1. What is glutamine?
Glutamine is a free amino acid which has the highest concentration in your body. It accounts for approximately 60% of all your free amino acids in the muscle cells. It possesses the ability to synthesize new amino acids that are essential in building structural proteins.
2. How does it work?
Glutamine plays a vital role in preventing fatigue and overtraining. As a result of an intense workout your body falls into catabolism that is a state in which your muscle protein begins to break-up. Excessive protein breakdown disables muscle mass gain. Glutamine stops this negative process. This is a so-called anticatabolic activity. Glutamine acts on muscle mass gain by increasing a hydration of muscle cells, which leads to the enlargement of their volume and muscle circumference. Greater cell hydration is an anabolic signal that stimulates protein and glycogen synthesis (glycogen is the main source of energy for muscle contractions). Glutamine enhances immune functions of your body by taking part in antioxidants and glutathione synthesis (glutathione is a compound that conditions a pace of immune cell multiplication). Researches has shown on show that glutamine increases the level of growth hormone, which is the basic hormone responsible for muscle mass gain.
3. Who should use glutamine?
All bodybuilders who train hard and athletes who practice strength sports have greater demand for glutamine than other people. In the case of glutamine deficiency, amino acid has to be produced from other amino acids, which is an extremely expensive process, considering quantitative and qualitative loss of the amino acids essential in muscle growth.
4. What is the difference between glutamine peptide and pure l-glutamine?
Glutamine peptide is a natural supplement obtained from selected corn seeds. Thanks to peptide bonds pure l-glutamine is released systematically in an adequate dose, which maintains anabolism (building state) for several hours. We know from the experiences of professional bodybuilders that peptide should preferably be added to such nutrients as whey proteins, gainers or bulks, pure carbohydrates or even to your regular meals. It is easily soluble; hence you get a meal maximally loaded with glutamine. L-glutamine, on the other hand, is a synthetically produced formula (similarly to creatine). When you take it in one big dose, your body metabolizes, processes, and eliminates it quickly. Pure l-glutamine supplementation makes sense only when you take this amino acid often enough (every 1 hour) and in small servings (approx. 1-2g). The period immediately after your workout is the best time for l-glutamine (and not for glutamine peptide). At that time glutamine deficiency is the greatest and it is necessary to provide your body with a big dose of pure l-glutamine (even 10g).
5. How much and when should you take glutamine?
Glutamine demand increases during catabolism, that is during the period of negative nitrogen balance; for that reason you should take:
- either 5-10g of glutamine peptide or 2g of l-glutamine immediately after getting up,
- either 5-15g of glutamine peptide or 5-10g of l-glutamine immediately after your workout,
- either 5-10g of glutamine peptide or 2g of l-glutamine before sleep.
Remember!v
Your body loses approximately 40g of glutamine during each intense workout. A high level of this amino acid is essential for gaining any muscles. Therefore do not economize it! Protein "overloading" is not the best way of muscle development. It is much better to eat it less and complete your diet with glutamine. Optimally, you should add natural glutamine peptide to other nutrients or meals and take synthetically produced l-glutamine immediately after your workout.
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