Tag: beta alanine

NO XPLODE Exposed

Today’s Thursday Throwback takes us back to 2011 and provides an inside look at what used to be a very popular supplement. Aside from the specific supplement referenced here, there are two big takeaways from this post that you should apply to ALL supplement choices:

1) It’s important to familiarize yourself with the brand. Because the supplement is completely unregulated by the FDA, companies can put whatever they want into their bottles. Simply, there’s no guarantee that what they claim the supplement contains (e.g. creatine) actually has that ingredient in the quantities they’re advertising. Some brands have gone through the process of becoming “NSF Certified for Sport” or have been certified by “Informed Choice”, which should give you a higher level of confidence that the supplement contains what it’s supposed to. I strongly discourage our athletes from going to supplement/grocery stores to by supplements. It’s unlikely a high quality brand is even carried at the store and a lot of the sales people at the more popular stores are dangerously under-informed.

2) A lot of times less is more. There are TONS of supplements, and supplement ingredients, out there, but the overwhelming majority have no scientific support that they actually work. A lot of times popular supplements contain a few inexpensive ingredients that do work, and a ton of “extra stuff” that doesn’t, and you end up paying a premium for inflated marketing campaigns and colorful wrappers instead of a higher quality ingredient. Knowing which supplements actually work can be tough to stay on top of, which is why I frequently refer back to this: Examine.com Supplement Goals Reference Guide. It’s nice to have an unbiased, comprehensive look at every supplement so you can quickly see if there’s research supporting it’s effectiveness.

The most informative, honest, unbiased look at supplementation, ever.

NO XPLODE Exposed

A couple years ago I wrote a supplement review that we never took to print. There was a considerable conflict of interest because the nature of the article could negatively impact sales of one of the site’s top sellers. To be honest, they handled it really well, apologizing to me and noting that it wouldn’t be good for their reputation with the company. I understood and still do; relationships are everything in business. With that said, I think the wide-spread use of this supplement is ludicrous and potentially dangerous. A deeper look inside:

NO XPLODE-A Look Inside

Assuming you don’t have an NO2 label in front of you (hopefully you don’t), let’s take a look at the nutrition facts and some of the other ingredients to see if we can pick out the ingredients out that are driving their marketing claims.

Calories: 25
Fat: 0 g
Carbohydrate: 6 g
Sugar: 0 g
Protein: 0 g
Vitamin B6: 25 mg
Vitamin B9: 400 mcg
Vitamin B12: 120 mcg
Calcium: 75 mg
Phosphorous: 535 mg
Magnesium: 360 mg
Sodium: 235 mg
Potassium: 75mg

Ingredients (get ready!):

In addition to the components listed above, N.O.-XPLODE contains N.O.-Xplode™’s Proprietary Blend, which consists of: L-Arginine AKG, L-Citrulline Malate, RC-NOS™ (Rutacarpine 95%), L-Citrulline AKG, L-Histidine AKG, NAD (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide), Gynostemma Pentaphyllum (Leaves & Stem) (Gypenosides 95%), Modified Glucose Polymers (Maltodextrin), Di-Creatine Malate, Trimethylglycine, Creatine Ethyl Ester -Beta-Alanine Dual Action Composite (CarnoSyn®), Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Creatine Phosphate Matrix, Creatinol-O-Phosphate-Malic Acid Interfusion, Glycocyamine, Guanidino Proplonic Acid, Cinnulin PF® (Aqueous Cinnamon Extract) (Bark), Ketoisocaproate Potassium, Creatine ABB (Creatine Alpha-Amino-N-Butyrate), L-Tyrosine, Taurine, Glucuronolactone, Methylxanthine (Caffeine), L-Tyrosine AKG, MCT’s (Medium Chain Triglycerides)[Coconut], Common Periwinkle Vinpocetine 99%, Vincamine 99%, Vinburnine 99% (Whole Plant), Di-Calcium Phosphate, Di-Potassium Phosphate, Di-Sodium Phosphate, Potassium Glycerophosphate, Magnesium Glycerophosphate, Glycerol Stearate.

