L-Citrulline is a non-essential amino acid and a precursor to arginine. L-Citrulline can be synthesized in the body as an intermediate in the conversion of orthinine to arginine in the urea cycle, it is also produced from arginine as a byproduct of the reaction catalyzed by the enzyme NO synthase. The word ‘citrulline’ is derived from ‘Citrullus’, the Latin word for watermelon, from which it was first isolated. L-Citrulline supplements are widely popular as ergogenic aids for both aerobic and anaerobic exercise performance. L-Citrulline supplements help the body produce nitric oxide, improve blood flow, increase training volume, delay fatigue, reduce muscle soreness, improve muscle oxygenation, detoxifies ammonia, boost immune function.
- How is the taste of L-Citrulline? How can we store it?
AS-IT-IS L-Citrulline is flavourless and is considered to be naturally sour by taste. You’ll need to mix it with a large glass of water, fruit juice, or protein shake to lighten the sourness. You can store L-Citrulline powder in the zip-lock pouch with which it comes or transfer the contents to an air-tight container and keep it in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight. Refrigeration is not recommended.
- How does L-Citrulline work in the body?
L-Citrulline metabolizes in the body to release arginine which in turn is responsible for L-Citrulline’s ergogenic effects. Arginine’s role is accounted for its role as the precursor to nitric oxide. Nitric oxide causes vasodilation of blood vessels by relaxing smooth muscle cells that line the blood vessels. By production of nitric oxide, L-Citrulline plays a crucial role in improving blood flow and better delivery of nutrients and oxygen to your muscles when your workout intensely. L-Citrulline helps the boy meet increased energy demands and reduce fatigue by increasing muscle stores of phosphocreatine. L-Citrulline helps eliminate ammonia by converting it into urea.
- What are the benefits of L-Citrulline?
L-Citrulline’s main claim lies in its ability to delay fatigue and build endurance. The pre-workout supplement increases nitric oxide levels in the body, reduces fatigue, increases muscle mass, improves more power during workouts, and reduces muscle soreness. L-Citrulline improves ammonia and lactic acid metabolism, increases vasodilation and adenosine triphosphate production. L-Citrulline reduces muscle acidosis which occurs during intense exercise, limits exhaustion, assists in maximum force production, increases training volume, and improves overall performance and recovery.
L-Citrulline is a fantastic pre-workout supplement that raises levels of arginine in the body. L-Citrulline is present in a variety of food, with its highest natural concentration present in watermelons. L-Citrulline is also present in small amounts in beans, onions, soy, and legumes. In terms of non-vegetarian food, Citrulline’s high concentration can be found in organ meat like liver and small amounts found in salmon and red meat. Since the concentration of L-Citrulline is highly variable in foods, supplements can be an ideal and convenient choice to increase the amount of Citrulline in the body.
- Who should take L-Citrulline?
L-Citrulline helps to improve blood flow through the production of nitric oxide, increases endurance, cognition, delays fatigue, boost your energy levels. L-Citrulline supplementation can benefit just about any athletes, football players, swimmers, rock climbers, gymnasts, cyclists, runners, gym-goers, weight lifters, bodybuilders. Those who aim for an increased muscle pump, faster recovery post-workout, those who want to feel more focused and active will see the greatest benefits from adding L-Citrulline to their supplement regimen.
- Is L-Citrulline suitable for women?
Absolutely yes, L-Citrulline is suitable for women as it is for men. Similar effects of boosted performance by L-Citrulline have been observed both in men and women. L-Citrulline is the most researched and well-tolerated supplement that increases the number of reps completed in resistance exercises, lowers the rate of perceived exertion, reduces fatigue resulting from an intense workout.
- Does L-Citrulline supplementation promote muscle pumps?
Yes. L-Citrulline improves muscle function and muscle capacity by regulating nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide causes the blood vessels to dilate, allowing more blood flow to your muscles when your workout intensely. The increased blood flow carries in nutrients and oxygen to the working muscles which enable increased muscle protein synthesis. L-Citrulline gets converted into arginine which increases muscle stores of phosphocreatine, thereby increases the ability to resynthesize ATP from ADP. The combined effects of greater available energy, reduced fatigue, improved availability of nutrients and oxygen allow you to sustain a heavy workout, boost your capacity to workout intensely, producing the muscle pump effect.
