BCAA Timing...

[Alpine]

Xtend can be expensive. I'm a college kid on a budget. If I were to supplement with BCAA's at one time of the day which would be most effective in terms of recovery and muscle growth.

A. Pre-workout (within 15min)
B. Post-workout (within 30min)

I cant take servings before/during/after. Its just too expensive. I already consume 1 ON Whey shake before and after a workouts. This is giving me a decent amount of BCAA's in itself. I'm wondering when that little extra bump from more aminos would best be utilized. I'm leaning towards pre-workout for helping to improve muscle stamina and getting a jump on the recovery. Is there any sceintific information as to which is "the best" time.

 

[Whiskey Steve]

im in college too......just eat tuna

 

[Alpine]

im in college too......just eat tuna

I agree, diet is important. But this doesnt really answer my question. BTW, if you are eating a ton of tuna you are getting quite a bit of mercury. The FDA recommends limiting it to 1 can a week for adults. I know people that eat 2-3 cans a day. That is a lot of mercury. I used to eat a lot of albacore (3x as high as regular) but its one of the worst as far as mercury levels. I've since started eating a little more canned chicken (solid white). I'm not so sure eating 2-3 cans of tuna a day is the smartest choice. I supplement with 4 grams of fish oil a day anyway. The verdict is still out on high mercury fish choices such as albacore.

To sum things up - your post contributed nothing to the topic and served to only clutter things. It's this sort of "spam" we all have to wade through on a daily basis to get those little nuggets of useful information from the threads.

HOW MUCH MERCURY IS IN 6 OUNCES OF CHUNK WHITE TUNA?

* Multiply amount of fish by average mercury level for chunk white albacore.
* Convert 6 ounces to grams = 170 grams 170 grams X .31 ppm (or micrograms per gram)**

MERCURY INGESTED = 52.7 micrograms per gram.

The EPA's methylmercury guideline is a recommended limit on mercury consumption based on bodyweight, also known as a "reference dose." EPA's methylmercury reference dose is .1 micrograms/kg body weight per day.

 

[bigpetefox]

Get Optimum's BCAA 5000 powder.. It's dirt cheap, 5g per teaspoon, just toss it in a sportsdrink..

 

[Bering C]

search for BCAA dosage on page 4 there is a good thread BCAA's mega dosing might have what your looking for there.

 

[Alpine]

Get Optimum's BCAA 5000 powder.. It's dirt cheap, 5g per teaspoon, just toss it in a sportsdrink..

Ya, I looked into some cheaper options. Too bad they dont have Citrulline Malate. I guess I could buy it bulk from BN.

 

[Alpine]

search for BCAA dosage on page 4 there is a good thread BCAA's mega dosing might have what your looking for there.

I read a couple good BCAA mega dosing posts/logs. Consuming a ton of BCAA's is beneficial. The more the better IMO.

I'm just wondering what the best time is. And also if there is a dosage thats considered ideal. In other words, a general BCAA dosage thats considered adequate for actual noticeable results. We cant all Megadose BCAA's but at what level of use can the average joe get some return on his investment. A few servings before a workout might be such a minimal dose that you might not even bother paying for a BCAA supplement. You get close to that much from a quality whey. Many of the amazing benefits of BCAA use are seen only when megadosing it at high amounts.

Like in this post:
http://anabolicminds.com/forum/supplements/26999-bcaa-mega-dose-experiment-results.html#post275699
49 grams of BCAA
Citrulline-Malate: 7 grams
Thats like 7 servings of Xtend. Obviously you would have to use a cheaper product.

No doubt you would REALLY notice some results from this. But that is pretty expensive.

Am I missing something or has nobody produced a bulk BCAA powder with lots of luecine, CM, and maybe even l-glutamine. I know there are cheap BCAA in bulk but I didnt see any with CM or anything else.

 

[natedogg]

Check out Custom Nutrition for BCAA's and CM. Buy them seprately, but use them together. Pretty simple right. Problem solved.

 

[Beast]

Start sipping your Xtend (or BCAA) 15 minutes before your workout and continue sipping them throughout your workout between sets. Follow this up post workout with your whey protein.

 

[Blesum]

I too am cheap/poor.

I love Xtend, but can't afford to drink it like the instructions say. I drink a good quality whey shake (ON Gold) 30-40 minutes before work out and about 5 minutes before and all the way until the last 5-10 minutes of my work out I drink Xtend with two heaping scoops. Sometimes I will spike it with some dextrose to maximize the BCAAs in there. I've been avoiding doing that lately though as I'm learning more and more about how important insulin sensivity is to the uptake of nutrients throughout the entire day rather than just during a workout. After my work out, I have a 50g whey shake with a bunch of raw oats.

I have done the straight BCAA thing before, mixing it with CM and Creatine HCI, but it tasted awful and I went back to Xtend despite it's low CM dosages.

