L-Glutamine

joejoem

Hey, what are the benifits of L-Glutamine, is it worth my while buying it? I've googled and read a bit on it but I'd like to hear from anyone with experience taking it, what benifits they found etc. Did you notice a big change from when you just took protein?

Dragan

L Glutamine is looking like it may be a good product. Studies have shown that supplementation with 5 to 10 grams of L Glutamine a day can increase freeform Growth Hormone Levels by 400%. Also as 60% of your msucle is actual made from this amino acid and you need to make sure you are not defficent then yes, it is a good supplement to take.

Problems with studies are that very little has been done in actual humans, most studies are animal.

Personnally , just to do my own little experiments I have cycled on and off Glutamine for 8 weeks on, 8 weeks off and 8 weeks on and I found it slightly, but only slightly, easier to add mass when I was on it. All in all, I do not think that heavy supplementation wit L Glutamine will give anybody amazing results and need to wait and see more studies in humans before I will be convinced to go out of my way to supplement with it again. Many of the products I use contain a certain ammount of the product anyway.

Easygainer

It's not meant to throw on the size like creatine is. View glutamine as a recovery supplement. If you suffer badly from DOMS (muscle soreness that arrives the day or two after a workout...) it's a great supplement. I used to get pretty stiff after workout, but I take 15 - 20g/day of glutamine (extra to what's in shakes). It doesn't work out very expensive - taking 15g/day would work out to 82c per day.

The other good use for glutamine is if you are dieting or worried about muscle loss from exercise. If you are dieting it will help hold onto muscle and also if you do eraly morning cardio, a bit of glutamine and a scoop of whey will stop you going catabolic.

As for the GH secretion, it's what they used to always go on about, but my feeling is, if you want to increase GH levels, you'd really have to take GH. It might have a minimanl effect but you're not gonna turn into a horse from it.

Dragan

To be honest, i never noticed a thing for recovery either, but by the sounds of it i may not have been taking enough of it.

Transform

pERSONALLY take it for digestive problems first thing in the morning on empty stomach and it has really helped (along with lots of probiotics!).

Not a magic bullet and always ask am i covering the basics first

i.e. multi vit, vit c, fish oils, and anything after that is more individual.

Finally most people who train in gyms train with such low intensity that supplementation is hardly necessary

You know who you are - yes the guys who do 4-5 sets of bench press, bicep curls as they mostly chat to friends about how they need to do more cardio but it will prevent them from gaining mass!!!

Or

Woman who does loads of cardio and won't lift over 5kg on the weights. I have a client in her 50s who can do 3 full proper chin ups and others that can knock out 20 full length pressups.

All the best

Dragan

Transform wrote:

You know who you are - yes the guys who do 4-5 sets of bench press, bicep curls as they mostly chat to friends about how they need to do more cardio but it will prevent them from gaining mass!!!

Or

Woman who does loads of cardio and won't lift over 5kg on the weights. I have a client in her 50s who can do 3 full proper chin ups and others that can knock out 20 full length pressups.

Not having the best day or just sick of your gym being full of noobs already???

joejoem

THere is allways a sting to Transforms posts, but sure your part of the furniture in here at this stage!

Boru.

Hi all,

I began taking L-Glutamine beacuse I was constantly getting sick with colds and flu. I push my training pretty hard, on many occassions ignore proper common sense entirely. Thus my immune system is pretty vunderable. Anyway, L-glut was recommened to me to boost recovery. I'd take it after every major workout and one or two times throughout the day. I slept better, didn't get sick, was able to train harder, it was great. Finished the supply, and kept forgetting to bring back some more. 1 week later - worst flu ever. Out for a week! Coincidence - maybe, but I'm back on it now.

Keep in mind I know relatively little about supplements, but that's my experience, and I hope it proves helpful.

PJG

As said above its very good for digestive problems I use it for recovery when training hard for competition. It’s also supposed to strengthen the immune system (can’t back that one up).