Top 6 Nutritional Supplements: glutamine
How Glutamine works: glutamine is known as a “conditionally essential” amino acid; it becomes “essential” during intense exercise such as weight training or cardiovascular exercise, as the need for glutamine is greatly increased. During bouts of intense activity (or stress), glutamine enters the bloodstream and travels into the liver where it is converted into glucose; this newly synthesized glucose helps to fuel the working muscles. This process is known as gluconeogenesis-the process of turning a non-carbohydrate substance (glutamine and some other amino acids) into glucose which can be used for energy. While this all sounds great for muscle tissue, the problem is that the primary source of glutamine during exercise is from broken down muscle; the body actually breaks down muscle protein to help fuel working muscles thus preserving their glycogen stores[1]. Supplying the muscles with an exogenous source of glutamine (i.e. a glutamine supplement) has been shown to reduce muscle degradation during intense weight training exercise-the body is “tricked” into not breaking down as much muscle tissue.
Benefits of Glutamine: glutamine has a subtle effect; however over-time the trainee will recover more quickly from intense weight training workouts, resulting in faster and further progress than those not using a glutamine supplement. Trainees using a glutamine supplement often note that they have much less muscle soreness in the days following an intense weight training workout.
Is it glutamine safe? Side effects of glutamine:
Glutamine has virtually no side effects if taken at the recommended dosage.
How to supplement with Glutamine:
Although on paper glutamine supplementation seems very simple (take extra glutamine, burn less muscle), there is still the problem of getting the stuff to where it is needed-from the plastic jar in your gym-bag to your working muscles, and we need it to get there at the right time. Unfortunately, over 90% of orally ingested (free-form) glutamine is used up in the gut, and never makes it to the bloodstream. It is damned-inconvenient to walk from station to station in the gym pushing a cart to which we have a glutamine-drip attached to us by IV, so we will need to get by with the oral route (admit it; you’ve considered this!). Depending on your bodyweight, 5-10 g of glutamine should be taken both immediately before and immediately after your workout. The powder form is best-capsules are next-to worthless, as at 250mg per cap (assuming 10 g is the desired dose), you would need to take 40 capsules of Glutamine before-and after your workout. This is not only impractical but very expensive.
[1] Glycogen is glucose in the polymer-form; it is stored in muscle-tissue into it is broken down into its constituent glucose molecules and used as energy.
Next:PROTEIN
Benefits of Glutamine: glutamine has a subtle effect; however over-time the trainee will recover more quickly from intense weight training workouts, resulting in faster and further progress than those not using a glutamine supplement. Trainees using a glutamine supplement often note that they have much less muscle soreness in the days following an intense weight training workout.
Is it glutamine safe? Side effects of glutamine:
Glutamine has virtually no side effects if taken at the recommended dosage.
How to supplement with Glutamine:
Although on paper glutamine supplementation seems very simple (take extra glutamine, burn less muscle), there is still the problem of getting the stuff to where it is needed-from the plastic jar in your gym-bag to your working muscles, and we need it to get there at the right time. Unfortunately, over 90% of orally ingested (free-form) glutamine is used up in the gut, and never makes it to the bloodstream. It is damned-inconvenient to walk from station to station in the gym pushing a cart to which we have a glutamine-drip attached to us by IV, so we will need to get by with the oral route (admit it; you’ve considered this!). Depending on your bodyweight, 5-10 g of glutamine should be taken both immediately before and immediately after your workout. The powder form is best-capsules are next-to worthless, as at 250mg per cap (assuming 10 g is the desired dose), you would need to take 40 capsules of Glutamine before-and after your workout. This is not only impractical but very expensive.
[1] Glycogen is glucose in the polymer-form; it is stored in muscle-tissue into it is broken down into its constituent glucose molecules and used as energy.
Next:PROTEIN
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