Will BCAAs Help Me Grow Muscle?

Are BCAAs worth it?

First of all, BCAAs stands for branched-chain amino acids.

There are three of them: Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine.

All three can be oxidised in your muscle during exercise, with leucine being the main amino acid behind what triggers muscle growth.

You most likely know this feeling: after an intense workout, two days later you experience muscle soreness in the muscle you've trained. Such is referred to as DOMS, which stands for delayed onset muscle soreness. This occurs due to the muscle fibres you've damaged and the inflammation that has occurred as a response. And this can be quite painful and/or uncomfortable during training, which puts you at risk of injury during your next workouts. So how can we combat this?

Well, a recent review found supporting evidence that BCAA supplementation can alleviate DOMS, and might just assist us in healing up ahead of our next workout. So by supplementing with BCAAs, you might be reducing your risk of injury.

What's the ideal dose of BCAAs?

There's currently no definite scientific advice around the ideal dose of BCAAs, though we've stuck to a general amount given in scientific research, formulating BCAA recovery to include a generous 10 grams of BCAAs per serve! We also stock pure BCAAs, but be aware, on their own they taste quite bitter.

Why are electrolytes important?

Moreover, we've added more punch to our BCAA Recovery product, by including electrolytes too. For those of you partaking in endurance events, this can be very important.

Endurance type training leads to progressive water and electrolyte losses. This is because sweat is secreted to help you stay cool. And given dehydration impairs your ability to perform, not to mention the risk it poses to your health, the intake of fluid during exercise to offset sweat loss is important.

Whilst research declares "there is no advantage to fluid intake during exercise of less than 30 min duration," any physical and non-stop exercise that goes for longer than that, like running, cycling, and particularly anything like that outdoors in humid conditions, may benefit from electrolyte consumption. By mixing our BCAA Recovery with water, you're giving yourself the benefits of hydration via not only the water but the added electrolytes, too.

Does Citrulline malate help me grow more muscle?

And what would a Bulk Nutrients product be without another goodie thrown in there too? Naturally, we have included citrulline malate in our BCAA Recovery for its many benefits.

Citrulline malate is made up of the dietary amino acid L-Citrulline (found in watermelon in large doses) and malate. Malate is an organic sale of malic acid. This helps you bolster nitric oxide production, which allows you to get more blood flow into your muscles. So what's so good about this? Well, research shows it helps power and output. By increasing both, you're giving yourself a better shot at maximal muscle growth.

But it's the muscle recovery benefits of citrulline malate that are very exciting, which is why we've included it in BCAA Recovery. One study found it to be most beneficial for decreasing muscle soreness and on performance, in men during the flat bench press. The 41 subjects examined did two chest sessions for 16 sets in total (8 sets per workout).

In one of the workouts, the men were given 8 grams of citrulline malate, whilst a placebo was given to them in the other. The study authors reported more reps were performed with the citrulline malate was taken, whilst "a significant decrease of 40% in muscle soreness at 24 hours and 48 hours after the pectoral training session...was achieved with Citrulline Malate supplementation."

Moreover, further research has found citrulline malate to be beneficial for strength in athletes. So, the least we could do was add it into our recovery supplement!

The bottom line is that our BCAA recovery supplement can be beneficial in reducing muscle soreness, and thus recovery ahead of your muscle gaining sessions. This, in concert with a good stretching routine, means output and thus muscle gains are not left behind. Our added electrolytes are perfect for endurance athletes who obviously don't want to roll the dice with their performance or wellbeing, whilst the inclusion of citrulline malate means more proven benefits in the muscle recovery column. One serve of the product is what you'll need to take advantage of all these benefits.