Performance enhancement from 33 cents per workout

For several months now, I've been alternating two workout stimulants that I like, Yohimbine HCL® and HMB.

Both enhance my workouts qualitatively and quantitatively. I'm able to move more weight for more reps on these stimulants. Subjectively, the big difference between the two is that Yohimbine works by releasing adrenaline, the fight or flight stress hormone. So it makes you feel a little more on edge and energized. I generally manage stress and anxiety well, so I haven't experienced any negatives from using Yohimbine, although I would want to be doing something visceral while on Yohimbine. I wouldn't want to be just sitting in my home office while on Yohimbine. HMB, on the other hand, does not make me feel energized as a classic Nootropic would, but there is a clear uptick in my gym performance.

It is hard to objectively say which enhances my workouts better. I would say that they both enhance my performance by 10% - 20%. I’m perhaps limited in evaluating these because I’m not a hardcore athlete; I go to the gym several times a week for 90-minute sessions to stay fit and healthy. I’m rather conservative at the gym; making gains and putting on muscle are secondary goals for me. I’d rather have slow, consistent growth in my lifts and weight than really push myself and risk injury.

I did experiment with combining the two.

One Sunday afternoon, I did a 90-minute workout on 1000 milligrams of HMB and 5 milligrams of Yohimbine, which was (unsurprisingly) very stimulating and resulted in a great workout. I made gains in my lifts and did 25 pull-ups. I usually do about 20 minutes of cardio at the gym while brain training with Dual N-Back Pro, which is usually a bit challenging because my gym often blasts awful Hip Hop music, which is, to say the least, a non-optimal audio background for brain training. My brain training scores while doing cardio are usually lower than when I do it sitting at home. I do think that Yohimbine, at least, is a bit of a cognitive enhancer because I had a nice uptick in my brain training scores on this stack despite the distracting music.

Cost and Dosage Comparison

Fifty 5-milligram Yohimbine tabs are 21 euros ($22). I've been doing 15 milligrams per workout session, which comes to $1.30 per workout. I found that 1000 milligrams of HMB has a similar effect; a bottle of 120 x 500 mg capsules costs $19.95, which is just 0.33 cents per workout. Both are pretty affordable, but HMB is a better deal!

Once I exhaust my supply of Yohimbine, I'm not sure if I'll be reordering it. I'd rather use HMB going forward and will continue using Creatine.

HMB Review: A notable uptick in gym performance

I’ve taken 1000 milligrams (two capsules) of HMB before workouts, and I believe there is a notable uptick in my gym performance. I’m able to lift more, along with doing more pull-ups and push-ups. I’ve been getting acquainted with some pre-workout supplements in the last few weeks. I’ve also tried Mildronate before workouts. It’s hard for me to compare and contrast the two from my subjective experience because I’ll admit that when it comes to my gym performance, it’s hard to tell the difference between pharmacologically enabled gains and me just being more aggressive or the placebo effect. There’s not much subjective experience with HMB as there is with many Nootropics.

What is the science saying about HMB

There are over 200 papers mentioning HMB, notably a 2019 Polish Meta-Analysis that describes the scope of clinical trials it’s undergone.

HMB supplementation has been carried out with various groups of athletes. In endurance and martial arts athletes, HMB supplementation revealed positive effects on specific aerobic capacity variables. Positive results were also disclosed in resistance trained athletes, where changes in strength, body fat and muscle mass as well as anaerobic performance and power output were observed.

A paper by the Sports Science Sports Medicine Centre at the Australian Institute of Sport synopsizes its mechanism and benefits to athletes:

[HMB] a metabolite of the essential amino acid leucine, is one of the latest dietary supplements promoted to enhance gains in strength and lean body mass associated with resistance training. Unlike anabolic hormones that induce muscle hypertrophy by increasing muscle protein synthesis, HMB is claimed to influence strength and lean body mass by acting as an anticatabolic agent, minimising protein breakdown and damage to cells that may occur with intense exercise.

Yohimbine Review: superpowers sex and workouts with adrenaline!

I did several workouts on 10 milligrams, which I think enhanced my performance somewhat. I made gains of 10%-20% in the quantity or repetition of the weight I moved. It’s hard to say if this is just because I’m pushing myself a bit harder or if it’s the Yohimbine. I’m not a bodybuilder and haven’t been lifting weights for years in the gym. Honestly, I have a bit of an on-again, off-again relationship with the gym, so I don’t push myself really hard to break previous personal records. I go to the gym just to maintain health and fitness, so I’m pretty conservative. The last thing I want is to injure myself, so I’m maybe not the typical Yohimbine user. I can see how I would probably get more out of Yohimbine if I wanted to compete in one of those bodybuilding competitions where guys strut around in little Speedos or if I wanted to do a triathlon.

I upped the dosage to 15 milligrams for my Sunday workout, and there was a noticeable uptick in my power output; my rep count increased from 6 to 10 squats, and I made some gains in quantity of reps across the board. I had taken about a week’s break from going to the gym and expected that my capacity to move metal would have decreased a little. Thankfully, its effect does not persist all day. After the workout, I didn’t feel fired up by Yohimbine’s adrenaline release. I was relaxed and enjoyed the rest of my Sunday. I was quite sore and very thankful for my wife’s loving massage before bed. Before working out, I had to do a little shopping at the mall, and I was mindful of my mood and state of mind. I wasn’t particularly irate or anxious, I felt energetic and happy, although I wouldn’t want to be cooped up in my home office on this dosage.

One Sunday, I did 10 milligrams before a double workout. I did some weight lifting at the gym, and then I joined my wife for a yoga class. I thought the yoga on Yohimbine might be interesting. The issue was that the yoga class turned out to be very long, nearly three hours! I thought it was supposed to be less than an hour! Around two hours into the yoga class, I started getting quite irate that the class was taking so long. Eventually, I s