Thanks to the increasing popularity in the weights rooms and rivalry with whey protein, BCAA has surely earned a spot on the supplement shelf of any serious sportsperson. There is BCAA for women and men. But what are they, and how can they help you? Read on to find out.
What Are BCAAs?
BCAAs or Branched-chain amino acids are three amino acids – leucine, isoleucine, and valine. There are 20 amino acids in the muscle protein, out of which nine are essential and 11 non-essential. Your body can’t synthesize essential amino acids, and that is why you have to include them in your diet. The BCAAs are three of the nine essential amino acids.
Amino acids can help build muscle protein. By supplementing BCAAs in your diet, you can improve the growth and performance of your muscles. You can either increase the intake of high-protein foods or take it as a supplement in the form of a capsule or powder.
How Does BCAA work?
By having BCAA for women supplements and a high-protein meal, you can increase the rate of muscle protein synthesis in your body. This is crucial to gain muscle as it helps achieve a positive protein balance. With periods of muscle protein breakdown (MPB) and increased muscle protein synthesis (MPS), your body is experiencing continuous muscle protein turnover. In order to gain muscle mass and have a positive protein balance, the total muscle protein synthesis has to exceed the muscle protein breakdown. In case the MPB exceeds MPS, you will experience a loss of muscle.
How Can BCAA Help You?
- Muscle Hypertrophy
Thanks to the impact BCAAs have on the MPS rates; they can be used for maximizing muscle growth. Even though all the essential amino acids are required to sustain MPS rates and build muscle, it is BCAA that acts as a building block or a signal for muscle protein synthesis. So, if you are looking to optimize your muscle gain, you need a supplement that is rich in BCAAs and contains all the essential amino acids.
- Muscle Recovery
Studies have shown that BCAAs can reduce muscle soreness after intensive weight training. This means that you won’t have to struggle to get out of your chair after your leg day at the gym. However, in order to optimize recovery, you need to hit the right protein and calorie intake.
- Supplement Low Protein Meals
One of the main benefits of taking a BCAA supplement is that it can supplement a meal that is low in protein. It is especially beneficial when you are in a situation where you can’t control your food intake. Having a BCAA as a backup source will ensure that even your low-protein meal can raise your muscle protein synthesis rates. Also, not all protein sources will have the same amount of BCAAs. Studies have shown that BCAA content in dairy, fish, eggs, and meat is more than the plant-based protein sources like wheat, soy, and hemp. Even though mixing up the protein sources can help, taking BCAA supplementation is the best way to improve your amino acid profile. So, taking a BCAA supplement will help vegans, vegetarians, or anyone who can’t eat BCAA-rich protein sources.
- Appetite
If you have been struggling while eating protein for your fitness goals, you need to focus on your satiety response which can be fulfilled by BCAAs. Taking a BCAA supplementation will ensure that you have improved MPS rates.
So, if you are a fitness enthusiast who wants to focus on muscle mass or is struggling with protein intake, BCAA for women supplements is a simple and straightforward solution.
