Detonate Your Explosive Muscular Power by Boosting Carnosine Levels!
An Exclusive Excerpt from Stephen Adele's The Carnosine Breakthrough: H-Blocker—A New Science in Muscular Performance
Every month, magazine editors are filling their pages with news of the latest breakthrough in supplementation: carnosine boosting. New supplements are finding their way onto supplement store shelves. And consumers are asking, what is carnosine, and why should I care?
Well, over a year ago, Stephen Adele wrote the book about carnosine boosting. Literally. It's called The Carnosine Breakthrough: H-Blocker—A New Science in Muscular Performance. And it's filled with everything you could ever want to know about this new supplement category. In language you can understand and appreciate.
We decided it was time to shine a clear spotlight on this subject and start answering the questions everyone is asking. So here's an excerpt of the popular book.
Until this point in The Carnosine Breakthrough, I have been speaking somewhat generally about the benefits
of carnosine-boosting supplementation. I have used phrases such as "enhance muscular development" and "boost muscle performance" to describe the effects of this new, breakthrough supplement.
 "I have a hunch, after you finish reading this chapter, you'll be pushing at the gate to start putting the power of the world's first carnosine-booster, H-Blocker, to use!" But make no mistake: these descriptions, in my opinion, barely scratch the surface. They're actually an understatement of the truly exciting benefits you can really expect from carnosine loading. As a matter of fact, there are actually no fewer than seven distinct benefits of carnosine-boosting supplementation relevant to your performance, the new lean body mass you can gain from workouts, and the results you get from them. In this chapter, I will detail each of these special benefits.
And you know what? I have a hunch, after you finish reading this chapter, you'll be pushing at the gate to start putting the power of the world's first carnosine-booster, H-Blocker, to use!
 Benefit #1: Immediate, Explosive Strength and Power Gains
Carnosine-boosting supplementation, such as H-Blocker, increases maximum muscle strength and power in both indirect and direct ways... and better yet, you can expect these increases from the very first time you use it.
By improving your resistance to muscular acidosis, carnosine-boosting supplementation increases your training capacity, and by taking advantage of your increased training capacity, you can achieve greater improvements in maximum strength and power.
For example, very soon after beginning to use carnosine-boosting supplementation, you might find that instead of eight reps with 100 lbs, you can do 10 reps with 100 lbs. Instead of two sets, you can do three. If you take advantage of the increased training capacity and squeeze out those extra reps and sets, you will stimulate a greater adaptive response in your body that will enhance your maximum strength and power. This, in turn, allows you to further increase your workload in the gym, which will trigger even greater results in muscle mass and strength capacity.
Research has shown that, when it comes to increasing maximum muscle strength and power, the two most important training variables are the intensity of lifts and the volume of lifting. The higher the intensity of your lifts and the more total lifting you do (within the limits of what your muscles can recover from of course), the faster you will gain strength and power.
Carnosine-boosting supplementation allows you to increase your training volume by increasing the amount of high-intensity work your muscles can do before they become fatigued. This in turn enhances all the benefits that come from "super" intense training, including increased maximum strength and power.
What's more, carnosine loading may also enhance maximum strength and power in a more direct way. There are two functions of carnosine in the muscles I have not mentioned previously because they are considered secondary to its role as a hydrogen-binder and pH-controlling agent. But these functions are hardly unimportant for those seeking to increase the strength and power of their muscles.
First, carnosine enhances energy supply to the muscles by activating phosphorylase, an enzyme that removes individual glucose molecules from the long chains of glucose molecules called glycogen that are stored in muscle cells9. It is these individual glucose molecules that are used to replenish ATP through anaerobic glycolysis.
Phosphorylase is like a fuel line that connects the fuel tank (glycogen) to the engine (myosin). Carnosine, in this particular function, is like a fuel injector, which gets fuel from the fuel tank through the fuel line to the engine faster, so the engine can produce more power.
Carnosine also activates ATPase, which is the name we give to the contractile protein myosin when we consider its role as the enzyme responsible for breaking down ATP10. As you recall, the breakdown of ATP releases the energy that allows myosin to bind to the other contractile protein, actin. When this happens, the muscle fiber contracts.
 "Carnosine-boosting supplementation, such as H-Blocker, allows you to increase your training volume by increasing the amount of high-intensity work your muscles can do before they become fatigued." It is well known that the more ATPase activity there is in a muscle fiber, the faster it can shorten (contract), and the faster it can shorten, the more powerful it is. So, by increasing ATPase activity through carnosine loading, you essentially enhance the ability of the muscle to break down ATP to bring about contraction. If you are confused... don't worry. I was too at one time, but let me see if I can help clear up this confusion with a simple analogy.
