Muscle Building

You can use muscle building amino acids directly following your workout to help maximize your muscle gain. Read this article to discover what kinds of amino acids your body needs and when to take them.

It’s amazing that so many bodybuilders know so little about amino acids considering how vital they are to overall health and muscle growth. Muscle building amino acids are what proteins are made out of; therefore they ultimately become part of your muscles and the rest of your body. They affect many different functions in the body including how much energy we have, our mood as well as muscle development and recovery.

Types of Amino Acids

• IAA: Indispensible Amino Acids cannot be lived without. They must be included in our regular diet or obtained through dietary supplements.
• DAA: Dispensable Amino Acids can be created in the body using combinations of other IAAs.

Bioavailability

Bioavailability is a fancy way of saying how much of something is available in the body. Bioavailability is determined by a number of different factors and doesn’t rely solely on how much of something you consume. The amount of fat found in a protein source can make the protein harder to digest. This will increase the amount of time it takes for the protein to be available for use in the body.

Cooking is another factor of bioavailability. Amino acids can break down when exposed to heat, though this happens to some more than others. The form the protein or amino acids are in can also significantly affect bioavailability. Some amino acid supplements are even “pre-digested”, meaning they have already been broken down into a more basic form that’s easier for your body to process. Fillers and other additives in supplement tablets can also affect the amount of time it takes for amino acids to become available in the body.

Amino Acids and Muscle Building

In order to gain the maximum amount of muscle you need to combine exercise with proper nutrition, especially following a workout. Branch chain amino acids, or BCAAs for short, are known as free form amino acids and commonly come in the form of Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine. BCAAs should be taken as a supplement directly following a workout to help boost amino acid levels in the body that will be responsible for muscle growth and repair. Whey protein also makes an excellent supplement following a workout due to the speed at which your body is able to process it.

Muscle Building Amino Acid Supplements

Due to their effectiveness, muscle building amino acids found in various supplements have become quite popular among bodybuilders. You can find a wide variety of supplements in various forms such as capsules and drink mixes. Supplements containing free form amino acids don’t require digestion to process like eating a piece of meat would. The amino acids in supplements containing BCAAs enter your bloodstream quickly, allowing you to take them exactly when you need a boost, like immediately following a workout. The liver normally processes all amino acids, however, if you take 3-4 grams of amino acids, your liver will be overloaded and the excess amino acids will be sent directly to places in the body that need them, such as your muscles.