Research

Hormonal

BCAA supplementation significantly increases strength gains (specifically bench press and squat 1RM) in men undergoing resistance training, with greater magnitude than in women.

If you are a male recreational weightlifter, adding a BCAA supplement (2.5g Leucine, 1.25g Isoleucine, 1.25g Valine daily) to your 4-day/week resistance training program may help you lift more weight, particularly in the bench press and squat, compared to training without it. This benefit appears stronger in men than in women.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Strength gains were prominent, especially in men, with a 10% increase in bench press maximum observed in the BCAA group... For men, significant differences were noted in 1-RM squat... 1-RM on the bench press... and for 1-RM deadlift...
Antonella Muscella et al. · Sports · 2024

Why this rating

RCT with blinding and statistical significance.

Source

Sex-Based Effects of Branched-Chain Amino Acids on Strength Training Performance and Body Composition

Antonella Muscella et al. · Sports · 2024

DOI 10.3390/sports12100275

rct · n=100Cited 9×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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