Creatine Monohydrate
This is one of the least expensive supplements at roughly 10-25 cents a serving. Creatine is one of the vital binding enzymes in the energy production of your cells. Creatine, a molecule with a similar phosphorylation potential as ADP, is used to store high-energy phosphates. Each of our cells is coated with signaling molecules. Every creatine molecule has a specific "code" for turning on the cell to respond, or in this case activate the cells to produce new myofibrils found inside your muscle tissue for muscle development. With my choice, I have found the best results from the monohydrate powder, not pill. Either one works, but I would recommend staying away from the pill form. Although the pill form is more concentrated, it does not release as fast due to the shell made of starch and other elements. Remember, creatine is meant for quick use.
L-Glutamine
Like creatine, glutamine is cheap in cost compared to all of the other "name brand supplements" that "supposedly" help you gain muscle and burn fat.. Be sure your glutamine has an "L" in the name, or the supplement is junk. Glutamine is one of the seven essential amino acids and is naturally found in muscle tissues. They are called essential for a reason- because only they, "the essentials", have specific shapes to bind to the receptor to promote your muscle development. Like creatine, this enzyme turns on a kinase which activates the g-protein linked receptor which directly turns on the amino acid receptor to promote a speedy recovery to the re-building of your muscles. This is also used as a joint recovery supplement.
We know that creatine and glutamine are two of the seven essential amino acids. The difference between them is glutamine is known as a muscle relaxer (inhibitor) which cause the muscles to loosen and heal. Creatine is a muscle stimulator which causes your muscles to fire an action potential with the energy created through glycolosis fermentation, the same way sugar is turned into energy. It is the fastest pathway used to create atp. When we work out, we use up norepinephrine (stress hormone). Our body naturally gets rid of this and does so by producing seratonin, the counter-acting enzyme. This is why working out is great for stress relief. The thing with creatine and glutamine is they are counter-acting amino acids. One tells the muscles to relax, while the other tells the muscle to tighten up. This is why, from physiology, it says take creatine before and glutamine after. Now if you are taking creatine after to put back the energy your muscles are looking for, hold off on the glutamine. The best example I can think of to have this make sense is if you decide to take a sleeping pill with caffiene. They would counter-act each other and be defective. Another example from Chemistry, which most people who clean know that HCL (hydrochloric acid) and bleach are very strong bases and can clean pretty much anything. But when mixed together they counter-act each other and produce ammonia gas which does not clean and is very harmful to the body.
Very nice outline on what each of these supplements do and what they do differently. It helps when there are so many protein, creatine, glutamine, etc. etc. products out there to know what each do and what you need to look for.
ReplyDeleteCreatine as a supplement has had undue bad press when really it is amazing the difference supplementation can make with out the side effects that so many worry about. Just make sure to look for "creapure" creatine for the purest form!
ReplyDeleteBrannon, you are right, creatine is the only thing scientifically proven (besides steroids and HGH) to build muscle. But, CreaPure is a brand, not a type of creatine. I would stick with a monohydrate. Also get the powder, and stay away from the pill form.
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