Simple answer, do BCAA's help during intraworkout fatigue?

[GeneticOverride]

Good evening, I've found myself getting tired towards the second half of my workouts, which is natural I guess...

Thinking about sipping on this Scivation Extend BCAA powder intraworkout...



Would it work?

[COUNTRYMIKE]

Absolutley!

[OT2000]

Fatigue is normal. Bcaas are not going to make a difference here. Sometimes it's a sign of lack of nutrition necessary for a good workout. What does you diet look like? Do you use a pre workout?

[danielmoo]

I think carbohydrates have much more of a (positive) impact on intra-workout fatigue.

[GeneticOverride]

Fatigue is normal. Bcaas are not going to make a difference here. Sometimes it's a sign of lack of nutrition necessary for a good workout. What does you diet look like? Do you use a pre workout?

Hey, thanks for the reply...My diet consists of a lot of chicken breasts along with eggs, rice, milk, blueberries, bananas, peanut butter, tomatoes, cereal and bread.

I also have a scoop of GAT Nitraflex as a pre workout.

[GeneticOverride]

I think carbohydrates have much more of a (positive) impact on intra-workout fatigue.

Thanks for the reply..

I usually wake up and have a light meal a couple hours before hitting the gym...Should I UP the carbs during this meal? Or focus on a lot of carbs throughout the day moreso

[danielmoo]

Thanks for the reply..

I usually wake up and have a light meal a couple hours before hitting the gym...Should I UP the carbs during this meal? Or focus on a lot of carbs throughout the day moreso

That's fine, no need to change that up if you prefer it that way. However, I believe that carbohydrates are best utilized peri-workout.. meaning before, during, and after your workout.

[TheFugitive]

They make a huge difference, especially in a fasted state. Train with and without and report back

[BrennanMWhite]

Maybe a little.



Sources: https://examine.com/supplements/bran...n-amino-acids/

I think carbohydrates have much more of a (positive) impact on intra-workout fatigue.

^ This. For me personally, I like one scoop of whey + one scoop of plasma blast intra-workout.

Edit: Plasma Blast link -> https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/h...sma-blast.html

[OT2000]

Hey, thanks for the reply...My diet consists of a lot of chicken breasts along with eggs, rice, milk, blueberries, bananas, peanut butter, tomatoes, cereal and bread.

I also have a scoop of GAT Nitraflex as a pre workout.

Are you hitting your daily macro needs? Diet seems fine. Fat may be a bit low which can lower T. Carbohydrates as Daniel suggested can make a difference intra versus BCAA especially considering bcaas lack the ability to be used as an energy source.

[fatboystick]

Good evening, I've found myself getting tired towards the second half of my workouts, which is natural I guess...

Thinking about sipping on this Scivation Extend BCAA powder intraworkout...



Would it work?

In my many years of experience...Yes.

[TheFugitive]

In my many years of experience...Yes.

OP, me and FBS have been at this for quite sometime, give em a shot

[NoCarbsNoSugar]

If you ARE going to get the XTend, which I like very much, give XTend Go a try, for an extra shot of energy. XTend Perform will also work great, with the added Peak02 in there.

Having said that, if you are feeling too weak during your workout, it may be that you are not eating enough calories before your workout.

[TheFugitive]

Great read

http://www.hchs.edu/literature/BCAA.pdf

[wonderboyWR]

YES. try yourself and be the judge

[kissdadookie]

Fatigue is normal. Bcaas are not going to make a difference here. Sometimes it's a sign of lack of nutrition necessary for a good workout. What does you diet look like? Do you use a pre workout?

^ That. BCAAs are not good as substrate for glucose (the body's natural preference for fuel). Carbs would have a more positive impact on fatigue as danielmoo has mentioned.

[Misctake7]

That's fine, no need to change that up if you prefer it that way. However, I believe that carbohydrates are best utilized peri-workout.. meaning before, during, and after your workout.

I'm with Moo on this. Big advocate to carbs peri workout for the performance boost.

[TheFugitive]

Exercise and BCAA’s

Six amino acids are taken into muscle tissue for energy
including Alanine aspartate, glutamate, and the
BCAA’s. While the BCAA’s have the greatest metabolic
potential for energy use in muscle.
Muscle tissue has 60% of the specific enzymes needed
for oxidation (burning) of amino acids for energy,
specifically BCAA’s. In essence muscle is designed to
burn BCAA amino acids for energy. During exercise
the body uses BCAA’s as energy. The longer and
harder the workout the more BCAA’s are used in
muscle for energy. It is estimated 3% to 18% of all
workout energy is provided by the BCAA’s, while some
consider this to be conservative the duration and
intensity levels can indicate greater or lesser amount of
usage.

