Many lifters know that protein is a critical nutrient for building muscle. Some lifters also know that protein is composed of amino acids. But one specific type of aminos — branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs)— could play a particularly significant role in supporting your training program. Here’s a closer look at this often discussed, rarely understood, power-packed trio.

BCAA Benefits

• What Are BCAAs
• 4 BCAA Benefits
• How to Use BCAAs
• Frequently Asked Questions

What Are BCAAs

Amino acids are organic compounds that serve as the building blocks of proteins. We need 20 different amino acids for a properly functioning, well-performing body. Of these amino acids, nine are considered essential because our bodies cannot form them on their own. We must consume them from protein-rich foods such as meat, dairy, and eggs, or from specific nutritional supplementation.

• Phenylalanine
• Valine
• Tryptophan
• Threonine
• Isoleucine
• Methionine
• Histidine
• Leucine
• Lysine

Three of these essential amino acids — leucine, isoleucine, and valine –  are considered “branched-chain amino acids” (BCAAs) because of their unique structure and roles in the body. BCAA supplementation, in particular, may be extremely useful for lifters looking to train harder, recover faster, and push themselves toward better overall results.

4 BCAA Benefits

Because nutrition information spreads quickly and frequently on the Internet, sometimes without regard to factual accuracy, it’s useful to refer to academic literature for the benefits of consuming specific nutrients or supplements.

It’s important to acquire a well-rounded understanding of the available data if you want to make the most well-informed decision before investing your time, money, and health. Here’s a look at some of the research-based benefits of BCAAs.

Reduced Muscle Soreness

BCAAs have been shown to lessen muscle soreness by mitigating muscular damage after exercise. In one study, subjects had reported significantly less muscle soreness and showed less decrease in muscular force two and three days after a squat session. (1) Other research has shown that delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), range of motion, and indicators of muscle damage were all significantly improved in subjects who consumed BCAAs before or after training, compared with those who ingested a placebo.

Interestingly, stronger benefits were shown in those who consumed them before exercise. (2) With that in mind, it could make sense to choose a pre-workout (if you use one) which includes BCAAs.

Improved Muscle Growth and Maintenance 

Another benefit provided by BCAAs is increased muscle protein synthesis — the process in which muscle is built or maintained. Jackman et al. (2017) had young resistance-trained men complete two trials in which they performed a leg workout consisting of leg extensions and leg presses, ingesting either BCAAs or a placebo immediately after training. (3)

Muscle biopsies taken one and four hours after each session showed that BCAAs ingested after exercising resulted in a significant increase in stimulation of myofibrillar muscle protein synthesis. In other words, having BCAAs after training may lead to more muscle growth.

Increased Endurance 

BCAAs have also been shown to increase endurance. Research showed that subjects who consumed BCAAs before an incremental treadmill workout had “times to exhaustion” significantly lengthier than those who received a placebo. (4)

Runners taking BCAAs were able to stay on the treadmill for longer periods, while running at higher intensities, compared to running without BCAAs. Cumulatively, performing cardio at a higher intensity and longer duration can contribute to improved conditioning, increased endurance, and a stronger training stimulus (for example, more calories burned per training session).

Reduced Mental Fatigue During Exercise

Ingestion of BCAAs have been shown to offer a psychological benefit during exercise, which can possibly aid in exercise compliance or “persistence” in competitive performance. One study had subjects complete a 60-minute stationary bike workout in the morning, after performing an exercise session the previous night in an attempt to lower glycogen stores — making the morning session that much more challenging. (5)

Subjects consumed BCAAs or a placebo before morning exercise sessions. Every ten minutes during the workout, they provided their rates of perceived exertion and mental fatigue — self-reported methods of gauging effort, fatigue, and overall difficulty of a workout.

Although both the placebo group and the BCAA group completed the same amount of work, those who consumed BCAAs reported significantly lower levels of perceived exertion and mental fatigue. In a previous study, researchers had subjects in long distance runners consume BCAAs or a placebo.

