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Beta alanine is a non-essential acid that is produced naturally in the body. It aids in the production of carnosine, which buffers the negative effects of an acidic build-up when exercising. This makes beta alanine a popular supplement for delaying muscle fatigue and improving performance in high-intensity, and short to mid-duration sports. In this article, we’ll break down the main areas in which beta-alanine can help you, its benefits, recommended dosages, and when to use it.
Research has shown that beta alanine supplementation increases carnosine levels in the muscles, which helps to delay the onset of muscle fatigue during high-intensity exercise 1.
Carnosine essentially buffers the build up of hydrogen ions, which are produced during high intensity exercise as a byproduct of anaerobic respiration, the energy production system used during high intensity workouts such as sprinting or intense functional fitness 2
In this process, the muscles break down glucose to produce ATP, and lactic acid as a byproduct. Lactic acid is then broken down into lactate and hydrogen ions.
The accumulation of hydrogen ions from this respiration process leads to a drop in pH, which increases acidity in the muscles, causing enzyme activity to be inhibited and muscle contractions to be reduced, essentially causing overall fatigue.
Carnosine is made up of both beta alanine and histidine. Generally, histidine levels in the muscle are high, whilst beta alanine levels are low. Without enough beta alanine, the body cannot produce enough carnosine to make a meaningful difference to performance. When you take beta alanine, it is absorbed into the blood and then into the muscles, where it combines with histidine to form carnosine 3.
Carnosine acts by buffering or neutralising hydrogen ions, stabilising the muscles' pH levels. By keeping the muscles from becoming too acidic, carnosine allows the muscles to contract efficiently for longer, delaying the onset of fatigue.
It is generally understood that beta alanine will benefit high intensity workouts the most which last between 30 seconds and 10 minutes 2, 4. These workouts tend to produce a lot of lactate, which leads to much more rapid acidification of muscles.
Meanwhile, short-duration exercises which are under 30 seconds, such as 100m sprints, may not benefit as much from beta alanine, as they don’t produce large amounts of hydrogen ions. Similarly, endurance workouts lasting over 10 minutes mainly rely on aerobic respiration for energy production and therefore may not infer the same benefit as shorter exercise bouts. However the nature of endurance exercise is that there are sprints and times where intensity needs to be increased such as hills, climbs or sprint finishes. Research shows some benefit for these situations 5, 6, 7.
If you are someone that does HYROX, CrossFit, functional fitness, team sports, racquet sports, shorter running distances you are going to benefit the most from beta-alanine supplementation
The optimal dosage for beta-alanine supplementation appears to be 4 grams per day for at least 45 days. This daily dose can be taken in a single dose or split into 2 servings throughout the day. Most of the research shows that those supplementing with between 3.2 grams to 6.4 grams per day for 4 to 8 weeks show increases in muscle carnosine levels 1.
It is important to be consistent with beta-alanine dosing over time, as it requires this loading period. The effects will not be acute/immediate when you start supplementing with beta alanine, but will build up as carnosine levels increase. You should also note that beta alanine has a 4-6 week washout period, meaning it will take this amount of time for carnosine levels to return to baseline after you stop taking it.
One of the most common side effects of beta alanine supplementation is paresthesia, which is a completely harmless tingling sensation that you can experience, especially at higher doses. This is not dangerous, and may actually subside after continued use of beta alanine.
In order to offset this, you may want to split your daily beta alanine supplementation into two 2g doses throughout the day and taking with food can also help to reduce symptoms.
Despite what the marketing of many preworkout supplements might tell you, beta alanine does not need to be taken immediately before a workout for it to be effective. As we’ve discussed, its benefits come from the accumulation of carnosine in the muscles over time, meaning that timing your doses around workouts is not necessarily needed. The real key with beta alanine is being consistent with it!
Some supplement manufacturers include beta alanine in their pre-workout formulas, which leads to this misconception that it has immediate effects. However, due to the research showing that beta alanine must be loaded over time to deliver performance benefits, we chose not to include it in our best-selling pre-workout, Workout Fuel, in order to only include ingredients which work acutely for that particular session. At Marchon, we sell beta alanine as a single-ingredient supplement, so that you can have full ownership taking it and loading it consistently over time without having to take a pre workout every day.
Before starting taking beta alanine, it is important to make sure that other things influencing your workout performance are dialled in. Things such as:
It is imperative to ensure that these aspects of your training and nutrition are considered and optimised before you start worrying about supplementation.
To conclude, Beta alanine is a very well-researched and highly effective supplement for anyone looking to improve performance during high intensity activities. It has an ability to delay muscle fatigue and improve workout performance, especially in sports lasting between 30 seconds and 10 minutes with repeated short burst efforts. Whilst some endurance athletes may see some benefits, it is generally sports such as CrossFit, Hyrox and functional fitness that have elements of both aerobic and anaerobic respiration which’ll gain the most.
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