For intra, I love the new PowerMax XT. We reformulated it and it has a combination of Whey (6g) + Leucine (3g/5g) which out performs 25g of straight whey. So your getting better benefits then 25g protein with the increased digestion and assimilation of Di/Tri peptides that out perform intact whole proteins.
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Doses/combinations:
-25g Whey Protein (3g leucine)
-6.25g Whey Protein (0.75g leucine)
-6.25g Whey Protein (added leucine to 3g)
-6.25g Whey Protein (added leucine to 5g)
-6.25g Whey Protein (added leucine to 5g; from added BCAAs instead of just added leucine)
Interestingly, Phospho-mTOR was increased at 1.5 hours in the Whey 25g, Whey 6.25 (3g l) and Whey 6.25 (5gl), but not in the Whey 6.25g or Whey (3g l; BCAAs). The study, along with others, have shown that a suboptimal protein dose (6.25g whey) supplemented with leucine (3g total) can stimulate postprandial MPS rates equivalent to that of 25g whey (with 3g leucine total).
The discussion of the study said this:
There's also another study that showed increasing the leucine content of EAAs (from 1.87g to 3.5g) taken intra-workout increased post-workout muscle protein synthesis by 33% compared relative to the lower leucine content:
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There's also a study showing that a combination of 6g EAAs and ~40g carbs taken intra-workout was able to improve strength and fat-free mass by more than EAAs or carbs alone, with no significant difference in fat (all groups lost fat):
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There's also some interesting research on Whey Protein Hydroslate (WPH):
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This makes the pairing of carbs with WPH (over BCAAs) particularly interesting, and, referring back to the low-dose whey + lecuine study, it seems very possible that you can get away with a lower dose of WPH with added leucine to 3-5g total.
With that in mind, I like either 6-10g EAAs with leucine content added to total 3-5g, or ~6g WPH with leucine content added to 3-5g total, plus ~40g carbs (I typically go with Gatorade powder since it's very affordable and can be used to flavor bulk ingredients) intra-workout.
With the above reserach in mind, I do not think that drinking only BCAAs intra-workout is ideal, as you also want EAAs, and 3-5g leucine of course. Also, it appears that sometimes you don't want a ton of BCAAs, just a lot of leucine and a "sufficient" amount of the other BCAAs and EAAs. The WPH provides these EAAs and BCAAs (along with some leucine of course), and the additional leucine brings the total leucine content into that ideal 3-5g range.
If you want carbs in your intra, you could add any product from your favorite company or simply gatorade powder.
Post workout, no supplements from me, unless I have proats. I always go with whole food sources post workout.
