Beta-alanine
Muscle & Strength · Carnosine precursor
Tier A+
What this is
Best fit is 1-4 minute hard efforts and repeated high-intensity bouts: rowing, combat sports, middle-distance track, CrossFit-style intervals. It is a loading supplement, not an acute pre-workout trick; muscle carnosine saturation takes weeks. Less useful for pure one-rep-max strength or long steady endurance. Often stacks logically with creatine and sometimes sodium bicarbonate, but each adds its own tolerance issues.
Mechanism
Combines with histidine to raise skeletal-muscle carnosine, increasing intracellular buffering capacity during high-intensity exercise and delaying acidosis-related fatigue.
Dose & route
3.2-6.4 g/day PO divided for at least 4 weeks; sustained-release or 0.8-1.6 g divided doses reduce paresthesia.
Citations
- https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-015-0090-y
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26175657/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39032921/
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This is an independent synthesis of published research by a non-clinician. Scores are opinions supported by citations, not prescriptions. See the full disclaimer and methodology for how this score was produced and what it does and doesn't mean.