| Creatine and Glutamine These are two of the most effective muscle-building
supplements available - but if you want to see results, don't take
them at the same time!!!
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Creatine works.
Glutamine works. Wouldn't a mixture of the two be great!? Well if you
took a look at half the "miracle" supplements out in the market place you would
think so. Not hardly. In fact, taking creatine and glutamine at the same time
may actually produce far less muscle-building results than if you
just took either creatine or glutamine alone. Let me clarify, you should
never take creatine and glutamine together in the same supplement or at the exact
same time. You can and should take them on the same day just not at
the same time.
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| Most products are just Voo-Doo mixes |
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Bottom line is, with most companies the depth of their research comes from the magazines
they read. The same magazines you read. Can you believe that? It's true.
So as they copy the "hot" supplements that the leaders in this industry
produce, now and then they will try to "one-up" the real companies. This
is where their lack of nutritional understanding rises to the surface. I have seen
this lately with supplements that claim to contain both creatine and glutamine as though
this was some magical combination. It seems, the popularity and effectiveness of
creatine and glutamine have made some companies think they are much smarter than they are.
* Can you think of which companies are the real innovators? Can you ever remember
TwinLab coming out with an original product? How about Weider? ProLab?
SportPharma? Optimum? WorldWide? The list goes on. Fact is there
are only a handful of truly innovative companies in the industry. The rest just copy
all the successful products. If I had a penny for every VyoPro knock-off they
wouldn't fit in our warehouse.
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These companies add both to the same product (or at least
their label says they do - with what our lab tests are turning up chances are they aren't)
so they can try to convince the customer that you'll get the benefits of both glutamine
and creatine in one product. Their label or information may go something like this.
"5 grams of creatine monohydrate per serving for increased strength and muscle mass.
3 grams of glutamine per serving for increased nitrogen retention and cell
volumizing." It sounds good but that's about where it stops.
You will usually find this combination in powdered mixes but I have seen
capsule combinations as well. The meal replacement segment seems to be the biggest
abuser. It all boils down to marketing. The companies pushing this useless
combination are hoping that by putting creatine and glutamine
on the label they will sell more product. To the uninformed consumer - they will.
You, however, are now informed.
As I said earlier, creatine and glutamine are two of the best
supplements available for building muscle size and strength. And to speed muscle
growth you should supplement with both, but you should do so intelligently and not with
some hocus-pocus witch's brew.
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| Transporter Competition |
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You see, creatine and glutamine depend on many of the same substrate carriers and
cotransporters. When the two are competing with one another for the same carriers,
one wins and one loses. Let's say for example you have a molecule of sodium (sodium
is a carrier for both glutamine and creatine) available to carry a molecule of creatine or
glutamine into the muscle cell. Well it's only going to attach to one of them.
It's not going to carry both. Therefore one is out of luck and thus will perform
some other possibly mundane task or just get excreted as waste. And waste is what
will happen.
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| Can't occupy the same space at the same time |
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When you have two micro-nutrients that involve similar metabolic pathways and utilize some
of the same substrate transporters and are trying to occupy the same space at the same
time, you run into complications that could very well nullify the actions of both.
This is what you run into when you take creatine and glutamine at the same time. And
this is exactly opposite of what you don't want to happen.Even
though slamming down one drink that has both creatine and glutamine in it is convenient,
what's convenience when it's doing you no good? You want results from your
supplements and you can get it with just a little planning.
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| Allow at least one hour and a half between the two |
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To garner the maximum benefits of both creatine and glutamine you need to take them at
different times during the day. Allow at least one hour and a half between the two.
This way you'll maximize the effectiveness of both by making sure you're getting
full absorption and utilization of each. Taking creatine without glutamine during
the day will allow for successful muscle-creatine uptake. Taking glutamine at
different times during the day absent of creatine will allow for maximum glutamine
transport into muscle tissue without undue carrier competition.
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| Plan out your supplement schedule |
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Though it takes a little more strategic planning and is certainly less convenient, spacing
out your glutamine and creatine intake will maximize both nutrient uptake and utilization
of the two, and will certainly maximize the rate at which these two novel compounds will
assist you in promoting muscle growth. It's easy and scientifically valid - unlike
the all-in-one hope and pray supplements.
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Recommended Dose Schedule
I'm going to base this on a 5:00AM wake up time and a 6:00PM workout time. This
fits most normal daily routines. If your schedule is different you can easily modify
the hours to fit your timetable.
5:00AM: Take 5 grams of GL3
L-Glutamine in the morning upon wakening. Do this on an empty stomach.
Your body has just gone several hours with no nutrients and is like a sponge for
glutamine. Eat breakfast about 45 minutes after taking the glutamine. You can
mix GL3 L-Glutamine with glutamine rich VyoPro
Whey Protein. Glutamine's effects may actually be enhanced when supplied with a rich
nitrogen source like VyoPro.
10:00AM: Take 1 serving of Creatine HSC.
5:00PM: Take 1 serving of Creatine HSC.
7:00PM: Directly after your workout take 5 grams of GL3 L-Glutamine. Again, you can mix it with
VyoPro. This is the perfect time for this combination.
10:30PM: At bedtime take 2 to 5 grams of GL3 L-Glutamine. This is a prime time as your
body's natural high secretion of growth hormone at this time will be enhanced by
glutamine.
As you can see, you can easily space your creatine and glutamine intake throughout the
day to get the maximum out of both. Creatine and glutamine are very potent and
effective supplements in combination just as long as you don't combine them at the same
time.
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| Beware of slick label claims |
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Anytime you see these two supplements combined into one product steer clear of it and the
company promoting it. Not only is it a complete waste, but it is also a good
indication the company does no research and has no real idea of what they are selling or
why they are selling it. They are simply trying to capitalize off the popularity of
these two effective products and bluff the customer into thinking what they have is
"high-tech" because their product contains both creatine and glutamine. |
