GDAs and muscle growth

rowz4broz

Well-known member
I recall reading somewhere on this board that GDAs may impare muscle growth. I believe it was a certain GDA ingredient as well, berberine, I believe. Anyway I was wondering if there is any truth to this and if in fact GDAs can impare muscle growth. I was under the impression that they support muscle growth.

Thanks
 
Simple explination...
Berberine activates AMPK, which reduces protein synthesis/muscle growth.
You can take GDA's and they do help with muscle growth by increasing glycogen uptake into muscle tissues. Just don't take them around pre or post workout, try to space the dosing as far away from your workout as possible.
 
Simple explination...
Berberine activates AMPK, which reduces protein synthesis/muscle growth.
You can take GDA's and they do help with muscle growth by increasing glycogen uptake into muscle tissues. Just don't take them around pre or post workout, try to space the dosing as far away from your workout as possible.

This is exactly what I was looking for! Any idea on the effective time of berberine ? Say for example I dose GDA around 12-1 will I be good to workout at 5/5:30?
 
I would literally try to bookend my dosage. Either taken first thing in the morning or right before bed, whichever is farther from training, unless the session is a met con/ fasted session in which muscle growth is not the goal.
 
Say for example I dose GDA around 12-1 will I be good to workout at 5/5:30?

4-5 hours apart should be fine. Ideally, you want to dose your GDA 20-25 minutes before carby meals that aren't consumed around workout time.
 
Ive never understood this because I have heard the same things about berberine, yet there are so many recomendations, to include all of the GDA labels, that suggest taking with your largest carb meal pre workout?
 
Ive never understood this because I have heard the same things about berberine, yet there are so many recomendations, to include all of the GDA labels, that suggest taking with your largest carb meal pre workout?

This is what confuses me a lot I’ve been told by multiple people that gda + large amount of carbs pwo = gains city
 
Ive never understood this because I have heard the same things about berberine, yet there are so many recomendations, to include all of the GDA labels, that suggest taking with your largest carb meal pre workout?
This is what confuses me a lot I’ve been told by multiple people that gda + large amount of carbs pwo = gains city

The idea is that your pre-workout meal should be your largest carb meal, fuelling you for your workout. If you take the GDA 20-30 minutes before your pre-workout meal it will shuttle those nutrients into your muscle tissues, so your muscles are filled and primed for your workout.
So let's look at the time scale with this in mind...
Pre-workout meal 1.5 hours before your workout
+
GDA 30 minutes before that meal
+
Workout 1-1.5 hours of workout
=3-3.5 hours before you want to maximise MPS
At this point, the berberine would have been broken down, done it's job and be left in such a minimal amount that the impact on MPS would/should be insignificant.
 
This is what confuses me a lot I’ve been told by multiple people that gda + large amount of carbs pwo = gains city
Slims has you covered. GDA's and not recommended to be taken post workout. They work very well for a preworkout meal or before breakfast (depending on what time you lift). The studies on berberine are correct, but the negative effects won't be a problem if you aren't dosing it after your workout.
 
Probably why I felt Anabolic Pump had the best effects for me.

I've been dosing ******** around my work-outs ops

I'm ready to get huge!
 
The idea is that your pre-workout meal should be your largest carb meal, fuelling you for your workout. If you take the GDA 20-30 minutes before your pre-workout meal it will shuttle those nutrients into your muscle tissues, so your muscles are filled and primed for your workout.
So let's look at the time scale with this in mind...
Pre-workout meal 1.5 hours before your workout
+
GDA 30 minutes before that meal
+
Workout 1-1.5 hours of workout
=3-3.5 hours before you want to maximise MPS
At this point, the berberine would have been broken down, done it's job and be left in such a minimal amount that the impact on MPS would/should be insignificant.

Thanks for the reply, and I am tracking. This is how I always have dosed my GDA, and your explanation is great. It seemed like ive read other say in the past it should be as far as way as possible (8+) hours from training, which seemed odd, since many keep so much cho around training. The spacing you are talking about makes sense.
 
