When you want to put the pedal to the metal in your training sessions, you need extra fuel. Including aminos and other crucial nutrients is one of the best ways to accomplish this. To avoid catabolism and to keep your body in an anabolic state, consider adding these supps to your regimen.
► BCAAs prevent muscle breakdown and stimulate muscle protein synthesis. Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are a category of three aminos that includes leucine, isoleucine, and valine, and this group is metabolized differently from all the others. BCAAs bypass your liver and are metabolized directly in your muscle tissue, meaning that they more directly fuel the muscle-building process. Two notable benefits are their ability to fuel workouts when they’re present before training, and their ability to help you recover from workouts when they’re present after training.
► Citrulline boosts nitric oxide (NO) levels for better workouts and recovery. Nitric oxide is a molecule that allows your blood vessels to relax so that more blood, oxygen, and nutrients can flow through your system, reaching muscle tissue. One of the most popular ways to increase your NO levels is to supplement with the amino acid arginine that converts to NO. But recent research indicates that taking citrulline, which converts to arginine, may be an even more effective way to increase NO production. Citrulline also helps prevent muscle fatigue while you’re training by removing ammonia from your body.
► Taurine reduces muscle fatigue and supports muscle cell size. When you weight train, both taurine and strength levels drop as your workout progresses. Supplementing with taurine helps increase muscle endurance as it reduces the oxidative stress that accompanies intense workouts. Taurine helps reduce the levels of lactic acid that accumulate in your muscles as you train, and it allows your muscles to contract more quickly and forcefully, which translates to longer, harder workouts.
► Vitamin D supports health and boosts testosterone levels. Recent research has shown a host of benefits that come with vitamin D supplementation: Two of the most important ones for M&F readers include increased strength and higher testosterone. Vitamin D is derived from cholesterol (like testosterone) and it readily converts to a hormone (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D) that binds to muscle cell membranes, boosting your muscle cells’ ability to contract and synthesize protein. Those with vitamin D deficiency often suffer health consequences that include lower testosterone levels. Supplementing with the cholecalciferol form of vitamin D may help overcome this condition.
Get It Together
To maximize muscle building over a specific training phase, you need to give your body what it needs for intense training recovery. BSN’s AminoX was formulated with this in mind, and each dose delivers 10 total grams of the aminos on our list and 500 IU of vitamin D. AminoX uses an effervescent delivery system so these nutrients hit your system quickly. take AminoX for a three-to-12-week training phase, then cycle off for four weeks.
