The effect of glutamine supplementation on performance of some physical fitness factors in young wrestlers

Success in sports activities performance depends on many factors, including nutritional status of athletes therefor the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 4 weeks of glutamine supplementation on factors related to physical fitness in young wrestling.

In this experimental study, 16 teenage wrestlers (18.85±1.6 in age range) participated and were randomly divided into two control (n=8) and experimental (n=8) groups. Both groups participated in their normal exercises, then the experimental group received glutamine supplement and the control group received placebo (maltodextrin) during 4 weeks. Before and after the research protocol, indicators related to physical fitness (strength, maximum oxygen consumption and speed) were evaluated. In the following, the obtained information was evaluated using independent t-test and significance level of p≤0.05 and Spss statistical software.

The findings showed that the strength of the lower and upper body muscles (p=0.04), as well as the maximum aerobic power (p=0.001) of the wrestlers in the experimental group was significantly higher than the control group. However, there was no significant difference (p=0.4) in the speed of the two groups.

It seems that the consumption of glutamine amino acid supplement has an effect on the performance of physical activities and improves performance of strength and maximum oxygen consumption.