MMA Stack – Performance Optimization

Greetings!

 This is a short essay but I have been trying to fiddle with different facets of my routine that could have an impact on my performance. I find myself drinking a ton of water and popping a lot of nicotine during my nightly three hour MMA practice. I figured this was something to optimize so here is what I have added for my nightly MMA routine to keep my head in the game– I plan on using this stack for a few weeks and looking at my own data and determining if I got any positive results from it. So please stay tuned!

 People might comment that I am being far too autistic and that all of this optimization will get me nowhere but they don’t understand just how much joyous fun it brings me… I love teasing the variables and every variable I tease teaches me more and more about human physiology! I have not been training for long and this is a science experiment on my part. 🙂

Supplements:

1200 mg of alpha GPC- 

I tend to only pop zyns in the evening around practice time because I love nicotine– and although research is pretty fuzzy and sparse mechanistically I figure I should be supplementing with alpha GPC. In animal studies alpha GPC is shown to cross the BBB and increase brain choline levels, and we do understand that choline is rate limiting to acetylcholine synthesis. In conjunction with it being cheap, accessible, and helping me meet my daily choline needs I figure this is completely reasonable and would suggest its usage could be beneficial. 

I’ve done my own reading of the literature for alpha GPC but if you want a comprehensive walk though I highly recommend this website:

https://examine.com/supplements/alpha-gpc/?show_conditions=true

5g of collagen and 5g of glycine- 

I take the rest of my collagen before my weight training exercise, but figure I am still getting a bit of a stimulus from BJJ and kickboxing and want to ensure my body has the correct substrate. Collagen synthesis is the highest when there is both loading and substrate availability (Shaw). 

Glycine is rate limiting for collagen synthesis– and collagen contains hydroxyproline peptides which may function as signalling molecules themselves. Glycine’s glory is not limited here, so I take around 10-15g a day. 

My main reason for my personal glycine love is I hypothesize I have some NMDA receptor hypofunctionality– which glycine has been well studied for (Balu). Although, the benefits are not limited to that as it seems to improve sleep and is required for creatine synthesis (Nedeljkovic). 

 I have EDS… Cursed and blessed with profound hyperflexibility but along with that comes a very high injury risk. I need to stack all of the variables to give myself the more robust tissue I can possibly have– my extracellular matrix must be as optimized as possible. 

Magnesium glycinate-

I take strontium citrate (650mg) every AM, which I have to distance from my magnesium as they will compete for absorption. This is just a personal preference, but I take my magnesium nightly pre MMA practice, which is probably one of the reasons why I have never gotten a cramp during practice

Magnesium seems to have a positive impact on exercise performance (Zhang), and it is often a low hanging fruit as magnesium deficiency is one of the most common deficiencies. 

I am not going to get into the weeds with mag, but one author sums it up consistency, commenting that magnesium is “involved with or linked to the promotion of Ca2+ transport in/out of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), regulation of glycolytic metabolic pathways, oxygen delivery and uptake, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production, an activator and cofactor of > 300 enzymatic reactions, regulation of muscle contraction and nerve impulses.” 

The MMA benefit of Mag is so goated as it is required for every step of glycolysis and helps clear lactate– keep the multifactorial benefits in mind when you take it because that makes it work better, lol. I do 400mg of mag glycinate.

My drink 

I have been drinking water + electrolytes basically the entire time I have been training (or milk in my early MMA days because I was trying to bulk, in retrospect that was kind of gross), but I decided I needed to spice up my water. I really only like to use research backed endeavors. Make sure to use a clean, balanced electrolyte brand!

I do around 3 hours (or more) of MMA in the evening. Even if I am not intensely rolling the whole time, it is still very taxing learning new techniques. I wanted to add in highly branched cyclic dextrin to keep the influx of fast carbs without gastric bulk, but it’s far too expensive.

 I am gonna do a little more research and see if I can find a chinese supplier and buy some bulk or maybe sell it undercutting others just because I adore it for weightlifting and very long mma training, but I have to see where the prices actually are–

  Luckily I found a cheaper alternative that you can use called waxy maize starch, being highly branched (although not cyclic) and having a super high molecular weight. It is only about 5-10 minutes slower gastric emptying than cyclic dextrin but considerably faster than maltodextrin, dextrose, or bananas. 

 I take 1 scoop (45g) during training with my water for stable energy, glycogen replenishment, preventing low-carb brain fog, and preventing muscle catabolism. 

