Review of Jarrow BCAA Complex with L-Glutamine and B6, 120 Capsules

This supplement contains all three of the proteinogenic amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Those are the ones that are important for building new muscle.

L-Glutamine is not a branched chain amino acid, but it is the most abundant single amino acid in human blood. It also comprises 61% of the amino acid pool in skeletal muscle. Supplementation with L-Glutamine dramatically reduces recovery time. When I first tried it, I did so on the advice of a professional athlete (an All-Star Wrestler I met by happenstance).

At the time, performing front squats would leave me massively sore for about 10 days. In fact, during the first couple of days following squats I could hardly walk. Not only did my quads and hamstrings hurt, but my abs and ribcage were tender (doing these properly, you work far more than your quads). There was also the problem of feeling totally wasted until a few days passed; this was a huge productivity hit plus I just did not like feeling that way. So I did squats once a month and sometimes skipped a month.

With the L-Glutamine, all this went away. It's like some kind of shield that prevents massive teardown, if taken daily. This allowed me to stimulate, not annihilate my muscles. I was having a similar problem with calf-raises, which L-Glutamine solved.

But you also need amino acids for your body to build muscle. When branched chain amino acid supplements first hit the bodybuilding world, the reaction was electric. It was possible, for the first time, to get the key components of proteins without the calories of proteins. And it worked. Bodybuilders kept reporting that they were recovering faster, getting more shredded, and adding more muscle while on BCAAs then when off of them. Most decided there was never a reason to go off of them, and the practice of post workout supplementation with BCAAs became widespread.

So here was something completely natural, completely harmless, and completely effective. Combining that with L-Glutamine, as Jarrow has done, improves recovery even more. And to maximize absorption of these four amino acids (so you don't waste your money), they added B6.

I've long supplemented with these same "muscle materials", just not in one convenient capsule form. I train 5 or 6 days a week, plus I climb and practice martial arts. And I've not missed a single workout in over 40 years. For me, recovery isn't something to leave to chance. A diet consisting mainly of the "super foods" and totally excluding processed "food" is my foundation. But I also supplement.

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