Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Health & Fitness
  3. News

Lift hard, hurt less: Study finds pre-workout amino acids reduce muscle damage

Want less pain after lifting? Science shows amino acids work best before you train

By
man weight training with kettlebells weightlifting
Caveman Training / Pexels

You hear no pain, no gain in the gym, but researchers have studied various methods, remedies, and supplements to see what can help relieve or reduce muscle soreness and damage after intense workouts. One of those supplements is branched-chain amino acids or BCAAs (leucine, isoleucine, and valine), which are nutritionally essential because your body can’t produce them, and you have to get them from your diet from foods like eggs, beef, chicken, fish, almonds, and legumes.

BCAAs are mostly metabolized in muscle tissue, and they play an important role in muscle protein synthesis, which refers to the metabolic process of building new muscle. Researchers wanted to know whether taking branched-chain amino acids before or after exercise would work best for reducing muscle soreness and damage. Let’s dive into the research.

The study

man working out bicep curl dumbbells
Andres Ayrton / Pexels

In a study published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 15 young men were placed into three groups:

  • Control group — The control group took a placebo before and after exercise.
  • PRE group — The PRE group took a BCAA supplement (9.6 g) before exercise and took the placebo after exercise.
  • POST group — The POST group took a placebo before exercise and the BCAA supplement (9.6 g) after exercise.
Recommended Videos

A placebo is an inactive substance that doesn’t have any effect, such as sugar pills or saline (salt water solution) infusions. In this study, the young men also took either the placebo or the BCAA supplement for three days prior to and following the exercise day. The participants performed 30 repetitions of eccentric arm curls with their non-dominant arm. The researchers measured several factors immediately before and after the exercise, and for the following four days, including delayed-onset muscle soreness, lactate dehydrogenase, and serum creatine kinase.

The results

man sore muscle pain
Ann Tarazevich / Pexels

The study revealed the following:

  • Taking BCAAs before exercise was the most beneficial.
  • Those who took BCAAs before working out had less arm swelling, less muscle soreness over the following few days, and better range of motion and flexibility. The BCAAs pre-workout group also had lower levels of muscle-damage markers in their blood, such as aldolase.
  • Taking BCAAs after exercise was still beneficial, but not as much as taking them before a workout.
  • The placebo control group had the greatest soreness and muscle damage, underscoring the benefits of BCAAs in general. 

The takeaway

man muscle bicep curl weightlifting
Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels

This study confirms the benefits of BCAAs for reducing exercise-induced muscle soreness and damage. The researchers zoomed in on the best time to take those amino acids and revealed that taking them before a workout yields the most beneficial results for improving your flexibility and range of motion and lowering muscle soreness and damage. 

Steph Green
Steph Green
Steph Green (Steph Zee) is a singer-songwriter and professional writer with over 12 years of experience in healthcare and…
Topics
From wheelchair to walking: The power of mindset, movement, and never giving up
Sometimes it's the hardest roads that lead us to a deeper sense of purpose
Steph Zee Christmas Secret Music Video Steph Green

I never expected I'd have to learn how to walk again. That journey took me from writing for doctors and magazines to spending thousands of hours researching health and autoimmune disease. When we have excellent health, many of us don’t give it much thought until those sneaky symptoms start to show, and one day it all comes crashing down. Now, our health becomes one of the most important priorities. When we feel good, we can be more productive and chase our dreams. When our health declines and we don’t feel so good, one of our biggest dreams is just to feel better. 

I became a health writer 12 years ago, shortly after graduating with my creative writing degree and getting a diagnosis of the autoimmune bone condition, ankylosing spondylitis. In an effort to improve my health, stay mobile, and help prevent my bones from calcifying and fusing, I spent thousands of hours studying everything from nutrition and naturopathy to conventional medicine and holistic healing. I heard this somewhere, so I can’t take credit, but I like to say I went to “save my ass university”, because pain and illness are some of the biggest motivators.

Read more
I tried Magic Mind for a month and here is what happened to my productivity
Does Magic Mind really help with your productivity or is it just another buzz.
Furniture, Business Card, Paper

I am proudly an all-brown beverage man. I say it often: I am coffee in the morning, bourbon in the evening, and Pepsi/Coke in between. I know what you're thinking: What about water? Well, all of those are mostly water. And who wants to drink the same thing they bathe in? That sounds gross. All jokes aside, the coffee addiction is real, and I am not alone. Who thinks they can truly conquer a day without a hard shot of caffeine? I would get it in an IV if it were feasible to do on the subway instead of a cup to go. But that doesn't have to be the only way you develop your productivity. Instead, you can look to the more natural and healthy methods to maintain and increase your effectiveness. I got my hands on some Magic Mind recently, one of the many different products that claim to elevate brain health, increase mental performance, and, of course, replace the coffee without losing the energy boost. But does it work?

The scientific hoolah

Read more
NOBULL debuts new colorways for daily running shoe, Journey 2
Four new colorways just dropped for NOBULL's best-selling Journey 2 sneaker
NOBULL

NOBULL's Journey 2 sneaker is one of my favorite go-to sneakers for the gym (and my husband's, too). There's really something to be said about a sneaker that adds comfort, style, and durability to your gym outfit. I've been wearing these weekly for awhile now -- but now NOBULL has dropped even more fun colors in the same comfortable show. Just in time for the summer, NOBULL just dropped four new colorways in the Journey 2, including Classic White Cayenne, Classic White Signal Pink, Lunar Mineral White, and Blue Haze. These fun, vibrant colors add a touch of color to every gym outfit.

With a plate-less design, Journey 2 delivers a naturally smooth, cushioned ride. A multi-surface outsole provides reliable grip across varied terrain, while NOBULL’s unique stability chassis keeps your foot locked in through every stride and transition, so you can move freely wherever the miles take you. While I'm not usually one to make a statement with my athletic footwear, I have to admit I'm pretty excited about the drop of these new colors. The four new colors join the line up that still includes the classic colors, such as Classic White, Jet Black, and Molten.

Read more