Leucine "experiment"

[dbjbcbab]

I've been looking into leucine lately and the literature shows that when it is consumed at a dose of 2.5g - 3g in one go it stimulates muscle protein synthesis. This normally runs for a couple of hours and tails off (they think because of the energy consumption of MPS means ATP is depleted). As this point even if you dose with leucine again it won't stimulate MPS till there ATP has recovered a bit. Thus somewhere between 3 and 5 hours seems to be the minimum effective interval between dosing leucine, shorter than this and it's ineffective.

Of course you get the required amount of leucine from most meals that contain more than about 30g of a high protein source but I started taking a dose of leucine roughly every 3 to 4 hours about 3 weeks ago. Lifts are still going up, hard to say at this point if there's a significant difference in muscle mass but I do feel more pumped. The thing that is noticible is that it's like I've been on a cut. I'm getting leaner and I'm actually upping my calories as I want to bulk at the moment. I think the mechanism here is that because MPS takes a fair bit of energy I'm burning more calories to make this happen but the leucine has an anti catabolic effect so spares the muscle.

I'm going to keep taking it as I'm doing and see how I get on over the next couple of months but just wondering if anyone else has had any similar experiences or has any thoughts?

[SuffolkPunch]

I think as long as you get about 4 widely spaced protein feedings, you don't need to worry about leucine in isolation. You could go to 5 but I'm very sceptical it would make any difference at all. Certainly don't disrupt your sleep quality to try following such a regime.

breakfast, lunch, dinner, pre-bed snack - these are the times I choose, about 5 hours apart.

[mtpaquette]

1. Overall diet and training dictate your results. As long as you don't go full out dirty bulk you should be experiencing the effects you mentioned regardless.
2. The effects, if at all, would be so minuscule the average gym goer would never notice any difference.
3. Strength gains are more neurological than due to increase in mass via rate coding and etc. etc.
4. I've done any where from 1 meal to 6 meals a day. If my caloric surplus/deficits were compared I never would have known a difference, and I actually prefer 2 meals a day to anything else. Personal preference.



5. Most importantly if you like it and feel like you're getting a benefit keep doing what you're doing. However, don't contribute the 0.00001% increase you may be getting from it for all your recent gains and down play your diet and training.

[x-trainer ben]

I've been looking into leucine lately and the literature shows that when it is consumed at a dose of 2.5g - 3g in one go it stimulates muscle protein synthesis. This normally runs for a couple of hours and tails off (they think because of the energy consumption of MPS means ATP is depleted). As this point even if you dose with leucine again it won't stimulate MPS till there ATP has recovered a bit. Thus somewhere between 3 and 5 hours seems to be the minimum effective interval between dosing leucine, shorter than this and it's ineffective.

Of course you get the required amount of leucine from most meals that contain more than about 30g of a high protein source but I started taking a dose of leucine roughly every 3 to 4 hours about 3 weeks ago. Lifts are still going up, hard to say at this point if there's a significant difference in muscle mass but I do feel more pumped. The thing that is noticible is that it's like I've been on a cut. I'm getting leaner and I'm actually upping my calories as I want to bulk at the moment. I think the mechanism here is that because MPS takes a fair bit of energy I'm burning more calories to make this happen but the leucine has an anti catabolic effect so spares the muscle.

I'm going to keep taking it as I'm doing and see how I get on over the next couple of months but just wondering if anyone else has had any similar experiences or has any thoughts?

When i run experiments like you are on myself i try to control for all other variables. That way i am pretty sure that it is the "new thing" that i have introduced that is making the changes that i see and feel.
Can i ask what brand you are using and how you take it( water/juice)?

[dbjbcbab]

I just showel it in my mouth on a spoon, don't breathe in as it's very light and will go into your lungs, and then chug it with a glass of water. Takes a bit of getting used to but no issues now. I get it from myprotein

Yeah, nothing else has really changed so that's why I suspect it's the leucine

[dbjbcbab]

Was listening to an interview with Dorian Yates earlier where he talked about how he ate every two and a half hours or so when he was training (I'm assuming not when he was sleeping!). I'd imagine that each of these meals would have been protien heavy so likely they would hit the 2.5g to 3g of leucine threshold to stimulate MPS and thus would have a high level of MPS all day. Just wonder if supplemented with leucine gives a similar advantage even when not eating that regularly but eating enough protein during the day to ensure you have the amino acids in your blood stream to feed MPS when it is triggered?

[SuffolkPunch]

Things are different when using the raft of drugs that he was using. That's the most we can say about that - banned topic for this forum.

[dbjbcbab]

What like vitamin C and stuff...?

[x-trainer ben]

What like vitamin C and stuff...?

oids

hemorrhoids

[dbjbcbab]

oids

hemorrhoids

What...??? I thought all bodybuilders were natural #shockedface!

[Vassilis30]

Leucine may trigger protein synthesis via mTor pathway, but you'll need to feed it raw protein to actual make hypertrophy happen(+ a calorie surplus)

[evankyle]

Was listening to an interview with Dorian Yates earlier where he talked about how he ate every two and a half hours or so when he was training (I'm assuming not when he was sleeping!). I'd imagine that each of these meals would have been protien heavy so likely they would hit the 2.5g to 3g of leucine threshold to stimulate MPS and thus would have a high level of MPS all day. Just wonder if supplemented with leucine gives a similar advantage even when not eating that regularly but eating enough protein during the day to ensure you have the amino acids in your blood stream to feed MPS when it is triggered?

comparing your diet to that of Dorian Yates is nonsense. Unless you are near his level.