Supplements come and go—and then some come back. Such is the case with HMB, a supplement that is scientifically (and less memorably) known as hydroxymethylbutyric acid. The supplement became popular in the late’90s after scientists discovered a few years earlier that HMB supplemented in combination with training increases lean body mass. Then, HMB fell out of favor due to improper dosing, expense, and inconclusive science. In other words, the timing wasn’t quite right for the hard-training public to embrace HMB.
Many recent studies, though, buttress the original claims, and now HMB has regained favor. MuscleTech has taken advantage of this turn of events, producing a unique form of HMB known as HMB free-acid (HMB-FA) that is superior in boosting muscle mass and aiding recovery after intense training. Here’s an overview of the advantages that standard-issue HMB and advanced HMB-FA found in Clear Muscle provides.
HMB increases muscle mass and fights exercise-induced catabolism. HMB is a metabolite of leucine, the most important of the branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). Leucine enters your system quickly to support muscle building and prevent breakdown. As a metabolite of leucine, HMB also helps prevent muscle breakdown by fighting catabolism. Intense exercise causes your body to go into a catabolic state, in which it breaks down muscle to provide amino acids so your body can better recover from the rigors of training. By taking supplements such as leucine and HMB, you provide your body with raw materials so that it doesn’t need to harvest them from existing muscle tissue.
Research shows that BetaTOR, a specific form of HMB, delivers better results than standard HMB because it isn’t compromised by digestion. While HMB is an effective supplement, you need to take it in large quantities to see maximal results. The newer form, HMB-FA, is known as BetaTOR in clear muscle, and it passes through the digestive process without being damaged in the way that calcium-HMB monohydrate and leucine are when you take them. BetaTOR digests more quickly and is absorbed more effectively than the previous generation of HMB. In one study, subjects who took BetaTOR had a 97% increase in bloodstream concentration during a three-hour period. In addition, muscles absorbed 25% more BetaTOR compared with calcium-salt HMB monohydrate.
Additional research demonstrates that BetaTOR increases muscle building. Once BetaTOR enters the muscles, it activates the anabolic process called the “p70S6k/mTOR” pathway. This is the universal way our bodies build additional muscle mass. In addition, BetaTOR also shuts down the activity of another pathway (UPPP) that breaks down muscle mass. Researchers at the University of Tampa in Florida concluded that BetaTOR, and thus, clear muscle, amplify protein synthesis in muscle tissue while also decreasing muscle breakdown, providing two pathways to muscle building. The research was double-blind and performed on well- trained bodybuilders who weight-trained 3-4 days per week over 12 weeks. BetaTOR subjects gained 16.3 pounds of muscle mass compared with 4.6 for the placebo group. In addition, BetaTOR subjects also increased muscle thickness by 188% compared with the placebo participants.
The conclusions of this research are clear: training builds muscle mass; training with use of HMB builds even more muscle mass; and, training while supplementing BetaTOR (HMB-FA) in clear muscle provides still greater advantages. Each two-capsule dose of Clear Muscle contains one gram of BetaTOR.
For Best Results
Take two capsules three times a day. On training days, take one of your two-capsule doses pre-workout.