Only last week did I think of an idea. I had some raw BCAA powder left over and I mixed it up with my remaining Xtend at a 50/50 ratio. It wasn't as sweet, but still tasted pretty good.

I have a fresh 1035g bottle of Xtend on it's way with 1000g of BCAAs, 200g or 400g of CM (don't remember, info is at home) and a jar of fresh Creatine HCI on the way from BN. When they get here, I will mix them all up. Sure, it won't taste as sweet, but the taste should be much more bearable with the Xtend flavoring (watermelon) mixed in there.

Just an idea.

-Blesum

 

[natedogg]

You can't even taste 20 grams of BCAA's or EAA's in 32 ozs of Gatorade (1 scoop of the powdered kind).

 

[Blesum]

Wait til you add CM/Creatine HCI - Hoo-boy, you sure can TASTE it! :blink:

-Blesum

 

[StanChampion]

I used to mix the bulk BCAA with some gatorade, but now I am spoiled.

I mix 3 scopps of Extend pre workout, then mix 3 into some gatorade for during workout and 3-4 scoops post workout. :woohoo:

 

[Blesum]

I'm a bit wary of all the sugar in Gatorade. I've been trying to shift away from simple carbs to more complex carbs.

-Blesum

 

[BHERTZ]

I myself am a college student and have found capped BCAA's which are not horribly underdosed, pop about 4 of those after a workout. However, rather than taking them with Gatorade, I like to use some sort of more natural fruit juice. Apple juice is a personal fave. This will get the whole insulin spike going, and start rapidly uptaking these amino acids which is what you want.

 

[Enigma76]

I just take a scoopful of BCAA and dump them into my mouth...rinse with some water. You'll get used to the taste.

 

[natedogg]

I'm a bit wary of all the sugar in Gatorade. I've been trying to shift away from simple carbs to more complex carbs.

-Blesum

I think it'll be ok during your workout.

 

[Beowulf]

I myself am a college student and have found capped BCAA's which are not horribly underdosed, pop about 4 of those after a workout. However, rather than taking them with Gatorade, I like to use some sort of more natural fruit juice. Apple juice is a personal fave. This will get the whole insulin spike going, and start rapidly uptaking these amino acids which is what you want.

Some claim that fructose is only good at replenishing liver glycogen, and therefore it wouldn't serve to drive the aminos into the muscle cells. It may be worth your while to experiment with a different method.

 

[Blesum]

I think it'll be ok during your workout.

I believe you're right, NateDogg, or at least for the short term. I've made my best gains using dextrose or Gatorade pre, during, and post workout but as I get older, I start to think about how this might affect my insulin sensitivity and ability to maintain optimum nutrient uptake into the last few decades of my life.

Thoughts?

-Blesum[FONT=&quot]
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[jonny21]

Some claim that fructose is only good at replenishing liver glycogen, and therefore it wouldn't serve to drive the aminos into the muscle cells. It may be worth your while to experiment with a different method.

It's true, only the liver & sperm cells have the enzyme needed to catalyze fructose metabolism.

Juices with high fructose corn syrup will raise bg's though since hfcs contains glucose as well as fructose in varying ratios and contain no fiber to slow absorption process.

 

[StanChampion]

I'm a bit wary of all the sugar in Gatorade. I've been trying to shift away from simple carbs to more complex carbs.

-Blesum

The Gatorade only has about 14 grams of sugars in it, not much, imo, to be concerned with. I burn it up quickly during my workout. The Gatorade dulls the taste (which is just so-so to me) of Extend for me.

 

[Blesum]

The Gatorade only has about 14 grams of sugars in it, not much, imo, to be concerned with. I burn it up quickly during my workout. The Gatorade dulls the taste (which is just so-so to me) of Extend for me.

Actually, that is only partially correct. ONE serving of Gatorade does indeed have 14g of sugar, but regular sized (32 oz) gatorade bottles have 4 servings worth. That's 56g of sugar. Read those Gatorade labels carefully next time.

The bigger ones that I've seen people mix their protein in have over 100g of sugar in there.

I don't have any of those small Gatorade bottles lying around so I can't confirm this but I think those have 2.5 servings worth, for 35g of sugar.

-Blesum

 

[jmh80]

I think that DURING workout is the best time for BCAA's/EAA's.

I've tried pre/during/post.

The write-up on Xtend has several good studies that look at the effects of EAA's + dextrose + sucrose during work-outs. There are some good results quoted.
I made my own Xtend (I bought a bunch of powder before Custom had his own EAA).

Link to the write-up
http://www.nutraplanet.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=36&products_id=145

PS - Bobo really likes Xtend.

 

[rhunt000]

I thought this was a good read:

http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1057&context=uclabiolchem/nutritionnoteworthy

The title sounds negative, but it turns out to be positive. From it, I gather that taking eaa's immediately prior to workout is the best.