Yes. By efficiently increasing natural plasma levels of arginine, L-Citrulline plays a role in increasing ATP. Creatine is produced from arginine which increases muscle stores of phosphocreatine thereby increasing muscle’s ability to resynthesize ATP from ADP. This helps the body meet increased muscle energy demands. L-Citrulline increases nitric oxide levels in the body which optimizes the flow of blood and nutrients to the muscles. By increasing muscle energy demands, decreasing fatigue, and enhanced circulation, L-Citrulline supports endurance workouts.
- How does L-Citrulline reduce muscle fatigue?
During high-intensity exercise, the concentration of ammonia is augmented in skeletal muscles. Ammonia prevents oxidation of pyruvate to acetyl COA, which hinders energy production thus leading to exhaustion. The increased lactic acid produced during workouts causes pH to drop, which causes muscles to become acidic and fatigue soon sets in. L-Citrulline’s key role to reduce fatigue comes here. It converts ammonia into urea and reduces exercise-induced lactate levels. L-Citrulline delays fatigue by efficiently increasing plasma levels of arginine, which increases the rate of production of creatine which sustains energy levels. L-Citrulline through increasing nitric oxide levels, increases efficient delivery of oxygen and nutrients to muscles, all of which work to reduce muscle fatigue.
- How & when should I consume L-Citrulline?
Mix 2.5g of L-Citrulline in 200ml water, fruit juice, your pre-workout drink, or protein shake and consume it 30-45 minutes before you hit the gym. Using L-Citrulline pre-workout will allow you to do strenuous workouts with ease and will improve your overall performance. You can take Citrulline on an empty stomach if you are aiming for fat burn and do early morning workouts. On non-training days, you can supplement L-Citrulline prior to meals. L-Citrulline helps promote vasodilation, which helps increase the amount of nutrients and oxygen supply to the working muscles. This helps enhance endurance, lessen fatigue, promote more cellular energy production, better pumps. L-Citrulline may support better-oxygenated blood to the brain, which helps you to feel sharper, more focused during your workout.
- How long should I take L-Citrulline to find results from it?
The results of supplementation with L-Citrulline depends on several factors. We would want you to understand that dietary supplementation with L-Citrulline alone does not improve exercise performance and offer you the intended results of body composition. L-Citrulline supplement helps to increase your training tolerance to aerobic and anaerobic exercise. The ergogenic response of L-Citrulline depends on the training status of the individual. Regular disciplined training coupled with a proper balanced diet and supplement can fetch you intended results of supplementation.
- How does L-Citrulline improve sports performance?
Supplemental L-Citrulline increases the production of nitric oxide, which increases the faster delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the muscle tissues. L-Citrulline helps you meet the muscle energy demands of prolonged performance by boosting the production of creatine. L-Citrulline supports increased strength, distance covered in a given time, improves endurance, helps force your muscle into deep reconstruction during your recovery. L-Citrulline supplements increase tolerance to high-intensity exercise and the total amount of reps completed. L-Citrulline consumption eliminates ammonia accumulation, reduces exhaustion, improves feelings of fatigue.
- Does L-Citrulline promote muscle recovery?
Yes. Your muscles undergo stress during resistance training and during the recovery process, the body uses nutrients to support muscle growth and recovery. During muscle recovery, your muscles grow stronger than before and muscle size will increase. L-Citrulline contributes to recovery in a major way by boosting nitric oxide levels in the body and promoting faster delivery of nutrients and oxygen to the muscles. Your muscle creatine stores go down during your intense training, L-Citrulline stimulates phosphocreatine recovery after exercise, meaning you have more ATP and your muscles are primed for repair and recovery. Oxygenation, efficient delivery of nutrients, more available energy reduce muscle soreness and aids in faster recovery of muscles.
