Strength-enhancing supplements

Increasing muscle strength is an important goal for many people who are beginning their weight training adventure. All regulars at gyms and fitness clubs feel great satisfaction when they see themselves using more and more weights in the exercises they perform from week to week. However, increasing muscle strength no longer comes as easily for advanced individuals as it does for beginners. That's why a large group of gym-goers are pinning huge hopes on the use of dietary supplements that effectively increase muscle strength. So let's take a closer look at strength-enhancing dietary supplements that can actually help improve athletic performance.

• Creatine
• Beta-alanine
• Caffeine
• Citrulline malate

Creatine

The list of effective supplements to increase muscle strength opens with creatine, which is undoubtedly one of the most widely used substances with ergogenic (i.e., performance-enhancing) effects by professional and amateur athletes. Creatine increases muscle strength and power and improves athletic performance, especially in short-term, high-intensity exercise. The greatest benefits of long-term creatine supplementation are seen especially in those who regularly perform high-intensity exercise, the total duration of which does not exceed 30 seconds. This means that creatine increases muscle strength to the greatest extent in athletes training for Olympic doubles, power triathlon, bodybuilding and short-distance sprint running. To increase muscle strength, it is usually recommended to use creatine for at least six weeks at a daily dose of 3 to 5 grams. You can also use a so-called loading phase lasting the first 5 to 7 days, during which you take creatine at a daily dose of 20 to 30 g, and then for several weeks at a maintenance dose of 3 to 5 g per day.

Beta-alanine

The second supplement that effectively increases muscle strength is beta-alanine. It is worth noting that both the Australian Institute of Sport and the International Olympic Committee have classified beta-alanine into a very narrow group of dietary supplements for athletes that actually have evidence of their effectiveness in increasing muscle strength and improving athletic performance. Taking beta-alanine for several weeks increases muscular strength and endurance, and improves physical performance and training volume, such as allowing you to perform more repetitions in the bench press with a specific load. Long-term supplementation with beta-alanine will increase muscle strength and exercise capacity primarily in people who train such sports as bodybuilding, CrossFit, Olympic doubles, power triathlon, soccer, volleyball, basketball, ice hockey, rugby, combat sports, squash, tennis, hammer throw, discus throw, short-distance running (up to 1,500 meters), swimming up to 400 meters, short-distance track cycling (up to 4,000 meters) and rowing up to 3,000 meters. In order to increase strength and improve athletic performance in high-intensity exercise, professional and amateur athletes should take beta-alanine daily for at least four weeks at a daily dose of 3.2 to 6.4 grams. It is worth mentioning that the use of beta-alanine together with creatine has a beneficial effect on increasing muscle strength and endurance and increasing lean body mass, as well as reducing muscle fatigue.

Caffeine

Another superbly researched dietary supplement for increasing muscle strength is the well-known to all coffee lovers - caffeine. It is well known that caffeine has a stimulating effect on the activity of the central nervous system and stimulates the release of endorphins, dopamine and norepinephrine, so it can improve mental and physical performance. Caffeine is a supplement that increases muscular strength and endurance, as well as aerobic and anaerobic capacity, and improves athletic performance in high-intensity exercises that include sprints, throws and jumps. Caffeine has been shown to increase maximum muscle strength in the upper body, such as allowing you to perform more repetitions with a given weight and/or lift more weight in a lying barbell press. Caffeine will work well in strength sports (e.g. weightlifting, powerlifting, triathlon, strongman), team sports (e.g. soccer, volleyball, basketball), combat sports (e.g. boxing, judo, MMA), endurance sports (e.g. cycling, running, swimming), racket sports (e.g. tennis, badminton, squash), athletic competitions (e.g. high jump, long jump, sprint running), bodybuilding and CrossFit. To increase muscle strength, it is usually recommended to use caffeine at a dose of 3 to 6 mg per kg of total body weight about 30-60 minutes before the start of a hard training session, match or sports competition.

Citrulline malate

The last muscle-boosting supplement discussed in this article is citrulline malate. A growing number of scientific reports indicate that citrulline malate administered at a dose of 8 grams an hour before exercise can increase muscle strength and endurance and improve performance in strength training exercises in trained men and women. Gym-trained individuals who took citrulline malate 60 minutes before training were able to perform more repetitions in a given exercise (e.g., barbell bench press, classic push-ups, pull-ups on a barbell bar, leg push-ups on a crane, squats on a hack machine) and increase grip strength. It is worth noting that citrulline malate has an ad-hoc effect, so you don't need to take it every day to get the desired effect of increasing muscle strength and endurance.

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