Supplements Marni Rakes, B.A., M.S.



SUPPLEMENT FRENZY!

What's your method for improving athletic performance? Supplemental usage, loyalty to your gym membership, an extremely healthy diet or an at-home-library dedicated to fitness books? Well, whichever method you prefer, enhancing performance, adding muscle mass and remaining lean is a lot of hard work!

For the athlete in all of us, who strives for rock-hard abs, defined quadriceps and bulging biceps, proper nutritional habits are one of the most important factors contributing to the ideal body image. However, in addition to your stringent diet, one can only do so many squats to failure, alternating bicep curls and painful skull crushers.

With a number of recreational, professional, and student athletes using supplements to enhance athletic performance, it should come of no surprise that the sports nutrition industry is gaining a great deal of attention. Although ergogenic aids have received a poor reputation by the mainstream media, indisputably, however, there is sufficient evidence indicating that, when taken correctly, certain supplements work to your athletic advantage. Granted that hard-working PhDs have spent endless days in a laboratory, the abundance of information on supplements, provided by scholarly articles, websites, magazines, and books, can be repetitive, deceptive and far too outdated. Amid a substantial body of research, uncovering plentiful benefits of ergogenic aids, there are countless products to advance your athletic capabilities. A few of the most commonly recommended include; creatine, L-glutamine, ALA, BCAA's, nitric oxide and whey protein isolate.

Assuming you are a fitness enthusiast, as you browse through this website, I commend your effort of trying to stay current with recent scientific research and recommended products. All the same, I realize that scientific articles are not the most intriguing form of light reading. Whether you are a football player, bodybuilder, runner or average gym-rat, supplementing with the right product will ultimately help you reach your fitness goals. After reviewing much of the recent scientific literature, one of the most highly recommended supplements, and with good reason, is L-glutamine.



WHY L-GLUTAMINE?

Proteins comprise many amino acids (the building blocks of protein), which are vital for synthesizing hormones, signaling neurotransmitters and maintaining proper metabolic functioning. Research has shown that consuming amino acids before an exercise session reduces mental fatigue, accelerates muscle repair, fosters muscle growth and lessens muscle damage (Rasmussen). Furthermore, an immediate feeding of amino acids after exercise facilitates the recovery process, minimizes the chance of injury, prevents loss of muscle mass and improves your subsequent training session. Without a doubt, amino acids should be one of the prime nutrients included in your body building diet.

Similar to the throbbing pain when finishing a set of leg extensions, arduous training is very unsympathetic to the make-up of muscle tissues. Glutamine, a prominent amino acid found in blood and muscle tissue, is an essential supplement for the person looking for a quick post-workout recovery, enhanced immune system and distinguished growth of muscle cells. With glutamine comprising 61% of skeletal muscle tissue, the normal 50% drop in glutamine levels after training contributes to a decrease in endurance, strength and tissue healing. Since elevated glutamine levels are necessary to optimize a training-induced anabolic response of muscle tissues, effective protein supplements should contain L-glutamine to foster a quick and proficient tissue repair and growth.

In a recent study, Ohtani et al. studied the effect of a dietary amino acid supplement containing branched-chain amino acids, arginine and glutamine. Throughout an extended period of time (10, 30 and 90 days), results showed a quicker recovery after eccentric exercise training and a decrease in muscle fatigue in subjects who supplemented with amino acids. Furthermore, at a dose of 7.2 g/d, improvement in the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood contributed to an improvement in the efficiency of training (Ohtani).

By consuming 10 to 15 grams of L-glutamine, two to three times per day, supplementation will encourage a positive nitrogen balance, avert the loss of muscle mass and support a healthy immune system. For best results, consume L-glutamine in the morning, immediately after a workout and before you lay down for bed.



1) Rasmussen, B.B. and Phillips, S.M. (2003). Contractile and nutritional regulation of human muscle growth. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 31:127-31.

2) Ohtani, M., Sugita, M. and Maruyama, K. (2006). Amino acid mixture improves training efficiency in athletes. J Nutri. 136:538S-543S.