What is Agmatine?

Agmatine is an ingredient in pre-workouts and as a stand alone bulk powder is starting to really be exploding on the market, and being utilized a lot more on the daily norm. So what is Agmatine, what are its benefits, how do we dose it, and what should it not be stacked with? I will be sure to cover all of these with research as much as possible and what most individuals utilize to get the best results with it in your stack. Agmatine, before we get started, is a biogenic arnine that is derived from another pre-workout ingredient you see often which is L-arginine. That one pre-workout ingredient that is in most pre-workouts, pump products, and volumizers which appear to be stored in neurons and release upon neuronal activation via weight lifting or endurance training (think HIIT cardio or strenuous cardio). Both of these forms of cardio could elicit a pump based off intensity to release the neuropathic pain.

When

Agmatine will be known, or is known, for large amounts of pump related to a pre-workout product, most of the dosing you do see people take it are either first thing upon waking, pre-workout or post-workout in different doses. People who take thing upon waking is mostly for off-day dosing, pre-workout will aid in pumps and volumizing your vascularity during training. I would suggest stacking Agmatine with your pre-workout of choice or look to see if your pre-workout does include it. Post-workout would also be a good time to dose to give you extra nutrient repair and restoration. Most individual’s will dose 1g or split 500mg per dosing. I would suggest 1g upon waking on your off days and playing around with 500mg at first pre or post-workout to see how you react to the effects, if you are not seeing or feeling much off 500mg pre-workout try bumping to 1g, or splitting 1g between pre and post-workout. Both have advantages and effects, but see what suits you best in those 3 scenarios.

How

Because of dosing at these times you will reflect the amount of molecules in your body to help direct mechanisms for NMDA receptors to utilize NOS enzymes. NOS enzymes are also in fact important for Nitric Oxide products that would help elicit a pump in your body especially around training. These help mimic and correlate inhibition and result in a increase channeling of serotonin receptors. These are all responsible for activation imidazoline, NO2, and NDMA receptors to increase NOS enzymes for the increased amount of pump in the bloodstream around training and upon waking (best times to dose the product). The release of these endorphins in the bloodstream increase the imidazoline receptors for the appropriate adrenal glands and ryanodine receptors to achieve an excess of nitric oxide and pump for your workouts or nutrient repair.

Why

Some people do experience a painful pump or increased pump, which is the mandatory role behind Agmatine, and providing that volumizing effect when dosed pre-workout around a carbohydrate based meal to enhance the workout effects. But the pain (via the increased signaling through ASIC3 receptors) helps mediate the acidity in the bloodstream to release extra endorphins and actions from the ingredient. The opioids from the Agmatine are there for increasing the pain killing, tolerance, and reducing addiction to utilizing the product, so in essence it helps prevent from an overuse of Agmatine on a daily basis or overuse without cycling off (as you should for most pump, pre-workout, or volumizer products). The benefit from this is that agamatine does increase synergistic pain relief even though you may experience a solid pump during your workout, and your CB1 receptor will be the main receptor under influence when dosed correctly.

But

A downside to Agmatine is that there was a study done on rodents that showed up to 100mg (which is a lot less than the usual 500mg dosing ((minimum dosing)) shown during a workout has had an effect on NOS levels and damaging tissues towards preventing a stroke. Nitric oxide and oxidative metabolite can result in a small loss of overall damage towards aiding the prevention of the stroke. Now while research is great on rodents and is done quite often for other parts of science there is still no concrete human abstract or evidence to support this cause we have found in rodents. Lets take this study with a grain of salt and realize there may be some carry over into humans but we are still not 100% certain its true.

While Agmatine is still being studied to this day, its not a very popular or well known ingredient as it has hit the market and being introduced in multiple forms in products. It’s promising and has very little research behind it towards Nitric Oxide benefits and preventing stroke, but still a lot has to be done to confirm these cases. Now when stacking, be sure to avoid adding extra Citrulline or arginine because of the cardiovascular and neurological effects. This would also be bad with Yohimbine because of the activation of o2a receptors and how it would inhibit them for a negative reaction. This would also show a decrease in signaling of creatine (Dose at a separate time) due to the NMDA receptors and saturation of the ATP.