What Are BCAA’s you ask
BCAA’s, branch chain amino acids, these things seem to be blowing up within the bodybuilding and fitness world right now, I have given them a go and had some interesting positive effects but also a couple of negative’s which have led me to stop taking them, I’ll give an outline of what BCAA’s are and how they help then let you know of the side effect’s I experienced.
Chances are you will have seen these advertised on your protein powders and pre-workout boasting enhanced recovery, muscle growth more energy and fat reduction, these are not just claims either, its science. Amino acids make up a large proportion of our cells, muscles and tissue is made up of amino acids, meaning they carry out many important bodily functions, such as giving cells their structure. They also play a key role in the transport and the storage of nutrients. Amino acids have an influence on the function of organs, glands, tendons and arteries. They are furthermore essential for healing wounds and repairing tissue, especially in the muscles, bones, skin and hair as well as for the removal of all kinds of waste deposits produced in connection with the metabolism, so it is fact they we require all the help we can get in adding these to our intake to better ourselves physically as the right foods and protein powders may not be enough to reach you goals.
Branched chain amino acids are made up of 3 Essential Amino Acids, Leucine, isoleucine and Valine and make up around 40% of the amino acids in you body, we believe about 18% of this is within your muscle tissue, these acids are mostly broken down and processed by the liver, BCAA’s sent the good acids direct to your muscles which really help with your performance and muscle growth!
When your body is exercising, relaxing, sleeping and eating, 24 hours a day it needs fuel and uses these amino acids for energy to keep you ticking, once the acids are gone its moving on to your protein within muscle and this what may have been my problem in the past, I have a very fast metabolism and if I do not eat correctly for a day I feel like a twig! Maybe you experienced this too?
Why I opted for them
So I started taking My Protein BCAA plus for the first time a few weeks ago, after reading reviews, I was hyped to try them, anything to keep the muscle on! I opted for the tablet form as the drink just seemed like a lot of effort, and the ones I had seen were bright green, nothing that color should be drank, honestly.
The dosage was supposed to be 3 tablets, 1-4 times a day, which is pretty rough as they are huge tablets! I was looking to see if they would help me retain muscle and build to a degree, not to get huge, but to see if running these tablet alongside my usual my protein hard gain extreme shake in a morning and an evening would show any improvement, my body can change shape within a day so it wouldn’t be long before I would know! I started with 3 tablets twice a day, first thing in the morning then right after working out, this seems to be the way people go judging from instruction I had looked into online.
My experience
At first I was definitely more alert and alive in a morning, I have nothing usually in a morning, will happily just lay there looking at the walls for an hour before shifting out of my bed, bed is great. I really thought I had got hit on some gold here, energy and I was able to eat right away, another thing ill go into at a later date, as when you try something new you do get a bit of a boost mentally to push and see how you perform in the gym, which is always a good thing, so I got on it!
I didn’t feel like I had extra energy once in the gym, I had the energy that’s usually there but didn’t hit on that extra power that I had felt I should, which was a little bit of a disappointment but you cannot expect supplements to do everything for you, just tap into that little pocket of motivation you got back there and get on it! which I did, and you know what, after a few days of following my usual routine working set muscle groups on different days and eating the right foods, I definitely felt and could see an improvement, my overall muscle seemed to hold onto that just worked out feel for longer and once the swole had stopped there was growth, this all within the first week, had I just found the perfect supplement for my skinny ass? would I be able to mask my natural body in muscle and actually keep the muscle suit on? like I guess Ben Affleck does when off camera, aint no way he isn’t sat at home in his bat-suit when the cameras are turned off, don’t even lie to me.
The real test came when I spent 4 days in Oslo, being on holiday and constantly on the move I wasn’t going to be able to get access to the gym, and with my body I knew that 4 days of nothing can take a big toll on reducing my muscles, I mean they are still there, just hiding away, so I stuck the tablets and some of the my protein white chocolate brownies, to get me through, it really worked, the muscle stayed which goes some way to showing that the science is the truth, nothing I have had before has done that, I could have left like the rock and come back like DJ Qualls, well, maybe not as big as the rock, but close to DJ Qualls on return… but no, The effects were exactly as hoped for, retained muscle mass!
But while away I started to experience side effects, more specially when it came to doing the nasty, the good good, you know, making sweet passionate love..this went a bit.. wrong, I started experiencing soft cock, there wasn’t that pulse running through like there should be, it would start of okay but kinda go a bit numb then weak, yeah sometimes this happens to men though we would never admit it and make any excuse as to why it may be, the other half is understanding and we explained it away as just tiredness, which I was not happy about and didn’t accept but couldn’t see why it would be the case, I hardly ever have this problem! I was rather tired though, but then, the same the next day, again very odd, never usually a problem, I started to get worried, maybe I was dying or something? I should call my family more, maybe do some charity work, even hack away at the bucket list, I know my ego was shrinking along with another body part. No excuse this time just me sat with an angry face looking down raging in silence.
when we got back I carried on with the tablets, gym and diet, but for some reason I was more tired through out the day, felt the need for a nap an hour after waking up then just didn’t have the energy for anything but pushed through and would be exhausted by 9pm, was it post holiday blues? after 3-4 days I realized my mood had changed, I am a very happy and energetic person who spend most of his time laughing at things I’m way too old to laugh at, I was snappy and had been for a few days, also sexually I was on and off, mostly off! I stopped taking the tablets, the next morning I had more energy than I remember and was performing fully in the bedroom department, instant improvement! I was happy I had found the cause but disappointed I would have to cut down on them and see if I had been overdoing them.
I cut down to one tablet in the morning and one after working out, instantly tired, tried taking one after working out and got the same thing, so I have unfortunately decided to cut them out altogether, this wont work for me but it may work for you as there isn’t that much information on this being a side effect for people who reviewed the product I used, the My Protein BCAA plus tablets, link below,
let me know if you have experienced this or any other effect and if you manged to find a way to counteract them!
Nice one,
Chris
Skinny Guys Health 