Glutamine is probably one of the most controversial supplements in the fitness industry. Most people use it to build muscle or to aid in fat loss. There have been a lot of studies on glutamine in humans lately and all of them have shown that it has no effect on protein synthesis and protein turnover. So, if you think glutamine can help you to build muscle, forget it. The same goes with altering the exercise-induced suppression of the immune system; glutamine does nothing in that department either. There are however, some warranted uses of glutamine supplementation.

Here are five possible applications:

1. For severe ill patients, or people treated with corticosteroids, or people suffering from wasting conditions to aid in preventing muscle breakdown: 3 to 30 grams a day.
2. For people with Gastrointestinal (GI) Disorders such as Crohn’s, Colitis and irritable bowel or after bowel surgery/treatment: 10 to 30 grams a day.
3. As an acute GI healing protocol in people who’ve had bad eating habits for a long time and can’t seem to gain weight: 40 to 80 grams a day for 3 to 4 days. It helps to repair the gut lining so they can absorb food better.
4. For a quick spike in insulin together (synergistic) with BCAA, protein and carbs: 3 to 5 grams post workout.
5. To use it with obese people during weight loss as a substitute to carbohydrates in order to replace glycogens after a workout. Charles Poliquin uses this strategy a lot, and he recommends about 60 grams post-workout with no carbs whatsoever.

So, there you have it. Now consider your own situation. Is glutamine really worth your money? You decide.

Most athletes today still consume too much carbohydrates, too little protein and usually too little or about the right amount of fat, but from the wrong sources. Now, I’m not advocating a low carb diet for athletes, only a more sensible approach with a more balanced macronutrient breakdown combined with proper nutrient timing.

My first encounter with separating and timing macronutrients (apart from post workout nutrition) was in 1998 when I discussed this topic via e-mail with Don Lemmon (rest in piece, my friend). Don had a lot of ideas; some crazy and some good. In 2000 I wrote about separating fats from carbs and to consume meals containing lean proteins, vegetables and fats during the day with carbs only around the workout. This article got a more detailed follow-up in Exhale Magazine in 2003 (it’s called “Att äta på rätt sätt“, and is still available in Swedish on this website).
In that article I laid the foundation for sensible healthy nutrition and I still build my nutrition programs from that same foundation. We all have the same basic needs, but how we live and exercise calls for individualization of that foundation.

When I meet with endurance and/or performance athletes they usually get between 60 to 70 percent of their energy from carbohydrates, and most of those carbs come from high-starch and high-sugar foods. That’s just plain mad! But that’s not all; they don’t know zilch about nutrient timing either.
Actually, those athletes will perform much better, and improve their health considerably, when they adjust their carb intake to 40 to 50 percent of their total daily calories.

Usually, I start most of them out on 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. After that I might increase the carb up towards 50% or even 55% if they have excellent carbohydrate tolerance. If someone does, I might bring his fat down to 20%, but most of the time fat intake will stay between 25-30% with proteins filling up the rest.
It’s also important to understand that protein (especially BCAA) is needed for recovery. By consuming high amounts of protein (compared to the old outdated recommendations), athletes can rapidly reverse the breakdown of muscle and thereby reduce recovery time and train at a greater intensity at the next training session.

Now, the key here is nutrient timing. Most of these carbohydrates should be consumed around your training. Your body can handle carbs much better during and after a workout. Your muscles can refill and build up all the glycogen they need when they get starch and sugar in the immediate post-exercise window following a training session. Eating carbs all day long will not result in better filled glycogen stores. It will only contribute a high insulin load, fluctuating energy levels and several modern diseases such as diabetes, inflammation, obesity and other chronic diseases.

During the rest of the day, all meals should be built around lean proteins (lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs etc), colorful vegetables and healthy fats (equal parts from monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fats). Add one or two pieces of fruit a day and your all set.

Guess what? This is actually the same underlying concept I use when I design nutrition program for bodybuilders and power athletes as well.

For more information about nutrition during and post workout, please read my blog article “Workout drinks“.

I work with a lot of athletes, ranging from soccer players to track and field athletes, MMA fighters, bodybuilders and swimmers, just to mention a few. These athletes all have one thing in common; they all want to improve their performance, whether it is strength, power, stamina, speed, agility or any other athletic attribute you can think of.

So, if a basket ball player comes to me and wants to improve his vertical jump, what is the first thing I do? Do I design a workout routine built around exercises with a high degree of dynamic characteristics and similar movement patterns of the vertical jump (like squats), and send him on his way? No, that is the last step of many.
Actually, the first thing I look at is his body fat percentage and after that I do the classic static, passive and dynamic evaluations to discover imbalances and limiting factors (for example tight flexors and weak extensors).

