BetaTOR (beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate free acid) – 1,000 mg
Note that this label says 42 softgels, but it’s really 84 in the bottles available now – check the store to make sure!
The main ingredient in Clear Muscle is BetaTOR, a patented form of HMB Free Acid from TSI Group Ltd that was renamed from myHMB Clear. BetaTOR’s clear visual presentation is what led MuscleTech to name the supplement Clear Muscle, which originally launched in early 2014.
HMB is a metabolite of leucine, the most anabolic of the three branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). It’s actually a signaling molecule first and foremost:
Mechanisms of action
HMB gained a lot of attention in the early 1990s as research emerged showing that the powerful metabolite creates many of the same effects as leucine, but at a fraction of the dose. It’s been shown to activate many of the same metabolic switches leucine does. Perhaps most notably, both leucine and HMB activate mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR),[1] which is key for initiating the anabolic response.
It can also upregulate growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1),[2] two famously anabolic hormones.
HMB’s specialty: preventing muscle breakdown
There’s been a lot of advocacy for taking BCAAs before a workout — especially when fasted — thanks to the fact that leucine is a strong anti-proteolytic agent, meaning it can help decrease muscle protein breakdown during metabolic stress.[3] However, if we take a closer look at the research on leucine’s anti-catabolic effects, a practical problem emerges: for really effective anti-catabolism, huge doses of leucine are required.
How HMB Works
Most of the studies we’ll discuss have to do with sick people or animals who are at risk of muscle loss due to their illness. Although it may not intuitively seem like studies in these populations have much applicability to healthy human beings, muscle wasting diseases are the best way to study catabolism. The same mechanisms are behind muscle loss in any setting, whether that’s in a sickbed or during a marathon.
Leucine is great for this, but we need tons for the effect
In one study where mice with a wasting disease got leucine-enriched food, leucine was able to reduce muscle loss by about 11% – but leucine accounted for 3% of the mice’s overall caloric intake, which is a huge proportion when you’re talking about a single amino acid. Translating to humans, this means if you’re eating a 2,000 calorie diet, you’ll need 60 grams per day of just leucine before you could expect to see the same results.[4]
In a similar study with rats, 1 milligram of leucine per kilogram body weight per day reduced muscle wasting in sick rats by 33%,[5] but again, if we scale the dose to human equivalence, that’s 13 grams of leucine per day.
Taking 13 to 60 grams of pure leucine every day is possible, but not practical or economical.
This is where HMB comes in
Fortunately, scientists eventually identified a leucine metabolite responsible for the lion’s share of these effects – and that metabolite is HMB! Since only 5% of leucine gets converted into HMB,[6] this makes HMB a potentially very efficient way to reap the anti-catabolic benefits of leucine.
HMB improves the ability to recovery and feel recovered[7]
This hypothesis has been substantiated by further research in animals. For example, one study found that a 0.25-gram/kg body weight dose of HMB was 60% more effective than a 1-gram/kg dose at preventing muscle wasting in sick mice.[8] Four times as much leucine was less effective than the HMB!
One randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in humans tested HMB’s anti-catabolic effect on muscle loss in older adults during 10 days of bed rest,[9] which is a situation that even healthy young people might find themselves in. Muscle loss during convalescence after serious injury is a well-known medical problem. In this human study, subjects received 3 grams of calcium HMB daily.[9]
Although this dose is larger than what’s present in MuscleTech’s Clear Muscle, MuscleTech is using free acid HMB, which is known to be more bioavailable than calcium HMB.[10,11] The bed-rest study found that HMB treatment prevented muscle loss during bed rest – the HMB group lost no muscle, while the control group lost about 2 kilograms.[9]
Other studies have found that HMB significantly decreases markers of muscle damage during long-duration aerobic training and high-volume weightlifting.[7,12]
But also, anabolic
But HMB isn’t just anti-catabolic – it is also, like leucine, pro-anabolic – but we have to properly define our terms. With the aging population, we can state that it’s anabolic (especially if Vitamin D levels are sufficient[13-15]) — but with a younger, active population, it’s most effective in times of intense training.
