There are 20 different amino acids, but only nine amino acids are classified as essential: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. They trigger muscle protein synthesis, but since they don’t occur naturally in your body, they must be consumed. We’ve added three more grams for a total of 10 grams.
Branched Chain Amino Acids
Of the nine Essential Amino Acids, three are “branched-chain” which refers to their chemical structure. These are leucine, isoleucine, and valine. These play very specific roles in muscle-building including maximizing anabolic state, reducing muscle breakdown, and lessening post-exercise soreness. We’ve added one more gram for a total of 7 grams.
Essential Aminos
Putting on muscle is a balancing act, pivoting on your ability to adapt to training stress and recover from everything else that life throws at you. A poor diet, pushing your training too hard for too long and factors beyond your control (like a nasty flu virus) can all slam the brakes on your “gains train.” If you want to push towards your recovery limits, you’re going to need an “ace in the hole.”
Granite Supplements’ Essential Aminos provide a 10g / dose of all the Essential Amino Acids (EAAs) because it’s the dietarily essential [not the non-essential1] amino acids that trigger muscle protein synthesis2-4. Leucine (3.5g) sits atop this EAA blend because of its primacy in triggering protein anabolism5-7. We were sure to focus on the other branched-chain aminos (BCAAs; Isoleucine and Valine at 1.75g each) as well because the BCAAs are known to reduce muscle breakdown and post-exercise soreness and damage8,9.
The amounts of the other EAAs blended in Essential Aminos are based on the anabolic EAA mixture used extensively in research2,10-13, adjusted slightly to take advantage of the anabolic signaling6 and insulin-releasing14 effects of lysine and phenylalanine.
This power-packed EAA supplement can thus be employed in conjunction with a small amount of carbohydrate (~35g; which could come from our Intra-Carb product) to enhance post-workout protein synthesis11,15 and gains in muscle mass16. If you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place with little to no good protein sources, EAA’s can boost the protein-synthetic effect of an otherwise suboptimal protein source, e.g., one that is too small7 or otherwise dilute in protein content or lacking in EAAs, such as some plant protein sources17. You might also use EAA to “bridge” the gap between two widely-spaced meals when you simply can’t slip away to consume a complete protein source or have a meal.
