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Certainly, the sight of solidly "pumped" muscles during training gives a feeling of incredible joy and generally encourages the vast majority of exercisers to continue hard work. Among fans of bodybuilding sports, it is also believed that obtaining the appropriate "muscle pump" is crucial for the development of muscle mass, because in this way, a large amount of oxygen and valuable nutrients necessary for their desired growth are delivered to the muscles .
Pump Supplements
Currently, on the market of dietary supplements dedicated to athletes and physically active people, we can find a number of different products whose active substances affect the production of nitric oxide (NO) , which is responsible for a multitude of important functions in the human body, including the dilation of blood vessels and the regulation of blood flow in many tissues, i.e. the feeling of the so-called "muscle pump" . The active substances most often found in dietary supplements for the "muscle pump" include:
- L-arginine alpha-ketoglutarate (AAKG),
- Citrulline malate ,
- Glycyn Propionyl L-Carnitine (GPLC),
-
Icariin , found in the extract of the barberry plant.
Nitric oxide can be synthesized within the body from nitrates, a rich source of which are, for example, green leafy vegetables and beetroot juice or its concentrated form. In another pathway, the human body uses arginine, a relatively exogenous amino acid, to produce nitric oxide, and therefore produced in the body , but not always in sufficient quantity to meet its needs. Due to the fact that providing arginine in the form of a dietary supplement does not seem to be entirely effective (unfortunately, the availability of this amino acid after its consumption is about 1%), a much better solution is the appropriate consumption of citrulline , which is converted in the body to arginine and is involved in both the synthesis of this amino acid and is a product of its breakdown. What's more, in one of the studies involving recreationally training people, it was observed that supplementation with 6 g of L-citrulline for a week contributes to the improvement of exercise capacity.
In conclusion, it is worth emphasizing that achieving a short-term "muscle pump" during physical activity should not be our main training goal, but only a side effect of our actions and concentration on priorities in the form of muscle mass growth, increased muscle strength or even a reduction in spare fat tissue. Moreover, there is no concrete evidence that achieving a muscle "pump" during exercise translates into the expected muscle hypertrophy, i.e. the phenomenon of increasing the size of muscle fibers.
Literature:
- Sureda A., Pons A.: Arginine and citrulline supplementation in sports and exercise: ergogenic nutrients? Med Sports Sci. 2012;59:18-28. doi:10.1159/000341937.
- Bescós R., Sureda A., Tur JA et al.: The effect of nitric-oxide-related supplements on human performance. SportsMed. 2012 Feb 1;42(2):99-117. doi:10.2165/11596860-000000000-00000.
- Bailey SJ, Blackwell JR, Lord T. et al.: L-citrulline supplementation improves O2 uptake kinetics and high-intensity exercise performance in humans. J Appl Physiol 119: 385–395, 2015. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00192.2014.
Mateusz Durbas
Clinical and sports dietitian, author of numerous articles on nutrition and supplementation.
Official website : www.mateuszdurbas.pl
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