Supplement spotlight: Citrulline Malate

I made a conscious decision about a year ago to stop taking supplement compounds. Compounds as in, pre-mixed blends of various supplements with promises of various results. Things like NO-Xplode or ANOTest. I had gotten results from these types of supplements in the past. However, all of them contained proprietary blends of various amino acids, stimulants, or "natural enhancers." Why should I let a supplement company decide the best combination for my optimal pre-workout shake? Oftentimes they don't even list exactly what is in the proprietary blend, making it impossible to determine what your body is responding to and what it's not. There are also often fillers, sugars, or other junk that you don't want in your body in the first place. AND this stuff is all really expensive!

I decided that I would do research, and find which specific supplements had been proven in reputable scientific studies to produce results based on my goals. From there, I would purchase supplements on a standalone basis and create my own pre- and post-workout blends. This would allow me to ingest the supplements in the proper doses for my goals, and be a hell of a lot cheaper. After perusing some of the studies, I found that the optimal dose for most supplements was 2-3x what I was getting in the proprietary blend- I had been effectively lowballing myself.

Quick aside: as the years have passed, I've realized that supplements truly are the bit players in the Broadway play that is fitness. They absolutely have their proper time and place, but, nutrition is INFINITELY more important. If you eat like shit or half-ass the gym twice a week, woofing down a few scoops of magic powder isn't going to make you Superman. I think back to my college years, tubs and tubs of various supplements: my preworkout, my postworkout, my peri-workout, my AM compound, my before-bed compound, my test booster... I just wish someone would have slapped me and said "EAT BETTER" instead of my regimen choking down 9 shakes and 20 pills a day. If you're just getting started, get your arms around your diet and your workout routine. From there, you can start adding in a few supplements. 

With that said, I will write up a few short articles on the supplements that I use today. I am not saying that my stack is the optimal one for every person, and it certainly doesn't contain every single supplement that has positive research behind it. But I think it's a nice mixture between cost, result, and convenience..

One of the components that's included in 99% of preworkout mixes is L-Arginine. In a sentence, L-Arginine is a precursor for the synthesis of nitric oxide, and thus, a  potent vasodialator (widens blood vessels). In addition, there are some studies that show it may increase circulating growth hormone. In layman's terms, this is the main ingredient for insane "pump." Pretty simple concept, widen the blood vessels going to your muscles > more blood to muscle. L-Arginine's problem is that it isn't easily absorbed, and much (the majority) of it is wasted in the process of digestion. Here is the examine.com article on L-Arginine.

This brings me to the supplement of the day: Citrulline.

Citrulline turns into L-Arginine after absorption and being sent to the kidneys, so it is actually a better method of getting supplemental L-Arginine into the blood rather than L-Arginine itself. It's simply taken up to a much greater degree in the stomach.

Citrulline has been proven to improve aerobic and anaerobic performance at 8g/day (taken preworkout). Feel free to explore some of the links or do your own research. But the net-net here is that Citrulline will help give explosive pumps, increase recovery rates (less soreness), and delay time to exhaustion (squeaking out a few more reps). It can also help with erectile dysfunction. 

I have been taking 8g of Primaforce Citrulline Malate 30 mins preworkout for about a month now, and I have to say that I absolutely see a noticeable effect. A good example is, the other day I had a brutal chest workout, started with 6 sets of heavy flat bench, then moved on to incline barbell. On my fifth and final set of incline presses, I put 225 on the bar expecting maybe 5 or 6. I got a spotter, got in the zone, and before I knew it I had exploded through 9 perfect reps. This was my eleventh set of heavy bench of the day! I was incredibly surprised that I still had the gas to toss up that kind of weight, and blown away by how engorged my pecs were with blood. I find myself being able to use bigger weights and squeeze out more reps deeper into my workouts. In addition, I'm seeing myself becoming a lot more vascular in the gym as the pumps increase- getting veins in weird places like my delts, traps, and calves. 

That isn't the only supplement I'm taking preworkout, but the rest of the stack's for another week. In the meantime, go out, do some research, and decide of Citrulline is for you.