Looks like @Adawg38 nailed this one!

 

Welcome to the community man!

Scott, I have a question. What are your thoughts on glutamine? I know your body can produce it yourself but my goal is to gain muscle and strength "as fast as possible" naturally, and i've read that if you really train your ass of you should take glutamine. So should I take glutamine? I mean How important is it really for muscle gain? Right now I "just" take Mutant BCAA and Mutant Creakong (creatine) every day. :)

Hey man? Where did you read that? Ah, what am I asking :D Glutamine has shown not to help with muscle gain, strength gain, fat loss, recovery or anything of that nature. I mean supplemented glutamine. If you are eating enough protein for your bodyweight ( which you should be) you wont have any amino acid deficiency, thus you wont need any amino-acids. If you have a glutamine deficiency that means you are not eating enough in general, and then should you supplement the other 19 amino-acids as well? Maybe some leucine and serine and tyrosine? What about non-essential amino acids like taurine and ornithine? No, man, just make sure you are eating enough protein and you ll be alright. As I said at my previous post, I can make any one of dozens small little changes in your workout program and you will build muscle and strength faster than buying L-glutamine.

I read it on gymgrossisten.com. They say that of all the amino acids in your body glutamine is the most abudant one. And if you have low glutamine levels you will be more catabolic and your muscles recover slower. And they say that low levels of glutamine is a very common sign of sickness and overtraining. Anyway I don't want to write it all, but they have a point. Glutamine is very important.

 

But you are right; if I eat enough quality protein I don't need supplemented glutamine. :)

Scott, I have a question. What are your thoughts on glutamine? I know your body can produce it yourself but my goal is to gain muscle and strength "as fast as possible" naturally, and i've read that if you really train your ass of you should take glutamine. So should I take glutamine? I mean How important is it really for muscle gain? Right now I "just" take Mutant BCAA and Mutant Creakong (creatine) every day. :)

Yeah totally agree with Kostas on this one, glutamine is a waste of money in my opinion. Studies have shown it basically does nothing beneficial. Anecdotally it has been shown to help preserve muscle mass when cutting but I still think this is BS. I would choose leucine over glutamine anyday in terms of amino acid choice but for beginners just focus on your nutrition.

Since we are being honest, let me offer you my opinion on creatine. It is most definitely NOT natural. It is NATURALLY found in some foods but at very low concentrations that we shouldnt even be speaking of. Taking 5-10 grams of creatine a day is absolutely not natural. Same with testosterone. It is naturally found in our body but taking 2x or 3x the amount with a syringe is not natural. Same with protein. It is natural to use anywhere from 80-200 grams but if you are taking 400grams you are flirting with problems because its not natural. Furthermore, creatine is synthesized in a lab, same with dianabol, deca and tren, so the only 2 differences are :

- It is legal, steroids are not.
- It is not effective ,steroids are.

Now is it safe? Sure it is..other than hydration issues, we havent found any negative effects but the truth is we havent been looking for any long-term issues yet. Some people might encounter serious side effects like Rishi did and I have seen it a lot, but people just dont want to blame creatine. The truth is we do not know that much about creatine. Hope your problems go away, Rishi :)

Now does it work? I dont think it does. Does it help you recover faster? It doesnt matter, you muscles will recover in 24-48 hours anyway. If you are having DOMS for 3-4 days it means you did too freaking much in the gym. Drop down your volume, no need for recovery supplements. You are not recovering your muscles anyway, you are just healing micro-injuries ( DOMS related) that have nothing to do with gaining muscle or strength.
Does it help your strength? No it does not. Its not permanent anyway. It will increase your strength by 0-17% in the gym, so because of that you will gain some muscle ( we know that an increase of strength inevitably leads to an increase of mass). But this strength increase, is not due to CNS adaptations. Its just from the extra energy the creatine gives. The minute you stop using creatine, ( actually 14 days after, to clear your body from creatine) you will lose all strength gains made from it, and loss of the mass you gained from it, will surely follow shortly after. So the only solution is not to stop using it until you die. Is it worth it? I can make ANY alteration to your workout program and you will gain more than 17% power and strength in a matter of weeks.

Who wants to know about how useless preworkouts and BCAA's are? :D Just one thing..dont think that leucine (L-Leu) and isoleucine (L-Ile) cant be harmful in high quantities.

Kostas

Amen Kostas. I have never been a fan of Creatine for all the reasons I have stated in the past and the ones expressed here. To me, supplements should provide permanent results not temporary ones. If you eat right and take in the right amount of protein - via diet and supplements - do you not achieve permanent results in muscle size and strength? When you stop creatine, you lose size (do to water loss) and any of the strength you gained while using it. Maybe I am wrong, but that is exactly what happens when you stop taking steroids. Hmmmmmmmm......

 

John

Amen Kostas. I have never been a fan of Creatine for all the reasons I have stated in the past and the ones expressed here. To me, supplements should provide permanent results not temporary ones. If you eat right and take in the right amount of protein - via diet and supplements - do you not achieve permanent results in muscle size and strength? When you stop creatine, you lose size (do to water loss) and any of the strength you gained while using it. Maybe I am wrong, but that is exactly what happens when you stop taking steroids. Hmmmmmmmm......

 

John

Since we are being honest, let me offer you my opinion on creatine. It is most definitely NOT natural. It is NATURALLY found in some foods but at very low concentrations that we shouldnt even be speaking of. Taking 5-10 grams of creatine a day is absolutely not natural. Same with testosterone. It is naturally found in our body but taking 2x or 3x the amount with a syringe is not natural. Same with protein. It is natural to use anywhere from 80-200 grams but if you are taking 400grams you are flirting with problems because its not natural. Furthermore, creatine is synthesized in a lab, same with dianabol, deca and tren, so the only 2 differences are :

- It is legal, steroids are not.
- It is not effective ,steroids are.

