Goju, regarding BCAAs, write down the target amount (in mg) of Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine per serving (should be about 1500mg for leucine, and 800-1000mg for isoleucine and valine). Write down the number of servings per bottle and compute the cost per serving.

Then shop around to see which one gives you the most bang for your buck. BCAAs are BCAAs and as long as you get the target amounts per serving, the brand doesn't matter.

I for one recommend BCAA Plus by ProLab.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/pl/bcaaplus.html

It's usually one of the cheapest and most convenient bottles. Heck, it's not only cheaper (while delivering comparable amounts of BCAAs per serving), but it also contains Vitamin C and B-6.

Goju, regarding BCAAs, write down the target amount (in mg) of Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine per serving (should be about 1500mg for leucine, and 800-1000mg for isoleucine and valine). Write down the number of servings per bottle and compute the cost per serving.

Then shop around to see which one gives you the most bang for your buck. BCAAs are BCAAs and as long as you get the target amounts per serving, the brand doesn't matter.

I for one recommend BCAA Plus by ProLab.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/pl/bcaaplus.html

It's usually one of the cheapest and most convenient bottles. Heck, it's not only cheaper (while delivering comparable amounts of BCAAs per serving), but it also contains Vitamin C and B-6.

That's WAAAAYYYY cheaper than the bottle I bought.

Although this stuff says "BCAA Ethy Ester is an extremely soluble form of BCAA resulting in significantly better absorption and effectiveness"

I have no idea if that's true though.

Meh, those minor details only count if you are fully engaged in been a manly bodybuilding beefcake, and everything you do in training is for that end.

For most of the people out there who do other sports and for whom weight training is for strenght gains (and not ultimately to be huge), it's not an issue. Use the bottle as prescribed (don't take less than what's indicated, otherwise it won't do quack.)

Same with glutamine, ZMA, l-carnitine, l-arginine, creatine and NO products. For anyone not being a competitive bbuilder, all brands more or less perform the same.

I'd also suggest you buy in bulk from bulknutrition.com, for example, or from Vitamin Shoppe if you have a chain like that in Canada (I payed for an annual membership card, and I save about 15% everytime I shop there.)

myprotein.co.uk is extremely cheap but I'm not sure if they ship internationally

They might, but I wonder the shipping costs could offset the gains in price.

Just for shits and giggles, I did my own atol drink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atole) today using walnuts, pecans and some peanut butter and soy milk.

I took a handful of walnuts and pecans, grinded them into a paste with a coffee grinder, then added it to a 50/50 boiling mix of water and soy milk (about a cup) with some splenda and a spoon of peanut butter.

It came out great and I may do use this as my morning drink -I may add some tofu and blueberries beaten to a pulp, a bit of barley, don't know yet. The whole thing took me about 5 minutes to make.

Maybe you guys may find this idea useful as a way to increase your options for a morning quick meal. It has no animal protein (unless you use cow milk), but has a good amount of protein, good fats and fiber.

Sounds good mate!

Yesterday I had Powdered Oats, Chocolate whey and Peanut Butter. It tasted like peanut M&M's :)

Here's a question on this BCAA stuff, should I take it on days when I am not doing anything physical?

Depends on your diet. If you are eating plenty of meat and protein shakes, you could get away with only taking it after your workouts (or in the morning afters at the latest.)

Otherwise, it'd be better if you take it at least 5 times a week.

Question for for you El Macho: Between Prolab's BCAA Plus and AllMax' Leutor-70 the cost relative to Leucine content seems even but the other ingredients are slightly different: Leutor-70 has KIS. Which do you think is a more effective formula?


http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/all/leu.html

Let's assume the current discount prices for both products ($39.99 for 30 servings of Leutor-70 and $17.99 for 30 servings of BCAA Plus) remain as such. Also, let's ignore all other ingredients and look only at the BCAAs.

The basic breakdown is as follows:

BCAA Plus (30 servings)

$0.59/serving of 3.780g of BCAAs or $0.1561/g

Leutor-70 (30 servings)

$1.33/serving of 8.2g of BCAAs or $0.1622/g

Gram by gram of BCAAs, they are comparable in price. I'd still go with BCAA Plus because it's a cheaper bottle (because it contains more than half per serving that Leutor-70.)

Remember what you are using BCAAs (and supplements in general) for - to recover and remain healthy while you are doing your MAs. For that, this is sufficient, and you can always take additional caps and buy an additional bottle if you wish so. Gram by gram, they are of the same price.

That's what I'd do. I'd like to keep it simple and within budget as much as possible.

However, if my main goal were to optimize muscle and strenght gains (but primarily muscle gains), then I would need to go with the higher end products (which are just the same as the cheaper ones, but just happen to contain more grams of the good ****.)

Keep in mind what your goals are, eat well and keep it simple. These three points will keep your expenses within budget.