As an athlete, you’re always looking for new ways to increase performance. Whether that’s starting up a new training program, diving into a new meal plan, or, for some people, investing in a new supplement stack.
If you’ve boarded the supplement train, you’re no stranger to everything that’s out there, but the thing with a lot of supplements is that some are effective on their own, while others are more effective when combined with complementary compounds.
For HMB and creatine, there’s no denying that they’re both a powerhouse. If you’re looking for bigger muscles, more strength, and power that is unmatched, you’ve found your guys.
But if you’re looking to level up with the big dogs, should you combine two of the biggest powerhouses in the fitness supplement world to take your performance even further?
That’s what we’re talking about now.
What is HMB?
HMB has become a big thing in the sports supplement world, and there’s a good reason for it. More formally known as beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate, HMB is an amino acid metabolite known as one of the most powerful natural compounds supporting increased muscle mass and fat loss.
Because of its potent anti-catabolic properties, HMB is taken by bodybuilders, athletes, and everyone in between because it offers big potential for preventing muscle breakdown, increasing workload, reducing and repairing muscle damage, and improving muscle mass 1. Based on that, it would seem silly not to include it in your stack…
But what is HMB, and what’s all the hype around it?
Technically speaking, HMB is a byproduct of amino acid breakdown. Leucine, the amino acid we all know and love for its role in muscle growth, breaks down to form two compounds: alpha-ketoisocaproate (a-KIC) and HMB.
However, while your initial thought may be why supplement with HMB when you can just get it from leucine? it’s not that simple.
Because leucine is such a powerful anabolic amino acid, about 80% of dietary leucine is shunted towards protein synthesis, while the remaining 20% forms its metabolites.
And of that 20%, roughly 5% actually forms HMB 2. So, because the formation of HMB from leucine is minimal, it’s easier and more effective to supplement with a pure form.
With that said, HMB can play a pretty prominent role in your training stack for a couple of reasons:
1. Prevents Muscle Breakdown
This right here is the main reason people gravitate to HMB. No one wants to spend countless hours a week in the gym grinding only to compromise their hard-earned muscle.
Because cutting back carbs or ramping up cardio to boost fat loss can put your muscle in jeopardy, HMB swoops in to safeguard your muscles against degradation in times of caloric deficits, fasted training, or just excessive work.
Here’s how.
Just like leucine, HMB can stimulate muscle protein synthesis via the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway to reduce muscle protein degradation. And although this pathway is controlled by a series of hormones and growth factors, amino acids also play a role as regulators.
For most cells, leucine is the primary amino acid that stimulates mTOR, hence why we love leucine. But similar to leucine, HMB increases mTOR signaling, and despite leucine having a more pronounced effect on MPS, HMB still induces acute muscle anabolism via a distinct, and/or additional mechanism to leucine 3.
Studies also show that HMB may be involved in muscle growth by stimulating expression of IGF-1 and augmenting the growth hormone (GH) response to high-volume resistance exercise 4, and has yielded positive results in resistance-trained athletes with changes in strength, body fat, and muscle mass, as well as anaerobic performance and power output 5.
2. Boosts Fat Loss
The other reason athletes often choose to add HMB to their stack is because it can boost fat loss. Leaning out without compromising existing muscle mass can be challenging, but that’s where HMB shines.
Studies find HMB may help regulate adipose tissue function, which includes fatty acid oxidation, lipolysis, and adipokine secretion 6. Because of its ability to increase beta-oxidation of the fatty acids, HMB may benefit athletes looking to increase fat-free mass and reduce body fat 7.
A 1996 study looked at the effects of three levels of HMB supplementation—0, 1.5g, or 3g HMB/day and two protein levels—117g/day or 175g/day—on performance in participants lifting weights for 1.5 hours 3 days per week for three weeks 8.
Results showed that HMB significantly decreased exercise-induced increases in muscle proteolysis, as well as increased total strength by 13% in the group supplementing with 1.5g/day and 18.4% in the group supplementing 3g per day. There was also a positive trend in fat-free mass, with subjects increasing fat-free mass by 1.2kg (1/5g HMB/day) and 4kg (3g HMB/day).
The Benefits Of Creatine And Why It Should Be Part Of Your Stack
With all of that said, we get to the second superstar in this stack—creatine. It tends to be a staple in the bodybuilding world due to its role in maximizing muscle growth by improving work capacity, but it’s not just bodybuilders who can benefit.
Creatine is a substance naturally produced in the body from precursor amino acids and plays a significant role in energy production. But why we go crazy for creatine is because it has consistently been shown to increase intramuscular creatine concentrations to enhance ATP regeneration, thus enhancing energy stores.
ATP is your body’s main form of energy that powers virtually every single process in the body, including muscle contraction. Without sufficient ATP, your body cannot function.
