Bryan, Q on HMB dosing

B

Blood&Iron

New Member
You've mentioned previously that it is best to take HMB as often as possible.  Having printed out and glanced through a number of the studies looking at HMB, it seems the dosing schedule has almost always been 1g, three times a day with meals(Although a few, it seems, administered it only twice a day).  Anyways, what's your reasoning for the more frequent dosages, and why haven't any studies used this protocol?  Also, is there a minimum effective dose?  Or would the limiting case of taking 250mg every hour(for 16 hours) be ideal?(I weigh over 200lbs so I'm taking 4g a day per your suggestion).  Lastly, I recall having read Jim Wright say in Flex(Yes, laugh--but, remember, Lyle is a member of 'Team Flex'
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) that mentioned one should NOT take HMB with meals.  Is there any validity to this?  Personally, I see no reason for this to be the case from my (admittedly limited) understanding of how HMB works.

Thanks for any assistance.
 
For what it's worth, I've been curious about this too. HMB isn't the cheapest stuff, and I'd love to know how best to take it.

I'm doing 2g on off days and 4g just before lifting on my training days.
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Jon Stark @ July 25 2002,3:40)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">For what it's worth, I've been curious about this too.  HMB isn't the cheapest stuff, and I'd love to know how best to take it.

I'm doing 2g on off days and 4g just before lifting on my training days.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
It is still pretty expensive, but if you buy from DPS Nutrition, you can get 90g of EAS HMB for about $38 which really isn't too bad.
 
An understanding of HMB is critical if you are to get any benefit from it.

How does HMB effect muscle mass and strength? It isn’t through anabolism, and it appears not to be directly through anticatabolic mechanisms either. If you recall the pathway for leucine metabolism, you’ll notice that the fate of ingested HMB is mainly as HMG-CoA, a substrate for cholesterol synthesis. It appears that cholesterol synthesis may be a rate-limiting step in membrane repair after intense training. Keep in mind that muscle cells do not use circulating cholesterol for membrane repair. They must manufacture cholesterol from scratch (i.e. through the HMG-CoA pathway).

As for dose, all research has used 3 grams per day. I believe there has been a study looking at higher doses without seeing any benefit from doses higher than 3 grams per day in average sized subjects. Average means anywhere from 155-175 pounds. I personally would suggest 3.5-4 grams for a 200 lb person.

HMB won’t help if you are not training in such a way as to cause microtrauma to the cell membrane. HST however does cause frequent microtrauma and I personally have felt subjective benefits from HMB supplementation. Mostly, a sense of faster recovery and less noticeable “stiffness” in the morning after.

Take it in divided doses evenly spaced. Take at least one dose right before and another right after training. This is to take advantage of blood flow to the muscle.
 
Thanks. Still wondering though: is there a minimum effective dosage? Or would 250mg every hour(with maybe a gram before and after lifting) best?
 
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