SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

If glycine worked in athletes as it did in pigs or even isolated muscle cells, in which scientists recently observed a dose-dependent increase in protein synthesis (up to 80%) and reductions in protein degradation (-30%), it would be a go-to supplement for dieting athletes. Glycine is not exactly the most popular amino acid supplement in the health and fitness community. With recent studies by a group of Chinese and American scientists from the State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition  in China and the Texas A&M University , this may change - rightly so? Only recently Wang et al. were able to show that dietary glycine supplementation enhances skeletal muscle growth in young pigs (Wang. 2014a,b) - an excellent model of human metabolism. In view of the fact that the mechanism has hitherto not been fully understood, it was difficult to judge whether the smallest possible amino, i.e. glycine, could / would be useful for trainees as well. Learn more about amino acid supple...

Intra-workout BCAA supplements are marketed specifically to resistance trainees. If they do have anti-catabolic effects, though, those are - just like potential fatigue reducing effects - significantly more likely to occur in endurance trainees. If you go by the results of a 2001 study by Blomstrand et al., which is actually the only study to investigate the effect of BCAA intake on the leg exchange of amino acids along with the change in their muscle concentration during exercise and a 2-h recovery period, it would appear as if the claim that "Intra-Workout BCAA Supplements Are Useful Only For Those Who Produce, Import and Sell Them" was true. The study, which measured the amount of amino acids directly and does thus provide a much better proxy of proteolysis than protease measurements which are "a poor index of muscle proteolysis" (Attaix. 2010), did after all indicate that there is no decrease in the rate of protein degradation when BCAA are consumed during...

It takes pains to maintain your gains! You will certainly remember the shocking revelation that simply eating more protein is not going to prevent the diet induced muscle loss that occurs whenever you consume less energy than you expend (read up on "Protein Intake & Muscle Catabolism: Fasting Gnaws on Your Muscle Tissue and Abundance Causes Wastefulness" | go for it !)... Don't rejoice, the study at hand does not refute this - protein is still unable to counter the increase in atrogin-1 and other muscle cannibalizing proteins, but there is a "tweak" by the means of which you can at least avoid that its pro-anabolic affects are also impaired. You can learn more about protein intake at the SuppVersity Are You Protein Wheysting? Cod protein for recovery Protein requ. of athletes High EAA protein for fat loss Fast vs. slow protein Too much ado about protein? What this "tweak" is? Well, that's easy: Heavy lifting. I...

It won't spare you the sweat, but carnitine could make it even more worthwhile by ramping up the anabolic and shutting down the catabolic signals. Until 2006 l-carnitine has been known as a fat-burner, an in-effective fat-burner and an expensive and pretty useless supplement (depending on whom you were asking). Then, in July 2006, Kraemer et al. published a paper (a human study, above all!) in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise a consequential paper so to say; a paper in which the authors report that l-carnitine l-tartrate supplementation at a dosage of 2.933g/day (this amount of LCLT contains 2g of pure carnitine) led to a statistically significant increase in androgen receptors in the vastus lateralis after a heavy resistance training protocol in previously strength trained male subjects (Kraemer. 2006). Still, the evidence has always been inconclusive to say the least Despite the fact that the concomitantly elevated post-workout luteinizing hormo...

Image 1: Nutrition, exercise and most importantly the right mindset will always be the foundation of leading a long, strong and healthy life - irrespective of how many supplements you take - you cannot out-supplement a bad diet, laziness and a lack of motivation and determination. The hype was, as usual, huge, when back in the day Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-Methl-Butyrate (HMB), marketed as the natural alternative to Deca (Nandrolone; update : thx to anonymous for the heads-up that it was not just Anavar , as I original thought ;-), hit the market. What was yet even bigger than the hype, though, was the disappointment of customers who felt ripped off; and that not without reason, because the early HMB supplements were not only touted to be as effective as the previously mentioned anabolic steroid, they were also sold at similarly high prices and low doses, of which every scientists could easily have told you that the one thing that would grow were the purses of the manufacturers.When the ma...