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The Importance of Branch Chain Amino Acids While Dieting
A Key Supplement for Getting Lean and Gaining Muscle

What are Branch Chain Amino Acids?
Branch Chain Amino Acids are the "Building Blocks" of the body. They make up about 35% of your muscle mass and must be present for molecular growth and development to take place. There are 22 total amino acids which are divided into two groups, essential amino acids (which can not be manufactured by the body) and Non-essential amino acids (which can be made by the body). For the main concern of this article I will be speaking about the Branch Chain Amino acids or BCAA’s as they are referred to. The branched chain amino acids are Valine, Leucine, and Iso-leucine. The BCAA’s make up approximately 1/3 of muscle protein. BCAA's reduce muscle fatigue, speed recovery, decrease the loss of other amino acids from muscle during exercise and help the body absorb protein. A deficiency in any one of these Aminos will cause muscle loss. Unlike other amino acids, BCAA's are made in the muscle and not the liver.

What do BCAA’s do?
Whenever we lift a weight we cause damage to the muscles. Since BCAA make up about 1/3 of the muscle proteins, we can only conclude that when we exercise we break down these BCAA. We get out BCAA’s through diet but extra supplementation may be necessary. When our body senses BCAA in our blood stream it stops the breakdown of muscle and switches the body into grow mode! BCAA’s tell our body that we have significant amount of amino acids in order to build or maintain muscle, stop breaking down other muscle tissues. By taking a BCAA supplement prior to and immediately after exercise we give our muscles plenty of branch chain amino acids to use thus sparring addition muscle tissue from being broken down.

Why is this important if you are trying to lose weight?
Branch Chain Amino Acids are definitely a must when it comes to losing weight. They help to retain muscle mass which in turn leads to a greater decrease in muscle loss. The more muscle our bodies have the faster our metabolism will be. So if we maintain or even gain muscle we increase our resting metabolism which will lead to a greater fat burning capability.

Do BCAA provide any other benefit?
Sure, studies have shown that they help to stimulate protein synthesis (help the body make new proteins), decrease fatigue, helps to form other amino acids, and help to increase energy. Along with all the benefits I have listed it also has been known to reduce hunger while dieting due to the amino acid leucine. Leucine triggers insulin in your body causing your body to think it is satisfied and not hungry!

How to take BCAA’s? Which product do you recommend?
You can take BCAA many ways. It mainly depends on your goals. When mass building I suggest taking 5g in the morning as soon as you wake up, 5g PreWorkout, 5g During Workout, 10g Postworkout and 5g before bed. When on a more calorie restricted diet I suggest spacing them out throughout the day (view a sample of my day below)

Here is how I recommend taking your BCAA’s while on a lower calorie diet:

6am Wake up
5g BCAA with breakfast

9am
5g BCAA

11:30am PreWorkout Meal
5g BCAA

1:30-2pm
10g BCAA with post workout meal

3:30pm5g BCAA

5pm
Meal 4

8pm
5g BCAA

9-10pm
Meal 5

12am before bed
5g BCAA

3am
Meal 6 with 5g BCAA

6am repeat cycle

Any type of BCAA product is fine as long as it has a 2:1:1 ratio of Branched Chain Amino Acids (L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine and L-Valine). The BCAA product I recommend is Scivation’s Xtend. Along with having the proper ratio of BCAA it also includes Glutamine, Citrulline Malate, and Vitamin B6 that will give you the energy you need to maximize your training while enhancing recovery at the same time.

Here is a link for the Xtend: http://www.scivation.com/scivation_xtend.htm