supplementsWhat are your thoughts on L-Leucine?
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My associate from work (copied) just gave me a tube of L-Leucine (500G) – He’s thinking this makes more sense to ingest rather than L-Leucine ++ in the Universal EAA. Thoughts?
Also, would it make sense to cycle in some Creatine if I am working out 4 times a week (MMA) + squash?? My goals are not to get huge – I am more focused on functional strength, endurance & recovery.
Also, would it make sense to cycle in some Creatine if I am working out 4 times a week (MMA) + squash?? My goals are not to get huge – I am more focused on functional strength, endurance & recovery.
By Matt Gilbert – over 1 year ago
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Leucine and BCAAs are all amino acids. The essential amino acids (EAAs) are the 8 amino acids you need to get from your diet to allow for muscle growth and recovery because your body can't make these amino acids. If you are missing even one of these, zero muscle growth will occur. In fact, if you are deficient in one or more of the EAAs for a prolonged period of time, you will die
Leucine is one of the three BCAAs. The BCAAs are three of the eight EAAs. I always suggest that leucine be in highest concentration because evidence shows that it "flicks the switch" that turns on the muscle-building process more than any other amino acid - although arguably arginine or citrulline could be as or more important ( but they aren't EAAs) to take pre-workout.
For a quick and very useful explanation of why taking EAAs is better than just taking BCAAs or L-Leucine, read my previous answer: Is it worth drinking a protein shake whilst I'm working out?
Creatine is best for repeated bouts of high-intensity exercise, so perfect for boxing/MMA. It also helps a bit with max strength and definitely increases lean muscle - it's primarily NOT water weight...contrary to popular (but misinformed) belief.
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It's Al, Matt's colleague mentioned above. Knowing that Matt is elderly, I am thinking it would be better for him to enrich his EAA's with Leucine as opposed to taking EAA's on their own. This article in the American Journal of Physiology that shows that increasing the proportion of leucine in a mixture of EAA can reverse an attenuated response of muscle protein synthesis in the elderly, versus younger subjects
http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/291/2/E381.short
What do you think, given Matt's geriatric nature?