What's up, guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com.
So what should be in your pre-workout?
L-arginine, or citrulline malate?
I'm going to try to answer that question for you here in a very simple way today.
I'm going to try to get simple, even though we have some complex things that happen inside
of our bodies.
That's what I promise, because I think if we can make it simple, understandable, then
it's something you can actually grasp and it gives a better understanding when you approach
supplementation.
So, l-arginine, let's start there.
Why do people take it in the first place?
Well, the idea is that we're trying to create nitric oxide.
Nitric oxide is a vasodilator, or has a vasodilating effect in our bodies, which will increase
the muscle pump.
That's why people will rely on these types of ingredients in a pre-workout.
So we get nitric oxide from here, and we get citrulline.
We do that with an enzyme that's in our body.
Now, what we have is, the citrulline can actually be converted back by another enzyme, back
to L-arginine.
This all looks so great, but the problem is, this is what's happening in our bloodstream.
When the L-arginine is in our bloodstream, this is what's going on.
But guess what?
We've got to get it into the damned bloodstream to start.
That's the problem because unless we're taking this intravenously – which I hope you're
not – then we're going to have a hard time getting this to the bloodstream because it
has to go through our digestive tract.
When it does, it goes down a different path.
It goes down this other path that enters the urea cycle.
So here, the L-arginine gets broken down into ornithine, which is an amino acid.
My handwriting sucks, I know that.
It also gets broken down into urea, which is a waste product.
The ornithine can actually be converted back into citrulline and the citrulline can be
converted into L-arginine again.
But you can see that this isn't a very efficient way to get to nitric oxide.
So what happens is, when you take L-arginine by mouth in a supplement, you're losing a
whole hell of a lot of it.
As a matter of fact, you're only retaining – studies will show – about 30% of what
you're taking in the first place.
So even if you're taking a massive dose of 10g or L-arginine, you're only actually winding
up with about 3g of it.
That's not actually very good.
As a matter of fact, there was another study that showed guys that had high cholesterol
were only retaining, maybe, up to 1%.
99% wasting of this, taken this way!
So, it's kind of counterintuitive to what we would think.
The better way to get here is to actually start with the citrulline, which will convert
to L-arginine – whether this way or this way – which then will become nitric oxide.
But the thing and advantage that the citrulline has is that it actually bypasses the same
metabolic pathway that the L-arginine kind of got ruined by.
So it bypasses the digestive tract, it bypasses the liver, and this way it actually gets to
the bloodstream, and can have this effect in a much more effective way.
You're basically getting a 300% increase – some studies will show – the numbers are all
over the place.
The idea is this, guys: you're getting a whole hell of a lot more retained from the citrulline
to get to the nitric oxide, than you would otherwise.
So it doesn't even really end there because we're talking about citrulline here in supplementing
the citrulline malate.
So I haven't even addressed the malate part.
All that is, is citrulline itself is just a free form.
When you bond it to malic acid in its malate form, then what we get is citrulline malate.
What the malic acid does is, it provides a second benefit.
This benefit is that it feeds something called the Krebs cycle.
The Krebs cycle- just think of it this way.
It's what produces a lot of the energy for your cells, especially for your muscular contraction.
The Krebs cycle won't produce ATP.
ATP, we know, is another good thing to help with creatine.
So if you're supplementing with creatine, even more important if you're taking citrulline
malate.
So you're not just getting the muscle pump effect, you're getting the longer endurance
effect as well.
So you're getting more energy, more prolonged energy from taking citrulline malate, versus
a plain citrulline.
But clearly, in terms of the choice between L-arginine and citrulline malate, the citrulline
is going to win out hands down.
The citrulline malate, of course, even more so.
So lastly, I'll leave you with this.
Two things.
One is dosing, and one asking why we're even doing this in the first place.
The idea behind the muscle pump?
It's a lot more than vanity, guys.
The muscle pump is actually – the nitric oxide itself – is creating a vasodilatation.
It's letting this, the muscles that surround our arterial walls, to loosen a little bit
so you get a larger vessel.
That will allow more blood to flow through, that will go to your working muscles, and
help you to train at a higher, or harder level.
The idea is also the fact that in since your blood system it's composed predominantly of
water, you're getting a lot more hydration of those muscles as well.
So that's one of the main benefits.
It's not just feeling the pump, but it's actually getting more nutrients and more water to those
working muscles.
About dosing?
I'll say this: no matter what you're taking, you'd better make sure your dosing is proper
because – what do I always say?
We're trying to put the science back in supplementation here at ATHLEANX.
I can take an aspirin for a headache.
That doesn’t mean it's going to work if I take 1/8 of a tablet of aspirin.
We know that aspirin will work, but 1/8 of a tablet isn't going to do a damned thing.
If you're going to benefit from supplementation you'd better make sure you're doing it in
the right dosing; the dosing that's supported by research.
You'd better be looking for about six to eight grams of citrulline malate if you want that
dose.
Looking for 1g, 2g is not going to give you the effect and the benefits that you're looking
for from taking citrulline malate in the first place.
So I hope this cleared up the confusion, or any idea you might have had about the difference
between the two, or somebody that doesn’t even know anything about them before watching
this video; now I hope you do.
If you're looking for supplements that put the science back into supplementation, guys,
I say it all the time; here at ATHLEANX we try to back up what we do.
Not just sit here and talk, but educate you as to why because I think the more informed
you are, the better you're going to be in terms of making the right decision for you.
Our supplements are over at ATHLEANRX.com.
In the meantime, if you've found this video helpful, leave your comments and thumbs up
below and let me know what other things I can cover for you here in these supplement
breakdowns.
What are the things that confuse you?
What would you like me to talk about?
I'll try to do my best to do that in the days and weeks ahead.
All right, you guys.
I'll be back here again real soon.