BCAAs are the amino acids.

Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine.

Leucine is sometimes referred to as the 'main' amino acid due to the muscle building benefits being mostly due to it. Leucine is an activator of the protein known as mTOR, which induces muscle protein synthesis, which is the building of muscle. When metabolized into HMB it also reduces muscle protein breakdown.

Isoleucine as far as its muscle building effects go, is kind of like Leucine Lite, in that it also triggers muscle protein synthesis, but to a lesser extent than Leucine. Isoleucine though, unlike leucine is able to significantly increase glucose uptake and the usage of glucose during exercise, which as we know from my last video on Aerobic and Anaerobic activity, glucose is the main precursor to muscle energy.

Valine seems to have the least benefits of the three, it is more similar to Leucine than isoleucine, but it can’t do anything that the others can’t do much better. In street language, you would say Valine is pretty waste.

Knowing all that it’s easy to say you should be taking them. Remember though how we said that in order for a protein to be considered complete it must contain enough of all the essential amino acids, well that included Branched Chain Aminos. If you’re consuming enough complete protein sources, you’ll be accessing the majority of the benefits of BCAAs. There will be no need for you to supplement since your food will have enough.

However some evidence does suggest minor benefits to consuming BCAAs during your workout! During a workout, a powdered supplement would be a lot more fast acting and convenient than breaking out the canned tuna.

If you’re on a fast or your protein intake is low, such as during an aggressive diet, serum levels of BCAAs (in other words the reserve of BCAAs circulating in your blood) will be low, and become depleted more quickly when you exercise.

Studies have noted an increase in time to exhaustion and a decrease in exercise induced fatigue in lifters who supplemented with BCAAs during their workout. Its important to note though that these benefits were found primarily in new lifters, and less in experienced ones.

TL;DR

If you want a minor decrease in exercise induced fatigue, you would benefit from taking BCAAs during your workout. Particularly if you aren’t eating as much as your body might like. These benefits are more pronounced in new lifters.

I hope you all enjoyed that, let me know if there is a topic you think we should explore next.