Glutamine – A Good Supplement for Bodybuilding?
There is a lot of debate over glutamine as to whether or not it’s a good supplement for bodybuilding.
While creatine is considered a safe “no brainer,” glutamine is only used by some people.
Yet, others believe that its effectiveness as supplement for bodybuilding is unclear.
Glutamine was considered to be a “must-have” supplement for bodybuilding until very recently.
Recent studies, though, indicate that the alleged benefits of glutamine were vastly overrated.
So, as a bodybuilder, should you include glutamine as a vital supplement on your list?
I’ll tell you.
Since glutamine is a non-essential amino acid, even though it makes up about 65 percent of amino acids in the body, the body can create it out of other amino acids and molecules in times of deficit.
Our amino acids are diminished during stress, which limits muscle growth.
So, it makes sense to use glutamine as a supplement for bodybuilding for some people.
There are some who claim that glutamine helps repair damaged muscles and prevents soreness after exercise, which is why it’s necessary.
Yet, others claim that because it boosts immune function, taking it as a pre-workout supplement helps enhance strength.
However, there is no evidence of glutamine being an essential supplement for bodybuilding in any current research.
Some of the findings of the research are interesting; it was found that glutamine does work under clinical stress testing, but doesn’t do much for a workout, even with quantities that would cost an average bodybuilder anywhere up to $1000 every year.
More importantly, the types of “stress” that the study refers to include severe burns, AIDS, and extensive surgery.
The tests also show that in healthy adults, glutamine supplements during weight training did not affect muscle performance, body composition, or muscle breakdown.
A research study even disproved some people’s belief that glutamine improves cell volume.
Another finding was that glutamine does not alter exercise-induced immune system reduction.
The one question that the studies do not directly answer is whether or not glutamine improves glycogen stores after exercise; however, some bodybuilders say that this fact isn’t important since one consumes a high-carbohydrate shake after a workout anyway.
Finally, one study showed that consuming an amino acid drink after a workout increased protein synthesis by up to 48 percent.
However, adding glutamine to the mix did not change protein synthesis.
So is glutamine a good supplement for bodybuilding? What do you believe now?
As with most things, the truth is somewhere in between.
Glutamine definitely isn’t everything that it was chalked out to be in the past, but it does provide some benefits.
It can apparently be a good supplement for bodybuilding as it restores testosterone levels post-workout.
It can also be a good supplement for bodybuilding as it helps to get the hard, ripped look, especially when combined with a fat loss program.
So glutamine is a good way to preserve muscle for those who are trying to get extremely lean.
