What will you do if you are introduced to new supplements–GABA and ZMA, with immense benefits for building muscles? My guess is, you will be as excited as I am to know as much about these workout supplements, to deliver.
Having said that, it still doesn’t mean jumping to quick conclusions. We need to first understand what is GABA and ZMA, know the technical differences between the two, i.e. GABA vs ZMA and then, make a definitive conclusion of which one is better or perhaps, find out if we can take GABA and ZMA together.
To begin, it is interesting to know how GABA and ZMA help bodybuilders. Let’s do it now.
What is ZMA?
ZMA is a supplement combining zinc and magnesium with the B6 vitamin. It is a must have supplement for those who train hard and sweat a lot in the gym. Because, during heavy workouts and sweating, our body loses a lot of minerals and vitamins.
A zinc deficiency particularly affects us since it aids muscle recovery after heavy workouts. It also builds immunity and regulates healthy blood supply in the body.
Magnesium is attached to similar benefits like immunity build-up and muscle contractions. Vitamin B6, on the other hand, raises energy levels by converting protein into loads of energy.
Thus, it is not hard to understand how a wonder supplement like ZMA helps you building muscles, initiate faster muscle recovery and repair and achieve faster muscle build-up results.
Like I mentioned last time, ZMA clearly scores over just a Zinc supplement or B6 capsules.
Refer to this link to find out more.
What is GABA?
Coming to the next part of our topic- GABA and ZAMA- is a discussion on the natural supplement GABA or gamma-butyric acid powder.
GABA is a non-essential amino acid and a compound found in the human brain. A deficiency of it can upset our mental and physical health both. It is an important part of the central nervous system.
It is needed to keep our brain calm and body relaxed. GABA is commonly used as a sedative to control the excitability in the brain. It is used as an anti-depressant and as an anti-anxiety drug.
That doesn’t sound much like a fitness supplement, is it? Wait, till I tell you more about GABA and its fitness benefits.
- GABA is used by bodybuilders to gain lean muscle mass, reduce fat in the muscles and stimulate the human growth hormone (HGH) production.
- GABA bodybuilding supplements improve training outcome, so if you wish to dole out those big muscles faster and quicker, GABA is your means to achieve so.
- GABA promotes muscle recovery and growth.
- It improves glucose stimulation and utilisation channelizing better glucose distribution and its use in the muscles.
How GABA works as a Fitness Supplement?
GABA works on the pituitary gland (which controls hormones). Thus, an important benefit of GABA is linked to stimulation of HGH, which in turn, directly supports positive physical action and growth, cell production and enabling muscle repair. HGH also increase protein production, gain muscle mass, boost immunity and burn more fat.
GABA also helps in controlling the body temperature as well as inducing effective sleep cycles. A deficiency of GABA, on the other hand, can affect our physical health by making us sleep-deprived or heal and recover from an injury.
Since body produces GABA on its own, many of the benefits of its supplementation can only be realised by the bodybuilders. For example, there is no effect on HGH levels in people who take GABA supplementation but did not exercise.
It works only in case of intense exercise, at the time when the body needs a GABA boost.
Which One is Better?
At the outset, both GABA and ZMA, seem to offer a lot of benefits for bodybuilders. Then, how do we address the question GABA vs. ZMA or which supplement to choose between GABA and ZMA?
Let us quickly sum up the GABA and ZMA effects.
GABA supplement improves workout strength and is popularly used as a pre-workout stimulant and to improve muscle recovery post a strenuous workout.
ZMA supplement is more commonly used as a bodybuilder aid since it has ample benefits like boosting testosterone levels.
A chart for you to specify GABA vs. ZMA.
| GABA | ZMA |
| Used as an antidepressant or antianxiety medicine and as a body building supplement | Is a bodybuilding supplement only |
| A GABA deficiency can affect the quality of sleep or make post-workout recovery slower | Is needed to correct the dropping levels of minerals and vitamins through heavy sweating |
| It improves sleep | It improves sleep too |
| It aids building muscle mass | It helps to gain muscle mass too |
To directly answer your question on GABA vs. ZMA for fitness, it seems that ZMA is a friendlier starting supplement. GABA, for one, should be strictly taken only during strenuous workouts.
So, does ZMA, but there is an additional counter-logic to consuming GABA more cautiously for the bodybuilders. The GABA benefit of keeping the mind and body calm is induced during exercise itself. In short, a person who exercises naturally produces GABA neurons.
So, why does a bodybuilder need GABA supplement then? Like I mentioned earlier, GABA stimulates HGH. So, you need it during intense workouts only, which makes it like ZMA supplementation use in a way.
In that sense, there is no logic to evaluate GABA vs. ZMA except that your body may tolerate a ZMA supplement in small doses better than GABA dose in the beginning. ZMA is an easier supplement.
A crucial point is that you need to know the own body chemistry or science to evaluate which supplement you need.
If you are prone to anxiety during workouts, you may prefer GABA over ZMA to induce better sleep and calm mind and body and likewise, one should know the level of mineral deficiencies in the diet and in the body to depend upon ZMA supplementation adequately.
Can you take it together?
Another part of looking at these two bodybuilding supplements is- can we take GABA and ZMA together?
The answer is yes. There are clinically certified capsules available with main ingredients as the ZMA mineral blend and GABA.
These supplements are targeted to increase strength and recovery and deliver as a T-booster. GABA is specifically used as a sleep enhancer and to improve the effect of zinc, magnesium and B6 vitamin absorption in the body during the sleeping hours. It improves the quality of sleep considerably for bodybuilders.
Conclusion
Both, GABA and ZMA, seem to offer strong benefits for bodybuilders, so it is natural for us to be pondering over- which is better, GABA vs ZMA? Like I always say, you should know your supplement well before harping on its advantages. The first question should be- do I need it?
And, if we look at it from this point of view, I guess the obvious answer to pop-up in our mind is, let us try ZMA first. It does seem more logical and easy to go, doesn’t it? Well, you know more than me about your training schedule, right!
