Mountain Project Logo

Amino Acids

Original Post
Jtradshaw · · Fargo, ND · Joined Apr 2015 · Points: 590

Just curious, what if any amino acid supplement do you guys use during training for muscle recovey looking for some actual products and or specific foods im dumb when it comes to sports nutrition. Thanks in advance!

CTB · · Cave Creek, AZ · Joined Jul 2015 · Points: 300

Glutamine snooters are my personal favorite.

Ned Plimpton · · Salt Lake City · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 116

The benefits of BCAA supplementation have always been kinda mixed and I recently read an article that they *might* be counterproductive with respect to muscle regeneration/recovery/etc.  

As such, you’re probably better off taking a complete whey protein (or similar) powder post workout/climb for recovery purposes.

sandrock · · Colorado Springs, CO · Joined Jul 2013 · Points: 200

Don't waste your money. You get plenty of amino acids in normal foods, no need for buying supplements

Long Ranger · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2014 · Points: 669

Any protein powder will have all the BCAAs you need, supplementing them further is dumb. They are sold separately as a way to separate a fool from their money. I would only supplment with protein powder for an obvious deficiency and/or convenience (ie: you don't know how to pick real food to eat and/or are too lazy to figure it out).

Matt N · · CA · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 425

IPAs from New Belgium 

gtluke · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2012 · Points: 1

Arganine and Ornathine for better blood flow/reynauds and money shots. 

Gumby boy king · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2019 · Points: 547
John Byrnes · · Fort Collins, CO · Joined Dec 2007 · Points: 392
sandrock wrote: You get plenty of amino acids in normal foods, no need for buying supplements

Not true because the phrase "normal foods" is meaningless.   Your normal isn't my normal, or her normal, or anyone else's normal, so your statement is worthless.   

In addition, "plenty of amino acids" is worthless, too.  

If you wanted to say that you can get enough of all the essential amino acids from a good diet without buying expensive supplements, then I agree with you.  But then we'd need to define "good diet", and my fingers are too sore for that.  

What Ned Plimpton says pretty much covers it.
David Crocco · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2016 · Points: 0

Ned, can you provide a citation for the article?  I would like to read it.

Nick Drake · · Kent, WA · Joined Jan 2015 · Points: 651

BCAA supplementation really only makes sense if you are doing some type of fasted work out (ie pre work session without eating prior). Even then if you are eating post training with a reasonable amount of protein the benefits are still questionable. 

Tony Bob · · Fairview Park, OH · Joined Apr 2015 · Points: 10

Whenever I hear the words "amino acids" I think about Samuel L. Jackson explaining the lysine contingency in Jurassic Park. 

Aweffwef Fewfae · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2016 · Points: 0

'read an article' means that it's likely to be false. as always, prj or it didn't happen.

beta alanine has only shown potential positives:

  1. Quesnele JJ, Laframboise MA, Wong JJ, Kim P, Wells GD (2014). "The effects of beta-alanine supplementation on performance: a systematic review of the literature". Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab (Systematic review). 24 (1): 14–27. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2013-0007. PMID 23918656. 
  2. Hoffman JR, Stout JR, Harris RC, Moran DS (2015). "β-Alanine supplementation and military performance". Amino Acids. 47 (12): 2463–74. doi:10.1007/s00726-015-2051-9. PMC 4633445. PMID 26206727.
  3. Hobson, R. M.; Saunders, B.; Ball, G.; Harris, R. C.; Sale, C. (9 December 2016). "Effects of β-alanine supplementation on exercise performance: a meta-analysis". Amino Acids. 43 (1): 25–37. doi:10.1007/s00726-011-1200-z. ISSN 0939-4451. PMC 3374095. PMID 22270875.
  4. Trexler ET, Smith-Ryan AE, Stout JR, Hoffman JR, Wilborn CD, Sale C, Kreider RB, Jäger R, Earnest CP, Bannock L, Campbell B, Kalman D, Ziegenfuss TN, Antonio J (2015). "International society of sports nutrition position stand: Beta-Alanine". J Int Soc Sports Nutr (Review). 12: 30. doi:10.1186/s12970-015-0090-y.
one of those is a meta study with an average 2% in time to exhaustion. even the 11% double blind had a very convincing p, despite the low n.
for those who were too cool for skool, p is a measure of how reliable the data is. a lower p means it is more reliable. p=0.05 is the golden standard and considered data worth heeding. values higher than that, say p=0.1 would be discarded as being irrelevant. for the studies i mentioned(P = 0.013) . n is the sample size, with larger n being more representative of the population. larger n is needed when data doesn't converge. with high variance, large n is needed for a reasonable confidence interval. with low variance, smaller n is needed.

beta alanine increases carnosine in plasma (blood). carnosine is a pH buffer, delaying the buildup of lactic acid. most of the studies show the plasma levels to be linear, with a cutoff of 1.2 g being noticeable.
"Considering that the daily dose range in supplementary β-alanine is from 1.6 to 6.4 g, this would require the consumption of between  ~400 and 1600 g of chicken breast or ~300–1200 g of turkey breast per day. Thus, the direct use of β-alanine as a supplement appears, today, to be the most effective means to increase dietary intake with the objective of elevating muscle carnosine concentrations. "
chicken breast is 2 calories / g. for sufficient chicken, even at a middling 800 g would be 1600 kcal. far more than the daily calories of any serious athlete.

the effects are especially prominent at 60..240 s. this is basically optimized for rope climbing.

these are not pay walled or secret articles. these are literally the first results that show up at any prj:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4633445/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3374095/
Long Ranger · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2014 · Points: 669

1.6 - 6.4 grams of beta-alanine sounds like a recipe for paresthesia, if I'm reading this right?

FUN!

Nick Drake · · Kent, WA · Joined Jan 2015 · Points: 651
Long Ranger wrote: 1.6 - 6.4 grams of beta-alanine sounds like a recipe for paresthesia, if I'm reading this right?

FUN!

I take 2g twice daily, at that dosage you're unlikely to feel paresthesia and if so it's extremely minor. A 4gr dosage does result in it, but it's not horrible by any means. 

It should be noted that the thread title is simply "amino acids" which could mean a hell of a lot of things. Most of us have assumed the OP meant branched chain amino acids since that's the supplement commonly sold with "amino acids" in the name. Technically we could talk about a lot of things, say collagen supplementation as an example. 
Brandon Fields · · Boulder, CO · Joined Apr 2016 · Points: 5

I take BCAAs after power sessions(habit from lifting years ago), L-glutamine (per my nutritionist) once a day between meals and collagen protein (per Eric Horst) before hang boarding. I’ve tried other amino supplements and ditched them because I felt them unnecessary.
The ones I take now I just assume it can’t hurt and I’ve heard enough evidence from reputable sources to assume there’s a chance they are helpful. I eat 120+ grams of protein from meat and dairy every day.
I honestly believe that eating a proper amount of high quality protein is sufficient and supplementation is a bit of a shot in the dark. I do it because it’s easy to do for me and I want to do every little thing I can to support my recovery.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Training Forum
Post a Reply to "Amino Acids"

Log In to Reply
Welcome

Join the Community! It's FREE

Already have an account? Login to close this notice.