What is your opinion of GHB for athletes? Some people make it out to be the best thing since human growth hormone while others say it’s worthless. What do you think Will? Art Fish Washington DC,

Dear Art, I can fully understand your confusion over GHB. I will attempt to clear it all up for you and MMI readers.

First things first. What is it? GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) is found naturally in every cell in the human body. It is in fact considered a nutrient not a drug. Of course the FDA and other government agencies have now listed it as a drug and banned its sale, but that is as much politically motivated as anything.

Truth be known GHB is a safer, less expensive, and very effective alternative to the multi billion dollar sleeping pills industry as L-tryptophan was, another safe and effective nutrient banned by the FDA.

To date, not one single study has found any toxic effects from GHB on either humans or animals. GHB is completely metabolized into carbon dioxide and water, leaving absolutely no residue or toxic metabolites. In fact metabolism is so efficient that GHB can no longer be detected in urine only five hours after it’s taken.

What there has been are a handful of people winding up in emergency rooms after taking large doses of GHB and combining it with other drugs (most notably alcohol) and this is where GHB gets its bad rap and gave the FDA the excuse it needed to ban the sale of GHB (and its chemical cousin GBL).

As with all compounds both natural (i.e. booz, GHB, etc) and synthetic (various drugs, etc), the use of GHB requires it be used in the correct dose and with some common sense and respect for it’s potential problems.

GHB has many potential therapeutic uses and is considered to have a very low toxicity profile. In some European countries, it’s used as a general anesthetic, for sleep disorders, an aid to childbirth and a treatment for alcoholism. It also is reported to be a great aphrodisiac.

However, GHB does have a potential for abuse because it gives the user a feeling of euphoria not unlike having a few strong glasses of booz. Unlike booz however, it does not leave the person with a hangover the next day and does not appear to be toxic to the liver or any other organ.

Is it 100% safe? Of course not!

At very high doses, it can cause a rapid, rhythmic contraction and relaxation of muscles similar to muscle spasm or seizure. GHB can also cause intense drowsiness and deep sleep often mistaken as a coma due to the unarrousability of the person.

Other possible minor side effects are drowsiness, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. At very high doses, there can be a rapid loss of consciousness and possible cardiac and respiratory depression can occur.

Back when GHB was legal, I had a medical doctor friend of mine take a huge dose by mistake only to wake up on the floor the next day feeling no worse for wear other than a slight headache!

It is not something a person should take, and go drive a car for example or ever mix with other tranquilizers (e.g. barbiturates, opiates, Valium, Xanax, Thorazine, ), or alcohol. Only a moron would do that right?

What does it do?

It appears to act as both a metabolite and precursor of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid, or gamma-aminobutyrate (GABA). GHB temporarily inhibits the release of dopamine in the brain which appears to cause increased dopamine storage.

When the effect of GHB wears off, there is a release of dopamine, which is why some people pop awake in the middle of the night after taking it for sleep.

Does it build muscle?

Bodybuilders and other athletes have used GHB because of its ability to stimulate the pituitary to release growth hormone (GH). One study found a nine to sixteen-fold increases in growth hormone 30 to 60 minutes after intravenous administration in men between twenty-five and forty years old.

But would that big spike in GH cause increased muscle growth? No one has looked at that issue directly with GHB, but if we go by other studies looking at drugs and nutrients that cause a large short lived spike in GH, the answer would appear to be no.

Short lived spikes of GH appear to have no effects on muscle mass, especially in young healthy athletes with normal GH production. For older people with sub normal GH production, it might have some uses but again, that has not been looked at in the research.

So what’s the bottom line on GHB?

It is a safe and effective nutrient for uses such as insomnia and general relaxation, but it has abuse potential to the addictive personality and should be treated with caution, common sense, and respect.

It probably will not build any muscle on people, especially healthy athletes. In the US, GHB is not approved and has been banned from over-the-counter sale by the FDA as mentioned above for political and financial motivated reasons. GHB continues to be sold for research purposes, but selling it specifically for human consumption, is not legal, so I recommend staying away from GHB and GBL if you live in the US.

A lot of bodybuilders get it from the “gray market” but I don’t recommend it due to the legality and questionable purity of such products. In other countries the laws vary so it may not be an issue.

That should answer all your major questions about GHB/GBL Art.

