The Happy Powder

Neurotransmitter Solution
by Christian Thibaudeau | 12/27/19

Tags: 
 Nutrition & Supplements
 Workout Nutrition

Does your motivation sometimes drag? Are you mentally tired? Do you have
more negative thoughts than you'd care to admit? Or do you simply not enjoy
life as much as you used to?

Maybe this doesn't sound like you right away, because you're doing okay in
life. But you know what? It creeps up on you. You likely don't even notice
what's become of your energy, mood, and motivation. You think the rut you're
in now is just part of being an adult.

But maybe you're just not giving your brain what it needs to be optimized.
You've been like this for so long that it feels normal. But your "normal" could
feel way better. So how do you optimize your brain, get motivated, have a
more positive outlook on life, gain more energy, and build and tap into more
strength?

You do it by improving your brain chemistry. And it starts with improving

dopamine and acetylcholine, the two target neurotransmitters of Power
Drive®.

The Academic and Athletic Edge

I started using Power Drive® in 1999 when it was given to me by a strength
and conditioning coach. I was in college and competing in Olympic lifting. The
first week I tried it, I aced my neurophysiology exam (weird coincidence) and
hit a huge PR on the snatch. I was hooked.
When I became a strength coach, it became a staple for my athletes too. As a
new coach, I didn't know then what I know now and inadvertently overloaded
the athletes with too much volume and intensity. But they thrived, and I credit
Power Drive® for their ability to continue performing at a high level.

For a while, Power Drive® wasn't available. Sadness ensued. But now it's
back! Let's talk about what it does and how it does it.

Acetylcholine: The Optimizer

While all neurotransmitters are important, acetylcholine may be the most

important one, at least for those of us who want to be strong, athletic, and
smart.

Acetylcholine is key when it comes to being a skilled athlete or someone who

improves fast on his big lifts. If you're a football player who needs agility and
creativity on the field, acetylcholine is your best ally. If you play baseball and a
need lightning-fast reaction to the pitch? You can't do that with low
acetylcholine.

And let's say you're a CrossFit dude who needs to master two thousand skills
and can't afford to train them all every week. Well, if your acetylcholine is low
you better forget about that; you'll never keep any level of technical efficiency
on skills you can't train consistently.

Acetylcholine is heavily involved in storing knowledge, so it plays a key role in

both intellectual and motor learning. People with high acetylcholine levels
learn information more easily, retain it, and are better able to retrieve it when
needed. They're also better at learning new movements and automating them.

Acetylcholine is also important for hypertrophy, strength, and power. It acts

directly on the neuromuscular junction where the neural drive connects with
the muscle to activate it. As a result, high acetylcholine increases muscle
control, mind-muscle connection, and muscle contraction strength by
improving the speed of the message to contract.

It also plays a key role in triggering the stretch reflex. This reflex occurs when
a muscle is rapidly stretched. As a protective mechanism, it triggers a reflex
muscle contraction to shorten the muscle, reducing the risk of tearing that
muscle.

It also greatly contributes to force and speed production. A good example of

the stretch reflex in action is when you catch the rebound in the bottom of a
squat. Sprinting, jumping, and especially quick changes of direction are
heavily dependent on the stretch reflex.

Athletes with a better stretch reflex are faster, more agile, and more powerful.
Insufficient acetylcholine decreases the sensitivity and strength of the stretch
reflex.
Brain Benefits

Acetylcholine is important for creativity. People with a high level of this

neurotransmitter tend to think outside of the box and also want to try new
things. I believe creativity is highly dependent on your ability to quickly make
connections between the information stored in your brain. This allows you to
create new solutions, and acetylcholine can help you do that.

It's worth noting that acetylcholine can protect all the other neurotransmitters
you produce and make them more effective. It does so by speeding up the
transmission of the messages from other neurotransmitters. Your brain's
messaging within itself and with other parts of the body is enhanced by a high
level of acetylcholine. This means you'll need less of the other
neurotransmitters to do their job.