You can’t replace carbs at high intensities– yes, in states like ketosis you may burn fats for longer but eventually you have to switch to glycolysis. I know it’s controversial but from what I can see is that in elite athletes there is only so far you can go on keto– you have to add carbs back in eventually for optimal performance. But, keep building that aerobic base! Maximizing the amount of work you can do using fat oxidation is always something I suggest and attempt to do myself. 

Here is the source I use:

 https://shopvitaplus.com/products/vrac-waxymaize-glucides

6 grams of beta alanine- 

The only other powder I use in my drink is beta alanine. I do not expect the results to be incredible, but since it is cheap, easy, and has consistent evidence I do believe that it’s worth using. Beta alanines effects are NOT acute– they build up in your system. 

Beta aniline is a non essential amino acid that binds with another amino acid in cells to form carnosine. Carnosine is an intracellular buffer that helps us buffer out excess hydrogen atoms– but above its buffering capacity it also has evidence that it acts as an antioxidant. 

The literature on beta alanine does seem to show a slight, reproducible benefit that manifests as improved performance in high intensity exercise. This meta analysis shows a 2.8% median improvement across studies, (hobson) and although that seems quite small if I can use a powder and get a confirmed 2.8% improvement I will be happy to take it.

Since it is not acute, how long do you need to be on it? 

It seems like the answer is around 4-10 weeks of 4-6g daily (I take 6). Carnosine content in muscle is increased 64% after 4 weeks of supplementation (Trexler). The upper limit of carnosine content in muscles has yet to be identified. 

The research that I have looked at mentions that the beta alanine doses should be split throughout the day– Asian females seem to experience the most of the tingling side effect, but just use your own feeling to advise the amount and time of your dosing. Personally the skin tingling does not bother me in the slightest, and there is no evidence that it is harmful. 

One thing I should note is not to take beta alanine with taurine as they share the same transporters (Murakami)

This was likely a bit of a ramble but I just wanted to share my pre MMA stack so I can optimize the quality of my time on the mat.

 I am a busy person and want to maximize the quality of my learning and performance so I try to stack all the variables I know in order to do this– let me know your thoughts and I hope this was helpful in some capacity 🙂

Sources

Shaw G, Lee-Barthel A, Ross ML, Wang B, Baar K. Vitamin C-enriched gelatin supplementation before intermittent activity augments collagen synthesis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017 Jan;105(1):136-143. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.116.138594. Epub 2016 Nov 16. PMID: 27852613; PMCID: PMC5183725.

Balu DT, Coyle JT. The NMDA receptor ‘glycine modulatory site’ in schizophrenia: D-serine, glycine, and beyond. Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2015 Feb;20:109-15. doi: 10.1016/j.coph.2014.12.004. Epub 2014 Dec 23. PMID: 25540902; PMCID: PMC4805108.

Nedeljkovic, D., Ostojic, S.M. Dietary exposure to creatine-precursor amino acids in the general population. Amino Acids 57, 29 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-025-03460-7

Zhang Y, Xun P, Wang R, Mao L, He K. Can Magnesium Enhance Exercise Performance? Nutrients. 2017 Aug 28;9(9):946. doi: 10.3390/nu9090946. PMID: 28846654; PMCID: PMC5622706.

Hobson RM, Saunders B, Ball G, Harris RC, Sale C. Effects of β-alanine supplementation on exercise performance: a meta-analysis. Amino Acids. 2012 Jul;43(1):25-37. doi: 10.1007/s00726-011-1200-z. Epub 2012 Jan 24. PMID: 22270875; PMCID: PMC3374095.

Trexler ET, Smith-Ryan AE, Stout JR, Hoffman JR, Wilborn CD, Sale C, Kreider RB, Jäger R, Earnest CP, Bannock L, Campbell B, Kalman D, Ziegenfuss TN, Antonio J. International society of sports nutrition position stand: Beta-Alanine. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2015 Jul 15;12:30. doi: 10.1186/s12970-015-0090-y. PMID: 26175657; PMCID: PMC4501114.

.Murakami T, Furuse M. The impact of taurine- and beta-alanine-supplemented diets on behavioral and neurochemical parameters in mice: antidepressant versus anxiolytic-like effects. Amino Acids. 2010;39(2):427–34. doi: 10.1007/s00726-009-0458-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]