New to BCAA's.

Mr Moley · 12-29-2008, 11:45 AM

Hey I'm new here. I'm Joel and I'm from the UK. I'm 16 years old and have been lifting for the past 11 months.

Just a simple question to start off...

How important are BCAA's?

Should i be taking them?

If so, what are some good tabs to get?

Thanks for all your help.

Joel

Nebraska1 · 12-29-2008, 01:33 PM

BCAA's (Branch Chain Amino Acids) are a building block of the body. Make up 35% of your muscle mass and must be present for growth. Proteins are made up of amino acids. More than 20 aminos are needed to build muscle and your body can only produce 10....so you gotta get them from somewhere bro !!

They are very important is you ask me . They basically MAKE MUSCLE to make this short and sweet !!

You can find them anywhere bro and most are the same. So just grab a bottle and call it good !!

Hope this helps ya out ...good luck

GRAVESY079 · 12-29-2008, 01:40 PM

If you see the powder form becareful most of it taste like crap, especially if it is unflavored.

The BCAA ratio is 2 : 1 : 1 for Leucine : Valine : Isoleucine

Nebraska1 · 12-29-2008, 01:42 PM

^^Cosign...try and stay away from the powder. They also have sugars and other crap in them to try and make them taste better

Mr Moley · 12-29-2008, 02:24 PM

Okay cool.

Cheers guys. Looks like ill pick myself up some tabs then.

stalion · 12-29-2008, 08:31 PM

i love my extend check it out bro

**T.O** · 12-30-2008, 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nebraska1

^^Cosign...try and stay away from the powder. They also have sugars and other crap in them to try and make them taste better

Try Xtend. Its a solid product and taste good

chrispghmuscle · 12-30-2008, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teamorbit

Try Xtend. Its a solid product and taste good

So if taken, you would dump Xtend in with your creatine and your Whey protein drink pre & post workout..

**allstar** · 12-30-2008, 11:46 AM

Don't mix creatine/bcaa with protein. I take Xtend intra and PWO, seems to work best for me.

**T.O** · 12-30-2008, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrispghmuscle

So if taken, you would dump Xtend in with your creatine and your Whey protein drink pre & post workout..

No. I normally have a protein shake and mix BCAA, cratine and Waxy to drink on the way to the gym. The only time I mix them all together is when I have fruit punch flavor protein

fbreijo · 12-31-2008, 03:21 PM

bcaas are the most important supp you can invest in, along with a good protein thats all you need to gain muscle, training without bcaa's in your system is like running a ferrari on regular gas,

**T.O** · 12-31-2008, 03:29 PM

^^^^ cosign one of the most important

chrispghmuscle · 12-31-2008, 05:25 PM

Thanks guys I know that bcaa's are important.. I have been taking them with my whey protein and my creatine.. pre & post workouts

GRAVESY079 · 12-31-2008, 06:17 PM

I take them morning/pre(i work out asap), post and bedtime.

FlashGordoN · 01-01-2009, 12:40 AM

i don't want to thread jack nor make another thread, but I just ordered Scivation Whey and it says that it is "loaded" with BCAA, do I still need to order some BCAA to mix it with my shake or am I good?

chrispghmuscle · 01-01-2009, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlashGordoN

i don't want to thread jack nor make another thread, but I just ordered Scivation Whey and it says that it is "loaded" with BCAA, do I still need to order some BCAA to mix it with my shake or am I good?

I use Optimum Nutrition Whey Gold Standard an it has BCAA's in it. I still use caps as well, from Optimum Nutrition. I believe ( could be wrong tho )the percentages are lower in Whey,, but you could check the bottles and compare them to see..

**allstar** · 01-01-2009, 07:44 AM

There are other protein types out there that naturally have more BCAAs than whey, as whey still has some BCAAs in them I still think you need a powder/pill with atleast a 2

1 ratio.

Mr Moley · 01-01-2009, 01:49 PM

I'm defiantly going to get some now.

What's the optimum time to take them?

Pre and post?

Morning and night?

chrispghmuscle · 01-01-2009, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Moley

I'm defiantly going to get some now.

What's the optimum time to take them?

Pre and post?

Morning and night?

It will say on the bottle when and how many to take

Mr Moley · 01-01-2009, 02:04 PM

Oh ok. Thanks everyone.

Onwards and upwards :)

Mr Moley · 01-26-2009, 11:11 AM

Ok i still havent got any....

im looking for the most tablets for the least money as im on a low budget :/ any help?

fbreijo · 01-26-2009, 07:22 PM

try a universal product called uniliver there desicated liver tablets, the bcaa content is thro the roof you can get a 250 count bottle for around $10. 4 with every meal, and 4 after training.

Grambo · 01-29-2009, 02:27 AM

It is best to use BCAA at a decent dose and in my thinking why swallow tons of pills when you can drink it so much easily. Xtend offers you everything you need as far as BCAA are a staple in my regimine.