My highest card meal is when I break my fast...around 4 hours after my workout. Would that work

Four hours between your workout and your dose should be fine. If you can break your fast a little later it could a better option, even if it's just an hour or so
 
The idea is that your pre-workout meal should be your largest carb meal, fuelling you for your workout. If you take the GDA 20-30 minutes before your pre-workout meal it will shuttle those nutrients into your muscle tissues, so your muscles are filled and primed for your workout.
So let's look at the time scale with this in mind...
Pre-workout meal 1.5 hours before your workout
+
GDA 30 minutes before that meal
+
Workout 1-1.5 hours of workout
=3-3.5 hours before you want to maximise MPS
At this point, the berberine would have been broken down, done it's job and be left in such a minimal amount that the impact on MPS would/should be insignificant.

While I don't want to get into a pissing match with the same people again in relation to GDA's or specifically Beberine, your info is not really correct...

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"Our data showed that the AMPK phosphorylation was increased at 0.5 h after exposure to berberine and the increase was maintained for at least 16 h in cells.

AMPK is formed by α, β, and γ subunits, and the α subunit can exist as either the α1 or α2 isoform. In skeletal muscle, berberine acutely stimulated both AMPKα1 and AMPKα2 with a reduction of the intracellular energy status
"

It stimulates both the alpha1 (Cellular energy producing signalling, which directly inhibits MTORC1) and alpha2 (released in response to exercise and can be elevated concurrently with elevated mTOR) subunits. Not to mention increasing ubiquitin ligase atrogin-1 expression etc. IMO anyone wanting to optimally build muscle really shouldn't be using it...
 
Kind of off topic but what effect does GDAs like Assass1nate have blood sugar levels? I may be needing to get some bloodwork done for insurance and dont want anything to come back off the charts.
 
Kind of off topic but what effect does GDAs like Assass1nate have blood sugar levels? I may be needing to get some bloodwork done for insurance and dont want anything to come back off the charts.

Assass1nate's contains only normoglycemic actives, meaning it is very effective at bringing down elevated blood glucose to a base line level. But won't have any material impact on fasted blood glucose levels.
 
While I don't want to get into a pissing match with the same people again in relation to GDA's or specifically Beberine, your info is not really correct...

Invalid Link Removed

"Our data showed that the AMPK phosphorylation was increased at 0.5 h after exposure to berberine and the increase was maintained for at least 16 h in cells.

AMPK is formed by α, β, and γ subunits, and the α subunit can exist as either the α1 or α2 isoform. In skeletal muscle, berberine acutely stimulated both AMPKα1 and AMPKα2 with a reduction of the intracellular energy status
"

It stimulates both the alpha1 (Cellular energy producing signalling, which directly inhibits MTORC1) and alpha2 (released in response to exercise and can be elevated concurrently with elevated mTOR) subunits. Not to mention increasing ubiquitin ligase atrogin-1 expression etc. IMO anyone wanting to optimally build muscle really shouldn't be using it...
What is the practical implication of this though? Does being perhaps slightly less than "optimal" in regards to muscle growth have any meaningful impact on muscle growth in the real world? Does it outweigh the other benefits/uses it provides?

Cooper said this a while ago:
It was demonstrated in normal mice too, but I think the key here is understanding the big picture. Yes, berberine potently induces AMPK, but in trained individuals, this will simply increase glucose flux (and subsequent glycogen storage) in muscle tissue. In the context of a high protein diet (lots of mTOR signaling) and resistance training, me thinks the effects would be rather negligible. We don't see people on berberine or metformin catabolizing ridiculous amounts of muscle tissue typically

and a study in human subjects (normal, but with a BMI of over 30) using 1500mg/day berberine for 12 weeks showed moderate benefits in weight/fat loss, and no change in non-fat mass (exercise was not part of the study protocol; subjects kept their current habits, and no altered exercise habits were observed).
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I suppose we could sit here all day and debate what the practical significance of these effects are, and if the other benefits outweigh these (potential) downsides, but I figured I'd give a different perspective.

