6 Key Benefits of Amino Acids for Body Building

 

The amino acid functions as the building blocks of protein and our muscle tissues. Though amino acid supplements are mostly used by athletes, it produces enzymes which are directly related to our energy production, growth, mood, brain function etc. Our body produces a few amino acids by itself. But the “essential amino acids’ have to be obtained from food sources. Taking amino acids have a number of benefits for the bodybuilders.

  1. Enhances Muscle Growth and Tissue Repairing

Bodybuilding requires intense exercising which damages our muscle fibers. This damaging process actually improves your muscle strength and integrity. Specialized satellite cells surrounding your muscle tissue come into action after the injury. They integrate into new muscle fibers forming protein strands. These protein fibers increase the size of the muscle tissue and replace the injured muscle cells. Taking the required amount of amino acids will make sure that your body gets the raw materials to grow new muscle fibers and restore damaged cells.

  1. Abdominal Fat Loss

Taking amino acid at an optimum level along with a reduced calorie diet is much more effective to reduce abdominal fat than dieting alone. An amino acid named Methionine assists metabolism and circulation of fats which is later transported and converted into energy. ‘ Besides, amino acid supplements including Glutamine and BCAA’s help keeping our body calories down yet provide necessary support to our muscles to keep our body in good shape.

  1. Improves Exercise Performance

Amino acids help develop our muscle mass by regenerating the injured muscle cells. Scientists believe that these improved muscle cells assists in excelling at endurance sports. Branched chained amino acids increase the effective oxygen usage of our body. Isolucine, Leucine and Valine supplements effectively increase our endurance exercise capacity.

  1. Protects from Injury

During heavy work out, our body breaks down the muscle tissue and uses it as an extra source of energy. This process is also known as Gluconeogenesis which means producing glucose from non carbohydrate sources. ‘ While performing it, our body separates the branched chained amino acids from our muscle tissues and converts them into the amino acid alanine which is later converted into glucose. If we take the optimum amount of supplemental BCCA’s then our body won’t have to break down the muscle tissues to produce energy.

  1. Easy to digest

Unlike normal foods, the supplement of amino acid does not require digestion. They move very quickly to our digestive system and are absorbed rapidly in the blood stream. Then, they are processed in the liver and delivered to the cells especially those which were damaged during work out.

  1. Increases energy

Amino acid helps you to maintain a high energy level during workouts by regenerating ATP stores in your muscle. Amino acid ensures the proper transportation of fats so that it can be used as a fuel. It also prevents muscle catabolism or burn outs during training and reduces the risk of injury.

Conclusion

Though amino acid is very beneficial for bodybuilders, uncontrolled consumption may be harmful to the kidney. Some amino acids may trigger dairy allergic reaction. So, it is recommended that, you consult a doctor before taking amino acid supplements and maintain a diet.

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