HMB has been a controversial topic in supplement news, so it’s hard to know what to think about it. I recently tried Blonyx’s HMB+ Creatine to give it a shot myself.
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About Blonyx HMB+ Creatine
Blonyx emphasizes simple ingredients and blends without additives. They stick to the basics, while leaving out the bold claims made by many of their competitors. The principle behind HMB+ Creatine is straightforward and powerful. Give the athlete a good workout and help him or her recover faster for the next hard workout. Sounds pretty much perfect.
“This supplement is suitable for all adult athletes, whether they want to get bigger, stronger, faster, or just have more energy and quicker recovery.”
The creatine in HMB+ Creatine is creatine monohydrate. In the body, creatine provides material to generate ATP, which is where your energy comes from. Creatine is particularly useful for athletes during short bursts of energy, like lifting heavy weights in the weight room, but it has been shown to do much more than that. It may even improve cognitive performance.
LEARN MORE: The Crash Course on Creatine
Each serving of HMB+ Creatine contains 2.5g of creatine, and it is recommended you take two servings per day. This would give you the typically recommended five grams of creatine per day. This eliminates the need for any further creatine supplementation. A lot of other supplement companies botch this up, putting a small amount of creatine in their product so you still need to take more to get five grams, but HMB+ Creatine has you covered.
The recommendation for HMB is three grams per day. Like the creatine, this daily dose is halved in each serving of Blonyx HMB+ Creatine, so you can take it twice per day. The HMB is bonded with calcium and provides about twenty percent of your daily calcium with each serving as well. Whether this ends up as nutritional calcium, I do not know, but if so, this supplement is also a decent calcium source.
Why HMB?
We should all be sold on creatine at this point, but it’s the HMB that needs some further discussion. In principle, HMB has a lot of promise. In the human body, HMB is a metabolite of the amino acid L-leucine. Leucine is an important amino acid for athletes because it governs protein synthesis. Without leucine, you won’t build much muscle or be able to repair it effectively.
“The principle behind HMB+ Creatine is both simple and powerful. Give the athlete a good workout and help him or her to recover faster for the next hard workout.”
Some research indicates it isn’t leucine itself that has the effect of repairing and building muscle, but rather its metabolites. The human body converts leucine into a few different metabolites that are being looked at in the scientific community as potentially giving dietary leucine its important anabolic and recovery effects. Some researchers believe HMB, one of these metabolites, has the strongest effect.
My Experience
The research on HMB is inconclusive, but that doesn’t mean this particular product is ineffective. I fully expected to have no results except what regular creatine usage and a solid diet would give me, but I have to admit, I did notice a difference when I looked in the mirror. The measuring tape showed some modest improvements as well, particularly in my upper body.
“The jury is out on HMB, but I had good results with Blonyx HMB+ Creatine. I would advise trying it out for yourself to see how you respond.”
While I can’t say for sure this wasn’t just the result of good old-fashioned exercise and diet, I can say it occurred while taking Blonyx HMB+ Creatine. It did seem to help with protein synthesis, despite the fact I took it during a period of dieting in which protein synthesis would otherwise be reduced.
Downsides
The only downside about the product was the flavor. Since there are no additives, you get just the light bitterness of HMB when you mix it with water. However, this is easily covered up by any flavoring. Most people take creatine with juice anyway, so this is probably a non-issue, but worth noting. On the flip side, the texture is less grainy than most creatine monohydrates I have used and it mixes easily.
My Recommendation
The jury may still be out on HMB, but I had good results with Blonyx HMB+ Creatine. I would advise trying it out for yourself to see how you respond. This supplement is suitable for all adult athletes, whether they want to get bigger, stronger, faster, or just have more energy and quicker recovery.
I recommend Blonyx HMB+ Creatine to anyone with a decent supplement budget. Give it a trial run and see if you notice a difference. If your budget is more limited, I’d stick with good old cheap creatine monohydrate and lean steak until better research comes out on HMB.
Blonyx HMB+ Creatine is available for $60.00 at Blonyx.com.
