Originally Posted by Tokyo's bad boy

What is this ZMA you speak of? I train 2 days weights, 2 days cardio (with punching) and 2 days MMA. So i'm looking for somethign to help recovery and help my muscles grow. I already take Whey.

Originally Posted by Victor Conte

ZMA FOR TESTOSTERONE SUPPORT

FLEX June 2005


I've heard a lot about ZMA and its effects on testosterone. Should I be taking it?

By Steve O'Reilly, RD, LD


If you're like every other bodybuilder on the planet, and you want to get bigger and more ripped, then there are some things you should know about testosterone. First, keeping your testosterone elevated makes it easier to build muscle mass. Second, testosterone declines naturally with age, especially after the age of 40. Obviously, the drop in testosterone is intricately linked to a similar decline in lean muscle mass seen in the same demographic. The more muscle mass you’re able to build when you are younger, the less this is likely to be a problem as you age. As a younger bodybuilder, the more you can support your testosterone levels, the easier it will be to build muscle mass and maintain it. If your testosterone is low, ZMA (zinc monomethionine, magnesium aspartate and vitamin B6) can be effective in helping to boost it.

Testosterone is the androgenic hormone primarily responsible for normal growth and development of male sex and reproductive organs, but it also facilitates the development of male musculature, bone mass and fat distribution. In addition, having normal testosterone levels helps maintain energy, mood and sexual desire. So, your concern about testosterone is warranted.

Before supplementing with ZMA, consider your current zinc and magnesium levels. A deficiency in either zinc or magnesium will trigger a decline in endurance and in the strength capacity of your muscles. In that case, supplementation would obviously be advised.

When zinc levels are low – relatively common in hard-training athletes – then circulating testosterone concentrations also tend to be low. ZMA supplementation is a convenient way to avoid zinc and magnesium deficiencies and, in turn, it may help to maintain normal quantities of circulating testosterone. However, there is little – if any – evidence that ZMA supplementation will help raise a healthy male’s normal level of testosterone to above normal.

When deciding whether ZMA supplementation is right for you, analyze your diet to see if you are getting enough zinc and magnesium from the foods you eat. Some common zinc-containing foods are beef, egg yolks, fish, milk and pork. (The recommended daily allowance, or RDA, for zinc is 15 milligrams [mg].) Some common magnesium-containing foods are almonds, avocados, bananas, diary products and some types of fish. (The RDA for magnesium is approximately 400 mg.)

When you take ZMA, it will generally help you sleep better, especially if you have zinc or magnesium deficiencies (improved sleep quality from ZMA supplementation is a good indication that you should be taking it). It is typically recommended that ZMA be taken on an empty stomach before bedtime and without any sources of calcium, because zinc and calcium compete for absorption. A typical dose of ZMA contains 15-30 mg of zinc, 200-450 mg of magnesium and 10.5 mg of vitamin B6.

Originally Posted by Clint

I would throw fish oils into the mix. They have a multitude of health/performance benefits and a person would be very hard pressed to get enough of them from fish alone.

Originally Posted by Rufio

What is the importance of potassium? Does it somehow help in protein synthesis or are you speaking in terms of general health?

Originally Posted by lyle mcdonald

Continuing in the same vein as last week's review, this is another paper on rehydration following exercise looking at the impact of several different real world beverages.

They chose Gatorade, a carbonated apple juice drink (called Apfelshorle which is apparently popular in Germany), San Benedetto mineral water (perceived popularly to be effective for rehydration) and Evian mineral water (apparently not perceived by athletes as effective for rehydration) and tested each on rehydration following standardized exercise in the heat.

As I believe I mentioned last week, sodium and potassium content can greatly affect how well the body retains water. Additionally, small amounts of sodium and potassium tend to impact on taste and people often drink more of fluids containing them (This is one of the reasons Gatorade/Powerade drinks include both). At the same time, too much sodium makes drinks unpalatable and most commercial drinks strike a balance between effective amounts of sodium/potassium (in terms of hydration) and what consumers will drink. One aspect of this study was comparing drinks of differing electrolyte content. The Gatorade contained not only carbs but the greatest amount of sodium, the apple drink had similar amounts of carbs but the most potassium, neither mineral water contained calories or significant amounts of minerals (sodium or potassium).

The study protocol was very similar to last week's study, 8 subjects were monitored during exercise with sweat and bodyweight measured until they had lost 1.9% of their initial bodyweight during roughly 80 (+-25) minutes of bike exercise in a warm and humid room. Subjects were then given fluids in amounts 150% of the lost weight over the next hour in 4 split drinks and urine output and hydration was monitored for the next 4 hours. Because the total fluid loss was similar among all groups, so was the amount of each drink given, roughly 2 L of each drink was consumed over the first hour of recovery.

The total amount of urine produced (again, used as a marker of how much fluid was retained) was lowest for Gatorade with the apple drink next and both mineral waters showing the greatest urine production (I.e. least amount of fluid retained in the body). Electrolyte balance was also examined in terms of the amount of sodium and potassium lost during exercise relative to the amount put back in with the drinks.

Similarly, after 4 hours, only the Gatorade group was even close to normal hydration status (roughly 200 ml down) with the other three drinks still leaving the body in a relative state of dehydration (365 ml for the apple drink, 401 ml for the San Benedetto drink and 529 for the Evian water).

With regards to electrolyte balance, the results are exactly what you'd expect given the composition of the drinks. The Gatorade (higher sodium) group showed the lowest net sodium balance although the subjects were still a little bit sodium depleted, the apple drink group (highest potassium) actually achieved positive potassium balance and both mineral water groups did the worst overall since neither contained sodium or potassium.

So, clearly in terms of rehydration (with the drinks compared in this study), Gatorade was slightly superior to an apple juice based drink and both were superior to either bottled water. The researchers do point out that the different is fairly small (300 ml between groups) and how much of an impact this would have practically is debatable. For athletes training multiple times daily in the heat, such levels of slight dehydration could add up over time.

So what's the practical message from this? As with last week's study on a similar topic, and contrary to popular belief, it doesn't appear that straight water is optimal for hydration, at least not following exercise. The lack of sufficient sodium and potassium clearly makes it inferior to drinks containing either or both electrolytes in terms of net fluid retention by the body. Athletes (or simply active individuals) for whom rehydration following exercise is important should consider either

a. picking a drink containing adequate amounts of both sodium and potassium. I'd note that this can be combined with other aspects of post-workout recovery in the first place noting again last week's study which found that milk was superior to either Powerade (very similar to Gatorade) or water in terms of hydration, on top of containing both high quality protein and carbs.

b. at the very least throwing a little bit of sodium/potassium into water or their recovery drink to ensure optimal fluid retention by the body. It shouldn't take much, 1/4-1/2 tsp of light salt (which is 1/2 sodium and 1/2 potassium) added to 1L of fluid provides nearly enough sodium and more than enough potassium to ensure optimal fluid retention and hydration following exercise.