Edit: also from the study you posted:
The controversial data may be due to diverse methods of administration. Muscle atrophy was induced by berberine injection. Oral administration of berberine led to improvement of muscle atrophy. The actual effects of berberine remain to be explored.
 
Just eating protein with enough lueucine activates the MTOR pathway right? Seems like a bad deal with AMPK being active for 16 hour, your protein in the meal wouldn’t mean anything in terms of muscle growth.
Don’t know anything sciencey, but if AMPK stops protein degradation or oxidation. Then it wouldn’t be that terrible for anyone wanting more glycogen uptake in the muscles right?
 
What is the practical implication of this though? Does being perhaps slightly less than "optimal" in regards to muscle growth have any meaningful impact on muscle growth in the real world? Does it outweigh the other benefits/uses it provides?

Cooper said this a while ago:


and a study in human subjects (normal, but with a BMI of over 30) using 1500mg/day berberine for 12 weeks showed moderate benefits in weight/fat loss, and no change in non-fat mass (exercise was not part of the study protocol; subjects kept their current habits, and no altered exercise habits were observed).
Invalid Link Removed

I suppose we could sit here all day and debate what the practical significance of these effects are, and if the other benefits outweigh these (potential) downsides, but I figured I'd give a different perspective.

Edit: also from the study you posted:

Well that statement is talking about type 2 diabetic rats, which is a completely different ball game.

But yeah as i said, I’m giving my opinion as was Coop...
 
Well that statement is talking about type 2 diabetic rats, which is a completely different ball game.

But yeah as i said, I’m giving my opinion as was Coop...
Fair enough, but the other study I referenced may be the closest/most direct thing we have in regards to measuring the effects of berberine on fat and lean mass in "normal" human subjects. Granted, the study did not really focus on muscle mass or lean body mass, but given the changes in weight and body fat % they did measure, we can easily extrapolate lean body mass, if not actual "muscle" mass. It would be ideal to have a study on berberine in resistance trained subjects, but we don't have that.

Again, I respect your opinion man, and I'm not claiming that either of us is 100% right or wrong, I just figured I'd present a different view on the topic.
 
Just eating protein with enough lueucine activates the MTOR pathway right? Seems like a bad deal with AMPK being active for 16 hour, your protein in the meal wouldn’t mean anything in terms of muscle growth.
Don’t know anything sciencey, but if AMPK stops protein degradation or oxidation. Then it wouldn’t be that terrible for anyone wanting more glycogen uptake in the muscles right?
I think the big "question" or "debate" here is regarding the practical significance/relevance in regards to muscle growth in subjects who eat a high-protein diet and train regularly. Cooper has said that he thinks the effects would be negligible, and one human study showed a decrease in fat mass, but no change in lean body mass after 12 weeks of berberine use.
 
What is the practical implication of this though? Does being perhaps slightly less than "optimal" in regards to muscle growth have any meaningful impact on muscle growth in the real world? Does it outweigh the other benefits/uses it provides?

Cooper said this a while ago:


and a study in human subjects (normal, but with a BMI of over 30) using 1500mg/day berberine for 12 weeks showed moderate benefits in weight/fat loss, and no change in non-fat mass (exercise was not part of the study protocol; subjects kept their current habits, and no altered exercise habits were observed).
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This is what I was interested in. Thanks
 
This is what I was interested in. Thanks
No problem. It's nice to be able to have something in actual humans, not just rodents, and especially not just extrapolating from in vitro studies. The study isn't "perfect" for us, as it didn't use our "target population" here (resistance trained individuals), but it's still a solid starting point in regards to having a somewhat better and more solid picture of the practical effects it has in humans. That's a pretty solid dose (500mg 3x per day) for a pretty solid duration of time (12 weeks), and a loss of fat mass without negatively impacting lean mass isn't a bad thing haha.
 
