BCAA's before cardio

Kuzin Tarell

I saw this over on Elite and thought it was a great article. Figured to post this so people do not miss this long read.

http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=61564&tid=

Justin
I am a huge fan of yours and of DC. I know DC advocates morninig cardio and this subject has been beaten to death. I know that its better to have a scoop or protein or some BCAAs befor, but what if you were to just have a couple pro/fat meals would that still make a difference? or would some of the pro/fat turn into glycogen and make the cardio a waste of time?




It depends on what you're doing the cardio for.
If you're doing it for fat loss, I don't take in anything before cardio.

I don't think it makes a huge difference either way.
You can look at it from a few angles.

If the human body lost muscle from a short walk in the morning, we would have never survived as a species.
We are designed to hunt many hours for animals to get protein.

If you take in BCAA's before cardio, you're providing your body with an alternate energy source.
BCAA's have the unique ability to be used directly by the body as fuel, different than the other amino acids.
Rapidly digesting protein (such as whey) can also cause an insulin spike. The is especially true with partially digested products (the hydrosylates). These provide a very rapid influx of amino acids into the blood stream. The amino acid influx is going to be more than the body can utilize for any form of protein synthesis, so the extra aminos will be rapidly converted to glucose. This will actually cause a release of insulin.
Insulin raises an enzyme called Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase. There are two verstions of this enzyme. The second version actually blunts the transfer of fatty acids to the mitochondria, resulting in blunted fat oxidation.
So, in this scenario, the cells that are effected by the insulin will not allow the mitochondria to utilize fat for energy.

You can let yourself get way too involved in the science of all of this....

In the second scenario, you could say that the protein could even cause a negative effect. During that time of cardio, you're fighting an uphill battle for fat loss because the rapidly digesting protein is preventing optimum fat loss. This creates the scenario where you're burning calories, but not burning fat, resulting in depleted glycogen and blood amino stores that must be first replaced after the cardio before synthesis of new muscle will become a bodily priority.

In the first scenario, you can say that you're running the risk of utilizing muscle tissue to fuel the workout. This could create the situation where you must synthesize new muscle tissue just to replace what was lost in the cardio.




I just do the cardio, no food, just get up and walk.
It's just a little walk. You're not doing anything special or taxing on the body. The body was designed to move (something we've totaly lost the realization of in modern society)

Doing the cardio can create a state of EPOC where a higher percentage of fat will be used for many hours after the cardio.
The cardio will create a mild glycogen deficiency, creating a change in hunger hormones providing you the desire to eat more.
The cardio will create an increase in glucagon, growth hormone production, and possibly IGF-1 production. The latter two will increase the likelyhood that the protein you eat later in the day will be converted to new muscle tissue.


As I said before...you can totally overanalyze things.

In the long run, it won't make a difference. One shitty workout, or one day of piss poor eating will do WAY more damage than either option before cardio would do with 1,000's of cardio sessions.
It's not these minor things that make a difference in your physique.

It's the big things.
The cardio will help stimulate your appetite, and aid in keeping fat loss at bay. It will also be good for your health.
These are the big things....these are why it provides benefit.



Did someone say over think things,
Justin Harris

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Current max's
Squat- 315x2
Bench -225x1
DL- 405x1 grip and rip baby

bigcut77

Great read. All I have done for years is wake up and do cardio. No food, protein or BCAA. It has always worked the for me in terms of staying lean and fat loss.