ClearMuscle

Nutrition Discussions Supplements
1

I’m not a huge supplement guy, but there’s a lot of buzz about this supp by MuscleTech, mostly due to a study done at the University of Tampa last year:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24599749

Big muscular, strength, and power improvements made by the Betator /HMB group over placebo - combined with significant fat loss. All in a 12 week stretch.

I’ve bought a 12 week supply of the stuff just to see. One of the interesting things is the periodization of the training:

  • 8 weeks of 3x a week lifting, split between hypertrophy, power, and strength
  • 2 weeks of “overreach” - 5x a week lifting, with 4 of those days being hypertrophy-focused
  • 2 weeks of taper

My training cycle is set up in typical Charlie Francis style - 2 to 3 speed/power days a week, with full-body weights and plyometrics being on those days. Tempo and rest/recovery days fill in the rest of the week. 4 week micro-cycles (3 up, 1 down).

However, I’ve been looking at the ClearMuscle/HMB stuff and the literature suggests that the biggest gains with this supplement are made with training novelty and the overreaching period. So I guess my question here is two-fold:

  1. Has anyone here supplemented with HMB/Betator?

  2. If I wanted to “overreach” and introduce some training novelty to a CF-style program, what would be the best way to do so?

Option A - Add a ton more volume and intensity to the runs and lifts.

M: Speed, weights at 4x(3x90%) [maybe deadlift, bench, and powerclean], plyometrics
T: Tempo
W: Recovery
Th: Speed Endurance, weights at 6x(2x80%), plyometrics
F: Tempo
S: Speed/Speed Endurance, weights at 4x(2x95%), plyometrics

Option B - Completely shake things up

M: Speed, weights at 3x(3x90%), plyometrics
T: Speed endurance, hypertrophy weights 3x(12x50%)
W: Tempo, weights at 5x(5x80%)
Th: Speed, hypertrophy weights at 3x(8x60%)
F: Rest
S: Speed endurance, weights at 3x(2x95%), plyometrics

Option A preserves the 48 hours between any sprinting workout notion, but not much training novelty
Option B is a total shift in training philosophy for the 2-3 week training program, which may elicit “newbie gainz” but which stacks speed and speed endurance days early in the week and also has 5 days of lifting; not much CNS recovery

I’m very interested in anyone’s responses here. I’m currently reading the Lactic Acid Tolerance Training e-book and I think I could fit some interesting workouts from that book for my 400 guys into Option B. But for my 100-200 guys, I wonder if the sort of speed endurance training that is helpful (SE 1, 200 meters and down) is too high up the intensity scale to usefully stack back-to-back.

I’m also not sure that the hypertrophy weights give us much for peak power output in sprinting. I’ve seen it suggested elsewhere that this sort of training aided in maximal power output (wingate tests, vertical jump performance, deadlift max) because of ‘enhanced muscular breakdown.’

Any thoughts?

2

I would like to see the level of sprinting athletic performance before/after the supplementation approach. Cookie cutter fitness programs and supplementation/diet studies will always be dependent on the study population and sport investigated.
There may be a place for some diet supplementation - but lets face it, if there was a silver bullet it would have been discovered by now. Therefore my layman`s view is that training, regeneration and a healthy natural diet are the key and supplements may only provide marginal gains.

Option B - too much hi intensity : 3 speed sessions in 4 days …

The concept of “adding a ton more” or “shaking it up” counters virtually all sprinting (or endurance) programmes which schedule training sessions of planned progressions of incremental increases in speed and/or volume. To avoid injury/burnout. Check out any of the CF charts of volumes and intensity that show gradual increases.

Why not just stick to the CF/Kit kat models. “Customising” them to suit a supplementation study is IMHO a nonsense.

3

Well, the idea of increasing intensity/volume is at the heart of the micro-and macro-cycle approach throughout the various CF periods.

I don’t think the HMB/Betator supplement used in the Tampa study is a magic bullet and it’s important to note that the subjects, though all experienced lifters/athletes, were not using any supplements at all prior to the 12 week program. But - there was definitely a huge difference between what the placebo group did and what the HMB group did.

J. Wilson, who co-authored the paper on the Tampa study, has speculated that the effectiveness was due to the interaction between the supplement and the training program; the HMB helped promote anabolism and fight catabolism and that this was really beneficial in the highly intensive and novel training environment (especially in the “overtraining” phase). If the Betator helps with muscular recovery, then it allows more effective training in these intensive conditions

My Option A idea is “overtraining”-oriented in nature only if the training volume and intensity is amped up beyond normal (for me) levels. And the idea/hope is that doing so allows for an even bigger bounce in supercompensation, in accord with the normal CF principles.

I don’t think Option B is feasible for a short sprinter, regardless of enhanced recovery or whatever - running 6xflying 20 on Monday would make running 4x120 on Tuesday impossible at a high level. However, for longer sprinters, I think 6xflying 20 on Monday is possible to balance with 6x200 @ come-home pace on Tuesday. But I don’t think I want to do that for my 400 guys, for a variety of reasons.

Anyway, I agree with you that training, regeneration, and food are the prime factors. I do think supplements can provide more than “marginal” gains though - creatine, for instance, has testably significant gains for sprinters. But like you said - no one knows for ClearMuscle/Betator for sprinting. Vertical jump performance was enhanced in the study, as was deadlift and squat max, which both correlate with increased speed (at similar bodyweights) but there’s not anything definite on it.

I think I’m going to do any Option A style “overtraining” phase of 2-3 weeks as part of my normal SPP2 after indoor season. It won’t provide much in the way of training novelty but increased intensity and volume will be there. I’ll let everyone know how my self guinea-pig test goes. It will essentially be the CF s-l model, just taken up a bit from what I did last year at a similar time. And what I did was obviously nowhere near what Charlie’s actual athletes did, as I lack that sort of elite work capacity.

Importantly, I’ll be tapering much more significantly than I did last year.

4

I trust nothing from muscle tech aka muscle crap