Arginine Alpha-Ketoglutarate - Research Proven Benefits

<< Part 3 - Why Should You Take It? <<

I’m sure that all the claims you see about arginine’s benefits seem really promising but you should always seek to find the source of these claims.

I’d like to take some of the legwork out of it for you and find promising studies that back the beneficial claims of arginine.

Let’s take a look at a few of the studies I’ve found.

Research Proven Benefits

Study #1

There was a 10 day randomized study to compare exercise performance and body composition after taking two different supplements.

Thirty five men, around the age of 23, participated in this study.

They were randomly given one of the following:

• .1 grams of Creatine per kilogram of body weight + .075 grams of Arginine Alpha-Ketoglutarate per kilo gram of body weight

OR

• .1 grams of Creatine per kilogram of body weight

OR

• 1 gram of Sucrose (sugar) per kilogram of body weight (Placebo)

Body composition, muscle endurance during bench presses and peak and average power (Wingate tests – pedaling a braked bicycle “all out” for 30 seconds) were all tested before and after.

The results were:

• An increase in bench press repetitions over 3 sets for the creatine + arginine alpha-ketoglutarate group and the creatine group
• A significant increase in peak power for the creatine + arginine alpha-ketoglutarate group
• An increase in total body mass for the creatine group, but no significant changes in muscle or fat

This shows you that, at the very least, it was arginine alpha-ketoglutarate that helped increase the peak power in these men!

The increased endurance on the bench press was also higher in the group that included arginine alpha-ketoglutarate in their supplementation! The creatine + arginine group averaged around 35 repetitions while the creatine group only averaged around 31 repetitions.

So it looks like arginine alpha-ketoglutarate can help boost peak power and muscle endurance in young men!

Study #2

There was a 6 month double-blind study to test the effects l-arginine has on muscle force and power.

Twenty three postmenopausal women, in their mid 50s, participated in this study.

They were given either:

• 14.2 grams of L-Arginine (18 grams of l-arginine hydrochloride)

OR

• 18 grams of Dextrose (Sugar Placebo)

They were tested for their maximal isometric grip force, peak jump force and peak jump power before and after the 6 months.

The results were:

• The l-arginine group saw a significant increase in peak jump force

This shows that supplementing with l-arginine can help boost peak jumping force in postmenopausal women! It didn’t significantly increase the other tests though.

Study #3

There was an 8 week randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study to test the efficacy of arginine alpha-ketoglutarate.

Thirty five resistance-trained men, ages 30 – 50, participated in the study.

They were randomly given either:

• 4 grams of Arginine Alpha-Ketoglutarate (3 times a day)

OR

• Placebo

They had their one rep maximum bench press, isokinetic quadriceps muscle endurance, anaerobic power, aerobic capacity, total body water and body composition tested before, halfway through and after 8 weeks. The men participated in 4 days of periodized resistance training a week for the duration of the study.

The results were:

• A significant increase in the one rep max bench press for the arginine alpha-ketoglutarate group
• A significant increase in peak power for the arginine alpha-ketoglutarate group

This shows that arginine alpha-ketoglutarate combined with resistance training can help boost your max strength and your peak power! There weren’t significant differences in the other tests though.

So it seems to me that supplementing with arginine can boost your workout performance whether it has to do with peak power, endurance or maximum strength.

So I guess arginine really does have the research to back their claims.

But we can’t ignore the dark side of things; let’s see if there are any side effects to supplementing with arginine.

>> Continue Reading Part 5 - Side Effects and Cons >>