Glycogen-Depleted Athletes may Benefit from 0.3g/kg BCAA Supplementation: Improved Endurance & Lipid Oxidation
If you have ever read up on the general recommendations concerning "cardio on an empty stomach" you will most likely have encountered the advice to supplement with branched-chained amino acids ( BCAA ) before or in the course of the workout. I have always considered this to be a solid advice, up to now, I had yet not seen a study underpinning the common sense reasoning behind the suggestion. Now, Gualano et al. ( Gualano. 2011 ) published a study that investigated the effect of BCAA supplementation on exercise performance and energy metabolism in glycogen-depleted athletes (let's assume by now that an athlete following a low carb diet is in fact glycogen-depleted when he wakes up). In a double-blind placebo controlled fashion the scientists provided their subjects with either 0.3g/kg BCAA or placebo for 3 days ... On the second day, subjects were submitted to an exercise-induced glycogen depletion protocol. They then performed an exhaustive exercise test on the th...