Does arginine make athletes faster?
L-arginine Supplementation Does Not Enhance Anaerobic Performance in Trained Female Handball Players
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
L-arginine alone improved sprint performance — without any training.
Most believe arginine only works when paired with exercise. This study shows it can boost speed even in sedentary supplementation — a rare and unexplained effect.
Practical Takeaways
Female athletes doing HIIT for sprint power should skip L-arginine supplements — they add no benefit and may hurt agility.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
L-arginine alone improved sprint performance — without any training.
Most believe arginine only works when paired with exercise. This study shows it can boost speed even in sedentary supplementation — a rare and unexplained effect.
Practical Takeaways
Female athletes doing HIIT for sprint power should skip L-arginine supplements — they add no benefit and may hurt agility.
Publication
Journal
Journal of Human Kinetics
Year
2025
Authors
Mozhgan Mardokhi, M. Rahimi, S. Saedmocheshi, Manuel Vásquez-Muñoz, David C. Andrade
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Claims (5)
Taking L-arginine pills can raise the level of arginine in your blood, but that doesn’t always mean you’ll produce more nitric oxide or get better at exercising—sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn’t.
Taking L-arginine supplements while doing intense interval training won’t make highly trained female handball players any faster or stronger in short sprints than training alone.
Taking L-arginine supplements every day for 8 weeks won’t make highly trained female handball players any better at running for 12 minutes straight.
When female handball players who are already very fit do two short, intense workout sessions per week for 8 weeks, they get faster in short sprints and stronger in explosive moves—but their overall endurance doesn’t get better.
If highly trained female handball players do intense interval workouts, take L-arginine supplements, or do both, their ability to quickly change direction and move agilely gets worse after 8 weeks.