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you've probably seen it in your favorite
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pre-workout but what does beta alanine
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actually do let's talk about that
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how's it going guys my name is Richie
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Kerwin and today we're going to talk
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about one of the most common ingredients
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in pre-workout mixes beta-alene what it
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is how it works what it's good for
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and how much is effective as always I
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want to point out that I'm not telling
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you that you need to take beta-alene or
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any supplements for that matter what I
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do want to explain what effect it might
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have and you can use that information to
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help you make more informed choices
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let's get started just so you know I got
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a lot of the information from this video
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from a great review paper by trexlertal
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so go check it out in the references if
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you want to geek out so before we
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actually speak about beta almin we need
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to understand a little exercise
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when we exercise intensely we need to
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produce ATP in our muscles to fuel that
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movement something I've spoken about a
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lot before in my creatine videos so
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check those out later making ATP and
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especially making a lot of it in a short
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amount of time also causes the buildup
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of some metabolic byproducts and one of
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those metabolites is lactic acid or
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specifically the hydrogen ions that are
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when these hydrogen ions build up in the
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muscle they cause the burn that people
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associate with exercise
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basically the burn happens when our
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muscles become a little more acidic and
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this can actually limit our muscles
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performance and make it harder to
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continue exercising now our body has a
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few systems to help counteract this and
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one of those is by using carnosine which
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acts as a pH buffer if any of you
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remember from high school chemistry a
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buffer is a substance that can help to
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resist changes in PH so basically
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carnosine can help stop our muscles from
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becoming too acidic which should help
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improve performance and allow us to
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continue exercising a little bit longer
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another way carnosine might help improve
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performance is by acting as an
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antioxidant that can help scavenge free
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radicals producing the muscles during
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exercise so at this point you're
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probably saying I thought this video was
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about betterlining what's all this talk
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trust me I'm getting to it
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see we can make carnosine in our bodies
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by combining the amino acids histidine
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and yes you guessed it
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like I said we produce it in our bodies
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and can also get it directly from the
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foods that we eat like meat poultry and
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seafood this is also why vegetarians who
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don't eat meat and older people who tend
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to eat less meat have lower levels of
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carnosine in their muscles this also
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means that these are groups of people
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that could potentially benefit even more
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from taking better you see supplementing
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with beta-alanine helps to increase
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carnosine synthesis and leads to higher
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carnosine levels in the muscles
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in fact supplementing with enough
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betaline for long enough for example 10
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weeks can lead to an 80 increase in
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muscle carnosine levels if you've ever
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taken a pre-workout there's a good
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chance that you've noticed that your
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skin especially the skin on your face
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neck and ears feels really weird and
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the fact is called paresthesia and is a
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very common side effect from taking a
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single big dose of betaline It's
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Perfectly Normal and perfectly harmless
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too and usually disappears within an
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you can actually reduce the effect of
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paresthesia by taking a timed release
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form of beta-alanine which will release
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more slowly into your bloodstream or
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taking smaller doses so that's what you
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feel when you take beta-alene but what
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actually happens in terms of performance
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well if an athlete takes the correct
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dose of beta-alene and we'll get to that
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in a minute they should see an
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improvement in high intensity anaerobic
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activities that last longer than 60
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seconds but especially those that last
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between two and four minutes a good
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example of this is time to exhaustion or
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tte trials this is where you get an
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athlete to do a very high intensity
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activity like running swimming or
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cycling at or above their maximal power
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output until they just can't do it
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anymore remember these are the kind of
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high intensity activities that would
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lead to a buildup of hydrogen ions that
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cause serious muscle burn which is where
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a buffer like beta-alanine comes in
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beta-alene has been shown to increase
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time to exhaustion by around 10 to 20
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percent in these tte trials that last
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between two and four minutes
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interestingly there doesn't seem to be
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an effect of beta alanine on very short
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duration high intensity activities that
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last under 60 seconds and this is
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probably because that's not enough time
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for hydrogen ions to build up and cause
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problems from muscle function beta-alene
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might also be useful for aerobic
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activities of under 25 minutes such as
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running and cycling Again by increasing
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some research has even shown that beta
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alanine supplementation may help shave a
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few seconds off time trial events like
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2000 meter rolling trials while a few
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seconds might not sound like much for
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competitive athletes it could mean the
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difference between a win and a loss now
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I briefly mentioned that you have to
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take the right dose of beta-alene to get
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so what is the correct dose well if you
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remember my creatine videos I explained
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that to get the best effects of creatine
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you need to supplement it daily to help
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build up the level of creatine in your
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it doesn't have any instant or acute
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well beta alanine is similar you have to
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build up the level of carnosine in your
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muscles by taking beta-alanine daily for
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an extended period of time
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so if the only beta Island you take is
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in a pre-workout once a week it's not
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giving you any sports performance
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benefits even if your face does feel so
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itchy it's going to fall off
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the correct dosage of beta-alene seems
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to be about 6 grams per day for an
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extended period of time of at least two
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weeks but preferably four weeks or more
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now if you took six grams of beta
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alanine all at once you might get a
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serious dose of paresthesia not everyone
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wants to be scratching their face during
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their workouts so the recommendation is
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to divide the dose of beta anine into
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four even doses throughout the day so in
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reality that would look something like
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1.5 grams each at breakfast lunch dinner
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and one more at another Point throughout
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the day supplementing with beta-alanine
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is by no means simple and I hope you
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realize now why taking a single dose
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before hitting the gym is probably not
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going to be doing a lot for you and just
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because I know somebody is going to ask
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after supplementing with beta-alene for
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like three months if you stop taking it
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it can take another three to four months
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before your muscle carnosine levels
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return to their Baseline
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now there's one question I haven't
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answered yet and that's whether
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beta-alene is any good for building
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muscle and strength in the gym here's
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the thing there's not as much research
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on beta-alene in strength Sports and the
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research we do have suggests that it
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might help to increase training volume
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meaning it might help you get a few more
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reps in resistance exercise particularly
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with high rep sets but and it's a very
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very big bot there is no evidence that
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shows that beta-alene on its own leads
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to Greater increases in strength or
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so if you're hoping to improve your
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intense anaerobic or aerobic performance
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in sports like running cycling swimming
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rolling or similar Sports beta alanine
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could be useful for helping to reduce
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fatigue but on the other hand if you're
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trying to get big and strong in the gym
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beta alanine might not be for you
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now that's it higher doses of beta
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alanine might have effects for muscle
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growth but we still don't have any
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research showing that so until then we
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can't say if it has any benefits for the
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Bros just like anything in nutrition if
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we don't have a clear amount of evidence
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showing its benefits I'm not going to be
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able to recommend it so when it comes to
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Beta alanine and muscle gain there isn't
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a clear effect so it may not be for you
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so did that clear everything up above it
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Allen as always if you have any more
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questions let me know in the comments
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below and remember to like And subscribe
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to the myprotein YouTube channel for
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more great evidence-based nutrition