Magnificent Malic Acid
This legal substance boosts workout endurance, decreases fatigue, and helps you recover faster.
If we had to summarize what we want from a workout nutrition supplement, it would sound something like this:
"Give us something that helps us train harder for longer, then recover faster so we can do it all over again."
It makes sense: we want great workouts at the gym or out in the garage, but we also want to recover as quickly as possible from those tough workouts so we can hit it again. Train hard, recover quickly, repeat.
Several natural substances fit the bill. One of them is malic acid (Buy at Amazon).
What is Malic Acid?
It's an organic compound classified as a dicarboxylic acid, naturally found in various fruits, especially apples. When you taste tartness in a fruit, it's the malic acid.
In our bodies, it's part of the citric acid cycle, essential for sustained energy production during prolonged exercise. Malic acid plays a big role in metabolism, helping convert carbs, fats, and proteins into energy.
What Does It Do in the Gym and After?
- Strength: Research on lifters showed that malic acid supplementation improved overall strength and reduced the perception of exertion during training. Lifters in these studies used about 1.5 grams.
- Endurance: Malic acid helps maintain higher levels of ATP, the energy currency of cells, which translates into sustained energy for training. A study published in the Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology found that athletes who supplemented with malic acid experienced less muscle fatigue and could exercise for longer periods compared to those who didn't take it. In most endurance studies, athletes used 1,200 mg of malic acid daily (just over a gram).
- Recovery: Athletes who took malic acid reported lower levels of post-exercise soreness. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that malic acid helped accelerate recovery times by facilitating faster clearance of lactic acid. Malic acid's role in the citric acid cycle ensures continuous energy production and reduces the accumulation of metabolites that cause muscle fatigue.
Where Do I Get Malic Acid?
It's part of the caffeine-free Surge Workout Fuel (Buy at Amazon) formula. Each serving contains 1.5 grams.
Along with an ample amount of malic acid, Surge also contains just about every other performance and recovery booster you can name, including:
- Leucine (5g)
- Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin (25g)
- Citrulline Malate (6g)
- Beta-alanine (2g)
- Betaine Anhydrous (2.5g)
Malic acid is also part of the MAG-10 Elite Recovery (Buy at Amazon) formula. More info here.
