Creatine and HMB: Better Together than Apart

Borja Bandera 29 July, 2020 Sport Performance Leave a comment

We present to you a winning combination: Creatine and HMB to optimise results, as shown by science. Creatine Monohydrate is one of the most studied, used, effective and safe supplements in the fitness industry.

Thousands of users rely on this supplement to beat their personal bests, gain strength and take their training to another level.

Alongside this, HMB or hydroxymethylbutyrate is a molecule that has gained a lot of popularity in the world of fitness, especially among those looking to maximize muscle hypertrophy.

Index

1. Study: Combining Creatine and HMB
2. Creatine Monohydrate if you are looking for Performance
3. HMB or Hydroxymethylbutyrate if you’re looking for Protein Synthesis
4. Optimisation: combining Creatine and HMB
5. Go to:
6. Related entries

Study: Combining Creatine and HMB

Today’s article, based on this recent study carried out by a Spanish group (Fernández-Landa et al., 2019), intends to analyse the combined effect of using Creatine Monohydrate (CM) and HMB on the following items:

Sports performance.
Body composition.
Post-exercise muscle damage markers.
Anabolic and catabolic hormones.

The study in question is a systematic review, which indicates good quality evidence.

In that review, six articles were evaluated analysing the effects of the combination of these two substances.

But before we see the conclusions, let’s remind ourselves of what each of these supplements have been proven to do separately.

Creatine Monohydrate if you are looking for Performance

CM is used worldwide to improve:

Aerobic performance (yes, not many people know this) and anaerobic;
Maximum strength;
Body composition.

And it can even reduce markers of muscle damage and therefore improve and speed up post-workout muscle recovery.

How it works

Its main mechanism of action is to replete the muscle deposits of creatine to act as an ATP donor during high intensity, short-term exercise.

In addition, it increases muscle glycogen by stimulating its resynthesis.

Beyond sporting benefits, creatine is being studied in the clinical setting: as a support for neurodegenerative, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.

HMB or Hydroxymethylbutyrate if you’re looking for Protein Synthesis

Alongside this, HMB offers the following benefits:

It stimulates the muscular protein synthesis by regulating mTOR upwards,
They also increase the storage of muscle glycogen.

In addition, curiously, it intrudes the expression of PGC-1alfa, a gene that encodes the protein of the same name and is responsible for increasing mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative capacity, therefore improving aerobic capacity.

The hypothesis therefore lies in the fact that since both supplements have different mechanisms of action, using them together would have synergistic effects.

Let’s see what the evidence says!

Optimisation: combining Creatine and HMB

The combination of 3-10 grams of CM per day along with 3 grams of HMB per day, for 1 to 6 weeks, improves muscle strength, anaerobic performance and provided that the four weeks of supplementation are reached and completed, body composition (increasing fat-free mass and decreasing fat mass).

Look, these effects are more pronounced than taking each supplement individually, hence the interesting aspect of the study.

However, no additional advantages were found in markers of post-exercise muscle damage (CK, LDH) or hormonal status (cortisol, testosterone) when subjects were supplemented with both substances together.

In conclusion, if your sport is highly glycolytic or stands out for the importance of muscle strength, combining these two supplements can be useful.

The systematic review also highlights that if you are looking for body reconstruction you will get additional benefits by taking CM HMB at the doses listed above.

A big hug, we’ll see you in the next post and keep going!