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Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

03.05.2016

HMB makes trained athletes even slimmer and fitter

It doesn't matter whether you're an elite martial arts athlete who does karate or a championship rower. If you take 3 g HMB [structural formula shown below] every day, you'll improve your body composition and your endurance capacity. HMB makes trained athletes even slimmer and fitter, write nutritionists at Poznan University in Poland in an article that has been published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

Study
The Poles did an experiment with 58 male athletes, average age 22. The athletes were given 3 g HMB every day for 12 weeks. On another occasion the athletes were given a placebo for a similar period of time. Before and after the supplementation period the researchers measured the men's body composition their aerobic capacity.

Results
During the HMB supplementation period the athletes gained a small amount of lean body mass and they lost a significant amount of body fat.

When the researchers got the subjects to cycle on an ergocyclometer, and gradually increased the intensity of effort, the athletes reached their ventilatory threshold later and at a higher intensity when they had taken HMB than after the placebo period. That basically means (and we're aware that we are cutting corners here) that HMB had made the men fitter.

Mechanism unknown
Other studies have shown that HMB inhibits the production of the stress hormone cortisol. In this study, however, the researchers did not discover this effect. Nor was there a clear effect on the concentration of creatine kinase in the blood – a marker of muscle decay. The researchers were unable to work out exactly how HMB worked.

Conclusion
But most trainers and athletes won't be too concerned about that, the Poles wrote. HMB works, and that's what matters.

"HMB supplementation may support both advantageous changes in body composition and an increase in aerobic capacity in trained athletes", the Poles wrote. "Our study, on account of the wide range of indices measured, and the relatively large study population of trained athletes practicing various sports disciplines involving distinct kinds of exercise, may serve as a reliable source of arguments for trainers and athletes considering supplementation with HMB."

Source:
J Strength Cond Res. 2016 Sep;30(9):2617-26.

More:
HMB makes athletes fitter and faster 12.11.2015
You'll get fitter if you use HMB Free Acid with your high-intensity interval training 28.05.2014

Archives:
HMB

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