Beta alanine, unlike creatine, is a lesser known supplement in the fitness world, but becoming more popular.  Beta alanine is on the verge of becoming as well known as creatine for its performance benefits.  While creatine boasts its ability to create a higher power output in subjects, beta alanine not only helps with strength and power, but also increases muscular endurance. 

Beta alanine has been getting praise for its ability to stabilize pH levels and act as a lactic acid buffer, but it is really carnosine that makes beta alanine look like a star. So what is carnosine? During exercise, hydrogen ions (H+) are released, causing performance to plummet.  When our body accumulates a large amount of H+ ions, our muscles pH levels drop, or becomes more acidic (the burning sensation in muscles).  Carnosine helps stabilize muscle pH by soaking up these H+ ions that are released at an accelerated rate during exercise.
I know the next question that you may be asking. Why not just take carnosine instead of beta alanine? Carnosine actually gets broken down in the GI tract into beta alanine, while some is also escaping.  Beta alanine then has to get converted back into carnosine. In this conversion process, you lose a substantial amount of the initial carnosine you have just ingested. From a financial standpoint, it is much more effective to purchase beta alanine.

Like creatine, beta alanine has very generalized dosing across all products and manufactures.  In a study done by “Nutrition Research” in 2008, 4.5 grams per day of beta alanine supplementation proved “higher training volumes and lower subjective feelings of fatigue”. 

Ingesting beta alanine may cause a prickly feeling on the skin.  Don’t worry, this is normal.  It is caused by the beta alanine binding with nerve receptors, activating them and causing them to fire.  Beta alanine, by no means replaces creatine, but it is the ultimate 1-2 punch to be taken with creatine to benefit strength and power, as well as, muscular endurance.

Have you ever wondered why a kangaroo hops? They are utilizing the elasticity of the tendons in their legs. This allows them to not only jump higher and cover long distances quickly, but they are able to do this without expending very much energy which is critical when living in harsh conditions. They do this using the powerful tendons in their legs. Humans might not be able to jump 20 feet in a single bound nor run at speeds at 40mph, but we can utilize the same principles to enhance performance.

The basic anatomy of skeletal muscle has a tendon attached to either side of the muscle which connects both ends to different bones. When the skeletal muscle contracts (or shortens) it brings the bones closer together decreasing or increasing a joint angle. These muscles and tendons have elastic properties similar to a rubber band. Imagine taking a rubber band and stretching it far apart, then letting it snap back. There are three phases to the stretch-shortening cycle. We will use a vertical jump to discuss these phases.

The first is the eccentric phase, or the countermovement. This simply means you are stretching the involved muscles and tendons. In the vertical jump this would be squatting down before jumping upward. Think of the rubber band the further you stretch these muscles and tendons the more energy you are storing to jump higher in the concentric phase. During this stretch you are pulling on specialized muscle fibers called muscle spindles that detect tension in the muscle. When a stretch in the muscle is detected it activates a reflex which causes the muscle to contract with a large amount of force.

The concentric phase is the contraction of the muscles required to perform the movement; in this case a vertical jump. During this movement not only are the muscles shortening to produce the movement but the tendons after being stretched are returning to their normal length; this adds a lot of extra force to your upward movement compared to just using muscle contraction alone. Remember during this phase the muscles will contract stronger than usual due to the muscle spindles.

The key to harnessing this elastic energy is the amortization phase. The amortization phase is the phase between the eccentric, and concentric phase of the stretch-shortening cycle. Unlike the rubber band our body takes energy to keep the muscles and tendons under tension. If we are in the bottom part of our jump too long most of our elastic energy will be lost as heat, we will lose force and usable energy, resulting in a lower vertical jump. The amortization phase should be as short as possible to harness as much energy as possible. So we should jump vertically as soon as we finish our countermovement. The less time between squatting down and jumping upward the higher our jump will be. Try experimenting with this. First squat down into jumping position and hold for about 5 seconds (the stored elastic energy will be released as heat) then jump. Next try squatting down quickly and immediately jumping as soon as you reach the bottom of your squat. Which jump was higher?

Now that we understand the basics of the stretch-shortening cycle we should train our body to utilize it effectively. One way to do this is to utilize plyometric training within a program. Plyometrics utilize various jumps, throws, and hops performed with countermovement in a quick, powerful manner. This type of training allows one to become more efficient at producing power which is a vital component to many different sports and activities.

[This is a guest blog by one of our Athletic Interns, Anthony Williams, an Exercise Science student from NCCU]

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) can be described as muscle pain, soreness, or stiffness that presents itself within the body after a day or two after exercise. Most of the time DOMS occurs when you begin a new exercise program, change your routine, or increase your intensity when you exercise. Some people new to exercise are not aware of DOMS, but actually it’s a normal process to a new exercise. This also enables your body to adapt and help lead to greater strength, gains and stamina as your muscles recover.
Studies indicate that DOMS is related to microscopic tearing of the muscle fibers and the amount of tearing relates to how hard and how long you exercise. Basically any movement you are not accustomed to can lead to DOMS. It’s been shown that eccentric muscle contractions or movements that contract muscles while they lengthen can cause the most soreness. An example would be downward motion when lowering the weight on a bicep curl, or the downward motion of squats and push-ups. At the present time, there is no known way to treat DOMS however ice and anti-inflammatory medications may reduce discomfort.