Imagine a row of 20 kegs filled with gunpowder, each with a 50-lb weight on top of it. The powder kegs represent ATP molecules (energy source) and the 50-lb weights represent the contractile proteins. When the powder in a keg explodes and a weight shoots into the sky, this represents a muscle contraction.
Continuing the analogy, ATPase is essentially a flame that lights a powder keg and allows it to explode and shoot a weight into the sky. The more powder kegs you can light and explode simultaneously, the more total weight you can lift. And the more ATPase you can activate, the more powder kegs you can light at one time. Since carnosine activates ATPase, it enables you to lift more weight, faster. And you don't have to wait one, two, three, four, or eight weeks to "feel" carnosine working. It makes your muscles stronger and more powerful, from the very first time you try it!
Benefit #2: Increased Training Intensity and Workload Capacity
The primary job of carnosine in the muscles is to counteract one of the primary causes of muscle fatigue during high-intensity exercise: muscular acidosis. By increasing the concentration of carnosine in your muscles through supplementation, you will be able to delay muscular acidosis longer. Consequently, you'll train much more intensely (whether it's more sets, reps, or using heavier weights while training or more or longer intervals of cardio exercise at a given intensity of training) before reaching exhaustion.
Quite simply, you'll continue to stave off the "inevitable" muscle failure.
As you read in the previous chapter, anaerobic glycolysis is a major source of energy for high-intensity muscle contractions. Positively charged hydrogen ions are a byproduct of anaerobic glycolysis. During sustained work at high intensities, hydrogen ions begin to accumulate in the muscle tissue, lowering the pH and thereby hastening exhaustion.
If you remember, there are actually two distinct ways hydrogen ions cause muscle fatigue. First, they prevent the contractile proteins actin and myosin from binding, and as we know, the binding of these two proteins is the essence of muscle contraction, power, and force. In addition, hydrogen ions inhibit the activity of PFK, an enzyme that plays a key role in allowing glucose to regenerate ATP (the immediate "energy" source for all muscle contractions) through anaerobic glycolysis. The activity of PFK is pH-dependent, so as the accumulation of hydrogen ions causes muscle pH to drop, PFK becomes less and less effective, causing the muscle to run out of ATP.
Consequently, as we've come to learn, carnosine helps prevent both of these causes of muscle fatigue by soaking up hydrogen ions like a sponge. Basically, the more carnosine a muscle fiber contains, the more hydrogen ions can be neutralized, and the longer the muscle can continue contracting and "working" at high intensities. More simply, carnosine-boosting supplementation dramatically increases muscle carnosine levels
and, as a result, increases the amount of capacity and workload the muscles can do at higher intensities.
 "...beta-alanine increased the muscle carnosine concentration of subjects by a whopping 58% and increased their anaerobic work capacity (as measured in a stationary cycling test) by a respectable 16% compared to placebo." This was demonstrated in a recent study by a group of American researchers11. Their research showed that after four weeks of supplementation with beta-alanine (you'll recall that beta-alanine is one of the two primary amino acids comprising carnosine) increased the muscle carnosine concentration of subjects by a whopping 58% and increased their anaerobic work capacity (as measured in a stationary cycling test) by a respectable 16% compared to placebo. As you can see, these types of results clearly demonstrate that increased carnosine levels and increased anaerobic work capacity go hand-in-hand.
Benefit #3: Faster Recovery Between Sets, Reps, and Workouts
When we think about muscle recovery, we usually think about the couple of days between our workouts. But in weightlifting, muscle recovery also occurs between exercise sets and, believe it or not, even between repetitions within a set. And the best news about carnosine-boosting is that it's able to accelerate the in-between workout recovery as well as the very short-term type of recovery that occurs during your workouts.
You know something? In all my research, I think this is definitely one of the most intriguing discoveries about carnosine (right inline with its influence on the "trainable" Type IIx muscle fibers for rapid growth, but more on that later).
See, when you rest between sets or pause briefly between repetitions, anaerobic glycolysis in the muscles slows dramatically, and the production of hydrogen ions slows equally. This gives carnosine a chance to play "catch-up," rapidly soaking up hydrogen ions produced in the recently completed set or repetition.
Ever wondered why a mere one-second pause between repetitions actually helps—in other words, why can you do more reps with a given weight when you pause between repetitions than you can when you don't pause? Well, biochemical reactions in muscles occur at lightening speed, so while one second might not seem like much to you, it's a great big window of opportunity for your intramuscular carnosine stores to take full advantage of.
