Effects of Carbohydrate and Branched Chain Amino Acid Beverage Ingestion during Acute Upper-Body Resistance Exercise on Performance and Post-Exercise Hormone Response

• Published in: Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism nutrition, and metabolism, 2017-12
• Main Authors: Smith, JohnEric W, Krings, Ben M, Shepherd, Brandon D, Waldman, Hunter S, Basham, Steven A, McAllister, Matthew J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1715-5320

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the individual and combined effects of ingesting carbohydrates (CHO) and branched chain amino acids (BCAA) during high volume upper-body resistance exercise (RE) on markers of catabolism and performance. Thirteen resistance trained males completed four experimental trials with supplementation ingesting beverages containing CHO, BCAA, CHO+BCAA, or placebo (PLA) in a randomized, double-blind design. The beverages were ingested in 118 mL servings six times during a ~60 min RE session consisting of bench press, bent-over row, incline press, and close-grip row. Each RE was performed with five sets of repetitions at 65% one-repetition max until volitional fatigue. Blood samples were collected at baseline, immediately and 60-min post-exercise to assess glucose and insulin. Cortisol was assessed immediately and 60-min post exercise. No significant performance benefits were observed for any RE. CHO+BCAA (152.4 ± 71.4 ng/mL) resulted in the lowest cortisol levels, which was lower than BCAA and PLA (193.7 ± 88.5, 182.8 ± 67.5 ng/mL, p