Got my EAS L-Glutamine in full swing – 1 big tea spoon with water pre-training…what a difference. I don’t feel catabolic this week. Great! My muscles are defo growing better and feel fuller, even though my calories aren’t super-high.
I forgot what a great supplement this is, without the unneccessary bloating of creatine, it gives a similar catabolic effect. Creatine is the daddy though, so I will use post-training if needed.
Creatine is a fanastic supplement that increases recovery greatly. It does this by refueling ATP stores which are expended during training. You will recover faster if you take creatine after workout (and won’t feel half as tired as you would normally) and also if you take it pre-training, you work out harder and longer.
Problems that occur though are
- water retention (temporary)
- water retention (permanent) from long term use
- kidney damage from long term use
- diuretics and alcohol may cause serious problems as the creatine is making you hold water and the other stuff is making you dump water
- cramps from lack of water.
- constant urination when you have ‘loaded’ on the product.
My feeling is that taking it after training is good, and sometimes before (it may upset your stomach pre-workout). With water on an empty stomach works best, it doesn’t digest well with food in my opinion. Keeping use to a minimum will be safe for most people.
But one thing you can’t deny, is it’s amazing recovery ability for your body.
It’s been some time since I took l-glutamine, prob. 10 years or so. I moved over to creatine as it gives better results. I might just go back to some l-glutamine as I turn up the volume on my training, it’s an important amino acid but when you’re ‘loaded’ on it I felt it made you hold water. Not as a bad as creatine though.
L-glutamine is definitely an important protein building block and I think I may have neglected this supplement. Could be time to stack it with creatine after my workouts.
