All About Arginine, the Non-Essential Amino Acid

Written by Guy Gustafson
May 03, 2021

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Arginine (also known as L-arginine), a non-essential amino acid, is a great booster for strength training when taken as part of your pre-workout drinks. Learn why arginine is a crucial component of pre-workout, what it does, and how it works when you take it before you lift weights or perform high-intensity workouts.

As you progress in your strength training and muscle-building journey, you’ll have become familiar with essential amino acids like BCAAs and their important role in boosting your exercise performance. However, supplementing with essential amino acids is not the only way you can enhance your results. Arginine (also known as L-arginine), a non-essential amino acid, is a great booster for strength training when taken as part of your pre-workout drinks.

We’ll cover why arginine is a crucial component of pre-workout, what it does, and how it works when you take it before you lift weights or perform high-intensity workouts.

What Is Arginine and Why Should You Take It In Your Pre-Workout?

Arginine is an amino acid, a building block, or an essential component of proteins in your body. Amino acids play a crucial role in developing protein and growing muscles, recovering after workouts, as well as the synthesis of hormones and neurotransmitters.

While essential amino acids need to come from food, non-essential amino acids like arginine are produced by our bodies naturally. However, this doesn’t mean that they can’t be beneficial when taken in supplement form.

In fact, arginine has a double role which makes it so important to take in supplement form. Alongside its muscle-building properties, it also releases nitric oxide into the blood, helping to widen blood vessels in the bloodstream. This means it improves blood flow and oxygenation to your muscles.

For active athletes, arginine helps enhance exercise performance. It has also been found to lead to better results in soccer players as well as increase endurance when taken before exercise. There is evidence that L-citrulline, a precursor to L-arginine in the body, works to increase levels of arginine in the body, providing stellar results in pre-workout mixes.

When used together, L-citrulline and arginine have improved athletic performance and enhanced muscle recovery in athletes in various studies. Pre-workout drinks with arginine and L-citrulline, such as HYDE Max Pump, will give you added energy and endurance for your gym session, increasing blood flow to the muscles, and can boost your concentration and overall performance.

Finally, creatine, one of the best-researched supplements for boosting athletic performance and muscle-building, is produced in our bodies from arginine, glycine, and methionine. As it’s one of the most effective supplements for muscle development and recovery, aiding your body’s production of it through additional arginine taken as part of your supplementation strategy will put you in an even better position to reap its benefits.

What Does Pre-Workout Do?

Taking pre-workout before strength training sessions ensures that you are well fueled and that your muscles and blood flow are in the best possible condition to deliver maximum benefits from your session.

Pre-workout drinks have a multitude of benefits, depending on the specific blend of the product you choose including:

Increasing your strength and concentration
Ensuring you are well-fueled and hydrated before a gym session
Boosting your endurance
Increasing your metabolic rate, helping you burn fat
Enhancing protein synthesis to optimize muscle-building
Combating muscle breakdown when taken regularly

How Does Pre-Workout With Arginine Work?

A pre-workout drink featuring L-citrulline, such as HYDE Pre Workout, will increase blood flow to the muscles, helping you lift better and stronger. HYDE Max Pump, which includes both L-citrulline and arginine nitrate, will help develop plasma arginine, which in turn converts to nitric oxide for increased blood flow, oxygen uptake, and muscle strength.

The additional strength and blood flow to your muscles will consequently help you push harder during your workout, surpassing previous bests and helping you progress. As a result, you’ll see bigger gains and muscle development.

Combining L-citrulline and arginine in your pre-workout means that you’ll get the best effects from these amino acids including:

Blood vessel expansion, allowing for better flow and delivery of nutrients and oxygen to the muscles as they work. This leads to better recovery from effort, too.

Thanks to the added blood flow, muscles will get a “fuller” look for a “better pump” overall after your workout. Visually, this gives you a better-rounded physique if you’re preparing for a photoshoot, a bodybuilding competition, or simply to look great and feel confident in everyday life.

There is evidence that L-citrulline and arginine stimulates an increase in growth hormone production after working out. So, taking a pre-workout with these ingredients will help you recover faster and see results quicker. Sounds like a win-win to us.

Pre-workout boosts your energy levels, helping you work out for longer or with heavier weights. This all links back to an increased blood flow to your muscles, better oxygenation, and the increased availability of other amino acids in the blood.

When to Take Arginine As a Pre-Workout

Taking pre-workout before your sessions is not only ideal for maximizing your results, but it can also help when you’re not in the best shape right before a workout. At the end of a long workday or on days when your energy levels are flagging, turning to pre-workout guarantees that you’ll get a boost of focus and vitality when you need it the most. However, timing is important, both in terms of when you take a pre-workout with arginine and how often you consume it.

When to Take Pre-Workout

To ensure you get the most out of the caffeine content and the increased blood flow from your pre-workout blend, we recommend taking it 15 to 45 minutes before a session. Caffeine levels usually take that long to reach their peak in your bloodstream. Additionally, if you wait too long to hit the weights, you may experience an energy crash instead.

By taking pre-workout around 30 minutes before you exercise, you’ll also avoid any side effects such as sleep problems caused by excessive energy surges.

How Often Should You Take Pre-Workout?

Some athletes discover that prolonged use of pre-workout diminishes the effect they notice from each dose. This can be remedied by consuming your pre-workout in cycles. When you start feeling the effects less intensely, take a short break from using pre-workout. In a couple of weeks, your body will respond to the ingredients again.

One thing you definitely should not do is increase the dose of pre-workout beyond the amounts advised on each product’s label. There may be unwanted side effects from this, and you won’t see the benefits you’re after.

The other thing to keep in mind is alternating between pre-workouts. Some of our products have added caffeine to boost their energizing effects, such as HYDE Thermo, which is meant to enhance your metabolism for maximum fat-burning effects. You can alternate that with HYDE Max Pump, which is caffeine and stimulant-free, but still delivers creatine, arginine nitrate, and a number of other beneficial ingredients to support muscle growth and recovery.

Hit Your Training Goals With Confidence

Consuming pre-workout supplements with the optimal mix of ingredients including arginine and L-citrulline will ensure you’re always making the most of your workouts, building muscle, and recovering in a timely manner.

Are you ready to check it out for yourself? Head to our online store today to stock up on pre-workout and other supplements that will have you crushing workouts in no time. You can also check out the store locator to find out where you can buy our products in person.

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