Do you go to the gym and lift weights religiously?  If the answer, I am pretty sure you have heard about a bunch of supplements such as Branch Chained Amino Acids aka BCAAs. Yup, some say it's magical; gets you ripped and jacked in no time. To desi gym trainers, it's the holy grail of fat loss and muscle gain.  The bros swear by this colored water that comes in as many flavors as there are vegans on the planet. You can see bros carry BCAAs in gallon jugs across the weight room. According to them, if you aren't consuming copious amounts of BCAAs, you aren't building muscle. 

© Thinkstock

Thanks to the self-admitted drug using YouTuber and huge gym bodybuilders swearing by it, BCAAs sell like hot cakes. The only problem though is the fact that they don't do what they claim to do.  

Before You 'Flush' Your Money Down The Drain And End Up Purchasing BCAAs, Here Are A Few Things You Should Know. 

1. Your Diet Already Includes BCAAs Such As Leucine, Isoleucine And Valine.

BCAAs (leucine, isoleucine, valine) are nothing but three of the twenty amino acids. These amino acids together form protein. If you are eating adequate protein (~1.6 to 2.2 g/kg of body weight), adding BCAAs won't benefit any further.  For example, 150 grams of chicken breast has around 7 grams of BCAAs. One whole egg contains around 1.2 grams of BCAAs. One scoop of whey has around 5 grams of BCAAs. If you are not eating adequate protein, eat more protein. Invest your money there! 

2. BCAAs Can Hurt Your Gains

Your 'gains' or muscle growth is driven by muscle protein synthesis. BCAAs or leucine are known to accelerate it. Guess what studies have found? Your body needs all the EAAs (essential amino acids) for this and BCAAs do not do anything of that sort. Sucks, doesn't it?  BCAAs, surprisingly, might have a negative effect on muscle protein synthesis.

Blasphemy!

3. Bcaas Have Calories

© Menshealth

You say you are consuming BCAAs as you are training while fasting? Seems like a good reason now, right? Well, two problems here.  The first being that fasting in itself isn't beneficial in any way. It makes more sense to have a meal and train with more energy. The second one is that BCAAs have approx 6 calories per gram. If you are consuming 10 grams, it is 60 calories. 

You were fasting, weren't you?  

Check it out for yourself. 

Long story short, BCAAs do nothing that will benefit you or take you from 'feast mode' to 'beast mode' overnight or in the long run.  Instead, put in the work and take care of your nutrition and training. Stop wasting your money! 

References:

1. https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-017-0184-9 

2. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/52/5/770.abstract

About the author:

Pratik Thakkar is the co-founder and director of GetSetGo Fitness, an online fitness company that helps people with fitness goals right from losing weight to competing in bodybuilding shows. He is an online fitness coach who is regarded as someone who will make it easy for you to understand the process by putting things in the right context and providing science-based recommendations. In his free time, Pratik likes to read about psychology or gaming on his PlayStation. You can download a free nutrition guide from his site which will nail down the basics for you.