Other ingredients include: Citric Acid, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Calcium Silicate, Potassium Citrate, Sucralose(Splenda®), Acesulfame-K, FD&C Red #40, And FD&C Blue #1 (These are mostly just preservatives, sweeteners, and colors).

I’ll be honest. I’m far from a nutrition and supplement scientist. There are some people that could quote strengths and weaknesses of research on most of the above ingredients-I’m not one of them. I do, however, stay current on research demonstrating consistent effectiveness of specific supplements. In that light, there are a few things that really stand out to me when looking at the excessive laundry list of ingredients in NO XPLODE.

If you scan through the ingredients you’ll see creatine, beta-alanine, and caffeine. All of these have been shown to be safe and effective compared to a placebo in eliciting greater increases in muscular size and strength (creatine), and work capacity and endurance (beta-alanine and caffeine), and there is some more recent work suggesting that caffeine taken in pretty high doses may be effective in increasing maximal strength via an increased neural drive mechanism.

The “get a big pump” claim of NO supplements insinuates greater increases in muscle mass and strength as a result of the NO2 precursor l-arginine (an amino acid), which is largely unsupported. Arginine MAY have some benefits in patients with heart problems, but only in higher doses (in the realm of 10-15 g) known to cause almost inevitable gastrointestinal distress. In short, there is no research-supported reason to think that NO2 will increase the size and strength of your muscles. Furthermore, it’d be fair to say that the overwhelming majority of the long list of ingredients in these supplements are worthless for the purposes of improving training outcomes in athletes.

Why All The Hype?

So why all the positive reports and borderline evangelical support for NO2 supplements? There are a couple reasons. For starters, this supplement has received a ton of attention from teenagers. Because it increases your heart rate as a result of the caffeine, those new to training love it. They feel more energized. They also get significantly bigger and stronger. Being logical thinkers, the conclusion is that N.O.-XPLODE gives you the energy you need to train harder to get bigger and stronger. Makes sense, but isn’t necessarily accurate. As I’ve written about before, EVERYTHING works for inexperienced lifters. In fact, I’m fully confident that front planks would increase maximum squat and bench press strength in inexperienced lifters. No matter what teenagers do, they’ll get bigger and stronger. The added rush from a supplement isn’t the cause of these improvements!

“Take NO-XPLODE! I started taking it two weeks ago when I started lifting for the first time ever and it totally worked!” – Typical Well-Intentioned, But Completely Ignorant Teenager

As I’ve mentioned in the past, my stance on supplements is simple. It needs to work (research-supported). It needs to be safe. And, ideally, it should be pretty cheap. NO2 supplements miss the mark on at least the first of my qualifiers, and probably the second. For those that swear by its effectiveness, I won’t disagree that you may get results from it, but it’s not from the nitric oxide components or precursors. Short of duct tape and a soldering iron, they’ve put just about every ingredient known to man inside N.O.-XPLODE. This includes creatine and beta-alanine, which do receive scientific support with regards to increasing muscular size and strength, especially if taken together, and caffeine, which is known to increase energy and focus. With supplements, like food, the less ingredients, the better. Stick with stuff that’s been shown to work and be safe. If there’s a long list of ingredients you don’t understand, don’t take it, regardless of what the high school kid working at GNC tells you.

I think we all need to be more cautious about what we’re allowing teenagers to put into their bodies. It seems that real food has become a minority component of today’s young athlete’s diet. Further, I think we need to take a step back and reanalyze other aspects of their lives if they can’t get a good workout in without loading up on artificial stimulants!

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

P.S. Never waste money on ineffective supplements again >> Examine.com Supplement Goals Reference Guide

Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!

Get Ultimate Hockey Transformation Now!

Year-round age-specific hockey training programs complete with a comprehensive instructional video database!

