For my bulk, I plan on supplementing my food with Muscle Milk, except post workout I will use Whey and Dextrose. Should I also be supplementing with BCAAs, or will 2 Muscle Milk Shakes a day provide enough on its own?

Hey man great question. if your training 3+ times a week then yes there brilliant. They aid in recovery and protein synthesis I reccomend an all in one like reflex nutritions bcaa's or supplimenting with l-leucine which directly affects the rate of protein synthesis and l-glutamine because it aids and assists in recovery

Hope i helped

After reading about them, it definitely seems like a supplement that you can't take too much of. I will probably take the BCAAs around the workout and then get them from muscle milk the rest of the day. What is the recommended amount to take?

To be honest I just take what's on my label which is 6 tabs before and 6 after I buy reflex bcaa's and yes I would say take them before and after also the only differnce between tablets and powder is that tablets digest slower and in answer to your question it will always tell you the reccomended dosage and timings on the label

the only differnce between tablets and powder is that tablets digest slower

and price. usually you have to take a TON of the tabs to get even a minimal amount of bcaa's. price per gram its quite a bit cheaper to get the powder. the unflavored stuff is pretty rough.

i'd recommend scivation xtend. quite tasty. foley has a thread on it in the nutrition or weightlifting forum.

and how much you need depends based on bodyweight. i'm guessing u'd take somewhere between 15-25 grams total during the pre/during/post workout period.

Great info! So really the optimum time to take them is around a workout? Do people generally take them other times of the day as well?

Great info! So really the optimum time to take them is around a workout? Do people generally take them other times of the day as well?

sure.

you can take em between meals, upon waking, before bed, basically whenever.

they aren't cheap.... so many people can only afford to take them around workouts.

i find them helpful at other times especially during a cut. :tucool:

Don't bother taking it if your diet isn't spot on though. You really wont be able to tell if they're working for you.

XTEND is delicious.

BCAA's do help out on a cut but I think that the article mentioned in Foley's thread talked about how it helped out to gain muscle and lose fat.

I've been taking them during my cut and they work. :D

I use Xtend strawberry flavored BCAAs. A 1035g case sells for $45 online.

I take 5g of BCAA between meals and pre/post workout. I have noticed its affects in regards to fasted recovery.

I mix the 5g into a 3/4 full water .5L bottle and drink it between my meals. I actually like the taste, but it has added sugars which some people avoid. Otherwise, it would never have such a delicious taste.

It turns the water red and looks like a Crystal light or flavored water drink, so people don't second guess when they see it. I actually look forward to drinking. It also gives me an upper hand on water intake as well. :tucool:

Don't bother taking it if your diet isn't spot on though.

I agree, make sure everything else is inline before you begin BCAAs, or any supp as a matter of fact.

I use Xtend strawberry flavored BCAAs. A 1035g case sells for $45 online.


It comes in Strawberry? Awesome! I've been drinking the green stuff (and like it - refreshing apple or something?), but I'll need to give that a shot!

It comes in Strawberry? Awesome! I've been drinking the green stuff (and like it - refreshing apple or something?), but I'll need to give that a shot!

Your missing out on a beautiful part of life! :lol:

I ordered my first batch of BCAA's in the strawberry flavor and just purchased a second when my first runs out. I am worried to try any other flavor because the strawberry is awesome. I'm kinda nervous to drop $45 on other flavors because they may be bad.... so you suggest green? Cause I HIGHLY suggest the strawberry.

I wouldn't mind mailing your a small snack size zip lock bag with one scoop of the strawberry but I'm sure the post office would freak if they say white powder all over the mail :spaz:

I'm kinda nervous to drop $45 on other flavors because they may be bad....

I wouldn't be, I've tried a few and haven't had a bad one yet. The lemon is my favorite. :)

I've tried lemon, apple, grape, and watermelon. I used to prefer watermelon combined with watermelon WPI for my workout peri/post workout drink, but the watermelon WPI I was using isn't available. Grape used to be the worst, but they reformulated it and it's fine now. Kinda like that grape bubblegum Big League Chew flavor from when I was a kid... I use lemon with lemonaid WPI most of the time now, but apple is good in a similar combo, too.

Want to try the orange.

I have never found a strawberry protein that really knocked my socks off, so I'm not really that interested it in BCAAs too much. As I typed that, though, it hit me a strawberry BCAA+lemonaid WPI might work as a bitter strawberry lemonaid combo :confused:

What is this xtend and why should I be interested in it? In the past I've used whey protein, but I've sort of moved past that. If this tastes delicious and isn't chock full of sugar, I suppose I could see myself benefitting from it.

On my upcoming cut, I've going to be doing HIIT two days a week and lifting heavy 3 days a week, so I figure I might need some recovery aid.

It comes in Strawberry? Awesome! I've been drinking the green stuff (and like it - refreshing apple or something?), but I'll need to give that a shot!

They don't make strawberry. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/sv/sv.htm

For those too lazy to click the link:
Grape
Apple
Lemonade
Watermelon
Orange

I just got orange Xtend today. It is DELICIOUS! :D

They don't make strawberry. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/sv/sv.htm

For those too lazy to click the link:
Grape
Apple
Lemonade
Watermelon
Orange


I thought I was going crazy because I'd never seen it either :) So Orange is still the only flavor I haven't tried.

