If you eat a full and balanced diet I don't think there is much need to supplement with glutamine.

A nutritionist once told me that as long as you are eating a balanced diet you will have no need for supplements.

This is true for the average person doing 3 days of CrossFit or any exercise routine really. However, if you are a hardcore 5-6 days/week Wodder then a 'balanced diet' isn't enough to support the output (unless you want to eat a TON of food).

Personally, I supplement with multi-vitamins, a quality whey protein, and a quality amino stack on days with strength training or barbell WODs. On PR days or days where the WOD has a lot of barbell complexes I'll throw in a scoop of glutamine just to make sure my muscles have enough resources to repair and replenish. I will say that the days I don't take my aminos I get DOMS and I am very, very sore. When I take them I'm sore, but not couch-ridden sore.

As a female you probably don't need glutamine, unless you are trying to seriously bulk, but then why would you be doing CrossFit? ;-)

Research a quality amino stack and whey protein if you are an intense CrossFitter. I'd stay away from GNC as they tend to push their over-priced in-store brands. See if there's a Total Nutrition store near you or go to bodybuilding.com. They have great deals on supplements.

My box sells Advocare, and they usually recommend taking the Catalyst. It has: Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), L-glutamine, L-arginine, betaine, taurine.

I can't tell you what any of them do, but I do take it because I notice that I'm not as sore and have longer energy during my WOD. This could also be mental more than anything.

And they don't push Advocare in the box.

Branched-chain amino acids are essential nutrients that the body obtains from proteins found in food, especially meat, dairy products, and legumes. They include leucine, isoleucine, and valine. “Branched-chain” refers to the chemical structure of these amino acids. Athletes use branched-chain amino acids to improve exercise performance and reduce protein and muscle breakdown during intense exercise. Branched-chain amino acids stimulate the building of protein in muscle and possibly reduce muscle breakdown. ~ WebMD

Since a lot of CrossFitters go Paleo, BCAA's help to make up for a lack of dairy and beans in the diet. Also since they stimulate protein building in muscles, mixed with a proper protein source the muscles recover and repair much more quickly which is why you don't get as sore when you intake BCAA's after a heavy workout. When you don't take them you will see a significant increase in DOMS usually. Some people use a dose on an empty stomach (usually us early morning wodders) before a WOD for a boost in energy and to prevent tissue breakdown.

Usually I'll drink 10g of BCAA's 15 minutes pre-WOD, then 30g of whey protein and 10g of BCAA's together post WOD. Then if I can't/don't eat a solid breakfast within 2 hours of post-WOD, I'll drink another 10g of BCAA's to cover me. If I eat a balanced breakfast I skip the 3rd round of BCAA's. I can say from my personal experience all I've ever really needed is whey and BCAA's on a regular basis. I use Glutamine as an additional boost on really heavy lifting days. If your BCAA stack doesn't contain glutamine then you'll want to supplement it. If your stack does have glutamine then you should be fine without having to take additional amounts. Again I am usually never walking dead sore. I feel fatigued and I know I worked out but I'm still fully functional and could easily WOD a 2-a-day if I wanted to.

One of our coaches sells it as well, but they also are good about not being too pushy with it. I'm not using any of it for our current Paleo challenge this month, but the next one in six months I think I'll do the cleanse.

I did the Advocare challenge in my box. I thought the cleanse portion wasn't so bad. I wasn't ever hungry, and the "cleanse" part did not tear up my stomach. However, when I got to the second part of the cleanse with their meal replacement shakes and pills, I had a bad stomach reaction to those.