L-Arginine @5g/Day Reduces Lactate Levels in Male Athletes

While the NO-hype of the last years unquestionably is/was a scam, l-arginine, the amino acid that does not build muscle via increased NO-production, transpires to be ergogenic via very different mechanisms.

Scientists from Iran (Mozezzaneh. 2010) have now found that 5g of supplemental l-arginine significantly decreased the blood lactate levels of athletes (N=30) in the course of a 3 week supplementation period, but failed to induce consecutive or concurrent increases in VO2 max (a direct marker of exercise capacity):

Blood lactate level was significantly decreased in the L-arginine group compared to the placebo one. There was no significant difference between the two groups in VO2max at anaerobic threshold. Only in the L-arginine group, VO2 max at anaerobic threshold was significantly increased. In addition, there was no significant difference in VO2 max at anaerobic threshold for the placebo group.

If you remember the previous news on arginine, you may understand that I will repeat my advice not to flush your good old pre-workout down the toilet. Even if it was just for the cosmetic pump and the decrease in lactic acid, this is probably more than some newer and probably fancier products will provide.

Yes, Skin Bursting Pumps Will Make Your Muscles Grow

Arnold already knew: "If you want to grow, go for the pump!" A recent study by Soltow et al. (Soltow. 2010) expands on Arnold's hypothesis - what you need is pump and stretch. The scientists studied the effect of nitric oxide (NO) on C2C12 myoblasts and found:

NO, COX-2, and NF-kappaB are necessary for stretch-induced proliferation of myoblasts. Although COX-2 and NF-kappaB are both involved in basal proliferation, NO does not affect basal growth. Thus, NO requires the synergistic effect of stretch in order to induce muscle cell proliferation.

So, more NO, some stretch and / or skin bursting pumps? That reminds me of the good old first generation pump supplements with arginine, of which I can only repeat do not dump your good old NO Xplode, White Flood, Super Pump 250, VPX Shotgun, etc. down the toilette. It is not for nothing that they have been around for years!

What's more, Arginine and Ornithine (ingredients of the first generation Pump Supps) have been proven to improve exercise performance even when administered on their own. This is something one cannot say of most of the "advanced" ingredients of the next-generation pre-workouts, though.