Most researchers would agree, the more carnosine you have stored in your muscles, the more hydrogen ions it can neutralize between sets and reps, the further out you will push the onset of muscular fatigue, and at the same time, the faster you will recover between each set and repetition. As a result, this allows you to take on a higher workload in workouts and enhance the training effect you get from them.
In a similar way, what's great is carnosine loading can accelerate recovery between hard intervals in your cardio workouts too. Even if you perform active instead of passive recoveries (as an example, even if you merely slow down instead of completing stopping while you're "resting") between intervals, increasing your intramuscular carnosine stores will allow you to recover faster and more fully so you can perform at a higher level of intensity in the next interval.
See, when you slow down from a hard anaerobic intensity level to an easy aerobic intensity level at the end of an interval, the rate of anaerobic glycolysis and hydrogen ion production plummets, opening that window of opportunity for carnosine to work its magic. The net result is you will derive greater benefits from your interval cardio workouts, too.
On top of all that, going back to our first point, carnosine-boosting supplementation may also enhance muscle recovery between workouts. The critical 24 to 48 hours between training sessions. This is because hard workouts reduce muscle carnosine stores, creating a need for additional carnosine replenishment. The fact is, the lower your muscle carnosine stores are at the beginning of a workout, the faster you will become fatigued in the workout. Carnosine-boosting supplementation allows you to complete workouts with more available carnosine and replenish your carnosine stores faster between workouts, so, in less time than it normally takes you to recover, you are
physiologically "adapted." Thus, you're able to work out sooner and perform better in the next workout.
So, in other words, the next time you work out, even if it's in the next day or two, you won't be dragging yourself into the gym, still sore. Instead, you'll be all "fired up" and ready to give it everything you've got—to get the most out of every workout. Think about it: with carnosine, you'll never again have to worry about another bad workout!
 Think about it: with carnosine, you'll never again have to worry about another bad workout! Benefit #4: Permanent/On-Going Muscle Hypertrophy, through the
Influence of Type IIx Fibers
Before I start, I should first tell you, just in case you aren't familiar with the word hypertrophy, that it technically means "increased ventricular mass." So, in the sense of skeletal muscle, which is what we're most concerned with, hypertrophy is the growth of muscle cells—in mass, girth, and volume.
There are various types of fibers in our muscles. And those various muscle fiber types have varying capacities for growth or hypertrophy. For instance, Type I fibers, the aerobic, "slow-twitch" specialists, have very little capacity for growth. Type IIx, "fast-twitch" muscle fibers, on the other hand, have the greatest capacity for growth. (I guess that's why most researchers call Type IIx the "trainable" fibers, because, once influenced, they tend to grow so much more easily than their counterpart, Type I).
Coincidentally, Type IIx fibers are also the greatest hydrogen ion producers, yet at the same time, they contain the highest concentrations of carnosine. What's interesting is that the highest carnosine levels ever recorded in humans were found in professional bodybuilders. You probably won't be surprised to learn it was Mark Tallon who discovered this. In a study published in the November 2005 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Tallon and his team took biopsies of the vastus lateralis muscles of six national-level competitive bodybuilders and six age-matched untrained, but moderately active, healthy subjects5. What Tallon found was that muscle carnosine in the bodybuilders was twice that in controls (the untrained group of men). The significance of this finding caused the researchers to estimate that these incredible carnosine levels represented at least a 20% contribution to their overall muscle buffering capacity, and an astounding 40% contribution to the buffering capacity of their Type II fibers.
Tallon could only speculate as to why the muscle carnosine levels in these bodybuilders were so high. He stated that training was certainly a contributor, and he could not rule out a possible effect of anabolic steroids. But he could conclude that carnosine, somehow, played a role in influencing the Type IIx fibers, and as a result, is certain there is a very strong correlation between muscle carnosine levels and muscle hypertrophy.
Now, keep in mind, fast-twitch fibers are the muscle fibers that have the potential to make you almost "super-human." They are the muscle fibers athletes need to set world records in track and field events like sprinting and in powerlifting... they're the fibers that have the capacity to grow beyond your wildest imagination... they're the fibers every athlete (especially those, like you and me, who are serious about training with weights) wish we had lots more of.
