Tyrosine – Are You Taking Enough?
Tyrosine – Are You Taking Enough? This is a key focus and cognitive enhancement compound that is found in most pre-workouts, mood enhancers, and nootropic formulas. Yet many of these products underdose it, sometimes to the point of it being a joke of a dose. That’s a shame because at clinical dosing, tyrosine can make a big difference. If you’re ready to find out more, let’s jump right in!
What Is Tyrosine?
L-Tyrosine is a non-essential amino acid (which means it’s made by the body). It’s a precursor to the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine, which regulate mood, alertness, focus, memory, and your response to stress. (1)
How Much Are You Taking and What Is The Optimal Dose?
While a handful of products contain 500 to 750 mg of this ingredient, most pre-workout supplements provide about 1 gram, with nootropic based formulas going up to maybe 2 grams. The clinical dosing range is based on 100–150 mg/kg of bodyweight typically taken within 60 minutes before exercise (most pre-workouts are taken 30 minutes before training). The range looks like this: 9–13.5 g for a 200 lb person and 7–10 g for a 150 lb person. That’s a long, long way from 750 mg, 1 gram, and even 2 grams. (2)
Benefits Of Higher Dosed Tyrosine
Tyrosine has a number of benefits, including:
Memory Improvement
Clinical studies have demonstrated that tyrosine has a positive effect on memory during difficult tasks. As important as this can be, doesn’t it make sense to get the full available strength? After all, this is a benefit that can be helpful whether you’re at work, at school, or in any situation that requires a good memory. (3, 4)
Enhanced Cognitive Function During Stressful Periods
Stress of all types can be hard on both the mind and body. Mentally reacting to stress is not always easy, but the good news is tyrosine enhances cognitive function during times of stress. This refers to all kinds of stress including the physical stress of working out. Here’s another instance where I would want the full effect, not a weak-dosed, watered down illusion of an effect! (5)
Enhanced Focus
Tyrosine supports focus primarily through its function as a building block of neurotransmitters. Here’s a look at the neurotransmitters this applies to.
Neurotransmitter Enhancement – Dopamine
Dopamine is a well-known neurotransmitter that is often called the “happy” neurotransmitter. Why is that? Because it plays a major part in the reward system of the brain. To clarify, the brain’s reward system is a group of brain processes that control cravings, desire and motivation. For me, motivation is a key driver of a great workout!
In addition, dopamine stimulates secretion of GH (growth hormone), another major benefit for lifters in terms of both growth and fat loss. Finally, dopamine has a role in the production of other important neurotransmitters: epinephrine and norepinephrine. We will take a look at those next.
Neurotransmitter Enhancement – Epinephrine (also known as Adrenaline)
Epinephrine is both a neurotransmitter and a hormone. In fact, it plays a primary role in the body’s fight-or-flight response, which is caused by stress and fear. From a lifting standpoint, this includes the physical stress you put your body under when you work out. Activating the fight-or-flight response means you’ll be more motivated and have more strength when you are in the gym.
Neurotransmitter Enhancement – Norepinephrine
Just like epinephrine, norepinephrine is considered both a hormone and a neurotransmitter. Also similar to epinephrine, norepinephrine helps your brain and body get ready for action (the “fight or flight” response). In addition, norepinephrine enhances alertness, improves attention, and improves memory.
Suggested Supplements
That’s quite a list of impressive benefits that have a big impact on the quality of your training sessions, and they are amplified by generous doses of tyrosine. As you can no doubt see, it’s important to take note of the tyrosine dose on any pre-workout or nootropic you look at. You may be surprised at the dose of tyrosine in some of these products!
For example, I recently saw a popular pre-workout that contained 500mg of tyrosine – when you consider 7 grams is an effective dose, 500mg does not cut it!
What products feature a higher dose? For starters, Gorilla Mind Gorilla Mode, my favorite Pre, contains a very impressive 5 grams, Panda Supplements Skull contains 3 grams, and Ghost Legend All Out V2 supplies a respectable 2 gram dose. Finally, NutraBio Base, a “Core” pre-workout with a streamlined formula and a reasonable pricepoint, supplies 1.5 grams.
As you can see, the dose can vary quite a bit, and the products I suggest in this article are all at the higher end, even a basic Pre like NutraBio Base. As noted, many Pre’s will have 1 gram, 750 mg, and even 500mg. Which Pre do I recommend from all the ones listed here? Gorilla Mind Gorilla Mode of course!
A Quick Recap
| Product | Dose | How To Use |
| Gorilla Mind Gorilla Mode | 5 Grams | 30 minutes before training |
| Panda Supplements Skull | 3 Grams | 20 minutes before training |
| Ghost Legend All Out V2 | 2 Grams | 20-30 minutes before training |
| NutraBio Base “Core” pre-workout | 1.5 Grams | 30-45 minutes before training |
Summary
So there’s your answer to the question “Are You Talking Enough Tyrosine?” Plus, we’ve seen exactly what tyrosine is and how it can help your performance both in and out of the gym. All that’s left is to stop by illpumpyouup.com and grab one of the products suggested in this article – then go get in a serious workout!
References:
- https://www.braintropic.com/the-encyclopedia-of-nootropics.pdf, p.111
- https://examine.com/supplements/l-tyrosine/?srsltid=AfmBOoqrxFvwKBeaLWgosUt4V9qDrrQroRXvWMxV3jvppc5QBVz6-trX&show_conditions=true
- Bloemendaal, M., Froböse, M. I., Wegman, J., Zandbelt, B. B., van de Rest, O., Cools, R., & Aarts, E. (2018). Neuro-Cognitive Effects of Acute Tyrosine Administration on Reactive and Proactive Response Inhibition in Healthy Older Adults. eNeuro, 5(2), ENEURO.0035-17.2018. https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0035-17.2018
- Thomas, J. R., Lockwood, P. A., Singh, A., & Deuster, P. A. (1999). Tyrosine improves working memory in a multitasking environment. Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior, 64(3), 495–500. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0091-3057(99)00094-5
- Deijen, J. B., Wientjes, C. J., Vullinghs, H. F., Cloin, P. A., & Langefeld, J. J. (1999). Tyrosine improves cognitive performance and reduces blood pressure in cadets after one week of a combat training course. Brain research bulletin, 48(2), 203–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0361-9230(98)00163-4