L-Glutamine Benefits, Side effects, Uses & Dosage

One of the main problems that people who engage in an intense workout is muscle pain and soreness. This is due to muscle breakdown during the workout. It is important to know that a certain amount of muscle pain and soreness is normal as it is caused due to stress put on muscles during exercise. The good news is that this is an indication that you’re getting stronger.

Your muscle fibers break down during exercise, and as the muscle fibers repair themselves, they become larger and stronger. For an athlete or someone who is into bodybuilding, the muscle breakdown would be more because of their intense physical activities.

L-glutamine is essential for assisting your muscles in repairing and rebuilding themselves, preventing discomfort, and accelerating muscle recovery after exercise. Chronic muscle pain can become exhausting, debilitating, and extremely uncomfortable. Delaying your training because you can't air squat is the absolute last thing you need.

What are Muscle Fatigue and Soreness?

Muscle fatigue is the inability to maintain power, strength, and physical performance. There are multiple reasons for muscle fatigue such as reduction of proton in muscle cells, reduction of energy sources like glycogen and phosphocreatine, accumulation of ammonia in the tissues, muscle damage, increased oxidative stress, and increase in serotonin.

How do I recover from Muscle Fatigue and Soreness?

• Take a rest – after a heavy workout session, the body needs rest. Sometimes even an entire day of rest is necessary to overcome muscle fatigue and soreness. During rest, the immune system helps to repair your muscles. As the body recovers it helps to rebuild the muscles, hence scaling up your exercise makes you stronger and fitter.

• Take a massage – taking a massage can reduce the severity of muscle pain by easing the tightness of the muscles and increasing tissue elasticity. This leads to faster recovery and reduces muscle-related injuries during the workout.

• Nutrition – nutrition is vital for muscle fatigue and soreness. It provides fuel to the body that can be transformed into energy. Consuming a diet filled with protein, carbohydrates, and antioxidants can trigger the changes the body needs between and after the workout.

This can include pomegranates, watermelons, eggs, dairy and starchy vegetables. Black coffee is also an excellent beverage to reduce muscle pain.

• Supplementation - the body can get some of the building blocks it requires from food supplements to enhance muscle repair. Supplements that contain whey protein, creatine, glutamine, and vitamins and minerals are ideal for muscle fatigue and soreness.

What is L-Glutamine?

L-glutamine is one of the most abundant amino acids in the body. It is classified as an essential amino acid. Amino acids are molecules that play an important role in protein synthesis.

Their main purpose is to serve as building blocks for proteins. Proteins are crucial to the organs. They also perform other functions, such as transporting substances in the blood and fighting off harmful viruses and bacteria.

Like other amino acids, it exists in two different forms: L-glutamine and D-glutamine. They are almost identical but have slightly different molecular arrangements. The form found in foods and supplements is L-glutamine. While L-glutamine is used to make proteins and perform other functions, D-glutamine appears to be relatively unimportant in living organisms.

L-glutamine can be produced naturally in your body. But in certain conditions, additional glutamine is required. For example, for athletes and individuals who work out.

During intense exercise, glutamine levels deplete, which means there is an increase in requirements. Since the body is in need, it is necessary to take glutamine muscle recovery supplements to help meet the body's demands.

Why is Glutamine supplementation required?

The body stores glutamine when it is needed, but when people perform high-intensity training for a longer period of time the body starts losing its glutamine level. This causes a decrease in strength and stamina and also prolongs the recovery time. Consuming glutamine supplements ensures that the body gets enough supply of glycogen.

How Much L-Glutamine Do You Need?

The recommended dosage of L-Glutamine is 5-10g per day. It is ok to go up to 20-30g, depending on whether or not there are digestive issues and fitness goals. L-glutamine Powder can be easily added to the shakes or simply in the water and have it post-workout.

Glutamine Muscle Recovery has multiple functions including the support of immunity, gastrointestinal integrity, insulin secretion, neurological activity, and muscle protein synthesis. Let’s discuss them in detail:

Glutamine for soreness:

Muscle soreness caused by exercise can lead to delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS. To improve your athletic performance, it is vital that you recover quickly. L-Glutamine workout supplement is the best supplement for post-workout muscle recovery and soreness.

L-Glutamine Powder helps reduce muscle mass breakdown and improve protein metabolism, which helps reduce post-workout muscle soreness. Glutamine helps decrease muscle soreness through improved muscle repair and glycogen repletion. Maintaining a high nitrogen balance in the muscle prevents muscle breakdown, therefore retaining more muscle.

Multiple studies have found that glutamine’s ability to protect muscle from breaking down has a direct effect on reducing soreness ratings associated with resistance training, due to improving muscle tissue repair.

Glutamine for muscle recovery:

Salt and water can be drawn into the muscle cells by L-glutamine. Protein synthesis proceeds more quickly in hydrated, expanded, and swollen muscle cells. This would imply that glutamine promotes both an increase in cell volume and the synthesis of muscle protein. It aids in lowering muscular fatigue, avoiding injuries, and hastening muscle recovery.

Glutamine supplies 30-35% of nitrogen to muscle to synthesize proteins. This, in turn, will promote protein synthesis. Glutamine helps in overall muscle recovery post-activity.

Glutamine for the Immune system:

The advantages of glutamine for the immune system are linked to its function in gut health. The intestines are thought to make up the majority of the immune cells in the human body. This is due to the numerous immune-functioning intestinal cells as well as the trillions of bacteria that reside in your intestines and affect the health of your immune system. The energy supply for intestinal and immunological cells is glutamine.

Additionally, it aids in maintaining the wall that separates the interior of your intestines from the rest of your body, preventing a leaky gut. This stops harmful germs or poisons from your intestines from spreading to other parts of your body. Additionally, it is crucial for the intestine's cells to maintain and expand normally. Glutamate may improve your general abdominal health by strengthening the intestinal cells because of the significant role the intestines play in the immune system.

Glutamine for Lean Muscle Mass:

Glutamine helps to build lean muscles by promoting a positive nitrogen balance in your body. It helps the body in protein synthesis. Glutamine also helps to reduce muscle mass breakdown in your body helping you with muscle tissue repair, leading to an increase in muscle mass.

Glutamine for Hydration:

One of the most underappreciated benefits of glutamine is its role in hydration. Hydration is very important for muscle recovery and reducing muscle soreness.

Dehydration affects protein synthesis and leads to a delay in muscle recovery in your body. L-glutamine helps to improve sodium uptake. This increase in sodium level in skeletal muscle reduces fatigue by maintaining the strength and efficiency of muscle.

Glutamine is an important amino acid with many functions in the body. It is a building block of protein and a critical part of the immune system. L-Glutamine for recovery is a vital ingredient that has shown multiple benefits in terms of post-workout muscle recovery.

L-Glutamine is ideal for weightlifting, bodybuilding, and high-intensity sports as a Muscle recovery supplement. Next time do consider supplementation with L-Glutamine for muscle recovery and soreness.

Expert
Pratham Singh.
Fitness enthusiast.