I think the big "question" or "debate" here is regarding the practical significance/relevance in regards to muscle growth in subjects who eat a high-protein diet and train regularly. Cooper has said that he thinks the effects would be negligible, and one human study showed a decrease in fat mass, but no change in lean body mass after 12 weeks of berberine use.
A decrease in fat mass with no loss in lean mass is like the holy grail right? Perhaps it’s ability to activate glucose uptake into muscle is muscle sparing because of simply more glucose in the muscle. It would defeat the need for our body to gluconeogenisize.
No LBM loss could also account for added water retention in the muscles due to more glucose.
 
A decrease in fat mass with no loss in lean mass is like the holy grail right? Perhaps it’s ability to activate glucose uptake into muscle is muscle sparing because of simply more glucose in the muscle. It would defeat the need for our body to gluconeogenisize.
No LBM loss could also account for added water retention in the muscles due to more glucose.
It’s a great thing to say the least. One could argue that it would be the “holy grail” to lose fat while subsequently gaining muscle (a true “recomp”), but losing fat while maintaining muscle is still pretty great, especially since this weight loss and preservation of muscle was done without mandatory resistance training, or even a controlled diet, so it’s likely that if someone were to eat well (high protein) and train regularly, they could lose more fat while preserving muscle, or perhaps even gain muscle. It’s hard to gain muscle without exercising, so it comes as no surprise that the subjects didn’t gain any muscle mass, but losing fat while preserving muscle is still pretty solid.
 
No problem. It's nice to be able to have something in actual humans, not just rodents, and especially not just extrapolating from in vitro studies. The study isn't "perfect" for us, as it didn't use our "target population" here (resistance trained individuals), but it's still a solid starting point in regards to having a somewhat better and more solid picture of the practical effects it has in humans. That's a pretty solid dose (500mg 3x per day) for a pretty solid duration of time (12 weeks), and a loss of fat mass without negatively impacting lean mass isn't a bad thing haha.

Agreed human is better, but again we are looking at Obese population. We can all agree that these people will all be experiencing insulin insensitivity in some way shape or form and Berberine will obviously improve this. Given more glucose uptake into skeletal muscle an increase in lean mass (glycogen and water) is inevitable with the concurrent fat loss.

I'm talking in terms of a healthy person who is insulin sensitive, looking to maximize muscle gains. We know the pathway's berberine targets are not conducive towards this in theory,at least. I would err on the side of not using it simply because why even risk it?
 
Agreed human is better, but again we are looking at Obese population. We can all agree that these people will all be experiencing insulin insensitivity in some way shape or form and Berberine will obviously improve this. Given more glucose uptake into skeletal muscle an increase in lean mass (glycogen and water) is inevitable with the concurrent fat loss.

I'm talking in terms of a healthy person who is insulin sensitive, looking to maximize muscle gains. We know the pathway's berberine targets are not conducive towards this in theory,at least. I would err on the side of not using it simply because why even risk it?
Again, it comes down to what you consider "maximizing" muscle gains, that is how relevant the effects of these pathways are in the real world. I can understand and respect your choice to err on the side of caution, but I just wanted to make it clear that it's not exactly a cut and dry topic. There's also the question that everyone has to ask themselves of if this potential negative outweighs the potential positives; not everyone's primary goal is gaining as much muscle as possible and ignoring all other factors, factors which may be why someone uses berberine in the first place. Until we have a study in non-obese subjects, and preferably a study in resistance-trained subjects, we won't really be able to say anything conclusively. But it seems that the primary focus of berberine research isn't regarding resistance-trained individuals, so we may not see such a study any time soon, so everyone will have to make their own decisions based on the information we both provided, anecdotes, and personal experience, as I don't really see much "harm" in trying it for yourself at the end of the day if i'm being honest, assuming you're looking for a GDA that is.

