Effect of ZMA Supplement Alone and in Combination with Carbohydrates, with Six Weeks of Resistance Training on Anabolic Hormone Levels and Cellular Damage Indexes in Untrained Males

The aim of this research was to examine the impacts of ZMA and CHO supplementations during six weeks resistance training on testosterone and IGF-1 hormones and CK and LDH enzymes in untrained males. 27 untrained young male students (mean of age 21.3 years, and BMI 21.6 kg/ m2) were voluntarily participated and randomly divided in three groups including ZMA group (n=10), ZMA-CHO group (n=9) and placebo group (n=8). All three groups carried out the resistance exercise protocol consisted of three sessions per week, with 70-85 % one repetition maximum. Blood samples were drawn, before and at the end of six weeks of training, following 12 h overnight fasting. For data analysis, Two Way Repeated Measure and Bonferroni post hoc test were used. Results showed, despite the relative increase in anabolic hormones in the groups receiving supplements, there were no significant differences between the three groups in serum testosterone and IGF-1 levels. However, ZMA supplementation with resistance training resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of lactate dehydrogenase (25.5 and 22.5% in the groups receiving the supplement), whereas no effect on enzyme activity of creatine kinase. In addition, significant increases were seen in bench press maximum strength in all three groups. These results suggested that ZMA Supplementation coupled with resistance training may increase the secretion of anabolic hormones and reduced the cellular damage; however, resistance training alone was enough to increase the strength in subjects.