I was ready to feel (and look) like my strong self again. Here’s what happened during my 30-day self-imposed challenge.
I went to CrossFit five days per week and put one (7.7-gram) scoop of Thorne’s amino acid supplement into at least eight ounces of water (as Thorne recommends) for 30 days.
1. Learning the best time to take the amino acid supp required some trial and error.
I’ve never been into pre-workout supplements because many of them have caffeine, and I’m an evening exerciser, so I figured they’d keep me up at night. However, amino acid supplements are different, and most don’t contain caffeine. One of the best times to take them is shortly before a workout because they can increase blood flow, says Stangland.
Plus, taking an amino acid supplement with at least one gram of the branched-chain amino acid leucine before exercise can support muscle protein synthesis, per 2017 research in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Each scoop of Thorne’s amino acid supp has 1.25 grams of leucine—so, I committed to taking it before workouts.
On the first day, I added a single scoop to my 16-ounce water bottle and sipped the mocktail during my 30-minute commute to the gym. Unfortunately, I felt like I spent that first CrossFit workout peeing, rather than power-cleaning, because my body wasn’t accustomed to consuming that much fluid before class.
The next time, I mixed the scoop into just eight ounces of water. I only had to use the bathroom twice during class—which is still a lot—but the flavor of the supp was much more concentrated. With more water, the supp tasted like lemonade, but with less, it tasted more like a Lemonhead candy drop, which I didn’t enjoy at all.
After the first two days of classes interrupted by bathroom breaks, I consulted my other options for timing: I could either sip the supp during my workout, which would allow the mixture to act like a mid-workout fuel source (like a run gel), or I could drink it after exercise to support my recovery, Stangland says.
I decided to get the best of both worlds by sipping about a third of the bev on the way to the gym, another third of it mid-workout, and then finishing it during dinner, which allowed me to see benefits throughout the day. (More on that below).
2. I slept like a baby.
I’ve never had trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. So I didn’t think it was possible for any supplement to make my sleep even better—and yet, this amino acid supp did: Morning after morning, I was amazed by just how much deep and REM sleep had registered on my Garmin. For context, I usually try to get eight to nine hours of sleep. While I used to get 60 to 90 minutes of both deep and REM sleep, within one week of starting supplementation, I began to get more than two hours each.
I credit this to the tryptophan—the sleep-time compound in turkey, and an amino acid in my Thorne supp. According to a 2022 review in Nutrition Reviews, consuming one gram or more of tryptophan before bed can shorten wake after sleep onset. And 2024 research in Nutrients suggests a connection between higher tryptophan intake and improved sleep quality overall.
Let me be clear: One scoop of my Thorne supp only contained 20 milligrams (or .02 grams) of tryptophan, and there isn’t any scientific research on the impact of an amount that small on sleep. However, anecdotally, it was sufficient for making my sleep even better.
3. I wasn’t as pooped from my workouts as I expected.
Despite the fact that I was exercising more—not to mention, lifting heavier and moving faster during classes—than I had in months, there was never a point during this challenge where I was sidelined by muscle soreness.
I like to think that consuming more amino acids plays a role, as they can “help prevent muscle breakdown and provide faster recovery,” says exercise physiologist and registered dietician Jim White, ACSM-EP, CPT, RDN, the owner of Jim White Fitness & Nutrition Studios. So, it makes sense that my muscles recovered faster in between workouts, helping me feel better prepared with more energy for future ones.
4. After 4 weeks, I noticed changes to my body composition.
Even though leucine can increase muscle protein synthesis, per 2020 research in Nutrients, I wasn’t convinced I’d notice any changes to my body composition—especially after just four weeks. But on one morning at the tail-end of my challenge, I passed by the mirror wearing a sports bra and boxers, and—while I’m not quite as cut as I once was—I’m definitely noticing more muscle tone in my core, back, butt, and legs.
Sadly, there is no such thing as a magic cure for quickly gaining muscle or moving on post-break-up, but committing to this challenge had sorcerous benefits in those domains after a long hard winter. After four weeks of doing CrossFit five times per week and supplementing with amino acids every day, I began sleeping more deeply, recovering efficiently, and getting muscle back. Sure, this could’ve been partly due to the placebo effect, but getting back to my regular routine and adding this fun supplement was a great way to kickstart my journey back to myself.
With amino acid supplementation and my new workout schedule, I’m happy to report that I look and feel like myself again—and I’m just getting started. Mission me, accomplished.
Meet the experts: Jenna Stangland, RD, CDDS, is a registered and board-certified sports dietician, the director of nutrition for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the co-founder of A4 Health. Jim White, ACSM-EP, CPT, RDN, is an exercise physiologist, registered dietician, and the owner of Jim White Fitness & Nutrition Studios.
Gabrielle Kassel (she/her) is a sex and wellness journalist who writes at the intersection of queerness, sexual health, and pleasure. In addition to Women’s Health, her work has appeared in publications such as Shape, Cosmopolitan, Well+Good, Health, Self, Men’s Health, Greatist, and more! In her free time, Gabrielle can be found coaching CrossFit, reviewing pleasure products, hiking with her border collie, or recording episodes of the podcast she co-hosts called