Performance sports require you to be on top of your game. Training hard requires discipline and dedication. As you build up to race day, you push your body to its limits, getting it in shape so you can confidently pursue the number one spot. The competition is fierce and even one injury can keep you from accomplishing your goals.
Since it’s the major muscle groups, along with the ligaments, tendons, and joints that support them, that give you a competitive edge, it’s important to keep your muscles in peak condition.
Today, we will explore how you can use a muscle rub cream as a supportive therapy to strengthen your muscles and prevent injury to important supporting structures. CarnoSport is a science-backed carnosine gel specifically formulated to increase athletic performance and shorten recovery time. It uses its natural anti-inflammatory actions and muscle repair properties, among other benefits.
Because CarnoSport is natural, you can experience the benefits of carnosine supplementation without the worry of using a banned substance. Keep reading as we cover the benefits of using this muscle rub cream.
Benefits of using a carnosine muscle rub
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Let’s say you’re training for a triathlon. That involves a rigorous training schedule of 10-20 hours a week of swimming, running, and cycling. Nothing pushes the human body to its limits like a triathlon and that’s why you do it. To find out what you’re capable of. But you’re also continually dealing with muscle pain, muscle aches, and joint pain and looking for pain relief for tendon and ligament injuries. All part of the game.
But it doesn’t have to be.
Strengthening muscle fibers and supporting structures such as the joints, tendons, and ligaments should be your primary objective, not dealing with sore muscles that are taking longer and longer to recover from training and competition.
How does carnosine help you do this?
Acts as a pH regulator in the muscles
Carnosine is a natural compound consisting of Beta-alanine (β-ALA) and histidine. During moderate to high-intensity exercise, hydrogen ions (H+) begin to accumulate, leading to a drop in intramuscular pH and ultimately influencing muscle performance. [1]
Beta-alanine (β-ALA) supplementation has been shown to increase muscle carnosine levels, which can act as a buffer to reduce the acidity in the active muscles during high-intensity exercise. It also has beneficial effects on exercise performance variables such as cycling capacity, ventilatory threshold, and time to exhaustion. [2]
Studies have found that carnosine supplementation benefited high-performance athletes who regularly engage in high-intensity exercises such as sprints, cycling, swimming, and weightlifting. After eight weeks of supplementation, muscle carnosine increased and was retained in muscle fibers for longer periods. [3]
When the production of lactic acid can be directly controlled, it affects recovery from muscle fatigue. Increases in muscle carnosine due to β-ALA supplementation have resulted in significant effects on several variables related to exercise performance.
- Improved time to fatigue on a maximal cycle test
- Increased ability to sustain power output in the final ten seconds of the Wingate test
- Delayed onset of neuromuscular fatigue during incremental cycle ergometry tests
- Improvements in muscle torque during repeated bouts of intense dynamic contractions [3]
(Sale et al. 2012) investigated the effect of b-alanine supplementation on a cycling capacity test with recreationally active participants. This case showed baseline data within 3–4 s of the expected endurance time of 78 s.
Endurance time was increased by 9.7 s (13.2 %) following 4 weeks of supplementation at 6.4 g d-1, likely due to an increase in muscle buffering capacity based upon the expected increase in muscle PH formation and increase in MCarn.
The application of CarnoSport directly to the skin provides a benefit that oral supplementation does not. None of the active compounds are lost through digestion. 4% carnosine goes directly to the muscle groups that need it most and therefore has a fast-acting effect. You can apply the gel 20 minutes before high-intensity training sessions and right after a workout to get fast relief from the negative side effects of decreased pH.
Massaging the gel into problem areas will also help relieve tension and provide the best muscle and tendon support therapy because it has a powerful anti-inflammatory, which we will explore next.
Powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant
Image courtesy of Sciencedirect.com
Cardiac and skeletal muscle tissues contain 99% of carnosine in the human body. During the last decades, hundreds of publications have been dedicated to the description of both carnosine structure and biological activity in different body areas.
Several studies have shown the different activities that carnosine could exert, including its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
Anti-oxidant
One of the main benefits of carnosine is its strong antioxidant properties. Carnosine can directly scavenge reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl radicals, superoxide, and hydrogen peroxide. By neutralizing these ROS, carnosine helps protect muscle cell components, including lipids, proteins, and DNA, from oxidative damage.
By buffering hydrogen ions (H+) and scavenging ROS during high-intensity exercise, carnosine delays the onset of fatigue, enhancing performance. The reduction of oxidative damage will reduce the risk of injury and decrease recovery time since muscles, tendons, and ligaments maintain their strength. The wear-and-tear is effectively mitigated.
Anti-inflammatory
In addition to its antioxidant effects, carnosine has been found to have anti-inflammatory effects. Studies have shown that carnosine can reduce inflammation throughout the body by inhibiting the production of inflammatory molecules.
Reducing the action of inflammatory cytokines also reduces the healing time if an injury occurs. Chronic inflammation in the muscles and supporting structures due to an intensive training routine is greatly reduced. Since inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury in the body, you cannot eliminate it. However, if you can reduce its negative effects, then quicker healing times are possible.
CarnoSport offers superior and fast-acting relief from inflammation because you apply it directly to the skin, delivering the maximum strength of carnosine to muscles that need it. The continuous application of the gel before and after training will give you all the pH buffering, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory benefits so you can keep training.
Using the gel instead of a pill or powder helps you avoid the negative effects of oral carnosine supplementation, such as nausea and gastrointestinal disturbances.
Conclusion
When you’re working hard to perform at your peak, you need strategies to protect your body from injuries that can prevent you from achieving your competitive goals.
One successful strategy is introducing a supportive therapy such as CarnoSport gel. It contains carnosine, which can be directly applied to the skin, making it readily available for use by the muscles.
An increase in muscle carnosine provides positive benefits such as protection from serious injury, decreased downtime, and increased performance during exercise. It is also safe to use in competitive sports because it is a natural compound and is, therefore, not on the list of banned substances.
Redefine the boundaries of human capacity with CarnoSport’s 6 promises:
- Accelerate muscle recovery and shorten downtime
- Improve exercise capacity
- Improve ligament, tendon, and joint health
- Reduce muscle fatigue
- Scientifically proven, with no side-effects
- Clean sport
References:
1. Hultman E., Sahlin K. Acid-base balance during exercise. Exerc. Sports Sci. Rev. 1980;8:41–128
2. Stout J.R., Cramer J.T., Zoeller R.F., Torok D., Costa P., Hoffman J.R., Harris R.C., O’Kroy J. Effects of beta-alanine supplementation on the onset of neuromuscular fatigue and ventilatory threshold in women. Amino Acids. 2007;32:381–386.
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257613/#B8-nutrients-02-00075