The good new is, as I just shared, "fast-twitch" muscle fibers have a much greater potential for muscle growth than Type I fibers or "slow-twitch" fibers. The bad news, though, is most of us have just as many slow-twitch fibers as
fast-twitch muscle fibers. And unfortunately, only a very small percentage of us who take up weight lifting to build muscle mass are born with lots of fast-twitch
fibers. Enough of them to matter, anyway. Sadly, there is nothing you and I can do to alter our ratio of slow- to fast-twitch fibers.
But, here's some incredible news. While boosting carnosine stores cannot "alter" your genetics, what it can do is "enhance" your genetics. Here's how...
With the patent-pending carnosine synthesizer, found only in H-Blocker, what we can do is "blast" the heck out of the existing fast-twitch fibers we do have. So, in essence, they begin to appear to all "act like" fast-twitch, Type II fibers. In other words, by supplying our bodies with the nutrients to synthesize carnosine, we can preferentially direct the intracellular actions toward the muscles that have the greatest capacity for greater contractions, fullness, workload capacity, and growth! Because of this revolutionary breakthrough, in my humble opinion, H-Blocker will quickly become the standard by which all physique development supplements are held.
 With the patent-pending carnosine synthesizer, found only in H-Blocker, what we can do is "blast" the heck out of the existing fast-twitch fibers we do have. So, in essence, they begin to appear to all "act like" fast-twitch, Type II fibers. In a recently documented study, greater carnosine stores in muscle fibers were shown to be much higher in Type IIx fibers due to their preferential distribution. As a result, this has a huge impact on muscular performance, resistance to high-intensity fatigue, and muscular growth. (Tallon, M.J., et al., J Strength Conditioning Sci)
Benefit #5: Improved Peak Muscular Contractions and Enhanced Muscle Fullness
In recent years, various nitric oxide precursor supplements have become popular due to the fact that nitric oxide is known to increase blood flow and nutrient delivery to the muscles and other tissues. It does this by signaling the endothelial cells on the inner lining of the blood vessels to relax, causing the blood vessels to dilate.
In the body, nitric oxide is derived from the amino acid L-arginine with the help of an enzyme group known as nitric oxide synthase (NOS). Most of the nitric oxide-boosting supplements on the market are L-arginine-based, yet none have been proven conclusively effective in increasing nitric oxide activity. (Though many weight trainers still swear by the stuff.) Bodybuilders and many other fitness enthusiasts seek out this effect because they like the way it makes their muscles appear larger, especially when blood flow is further enhanced by exercise. Affectionately called "the pump."
Another important but overlooked benefit of increased nitric oxide is nutrient delivery. Because the blood flow increases, it is theorized that nutrients traveling through the blood will be more efficiently delivered to their destination. This, in turn, may be why people claim the intake of other nutrients or supplements they take in combination with nitric oxide stimulators are improved.
What most bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts don't realize is that carnosine appears to be a more effective supplement for nitric oxide production than L-arginine.
A study performed at the Imperial College School of Medicine in London compared the effects of carnosine and L-arginine on nitric oxide production and found that carnosine was in fact more effective12.
The study revealed that carnosine produced a 62% greater increase in nitric oxide production over the use of arginine. (See the chart to the left.) So, it's pretty
clear to me that if you are currently spending your hard-earned money on an arginine-based, nitric oxide stimulator and if you're interested in increasing your
muscular "pumps"—not to mention the benefit of increased nutrient delivery to the muscles that also comes with enhanced nitric oxide activity—your supplement of choice should probably be the premium
carnosine booster, not arginine.
Benefit #6: Reverses Age-Related Muscle Decline and "Shrinkage"
The fact is, we now know that muscle carnosine stores tend to decline with age, and as a direct result, muscle-building capacity and muscular performance decline as well. This was shown in another recent carnosine study led by Mark Tallon.
In Tallon's study, muscle samples were taken from the mid portion of the vastus lateralis (thigh) muscle of younger subjects (with an average age of 23 years) by needle biopsy and from older subjects (with an average age of 70 years). Muscle fibers were characterized as Type I and Type II and the carnosine content of each was measured.
Interestingly, Tallon and his colleagues observed a marked, noticeable decline in muscle carnosine in the older subjects' Type II fibers. On average, the older subjects had 47% less carnosine in these fibers than the younger subjects. The study authors estimated that this would result in a seven-percent deterioration of total muscular performance, due to the loss of buffering capacity. So, somewhere between the ages of 23 and 70, your muscle carnosine stores, along with your muscle performance and workload capacity, naturally starts to decline.
You can see the importance of carnosine loading, which can literally "turn back the hands of time" by replacing any carnosine you may have lost due to aging. In fact, as we have already explored, it can go even further, in that with proper supplementation, we can elevate your muscle carnosine stores to a higher level than they have ever reached in your entire lifetime.
