Hmb?

**Odacon** · Posted On: 2/07/2006 12:43pm

Does anyone here use HMB (Beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate) supplements? Some people I know swear by them as a great way to boost you endurance by preventing muscle breakdown. Anyone here get good results from them?

**dakotajudo** · Posted On: 2/07/2006 1:01pm

See

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=15574078
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=12580653
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=11726262

**Odacon** · Posted On: 2/07/2006 1:42pm

Thanks, I'll look for more articles like these, cheers.

**Quikfeet509** · Posted On: 2/07/2006 4:03pm

They still make this stuff?

**Odacon** · Posted On: 2/07/2006 5:25pm

Aparently it was first given to AIDS sufferers to help prevent their muscles from breaking down.

**isol8d** · Posted On: 1/02/2007 1:30pm

By the power of Greyskull, I resurrect this thread.

anyway, I received a Muscle and Fitness or some such magazine as a present, and while it is 70% adverts, they did have some decent beginning lifting and nutrition advice. They did advocate HMB and Creatine as supplements, and a fatburner to get lean.

I won't go near fatburners, and I've used creatine successfully, even if it was placebo, but I've never tried HMB.

Two out of three links above seem to say HMB is not effective, where as the last one seems to put a positive spin, but saying the mechanism for delaying the onset of lactate buildup was unknown.

Does anyone here have any empirical or anecdotal personal experience with HMB?

Thread needs braaaaaaaaaaiiinnsss.

**Virus** · Posted On: 1/02/2007 3:23pm

Never pay attention to people "swearing by things".

edit: +1 virtual rep to isol8d for using a He-Man reference.

**Virus** · Posted On: 1/02/2007 3:32pm

When I studied Strength and Conditioning we were taken through the various suppliments on the market and they were divided into the catagories of emprically supported, mixed results and don't do ****. HMB was in the mixed results catagory, I don't know what further reaserch has been done since then.

FYI creatine and caffiene are the only ones that currently enjoy a high degree of empirical support. Everything else is waste of money. Suppliments don't have the same stringent requirements that pharmaceuticals do, and this is primarily the reason for such a high signal to noise ratio.

I've just looked through pubmed for studies on HMB and it indeed has mixed results, with most of the positives coming from studies done on non-resistance trained individuals. There's currently not enough data to warrant its use, although many people will "take it anyway in case it does."

**arutha1000** · Posted On: 1/07/2007 10:52pm

I used HMB for a while. Didn't seem to do anything for me. Creatine and vitamins are the way to go. Everything else is smoke and mirrors.

**sdave** · Posted On: 1/08/2007 12:02am

Originally Posted by odacon

Aparently it was first given to AIDS sufferers to help prevent their muscles from breaking down.

Ayup. Rather than toss down 20mg or more of oxandrolone a day (free of charge courtesy of generous benevolence programs and/or comprehensive insurance) to ameliorate wasting and pack on guaranteed lean mass, the ABSOLUTE BEST treatment protocols for AIDS always involve a quick trip down to GNC for some OTC crap that's phenominally expensive and doesn't even provide a placebo effect.

Oh,wait...