Results showed that mental well-being was improved for runners who consumed BCAAs. The data also showed that relatively slower runners had faster completion times than slower runners who had consumed a placebo. (6)

How to Use BCAAs

With any supplement, including BCAAs, dosing and timing can be make-or-break factors that determine whether or not they actually deliver the intended benefits. In the literature reviewed, anywhere from six to 20 grams of BCAAs were used per serving. BCAAs were typically consumed one hour before, during, or immediately after exercise.

From this, we can conclude that it would be effective to follow these guidelines for the benefits discussed. You can experiment with doses in the aforesaid range to see what works for your particular situation based on your training plan, overall nutrition, workout timing, and other individual variables.

For example, you could spend several weeks using six grams before training, while monitoring your rate of progress, general feeling during workouts, and recovery between sessions, before changing to supplementation during workouts. You might also experiment with higher doses, 10 to 15 grams, around workouts that involve higher training volume (more exercises or more sets/reps) or higher training intensities.

During a fat loss phase, higher doses of BCAAs may also be beneficial to support muscle growth and recovery during periods of calorie restriction. (7)

FAQs

As with other nutritional supplements and dietary approaches, there are some misunderstandings that can, and have, arisen regarding BCAAs. Here are some of the most common points of confusion.

The ABCs of BCAAs

There’s significant evidence that BCAAs have been shown to provide several key benefits for gym-goers looking to increase muscle, strength, and/or endurance. Although BCAAs shouldn’t used as a “crutch” for a poorly planned diet, they can deliver an extra edge for situations when your nutrition plan falls short on some nutrients or when your training volume/intensity is high. For reinforced muscle recovery, or even to help fight off any diet or training-related brain fog, consider adding BCAAs to your sports supplement arsenal.

References

1. Shimomura, Y., Inaguma, A., Watanabe, S., Yamamoto, Y., Muramatsu, Y., Bajotto, G., Sato, J., Shimomura, N., Kobayashi, H., & Mawatari, K. (2010). Branched-Chain Amino Acid Supplementation Before Squat Exercise and Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness, International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 20(3), 236-244. Retrieved Jun 5, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.20.3.236
2. Ra, S. G., Miyazaki, T., Kojima, R., Komine, S., Ishikura, K., Kawanaka, K., Honda, A., Matsuzaki, Y., & Ohmori, H. (2018). Effect of BCAA supplement timing on exercise-induced muscle soreness and damage: a pilot placebo-controlled double-blind study. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness, 58(11), 1582–1591. https://doi.org/10.23736/S0022-4707.17.07638-1
3. Jackman, S. R., Witard, O. C., Philp, A., Wallis, G. A., Baar, K., & Tipton, K. D. (2017). Branched-Chain Amino Acid Ingestion Stimulates Muscle Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis following Resistance Exercise in Humans. Frontiers in physiology, 8, 390. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2017.00390
4. AbuMoh’d, M. F., Matalqah, L., & Al-Abdulla, Z. (2020). Effects of Oral Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) Intake on Muscular and Central Fatigue During an Incremental Exercise. Journal of human kinetics, 72, 69–78. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2019-0099
5. BLOMSTRAND, E., HASSMÉN, P., EK, S., EKBLOM, B. and NEWSHOLME, E.A. (1997), Influence of ingesting a solution of branched-chain amino acids on perceived exertion during exercise. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 159: 41-49. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-201X.1997.547327000.x
6. Blomstrand, E., Hassmén, P., Ekblom, B., & Newsholme, E. A. (1991). Administration of branched-chain amino acids during sustained exercise–effects on performance and on plasma concentration of some amino acids. European journal of applied physiology and occupational physiology, 63(2), 83–88. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235174
7. Wesley David Dudgeon, Elizabeth Page Kelley & Timothy Paul Scheett (2016) In a single-blind, matched group design: branched-chain amino acid supplementation and resistance training maintains lean body mass during a caloric restricted diet, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 13:1, DOI: 10.1186/s12970-015-0112-9

Featured Image: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock

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Put aside the marketing genius of these massive supplement companies and ask yourself two major questions: What are they and why should I be taking them?

What Are Amino Acids?

