The effect of 6 days of alpha glycerylphosphorylcholine on isometric strength

Background: ergogenic aides are widely used by fitness enthusiasts and athletes to increase performance. alpha glycerylphosphorylcholine (a-gpc) has demonstrated some initial promise in changing explosive performance. the purpose of the present investigation was to determine if 6 days of supplementation with a-gpc would augment isometric force production compared to a placebo. methods: thirteen college-aged males (means ± sd; age: 21.9 ± 2.2 years,height: 180.3 ± 7.7 cm,weight: 87.6 ± 15.6 kg; vo2 max: 40.08 ± 7.23 ml o2*kg-1*min-1,body fat: 17.5 ± 4.6%) gave written informed consent to participate in the study. the study was a double blind,placebo controlled,cross-over design. the participants reported to the lab for an initial visit where they were familiarized with the isometric mid thigh pull in a custom squat cage on a force platform and upper body isometric test against a high frequency load cell,and baseline measurements were taken for both. the participant then consumed either 600 mg per day of a-gpc or placebo and at the end of 6 days performed isometric mid thigh pulls and an upper body isometric test. a one-week washout period was used before the participants' baseline was re-measured and crossed over to the other treatment. results: the a-gpc treatment resulted in significantly greater isometric mid thigh pull peak force change from baseline (t = 1.76,p = 0.044) compared with placebo (a-gpc: 98.8. ± 236.9 n vs placebo: -39.0 ± 170.9 n). for the upper body test the a-gpc treatment trended towards greater change from baseline force production (a-gpc: 50.9 ± 167.2 n placebo: -14.9 ± 114.9 n) but failed to obtain statistical significance (t = 1.16,p = 0.127). conclusions: a-gpc is effective at increasing lower body force production after 6 days of supplementation. sport performance coaches can consider adding a-gpc to the diet of speed and power athletes to enhance muscle performance. © 2015 bellar et al.