Increase Endurance Performance
BCAAs, a supplement frequently used by athletes, stands for Branched Chain Amino Acids. The BCAA supplements help with recovery, allowing you to go harder in subsequent workouts and reducing muscle soreness. Taking BCAAs before, during and even after a workout improves not only the recovery process post-workout but can also improve muscle power during workouts, and overall gains. Most athletes - from amateur beginners to professional experts - and some people with health issues can benefit from supplementing their diets with BCAAs. While BCAAs can offer a wide range of benefits, the time at which you should take them is much more specific. BCAA supplements can be used as fuel to improve performance when taken before exercise. This effect is in addition to their anabolism, and metabolism appears to occur directly in the muscle. These effects have been observed with prolonged athlete performance on the field, as well as a noticeable reduction in DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) later. For runners, using BCAAs plus caffeine and carbohydrates many increase 2-hour endurance performance by 2% compared to placebo.
The common popular reason why athletes take BCAAs is to improve recovery and reduce the onset of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). Turns out, taking your BCAA supplement before exercise is more effective at reducing DOMS and improving muscle protein synthesis, than taking post workout. What does that look like? Some female participants who took a BCAA supplement before performing squats showed less symptoms of muscle fatigue after training and found that were 80% stronger 3 days into training than the placebo group not receiving BCAAs. The actual contents of BCAAs are three important amino acids - leucine, isoleucine and valine. Of these three, some experts argue that leucine is the most important. Your body needs all of these, but cannot produce any of them, and thus you need to consume them. BCAAs are even more important for vegetarians and vegans. Most people get enough by eating animal products, but those following a plant-based diet may be deficient. Most high-protein plant-based foods do contain some amount of BCAAs, just not as much as meat or dairy. So, then a vegan or vegetarian person and maintaining healthy muscle is a priority for supplementing with a BCAA or Amino product may benefit you.
The benefits of BCAA supplementation are most pronounced in individuals supplementing every day, before exercise on lifting days, and for over 10 days consistently. This creates the anabolic and substrate rich environment required. To increase performance alone, approximately 4 grams will suffice before workout. However, to improve both performance and recovery a dosage of at least 7 grams is needed. All athletes can benefit from BCAA supplement powders when properly taken, if they want to. Increased performance and muscle recovery are the most popular reasons for supplementation. Make sure that your BCAA powder is plant-based, delivers at least 7 grams of 2:1:1 BCAAs, and is naturally flavored and sweetened. The BCAA supplement leucine activates a certain pathway in the body that stimulates muscle protein synthesis, which is the process of making muscle. In some research, people who consumed a drink with 5.6 grams of BCAAs after their resistance workout had a 22% greater increase in muscle protein synthesis compared to those who consumed a placebo drink.