For instance, a study in elderly people over the age of 70 found that HMB supplementation during 8 weeks of structured exercise gained about twice as much lower body strength:17.2% for the HMB group vs 8.3% for the controls.[16]
Another study with a near-identical design reached similar conclusions: 13% gain in lower body strength for the HMB group vs. 7% for the control group, and 13% vs 11% gains in upper body strength.[17]
But it doesn’t just work with older people. Young, healthy athletes can benefit from HMB supplementation, too, when used in the right conditions.
A 2014 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study found that resistance-trained males averaging 21 years of age gained significantly more strength and muscle mass taking HMB than they did a placebo control.[18] The placebo group gained about 6% total strength on the big three lifts – squat, bench, and deadlift – while the HMB group gained an amazing 17%. They also gained significantly more muscle – 7.4 kg vs. 2.1 kg – and lost about 5.7 kilograms of body fat, while the placebo group only lost 1.7.[18]
What you have to realize here — and this is discussed in Episode #093 of the PricePlow Podcast – is that these participants were in a serious training program. They were not just doing their “same old workout”… but they also significantly outperformed the control group (which also had the same training program) when given HMB.
This leads us to the next part, and one that MuscleTech consumers need to fully understand:
When HMB works – high volume, high intensity
So if HMB performed so well in that last study, why did it fall into disrepute during the early 2000s? Beyond the fact that the ingredient was mis-marketed by overzealous companies back then, the full answer can be found in the International Society of Sports Nutrition’s official position on HMB.
In 2013, their research review on HMB concluded that:
“Research [on HMB effectiveness] indicates that in trained populations it is critical that the exercise stimulus is of adequate intensity and volume to cause skeletal muscle damage. If these conditions are lacking, HMB is not likely to be efficacious.”[19]
The authors cite two specific studies that found no benefit from HMB supplementation. What they had in common was a lack of volume or intensity manipulation. In both, training programs remained the same during HMB treatment.[20,21]
We think the reason HMB did so well in the 2014 study is that the experimental design used periodized training, which is a technique for causing supercompensation by pushing athletes just over the edge of their capabilities.
That’s the kind of program where HMB can be expected to shine. If you’re planning to go hard, and are expecting to be sore with some pretty brutal recovery times, MuscleTech Clear Muscle is definitely worth trying. But if you’re going to do the same old 3 sets of 10 at low intensity three days a week, we’ll be honest and tell you to step up your intensity first before spending your money.
There’s a ton of other information coming — we’ll be publishing a massive article and podcast shortly (and updating this one at that time), so stay tuned to PricePlow on social media.
Betaine Anhydrous – 250 mg
Betaine, also known by its chemical name trimethylglycine (TMG), is a compound that can help increase your body’s production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)[22] by donating methyl groups to various metabolic processes. Your cells use ATP as their energy source, so more ATP generally translates into better performance and recovery.
EuphoriQ also has a full 2.5 gram dose of betaine
Betaine is also an osmolyte, meaning it can help increase the hydration level of your cells, too, making them more resilient in the face of metabolic stress and heat stress.[23-25]
These two effects – ATP upregulation and cellular hydration improvement– make betaine a powerful ergogenic aid. But that’s not all – because of its status as a powerful methyl donor, betaine may help keep your blood homocysteine levels from rising too high,[26] which is great as homocysteine is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.[27]
Studies show betaine supplementation in higher doses (generally 2.5-5 grams daily, which we won’t have here) can increase:
- Strength[28,29]
- Power[28-30]
- Body composition[25,31]
In one particularly striking study using 2.5 grams per day, college-aged women took betaine during an 8 week weightlifting program and lost 4.4 pounds of body fat, compared to only 2.8 pounds lost by the placebo group.[32]
So the point here is that taking 3 softgels of Clear Muscle can provide 750 extra milligrams of betaine per day to support methylation, ATP production, and hydration, but this alone isn’t as much as was used in clinically-reviewed studies with respect to performance and body composition.
The MuscleTech EuphoriQ pre-workout contains that full 2.5 gram dose in a full serving, but if you want to use less than a scoop, or want to go over that dose, Clear Muscle can certainly assist.
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