Supplementswell supported · human data
Pre-workout staple citrulline did nothing for endurance
Pooled across nine trials of young, recreationally active adults, an acute dose of citrulline moved neither time to exhaustion nor time to completion, and the trials agreed with each other almost perfectly. The evidence base is small, but it points one way: no measurable endurance benefit.
For you: If citrulline is the reason you buy a pre-workout for endurance, this is a reason for scepticism: the pooled trials found nothing.
What it shows: A fair verdict on the evidence so far, but the pile is small: nine trials with 158 young, recreationally active adults, all testing one-off or short loading doses. Effects in women, higher week-long dosing and longer race-style tests remain unexamined.Meta-analysis · J Int Soc Sports Nutr