In recent studies, BCAA's have been shown to be no more effective than Whey protein.

One amino.....Leucine...has also, in recent studies, shown to be the major amino necessary for muscle repair.

Unsweetened Whey is just as good as BCAA's


save your money.

The BCAAs in Whey and the BCAAs in products such as Xtend aren't used by the body in the same way.

Buying whey to account for BCAAs is not productive.

In recent studies, BCAA's have been shown to be no more effective than Whey protein.

Source? :blank:

I weigh 165 lbs or so, and this is what I do:

3 scoops of Xtend
10g BCAA (from Bulknutrition, 1fast400 brand)

I mix this up in water and drink it starting before workout and sip on it throughout the workout. BCAA is cheaper than Xtend. And, this way you're getting roughly 20g of BCAA peri-workout. If your workouts are really intense and you're on a calorie-restrictive diet, you can add another 10g or so (5g AM + 5g PM) to get in 25-30g of BCAA/day.

Xtend study... (http://www.strengthandscience.com/wordpress/?p=61)

Xtend study... (http://www.strengthandscience.com/wordpress/?p=61)

Interesting study. I'd like to see a comparison between Xtend and plain L-Leucine. My personal results (open for any and all criticism) are that 20g of L-Leucine is even more effective than 20g of Xtend.

I'm doing the v-diet, ~1400 cals on non-workout days and ~1800 on workout days. My weight has stabilised around 179. The program removes 5 seconds weekly from the already small rest periods. Since starting on L-Leucine, I've been able to do that plus increase my weights. On the insane cardio challenge, I've reduced my time nearly 10 minutes (first week I was sucking air HARD, second week I threw up).

I can NOT attribute this solely to L-Leucine because I started taking Hot-Rox at the same time, but I've never really got the pump from fat burners due to my coffee/caffeine addiction.

Yes, leucine is the bcaa that has the biggest effect on protein synthesis. But leucine in powder form by itself tastes like shit. And you can't just rely on leucine itself, thats why you would want to take all the bcaas. But in turn, you can't just rely on them, which is why you need food to get a broader range of amino acids. Food > Supplements.

Xtend isn't just bcaas either, it contains glutamine and citrulline malate which each has its own added benefit which it brings to the table, so to speak. CM increases the rate of ATP production which aids in delaying fatigue. And we all know what glutamine is.

EDIT: I can't find a study of Xtend vs Leucine, but I'm sure there is one out there. I'm just studying for an algebra exam so sorry if my reply is short or doesn't make any sense.

My EAS Whey Protein comes with the BCAAs mixed in.

At least I think thats what I read on the front.

Haven't really looked at them. My parents brought me home 2, 5# bags from the states. You can find them at Sam's Club for $30.

All protein powders have BCAAs mixed in.

They aren't utilized by the body in the same fashion as free form BCAAs such as Xtend.

Speaking of BCAAs/Xtend, I just found a deal (http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/924381) on fatwallet. $35 for the big tubs (~1000 g). I got free shipping. They were out of apple, though.

Also note that protein powders with BCAA's included are not broken down into how much BCAAs are within a 25g serving for example yet rather 100g, so be careful to calculate the amounts of leucine, isoleucine and valine if your set on getting your intake from protein supps in oppose to free form .

Also note that protein powders with BCAA's included are not broken down into how much BCAAs are within a 25g serving for example yet rather 100g, so be careful to calculate the amounts of leucine, isoleucine and valine if your set on getting your intake from protein supps in oppose to free form .

It's not necessarily that protein powders add BCAAs, BCAAs are in protein powders by default as they are a part of the makeup of the protein sources used to make the powders.

It's not necessarily that protein powders add BCAAs, BCAAs are in protein powders by default as they are a part of the makeup of the protein sources used to make the powders.

Yea but i dont think protein powders contain the dosage of BCAA's which free form BCAA's do, for example would you get 5g of BCAA's from a standard shake? in oppose to supplementing 5g of free form powder. The thing im trying to say is, i dont think there are enough BCAA's in a standard protein shake to replace separate BCAA supplementation (unless high amount e.g 100g of protein is consumed)

Speaking of BCAAs/Xtend, I just found a deal (http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/924381) on fatwallet. $35 for the big tubs (~1000 g). I got free shipping. They were out of apple, though.

Nice. I just paid 50 a piece for two of those from Bodybuilding.com. I'm going to return the BB.com stuff. I can get a third tub of this for about 10 bucks more(than I paid for 2) since they have free shipping. Excellent deal! Thanks for posting this!

If anyone is interested, Bodybuilding.com can pricematch but only before the order is placed. They evidently can't do it after.

How bad is the unflavored powder? I want to start adding it to my green smoothies (with fruit and unflavored protein powder (or egg white or tofu) - delish!), and it doesn't seem right to put in something flavored. Do you think it could be masked pretty well, or would I be better off getting flavored and drinking it separately?

How bad is the unflavored powder? I want to start adding it to my green smoothies (with fruit and unflavored protein powder (or egg white or tofu) - delish!), and it doesn't seem right to put in something flavored. Do you think it could be masked pretty well, or would I be better off getting flavored and drinking it separately?


Don't think I'd do it, and I'm known around here to mix in some odd stuff in my shakes :)

Just drink them separately.