Sanchez-Llanes, F., & Terrados, N. (2009). The effect of beta alanine supplementation on multiple bench press performance in judoists. ACSM 56th Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington. Presentation number 1127.

"During intense exercise, when lactate production is high, the ability of skeletal muscle to buffer H+ is important for pH regulation and changes in acid-base status have been proposed as a potential mechanism for improved performance. Beta alanine has been recently postulated as an ergogenic aid that could increase the muscle carnosine and then the muscle buffering capacity."

This study evaluated whether resistance exercise performance, lactate production, and buffering capacity were altered when consuming beta alanine over four weeks. Well-trained judoists were randomly assigned to placebo (5 g per day of dextrose; N = 9), or beta alanine (5.4 g per day of beta alanine; N = 9). The supplements were ingested two times per day for four weeks. Before and after the supplementation, Ss performed a bench press protocol (two sets to failure at 50% of 1 RM with two minutes of rest between sets). Ss performed the test at a given frequency established by a metronome. Blood samples were taken to assess changes in acid-base balance. Blood lactate was analyzed one, three, and five minutes after the test.

Mean number of repetitions in the bench press test was not changed in either supplementation group. Maximum blood lactate concentrations showed no differences in either group before or after supplementation.

Implication. Beta alanine supplementation does not alter resistance exercise performance (number of repetitions) or lactate production. Thus, beta alanine supplementation at 5.4 g daily seems not to have any effects on muscle buffering capacity.

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