In order to attempt to scratch the surface of these questions, I need to start with slightly bigger concepts, and then narrow it down to more specific uses of amino acids. First, proteins catalyze the vast majority of chemical reactions that occur in our cells. They also provide structure to cells, bind them to tissue, and even make cell movement possible. Others are responsible for the transport of vital materials from the outside of the cell (extracellular) to its inside (intracellular). Even though there are so many different uses for proteins, when hydrolysis occurs, more simple compounds are revealed. These are the building blocks of proteins, called amino acids.

Amino acids are organic compounds which contain at least one amino group (-NH2) and a carboxyl (-COOH) group. In the human genome, 20 amino acids are utilized to build proteins, and therefore are termed proteinogenic. Besides this, there are approximately 250 amino acids which do not form proteins but may be used to form sugar, for example.¹ These amino acids can be divided even further into three groups: essential, conditionally essential, and nonessential.

Before we dive into the purpose of each individual amino, we need to understand the major differences between these three groups. These groups can easily be related to the process of baking cookies:

• Your flour, eggs, oil, and butter represent the nonessential and conditionally essential groups because you have these items in your cupboard all the time and don’t need to worry about purchasing them every day.
• Your essential amino acids are the chocolate chips or the walnuts in your recipe, since they are more specialty items that aren’t typically stored at your home.

Nonessential and conditionally essential amino acids are made in your body, so you don’t necessarily need to eat them. You need essential amino acids in your daily diet because your body cannot make them. If you do not get essential amino acids in your diet, proteins break down, resulting in muscle loss and problems with repair. Knowing which foods provide all or some of the essential amino acids helps you make sure your body gets adequate amounts.

Where to Get Your Essential Aminos

Food protein containing all nine essential amino acids in adequate amounts is called a complete protein. When proteins are digested, the resulting amino acids are absorbed in the small intestine. However, in order for amino acids to be properly absorbed, sufficient vitamins B12 and C, chromium, and sleep are required. Whether you are a meat eater, vegan, or vegetarian, there are plenty of options to choose from to help satisfy your daily protein requirements. Take a look at the list below and see if you can find if one or more of these items will work for you.

• Complete Animal Proteins: Liver (chicken, pork, beef), goose, duck, turkey, chicken, lamb, pork, most fish, rabbit, eggs, milk, and cheese (cottage, gjetost, cream, Swiss, ricotta, limburger, gruyere, gouda, fontina, edam)
• Complete Plant Proteins: Spinach, some beans (black, cranberry, French, pink, white, winged, yellow), soy, split peas, chickpeas, chestnuts, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, avocado, potatoes, and quinoa
• Incomplete Plant Proteins: Rice (white and brown), white bread (including whole-wheat), pasta, some beans (adzuki, baked, kidney, lima, pinto, snap), peas, lentils, nuts (walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds, coconut), sunflower seeds, and kamut

These whole foods are the first things I direct my athletes to before I even begin talking about supplementation. I am a firm believer in eating food to fuel your body before you begin to supplement your diet with added proteins, aminos, and carbohydrates. However, most of us run at 88 mph all day long and fail to meet our daily nutritional requirements with just food, which makes nutritional supplements vital for our health.

Before you look to science to solve your problems, make sure your diet is in order.

The Roles of Individual Aminos

Now that we have a basic understanding of proteins and how we can support our daily requirements through food, let’s continue to funnel down to the differences within each of the three amino categories:

Essential Amino Acids

• Histidine: Found abundantly in hemoglobin; has been used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, allergic diseases, ulcers, and anemia.
• Isoleucine: Stimulates the brain to produce alertness.
• Leucine: Stimulates protein synthesis and storage, as well as promotes the healing of bones, skin, and muscles. It must be used in combination with I-valine and I-isoleucine.
• Lysine: Found in the muscle tissue; ensures the adequate absorption of calcium; helps form collagen; aids in the production of antibodies, hormones, and enzymes.
• Methionine: Natural chelating agent for heavy metals; a principle supplier of sulfur which prevents disorders of the hair, skin, and nails; promotes hair growth.
• Phenylalanine: Understood to perform as a pain reliever; used by the brain to produce norepinephrine, a chemical that transmits signals between nerve cells and the brain; helps maintain alertness; reduces hunger; acts as an antidepressant and helps improve memory.
• Threonine: Least abundant amino acid; essential in preventing fat buildup in the liver and assisting digestive and intestinal tracts to function more smoothly; assists metabolism and assimilation.
• Tryptophan: Natural relaxant; helps alleviate insomnia by inducing normal sleep; reduces anxiety and depression; and helps in the treatment of migraine headaches.
• Valine: Promotes mental vigor, muscle coordination, and calms emotions.