Info courtesy of my research for a presentation:

Leucine Intensive Ttraining
Leucine supplementation and intensive training. [Sports Med. 1999] - PubMed Result

. No Performance but recovery and immune:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18974721?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez. Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.P ubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=5&log$=relatedreviews&l ogdbfrom=pubmed

BCAA Muscle Damage
Effects of branched-chain amino acid supplementati...[J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2000] - PubMed Result

Great Article with references

T-Nation.com | BCAA and Athletic Performance

**islander** · 01-29-2009, 02:40 AM

Also one thats a good read but not to difficult to understand.

http://www.bodybuildingdungeon.com/f...ino-acids.html

BIGZ · 01-29-2009, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrispghmuscle

So if taken, you would dump Xtend in with your creatine and your Whey protein drink pre & post workout..

love xtend....would depend on the flavor though as far as the dumping togehter.

Grape xtend plus Cookies and Cream protein =

Purple wraath is good too.

**islander** · 01-29-2009, 10:10 PM

i dunno what do you guys think hes only 16 does he need them? I bought some reading they are so great but realized with the food and shake combo I was getting more then enough. As some one else mentioned if you are taking any kind of protein shake they usually have quite a bit in them and if your eating a good diet you dont really need to supplement. Also If you are they are best absorbed on a empty stomach.

Grambo · 01-29-2009, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by islander

i dunno what do you guys think hes only 16 does he need them? I bought some reading they are so great but realized with the food and shake combo I was getting more then enough. As some one else mentioned if you are taking any kind of protein shake they usually have quite a bit in them and if your eating a good diet you dont really need to supplement. Also If you are they are best absorbed on a empty stomach.

I would say stick with food, but there is nothing wrong with BCAAs and teenagers. Better than gettign the newest exotic herb from the jungle of borneo that will give you 500000% more mass.

The trick about BCAA supplementation is how they are absorbed and using them during workout can help keep you anabolic. The amounts of BCAA in your diet should be high if you eat a lot of protein but there is good research behind the supplementation as you can get high amounts in a drink that would take A LOT of food to equal

Leuicine is an intergral part of protein translation which begins the process of protein synthesis and ultimately muscle building.

Ilikehooters · 02-02-2009, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allstar

Don't mix creatine/bcaa with protein. I take Xtend intra and PWO, seems to work best for me.

why not mix creatine with protein? I thought u wanted to spike insulin when takin creatine and the protein spikes it for your creatine...?

theCanister · 02-02-2009, 11:10 PM

Hey, BCAAs seem to be part of the core list of bb supplements nowadays. One common formula to know how much you need to take per day is .44g per kg of Lean Body Mass. Some people say you need less than that.

Taking .44g/kg can be quite expensive. If you do do this I suggest you see how many free form BCAAs are in your supplements. For example, Scivation Xtend has 7g per serving. Superpump250 does not say but the total proprietary formula is 20g or so. You'll have to guesstimate on supplements like these.

I know many whey protein powders say they have BCAAs in them. UNLESS it clearly says they were added to the whey DO NOT count them as part of your daily total. Those are not free form. Yes, whey protein does have a lot of BCAAs but they are bound together with peptide bonds, not free. Therefore they take a while to be digested vs. free form. The above formula is for free form and only free form.

A good way to divide the amount of BCAA is taking 4-8g grams pre/during workout and another 4-8g immediately post work out with your shake. The remainder just take at some other point during the day with food but no other extra free from aminos like glutamine. I like to take half my remainder right before bed and the other half immediately after waking up (with some whey protein and water).

EXAMPLE:

150 lb male @ 10% body fat

150 lb/2.2 = 68.2
(68.2kg) * .90 = 61.4kg

61.4 * .44g = 27g of BCAA

Our example body builder takes 1 scoop of Xtend per day so:
27g - 7g = 20g

He now only needs to add an extra 20g (in powder or pill form) of BCAAs to his supplement regimen. This is how our example may consume his BCAAs on a work out day:

Wake up: 6.5g (powder)
During WO: 7g (Xtend)
Post WO: 7g (powder)
Bedtime: 6.5g (powder)
TOTAL: 27g

Personally, I suggest using powder from a generic brand because it's cheaper than pill form. The powder taste like $%%^&**(*(@#$# though and is not water soluble at all, not even in a blender. To vastly improve the solubility add 0.5 to 1.0g of protein powder or some milk and it will magically dissolve the BCAAs. The protein powder won't get rid of the awful taste, the milk will help a bit though. Don't worry though, BCAAs like all good things in life e.g., whiskey and p00$y juice are an acquired taste. You'll develop a sweet tooth for them after a while.

Hope this helps.

**T.O** · 02-03-2009, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilikehooters

why not mix creatine with protein? I thought u wanted to spike insulin when takin creatine and the protein spikes it for your creatine...?

No, sugars like Dextrose will help spike insulin.