Familiar with BCAA? Find Out Why It's an Athlete's Best Friend

Overtraining is a serious issue that is now getting a lot of attention. Failure to monitor your bodily responses during heavy exercise programs can diminish the quality of its ultimate return.  Overtraining, training too hard for too long, can provide the groundwork for depression, lack of energy, staleness, and eventual burnout, which will hinder you from reaching your goals.  Failure to pace your training, by having intervening rest phase, can lead to a flat and stale performance. Keep reading to find out about the branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) and why you should take seriously the negative effects of reaching your peak too soon before a sports competition.


Overtraining even exposes you to more complications doing more harm than good to your overall performance. Once your body is pushed beyond its limits, natural signals will trigger responses that might even cause some serious injuries.

Management and Monitoring
Overtraining syndrome is a medical condition characterized by a complex of symptoms and signs.  These signs and symptoms of the syndrome may vary from person to person.

The deteriorating transition from post-workout tiredness to over-reaching to over-training may occur at a gradual phase.  You may not be able to recognize its onset until it has already done great damage to your body.

Beyond the obvious physical manifestations you may have of the syndrome, the psychological symptoms may predominate.  You will see individuals suffering from this syndrome becoming moody, depressed, and irritable. Your sleep habits become erratic, appetite and weight may decrease.

In female athletes, there will be palpable alterations in the menstrual cycle, especially amenorrhea.
Overtraining can be seen as your body’s response to a stress trigger, including those attributable to excessive training.  It could also be aggravated by other factors related to your rigorous lifestyle.

Causes of Overtraining
The high potential points of overtraining are due to the following:

• Sustained high-intensity training sessions without adequate recovery. Significant increase in the training volume is more likely to result to overtraining rather than an increase in performance
• Series of competition in close intervals with no sufficient recovery.
• Abrupt increase in training load.
• Monotonous training routine.

Further aggravation is attributable to factors relating to your lifestyle and environmental stressors.  These factors can add immensely if you are in a training regimen in triggering the syndrome.  

All these must be considered when evaluating your overall conditioning status. Examples include inadequate sleep due to work or study, academic pressures, financial worries, family and inter-personal conflicts, and travel demands.

BCAA Supplementation
The branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), which include valine, leucine and isoleucine, are harnessed by exercising muscles, reducing their levels in the blood.

There were several studies done that confirmed the beneficial effects of BCAA supplementation at maintaining your body’s wellness during workout. 

These studies have demonstrated the direct action of BCAA to the central fatigue. The central fatigue is a physiological condition defined by your body’s inability to maintain power output. 

This is brought about by the decline in the neuro-muscular transmission signal and quality output.  In simple terms, it is the point of muscular failure.  Further training after central fatigue increases the risk of overtraining.

The results of the study have demonstrated that with the increase in BCAA through supplementation, 5-HTP and Tryptophan decreased. BCAAs acts against Tryptophan in the brain.

The high levels of 5-HTP and Tryptophan promote fatigue.  High levels of both are observed during and after a rigorous workout.

With BCAA supplementation, you can workout longer and more intensely without the risks of overtraining. The possibility of reaching muscular failure, which makes you susceptible to overtraining, is significantly reduced with the proper BCAA supplementation.