Branch chain amino acids. What do they mean to me?

The branch chain amino acids are amino acids that our bodies cannot produce from other amino acids. These amino acids are essential to muscle growth due to the fact that we are %100 dependent on getting them from our diets and that is the only place they can be derived from. All amino acids are in general are broken down proteins. If you break a protein down to it's smallest component you get amino acids. So they are often referred to as the building blocks of proteins. The three branch chain amino acids are leucine, iso-leucine and valine. The reason that they are referred to as branch chains is because the body can make any other amino acid out of these three. There fore it is essential to get your protein from sources high in these three amino acids in order to have an effective nutrition regiment. Not enough branch chain amino acids equals not enough growth. Unfortunately most sources of protein derived from vegetables are low in this essential amino acid trio. Although it can be higher in certain amino acids that have good effects for other things it still lacks these three in strong levels. So if you are not getting enough good quality animal protein in your diet you need a non vegetable based protein powder to make up the difference. Or someone concerned with vegetarian aspects of there diet could consume milk and eggs in addition to the protein powder to make up the difference. Whatever it is that you do add a strong source of this amino acid trio in somewhere. The bottom line is that if you don't you are only hurting your own progress in the gym.