How essential are these nutritonal supplements...L-glutamine and amino acids?

[Scrumtulescence]

I was at some nutritional store the other day because I'm interesting in gaining some mass. I bought some protein powder, but the lady behind the counter, a supposed 'expert', said that taking amino acid pills and glutamine stuff is essential to building mass, and protein supplement alone won't do much. She recommended these two products specifically:

Precision Engineered Natural AMINO 1500 pills
Precision Engineered Pure L-Glutamine Powder

Are these supplements really necessaryfor building mass, or does the body create enough of it?

And yes, I've already been lectured enough on how important lots of protein is, so I'm aware.

 

[Mercenary]

Originally posted by Scrumtulescence
I bought some protein powder, but the lady behind the counter, a supposed 'expert', said that taking amino acid pills and glutamine stuff is essential to building mass, and protein supplement alone won't do much.

She lies!

As long as you're getting at least 1 gram of protein per lb a day and have a calorie surplus you will gain mass.

That's not to say that the above suppliments are worthless. Do a search on glutamine and look at some of the stats some of the other users have posted.

Amino Acid pills are potentially redundant if you have a decent protein powder. Compare the amino acid profiles on both containers to see how much of what each provides.

 

[MindOverMatter]

Lol don't listen to people at those nutrition stores, if they sense you don't know much about supplements, they will try to sell you all sorts of sh!t.

The other day I was buying some whey protein and this dude came in and was asking questions about creatine and he was like "are there any side-effects", and the chick working at the store was like "well, you get bigger muscles".

Research all your supplements before you go shopping.

 

[DJBen]

Eat a shed load of quality food, lots of fruit and veg. Eat different types of main protein sources, get some whey protein [I even think THAT is slightly overrated] and you should be set.

Your main concern should be getting some good quality complex carbohydrates. In order to bulk, you need to do some massive eating - and the fact is, people hardly ever eat enough!

 

[Scrumtulescence]

But eating so much makes me poop.


Okay, well thanks guys. Looks like I'll stick to only getting whey protein there. They have incredible deals if you become a member, though (which involves nothing but getting good deals, lol).

 

[gav]

Originally posted by Scrumtulescence
But eating so much makes me poop.

ahahahah. man, you've got me in stitches

 

[Alpine]

I really suffer getting the extra calories down my gullet.

Now all I do is make up shakes with whey for protein with flax oil and maltodextrin for complex carbs. I can easily have 2 shakes that give me a combined 1000 cals on top of my food.

And you don't sh1t too much either.

 

[dockta]

Dont under-estimate Glutamine. Its great stuff. Get it... and use it properly. Dont listen to these people that say supplements dont work.

Read a post i mde last week, when someone asked a similar question to you regarding glutamine

 

[dockta]

Originally posted by Sazuki
You're saying 10gr of glutamine actually work? I figured out it's a waste of money.

Well, you figured wrong... you will not benefit from it because of..

- your training is wrong to begin with
- you need closer to 20g
- you take it at the wrong time of the day
- your not getting enough rest

You need to get your training right before you can expect such a supplement to work.

 

[dockta]

Originally posted by Sazuki
That's what I said, you need 20 grams or more daily, did you actually read the whole sentence?

I doubt very much people are aware of the correct dosage for glutamine so they are wasting their money.

Umm.... NO i didnt read the whole sentence... hhehe oops. my bad.

To the original post.... glutamine is not used for mass. it is used for other things which can help you achieve mass