Creatine and beta alanine: connection?

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Creatine and beta alanine are supplements used by athletes to increase athletic performance and protect muscles from damage. When combined, they can reportedly enable power increases of up to 35-40%. Beta alanine is taken daily for 4-5 weeks, followed by creatine for one week. Alternatively, both supplements can be taken every day. Creatine enhances aerobic and anaerobic training, while beta alanine increases efficiency and stamina in resistance training.

Creatine and beta alanine are supplements used by athletes and bodybuilders to increase athletic performance. Known to improve the supply of amino acids into muscle tissue, creatine and beta alanine protect muscles from damage and soreness. These two supplements also increase energy during exercise and help athletes heal from high resistance training.

While creatine can be taken alone to improve physical capacity, research is being embraced by athletes showing that beta alanine can make creatine substantially more effective. Researchers estimate that creatine alone is responsible for increasing athletic power by approximately 10 percent to 15 percent. However, when combined, creatine and beta alanine can reportedly enable power increases of up to 35 percent to 40 percent. The effects of supplementation are most noticeable during all-out effort for repeated but short bursts of effort lasting no more than 2.5 minutes.

There are several ways that athletes can combine creatine and beta alanine for benefits. One way is for athletes to take beta alanine daily for four to five weeks and then add creatine as a daily supplement for just one of those weeks, usually the fourth or fifth week. During such a cycle, users typically take 800mg to 1g of beta alanine three to four times a day. Creatine, in amounts ranging up to 5 g per day, is taken three to four times per day for the designated week.

Another supplementation program includes taking creatine and beta alanine every day. For this program, moderate amounts are generally taken, ranging from 4g to 6g for beta alanine and 3g to 5g for creatine. Many energy supplement manufacturers target athletes by combining creatine and beta alanine in one capsule for convenient daily consumption.

Muscles receive a spike in carnosine, a nutrient made up of amino acids, after exposure to beta alanine. This reflects the ability of this supplement to alter the ratio of components that make up muscle tissue. Increasing carnosine through the use of beta alanine allows for greater efficiency and stamina in resistance training and weight lifting, but not in aerobic training.

Creatine, on the other hand, can enhance aerobic and anaerobic training, allowing for better performance in high-speed running, swimming, or weight lifting. While muscles have natural stores of creatine, creatine supplementation gives the body more access to the energy-boosting nutrient. As a result, muscles can grow, develop more power, and fuel more extreme workouts before reaching failure. In addition to fueling better workouts, the combination of creatine and beta alanine can help users reduce body fat to develop a leaner physique.




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