Tri-methyl Glycine
Tri-Methyl Glycine May Help Body Builders
Tri-methyl glycine amino acid is a supplement that has been used to treat various liver disorders for some time. It has also been proven to lower homocysteine levels, which have been linked to heart conditions. However, recent studies show that there may be more to what this amino acid can do, especially for body builders.
The Study and Results
The study was done by sports scientists at the College of New Jersey, and results were published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. The supplement has been found to increase levels of creatine, an important nutrient for building muscle. In the study, twelve students were given sports drinks twice per day containing a total of 2.5 grams of tri-methyl glycine.
They were tested on how many squats they could do before the test started, after one week, and after two weeks. There was a significant increase in how may reps the students could manage at 75 percent of their max weight. This study shows that this nutrient is important for building muscle.
What is Unknown
The study also had students doing bench presses at the same three intervals, and no improvement was seen in the bench press results. It is unknown why the supplement helped with squats and not bench presses. It may have been due to extenuating circumstances, such as what area the students were focusing on at the time. They also don’t have a full understanding of how the supplement works. There were no tests done during the study to determine if the amount of creatine in the muscles was increased.
What is known is that this nutrient can be found in whole wheat foods and leafy vegetables like spinach. If you get a fair amount of these foods in your daily diet you probably get about 2 grams of tri-methyl glycine already, but if not a supplement may be in order.