Get access to your game-changing program now >> Ultimate Hockey Transformation

“Kevin Neeld is one of the top 5-6 strength and conditioning coaches in the ice hockey world.”
– Mike Boyle, Head S&C Coach, US Women’s Olympic Team

“…if you want to be the best, Kevin is the one you have to train with”
– Brijesh Patel, Head S&C Coach, Quinnipiac University

Hockey Nutrition: Supplements

Today I want to wrap up this series on hockey nutrition by taking a birds eye view into supplements. If you missed the first two segments, you can check them out here:

Hockey Nutrition: In-Season Eating

Hockey Nutrition: What to eat?

Players generally look to supplements to fulfill one of two roles:

Improve health by either adding to an already well-rounded diet (rare) or by helping to fill in the gaps between what they should be eating and what they are eating
Improve performance and/or recovery

In both regards, there is a lot of controversy surrounding the necessity of supplements. I don’t think there’s a correct answer to that question in most cases, so I won’t participate in a futile argument. I will say, however, that whether it is POSSIBLE to get all the necessary nutrients from real food isn’t nearly as important as whether it’s PROBABLE that players will actually do what it takes to make that a reality. Moreover, supplements add an element of timeliness and convenience that real food can’t always offer.

With those things in mind, here are a few supplements that I have our players look into:

Whey Protein
Use: Use a serving as part of a snack when real food protein source is unavailable, and immediately before and/or after a training session.
Recommended Brands: Biotest Grow (TMuscle.com) or Optimum Nutrition (BodyBuilding.com)

Fish Oil
Use: Take 2g of combined EPA and DHA everyday to promote expedited recovery, low body fat levels, and overall health
Recommended Brands: Carlson Labs Elite Omega Fish Oil (Vitacost.com)

Carlson Labs has a bunch of different fish oil supplements. Because I’m cheap, I analyzed the amount of combined EPA and DHA per $1.00 and the “Elite Omega-3 Gems” turned out to be the most valuable.

Greens
Use: Take one serving everyday to help bridge the gap between optimal and realistic nutrition
Recommended Brands: Greens+ Berry (Vitacost.com)

Creatine Monohydrate
Use: Take 5g per day to help preserve muscle mass throughout the year. If possible, divide dose into two servings and take one 30 minutes before and one immediately after training or practice
Recommended Brands: Biotest (TMuscle.com)

Creatine consistently demonstrates improved strength and muscle mass compared to control groups. The concerns about excessive water weight and “losing it all when you stop” are completely unsupported.

Beta-Alanine

Use: Take 4-6g/day to improve performance in prolonged high intensity activities
Recommended Brands: Biotest (TMuscle.com)

Vitamin D3
Use: Take ~2000 IUs per day to help ward off the negative effects on bone strength and hormone production associated with insufficient sunlight exposure. If you can, get your school doc to check your levels of this so you can cater your exact dose more closely to your individual needs. This can have a HUGE impact on that mid-season/winter energy lull that most players go through.
Recommended Brands: Anything from the grocery store will work

Those are the core supplements that apply to hockey players. Of these, all but beta-alanine can pretty much be recommended to athletes in all sports, and even non-athletes. Similar to eating in general, supplements provide a means of improving overall health, which isn’t just a desirable goal for athletes.

Anytime I write something on supplements I invariably get a slew of emails from parents asking if these apply to their teenagers. The truth is that there is little to no research examining the safety of these things in teenagers. It’s unlikely there ever will be, as doing research on minors involves a more laborious research process and is generally a pain in the ass to do. That said, there isn’t really a reason to think that teenagers would respond drastically different than adults to the above products. As I mentioned in the recommendation above, I think teens may not have developed as significant of a Vitamin D deficiency as adults (yet), so it’d be a good idea to get levels tested by a doctor before blindly taking 2,000 IUs per day. Beta-alanine could be taken in lower doses (3-4 g/day depending on the size of the teen); creatine could do (2-3g/day).