I do enjoy the healthy and respectful conversation. :)
 
I tend to eat most my carbs pre and post, so gdas looking useless for me.

As someone else mentioned, Assass1nate ok or not? Same deal, away from training?
 
I tend to eat most my carbs pre and post, so gdas looking useless for me.

As someone else mentioned, Assass1nate ok or not? Same deal, away from training?
I take assass1nate preworkout and I workout fasted or like 4-5gs of leucine, w/e. No hypo. But Idk what hypo is supposed to feel like.
 
I take assass1nate preworkout and I workout fasted or like 4-5gs of leucine, w/e. No hypo. But Idk what hypo is supposed to feel like.

You will never go hypo on Assass1nate.

I usually recommend it prior to 2 largest meals mainly because the body releases significant amounts of the myokine irisin following exercise.

Assass1nate also raises serum irisin following dosing it, so it makes sense to use it outside of your workout window to keep these levels higher across the whole day.

In saying that you can use it around workouts if you really want..
 
You will never go hypo on Assass1nate.

I usually recommend it prior to 2 largest meals mainly because the body releases significant amounts of the myokine irisin following exercise.

Assass1nate also raises serum irisin following dosing it, so it makes sense to use it outside of your workout window to keep these levels higher across the whole day.

In saying that you can use it around workouts if you really want..
I looked up irisin. It seems studies are hit and miss about training raising irisin. Like this one.Invalid Link Removed
 
You will never go hypo on Assass1nate.

I usually recommend it prior to 2 largest meals mainly because the body releases significant amounts of the myokine irisin following exercise.

Assass1nate also raises serum irisin following dosing it, so it makes sense to use it outside of your workout window to keep these levels higher across the whole day.

In saying that you can use it around workouts if you really want..
Sorry, I think I am reading this particular post wrong. So your message here is or is not that taking assass1nate prior or post workout is ok?

I too am particularly interested in this conversation as it relates to assass1nate and slinmax.

Thanks everyone for all this great information in this thread by the way.
 
Assass1nate's contains only normoglycemic actives, meaning it is very effective at bringing down elevated blood glucose to a base line level. But won't have any material impact on fasted blood glucose levels.

Hey buddy, hope you don’t mind the random question(s). I’m looking at Assassinate as GDA as current one seems to be GI issues.
Does assassinate have any potential GI issues?
Also I’m looking to stack with OL Gharine, is there any possible reason not to stack them or any potential negative interactions bewtween the two or would they be sysnergistic? I ask as I know Gharine can impact blood glucose levels and they may be something else I’m not aware of. (I’m on cycle also if that would impact any variables)

Thanks for your time
 
Hey buddy, hope you don’t mind the random question(s). I’m looking at Assassinate as GDA as current one seems to be GI issues.
Does assassinate have any potential GI issues?
Also I’m looking to stack with OL Gharine, is there any possible reason not to stack them or any potential negative interactions bewtween the two or would they be sysnergistic? I ask as I know Gharine can impact blood glucose levels and they may be something else I’m not aware of. (I’m on cycle also if that would impact any variables)

Thanks for your time
Not who you asked but:
No GI issues fore while some GDAs give some troubles.
I'd be really surprised if there was a problem using with Gharine.
 
Hey buddy, hope you don’t mind the random question(s). I’m looking at Assassinate as GDA as current one seems to be GI issues.
Does assassinate have any potential GI issues?
Also I’m looking to stack with OL Gharine, is there any possible reason not to stack them or any potential negative interactions bewtween the two or would they be sysnergistic? I ask as I know Gharine can impact blood glucose levels and they may be something else I’m not aware of. (I’m on cycle also if that would impact any variables)

Thanks for your time

Sorry for the late response, rarely on here as of late.

You shouldn't have any GI issues with Asass1nate, most of the time they occur due to high doses of berberine. It will go very well with Gharine given it will keep blood glucose in control and also help prevent potential bloat. There are no conflicting MOAs between the two.
 
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