Leucine, by far, is the gold standard for bodybuilders who love the supplement and rightly so. For them, it is ‘the amino acid’ supplement which helps them grow big and strong muscle and enjoy the visible effects later.
Then, why do we still need to discuss the topic-leucine benefits or leucine supplement benefits? Well, aren’t you curious to know more about this muscle supplement? For the old and the fit to the new six-pack abs builders, it is good to know how leucine continues to benefit the muscles and overall health.
One, it is not about gaining muscles only as much as it is about sustaining strong muscular structural strength and two, of course, it helps you build muscles because it is associated with an increase in workout endurance, or overall muscle framework strength when you indulge in strenuous exercising.
To be able to understand why you need the recommended Leucine dosage in your supplement pack, you and I, need to know the science of it and we do it, by listing the various leucine supplement benefits and its mechanism. If you love the supplement, as much as I do, read on.
Why Leucine is important
It is because almost 8 percent of human body’s protein structure is composed of L-leucine. It is also predominant in our muscle tissue, forming a high concentration of amino acid in muscles.
The fact that other amino acids in the body cannot deliver until you consume enough proportion of L-leucine makes it indispensable. This is one of the most important L-leucine supplement benefits.
Now, you see me mentioning L-leucine a lot. It is because L-leucine is the natural form of the amino acid deposits in the proteins of the body. D-leucine, on the other hand, is a laboratory make, created exactly like its natural form and used as a supplement therefore.
1) L-leucine benefits include regulating muscle protein synthesis
It is the principal amino acid for actioning protein production in the muscles and the whole body. It also negates factors like muscle waste by ensuring optimum utilisation of protein supplements in the muscles. Basically, it activates complete protein synthesis of skeletal muscle tissue, to create a positive protein balance inside the body and reduce the level of protein breakdown after a hard workout.
There is a scientific reason behind how L-leucine benefits by stimulating anabolism in muscle.
It does so by activating a critical compound in muscle called mTor, which is a muscle-generating pathway. Leucine initiates recycling or regulation of protein synthesis in muscles. While protein supplements improve protein synthesis in muscles because of the ‘extra’ protein feed, leucine, on the other hand, reactivates the complete process and further increases protein synthesis rate.
Similar Article: What is Leucine, For What is it Used and its Side Effects
2) Leucine helps in maintaining nitrogen balance
A positive nitrogen balance is necessary for faster recovery post workout. Proteins contain nitrogen and it is important to have a good nitrogen balance in which, the nitrogen intake exceeds the nitrogen outburst after heavy exercising.
A positive nitrogen balance can be maintained by taking more amino acids and supplements. Since leucine is the fourth highest protein component and prevents protein breakdown, it is an essential part of the muscle recovery process.
3) Leucine benefits include fuelling energy under stressful training
BCAAs including leucine benefits the muscle fibres by directly supplying energy. It is a very dependable energy source, especially during intense weight training hours.
L-leucine supplement benefits the most post workout. It is like an ignition of a car because leucine plays a leading role in muscle growth by re-activating protein synthesis in the muscles.
4) Leucine supplement benefits include preserving muscle glycogen
Leucine also aids release of alanine, which is key to balancing glucose and nitrogen in muscle. During strengthening exercise, there is a significant drop in leucine level and therefore, reduction in glycogen levels as well.
This is where the role of Leucine supplement benefits steps in exactly. Even though protein supplements like whey contain leucine, the exact percentage of leucine may vary, somewhere between 5-10%. During intense workouts, you necessarily need leucine supplement to prevent protein degradation. It also has a positive impact of replenishment of depleting muscle glycogen stores.
5) Leucine benefits include reducing muscle wasting
Like I mentioned earlier, leucine benefits by regulating the supply of protein in the muscles and the whole body. If you don’t consume Leucine, the protein you consume is not monitored inside your body or in other words, it lies wasted.
To explain you the relevance of leucine supplements better, you need to know, how a deficiency of it can affect us.
If you have a leucine deficiency in the body, you are not making the best use of the supplement feeds in your diet. It is not just limited to the fact. It also means that the muscle tissue is not generated during the intense training sessions we do. All the sweat and demanding work goes waste.
On the contrary, a deficiency of leucine causes catabolism. It shows its affect in form of low performance and building of fatty tissue. The only sensible thing to do is to enjoy the many L-leucine benefits and make the best use of the ‘protein’ your body needs and is fed with, through the gym supplements use.
Conclusion
It is easy to draw a conclusion because we need the wide variety of gym supplements to benefit our health or performance as a part of our workout regimen. Now, if we are not putting it into effective use-what use it is then? We are consuming poison as we continue loading our body with all sorts of fancy gym supplement ingredients when we don’t need really it.
Having said that, I do not mean to confuse you with the fact that why and when you need to reap the L-leucine supplement benefits. You need to increase the consumption of leucine (through a clean supplement) only during intense workouts to get that sculpted muscles or body shape.
Otherwise, the normal dosage of Leucine can be sourced from fruits and vegetables, which you anyways take care of.
Leucine is for the maximum use of protein in our muscles so that you don’t have to deal with a mess up later, right?