What's more, carnosine-boosting supplementation can slow and, to some extent, reverse the aging process throughout your entire body. Research has found that carnosine levels are especially high in the most long-lived cells. Carnosine appears to prolong cell life. In at least two ways...
First, it neutralizes free radicals, those highly reactive chemical invaders that damage cell membranes and other cell constituents, including DNA. The accumulation of free radical damage to cells over the course of the lifespan is one of the major factors contributing to the functional decline of organs and tissues that characterizes aging.
Carnosine also protects cells against a similar aging-related process called glycation. Glycation (pronounced gli-kay-shun) can be described as the binding of a protein molecule to a glucose molecule resulting in the formation of damaged, nonfunctioning structures. Essentially, the sugar roams around in the blood and finds "good" cells, encapsulates them, and kills them off. Glycation alters protein structure and decreases biological activity. Glycated proteins, which accumulate in affected tissue, are reliable markers of disease.
What you may not know is that many age-related diseases such as arterial stiffening, cataracts, and neurological impairment are at least partially attributable to glycation. Carnosine is able to prevent glycation and, as some research suggests, may also help dispose of glycated proteins.
What this means for you and me is that by supplying our bodies with adequate amounts of the materials able to synthesize into carnosine, such as from H-Blocker, we'll not only help our muscles stay young, but we'll keep our muscles from "shrinking" and atrophying while we're not working out.
Benefit #7: Greater Performance and Fat-Burning Capacity in
High-Intensity Cardio Intervals
What most people don't seem surprised to find out is that fatigue-causing hydrogen ions are produced at high rates not only during weightlifting but also during intense cardiovascular activity. Like riding a stationary bike, running on a treadmill, or sprinting on a track. Because of this, carnosine loading is just as effective for enhancing performance in high-intensity cardio workouts, and the results you get from them, as it is for increasing weightlifting performance and muscle size and strength.
 "With the patent-pending carnosine synthesizer, found only in H-Blocker, what we can do is 'blast' the heck out of the existing fast-twitch fibers we do have." Of particular interest to you and me, carnosine loading will enhance the fat-burning and cardiovascular fitness-building effects we seek from high-intensity cardio training. Studies have revealed a strong correlation between muscle carnosine levels and high-intensity cardio performance. One of these studies was done recently at the University of Tsukuba, Japan7. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships among skeletal muscle carnosine concentration, fiber type distribution, and high-intensity exercise performance in 11 healthy men. Muscle biopsy samples were taken from the vastus lateralis muscle, and the carnosine concentration was determined. The fiber-type distribution was also determined. The subjects then did 30-second sprints on
a stationary bike, and their power output was measured. The researchers found that the men with the greatest number of Type IIx fibers also had the highest carnosine levels. They also found that the men with the highest carnosine levels produced the most power per kilogram of bodyweight. Even more compelling, when the researchers divided the 30-second sprints into five 6-second phases, they observed the strongest correlations between carnosine concentration and mean power per unit body mass during the final two phases—just when you'd expect hydrogen ions to be taking their toll—diminishing muscle performance. The study's authors concluded, "These results indicated that the carnosine concentration could be an important factor in determining... high-intensity exercise performance."
This particular study looked at the effects of natural differences in carnosine concentration among individuals. But it's clear that the effect of increasing your muscle carnosine concentration through supplementation will be much the same as that of having been born with naturally higher levels of carnosine (i.e., born with more Type II muscle fibers). So, while you might not be interested in becoming the world champion of 30-second stationary bike sprints, remember, anything—I mean literally anything—you can do to enhance your performance in workouts will enhance the results you get from them, which, in the case of high-intensity cardio training, are greater fat-burning and cardiovascular, heart-strengthening fitness. Just imagine if you could stop wasting valuable hours upon hours on cardio exercises, when you could instead burn two, three, or even four times more calories and bodyfat by using the carnosine-supplement H-Blocker beforehand.
Seven "Over-the-Moon" Reasons
There you have it… you now have not one, not two, but seven convincing reasons to experience the powerful benefits of the world's first carnosine-boosting supplement, H-Blocker.
The next questions are obvious: Is H-Blocker the best carnosine-boosting supplement to take? How much do I take? How often? What else can I take it with? How should I eat and train while using it? How do I get the most out of it?
Well, I gladly answer these and other related questions in my book The Carnosine Breakthrough: H-Blocker—A New Science in Muscular Performance. Click here to find out how you can get your copy...
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