Now that we know what these essential amino acids do, how much do we need to take in order for them to be effective? Because the essential amino acids are the only ones that we need to actively consume, they are the only ones with daily consumption recommendations. Dr. David McAuley gives the following recommended daily intake for adults who are 19 years of age or older:

• 14 mg/kg/day of histidine
• 19 mg/kg/day of isoleucine
• 42 mg/kg/day of leucine
• 38 mg/kg/day of lysine
• 19 mg/kg/day of methionine + cysteine
• 33 mg/kg/day of phenylalanine + tyrosine
• 20 mg/kg/day of threonine
• 5 mg/kg/day of tryptophan
• 24 mg/kg/day of valine

Conditionally Essential Amino Acids

• Arginine: Improves immune responses to bacteria, viruses and tumor cells; promotes wound healing and regeneration of the liver; causes the release of growth hormones; considered crucial for optimal muscle growth and tissue repair; helps arthritis sufferers by stimulating the growth of new bone and tendon cells.
• Cysteine: Protects cells from the harmful effects of radiation; protects the liver and brain from damage due to alcohol and cigarette smoke.
• Glutamine: Works with glucose to provide the fuel the brain cells need to think clearly and help combat fatigue.
• Glycine: Helps trigger the release of oxygen for the cell-making process; important in the manufacturing of hormones responsible for a strong immune system.
• Proline: Essential for proper functioning of joints and tendons; helps maintain and strengthen heart muscles.
• Serine: Assists the storage of glucose in the liver and muscles; helps strengthen the immune system by providing antibodies; synthesizes fatty acid sheath around nerve fibers.
• Tyrosine: Transmits nerve impulses to the brain; helps overcome depression; improves memory; increases mental alertness; promotes the healthy functioning of the thyroid, adrenal, and pituitary glands.

Nonessential Amino Acids

• Alanine: Important source of energy for muscle tissue, the brain, and central nervous system; strengthens the immune system by producing antibodies; helps in the metabolism of sugars.
• Asparagine: Along with glutamine and serine, it is vital at the intracellular level for energy and smooth function of brain reactions; contributes to the formation of proteins, muscles, neurotransmitters, antibodies, and receptors; important transporter of nitrogen; foundation of carbohydrate metabolism; improves recovery after surgery or trauma by hastening wound healing.
• Aspartic Acid: Aids in the expulsion of harmful ammonia from the body. Recent studies have shown that aspartic acid may increase resistance to fatigue and increase endurance.
• Glutamic Acid: Improves mental capacities; helps speed the healing of ulcers; supports your digestive tract; helps control the craving for sugar.

Are You Getting Enough Aminos?

Due to the many uses and importance of these amino acids in our bodies, it’s imperative that we get enough. Deficiency is far more often the problem than excess aminos. In developing countries, protein deficiency is a huge medical issue with protein-energy malnutrition affecting 500 million people every year and killing 10 million of them. While it’s rare in developed countries, protein deficiency does affect the poor, and often occurs in those who are crash dieting to lose weight or in older adults, leading to conditions like osteoporosis. Those recovering from surgery, trauma, or illness can also be protein deficient if they don’t increase their dietary intake to match their increased needs. Our bodies use protein when we’re healing, so it’s important to eat lots of it when we’re sick or recovering.²

Protein deficiency is a far more common problem than we think, and many people suffer from less obvious effects. There are studies that have shown lower protein intake in certain minorities. Some biologists have argued that a very slight protein deficiency might actually explain some of the variance in academic performance between poor minority and richer majority students.³ Since so much of brain function is tied to proper nutrition and protein intake, it’s entirely possible that even small changes in protein consumption, like that of crash dieters, could have an impact on mood and cognition. A deficit in dietary protein for infants can have a marked effect on their intelligence as older children, especially for boys.⁴

The need for amino acids, or protein as a whole, cannot be overstated. With an increase in bodyweight, activity level, or with illness, your protein requirements increase. The standard equation for daily protein requirements is 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight, so keep that in mind when supplementing with proteins and aminos. The aminos that you do choose to supplement with need to be consumed between meals if you are choosing foods that are complete proteins. Most aminos have muscle-sparing, energizing, and motivational properties that are useful between meals. Even though a healthy diet rules out the need for any and all separate amino acids, they remain a useful, and healthy part of our industry.