The reason for checking his body fat is simply that fat is a nonfunctional tissue – that is, it doesn’t contribute to any of the athletic attributes mentioned above. Body fat is simply an excess baggage that your muscles must carry around, which in turn will hamper your performance in any event or situation. So, if our basket ball player has a body fat percentage above 8% I will provide him with a nutritional program. I prefer to have all athletes below 10% body fat (at least). About 5-6% is ideal. When your body fat decreases your strength to body weight ratio increases (aka relative strength), and so does your performance.

Once the diet is in order and eventual imbalances or other limiting factors have been corrected; then we move on to the exercise program. However, by losing some flab from the start, he will improve his performance and increase his vertical jump - and that even before he has begun any specific training.

And yes, big boy! This holds true for bodybuilders as well. Bulking up and looking like a pig during the off-season is not the way. Getting fat will impede your endurance and as a result making your workouts less productive, and it will make your pre-contest diet unnecessary long and hard and probably result in some muscle loss. But worst of all, it will wreck havoc upon your health in the long run.

BCCA are back in the media again. Here in Sweden, BCAA never really catched on in the first place. I remember when I got introduced to some of the advantages of BCAA use back in the late nineties. The man who spurred my interest was Alex Chimenti, a good friend in the supplement industry. He’s a real expert on amino acids and he always has a lot to say about them. Alex is originally from Italy where the supplement industry is a lot bigger and different than it is here in northern Scandinavia. BCAA’s has been widely used in south and east Europe for decades, and it does have a lot of merit if used correctly.
As a trainer and nutrition consultant I’ve used BCAA’s, often together with creatine, on hundreds of athletes in a lot of different sports for about seven years now. From my experience there are three major scenarios where you really benefit from BCAA use. Let’s break them down and see how you should supplement for the best possible effect.

Scenario 1: During low calorie diets and rapid fat loss.
5-10g BCAA and 3g creatine taken 3-5 times a day.

Note: Make sure that one dose is taken at the beginning of the training session (or during if the session exceeds 60 minutes) and one at the end. Space the other servings evenly between meals (you should take them between meals on your days off from training as well).

Hint: Dosage depends on lean body mass. If you’re a woman below 150lbs you should go with the minimum recommendation. If you’re a guy with +200lbs of lean body mass, you should go with the highest recommendation. If you’re in between, guess what? Right on Einstein, go with a middle figure.

Scenario 2: During intense training periods.
This is true if: You’re an athlete that finds it difficult to maintain body weight during intense training periods or during the intense parts of your competitive season (a lot of traveling, peaking, stress etc.).

5-10g BCAA and 2g creatine taken 3-5 times a day.

Note: If you train twice a day, take the servings during and directly after the training sessions. To enhance glucose recovery/uptake you can add 10-25g of glutamine to each of these servings (serving size depending on lbm). This will help you recover better between workouts.

Scenario 3: High altitude training (to prevent muscle loss).
5-10g BCAA taken during training and with you post-workout recovery drink.

Additional: During low calorie and low carb diets the combination of BCAA and creatine helps a lot against mental tiredness and it prevents muscle loss (if you keep your cardio low; 2-3 HIIT sessions for 20 min each is enough). It will also prevent some of the muscle flatness and loss of pump you experience on low calorie and low carb diets.

I recently received a couple of questions regarding workout drinks and I thought I could start of the nutrition category in this blog with a few tips and pointers in that area.

The first thing to keep in mind is that the body is far better at utilizing protein and carbs during and after training versus the rest of the day. Recent studies actually show that type II diabetics can handle carbs just as well as non-diabetics during and directly after training. If you need to boost your energy intake to pack on muscle mass, this is the best time to do it.
And if you’re on a diet and cutting carbs, those carbs around your workouts are the last to be touched.

So if you have your diet in order, here are some ideas:

If you want to build muscle mass but aren’t growing, then you probably lack in calories. Add more to your workout drinks. Before, during and especially after. Just get the extra calories when they are best utilized.

The amount of carbs and protein depends on factors like lean body mass, carb tolerance and a lot more. A good starting point is 25-30 grams of protein per hour trained and the double amount of carbs (2-1 ratio). If you’re a skinny bastard with a furious metabolism, double or triple it.

Add BCAA during and after the workout for best results. Take 5g per serving if you’re below 200lbs and 10g if you’re above. If you’re on a calorie deficient diet the BCAA and creatine combo is a real blessing! Just add 2-3g of creatine to each serving of BCAA.

Do not underestimate the power of a workout drink during training if you want to gain muscle or keeping your performance level as high as possible. Just make sure to sip it and have it well diluted.

These are a few simple tips that go a long way.