[fbcpastormk]

I always use bcaa's intra-workout. Over the past 2 months I have added a carbohydrate supplement to my bcaa's. This seems to have made a big difference for me.

[kissdadookie]

Exercise and BCAA�s

Six amino acids are taken into muscle tissue for energy
including Alanine aspartate, glutamate, and the
BCAA�s. While the BCAA�s have the greatest metabolic
potential for energy use in muscle.
Muscle tissue has 60% of the specific enzymes needed
for oxidation (burning) of amino acids for energy,
specifically BCAA�s. In essence muscle is designed to
burn BCAA amino acids for energy. During exercise
the body uses BCAA�s as energy. The longer and
harder the workout the more BCAA�s are used in
muscle for energy. It is estimated 3% to 18% of all
workout energy is provided by the BCAA�s, while some
consider this to be conservative the duration and
intensity levels can indicate greater or lesser amount of
usage.

That's why you use carbs. It's the body's preferred source of energy. Not to mention that carbs will upregulste insulin which in and of itself is muscle protein sparing. Gluconeogenesis of aminos acids is actually very inefficient.

[lucia316]

OP are you working out intensely longer than 2 hours? If so, then maybe some carbs. If you're meeting your macro daily your body has plenty of amino acids floating around to use and if you've eaten food in the last 24 hours and in between your last workout you'll likely have plenty of glycogen to support your workout.

Taking 3 free-form amino acids isn't going to magically give you more energy or delay fatigue. Fatigue is due to work and draining of nutrients. Because no one lifting/training/etc fasts for more than 24 hours while doing these things there should not be an issue.

You're fatigued because you worked hard or due to your overall diet. Focus there.

[TheFugitive]

That's why you use carbs. It's the body's preferred source of energy. Not to mention that carbs will upregulste insulin which in and of itself is muscle protein sparing. Gluconeogenesis of aminos acids is actually very inefficient.

Did you read the entire article?

[AMeyer9]

Did you read the entire article?

I bet by the end of the article carbs are still superior

[Jammer02xd]

I'm with Moo on this. Big advocate to carbs peri workout for the performance boost.

Agree with this. I always have to have carbs before a workout, usually in the form of a banana and a protein bar. After the workout if it was a long one, I have a bottle of soda and something with tons of protein. Love having fast acting carbs directly following a workout.

[OT2000]

I bet by the end of the article carbs are still superior

And was proven by science. Not to mention lacking the environment to even use bcaas intra. But who cares about actual science

http://m.jn.nutrition.org/content/13...91S.full#ref-6

http://m.ajpendo.physiology.org/cont...0/6/E883.short

[kissdadookie]

Did you read the entire article?

Yes, allow me to quote it:

"The effect of BCAA’s as energy is approximately 3-18% and possibly more depending on duration and or intensity of the workout."

If you have glucose in circulation, your body would not need to resort to muscle protein breakdown in order to free up amino acids to have them go through gluconeogenesis. The article in no way, shape, or form suggests or implies that BCAAs are good efficient substrate to be used for energy to counter exercise fatigue.

Let me quote something else from the article:

"First, the loss of ATP or cellular energy occurs with the loss of stored glucose in the form of glycogen. ATP levels are maintained by BCAA’s degradation and fatty acid utilization after glycogen depletion."

The article states the same exact thing I've just stated. BCAAs are a poor substitute for carbs. Period. That's why periworkout carbs is the last place you would pull carbs from even if you're cutting.

To further explain why pre and intra workout carbs are important: the intake of these carbs will have them be utilized first since they are already in circulation which in turn would spare muscle glycogen. There's a misconception that you only need carbs to replenish the muscle glycogen you used up and that they are somehow unnecessary if you haven't depleted muscle glycogen yet. We're trying to build muscle so our priority is to illicit MPS whilst also combating muscle breakdown. Depleting glycogen stores in muscle is part of muscle breakdown. So one of the ideas here is to keep glycogen stores in muscles full and thus timing carbs intake so that they are available DURING the training (so they are used literally for energy/fuel, not to replenish depleted glycogen stores). BCAAs are more useful for stimulating mTOR. Now for amino acids, BCAAs alone are not as beneficial as EAAs with an adequate amount of leucine. Why? Because BCAAs alone are not capable of laying down new muscle through MPS due to the lack of the other EAAs. You need the full spectrum of EAAs to actually build muscle.

