ZMA or BCAAs?

Payne

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Basically, i've come into a little bit of extra cash, and i've always wanted to try ZMA, and BCAAs. I order my supplements online, and I have enough for one of the two.

What should I try out? and what would be better for me?

I'm 29, trying to lose weight, i work out 5 days a week. Pretty good diet for the most part. I realize I might not have given much info on me, and if more is needed to make a choice, just ask and i'll reply.

Mostly just curious to see what people on here feel is a better way to spend money between the two.
 
zma if you want to start a lucid dreaming program and get freaky with the spirit world with a dream guide. But I would say bcaas.
 
I would not recommend ZMA. It gave me crazy dreams and left me feeling tired and hazy in the morning.
 
I heard from a few people about the dream thing. what kinda crazy dreams are we talking about?
 
I heard from a few people about the dream thing. what kinda crazy dreams are we talking about?

I had a Resident Evil type dream where I was killing zombies and demons. Woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed.
 
jesus! i just get very lucid real type dreams,but mostly if i take a nap or sleep later in teh day, at night nada,but then of course i try not to dream at night, always was abd dreams..found booze helped that some nights.
 
ZMA worked really well for me the first few weeks dreamwise, then the dreams subsided. I still feel really refreshed though, why not both?
 
I'd say BCAAs.

ZMA i do take though, but i gave up taking it at nigh cos it fucked up my sleep, too vivid dreams and wake up feeling rubbish and hazy liek someone else said. I do take ZMA most mornings tho when I wake up (as stil on an empty stomach).
 
I take ZMA and never dream, or never recall my dreams, what the hell am I doing wrong? lol.
 
they are two totally different supps, but i prefer to get a really deep sleep so i would go with the zma. yes, you get some dreams, but you do wake up a lot more refreshed and alert on zma than off zma.

bcaas are also solid supps, but mainly are used pwo unless you are one of those people who wants to sip them throughout the day.
 
youre more likely to be magnesium and zinc deficient than to need the marginal benefits from BCAA supplementation.

ZMA
 
For me the first 1-2 weeks on ZMA I had very vivid dreams, more memorable than normal. Not bad dreams, but a bit wierd, I had a dream about waterslides inside a giant sauna one night. I wake up feeling a lot more refreshed these days. On a Saturday night I go to bed around 12.30 and get up at 7am Sunday - those 6 and a half hours sleep on ZMA leaves me in a better state than 10 hours sleep off ZMA. It's a feeling that lasts too, by 1pm Sunday I used to be knackered and acheing for work to finish, then nap on the train home. Now I'm good until bed time.

Go for ZMA.
 
you can't afford not to have both in your supplement arsenal. . .
 
youre more likely to be magnesium and zinc deficient than to need the marginal benefits from BCAA supplementation.

ZMA

Marginal benefits? You're joking right? This isn't even a question. If you're worried about making a choice between these two, go buy a 5.00 bottle of zinc from now foods, will last you 2-3 months. I'd take the BCAA's 10 times out of 10 in this case, especially if you're cutting or over training.
 
Marginal benefits? You're joking right? This isn't even a question. If you're worried about making a choice between these two, go buy a 5.00 bottle of zinc from now foods, will last you 2-3 months. I'd take the BCAA's 10 times out of 10 in this case, especially if you're cutting or over training.

I personally feel like the benefits to BCAA supplementation are marginal, and are most beneficial to an elite athlete - provided the diet is in check.

A decent diet with adequate protein intake is far more likely to be deficient in zinc and magnesium than to require BCAA supplementation.

But more importantly, like you suggested - both these supplements are incredibly cheap. You can get both for between $30 to $40. I find it hard to believe someone has $20 to spare but not $40. If its that important to the OP, he should get both.
 
I personally feel like the benefits to BCAA supplementation are marginal, and are most beneficial to an elite athlete - provided the diet is in check.

A decent diet with adequate protein intake is far more likely to be deficient in zinc and magnesium than to require BCAA supplementation.

But more importantly, like you suggested - both these supplements are incredibly cheap. You can get both for between $30 to $40. I find it hard to believe someone has $20 to spare but not $40. If its that important to the OP, he should get both.

I agree. BCAA"s have there place, we use them daily in our sealfit classes and trianing for endurance events, along with other goodies:icon_chee

As mentioned about zma, basically almost EVERY athlete that has come to our gym and trained with us has been magnesium defficient.
 
Marginal benefits? You're joking right? This isn't even a question. If you're worried about making a choice between these two, go buy a 5.00 bottle of zinc from now foods, will last you 2-3 months. I'd take the BCAA's 10 times out of 10 in this case, especially if you're cutting or over training.

BTW if you are overtraining, BCAA's won't help you. Ways that you employ recovery will. Most often it is under recovery, not over training.
 
I'd say BCAAs.

ZMA i do take though, but i gave up taking it at nigh cos it fucked up my sleep, too vivid dreams and wake up feeling rubbish and hazy liek someone else said. I do take ZMA most mornings tho when I wake up (as stil on an empty stomach).

I don't know why but ZMA fucks up my sleep too. I become a VERY light sleeper when I'm on it. Even if I'm not woken by a pin drop, I will wake up automatically at 4AM or so then find it hard to get back to sleep. I can't sleep more than 6-7 hours on ZMA, it's just impossible. It's a shame too because like Vedic said, a lot of athletes are magnesium deficient (even though I'm not an athlete).

When I go off ZMA, I sleep through the night and get 8 hours no problem. So my full bottle of primaforce zma is just sitting there. :icon_neut
 
A lot of people talk about the dreams, and I get them as well. However I have found, when l-dopa is in the mix, i don't get them as bad. never researched as to why, so maybe I will have to look into it.
 
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