Information
and
discussion on dietary supplements. Each supplement will be discussed as
to what it is and its importance in fitness and weight training. This
section
of popularfitness.com is new. Additional supplements will be added in
the
future.
List
of Supplements:
Creatine
A little history about creatine.
It occurs naturally in relatively high concentrations in certain foods
- beef, salmon, tuna. It was discovered in meat extracts in 1832 by a
French
scientist named Chevreul. In 1923 scientists discovered that the
average
human body contains 100 grams of creatine and 95% of it is stored in
human
tissue.
It's naturally made in our
body by our liver and may also be produced in the pancreas and kidneys.
Creatine is then transported in our blood stream to our muscle cells
where
it is converted to creatine phosphate.
Various studies over the
years have found that creatine may promote muscle growth. This is
achieved
by the increased workload on your muscles as a result of creatine
providing
you with more energy and less muscle fatigue, faster muscle recovery
time.
Creatine also has a cell-volumizing
effect. This means that as more creatine is absorbed by your muscle
cells,
so is more water thus giving you a pumped feel and look. This is why
you
have to drink more water as you take creatine. When a muscle cell is
hydrated
it creates enhanced muscle growth.
Many studies over the years
have shown that there are many other benefits to creatine
supplementation.
I have found that using creatine
has increased my lean body mass, I've gained more muscle and I have a
lot
more energy when I'm at the gym training with weights. It also speeds
up
my muscle recovery time. I'm rarely sore or suffer from muscle fatigue
after heavy or intense workouts.
Glutamine
Glutamine
is probably the most
important of all amino acids. It is used for various functions by our
bodies.
For example, it is used by our bodies in large quantities for proper
immune
system, kidney, pancreas, gall bladder and liver functions. As a
nitrogen
transporter, it allows for ammonia to be removed from some parts of the
body (brain) and deposited into others (intestines, kidneys).
Your body keeps a large store
of glutamine in your muscle tissue thus maintaining proper cellular
hydration
or cell volume. When your body can't manufacture enough glutamine or
get
enough of it through your diet, your body will then take the glutamine
that is stored in your muscle tissue resulting in catabolism or muscle
breakdown. If you are trying to at least maintain or increase muscle
mass,
then this is not what you want happening. Thus it is important to
supplement
your diet with glutamine.
Many protein powders today
already contain glutamine. If you feel you may need more, consider
taking
pure glutamine or the highly recommended product CytoVol which also
contains
alanine and glycine allowing for greater increase in cell volume and an
optimal cellular environment for new muscle growth.
HMB
HMB for short, or beta-hydroxy
beta-methylbutyrate
What is it? It's a metabollite
of the essential amino acid leucine and it's present in small
quantities
in meats (catfish), fruits (grapefruit) and vegetables... as well as
manufactured
by our own body. It's not a steroid nor a drug. HMB is even a natural
component
found in mother's milk.
What does it do? HMB increases
the body's ability to build muscle mass and burn fat in response to
intense
exercise. It basically shifts protein metabolism in favour of new
muscle
growth as well as minimizing the breakdown of muscle tissue. Therefore
it appears to work best with a high protein diet.
Over the years, numerous
performed studies indicate the following:
-
HMB boosts endurance
-
women using HMB experienced
enhanced strength, an increase in lean body mass and fat loss
Who uses it? Used by bodybuilding
champions like Bill Davey, Bill Phillips; NFL athlete Shannon Sharpe
and
numerous medal-winning Olympic athletes in the 1996 Atlanta Summer
Games.
