Nick's Article Library

L - Glutamine

A Bodybuilder's Best Friend

If you are'nt already every bodybuilder should take an "essential" amino acid called Glutamine. Glutamine is the most abundant naturally occurring, non-essential amino acid in the human body. In the body it is found circulating in the blood as well as stored in the skeletal muscles. It becomes conditionally essential (requiring intake from food or supplements) in states of illness or injury. Glutamine has many functions, but I’ll stick to the 3 main ones: Muscle recovery, Immune support, and Anti- catabolism.

60% of all muscle cells are made up of glutamine. When you lift weights, you are literally “tearing” and splitting the muscle fibers in two, which causes trauma to the body, causing what are collectively known as “Micro-tears”. That’s where Glutamine comes into play. If you do not take Glutamine and/or protein whatsoever,  the body “steals” protein in the form of amino acids from somewhere else inside the body.

Glutamine is a precursor for rapidly dividing immune cells, thus aiding in immune function. So, if you take 10-15 grams of Glutamine a day, you won’t get as sick as often. When Glutamine is depleted, you may be more likely to get sick, due to stress, poor diet, and strenuous workouts. Starting to see why Glutamine is so important?

Glutamine is also called anti – catabolic, because it aids in the process of building muscle. Whenever a person who has been in a very serious car wreck, doctors often pump the person full of Glutamine because of the anti-muscle wasting effects. The body goes crazy when under trauma. The body releases what are called the “Fight-Or-Flight” hormones, which consist of adrenaline and cortisol. Cortisol is the hormone that breaks down muscle mass, stores fat, and down regulates the amount of circulating testosterone inside of the body. Glutamine helps to block cortisol-induced protein catabolism of the muscle. It is also known that glutamine has various effects in reducing healing time after operations.

So, if you lift weights, or do any strenuous activity, take Glutamine. Even though it’s the most abundant amino, it has to get low at some point.

Just remember: Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. If you have any requests for an article, please e-mail me your suggestion at nickkersey12@yahoo.com.

Until next time, I’m out.