CHANGE YOUR FLAVORS
Maybe you've seen amino acids in the aisle of your local health foods store or heard about them through your friends at the gym. As a supplement, they are still relatively unexplored in the wellness world, so beyond what you learned in high school chemistry, you may be curious about how amino acids affect your health. In this blog, we explore why amino acids are important and how they impact your workout.
Before diving into how they can help your workout, it's important to understand what amino acids are in the first place. Amino acids are the organic molecules that make up proteins and act as the foundation for compounds like neurotransmitters and hormones. Amino acids are comprised of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.
The human body has twenty known amino acids that are critical to its growth and function. Out of those twenty, nine are essential, which means your body doesn't produce them naturally, and they need to come from diet or supplements. Within these nine Essential Amino Acids (EAAs), there are three Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) to know about: leucine, isoleucine, and valine.
BCAA (valine, leucine, and isoleucine) - Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are a group of EAAs with a branch-like molecular structure and a critical role in building and restoring muscles. The amino acid leucine is particularly vital to post-workout recovery because it activates Muscle Protein Synthesis, your body’s adaptive recovery response to exercise where amino acids convert to skeletal muscle tissue.
Lysine - is essential to the growth and repair of tissues, helps boost the body’s immunity.
Threonine - supports whole-body function, including the cardiovascular, immune, and central nervous systems. Threonine also helps build strong bones and tooth enamel.
Phenylalanine - is a vital component of proteins and enzymes while playing an important role as a precursor to the amino acid tyrosine, which affects mood and cognitive function.
Methionine - creates several different essential substances for the body and regulates the metabolic and digestive processes.
Histidine - this essential amino acid is used to make histamine, a chemical your body releases that regulates immune and physiological responses.
Tryptophan - helps the body produce melatonin and serotonin.
Alanine - helps clear toxins from the body and provides energy to muscles and the central nervous system.
Arginine - helps regulate blood pressure and hormones and encourages healthy tissue.
Asparagine - promotes and supports healthy brain cells and the central nervous system.
Aspartic Acid - synthesizes other amino acids and plays an essential role in enzymes, which enable chemical reactions in the body.
Cysteine - stimulates collagen production supporting the health of hair, skin, and nails while also being an important component of the antioxidant glutathione.
Glutamine - is the most abundant amino acid in the body with a wide variety of functions, including: digestive, brain, and immune function.
Glutamate - or glutamic acid, works as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, providing energy to the brain.
Glycine - this non-essential amino acid is critical to hearing, vision, and movement, producing collagen for restoring tissue and aiding digestion.
Proline - is essential to skin and tissue repair, especially after injury to soft tissue, while also helping to regulate blood pressure.
As you can see from the roles of each amino acid, all twenty are critical to the proper functioning of the human body. However, the nine essential amino acids are the most important to focus on since you need to supplement them through diet. You can find essential amino acids in many different foods, but animal proteins such as eggs, meat, dairy, and fish contain all nine essential amino acids, making them 'complete' proteins.
The importance of amino acids goes even further if you're focusing on improving your workouts and muscle recovery. Any food that is a complete protein has BCAAs, which aid in Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS). But some foods contain high levels of BCAAs that you can seek out and supplement before or after your workout. Whey protein, for example, contains high levels of leucine, the BCAA that directly contributes to MPS.(1)
Amino acids play an important role in athletic performance and recovery. Based on research, here are the benefits of BCAAs for your workout.
You can take amino acids either before or after your workout depending on what outcome you are looking for. When consuming amino acids pre-workout, you’ll see enhanced exercise performance and less fatigue.(3,4)
Taking amino acids post-workout, especially BCAAs from whey protein rich in leucine, can enhance your body's recovery process, decrease soreness, and promote muscle growth and repair.(2) Try a protein shake using Ascent’s Strawberry Whey Protein Powder to make the most of your next workout.
