While many are aware how important protein is in body building, not too many are aware about the important sources of proteins.  Proteins consist of smaller units commonly called amino acids.  The amino acids are often heard of but not fully understood. 

Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxyl.  Twenty of these acids function as protein building blocks.  Among these are valine, tyrosine, tryptophan, threonine, methionine, serine, proline, phenalanine, glycine, lysine, leucine, isoleucine, histidine, glutamic acid, cysteine, aspartic acid, glutamine, asparagine, arginine and alanine.

Aside from being protein building blocks of the body, standard forms of amino acids help in the manufacture of raw materials for cellular products and hormones.  Every body builder knows the importance of cellular metabolism in body building and all these are possible because of amino acids. 

Most of the body building supplements available today have the amino acid contents in it.  These dietary protein supplements are important not only in building body tissues but also in repairing worn out tissues caused by exhaustive trainings.  These also help speed up the body’s chemical reaction.  From the food that you eat, the body enzymes break the protein contents into amino acids. These are carried to the bloodstream and from there, these are passed to the cells to help build and repair tissues.

Amino acids provide more energy to the body as every gram of protein has four calories of energy.  If ordinary athletes require at least thirty grams of protein, body builders require over two hundred grams of protein every day.  Over dosage of protein is not beneficial to the body because this may result to overloading of your liver. 

Intake of protein supplies the body with adequate amount of amino acid that rebuilds damaged tissues caused by hard trainings. However, you should know that while your body requires at least twenty kinds of these amino acids, the body in sufficient quantities could not produce nine or eight of these. This is especially true when you engage yourself in body building activities because your body requires more than what your body normally needs.  Thus, foods and dietary supplements are there to provide you with adequate amounts of amino acids.

It is likewise important to maintain a balance of intake of carbohydrates, proteins and liquids.  Taking in much protein without adequate fluid will be useless because fluid facilitates the better digestion of protein in the body.