Once you’ve nailed your protein intake, you’re only partway there:

Protein Is Only One Piece of the Nutritional Puzzle

References:

1. Reddy, M. K. (2015, December 18). Amino acid. Retrieved September 27, 2016.

2. Collins, N., & Shnitzer, A. (n.d.). How dietary protein intake promotes wound healing. Retrieved September 27, 2016.

3. Lovejoy JC, Champagne CM, Smith SR, de Jonge L, & Xie H (2001). Ethnic differences in dietary intakes, physical activity, and energy expenditure in middle-aged, premenopausal women: the Healthy Transitions Study. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 74 (1), 90-5 PMID: 11451722.

4. Lucas, Alan, Ruth Morley, and Tim J. Cole. “Randomised trial of early diet in preterm babies and later intelligence quotient.” British Medical Journal 317, no. 7171 (1998): 1481-1487.

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Normally, we get gelatin from cooked animal tissue. Bone broth (soup stock) is a great way to get it naturally. If you’ve ever cooked, then refrigerated a chicken and come back to find jiggly meat juice at the bottom of the pan – that’s gelatin.

Since gelatin is a protein, people commonly think it’s good for post-workout recovery, but that’s incorrect. Gelatin is high in the non-essential amino acids proline and glycine, and while those are good for building connective tissue, they’re not great at building muscle. For post-workout recovery, choose protein sources such as meat, eggs, and fish, which are rich in the branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), leucine, isoleucine, and valine. These BCAAs are critical for muscle protein synthesis.

While bone broth and soups are great, you may want to switch it up and include these gummies to supplement gelatin in your diet. Look for high-quality brands of gelatin powder such as Great Lakes, which derives the gelatin from grass-fed animals. This recipe is only slightly sweet, so you won’t want to eat the whole pan at once. As a supplement, the recommended serving of gelatin per day is about one tablespoon, so if you cut this recipe into sixteen servings, then four squares will get you there.

Strawberry Lemonade Gelatin Gummies

Ingredients:

• 1 pound (455 grams) strawberries
• 1 cup (240 mL) coconut water
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 Tablespoon (15 mL) lemon juice
• 1-½ Tablespoons (22 mL) honey, optional
• 4 Tablespoons (40 grams) high-quality gelatin powder
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) coconut oil

Directions:

1. Grease an 8″x8″ (20 cm x 20 cm) glass baking dish with coconut oil. You can really use any sort of pan you’d like, but if it’s larger, the gummies will be really thin.
2. Cut the green tops off the strawberries, then roughly chop the berries.
3. In a medium pot over medium-high heat, bring the strawberries with the coconut water to a boil. Then, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the berries soften and release their juice, about 10 minutes.
4. Carefully pour the mixture into a blender or food processor, and blend until it’s smooth. (Caution: Take care when using hot liquids in a blender!)
5. Pour the blended mixture back into the same pot you used earlier. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and honey (optional). Gently stir to combine.
6. Now it’s time to add the gelatin. If the fruit mixture is boiling hot, wait until it’s cooled down a bit. If the fruit mixture is only slightly warm, turn on the heat to low. One tablespoon at a time, slowly add the gelatin and whisk it constantly until it completely dissolves. Continue until all four tablespoons of gelatin have been dissolved.
7. This recipes makes an 8″x8″ (20 cm x 20 cm) pan. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and refrigerate at least two hours or until the gelatin is firm to the touch. Cut into squares as large or small as you’d like. Store covered in refrigerator for three to four days.

Photo courtesy of Steph Gaudreau and Stupid Easy Paleo.

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