With daily exercise plus life responsibilities, it’s easy to start to experience a lack of motivation to get into the gym consistently.  This can impact steady progress to reaching your goal physique. The main underlying cause for most is usually fatigue. Fatigue can be either mental, physical or a combination of both. It’s that lethargic feeling when waking up and hitting the snooze button over and over seems like the only option.

The mental aspect of fatigue will affect your mood, thinking, and overall cognitive performance. The physical will affect your movements and actions known as motor performance . Symptoms are having low energy and motivation and decreased physical strength. This prevents many from staying in the gym consistently and can slow progress. We all treasure the limited time we have to work on ourselves while juggling other life tasks so it’s important to lessen fatigue to continue bodybuilding efficiently, happily, and injury free.

The biomechanics behind fatigue are changes in the efficiency of pathways between signaling systems, also known as synapses transmission. What occurs is either switching of polarity in the signals causing exhaustion of that pathway or a over charge of neurons making it overactive. Picture a fuse either burning out with too much energy or not passing the current due to lack of energy, either way it won’t pass signal and it won’t work. What maintains these signaling systems is neurotransmitters which send the signal across the synapse. It’s like the flip switch from your brain to your muscle and we all know how important mind muscle connection is in bodybuilding.

The main inhibitory neurotransmitter that helps maintain this energy system is GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid). GABA is a naturally occurring amino acid in our bodies but is also found in food, albeit in limited quantities, which is why supplementing is a great benefit. Studies show GABA has helps those with Alzheimer’s Disease, fibromyalgia, patients with Epilepsy to reduce seizures, and is a natural alternative to medication for people with mood and mental disorders. It’s a shame it’s not talked about more often!

So what’s the best way to take this brain, mood, and strength boosting Amino Acid? GABA can be taken with your workout nutrition to alleviate the overactive and switched polarity synapses. When using with your workout make an effort to stay symmetrical and make a good mind to muscle connection to realign the pathways. This technique will help straighten your posture and balance your movements. Another benefit is less salivary cortisol and less psychological fatigue. Keeping cortisol levels down helps boost testosterone levels and creates less fat from cortisol and who doesn’t want that when seeking a top notch physique.

Exercise isn’t the only factor affecting these energy systems. Sleep deprivation will drastically lower the efficiency of the synapse transmission. Studies show that GABA helps boost serotonin levels that help decrease anxiety and many use it along side melatonin as a natural sleeping aide. Studies have also shown that people with back injuries can benefit greatly from the supplement as it will help realign the nerve pathways, straightening back posture. For many that work in offices this will help due to having to look down at screens and will alleviate neck and shoulder discomfort. This helps make more efficient use of your recommended 8 hours of sleep to straighten you up, strengthen you up, and set you up for a good mood day in and day out. Consistency is key in bodybuilding and GABA will help you get there.

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