- Is L-Citrulline useful for erectile dysfunction?
L-Citrulline is a potent vasodilator that stimulates the production of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide relaxes blood vessels and enables greater blood flow. This may benefit men with erectile dysfunction. However, it’s always advisable to consult a doctor before deciding to use the supplement for medical concerns.
- Can I combine L-Citrulline and L-Arginine?
Yes, you can combine L-Citrulline and L-Arginine. The combination causes a more pronounced increase in plasma nitric oxide and blood flow compared to individual amino acids alone. The body converts dietary L-Citrulline supplement into arginine, the extra arginine stimulates greater levels of nitric oxide. More nitric oxide means more blood flow and better delivery of nutrients to your working muscles. This also means reduced fatigue, improved performance, and increased removal of waste products.
- Is L-Citrulline a safe supplement?
Absolutely yes. L-Citrulline is considered safe and well-tolerated and the side effects of L-Citrulline supplementation are uncommon. The only people who may experience negative symptoms are those taking L-Citrulline in high doses or those who are taking any medication that may interact with Citrulline.
- Can I use L-Citrulline with BCAA?
Yes. The increased rate of utilization of BCAA by muscles during training would reduce its plasma concentrations which are associated with muscle fatigue. BCAA contributes as an energy source during exercise, assists in improved performance and recovery. BCAA lowers the concentration of serotonin which could cause fatigue. L-Citrulline delays fatigue, boosts energy production, improves delivery of nutrients of muscles. Combining L-Citrulline with BCAA provides great results of muscle building and muscle recovery.
- Can I consume L-Citrulline for weight training?
Yes. Research shows that supplementing with L-Citrulline can be beneficial for weight training as well as for endurance training. Taking 2.5g to 5g of L-Citrulline 40 minutes before weight training can increase nitric oxide production, promote vasodilation, improve the delivery of oxygen and anabolic nutrients to the muscles. L-Citrulline produces positive effects like reducing exhaustion during training, increases training capacity, decreases amino acid breakdown, and reduces post-workout muscle soreness and fatigue.
- Which is a better supplement – L-Citrulline or L-Arginine?
Research suggests that supplemental L-Citrulline when compared to supplemental L-Arginine will lead to higher and more consistent arginine levels. L-Citrulline is better absorbed in the body and is readily converted into arginine. L-Citrulline produces a low rate of gastrointestinal upset than arginine when taken in high doses. While supplemental arginine provides a spike in arginine levels and is quickly removed from the body due to the activity of arginase in the gut, L-Citrulline increases arginine levels over an extended period of time.
- Can I take L-Citrulline with a protein shake?
Yes. Your resistance training stresses your muscles which grow back stronger and bigger during the recovery process. The combination of L-Citrulline and Protein supplement provide a constant boost to push through your workouts and recover faster. L-Citrulline by boosting the nitric oxide levels, enables better delivery of nutrients which makes you feel energetic and allows to perform more. Protein supplements offer a range of amino acids that boost muscle protein synthesis and muscle recovery. The combination of supplements can boost glycogen storage, promote muscle recovery and repair, optimized physical performance, training status, increase muscle strength, and muscle endurance.
- Which are the other supplements I can pair with L-Citrulline?
L-Citrulline can be combined with other ingredients to create a pump-enhancing, energy-inducing effect. L-Citrulline can be combined with caffeine which helps to increase energy levels and feel more focused. You can combine L-Citrulline with taurine for boosted energy during workout, increased muscle contractions, decreased muscle damage, and better recovery. If you are someone doing heavy-weight training or a high-power workout, you can combine L-Citrulline with Creatine, this combination will help you to exert huge force and get the most out of your strength workouts. L-Citrulline and Beta Alanine combination will increase time to exhaustion and improve endurance. L-Citrulline can be combined with BCAA for high-volume tolerance during training and to produce more muscle mass.
Click On The Links Below For More Information On L-Citrulline
What Is L-Citrulline?
How Does Citrulline Increase Endurance?
How Does Citrulline Reduce Fatigue?
Combined Effect Of BCAA & Citrulline
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