HMB [experience]: the most useless supplement?

HMB, or beta-hydroxy-bethyl metabutyrate, is by definition a metabolite of leucine, which should therefore, like BCAA supplements, protect muscle mass from breakdown. But is this really the case or is it just a clever ploy by supplement manufacturers to secure more sales of this supplement? This is not the only thing we will look at in today's article.

What is HMB?

HMB or beta-hydroxy-butyl metabutyrate is a natural metabolite of leucine. It was discovered in the late 1980s when its beneficial effects on livestock growth were demonstrated. A decade or so later, it came to the forefront of the sporting community when American swimmers mentioned its use in training.

It is estimated that the human body produces approximately 0.75 g of HMB when consuming 150 grams of protein per day. It is therefore a natural substance to humans, and because it is formed from leucine (a completely essential amino acid that is one of the basic ingredients in BCAA supplements, which we've already discussed in one of our articles ) is promoted as an effective supplement to enhance performance, promote muscle growth and muscle fiber regeneration. In some studies, even better results than anabolic steroids have been achieved.

While this all sounds absolutely fantastic, there is a lot of controversy surrounding these and other similar studies, as several of them were paid for by an American training supplement company. This has sparked a heated debate about the unbiased nature of the studies in question, and it is true that the results reported in them are almost nonsensical and have no support in other studies.

How does HMB work?

In that controversial study, the researchers concluded thatthat at a dose of 3 grams of HMB per day, over 12 weeks, the trainees12 months, the male subjects experienced a 7.4 kg increase in lean muscle mass and a 15% greater fat loss compared to the placebo subjects. If you have been interested in exercise for some time, then you will know that gaining that amount of lean muscle mass in 3 months is virtually impossible.

Other studies, then, are much more plausible and point to the fact that the calcium form of HMB actually doeshas been shown to cause less muscle catabolism, but only in non-athletes and beginners. Anabolic effects, however, have not been demonstrated. HMB in its free form also played a role in cases of extremely hard training, where mild anti-catabolic effects were also noted.

In a 2019 study, it was then found that not only HMB but also other leucine metabolites do not virtually no effect on muscle mass growth, density or strength gains. As part of this study, 40 men underwent rigorous strength training, with one group givenHICA metabolite of leucine, two others were given calcium and free form HMB at 3 grams per day and the last group was given a placebo. At the end of the study, the results were compared and although all groups experienced hypertrophy, the increase in strengthand performance, there were no differences between the groups, indicating that HMB did not have the desired effect.

The combination of creatine and HMB

If you try to find out more about HMB, you will surely come across its connection with creatine. This really seems to be quite beneficial as it can probably induce an increase in testosterone levels, improvingtestosterone to cortisol ratio and generally provide a greater increase in strength as well as encourage better muscle growth.

Unfortunately, only a limited number of subjects have been examined in this study and no further studies have yet emerged to confirm the conclusions of the one mentioned above. So we'll have to wait and see what other studies related to this combination bring us.

Our experience and tips

We've tried HMB for ourselves, and for us, we can practically only confirm the studies mentioned above. We definitely did not observe any effect on muscle growth, even when combined with creatine. We have also tried including it in extreme strength training and in a reduction diet with a lot of cardio. Here we have to admit that we felt slight anti-catabolic effects, but to myto the miraculous effects described in those studies.Not to mention that a number of other factors that we are not able to register may have played a role.

Thus, it could be said that in normally and regularly training athletes with sufficient protein intake, HMB is absolutely unnecessary supplement, whose effects can be easily and better replaced by high quality BCAAs, such as those from our ranking. For really extremely hard-training athletes and beginners with sharply set trainingning can bring some anti-catabolic effects, but even these are by no means miraculous. Given that this is a relatively costly supplement, we recommend you consider whether its proclaimed effects are really worth it and wouldn't it be better to reach for truly effective supplements such as quality proteins.

If you do decide to give HMB a try, definitely try combining it with creatine. The latter seems to be much more beneficial, although even here the studies are not completely conclusive.