How and when do I use it?
- The most practical supplementation regimen entails athlete’s consuming a 1600 mg dose of ß-alanine with their 3 main daily meals and largest snack each day (i.e., 6400 mg of ß-alanine per day spread evenly over four eating times). This is likely to reduce the incidence and severity of paraesthesia, maximise carnosine loading by co-ingesting ß-alanine with meals and promote compliance for athletes.
- While the time-to-maximal carnosine content is variable (mean 18 wk with 6.4 g·d-1; range 4 to 24 wk), a minimum supplementation period of 4 weeks would be advisable in order to obtain an ergogenic benefit for specific exercise tasks (see below). However, it is not clear whether further increases in muscle carnosine (beyond those achieved with 6.4 g·d-1 for 4 wk) result in additional improvements in exercise performance.17
- A maintenance dose of ~1.2 g·d-1 ß-alanine seems to be sufficient to maintain muscle carnosine content elevated at 30%-50% above baseline for a prolonged period.
- Supplementation with ß-alanine in the weeks preceding a period of training where training intensity is prioritized and/or prior to periods of competition when it is desirable to maximize performance.
- There is good evidence to support the use of ß-alanine by athletes undertaking high-intensity endurance events whereby:
- Sustained competitive events last 30 seconds to 10 minutes (e.g. rowing, swimming, track cycling, middle distance running):
- Repeated bouts of high-intensity efforts are performed including:
- High intensity interval and resistance training.
- Team and racquet sports.
- High-intensity effort(s) are undertaken within or at the end of prolonged exercise (e.g. road cycling and distance running).
- The chronic increase in muscle carnosine may increase muscle buffering capacity or improve other mechanisms within the muscle e.g. antioxidant activity) that could enhance training adaptations by increasing training capacity.