There are 20 different amino acids, but only nine amino acids are classified as essential: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. They trigger muscle protein synthesis, but since they don’t occur naturally in your body, they must be consumed. We’ve added three more grams for a total of 10 grams.

Branched Chain Amino Acids

Of the nine Essential Amino Acids, three are “branched-chain” which refers to their chemical structure. These are leucine, isoleucine, and valine. These play very specific roles in muscle-building including maximizing anabolic state, reducing muscle breakdown, and lessening post-exercise soreness. We’ve added one more gram for a total of 7 grams.

ESSENTIAL AMINOS

Putting on muscle is a balancing act, pivoting on your ability to adapt to training stress and recover from everything else that life throws at you. A poor diet, pushing your training too hard for too long and factors beyond your control (like a nasty flu virus) can all slam the brakes on your “gains train.” If you want to push towards your recovery limits, you’re going to need an “ace in the hole.”

• Granite Supplements’ Essential Aminos provide a 10g / dose of all the Essential Amino Acids (EAAs) because it’s the dietarily essential [not the non-essential¹] amino acids that trigger muscle protein synthesis^2-4. Leucine (3.5g) sits atop this EAA blend because of its primacy in triggering protein anabolism^5-7. We were sure to focus on the other branched-chain aminos (BCAAs; Isoleucine and Valine at 1.75g each) as well because the BCAAs are known to reduce muscle breakdown and post-exercise soreness and damage^8,9.
• The amounts of the other EAAs blended in Essential Aminos are based on the anabolic EAA mixture used extensively in research^2,10-13, adjusted slightly to take advantage of the anabolic signaling⁶ and insulin-releasing¹⁴ effects of lysine and phenylalanine.
• This power-packed EAA supplement can thus be employed in conjunction with a small amount of carbohydrate (~35g; which could come from our Intra-Carb product) to enhance post-workout protein synthesis^11,15 and gains in muscle mass¹⁶. If you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place with little to no good protein sources, EAA’s can boost the protein-synthetic effect of an otherwise suboptimal protein source, e.g., one that is too small⁷ or otherwise dilute in protein content or lacking in EAAs, such as some plant protein sources¹⁷. You might also use EAA to “bridge” the gap between two widely-spaced meals when you simply can’t slip away to consume a complete protein source or have a meal.