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All you wanted to know about ZMA!!

thefameinmyname

New member
Ok I've heard so much talk about ZMA (i.e. it doesnt do shit or it works great). Ive decided to type up the entire article in Men's Fitness dealing with ZMA. It took a while and please disregard spelling or grammatical mistakes I was in a hurry.

Enjoy :D
-G-

NUTRITION SCIENCE  Heralded as the next creatine, ZMA is the hottest new supplement in years By Brian Rowley

Bigger Muscles
While You Sleep

Looking for the next creatine? Some scientists claim to have found it. A new supplement called ZMA, boosts levels of two of your body’s strongest muscle-building hormones, testosterone and insulin-line growth factor 1, improving performance, recovery and even sex drive. Not to be confused with Zima- you may be dangerously low in testosterone if you find yourself holding a bottle of that- ZMA can lay claim to the greatest supplement-marketing jingle ever: “Bigger muscles while you sleep!” And for once the heat supports the hype.
The twist is that ZMA is nothing more than a remarkably well absorbed form of two common essential minerals: zing and magnesium. Active men tend not to get enough of these valuable nutrients from their food, and they also burn them up at a higher rate. Because the Recommended Daily Allowance for magnesium is too high to fit in a single one-a-day multivitamin, and because absorption of zing and magnesium in other forms is less then ideal, taking ZMA along with your multivitamin could soon be considered essential to achieving your training goals.
The excitement surrounding ZMA stems from research done at Western Washington University. Scientist found that giving ZMA to NCAA football players for two months boosted testosterone and IGF-1 levels and doubled improvements in leg power. In the study, 12 players were given ZMA nightly during eight weeks of intensive spring practice, which included lifting weights; their testosterone levels subsequently increased by 33.5 percent over the course of training. Conversely, the players who went without ZMA experienced a testosterone drop of about 10 percent, which is a pretty common with intensive training. ZMA also preserved IGF-1, producing a 3.5 percent gain in the hormone in those who took it, as opposed to a 21.5 percent slum in those who did not.

New Benefits from
Old Nutrients

Why such a big payoff from two somewhat common minerals? Correcting any nutritional deficiency tends to deliver impressive results, and male athletes are typically lacking in zing and magnesium. Two studies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for example, found that runners and basketball players suffered greater than normal losses of zinc. In another study, published in the International Journal of Sports and Medicine, serum zinc levels were “significantly below the normal range” in 23 percent of male athletes. That translates as bad news for muscle recovery, growth and even libido, as being a low in zinc can cause declines in both testosterone and androgen receptors.
Magnesium is another critical performance enhancer (in a second USDA study, 250 milligrams a day improved both leg power and muscle recovery), but it has also proven to be widely deficient in many athletic men. Most multivitamins contain only about 25% of your Daily Value for magnesium, and to make matters worse, they often use a far less absorbable form called magnesium oxide. A magnesium that is bound, or “chelated,” to an amino acid such as aspartate (not to be confused with the sweetener aspartame) is absorbed much more efficiently.
“Unfortunately, some supplements that claim to have chelated magnesium are 96% magnesium oxide and only 4% magnesium asparate or other chelates,” says Victor Conte, co-author of the ZMA study published in the Journal of Exercise Physiology. “The ZMA we gave to athletes was 100% magnesium asparate.” ZMA also contains 10½ milligrams of vitamin B6, which helps double the absorption of both the Zinc and Mag, according to Conte.
As if all that weren’t enough, Conte also believes that ZMA may have potential as an anti-aging supplement. “IGF-1 is important in maintaining muscle mass as well as the health elasticity of your skin and internal organs,” he says. “IGF-1 levels go down by 50% every seven years after the age of 21, so you increasingly miss out on its benefits as you mature. Since ZMA preserves IGF-1 levels in athletes, it’s my hope that it will do the same for men as they age. That could mean a better ability to maintain skin elasticity and muscle mass [over the long haul].”
Perhaps best of all, ZMA is as harmless as a Nerf Ping-Pong ball. Rest assured that two years from now you won’t be seeing news reports that prolonged use of ZMA will make your hair fall out or make your breasts resemble those of your girlfriends. And that’s always a good thing.
;) :nighty:
 
i still believe if you take a $4 bottle of zinc/magnesium at walmart you wont be deficient in these minerals (if you take the right amount). But still that's a quarter the price of ZMA. And ZMA will only work IF and only IF you are deficient in either of the two minerals.
 
This is real simple. ZMA ads claim to raise testosterone and all the other good stuff w/ (and here's the catch) w/ people who are deficient in these minerals. Now if you are not deficient in these minerals, ZMA would do little or nothing for you. So if you take zinc/mg in enough quantities you will no longer be deficient. You don't need research to back that up, just common sense.
 
So how are you going to know if you are deficient?? In the article it states that most Mag is not asparated even if it says it is, it could be that only 5% of it is asparated.... so your body will not absorb it properly and you WILL be deficient in it.
So how about this little experiment:

I will get my blood work done to see what my level of Zinc and Mag are. Then i will go off ZMA for 2 weeks, and buy normal Zinc and Magnesium tablets.. you can provide the brand that I should take... I will take these pills for 1 week and get my blood work done If I am still not deficient in the areas I will come to the conclusion that there is no reason for me to take ZMA.. I work at a hospital so i can get blood work done in 5 minutes.

In addition I am all about saving money so if I can prove your theory correct then more power to it. :fro:

-G-
 
sounds great. athletes are more prone to be deficient in these minerals, but i'm sure these athletes that were deficient didn't take extra zinc or magnesium. If not my theory would not hold water. Yes aspartame and the B6 help with absorption, but then again if something else is less absorbable all you have to do is take a little more of it so that the amounts can be equal. But your idea is by far the best, if you can get the blood work for it.
 
....................>>>>>>>>>>>>

So far I haven't noticed any effects from ZMA except weird dreams. It dosent seem to do much of anything.:rolleyes:
 
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