
Category: Exercise
Amino Acids & Workout Recovery: A Match Made in Heaven
As Tommy Boone, Ph.D. board-certified exercise physiologist, says, “tiny tears form in the muscles [when you exercise] that help them grow bigger and stronger as they heal.” Since exercise creates tiny tears in muscles, it makes sense that preventing muscle damage and starting the muscle recovery process should be a high priority for exercisers everywhere.
Muscle-Related Benefits of Amino Acids
Healthline identifies four muscle-related benefits of amino acids:
- Increase Muscle Growth
- “… leucine [an essential amino acid] activates a certain pathway in the body that stimulates muscle protein synthesis, which is the process of making muscle.”
- Decrease Muscle Soreness
- “It’s not uncommon to feel sore a day or two after a workout, especially if your exercise routine is new. This soreness is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which develops 12 to 24 hours after exercise and can last up to 72 hours. While the exact cause of DOMS is not clearly understood, researchers believe it’s the result of tiny tears in the muscles after exercise. BCAAs [Branched-Chain Amino Acids: leucine, isoleucine, valine] have been shown to decrease muscle damage, which may help reduce the length and severity of DOMS.”
- Reduce Exercise Fatigue
- “…