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October 27, 2017

What is all of the Hype about BCAAs?

Nutrition First
It seems that BCAAs, or Branch Chain Amino Acids, have been all the rage lately in the supplement world. It is a very highly marketed product these days. While BCAAs are a great product, and can benefit you when used in certain instances, they are not the most important supplement when it comes to results and recovery. In fact, supplements are just that. Supplemental to your nutrition to help you fill any voids that you might have in your diet.

It is most important  to make sure that your diet is on point to help with your results in the gym and your recovery. You need to first make sure that you are getting the appropriate macronutrients in your diet and taking a multivitamin to ensure that your micronutrients are being met as well. Getting a daily dose of fish oil is also high on that list of getting your proper nutrition. You need to make sure you have a strong foundation with your diet in order to get the best results to build a healthy body. After your nutrition needs have been met, then we can talk about adding in supplements to help you reach your goals.

Of all of the supplements, having proper post-workout nutrition is going to play the most vital role in your muscle building and fat loss goals and aiding in your recovery. Consuming a whey protein, which naturally contains BCAAs, is going to be your best recovery tool. But we will talk more about post-workout in depth later. Once your diet is on point with your macros, your micros, all of your daily vitamins and minerals met, and you are properly consuming your post-workout nutrition, then we can start adding in other supplements according to how you train and your fitness goals.

Amino Acids
There are many supplements that you can add in to your diet to help you reach your goals, but for now, let's focus on amino acids. What are amino acids? I will break it down for you.

  • Muscle is made of protein.
  • Amino acids are the building blocks of protein.
  • There are 22 amino acids.
  • It takes all 22 to build muscle.
  • 1 gram of protein contains all 22 amino acids.
  • 9-10 of the amino acids are essential amino acids.
  • The rest are semi-essential or non-essential.
  • Your body cannot make essential amino acids.
  • Essential amino acids need to be consumed within your diet.
  • 3 of the essential amino acids are branch chain amino acids, or BCAAs.
  • The 3 BCAAs are Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine.

BCAAs
So what makes BCAAs so important? BCAAs seem to be heavily marketed these days, and a lot of people are taking them, but do you know why or what they do? The 3 BCAAs are what help kick start the muscle protein synthesis. This is what helps you get into an anabolic state, or muscle building state. A popular time to take BCAAs is during your workout to stop some muscle breakdown and help with recovery and fuel you during your workout. You can also use before your workout. You want to make sure that your BCAAs contain at least 5 grams of BCAAs per serving, including at least 3 grams of Leucine, in order for it to be effective. 1st Phorm's BCAAs contain 7.5 grams of BCAAs per serving with 3.5 grams of Leucine.

There is a time and a place for BCAAs. I would most recommend you take BCAAs when your diet is in a caloric deficit, if you are dieting to cut weight for a show, or if fat loss is your goal. BCAAs are also recommended to supplement in a plant based diet to help you get enough BCAAs without over eating carbohydrates. You might not be getting enough of the essential amino acids, specifically the branch chain amino acids, to stimulate muscle protein synthesis to put the body into an anabolic state. As far as muscle building and weight loss, there are products far superior to help you reach those goals, such as 1st Phorm's Anabolic Bridge. BCAAs are not nearly as effective.

Anabolic Bridge
Anabolic Bridge is an essential amino acid product. It contains all of the essential amino acids. It helps keep you in an anabolic state in between protein feedings. It is great for travel or until you can get to a full meal or a full protein feeding. It comes in pill form, so it is the ultimate convenience product to help you reach those muscle buiding/weight loss goals. Anabolic Bridge is great if you are on a low calorie diet or plant based diet. You can take it before fasted cardio or first thing in the morning to get your body into the anabolic state. It is also great if you are having trouble getting in 6 meals a day. This product can directly affect your results by jump starting and keeping your body in a muscle building state throughout the day preventing muscle breakdown.

Intraformance
Intraformance is another amino acid product and is one that is on my must have list. Intraformance is an intra-workout, carbohydrate, amino acid, electrolyte blend. They have added in a carbohydrate complex and a superior electrolyte blend to help with performance in the gym. There is no need to pair this product with BCAAs. It contains a full serving of the BCAAs as well as non-essential amino acids. The carbohydrate complex increases performance in the gym and keeps the body from breaking down muscle tissue. When we workout we deplete our glycogen stores, as that stored muscle glycogen is depleted, your performance will start to taper off. That is why the last set is always much harder than the first set. Having that carbohydrate complex in the Intraformance will help to keep your endurance up during your workouts by giving you sustained energy. If your goal is fat loss, then I recommend you use BCAAs. But if your goals are to build strength, muscle size, and improve performance, then Intraformance is the product for you. Intraformance has become my must have supplement pre- workout or for my long runs as a fuel source and to give me sustained energy, strength, and improve my performance throughout my workouts.

Amino Acids are a great product to add to your regimen, but make sure the rest of your nutrition is in place first as well as you post-workout nutrition in order to get your best results. I know I just lightly touched on each of these products. I would love to talk more about amino acids to figure out what is the right product for you and to help you with your specific nutrition and fitness goals. Please feel free to message me with any questions or comment below. If you are interested in any of the 1st Phorm products, and you want to take advantage of the free shipping when you order from me, you can visit my website at www.1stPhorm.com/JilliBeeFit

Thank you! XX


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