Bodybuilding Supplements Guide - Part 4

"Other" Muscle Building Supplements - Continued

Ribose Supplements

Ribose is a carbohydrate used by your cells for your body's energy production. It plays a critical role in the production of ATP, which provides the energy for short burst of power movements during workout. Supplementing with Ribose can increase your energy levels via increased ATP, and thus enhancing performance, and recovery, which leads to greater gains.

There exists certain controversy on whether or how well ribose supplementation really works, and from actual user feedbacks, some say it works great, others say they didn't notice much from its use. So I went and did a little more research on studies done on ribose supplementation, and found them rather split on whether ribose works or not as well! See below:

Ribose Study 1:

In a random double-blind crossover study with 8 subjects, the participants performed cycle training consisting of 15 X 10 seconds of all out sprinting twice a day for 7 days. After training, the subjects received either ribose (200mg/kg of body weight) or placebo 3 times a day for 3 days. An exercise test was performed 72 hours after the last training session.

They found that immediately after the last training session, muscle ATP was lowered by 25 +/- 2% in the placebo group, and lowered by 22 +/- 3% in the ribose group. Muscle ATP levels measured at 5 and 24 hours after the exercises were still lower than pre training levels. After 72 hours, muscle ATP was similar to pretraining levels for the ribose group (24.6 vs 26.2 mmol/kg); however, for the placebo group, muscle ATP levels were 21.1 +/-0.5 vs 26.0 +/0 0.2 mmol/kg.

The results supports the hypothesis that the availability of ribose in the muscle is a limiting factor for the rate of ATP resynthesis, and the reduction of muscle ATP after intense training does not appear to limit high intensity exercise performance.

Hellsten Y, Skadhauge L, Bangsbo J. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2004 Jan;286(1):R182-8.
Human Physiology, Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre, Institute for Excersize and Sport Science, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. yhellsten@aki.ku.dk

Ribose Study 2:

In a randomized, crossover study, the subjects performed 2 bouts of cycle sprint exercises - six 10 second sprints with 60 second rest in between. After the exercising, subjects ingested either 4 doses of 8g (total 32g) of ribose or cellulose over the next 36 hours. Afterwards, the subjects returned for another bout of cycle sprinting. After 5 day washout period, subjects repeated, but receiving the opposite supplement treatment.

This study found that ribose supplementation lead to statistically significant increase in power and peak power in sprint #2, and higher (but not significant) peak values in sprint 1, 3 and 4. Which lead the researchers to conclude that ribose supplementation did not have a consistent effect on cycle sprinting.

Berardi JM, Ziegenfuss TN. J Strength Cond Res. 2003 Feb;17(1):47-52.
Applied Physiology Laboratory, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197, USA. jb@johnberardi.com

From the 2 studies above, one was positive, and the 2nd was somewhat neutral; however, both studies did find ribose supplementation beneficial to increasing muscle ATP levels, and increase in peak power output (however not very consistent results were observed.)

More info on ribose and creatine here.

ZMA Supplement & Tribulus Terrestris

I could almost list ZMA with the "regular" group, since I use it quite often. ZMA is just a mineral supplement - zinc, and magnesium aspartate. Supplementing zinc and magnesium can be very beneficial for you natural testosterone levels. In case you didn't know, through intense lifting and exercising, zinc and magnesium levels are depleted from your body which can lead to lowered testosterone levels, hindering gains. Although ZMA does not lead to a direct increase in production of testosterone, it's on the top of my list of supplements to take, just for its effects on improving natural testosterone levels.

Tribulus is a natural herb that stimulates the product of LH (leutenizing hormone) in your body, which triggers the production of more testosterone. ZMA and tribulus is one of my favorite stacks to use to boost my natural testosterone levels. And when they start working, the results are very, very noticeable - more *ahem* hard-ons, and increased acne breakouts.

I wouldn't really recommend this stack for younger users in their teens or early twenties. (With the exception of ZMA.) But for older users, in their mid twenties or later, this can prove to be a very beneficial stack to use, with minor to no side effects. Acne is about the only side effect I can think of while using this.

In my hard gainers guide part 3, this ZMA and tribulus stack is talked about in alot more detail - as well as how to deal effectively with the increase in acne. Yes, even older aged adults can experience increased breakout in acne while on this.

>> Continue to part 5 - health supplements: multi vitamins and flax seed

>> Click here for ZMA supplement
>> Click here for Tribulus Terrestris
>> Click here for Ribose

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