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Written by Michael J. Rudolph, Ph.D.
27 November 2018

16NN171-NUTRIENTS

Best Nutrients for Power & Strength

And How to Maximize Their Use

 

 

Best Nutrients for Improving Power and Strength  

 Peak strength and power development requires the enhancement of muscular contraction in order to generate greater muscular force production. Increased muscular power and strength can be bolstered by certain nutrients that augment the force-producing capacity of the contractile machinery within the muscle cell, resulting in superior power and strength. Other effective power and strength-enhancing nutrients promote the production of cellular energy, particularly in the form of ATP, which drives muscular contraction, bolstering power and strength. Finally, the last group of nutrients that efficiently increase power and strength stimulate the rapid removal of certain metabolic waste byproducts generated during muscular contraction that decrease muscular contraction forces. As a result, muscular contraction is less inhibited, and muscular power and strength are significantly improved.

 

1) Creatine Monohydrate: the Best Strength Enhancer

 Creatine monohydrate is one of the most potent strength- and power-enhancing supplements on the market, with numerous studies demonstrating the positive influence of creatine monohydrate supplementation on strength and power, especially during high-intensity exercise performance.1 The unique capacity of creatine to boost strength stems, in large part, from creatine’s ability to function as a primary energy storage molecule that rapidly reverses the depletion of muscle cell energy (ATP) that occurs during muscular contraction. The maintenance of energy levels in the muscle cell boosts muscular contraction force, generating superior strength.2 In addition, creatine also improves muscle growth by triggering many different cellular mechanisms, including the stimulation of muscle cell formation3 and increased muscle protein synthesis4, which further contributes to the remarkable potency of creatine to improve strength, as larger muscles loaded with energy are even more effective at generating muscular strength and power.

 

Pump Up Strength and Power With Betaine

 Betaine, also known as trimethylglycine, is a nutrient that functions as an osmolyte within cells, protecting the cell against dehydration by increasing cellular water retention via osmosis. The ability of betaine to maintain hydration reduces the negative impact that dehydration has on exercise performance, such as increased heart rate, increased rate of glycogen degradation, elevated muscle temperature and increased lactate levels.

 

In addition to betaine’s ability to counter dehydration, this nutrient also plays a key role in the biosynthesis of the strength-enhancing compound creatine, essentially making it a very potent strength-building nutrient itself. In fact, betaine has been shown to significantly increase anaerobic power and strength in the bench press and squat.5

 

Power Your Muscles With ATP

 Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is another nutrient with an extraordinary capacity to boost strength and power. Oddly enough, the ability of ATP to boost strength and power has very little, if anything, to do with its primary function as the principal energy supplier for all energy-dependent functions within the body, In fact, studies have shown that oral administration of ATP degrades the high-energy phosphate bonds within ATP, and therefore ATP’s capacity to supply energy, yet oral intake of ATP still effectively increases strength.6 That is because the ability of ATP to enhance strength and power comes from a collection of extracellular ATP functions that have nothing to do with the capacity of ATP to supply cellular energy from its high-energy phosphate bonds. These effects are triggered when ATP binds to a specific set of adenosine receptors embedded within the cell membrane, initiating certain cellular-signaling cascades that ultimately produce considerable gains in strength and power.

 

Enhanced Contractility

 Calcium facilitates the interaction between the two muscle proteins actin and myosin, which directly drives muscular contraction. Therefore, more calcium within the muscle cell increases actin-myosin interaction, which generates stronger muscular contractions, increasing strength. Recent scientific evidence has shown that muscular contraction triggers the release of ATP from the muscle cell. After release from the muscle cell, ATP binds to the adenosine receptor on the outside of the muscle cell, triggering an increase in calcium within the muscle.6,7,8 In addition, it has also been shown that directly adding ATP to isolated muscle tissue also boosts intramuscular calcium levels, suggesting that external sources of ATP, or ATP supplementation, can also enhance muscular contraction.8

 

Since ATP increases muscle-cell calcium levels for improved muscular contractile forces, researchers wanted to see if supplementation with ATP could actually enhance muscular performance. One study by Jordan et al.9 showed that 225 milligrams of ATP per day for two weeks, combined with resistance training, resulted in an increase in total load lifted in the bench press, along with a significant increase in the number of repetitions performed during the first set. Another study by Wilson et al.10 showed that 12 weeks of ATP supplementation at 400 milligrams per day, combined with weight training, increased total-body strength as well as muscle size. Altogether, these results indicate that oral ATP supplementation increases muscular contraction forces, enabling a higher strength output.

 

Energize for Strength and Power

 In addition to increased calcium within muscle cells enhancing muscular contractility, additional studies have shown that ATP-induced calcium increase within muscle tissue also increases the influx of glucose into the cell1, supplying the muscle cell with greater levels of energy. It has also been shown that increased calcium levels within the liver from ATP consumption increase the conversion of glycogen into glucose11,12, so it can be used as an energy source by muscle tissue as well as the rest of the body. Since glycogen is abundantly stored in the liver, the conversion of glycogen into glucose triggered by ATP provides a large source of energy for the muscle cell, improving muscular strength and power.

 

Rapid Energy for Rapid Strength and Power

 Unlike the previously mentioned compounds, caffeine uniquely increases strength and power by enhancing both contraction force and cellular energy within muscle. Caffeine is able to achieve this dual impact because of the similar chemical structure of caffeine to the molecule cyclic AMP (cAMP) and adenosine. The chemical similarity to cAMP gives caffeine the ability to block certain enzymes that degrade cAMP, effectively increasing cAMP levels within the muscle cell. The greater amount of cAMP functions as a signal activating several enzymes within the muscle cell that break down glycogen and fatty acids into energy, resulting in more energy that boosts strength and power. The structural similarity of caffeine to adenosine enhances muscular contraction force, as caffeine can bind to adenosine receptors embedded within the muscle cell— triggering an increase in calcium release within the muscle cell which, as previously mentioned, raises the number of actin-myosin interactions generating stronger, more powerful, muscular contractions.13

 

Muscle Buffering for Strength and Power

 Citrulline boosts strength and power in a unique way relative to all of the previously mentioned compounds, in that it rids the cell of certain metabolic byproducts that inhibit muscular contraction— which in due course, results in improved strength and power. Exercise-induced muscle fatigue is due to many different factors, including the accumulation of certain metabolites within the muscle cell such as ammonia.14,15 During intense exercise, the conversion of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) into adenosine monophosphate (AMP) provides the necessary energy for muscular contraction, while also increasing AMP levels. The greater amount of AMP from muscular contraction results in higher ammonia levels because the body breaks down AMP into ammonia. The accumulation of ammonia inhibits the metabolism of pyruvate in the muscle cell16, reducing energy production while also increasing lactic acid production, which consequently has a negative influence on muscular contraction and exercise performance. Citrulline malate reduces the accumulation of ammonia by triggering the urea cycle, the biochemical pathway that reduces ammonia levels by converting it into urea. This, of course, reduces lactic acid accumulation as well. Moreover, the ability of citrulline to reduce lactic acid levels during high-intensity exercise considerably improves strength and power.17

 

 

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