Muscle Milk or no Muscle Milk

[ASheaff]

@lylemcd

take the protein content and multiply by 0.2-0.25, it’ll be in that range unless they’ve added more (looking at the label, they haven’t). so it’ll be in the range of 22 grams protein * 0.2-0.25 = 4-5 grams of so

I’ve yet to see anything convincing me that extra BCAA has benefit IF the athlete is consuming sufficient protein

most of the work that gets cited is terribly stupid

either it’s providing BCAA to athletes consuming insufficient protein in the first place OR it’s doing something dumb like comparing BCAA around training to consuming nothing at all. of course BCAA ‘works’ under those conditions.

but what if an athlete is consuming 1 g/kg of protein around training. they are alreay getting 0.2-0.25 g/kg BCAA AND getting all of the essential amino acids AND all of hte inessential aminos

chocolae whey protein tastes better than bCAA powder

as noted, an athlete consuming 3 g/kg protein is already getting 0.6 g/kg higher. more if they are consuming whey. adding extra BCAA is unlikely, IMO, do do jack squat

Thanks for the reply

[ASheaff]

@lylemcd

take the protein content and multiply by 0.2-0.25, it’ll be in that range unless they’ve added more (looking at the label, they haven’t). so it’ll be in the range of 22 grams protein * 0.2-0.25 = 4-5 grams of so

I’ve yet to see anything convincing me that extra BCAA has benefit IF the athlete is consuming sufficient protein

most of the work that gets cited is terribly stupid

either it’s providing BCAA to athletes consuming insufficient protein in the first place OR it’s doing something dumb like comparing BCAA around training to consuming nothing at all. of course BCAA ‘works’ under those conditions.

but what if an athlete is consuming 1 g/kg of protein around training. they are alreay getting 0.2-0.25 g/kg BCAA AND getting all of the essential amino acids AND all of hte inessential aminos

chocolae whey protein tastes better than bCAA powder

as noted, an athlete consuming 3 g/kg protein is already getting 0.6 g/kg higher. more if they are consuming whey. adding extra BCAA is unlikely, IMO, do do jack squat

So, do you believe that supplementation of individual amino acids is beneficial when insufficient protein is being consumed or during rather extraordinary training volumes?

Outside of these two situations, does specific amino acid supplementation because unnecessary?

Thanks for your help

[Pioneer]

@lylemcd

take the protein content and multiply by 0.2-0.25, it’ll be in that range unless they’ve added more (looking at the label, they haven’t). so it’ll be in the range of 22 grams protein * 0.2-0.25 = 4-5 grams of so

I’ve yet to see anything convincing me that extra BCAA has benefit IF the athlete is consuming sufficient protein

most of the work that gets cited is terribly stupid

either it’s providing BCAA to athletes consuming insufficient protein in the first place OR it’s doing something dumb like comparing BCAA around training to consuming nothing at all. of course BCAA ‘works’ under those conditions.

but what if an athlete is consuming 1 g/kg of protein around training. they are alreay getting 0.2-0.25 g/kg BCAA AND getting all of the essential amino acids AND all of hte inessential aminos

chocolae whey protein tastes better than bCAA powder

as noted, an athlete consuming 3 g/kg protein is already getting 0.6 g/kg higher. more if they are consuming whey. adding extra BCAA is unlikely, IMO, do do jack squat

Thanks again for the replies.

[lylemcd]

@ASheaff

So, do you believe that supplementation of individual amino acids is beneficial when insufficient protein is being consumed

I guess so. Why not jsut increase total dietary protein rather tan trying to band-aid it with individual aminos?

or during rather extraordinary training volumes?

when volume goes up, so should total food/energy intake. IMO, protein/calorie intake should simply scale up with the demands and cover everything.

Outside of these two situations, does specific amino acid supplementation because unnecessary?

it depends on context and there are a handful of places where individual aminos can play a role

I already mentioned that glutamine when sick has some empirical utility

I have used ac ombination of caffeine/tyrosine/high GI carbs as an event-legal (e.g. non-ephedrine based) pre-even stimulant. note: tyrosine by itself does nada

I know many coaches still believe in high BCAA around training. I prefer whole proteins such as whey for a variety of reasons.

the amino acid cysteine has been shown to limit LBM loss while dieting at least in susceptible individuals. it may also increase performance. whey protein is high in cysteine so I’d prefer the whey (cheap/tasty) to the individual amino acid

leucine is totally over-rated, I should mention. the studies suggesting that it improved post-workotu protein synthesis were absurdly set up: they gave massive leucine on top of insufficient protein and measured over 6 hours. hardly relevant to a single drink after training. a recent paper showed that, with adequate protein, leucine had no additional benefit.

the amino acid hydroxyisoleucine may help with carb loading after exhaustive training. it could have potential for an athlete doing exhaustive training twice daily who needed maximum rates of glycogen synthesis

I’m sure I’ve missed one or two but the above tends to be specific contexts/situations where extra may be beneficial, moreso than any situation where I"d have someone taking them on a day to day basis

Lyle

[ASheaff]

Thanks for the replies Lyle.

[lylemcd]

Forgot acetyl-lcarnitine (ALCAR)

I know a lot of folks love it, one study in normals showe improved reactin times, everything else is on old people with disease states

i’ve used it personally, and got nothing out of it. then again, my sport is all middle distance so it may not be representative of what atrue speed/powr athlete might get out of it

my girlfriend likes it (but we suspect a relative dopamine deficiency for reasons too boring to get into)

possibly worth playing around with pre-workout to see if it improves anything.

Lyle