That's all well & good for the athlete but for me it's usually more of an issue, as when they bring something in that looks & smells great, I'm often long overdue my meal time, thus making me more hungry or if they have to consume the less palatable items, they normally look & smell terrible, which makes me feel somewhat nauseous!  One such example is the amino acid complex that many of our track & field athletes have to drink after their weights sessions - believe me, the smell alone makes you gag.

However, a recent review article by Churchward et al (2012) from McMaster University in Canada, illustrates why amino acid supplementation is so critical when an athlete is needing to produce lean muscle mass.  The authors state that the provision of dietary amino acids increases muscle protein synthesis & that this effect is enhanced by prior resistance training. They also highlight the importance of the timing of the protein intake, the type of dietary protein consumed, the role of leucine (which is considered to be the key anabolic amino acid) & the impact of other macronutrients, particularly carbohydrate, on the regulation of muscle protein synthesis following resistance exercise.

I have just had time to skim read the paper before heading off to the Alexander Stadium for this afternoon's Diamond League meet but will take the time to read through it in more depth later in the week.  In the meantime, click on the link below to read the article:

In the meantime, look out for the results of this afternoon's Diamond League meet, which includes races from Mo (Farah), Chrissy (Ohuruogu), Carmelita Jeter, Aries Merritt, Tyson Gay & Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.  Robbie (Grabarz) takes on the same high jump competition as battled it out in Lausanne & Greg (Rutherford) & Chris (Tomlinson) lead the GB charge against the rest of the long jump field.  Promises to be a great day.