Citrulline Malate
What is it?
Citrulline Malate is one of the most effective fatigue fighting supplements for increasing athletic endurance. No matter if you are a male or female ,an advanced weight lifter or someone just starting out, a single serving dose of 8g has been proven to significantly improve exercise endurance versus placebo for all groups.
Citrulline Malate is a combination of citrulline and it's salt form, citrulline malate. Since it is a combination ingredient, you'll often see it on a label as citrulline malate (2:1) or citrulline malate (1:1). The first number in the ratio is the amount of citrulline and the second number is the ratio of its malate form.
Which Ratio is Better?
The 1:1 ratio has shown to be more effective in clinical studies in comparison to the 2:1 ratio. Scientists attribute the salt forms' effectiveness to its ability to quickly ionize and be absorbed, along with malate's role in producing ATP via the Kreb's cycle. ATP generation via citrulline malate's reaction in the Kreb's cycle has been shown to increase the rate of oxidative ATP production during exercise by 34%. The combination of increased ATP production and increased blood flow due to nitric oxide's vascodilation effect, results in an insane pump when taking the clinically effective dose of 8g.
Mammoth-Fx Preworkout Powerhouse features citrulline malate in a 1:1 ratio ensuring the most potent pump imaginable
Increased Endurance
In a 2010 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning research, 41 men completed just above 52% more repetitions after supplementing with 8g citrulline malate versus placebo prior to completing a 16 set chest workout at 80% of their 1 Rep Max (1-RM).
The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research followed this study up with a 2015 study where advanced weightlifters that supplemented with 8g of citrulline malate were able to complete a significantly higher number of repetitions at 60% of their 1-RM when completing the leg press, hack squat and leg extension machines to failure.
The body of evidence for citrulline malate’s ability to increase endurance grew in 2016 when 14 resistance-trained males completed two separate workouts, one week apart from each other consisting of three sets each of chin-ups, reverse chin-ups and pushups to failure after supplementing with either 8g of citrulline malate or placebo. In this study, participants completed a significantly higher number of repetitions for each exercise after supplementing with 8g of citrulline malate .
Citrulline Malate and Female Athletes
Female athletes have also experienced statistically significant improvements in endurance after supplementing with 8g of citrulline malate. A 2017 study published in the European Journal of Nutrition, investigated the effects of 8g of citrulline malate supplementation on the performance of fifteen trained female athletes while completing six sets of upper body exercises followed by six sets of lower body exercises to failure at 80% of their 1-RM. They found that subjects completed significantly more repetitions for both upper and lower body exercises after supplementation with 8g of citrulline malate versus the placebo.
Increased Endurance at all Ages
The benefits of citrulline malate supplementation doesn’t stop at increased endurance, a 2016 study in the European Journal of Sports Science researched the effect of 8g of citrulline malate on seventeen female tennis players over 50 years of age and found that supplementation significantly increases maximum and average grip strength, peak and explosive power utilizing the Wingate test.
Reduces Muscle Soreness
The icing on the cake is that besides increasing endurance and power, 8g of citrulline malate has also been shown to be effective at decreasing delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS after a strenuous workout .
How Citrulline Malate Works
Citrulline Malate is effective at increasing athlete’s performance via a combination of different biological pathways. The first pathway illustrates citrulline malates' role in nitric oxide production and what causes the “pump” experienced. When consumed, it is quickly digested and transported through the blood barrier, resulting in an elevated blood plasma concentration of citrulline, and then is converted to L-arginine via the following reaction.
As you can remember in chemistry when you spike one side of a reversible reaction, you end up increasing the concentration of the components on the opposite side. Now with an increased arginine concentration we can catalyze the reaction of Nitric oxide.
Wait a second…
Why don’t we just consume arginine? I have seen that on other supplements label…
Unfortunately, numerous studies have demonstrated that L-arginine is not able to be transported though the blood barrier after digestion, resulting in no increase in the blood plasma arginine levels. AKA no effect, thus we take the back door approach.
Nitric oxide (NO) won Molecule of the Year in 1992, and further research on its role for its role as an effective vasodilator resulted in the Noble Prize in 1998. Vasodilation is the process of increasing the flow diameter of your blood vessels, resulting in lower blood pressure, while also increasing the flow rate.
NO works by phosphorylating several proteins in the muscle surrounding the blood vessels and causes them to relax. This decreased pressure on the blood vessels allows for them to expand and improve blood flow and delivery of essential nutrients, allowing you to push yourself deep into your workout.