What are BCAAs and Do You Really Need Them? 

Whether you’ve been working out for a lifetime or just getting started at the gym, chances are you’ve probably heard of BCAAs, or branched chain amino acids. 

This group of three essential amino acids – leucine, isoleucine and valine – have been shown to reduce muscle soreness, help promote muscle growth and decrease muscle fatigue. They’re one of the most popular supplements in the health and fitness industry, and when consumed properly, have almost no negative side effects. 

Now that’s all well and good, but there’s a million different supplements on the market that all claim to have amazing benefits. And with so many supplements available, it can be hard to know what’s really worth adding to your lineup. 

So what’s the deal with BCAAs? Are they really as great as everyone claims, or are they just a racket? 

To get the answer, H/S sat down with Nutrabio’s founder and president Mark Glazier and got to the bottom of BCAAs. 

Amino Acids: The Building Blocks of Protein

To first understand BCAAs, we need to take a step back and look at amino acids as a whole. 

“They [amino acids] are the building blocks of protein,” explains Glazier. “The body utilizes aminos to build tens of thousands of different proteins, but what most of you are interested in is the proteins that build muscle. Those proteins are called proteinogenic proteins, and those are aminos that are coded to build muscle and protein and tissue.” 

Proteinogenic amino acids include glutamine, serine and glycine, as well as leucine, isoleucine and valine.

“We can then take this overall group of proteins and break it down into EAAs (Essential Amino Acids),” Glazier continues. EAAs consist of histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. 

“It’s a weird term because all of these amino acids are essential,” says Glazier. “But essential means that the body cannot manufacture it on its own, so you have to get these amino acids from foods or from supplements.” 

“Then you further break it down into what you call BCAAs, and those are branched chain amino acids,” says Glazier. Branched chain amino acids consist of leucine, isoleucine and valine, and are the amino acids everyone is looking to consume when training. 

“The reason those ones are a little more important to people who train hard is because those are the anabolic aminos that create protein synthesis,” explains Glazier. 

What that essentially means is that these three amino acids are the ones that are going to help you recover from a workout and build muscle, which is pretty much what we all want after putting in hard work at the gym. 

Now you may find yourself wondering: can’t I just eat a high protein diet and get enough of these aminos naturally? Well, yes and no. 

“If you’re eating a normal meal throughout the day and you’re getting your protein, your chicken, your turkey, you’re getting a lot of these aminos. And you’re getting enough of these essential aminos to do basically what your body needs to do,” Glazier says. “But what we want to do is basically jam in a lot of those BCAAs: leucine, iseine and valine. Those are going to help muscle protein synthesis, those are going to help you recover from a workout and build muscle.” 

While you can still get enough BCAAS through a regular high protein diet, it’s worth noting that 5 grams of BCAAs promote muscle protein synthesis just as much as a 25-30 gram high protein meal. That means if you’re looking to cut while still preserving muscle mass, or need to eat a certain number of calories per day but find yourself feeling too full to eat again, BCAAs can be an incredibly helpful tool.

So Do I Really Need BCAAs? 

To make a long story short, every human being needs to consume a certain amount of these essential amino acids on a daily basis, but not all of us need to supplement with them. 

If you’re eating healthy, consuming an adequate amount of protein, and aren’t really concerned with cutting, maintaining lean muscle mass, or trying to grow your muscles, you’re probably just fine without supplementing additional EAAs and BCAAs. 

However, if you’re working out on a regular basis and your goal is to preserve or increase your lean muscle mass, BCAAs should absolutely be part of your supplement regime. Even if you’re eating a healthy diet, there’s really no harm in giving your body a little extra fuel to help recharge, restore and of course, grow. 

H/S’s Pick for BCAAs: BCAA 5000 Powder from Nutrabio 

‍