BCAA's question

mdfanatic

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I have a question for those "in the know". If you're doing a 5 day a week workout consisting of cardio, bodyweight exercises, and occasionally weight work outs, should you be taking a BCAA? And if so, what about on the days you don't work out?
 
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I have a question for those "in the know". If you're doing a 5 day a week workout consisting of cardio, bodyweight exercises, and occasionally weight work outs, should you be taking a BCAA? And if so, what about on the days you don't work out?

Im not in the know but What is your reason for taking the bcaa ? To aid in recovery or are you on a restrictive diet and want to retain muscle ? I think if your eating a clean and healthy diet consisting of animal proteins , you should be getting enough through that.


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I typically have protein and a pre-workout on hand. I take glucosamine if I remember.

BCAAs are really important for recovery when you're hitting it hard. I tend to treat them more like a luxury though. As in, if I have extra money for supplements. The BCAA intra-workout drink mixes are really nice for long days of hiking. They typically have a much lower content of stimulants and vasodilators than a typical pre-workout. But still enough to keep your energy up.

My third tier supplements are COQ10 and fish/krill oil. I don't have any of either at the moment but I take them somewhat regularly.
 
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mdfanatic

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Retain muscle while being on a very lean/clean diet. Maybe I'm getting enough of everything, maybe not - I'm not a nutritionist and was almost thinking of it as a precautionary. Plus some of them contain caffeine and could act as a pre-workout before morning cardio before work.
 

Idahohillboy

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Take bccas if your working out empty or on a restrictive diet. I carb cycle and on my zero carb days I drink aminos to help my brain function.

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Jordan Budd

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I take them to help speed up on muscle recovery and they are also suppose to help with muscle soreness. I drink some every morning then during my workout I go with some that have electrolytes. I've really been liking the Warrior Fuel products for taste and how I feel. I'm no scientist on this stuff, I just know it makes me feel better. I'll see if I can get Robby to hop in this one.
 

robby denning

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Hi,
you know what 27 years in the fitness industry has taught me? That very very few people eat as clean as they think and there is a lot of room for improvement in that category before going all-in on supplements. My bent is that supplements should be "supplements" to a good diet and training program. Few people are doing the diet and training well enough to really be helped by most supplements.

I have a little knowledge about Branched Chain Amino Acids and I'd say if you're eating 50:20-30:20-30 carbs: protein:fat (from whole food sources mostly) and money's tight, I wouldn't worry about the BCAA.

Hunter's aren't bodybuilders and most don't need to worry too much about losing muscle during dieting IF they're doing resistance training 3-6 days per week. Hunters need function, endurance, strength, and by default, need to maintain a decent weight. Muscle mass isn't all that important in my experience.

If you're eating more than 5-10% of calories from crap, lots of refined carbs and high fat (35% +) /low protien (less than about 20%), spend your money on good food, and a trainer to keep you accountable and of course train consistently year-round 3-6 days per week.

If you're doing all that right, and the money's there, I'd recommend the BCAAs.

I'm also big on trustworthy testimonials from those who've tried the products and I see a few above that are recommending them, so I'd feel good about that.

Les?
 

Daniel_M

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BCAA's are beneficial if you're cutting weight, they maximize lean body mass retention.

I've been using this... I've dropped 21# as of this morning, though I attribute most of that to a clean diet.
 

bates

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I added them to the mix recently as i am in the middle of training for a sheep hunt.

I bought these as they also have caffeine and have replaced my morning coffee, saving me some cash and calories

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I added them to the mix recently as i am in the middle of training for a sheep hunt.

I bought these as they also have caffeine and have replaced my morning coffee, saving me some cash and calories

Shop — Purbolics

Interesting concept, I may have to give the +Energy a try instead of reaching for the 2pm coffee in the afternoon sometimes.
 

Poser

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Despite how much effort most people think they put into their training, very few "average joes" will benefit enough from supplemented BCAAs to justify the expense, *especially* if you are consuming game
Meat regularly as it tends to be high in BCAAs. BCAA supplements apply more to hypertrophy training where there is significant muscle "damage" done during sessions with the goal of mass. If you are doing relatively low volume, progressive strength training and, especially if you are just doing bodyweight and/or endurance type training, you're not inflicting the kind of muscle damage to warrant a supplement, even if you are sore after workouts. It's not going to speed up your recovery to any measurable extent in relation to the amount of training volume an average joe should be doing (job, family, stress factors) and it definitely won't help you lose weight.

Creatine is really the only practical muscle supplement on the market and that should only apply to people doing progressive strength training. If you're not using barbells and adding weight to the bar on some type of day to day, week to week, or month to month basis, then It's a waste of money as well.


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les welch

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Holy crap this can get complex. Pretty much everyone here is right. There is also not a lot of provens when it comes to BCAA's. If you are working out like this I assume you are using something like MAGNUM – MTN OPS right? If so this has 5g of BCAA's. Most of us on this forum are also consumer's of our harvests, which is also contributing to your BCAA count.

In short if you are hitting your macro's you don't have much to worry about. That said it probably will provide some benefit if you have the little extra money to spend. If you go here CAM HANES KEEP HAMMERING BCAA 2:1:1 – MTN OPS and use code "FATKID" you'll save 20%.
 
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