Stretching: It’s not a new concept and the majority of exercisers could list at least a few simple stretches without any trouble. Despite the pervasive knowledge of what stretching is there still exist many questions about its effects. Does stretching reduce post-exercise muscle soreness? Does it prevent injuries? Does stretching improve performance? Does it actually do anything at all? Stretching is a heavily debated topic among exercise specialists. It seems that everyone has their own idea as to what kind, how long and if it should be performed at all but what does the research actually say about stretching’s effects?

Recent studies have been supporting people’s notions that stretching may not yield all of the claimed results. A study of 77 individuals in 2002 performed by Dr. Robert Herbert found that on average there was only a 2mm reduction in muscle soreness on a 100mm scale, a negligible difference in most athletes’ minds. This same study also found that reduction in injury hazard was a mere 5% among participants. On the other hand, when it comes to performance improvement, studies such as one published in the 2006 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research have found dynamic stretching warm-ups to improve performance on a variety of power output and agility tests. Interestingly, those same studies have revealed that static warm-ups actually decrease strength and power output slightly. Based on these conclusions, there is a need for reconsideration of the pre-exercise static stretching routines that are commonplace in many exercise settings. Performance improvement is a goal of most exercisers so even though stretching warm-ups do not appear to reduce the soreness or risk of injury during exercise, a dynamic stretching routine should be included to maximize workout results.

For the individuals whose workouts are not based upon performance results it is worth noting the numerous emerging studies that cite stretching as a source of stress relief. Yoga studios and group yoga classes have grown significantly in popularity during recent years as participants consistently rave about its relaxing effects. While buying a yoga mat and signing up for the next available class is not for everyone, there is still hope for stress relief. Finding a little bit of time during the day, maybe just a few additional stretches at the end of your workout, could help alleviate that built up tension from a day full of screaming kids and frustrating co-workers.

How many kids today do you know that their favorite sport is track? Or how about kids that actually run track in the first place? Me either. Youth sports are dominated by football, soccer, basketball, baseball and more of the traditionally major sports. The problem with this is that most people stick with a sport they are good at or have played for awhile. So speed development gets pushed aside because of its association with track and field. Most would say that they have no interest in track because they are either busy with other sports or they find it less fun. Now a days there is a lot of sport specific training for every sport which is important, but it some times comes at the neglect of true speed work. If you think about what track actually consists of you will realize it’s the same basis of all sports. Running, jumping, and technique are the main aspects of track and every athlete knows that these are also the main aspects of every sport. The difference is when coaches begin to get away from these aspects and only focus on other sport specific skills. These sport specific skills are needed to learn how to play the game but coaches should not take out the basis of the sport itself. Track speed involves working on running mechanics, jumping mechanics and speed work. These things are often forgotten about when training for a sport. If you are one of those athletes that are trying to compete at the highest level but haven’t reached it, try adding track workouts to your training and get back to the basics of your sport. If you learn how to run better, jump higher and also get faster, you will be that much better at your sport.

You have been recruited to play at the collegiate level. The National Letter of Intent is signed or
going to be signed within the next month. Your technical skills for the sport are worthy so now you are
ready to play in college, right?

What many athletes, especially females, forget about when coming into college is the strength
and conditioning aspect of the sport. The competition in college is very different than in club or
high school athletics. Think about it, the team you are about to go play for is not only practicing but also
going through strength and conditioning training with a strength coach all spring. Why should you be
doing any different? This means it is very important to be prepared before going in especially for fall
season sports. Teams that compete in the fall such as football, soccer, and volleyball have only a week
or two of training with the team before being thrown into the season.

Coming into college strong and developed will help with injury prevention. I play on the East
Carolina Women’s Soccer team, and our coach always says that if an incoming freshman can make it
through the first fall without injury, their chance for injury for the remainder of their career is
significantly reduced. Why not decrease that risk even more by starting to work on your speed, strength,
and conditioning and agility right now. I tore my ACL freshman year and believe if I was better prepared
coming in it would have reduced the risk of tearing it.

Most likely, all of you “gym rats” at one time have heard of creatine and all the magical powers that come along with it. Well some of these “magical powers” are legitimate and have science to back them up. Creatine, simply put, increases muscle energy availability. Our cells store their energy as adenosine triphosphate or ATP.  The amount of ATP in our cells directly relates to the amount of work our muscles can perform.  ATP is then regenerated with the help of creatine during exercise.

Creatine is naturally produced in the body and is found in most diets in the form of fresh meats.  So why supplement with creatine, if our body already produces it?  Supplementation allows your body’s creatine stores to be more readily available for immediate use by the muscles.  Creatine, behind protein powders, is the most studied sports supplement on the market and has long been shown to increase maximum power output (lifting heavier weights, sprinting faster, etc.).

In a study published by the “Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research”, they took sixteen collegiate football players for a 10 week period and randomly put each into a creatine monohydrate supplementation group (5 grams per day) or a placebo group.  Pretesting and post-testing consisted of 1 repetition maximum bench press, squat, and power clean.  Results discovered the creatine group significantly increased strength and power, while the placebo group showed no significant change.

As you can see, these athletes improved strength and power from 5 grams a day of creatine monohydrate supplementation.  The standard dosing on most creatine products is 5 grams, but anywhere from 5g to 20g per day has been deemed safe and effective.  If you are looking to PR on your next big lift, consider supplementing with creatine.