Pre-Exercise Arginine Supplementation Increases Time to Exhaustion in Elite Male Wrestlers

Abstract

Dietary supplements containing arginine are among the most popular ergogenics intended to enhance strength, power and muscle recovery associated with both anaerobic and aerobic exercise. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the possible effect of pre-exercise acute intake of arginine on performance and exercise metabolism during incremental exhaustive exercise in elite male wrestlers. Nine volunteer elite male wrestlers (24.7±3.8 years) participated in this study. The test-retest protocol was used on the same subjects. The study was conducted using a cross-over design. A single dose of arginine (1.5 g · 10 kg-1 body weight) or placebo was given to the subjects after 12 hours fasting (during the night) for both test and retest. Subjects were allowed to drink water but not allowed to eat anything between arginine or placebo ingestion and the exercise protocol. An incremental exercise protocol was applied and oxygen consumption was measured during the exercise. Heart rate and plasma lactate levels were measured during the exercise and recovery. Results showed that in the same working loads there was no significant difference for the mean lactate levels and no difference in maximum oxygen consumption (arginine 52.47±4.01 mL · kg-1 · min-1, placebo 52.07±5.21 mL · kg-1 · min-1) or in maximum heart rates (arginine 181.09±13.57 bpm, placebo 185.89±7.38 bpm) between arginine and placebo trials. Time to exhaustion was longer with arginine supplementation (1386.8±69.8 s) compared to placebo (1313±90.8 s) (p < 0.05). These results suggest that L-arginine supplementation can have beneficial effects on exercise performance in elite male wrestlers but cannot explain the metabolic pathways which are responsible from these effects.

Randomized Prospective Double-Blind Studies to Evaluate the Cognitive Effects of Inositol-Stabilized Arginine Silicate in Healthy Physically Active Adults

“…A meta-analysis of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials showed that oral l -arginine significantly lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure compared with placebo [6]. In addition to demonstrated benefits in patients, arginine supplementation has been shown to enhance exercise performance in athletes and active adults through an increased time to exhaustion [7], improved recovery [8], and delayed muscular fatigue [6,9]. In healthy, minimally active males (19–33 years of age), ASI supplementation (1500 mg/day) for 4 days significantly increased pre-workout energy levels, increased muscle hyperemia, or measured size, over baseline measured by upper leg circumference post-exercise, and reduced biomarkers of muscle damage during recovery from exercise, supporting its role as a sports nutrition ingredient [10].…”

Effects of Co-Ingestion of AAKG and HMB on Jumping Performance&nbsp;in Young Track and Field Athletes

“…There is also some evidence that ARG supplementation could have a beneficial influence on anaerobic capacity. Yavuz et al (9) examined the significance of a single dose of L-arginine (1.5 g •10 kg -1 body weight) given to 9 male national and international level wrestlers after a 12-hour (night) fast. The athletes performed an incremental bicycle ergometer test to exhaustion during which several parameters (oxygen consumption, heart rate and plasma lactate levels)…”

l-Arginine supplementation does not improve muscle function during recovery from resistance exercise

“…Amino acids are among the most common nutritional supplements used by athletes and recreationally active adults to improve physical performance and muscle recovery (Yavuz et al 2014). In particular, an over-the-counter supplement called L-arginine (L-arg) has received special attention in last two decades due to its probable ergogenic effects (Àlvares et al 2011).…”

“…Based on the aforementioned mechanisms, it is postulated that L-arg supplementation may improve muscle performance and recovery by increasing nutrients and oxygen delivery to the active muscles, improving clearance of waste-product, and increasing rate of protein synthesis. Despite an abundance of studies on physiological properties and ergogenic effects of L-arg supplementation (Bailey et al 2010;Àlvares et al 2012b;Yavuz et al 2014), no study to date has examined whether L-arg supplementation could improve the muscle function during recovery from a session of high-intensity RE.…”