Now is it safe? Sure it is..other than hydration issues, we havent found any negative effects but the truth is we havent been looking for any long-term issues yet. Some people might encounter serious side effects like Rishi did and I have seen it a lot, but people just dont want to blame creatine. The truth is we do not know that much about creatine. Hope your problems go away, Rishi :)

Now does it work? I dont think it does. Does it help you recover faster? It doesnt matter, you muscles will recover in 24-48 hours anyway. If you are having DOMS for 3-4 days it means you did too freaking much in the gym. Drop down your volume, no need for recovery supplements. You are not recovering your muscles anyway, you are just healing micro-injuries ( DOMS related) that have nothing to do with gaining muscle or strength.
Does it help your strength? No it does not. Its not permanent anyway. It will increase your strength by 0-17% in the gym, so because of that you will gain some muscle ( we know that an increase of strength inevitably leads to an increase of mass). But this strength increase, is not due to CNS adaptations. Its just from the extra energy the creatine gives. The minute you stop using creatine, ( actually 14 days after, to clear your body from creatine) you will lose all strength gains made from it, and loss of the mass you gained from it, will surely follow shortly after. So the only solution is not to stop using it until you die. Is it worth it? I can make ANY alteration to your workout program and you will gain more than 17% power and strength in a matter of weeks.

Who wants to know about how useless preworkouts and BCAA's are? :D Just one thing..dont think that leucine (L-Leu) and isoleucine (L-Ile) cant be harmful in high quantities.

Kostas

Scott,

 

This doesn't surprise me at all. BUN is Blood Urea Nitrogen which measures the bi-products of protein metabolism by the liver. Creatine is metabolized into creatinine which is cleared by the glomuruli in the kidneys and raises BUN. High protein diets increase your BUN and adding creatine supplementation on top of that really stresses your kidneys and causes dehydration. All these people that keep saying "creatine is the most studied, safest, effective supplement on the market" forget that everyone's bodies are different. Hydration is critical with increased protein diets and creatine makes hydration needs extra high. Even though one feels they are hydrated enough and don't always feel thirsty, doesn't mean they are hydrated enough. This is just another reason why I am not a fan of creatine - the amount you need to see positive effects even if it is not substantial stresses the underlying urinary system. Diabetes doesn't happen overnight. It takes years of stressing your pancreas and decreasing your insulin sensitivity thru poor diet and high sugar to cause it. Who says that constant strain of the kidneys, even if it is within "normal" parameters, over time won't lead to nephritis or some other kidney ailment.

 

John

Hey man? Where did you read that? Ah, what am I asking :D Glutamine has shown not to help with muscle gain, strength gain, fat loss, recovery or anything of that nature. I mean supplemented glutamine. If you are eating enough protein for your bodyweight ( which you should be) you wont have any amino acid deficiency, thus you wont need any amino-acids. If you have a glutamine deficiency that means you are not eating enough in general, and then should you supplement the other 19 amino-acids as well? Maybe some leucine and serine and tyrosine? What about non-essential amino acids like taurine and ornithine? No, man, just make sure you are eating enough protein and you ll be alright. As I said at my previous post, I can make any one of dozens small little changes in your workout program and you will build muscle and strength faster than buying L-glutamine.

Most supplements take a small grain of scientific truth and extremely exaggerate the importance to the human organism and 'gains'. For example, Glutamine is very much so involved in synthesizing our body's amino acids and protein as well as helping to clear ammonia from our system. That's a tremendously important function, in fact, without it we'd DIE!

But the reality is that supplementing it would offer no benefit beyond that which a healthy diet would. We already have all of what we need glutamine-wise. Many supplements take advantage of our inborne rationale that "if some is good, then more is better!" to heavily over-consume things that we do not need to see peak performance. In short, most supplements are a money sink.

My personal 'stack' is Creatine Monohydrate, A multivitamin, Vitamin D / Vitamin C and fish oil. That's it. Here's my rationale behind each one.

Creatine Monohydrate: Aesthetically, you will retain more water in the muscle and have a fuller look. Performance wise, in your immediate energy system exercises (IE: Weigh training or sprinting), you will have an increased capacity to develop force due to a full reserve of creatine-phosphate in your energy reserves. This does work, science etc.

Multi-Vitamin: This is strictly out of superstition that I somehow will miraculously not attain all the micronutrients I need in my diet. Call it a failsafe. While we as trainees and athletes typically eat a fairly healthy diet rich in nutrients, most of the world does not. It works.

Vitamin D: I live in Winnipeg Canada, it's -50 celcius for 6 months of the year and I'm a hermit otherwise that lives in gyms. I do not get enough sunlight (and most people do not for that matter) to naturally produce enough vitamin D and there are several training related benefits.

Vitamin C: See also -- Multivitamin reasoning. I train hard, work long hours and typically my work environment is exposed to TONS of people and dirty conditions (gym life). This serves an immune booster, also typically as a placebo.

Fish Oil: Simple put, a healthy blood profile and joint health.

 

My 'stack' is very simplistic. The overarching theme here is that anything that promises extreme results, fat loss, or dramatic change is absolutely lying to you for money. It will either be unsafe (in the case of fat burners) or simply untrue or very untested. There are supplements out there that have proven effectiveness, but proven effectiveness does not make it a mandatory addition to your diet. The amount of times I get the question "I'm working out not (often JUST cardio), do I NEED to be on a protein shake?" is staggering. It's a supplement, IE: in addition to your regular diet if / only if you cannot get it otherwise. You do not NEED anything. It's a bonus.

That's my mini rant, I could get even deeper into it but I don't want to start pulling up studies and papers ;)

 

Hope that helps.