[quote]oakridge3592 wrote:
And, Jim Stoppani also endorses the supplementation of BCAA’s, recommending 5 g pre-workout…
“When most amino acids are ingested, either as individual amino acids or as whole proteins, they are absorbed by the intestines and shuttled straight to the liver. There the liver decides what to do with them before they go to the rest of the body. If the body needs more energy the liver will break them down for fuel rather than spare them to repair and build muscle and other tissue. The three BCAAs, on the other hand, tend to be spared by the liver and get direct access to tissues like muscle fibers. The muscle fibers then get to make the decision of what to do with the BCAAs based on their needs. During a workout, they can be used by the muscle fibers for fuel. After the workout is over, they can be used to build the muscle fibers up.”[/quote]
5-6 grams is generally the dose to go with for BCAAs which are 2:1:1 ratios (leucine:isoleucine:valine). There are products out there with higher ratios in favour of leucine, in which you can go lower with the BCAAs dosing. What you’re looking for is 2-3 grams of leucine, optimally, 3 grams of leucine.
Stoppani’s comment that they can be used to build muscle fibers up post workout is a little misleading. You need the leucine spike to signal mTOR which tells your muscles to rebuild, however, you still need the other EAAs as subtrate to rebuild muscle. So post workout, either get in adequate protein through whole foods or a protein shake (within 2 hours is a good time frame post, if you’ve had plenty of preworkout nutrition and intra nutrition, you can have that meal 3 hours post if you wanted to, etc. because you should have enough nutrients flowing through your body as it is).
In addition to signalling, I am pretty sure Poliquin recommend BCAA’s because the body turns them to glutamine and uses them as fuel when it might otherwise catabolize muscle protein for fuel. There is always fiber breakdown during training, and generally recycling and remodelling, and I think the BCAAs act as anticatabolics. It also can supplement glycogen that way.
In fact there is a contributor around here who used BCAAs before fasted cardio and showed that it eliminated muscle catabolism and resulted in 90%+ fatty acid oxidation .
(1) It was my impression that research shows that the usefulness of BCAAs are way overhyped for almost all practical purposes.
(2) Mega-dosing BCAAs and fishoil is stupid and possibly dangerous.
(3) The majority of Poliquin’s recommendations are retarded.
Forget about BCAAs and take your whey.
[quote]mertdawg wrote:
In addition to signalling, I am pretty sure Poliquin recommend BCAA’s because the body turns them to glutamine and uses them as fuel when it might otherwise catabolize muscle protein for fuel. There is always fiber breakdown during training, and generally recycling and remodelling, and I think the BCAAs act as anticatabolics. It also can supplement glycogen that way.
In fact there is a contributor around here who used BCAAs before fasted cardio and showed that it eliminated muscle catabolism and resulted in 90%+ fatty acid oxidation .[/quote]
Yes, DEFINITELY that as well. However, that is based on your training and what you had in your pre-workout nutrition.
With that in mind, if you train at a good intensity and for long stretches (hour plus is a good starting point), it is definitely good to have something for intra to reduce protein breakdown. Ideally though, EAAs would be better for intra since you would have the substrates needed to rebuild (if you have a bunch of BCAAs in you but missing the other EAAs when your body needs them, the BCAAs are not going to magically go towards protein synthesis, they will most likely get used as fuel like you noted). Or very easy and quick to absorb protein.
[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
(1) It was my impression that research shows that the usefulness of BCAAs are way overhyped for almost all practical purposes.
(2) Mega-dosing BCAAs and fishoil is stupid and possibly dangerous.
(3) The majority of Poliquin’s recommendations are retarded.
Forget about BCAAs and take your whey.[/quote]
^ This … You get plenty of BCAAs in just 1 scoop of whey protein. IMO don’t waste your money.
L-Isoleucine 1568mg
L-Leucine 2867mg
L-Valine 1646mg
Values per 1 scoop of your average whey protein isolate
[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
Forget about BCAAs and take your whey.[/quote]
Unless you have an allergic/bloat response to whey.
Or you regularly train in a fasted state.
In such cases and others, BCAA’s would be irreplaceable.
[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
(1) It was my impression that research shows that the usefulness of BCAAs are way overhyped for almost all practical purposes.
(2) Mega-dosing BCAAs and fishoil is stupid and possibly dangerous.
(3) The majority of Poliquin’s recommendations are retarded.
Forget about BCAAs and take your whey.[/quote]
Agreed. I got nothing out of taking BCAAs. Plazma and whey cover everything.
[quote]Ripsaw3689 wrote:
[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
(1) It was my impression that research shows that the usefulness of BCAAs are way overhyped for almost all practical purposes.
(2) Mega-dosing BCAAs and fishoil is stupid and possibly dangerous.
(3) The majority of Poliquin’s recommendations are retarded.
Forget about BCAAs and take your whey.[/quote]
Agreed. I got nothing out of taking BCAAs. Plazma and whey cover everything. [/quote]
BCAAs aren’t going to have the same impact as Whey but what it does is help. By itself BCAAs aren’t going to have the same impact as whey protein alone. I said this earlier, DO NOT MEGADOSE. If you’re going to take BCAAs as a supplement, then take 10-20 grams. Take 5-10 g before your workout and 5-10 g after. BCAAs can be effective but just like any other non protein supplement you have to take it properly.
I take BCAA right after waking up and I carry them in my car when traveling and haven’t eaten in a couple of hours. It curbs my appetite as a snack and is very convenient. 5-10g at a time.
Other than that normal whey protein is all you need.