L-Carnitine: Energy’s Perpetual Workhorse

At first stimulants gently remove awareness – remove tiredness and actuate (excite) the mind and body.  It should be obvious to reasoning minds that borrowed activity must be paid for sooner or later. --Dr. John H. Tilden, M.D., Early Pioneer of Drugless Therapy (1851-1940)

As a hard working body builder, you are aware of  what it takes to generate the energy you need to pursue your performance goals.  While many bodybuilders tend to utilize a variety  of energy enhancing supplements that are caffeine based or are central nervous  (CNS) stimulants. This borrowed energy as described above by Dr. John H. Tilden may not be your best option.  These types of energizers will give you a quick burst, but will quickly send that borrowed energy south of the border.  Contrary to what supplement regimen you have been utilizing, you have the ability to naturally generate what is referred to as biological energy.  By tapping into this pure form of energy as nature intended, you can improve your workout performance two-fold.  The best part of this scenario is that nature already has a compound to help you generate biological energy.  In fact, you have about 20-25 grams of this compound in your system of which 95% is found in skeletal muscle.  However, stress, exercise, aging, and other factors can reduce levels of this dynamic nutrient. It’s role in human bioenergetics is so profound, researchers contend that:

L-Carnitine is unique, essential and that no other compound can replace it in initiating and regulating the production of biological energy.

Dr. Edmund Burke, the well known sports physiologist states that ‘L- carnitine  is essentially energy’s workhorse.”

                                                     Energy’s Workhorse

Energy is an elusive entity that you can’t see, hear or touch.  You however know when you are energized, when your energy levels are waning, and when you are again re-energized.  Somewhere within your cells, something drives energy toward its continuous  physiological  function.  That somewhere energy and fat burning takes place is in the body’s internal furnaces known as the mitochondria.  When you consume various food stuffs, it is L-carnitine that drives fatty acids into the mitochondria, that serves as energy’s metabolic rocket fuel, initiating and perpetuating energy’s recycle and dynamic force. L- carnitine also assist in the disposal of deadly ketones , by- products of  insufficient carbohydrate metabolism. Additionally, without adequate amounts of L- carnitine  present , the door to theses energy factories can’t be opened efficiently, thus hampering the production of energy and fat-burning processes..

Energy’s Rocket Fuel

The mitochondria provides the platform for the conversion of fats into energy, while  L-carnitine  drives the energy cycle by sparing the supply of glycogen in the liver and muscle tissue.  Energy stored in carbohydrates are converted to glucose, but can be exhausted rather quickly.  L-carnitine helps spare glucose during intense workouts, thus switching to fat allowing for its use at a rate of 75% to 80% of your exerted efforts.  This is a extremely important fact as your preserved supply of glycogen can be spared for use during periods of heavier workloads and or exertion.

Other Performance Benefits

L-carnitine also prevents delayed onset muscle soreness(DOMS). Present data has shown that when untrained subjects were supplemented with 3 grams daily of L-carnitine for 3 weeks, exercise induced muscle pain and damage were greatly reduced.  Researchers contend that this occurs via L-carnitine’s ability to transport more blood and oxygen to tired muscles.  L-carnitine also acts like an internal hammer, breaking up toxic-by-products that perpetuate low-grade muscle inflammation.  In fact, researchers at the University of Connecticut studying catabolic markers in exercised muscle tissue, reported that L-carnitine   reduced levels of hypoxanthine, xanthine-oxidase and uric acid, all catabolic markers found in damaged muscle tissue.  Additionally, L-carnitine lowers blood levels of testosterone via its interaction with androgen receptors in muscle tissue following heavy resistance training.  In practical terms L-carnitine acts like a  anabolic steroid by naturally regulating the flow of circulating testosterone into muscle tissues at post-workout. This is evidenced by the fact that when anabolic steroids combined with resistance training, the number and activity of the androgen receptors you have increase.  In similar fashion, L-carnitine has the same effect on androgen receptors.

Suggested dose and usage:

Take ½ hour before eating or a couple of hours after eating to improve absorptions.  For performance enhancing, take right before your workout, starting with 500 mgs daily, gradually increasing your range to 1000 to 3000 mgs daily as your workload and body mass composition increases.