Creatine plays an important role in maintaining adequate energy availability, especially during high-intensity work, by combining with an inorganic phosphate group (Pi) to form phosphocreatine (PCr).
Because ATP is degraded into adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and Pi to provide energy for metabolic activity, the free energy released from hydrolysis of phosphocreatine into Cr and Pi is used as a buffer to resynthesize ATP 9. In doing so, there’s constant availability of ATP maintained to power maximal effort anaerobic exercise.
However, studies find that the availability of phosphocreatine (PCr) heavily influences strength, speed, and power 9.
As the duration and/or frequency of high-intensity activity increases, PCr supply steadily declines, which impairs performance due to an increased reliance on slower metabolic pathways. Thus, by supplementing creatine, you’re increasing the pool to draw on and providing adequate substrate to maintain high PCr stores.
Studies find that daily consumption of 3–5 g of creatine monohydrate can improve a variety of athletic performance measures, including maximal strength and speed, as well as recovery 9.
Some research finds that creatine supplementation may also reduce protein breakdown and muscle damage, and increase muscle protein synthesis, ultimately leading to increased lean mass 9.
HMB And Creatine—The Perfect Stack?
Although HMB and creatine both offer major benefits on their own, you rarely see them paired, but can stacking them two-fold the effects?
While there’s no harm in separating your supplements, the combination of HMB and creatine can offer some good benefits.
Together, they have been shown to increase endurance, enhance strength, reduce fat mass, and even prevent loss of lean muscle.
However, it’s also important to note that some research doesn’t find any apparent benefit to combining HMB and creatine.
One study looked at the effects of HMB and creatine monohydrate supplementation on changes in markers of biological stress and damage, body composition, muscle morphology, strength, and sprinting performance 10.
In theory, it appears combining the two would elicit greater effects on body composition and performance than supplementing either alone, as they both operate on different mechanisms of action.
However, results did not find any advantage from combined supplementation. Lean mass, strength, and sprinting ability were equally maintained in both groups of athletes—those taking creatine + HMB and those taking creatine + placebo.
As such, they concluded that creatine supplementation alone is likely to maintain body composition and performance without the need for HMB.
Final Thoughts
With that said, what’s the deal with creatine and HMB?
The different mechanisms these two supplements work on may add up to some beneficial effects.
Simply put, HMB helps prevent muscle breakdown while also supporting a faster and more efficient recovery, while creatine boosts muscle growth and enhances energy output for a stronger and longer training session, and thus bigger and better results.
So, while they may not offer any substantial benefit when combined into one supplement, on their own, they both provide powerful performance enhancements, which makes them a staple in any good training stack.
References
- K Durkalec-Michalski, J Jeszka, T Podgó The Effect of a 12-Week Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) Supplementation on Highly-Trained Combat Sports Athletes: A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Crossover Study. Nutrients. 2017; 9(7): 753.
- A Molfino, G Gioia, F Rossi Fanelli, M Muscaritoli. Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate supplementation in health and disease: a systematic review of randomized trials. Amino Acids. 2013 Dec; 45(6): 1273-92.
- A Suryawan, M Rudar, ML Fiorotto, TA Differential regulation of mTORC1 activation by leucine and β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate in skeletal muscle of neonatal pigs.J Appl Physiol (1985). 2020;128(2):286-295.
- JR Townsend, JR Hoffman, AM Gonzalez, AR Jajtner, CH Boone, et al. Effects of β-Hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate Free Acid Ingestion and Resistance Exercise on the Acute Endocrine Response. Int J Endocrinol. 2015 Feb; 856708.
- P Kaczka, MM Michalczyk, R Jastrząb, M Gawelczyk, K Kubicka. Mechanism of Action and the Effect of Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-Methylbutyrate (HMB) Supplementation on Different Types of Physical Performance - A Systematic Review.J Hum Kinet. 2019;68:211-222.
- Y Duan ,L Zhang, F Li, et al. β-Hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate modulates lipid metabolism in adipose tissues of growing pigs. Food Funct. 2018;9(9):4836-4846.
- JM Wilson, RP Lowery, JM Joy, et al. The effects of 12 weeks of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate free acid supplementation on muscle mass, strength, and power in resistance-trained individuals: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.Eur J Appl Physiol. 2014;114(6):1217-1227.
- S Nissen, R Sharp, M Ray, et al. Effect of leucine metabolite beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate on muscle metabolism during resistance-exercise training.J Appl Physiol (1985). 1996;81(5):2095-2104.
- RB Kreider, DS Kalman, J Antonio, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine.J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:18.
- GT Mangine, TA VanDusseldorp, GM Hester, JM Julian, Y The addition of β-Hydroxy β-Methylbutyrate (HMB) to creatine monohydrate supplementation does not improve anthropometric and performance maintenance across a collegiate rugby season.J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2020;17(1):28.