Making the call on whether or not teens should take supplements is more a psychological concern than a physiological one. Many parents feel that allowing their kids to take supplements sends the wrong message, and that the kids should learn to eat properly first. I don’t disagree. Supplements should not be used to crutch a miserable diet. That said, supplements can support a mediocre diet, and kids need to be EDUCATED on why and how to eat well. Young athletes tend to get excited by supplements, making them more likely to be compliant with their training program and to pursue other information/behaviors that help them improve. This certainly isn’t the case with EVERY kid, but for many supplements is a “gateway” into more optimal choices. As long as they’re aware that supplements are just a piece of the puzzle, not the whole picture.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld

Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!

Beta-Alanine Supplementation for Hockey Players

Today we have a guest post on beta-alanine supplementation for hockey players from Danielle LaFata, MA, RD, CSSD, CPT, who is one of the nutritionists that does a lot of work with hockey players at Athletes Performance. I’ve started recommending beta-alanine to more of our players at Endeavor and they love it. It seems to help them push through their conditioning work.

Enter Danielle:

“Hockey demands the need for quickness, agility, performing at a high intensity, quick recovery, muscular endurance as well as coordination and strength. Also, delaying the onset of fatigue is key to maintaining performance levels. Fatigue can be classified through a decrease in energy stores such as ATP, phosphocreatine and glycogenic substrates as well as accumulation of metabolites for instance ADP, inorganic phosphate, hydrogen ions (H+), and magnesium.

During high intensity activities, such as hockey, the glycolytic and phosphagen systems are used resulting in metabolic breakdown products such as increases in hydrogen ions leading to metabolic acidosis. When the body cannot clear the hydrogen ions quickly enough they bind with pyruvate to produce lactic acid. Excessive increases in blood lactate have been shown to hinder performance with a concomitant decrease in coordination and skill. Athletes are no stranger to the burning sensation brought on from lactic acid. In order to help regulate lactic acid levels researchers have found a compound called carnosine, which can buffer this rise in hydrogen ions, thus increasing parameters such time to fatigue and VO2 max/oxygen uptake.

Carnosine is a di-peptide that is formed by the amino acids beta-alanine(BA) and histidine. Not only has it been found to decrease hydrogen ion production, ultimately increasing pH levels, but also acts as an antioxidant, inhibits protein glycation and because of its hydrogen ion buffering it may augment excitation-contraction coupling improving work output. Although it is carnosine that ultimately improves work capacity through the listed functions, it is the non-proteogenic amino acid, beta-alanine (BA), that needs to be consumed in order to increase intramuscular and plasma carnosine levels.

Although there are no studies to date on the use of beta-alanine on hockey players, we can deduce from the current literature that BA may be a beneficial ergogenic aid. Many studies have shown oral doses of BA at 4-6 grams per day, in divided doses, improved total work done, time to exhaustion and VO2 max. There have also been a few studies showing benefits on performance when combining beta-alanine and creatine. However, BA needs to be taken for a minimum of 30 days, in order for carnosine to saturate the muscle and be effective. The beta-alanine we use and find effective is a brand called Carnosyn® and comes in tablet form. “

References
Zoeller RF, et al. Effects of 28 days of beta-alanine and creatine monohydrate supplementation on aerobic power, ventilatory and lactate thresholds, and time to exhaustion. Amino Acids. 2007;33:505-510.
Smith AE, et al. Effects of beta-alanine supplementation and high-intensity interval training on endurance performance and body composition in men; a double-blind trial. JISSN. 2009;6:5.

Hoffman JR, et al. Short-duration β-alanine supplementation increases training volume and reduces subjective feelings of fatigue in college football players. Nutr Res. 2008;28:31-35.

Stout JR, et al. Effects of 28 days of beta-alanine and creatine monohydrate supplementation on the physical working capacity at neuromuscular fatigue threshold. J Str Cond Res. 2006;20:4.

Hill CA, et al. Influence of b-alanine supplementation on skeletal muscle carnosine concentrations and high intensity cycling capacity. Amino Acids. 2007;32:225-233.

Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!