Recovery from exercises requires a complete set of building blocks to repair, grow and improve muscle cells. These building blocks are amino acids, speci cally it’s the essential, conditional and branched chained amino acids that we need to succeed in reaping the rewards from training. Essential amino acids (EAA) are exactly that, essential. We must nourish our bodies with these amino acids as our bodies are unable to make them on it’s own (Vieillevoye et al., 2010). Therefore ingesting EAA provides the foundation material to repair and build a healthy body. Research has thoroughly examined the bene cial effects of EAA in exercising individuals and reported various bene cial effects. Most of which are on protein synthesis (repairing and building muscle) and other are on the immune system and its ability to suppress catabolic hormones like cortisol, especially when in combination with carbohydrates (Bird et al., 2006b, Bird et al., 2006a).

Furthermore, combining EAA with carbohydrates and BCAA’s like leucine, stimulate MPS signi cantly more than either alone thus using EAA around training will work synergistically with other nutrients to maximise recovery and performance gains (Bird, 2010).Moreover the use of singular form amino acids compared to intact whole proteins increases the absorption of amino acids into the blood stream, thus increasing transit time to the target cells(West et al., 2011). The addition of conditionally EAA’s like glycine and arginine aid in the transportation and delivery to the working muscles via their vasodilatory properties. The addition of BCAA accentuates the anti-catabolic effects of EAA by reducing muscle protein breakdown and providing a fuel supply for working muscles. This reduces muscle breakdown (via glucose-alanine cycle) to attain the BCAA’s. Overall the combination of EAA, CEAA and BCAA provide a spectrum of amino acids that fuel the muscles and support an anabolic state. ®