Anyone use Ideal Lean? BCAAs and Meal Replacement? Any Triathletes here?

deannalfisher wrote: »

ii'm a triathlete - but don't use any of the above - some recent research I saw indicates that BCAA's aren't as helpful as they are touted to be

Depends on the claims. I think he jury is still out on whether or not they help with muscle growth/retention. Definitely not a good source of "energy" during workouts. However, From my own experience, they definitely help with reducing post workout muscle soreness during heavy weight lifting days.

LeoT0917 wrote: »

deannalfisher wrote: »

ii'm a triathlete - but don't use any of the above - some recent research I saw indicates that BCAA's aren't as helpful as they are touted to be

Depends on the claims. I think he jury is still out on whether or not they help with muscle growth/retention. Definitely not a good source of "energy" during workouts. However, From my own experience, they definitely help with reducing post workout muscle soreness during heavy weight lifting days.

i'll have to dig up the article - it was published in journal of exercise physiology I think (or something like that) - results were not statistically significant as to how they helped, but I can't remember all the details

I have anecdotal evidence that they help - but wonder how much of that is placebo vs. actually evidence

https://examine.com/supplements/branched-chain-amino-acids/

From the Summary (emphasis mine):

"BCAA supplementation, for people with low dietary protein intake, can promote muscle protein synthesis and increase muscle growth over time. It can also be used to prevent fatigue in novice athletes.

BCAAs are important to ingest on a daily basis, but many protein sources, such as meat and eggs, already provide BCAAS. Supplementation is unnecessary for people with a sufficiently high protein intake (1-1.5g/kg a day or more)."