PointBlank Nutrition

You’ve been putting your body and your free weights through the mill, chugging whey protein shakes and eating clean for sometime now-and results are starting to show. So you may be asking: “is there anything else I can do to speed up my training results?”

The short answer is yes. According to assorted research, BCAAs can provide you with extra zip during your workout, fight mental sluggishness while you exercise and spare your muscles from being used for fuel.

Additionally, BCAAs can promote faster recovery from your workouts, which translates into faster improvements to your body.

So, what exactly are BCAAs?

Branched-chain amino acids refer collectively to leucine, isoleucine and valine- three of the eight essential amino acids (there are 20 to 22 amino acids in all, the number varies slightly depending on the authority) involved in numerous processes of the body. During exercise, levels of these three amino acids fall, which may make you, want to bail from your workouts soon. Because what you want the most at this point is more energy to continue training, your body will basically seek out the most readily available source of energy: your muscle, the very thing you are trying to develop, grow and shape. And that’s just not a good thing!

So what do you do? Think BCAAs, if you take them right before (and after) your workout, you’ll go a long way toward providing your body with the fuel it needs so that your body doesn’t go dipping into your precious muscle for it. The magic wrought by BCAAs has to do with the fact that these three amino acids are directly metabolized in your muscle, unlike most other aminos you ingest , which have to pass through the liver. By getting shunted directly to your muscle tissue, BCAAs act like standby fuel; either for your workouts or for muscle growth and recovery when you’re resting.