Picture this scenario…

You’ve been training your tail off for the past 4 months, trying to pack on as much muscle size as you possibly can. You’ve bulked up considerably and are quite happy with the size you’ve been able to achieve.

There’s just one problem…

For the complete article please…..CLICK HERE

Pre- and post-workout nutrition is all the rage these days, and for good reason. For some, however, it’s become more than a science—it’s become their religion, or perhaps just a place to focus their OCD-like tendencies. Regardless, people have taken the topic of pre- and post-workout nutrition to a level that is not justified by the research, or at least not confirmed by the research that currently exists.

Readers should realize I may have my membership card to the Bodybuilding Nutrition Guru Society torn up and thrown at me for what I am about to share in this article…

For the complete article please…..CLICK HERE 

Hey Will, I was told by a trainer in my gym that 30 grams of protein is the upper limit a person can digest, but he could not tell me where that rule comes from. He said it was a “known fact” and walked away when I questioned his source. So what is the deal with this 30 gram rule? Is this guy full of it or should I worry about it? My stats are: 5′9″ and 220lbs with about 10% bodyfat. I lift weights (heavy!) 4 days per week and do aerobics 2-3 day per week. Thank you, Daniel Lopez

For the complete article please…..CLICK HERE

We’ve always been told that it’s bad to overtrain. Guess what? Overtraining on purpose is where the REAL results are.

Overtraining is NOT evil. Overtraining can be exactly what you need to achieve continuous and rapid results in your training.

But first, what is overtraining? Overtraining is, most simply, training too much. Your body is unable to recover from the volume or frequency of training and begins to break down. You not only lose motivation to train, you become more susceptible to injury and illness, and you may even start to go backwards in your training, getting smaller and weaker on almost a daily basis.

So how can overtraining possibly be good for you? I’ll tell you.

For the complete article please…..CLICK HERE

One area where most people fail to follow the KISS system is in their approach to fitness, nutrition, or supplements. In fact I find people seem to gravitate toward adding complexity to their approach when it comes to building muscle or losing fat. Not coincidentally, it’s the people who take the most complex approaches to their nutrition, supplements, and training who are always the most confused and least successful. They focus on - and subsequently worry about - minutiae that prevent them from seeing the big picture and making the type of progress they desire. It often leads to what is referred to “paralysis by analysis.” The vast majority of people would have better results, not to mention less stress, if they simplified their approach to losing fat or gaining muscle. It’s not rocket science, brain surgery, or even rocket surgery!

For the complete article please…..CLICK HERE

Bobby finishes a hard, focused set of barbell squats and re-racks the weight. His legs are wobbly, his heart is racing and he feels light headed as he takes a big swig from his water bottle. He looks down at his watch and presses the “start” button to begin counting down backwards from 2 minutes.

Bobby read that 2 minutes is the ideal rest time between sets in the gym, and he wants to get it exact. Once that watch beeps at the 2 minute mark, he’ll be back in the squat rack to perform another set.

For the complete article please…..CLICK HERE

Although creatine offers an array of benefits, most people think of it simply as a supplement that bodybuilders and other athletes use to gain strength and muscle mass. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A substantial body of research has found that creatine may have a wide variety of uses. In fact, creatine is being studied as a supplement that may help with diseases affecting the neuromuscular system, such as muscular dystrophy (MD). Recent studies suggest creatine may have therapeutic applications in aging populations for wasting syndromes, muscle atrophy, fatigue, gyrate atrophy, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and other brain pathologies. Several studies have shown creatine can reduce cholesterol by up to 15% and it has been used to correct certain inborn errors of metabolism, such as in people born without the enzyme(s) responsible for making creatine. Some studies have found that creatine may increase growth hormone production.

For the complete article please…..CLICK HERE

Everyone wants a huge chest, plain and simple. It is all too common to see inexperienced lifters slaving away on endless sets of bench presses and cable crossovers in search of full, thick pecs. The reality is that there is nothing complicated about building an impressive chest. The bottom line for huge chest gains is consistency, effort and steady progression in weight and repetitions.

For the complete article please…..CLICK HERE

Simply put, squats are the most difficult, intimidating and painful exercise you could possibly have in your arsenal. They require massive amounts of discipline and willpower to perform correctly. After you have performed a set of squats to failure, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. They are also a challenging exercise to master from a technical standpoint.

For the complete article please…..CLICK HERE