Slayer's Den

[01dragonslayer]

More Reps, Less Fatigue: Instantly​

Get more reps from every set and stay energized through the toughest workouts. Here's how.​

Jake is pumped for Monday's leg workout. He's well-rested and motivated. He's so excited that he walks out of the house without his usual workout nutrition drink. No biggie, he thinks. Nothing will keep him from training his favorite body part.

After his warm-up, he heads over to the leg press machine. He likes full-range presses where his knees almost touch his face, and he knows exactly how many reps he can get with certain loads.

But today, something is off. He hits only 5 reps using a weight he normally gets 8 to 10 with. And the workout didn't get much better after that. Forty minutes in and he was pooped, and he still had more to do. The next day, Jake was way more sore than normal. More soreness from a not-so-great workout? That sucks.

The only thing Jake did differently was forget his workout drink. Did workout nutrition make that much of a difference? His drink of choice doesn't even contain stimulants.

He remembered his drink for his next leg workout. He hit 10 reps on every set of the leg press using the same weight he'd used previously. An hour into his workout, he wasn't even fatigued. And the next day? Not sore at all.

Jake had experienced something that most of us have learned over the years: sometimes you don't realize what a supplement is doing until you run out of it or forget to use it.

What is Citrulline Malate?​

It's a compound made of citrulline, an amino acid, and an organic salt of malic acid called malate.

Citrulline is involved in the urea cycle. It helps remove ammonia from your body. (Ammonia is a natural waste product of protein metabolism.) Citrulline is also involved in arginine production. Arginine is an amino important for nitric oxide synthesis, which improves blood flow and nutrient delivery to muscles during hard training. The malate part is involved in the Krebs cycle – the process of generating energy in cells.

When you combine citrulline and malate into citrulline malate, it enhances athletic performance and reduces muscle fatigue. It increases ATP production, improves endurance, and reduces soreness.


Hack Squat1920×785 206 KB

Has It Been Studied?​

• One study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that cyclists who supplemented with citrulline malate experienced increased time to exhaustion compared to those who took a placebo.
• A study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology reported that participants who consumed citrulline malate experienced a significant decrease in subjective feelings of fatigue compared to a placebo group during high-intensity cycling.
• An animal study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that citrulline malate supplementation increased ATP production during exercise.
• A study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that participants who consumed citrulline malate experienced less muscle soreness 24 and 48 hours after intense exercise compared to a placebo group.
• Spanish researchers noted a 52% increase in weight training performance (bench press reps to failure at 80% of maximum) from citrulline malate taken before training. It also reduced subjects' muscle soreness by 40%.
• As reported in The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, advanced lifters – after ingesting citrulline malate – were able to increase the reps performed during five sets to failure of the leg press, leg extension, and hack squat using 60 percent of their 1RM.
• Citrulline malate allowed women to perform more reps to failure during 6 sets of bench press and leg press at 80 percent of 1RM according to a study in the European Journal of Nutrition. A similar study showed the same when experienced lifters used bodyweight exercises like pull-ups and push-ups.
• Citrulline malate supplementation may also increase nitric oxide production, which improves blood flow and nutrient delivery to muscles during training. However, research is a bit mixed. Some studies show a big increase in nitric oxide levels; others show little to no effect.

About that last bullet point: This is probably a matter of dosage. Not every study on citrulline malate is positive, but when you dig a little deeper, you find that these studies typically use only 2 grams of citrulline malate, whereas the positive studies use at least 6 grams. Since it's usually part of a supplement formula, make sure your supp contains 6 grams.