A quick plank on BCAA

Have you ever been to gym and got wondered by seeing people drinking colourful multi colour flavoured drinks in their shakers.

Below are some misconceptions that people (mainly rookies) have fo`r BCCAs.

1. BCAAs are like glucose drink, instead of spending this much amount on BCAA supplements let’s buy a cheap glucose powder.
2. BCAAs helps in increasing stamina, if you’re lifting x pounds of weight after consuming BCAAs you will be able to lift 2x pounds of weight.
3. BCAAs are useless and they don’t have any impact, brands are creating and publicising these fancy coloured drinks by getting them advertised by elite body builders to attract newbies

Gibberish. Relax, these are just myths created by some gym bros and uneducated fitness trainers. Their major earnings are driven through selling fake supplements. By doing this they create unrealistic bodybuilding expectations among rookies.

Fit is not a destination it is a way of life.

It takes a lot of sacrifice, hard work, patience, lifestyle changes, to build a great physique.

Moving on to the fancy term BCAA.
BCAAs stands for Branch Chain Amino Acids. Big word alert Amino Acids. Let’s understand Amino Acids first.

Amino acids are organic compounds that combine to form proteins. Amino acids and proteins are the building blocks of life. There are 20 common Amino Acids and they are furthermore classified into essentials and non essentials amino acids.

Non Essential Amino acids

• Non essential amino acids are those amino acids which can be produced by our body.
• Some common non essential amino acids are alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine, and tyrosine.

Essential Amino acids

• Essential amino acids cannot be produced by our body and therefore we can get them only from diet or supplements.
• The 9 essential amino acid includes histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.

Branch Chain Amnio Acids(BCAA) are essential amino acids which means we can only get through diet or supplements. BCCA comprises 3 essential amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine present in 2:1:1 ratio which constitute around 35% of your body’s muscle protein. Like other amino acids they are the building blocks of protein.

Importance of BCAAs

BCAAs are highly recommended for both highly trained athletes and everyday fitness enthusiasts, they help to rebuild and grow new muscle tissues along with preventing muscle breakdown. BCAAs are mostly broken down in the muscle, rather than in the liver to play a role in energy production during exercise.

Leucine is one of the main amino acid in BCAA, it acts a star player in stimulating and triggering protein synthesis just like an initial spark plug in engine and thus further allowing the body to build more muscle.

Isoleucine and Valine are more effective at producing energy and regulating your blood sugar levels.

Natural Diet or Supplementation

BCAAs are present in a good amount in Salmon, Chicken, Beef, Trout, Cottage cheese, etc.

If these high protein natural food sources are easily available and consumable for you then you don’t need any BCCA supplement . But if it’s not easy for you to have most of them then you can have BCAA supplements.

That’s the main reason why people generally go for BCAA supplements, especially it’s a must for people who only prefer vegetarian or vegan food and moreover supplements are easily available and consumable as well.
A nutritional study research shows that 80% of the vegetarian food sources doesn’t contain leucine which is main amino acid in BCAA.

BCAA Dosage

A World Health Organisation (WHO) report from 1985 states that the average adult should consume a minimum of 65 mg of BCAAs per pound (144 mg/kg) of body weight regularly.

However, the daily requirement may be slightly higher for athletes and fitness enthusiastic and according to a more recent research, daily intakes of 5 - 12 grams of BCAAs are probably sufficient for most people, Athletes and gym goers may get more benefits by consuming 10–20 grams of BCAAs per day.

For people consuming protein rich food on a regular basis doesn’t need BCAA supplements, their requirements can be easily met by their diet.

Adequate consumption timings

The most crucial time to take BCAA supplements is during your workouts, you can either consume them before and after your workouts, or you can consume them in between your workout session most of the gym enthusiasts do. Moreover, if you are doing a fasted training then you will be astonished to see the effects.

Conclusion

1. BCCAs are a group of 3 essential amino acids: leucine, isoleucine and valine present in 2:1:1 ratio. BCAAs are imperative for fitness enthusiasts as they prevent muscle breakdown and helps in growing and rebuilding muscle tissues thus enhancing the overall muscle growth.
2. BCAAs can be found in large variety of protein-rich foods as well as in supplements form.Therefore, taking BCAA supplements may not be necessary if you get sufficient amounts of them through good diet or a protein supplement.
3. Daily intake of 5–12 grams BCAAs are probably ample for most people however by increasing the consumption to 10–20 grams it can act as a cherry on cake for fitness freaks.

What’s next?

There are many more topics we need to discuss in detail, follow me and keep an eye on this place. In the next few posts I will be writing in detail about the following topics:

• Creatine, Yes or No?
• Are you drinking water correctly?
• Learn about compound exercises.

Please share your thoughts about this article in the comment section or share it on twitter and don’t forget to follow me on Medium.

Thanks for reading 😊 Cheers, keep learning and sharing 😊.