[BrennanMWhite]

Yes, allow me to quote it:

"The effect of BCAA’s as energy is approximately 3-18% and possibly more depending on duration and or intensity of the workout."

If you have glucose in circulation, your body would not need to resort to muscle protein breakdown in order to free up amino acids to have them go through gluconeogenesis. The article in no way, shape, or form suggests or implies that BCAAs are good efficient substrate to be used for energy to counter exercise fatigue.

Let me quote something else from the article:

"First, the loss of ATP or cellular energy occurs with the loss of stored glucose in the form of glycogen. ATP levels are maintained by BCAA’s degradation and fatty acid utilization after glycogen depletion."

The article states the same exact thing I've just stated. BCAAs are a poor substitute for carbs. Period. That's why periworkout carbs is the last place you would pull carbs from even if you're cutting.

To further explain why pre and intra workout carbs are important: the intake of these carbs will have them be utilized first since they are already in circulation which in turn would spare muscle glycogen. There's a misconception that you only need carbs to replenish the muscle glycogen you used up and that they are somehow unnecessary if you haven't depleted muscle glycogen yet. We're trying to build muscle so our priority is to illicit MPS whilst also combating muscle breakdown. Depleting glycogen stores in muscle is part of muscle breakdown. So one of the ideas here is to keep glycogen stores in muscles full and thus timing carbs intake so that they are available DURING the training (so they are used literally for energy/fuel, not to replenish depleted glycogen stores). BCAAs are more useful for stimulating mTOR. Now for amino acids, BCAAs alone are not as beneficial as EAAs with an adequate amount of leucine. Why? Because BCAAs alone are not capable of laying down new muscle through MPS due to the lack of the other EAAs. You need the full spectrum of EAAs to actually build muscle.

^ This. The article literally says that glucose is preferred to BCAAs, and the benefits associated with BCAAs are only in the absence of glucose.

[Bigdumogre]

I bet by the end of the article carbs are still superior

But carbs make you fat
Dr. Atkins says so

[TheFugitive]

Yes, allow me to quote it:

"The effect of BCAA’s as energy is approximately 3-18% and possibly more depending on duration and or intensity of the workout."

If you have glucose in circulation, your body would not need to resort to muscle protein breakdown in order to free up amino acids to have them go through gluconeogenesis. The article in no way, shape, or form suggests or implies that BCAAs are good efficient substrate to be used for energy to counter exercise fatigue.

Let me quote something else from the article:

"First, the loss of ATP or cellular energy occurs with the loss of stored glucose in the form of glycogen. ATP levels are maintained by BCAA’s degradation and fatty acid utilization after glycogen depletion."

The article states the same exact thing I've just stated. BCAAs are a poor substitute for carbs. Period. That's why periworkout carbs is the last place you would pull carbs from even if you're cutting.

To further explain why pre and intra workout carbs are important: the intake of these carbs will have them be utilized first since they are already in circulation which in turn would spare muscle glycogen. There's a misconception that you only need carbs to replenish the muscle glycogen you used up and that they are somehow unnecessary if you haven't depleted muscle glycogen yet. We're trying to build muscle so our priority is to illicit MPS whilst also combating muscle breakdown. Depleting glycogen stores in muscle is part of muscle breakdown. So one of the ideas here is to keep glycogen stores in muscles full and thus timing carbs intake so that they are available DURING the training (so they are used literally for energy/fuel, not to replenish depleted glycogen stores). BCAAs are more useful for stimulating mTOR. Now for amino acids, BCAAs alone are not as beneficial as EAAs with an adequate amount of leucine. Why? Because BCAAs alone are not capable of laying down new muscle through MPS due to the lack of the other EAAs. You need the full spectrum of EAAs to actually build muscle.

The thread is about BCAA's, let's focus on the question not an alternative

[unsensible]

I think it's fine to take BCAAs if you're on a cut and not interested in taking in extra carbs / calories from a carb supplement. They'll at least help a little when it comes to a small amount of energy and prevention of muscle breakdown. But yeah, it's not magic and if you're fatiguing it might better to take in the extra carbs.