The Study
Effects of Supplemental Citrulline-Malate Ingestion on Blood Lactate, Cardiovascular Dynamics, and Resistance Exercise Performance in Trained Males
This study gave some guys a supplement and a fake pill, then had them do push-ups and pull-ups to see which one helped them do more reps. It found the supplement helped a little, but only in these specific exercises and only for these guys. We can't say it will work for everyone.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Men took a supplement called citrulline-malate before working out and did more reps than when they took a fake pill.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 548 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — doing more reps means better endurance, even though muscle burn (lactate) didn't drop, and heart pressure slightly increased.
- 2With citrulline: 13.3% more chin-ups, 20.7% more reverse chin-ups, 9.8% more push-ups.
- 3Blood lactate didn't change.
- 4Diastolic blood pressure went up a little after exercise.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Journal of Dietary Supplements
Year
2016
Authors
B. Wax, A. Kavazis, W. Luckett
Related Content
Claims (4)
Taking citrulline before working out leads to lower levels of lactate in the blood during prolonged exercise.
Taking citrulline-malate during upper-body weight training does not lower blood lactate levels in trained men, even though it allows them to perform more repetitions, meaning the improvement in endurance is not caused by reduced lactate.
In trained males, taking citrulline-malate after upper-body weight training is linked to a small but measurable rise in diastolic blood pressure during recovery, while systolic blood pressure does not change.
Taking 8 grams of citrulline-malate before upper-body workouts increases the number of repetitions a trained male can perform to failure in chin-ups, reverse chin-ups, and push-ups compared to taking a placebo.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.