The Power of HICA
By: Team Popeye's
Have you found it difficult to add quality lean muscle mass? Or once you added some size you weren’t able to maintain it when you dieted? This is heard quite often and is one of the most frustrating and defeating things you'll ever experience in your health and fitness journey. Luckily, some supplements can assist with building muscle while also helping to prevent lean tissue breakdown through anti-catabolic properties. What supplement am I referring to? HICA.
The Power of HICA
HICA (or scientifically known as hydroxyisocaproic acid) is essentially a metabolite of leucine. If leucine rings a bell, it’s probably because it’s one of the most powerful BCAAs out there and helps increase protein synthesis and flips the switch to activate mTOR.
Through the use of leucine, you can put yourself in the driver’s seat on a highway headed to muscle growth and preservation. When our body metabolizes leucine, one of the things it is broken down into is HICA – a potent and naturally occurring amino acid metabolite that promotes anabolism as well helping prevent the breakdown of your muscle to be used as energy (catabolism).
To look specifically at the benefits of supplementing with HICA, researchers conducted a study using athletes as their participants1. After four weeks of supplementing with HICA, the researchers found the athletes, on average, were able to gain nearly one pound of lean muscle tissue. When comparing the results of the HICA group to the placebo, those who did not receive the HICA supplement actually lost 0.33 lbs in that same timeframe. The athletes who supplemented with HICA also showed no signs of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) following their training and were able to recover faster following intense bouts of exercise.
With the ability to increase recovery time, you can not only train harder and longer, but you may also find yourself fully recovered after only a couple of days which would allow you to get back in the gym and train that muscle group multiple times each week.
Best Uses For HICA
Here’s where the fun begins! Regardless of your goals (put on muscle or burn body fat), HICA can help. From the weekend warriors who simply want to look better to the professional bodybuilders who step on a stage and compete to win – everyone can benefit from HICA.
Trying to add quality muscle to your build? HICA can help you stay anabolic by increasing protein synthesis. In addition, with your ability to stay in an elevated anabolic state and promote mTOR, you have primed your body for hypertrophy and muscle-building.
If you're getting ready for an event or summer and are looking to trim some body fat, the biggest concern and hurdle is not losing the muscle you worked so hard to build over the course of months or even years. Because HICA contains anti-catabolic properties, even when you are in a caloric deficit, you are less likely to burn muscle which means your body will look to dip into your fat stores and utilize your body fat as an energy source.
No matter how you slice it, the ability to either train for hypertrophy or train to get ripped without the soreness, generally experienced through DOMS, is definitely a plus. It allows you to train hard day in and day out to get yourself closer to your health and fitness goals.
HICA can also be stacked with other muscle-building or fat-burning supplements to further enhance your results.
Maximize Your Muscle Growth Potential
If you’re looking for a great HICA supplement, look no further than Nutrabolics Anabolic State.
Being the only supplement brand using HICA in Canada, Nutrabolics uses a full 500mg dose to ensure you’re getting the optimal amount of HICA to help promote lean tissue growth as well as preventing the dreaded breakdown of muscle tissue. Also, Nutrabolics Anabolic State uses vegan-sourced BCAAs in their formula.
HICA supports the perfect storm of muscle growth potential as well as anti-catabolic properties to help you achieve the muscle-building results you desire.
References:
1. Mero, Antti A, et al. “Effects of alfa-hydroxy-isocaproic acid on body composition, DOMS and performance in athletes.” Advances in Pediatrics., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2818616/