Increase Your Strength with L-Arginine Alpha-Ketoglutarate?
When I think of body building, I think back to my days working out a gym (early 90’s) filled with guys wearing the baseball cap on backwards, with the tank top and those ridiculously oversized body building sweat pants (the ones inspired by M.C. Hammer). However, fitness advocates now refer to body building as “resistance training” and the popularity of this has broadened over the years. Tiger Wood’s pumped up physique has likely inspired as many golfers to purchase an athletic club membership as he has to purchase a Buick or a Nike driver.
L-Arginine Alpha-Ketoglutarate Supplementation:
For those who work out at an athletic club, many things have changed. Today, you’re as likely to see a soccer mom lifting kettlebell weights with her personal trainer or a gentleman practicing some new form of mixed martial arts on a punching bag as you are to see an old school body builder doing deadlifts. For all that has changed over the last 15 years from Tai Bo to Pilates or Bikram Yoga, there’s still one thing that hasn’t changed… In the weight room, the measure of a man still remains the same. How much can ya bench?
Today, I came across and interesting study on l-arginine alpha-ketoglutarate (Campell et al, 2006). This particular study involved an 8 week, double-blind trial of l-arginine alpha-ketoglutarate in 35 resistance-trained men. Compared to the placebo group, the resistance-trained men increased their one repetition maximum bench press by 8.82 Kg vs. 2.67 Kg over the 8 week period.
Dose:
[box type="note"]Note: Ingest 4 g of AAKG [l-arginine alpha-ketoglutarate ] (three times a day, i.e., 12 g daily)[/box]
Results:
Significant differences were observed in the AAKG group (P < 0.05) for:
- 1RM (One repetition maximum) bench press
- Wingate peak power [anaerobic sprint capacity]
- blood glucose
- plasma arginine
No significant differences were observed between groups:
- body composition
- total body water
- isokinetic quadriceps muscle endurance
- aerobic capacity
Conclusion:
“AAKG supplementation appeared to be safe and well tolerated, and positively influenced 1RM bench press and Wingate peak power performance. AAKG did not influence body composition or aerobic capacity.”
Safety:
“The present study is the first to examine the safety and efficacy of AAKG supplementation during resistance training in well-trained men. Results indicated that AAKG supplementation (12 g/d for 8 wk) was well tolerated and produced no significant changes in liver enzymes, liver or kidney function, or hematologic profiles. Moreover, no serious side effects were observed.”
Reference:
- Campbell B, Roberts M, Kerksick C, Wilborn C, Marcello B, Taylor L, Nassar E, Leutholtz B, Bowden R, Rasmussen C, Greenwood M, Kreider R. Pharmacokinetics, safety, and effects on exercise performance of l-arginine alpha-ketoglutarate in trained adult men. Nutrition. 2006 Sep;22(9):872-81.
