Do You Need More Endurance? Taurine Can Help!

A supplement you have probably heard of over the years is taurine.  Taurine is one of the most abundant amino acids (conditionally essential amino acid) in the body and found in many pre, intra, and post-workout products.  Why?  Because it has some extremely beneficial ergogenic properties that can help you maximize your workouts such as improving your endurance and recovery.

Being that taurine can be found in many foods (dairy, eggs, poultry, fish, and meat), some think they can get enough through their diet alone.  Unfortunately for most, this is not the case – especially in those who live an active lifestyle and who exercise regularly.  Those who fit this description will find they are constantly using taurine to match their exercise and physical needs which can cause them to become depleted.

Due to the one area of the body where taurine is super concentrated being skeletal muscle (fast-twitch muscle fibers), you can imagine how important it would be to have an adequate amount of taurine available for not only daily lifestyle functioning, but also for intense workouts and training.

Get to Know Taurine

Along with being a powerful amino acid, taurine has some potent antioxidant properties that can help protect the body from cellular damage.  When free radicals invade the body due to oxidative stress^[1], they can do damage to our cells and cause us to get sick.  The role of antioxidants is to seek out and destroy these free radicals before they have the ability to do harm.

In addition to taurine being found in skeletal muscle, it is also found in the brain.  In the brain, it plays a neuromodulatory role where it helps increase focus and overall mental performance.  Why would this be important for those who exercise and train?  The use of taurine for mental performance can allow you to push yourself harder by helping you focus on your workout, training, or athletic event.

By increasing mental performance, you have a greater ability to push aside and block the fatigue you may be experiencing which can then increase physical performance and endurance.  Which segues into the main topic of this article – endurance.

Taurine Can Improve Your Endurance and Recovery Time

Talk about a double whammy!  When it comes to overall performance, your endurance and recovery time play a vital role.  The quicker you are able to recover between sets or extreme bouts over anaerobic movement (such as sprinting), the better your results and performance will be.  Taurine can enhance both of these factors, deeming it an extremely beneficial part of a supplement program.

With the antioxidant benefits associated with taurine, when you include taurine in your pre-, intra-, or post-workout regimen, you have the ability to reduce muscle damage while at the same time increasing the rate at which you recover^[2].

While most consider "endurance" to be something only athletes would want to improve, it can also benefit bodybuilders.  The goal when bodybuilding is to overload the muscle to force an anabolic response and new muscle tissue growth.  When you are able to push yourself harder and longer through an increase in recovery and endurance, you prime yourself for maximum muscle growth over time.

A study looked specifically at exercise performance and those who supplemented exclusively with taurine and found that there was an increase in not only strength but also a reduction in muscle soreness^[3].  The reduction in soreness can help increase muscular endurance and allow you to push harder in the gym but also allow you to recover faster post-workout so you can get back in the gym and hit it again sooner rather than later.

Another similar exercise-specific study was conducted, this time with the inclusion of BCAAs with the taurine.  What researchers found was that the group who supplemented with BOTH the BCAAs and taurine improved their exercise endurance as well as their delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) following the prescribed exercise protocol^[4].

During exercise, lactic acid builds up within the muscle tissue and is a limiting factor when it comes to how long and hard you can push yourself during your workout.  It has been found that supplementing with taurine can increase endurance by helping reduce lactic acid formation and build-up during intense workouts^[5].

The last study to reference in this article is a dozy.  Researchers took a group of men and provided them with taurine.  They then had them ride a bike and used a cycle ergometer to measure their exhaustion levels.  What they found was that those participants who supplemented with taurine were found to have an improved VO2 max, maximal workload, endurance, and time to exhaustion^[6].

Get the Most Out of Your Training!

When it comes to maximizing your time in the gym and during training, it’s clear that taurine (with or without BCAAs) is a good idea to improve recovery and endurance.  But why would you not want to get the best bang for your buck and take your results up a few notches?  That’s exactly what Apollon Nutrition did when they launched Enigma.

Apollon Nutrition Enigma is the most complete recovery product available – setting the industry standard!  Thanks to the specific ingredients used in Enigma, you can use it pre-, intra-, and even post-workout to take your endurance and muscle recovery to the new heights.  Best of all, you can feel good about using a product that has a 100% transparent label and clean formula so you can be sure you know exactly what you’re getting in the product and without any fillers, additives, or artificial colors added.

While other brands are still riding the wave from yesteryears, Apollon Nutrition is getting ahead of the game by including the highest quality EAAs (essential amino acids) in their formula.  In addition, Enigma also includes a precise matrix of strength and performance ingredients which includes Betaine Anhydrous as well as an electrolyte and hydration matrix that includes coconut water powder, patented Calci-K®, and much more.

If you’re looking to maximize growth, increase recovery and endurance, and recharge your hydration, Apollon Nutrition Enigma is a MUST HAVE!  Once you try it, you’ll understand why so many have made it a staple in their routine.

References:

1. Schuller-Levis, G.B. and E. Park, Taurine: new implications for an old amino acid. FEMS Microbiol Lett, 2003. 226(2): p. 195-202.

2. Dawson, R., Jr., et al., The cytoprotective role of taurine in exercise-induced muscle injury. Amino Acids, 2002. 22(4): p. 309-24.

3. da Silva LA, Tromm CB, Bom KF, et al. Effects of taurine supplementation following eccentric exercise in young adults. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2014;39(1):101-104. doi:10.1139/apnm-2012-0229.

4. Ra, S., Miyazaki, T., Ishikura, K. et al. Combined effect of branched-chain amino acids and taurine supplementation on delayed onset muscle soreness and muscle damage in high-intensity eccentric exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 10, 51 (2013).

5. Yatabe, Y., Miyakawa, S., Ohmori, H., & Adachi, H. M. T. (2009). Effects of taurine administration on exercise. In Taurine 7(pp. 245-252). Springer, New York, NY.

6. Zhang, M & Izumi, I & Kagamimori, S & Sokejima, Shigeru & Yamagami, T & Liu, Z & Qi, B. (2004). Role of taurine supplementation to prevent exercise-induced oxidative stress in healthy young men. Amino acids. 26. 203-7.