Blackstone Labs: BCAA Resurgence

Branched Chain Amino Acids, commonly referred to as BCAA's, are essential amino acids that function as precursors and building blocks to proteins. There are 20 different amino acids that make up thousands of proteins in the body. Nine of these amino acids are considered essential amino acids. This means that the body cannot make them, and therefore the amino acids must be obtained from the diet. Of the nine essential amino acids, three are BCAA's: leucine, isoleucine and valine. These BCAA'ss are commonly found in foods such as eggs, meat and dairy products.

When your main aim is to build or maintain muscle then you need to focus your efforts into eating enough calories, intense training, optimal amounts of rest and sleep and sometimes, additional supplementation. Studies have shown that people who consume 5.6g of BCAA's after a resistance training session had a 22% increase in muscle protein synthesis (MPS) compared to people who drank a placebo drink (Jackman 2017)

BCAA's are also known to reduce DOMS – delayed onset of muscle soreness. Decreasing soreness improves recovery time and helps repair the damaged muscles quicker following training.

BCAA Resurance contains 2g of Leucine – considered the king of all amino acids and one which plays a critical role in MPS through activating the mTOR pathway. mTOR regulates numerous factors controlling protein synthesis including elongation and even biogenesis of ribosomes itself. mTOR activates raptor and rictor to form complexes which mediates effects of activating insulin, growth factors and other products involved in MPS. Leucine is the KEY amino acid that activates this pathway.

Alongside the amino acids, Blackstone Labs have added CDP-Choline, Theobromine and HICA. CDP-choline is an essential nutrient that increases synthesis of acetylcholine, the learning neurotransmitter. Higher levels of acetylcholine increases the so-called mind-muscle connection during training. In other words, you can get more dialled into the muscle you are training.

Recent studies into the attentional focus on a specific muscle has shown greater improvements in strength and power output. Theobromine works in a similar way to caffeine by stimulating the CNS and increasing energy. HICA is a metabolite of Leucine, that as we know, increases MPS (muscle protein synthesis) to accelerate growth.

Jackman, SR., Witard OC., Philip A., Wallis GA., Baar K., Tipton, K. 2017. Branched-Chain Amino acid ingestion stimulates muscle myofibrilar protein synthesis following resistance exercise in humans. Front Physiol.8:390.