Beta Alanine every day?

[colontos]

I'm familiar with taking beta alanine as part of a pre-workout. Focus, pumps, etc.

Was reading some stuff about taking a certain amount every day, which, long story short, will increase the amount of carnosine in your muscles. Lots of discussion about this being useful for HIIT-type training, which I don't do. Read different takes about its effectiveness for regular lifting.

If I'm only interested in weightlifting/bodybuilding, would it be useful to pursue daily beta alanine supplementation? Anybody have experience with it?

[eatyourspinach]

It might help a little with endurance but nothing dramatic, there are better ingredients like cordyceps and nitrates that seem to work better for weightlifting from anecdotal evidence anyway.

[smokinal]

I've used it on and off before and liked it. Like creatine, it's best used when you saturate your body with it; rather than random doses. Recommended is 2g am and 2g pm, every day.

I'd get the tingles for 2 days when I would start up but they went away after that. I noticed a markedly increase in stamina though.
Creatine gives more of an explosive benefit whereas BA gives stamina and endurance. Hard to say if beneficial to a bodybuilder unless your sessions are long and gruelling. You may benefit from it if so. Can't hurt to try it.

One caution is if you have heart palpitations of any sort. BA is known to make those worse. I do and I noticed an increase in my heart palps when on BA. I did some research and found that BA and Taurine fight for absorption in the body. Taurine can help with heart function so I started supplementing with taurine along with BA. I ended up stopping both as I didn't see the benefits outweighing the trouble of it all.

EDIT: Should have said BA lowers your natural taurine levels, which taurine helps with heart function.

[smokinal]

Holy crap!!! Had no idea about the beta alanine/heart palpitation connection. Years back I went to the doctor and went through every test imaginable over the course of a year including two separate stress tests and was sent home with an event monitor. They found nothing at all.

My docs advice was to stop ALL supplements just in case something was triggering the palps. I stopped all supplements for a year but never gave up my coffee. Palps stopped and I noticed they would come back on occasion then disappear for months at a time. Haven’t had them in months and am thinking the last time I used beta alanine was months ago.

Great info, palps are scary!

Certainly could have been the BA or a combo of pre-workouts, coffee, BA in your Pre etc... I've cut back on the dosage size of my pre and heart palps are fine

[lucia316]

I'm familiar with taking beta alanine as part of a pre-workout. Focus, pumps, etc.

Not really. No.

Was reading some stuff about taking a certain amount every day, which, long story short, will increase the amount of carnosine in your muscles. Lots of discussion about this being useful for HIIT-type training, which I don't do. Read different takes about its effectiveness for regular lifting.

As Eatyourspinach said, nothing you'd likely notice as it's more useful in endurance situations. Since lifting isn't an endurance thing, the value is low.

If I'm only interested in weightlifting/bodybuilding, would it be useful to pursue daily beta alanine supplementation? Anybody have experience with it?

That said, save your money. If you want pumps, go with something that will actually induce pumps. BA has little to no value for weightlifting and bodybuilding. The reason it gets used in pre-workouts is because it can, and typically does, cause paraesthesia which leads people to believe, "ZOMG IT'S WORKING!!!!!!"

[readreindeer666]

Mr. tingles bro lol

[sharkbite]

Yeah, do too much all at once and your gonna feel it TINGLE