BCAA's... DO they help?

Jessicaruby

i workout in a fasted state in the morning for two reasons... the main one being i feel sick if i try to workout after eating and i love sleep too much to wake up any earlier to eat. and reason number 2 is i would rather have the calories later in the day.... So i started taking BCAA's preworkout. i have heard by taking these it will help prevent muscle breakdown when i am working out.... is there really any point in taking them? do they really work?

Sidesteal

i workout in a fasted state in the morning for two reasons... the main one being i feel sick if i try to workout after eating and i love sleep too much to wake up any earlier to eat. and reason number 2 is i would rather have the calories later in the day.... So i started taking BCAA's preworkout. i have heard by taking these it will help prevent muscle breakdown when i am working out.... is there really any point in taking them? do they really work?

In my opinion, given your specific protocol (fasted training) there's conflicting opinions on this (among the nutritional gurus that nerd out over this stuff) and I believe (at least, I thought I recalled seeing) there is short-term evidence suggesting it is beneficial.

My opinion is that given adequate total protein intake over the course of the day (adequate meaning enough protein to maximize protein synthesis) then BCAAs are not going to provide benefit above and beyond what your sufficient protein intake is doing for you.

It is also very likely that you could use whey instead of BCAAs as you'd be getting sufficient amino acids from whey as well.

EDIT: Let me be clear that the above is my opinion.

Jessicaruby

i consume roughly 200grams of protein a day. i just dont want to add another supplement to my bill if it is not neccesary

ArroganceInStep

I would suggest trying it with/without and seeing if it has a negative impact on what you're doing.