaning this can be taken in the evening without keeping you up all night
• Improved muscle performance
  • Strength improvement
  • Do more reps
  • Make your workouts easier and more enjoyable
  • Less muscle pain (reduced ‘DOMS’)
  • Great aerobic duration of your body
  •  Get that ‘pumped’ feeling we all love

1. Eur J Nutr. 2017 Mar;56(2):775-784. Acute citrulline malate supplementation improves upper- and lower-body submaximal weightlifting exercise performance in resistance-trained females. Glenn JM1,2,3, Gray M4,5, Wethington LN4, Stone MS4,5, Stewart RW Jr4,5, Moyen NE5.
2. J Diet Suppl. 2016;13(3):269-82. Effects of Supplemental Citrulline-Malate Ingestion on Blood Lactate, Cardiovascular Dynamics, and Resistance Exercise Performance in Trained Males. Wax B1, Kavazis AN2, Luckett W3.
3. Eur J Sport Sci. 2016 Nov;16(8):1095-103. Acute citrulline-malate supplementation improves maximal strength and anaerobic power in female, masters athletes tennis players. Glenn JM1, Gray M2,3, Jensen A2,3, Stone MS2,3, Vincenzo JL4.