What is the secret to making perpetual progress? Certainly we could debate that topic for days, but let me ask you this. Do you think training balls-to-thewall with 100% intensity and the heaviest weights possible all the time is the key? If we were all machines, the answer would be yes.
In just the past few years, research into the amino acid requirements of athletes has accelerated rapidly. Generally, the findings prove that amino acid intake stimulates protein synthesis after exercise by increasing the availability of protein to muscle tissue. The net effect, for course, is to build and maintain muscle. Other recent findings show that amino acid supplementation enhances energy (particularly when aminos are combined with carbohydrate) and stimulates the release of growth hormone. (1) Further, scientists are recognizing that elderly strength trainers can benefit from amino acid supplements because supplementation has been shown to improve muscle quantity and quality at a time in life when muscle tends to atrophy.
