Glutamine Supplements

Glutamine is an amino acid that is commonly taken by bodybuilders and athletes in a powder supplement form. Research has show that glutamine can decrease workout recovery times, decreasing muscle tissue breakdown, and strengthening the immune system among other things.

Glutamine is stored throughout the body, including the small intestines, muscle tissue, skin, kidney and liver. Although small amounts of glutamine are found in certain meats, and the body produces small amounts of glutamine daily, these amounts often don't meet the Glutamine Supplement

requirements of weight lifters, and athletes that place high amounts of stress on their muscle tissue and immune systems.

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid int he body. This is significant, since amino acids are know as the "building blocks of protein", and play an important role in the muscle building process.

Not all amino acids are created equally however, and are therefore categorized as either essential, or non-essential.

Glutamine is a non-essential amino acid.

For optimal health, essential amino acids must be obtained through diet, while non-essential amino acids can be manufactured by the body and therefore do not have to be obtained through diet.

Here is a list of all essential and non-essential amino acids:

AMINO ACIDS
Essential	Non-Essential
Histidine	Alanine
Isoleucine	Arginine
Leucine	Aspartic Acid
Lysine	Cysteine
Methionine	Cystine
Phenylalanine	Glutamic Acid
Tryptophan	Glutamine
Valine	Glycine
	Hydroxyproline
	Proline
	Serine
	Tyrosine

Most people are surprised to learn that glutamine is categorized as a non-essential amino acid. You'd think that if glutamine plays such an important role in the muscle building process that it would be considered essential right?

Although the non-essential classification may apply to the average person, those that regularly take part in highly intense bouts of exercise have different needs.

Bodybuilders and performance athletes place increased demands on their immune systems and stress on their muscle tissue, resulting in their daily nutrient requirements increasing. This means that it may become difficult for the body to produce adequate amounts of nutrients such as glutamine to satisfy their increased demands

For this reason, most experts classify glutamine as a "conditionally essential" amino acid for athletes and bodybuilders.

Now that you have a better idea of what glutamine is, let's take a look at what it actually does, and the benefits of taking glutamine supplements.

How Do Bodybuilders Benefit from Glutamine Supplementation?

Glutamine supplementation benefits the bodybuilder in the following ways:

Decreases the breakdown of muscle tissue - No comment necessary for this one, it's a no-brainer!

Faster workout recovery times - Faster recovery times mean that you can train more often and/or at a higher intensity without overtraining.

Increases protein synthesis - Increased protein synthesis means more muscle tissue.

Improves nitrogen retention - Nitrogen retention helps the body remain in an anabolic state, critical in the muscle building process.

Strengthens the immune system - A stronger immune system will be more efficient at fighting off infections resulting in increased productivity since you won't miss days or even weeks due to illness.

How Does Glutamine Supplementation Work?

One of the most important components of building muscle fast is protein metabolism. Your body does not build muscle during weight training workouts, it does so during your rest and recovery period.

Every day your body goes through constant cycles of protein synthesis (anabolism), and protein breakdown (catabolism). During the stages of protein breakdown, your body loses nitrogen and at the same time, glutamine is taken from your muscles and used to fuel other important functions such as the immune system. The immune system can literally rob muscle tissue of it's glutamine stores, which play a role in both muscle repair, and limiting muscle tissue loss.

Glutamine Powder Furthermore, as you place increased amounts of stress on your body through weight training workouts, even less glutamine is available for your muscle tissue. This means that having the right levels of glutamine in your body is very important not only for muscle tissue repair, but also for immune system health.

Supplementing with glutamine ensures that your body has a sufficient supply in the muscles,which will prevent muscle tissue breakdown. Your body can now use the glutamine in the muscle tissue to synthesize protein and build muscle, and will have plenty to spare for the immune system and the other processes in the body that require this amino acid. Taking a glutamine supplement will ensure that your body is never deficient of gluctamine.

If you are still skeptical about taking glutamine, consider this: Emergency Rooms all over the world have used glutamine for years for patient that have been involved in high trauma accidents that have caused sever burns or tissue damage. Burn victims body's immediately begin to enter a catabolic state immediately after the trauma. This catabolic state causes the tissue to breakdown as the body pulls glutamine fom the muscle to be used for other more critical bodily functions. Doctors have demonstrated that high dosages of glutamine to these patients prevents tissue breakdown.

By maintaining high levels of free glutamine, your body will not have to rob your muscles of the amino acid as stress increases.

When and How Much Glutamine Should I Consume?

Studies indicate that consuming between 2 - 5 grams of glutamine daily is most beneficial. Most of the experts recommend 5 grams daily split up into two separate servings, however, since there is no evidence of toxicity with this supplement don't be afraid to experiment until you find a dosage that works well for your body.

As with all bodybuilding supplements, make sure you talk to your physician before you begin your regimen.

The best times to consume glutamine is either in the morning on an empty stomach, or directly after a weight training workout. Taking glutamine at these times will maximize the absorption rate since your body's requirements for nutrients is greatest at these times.

Supplementing with Glutamine: What to Expect

You aren't physically going to feel a whole lot of changes after supplementing with Glutamine. Unlike caffeine supplements that will give you energy boosts, or creatine which will increase your strength, glutamine does it's job relatively silently. Beyond faster recovery times and possibly less muscle soreness after training sessions, you won't really notice any changes.

Don't let this fool you however, as most of the benefits of glutamine such as increased resistance to illness and a decreased muscle tissue breakdown are benefits that you would never notice

Putting it All Together

Glutamine isn't a magical powder that will build serious muscle mass on it's own. If there were such a powder, we'd all be using it!

That being said, glutamine is one of the few bodybuilding supplements that's been scientifically proven to do what it's meant to do; speed up recovery times, strengthen the immune system, and help create an anabolic environment in the body.

Most bodybuilders consider glutamine to be a "staple" supplement that works well in conjunction with the following"

Because of it's proven track record and relatively inexpensive price tag, glutamine has emerged as one of the most popular bodybuildling supplements on the market. If you haven't yet tried it, give it a shot. glutamine warrants a spot in your arsenal of supplements.