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The effects of leucine and whey protein supplementation with eight weeks of
resistance training on strength and body composition

Article  in  The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness · February 2020

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.20.09742-X

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© 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2020 mese;60(0):000–000
Online version at http://www.minervamedica.it DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.20.09742-X

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
B O D Y C O M P O S I T I O N , N U T R I T I O N A N D S U P P L E M E N TAT I O N

The effects of leucine and whey protein

supplementation with eight weeks of resistance
training on strength and body composition

F
Jelena OBRADOVIĆ, Mila VUKADINOVIĆ JURIŠIĆ, Dušan RAKONJAC *

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Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia

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*Corresponding author: Dušan Rakonjac, Faculty of Sport and Phyisical Education, University of Novi Sad, Lovćenska 16, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia.
E-mail: rakonjac992@gmail.com

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A B S T RAC T

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BACKGROUND: In past few decades, supplementation has become very popular within professional and recreational athletes. Most interested
among supplements are protein and amino acids. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of leucine supplementation
in comparison to whey protein supplementation with placebo group on strength and body composition during 8 weeks of resistance training
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program.
METHODS: Thirty male college athletes (mean age±SD =23.92±1.54 years) participated in this investigation and were randomly assigned to
one of three groups: whey protein (WP, N.=10), leucine (LEU, N.=10) or placebo (PLA, N.=10). The WP, LEU and PLA performed resistance
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training for 8 weeks. Strength (1RM bench press, squat, shoulder press) and maximum pull-ups and body composition has been assessed and
data was analyzed with mixed-design analysis of variance (P≤0.01).
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RESULTS: The WP group achieved significantly greater (P≤0.01) increases in 1RM bench press than the LEU and PLA groups (+16 kg for WP;
+ 7.5 kg for LEU and + 5 kg for PLA). The LEU group achieved significantly greater gains (P≤0.01) in fat free mass, muscle mass and signifi-
cantly decreases (P≤0.01) in fat mass compared to WP and PLA groups.
CONCLUSIONS: Whey protein supplementation in male collegiate athletes during resistance training achieved greater increase in strength than
leucine and placebo groups, and leucine group achieved significantly greater improvement in body composition than whey protein and placebo
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groups.
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(Cite this article as: Obradović J, Vukadinović Jurišić M, Rakonjac D. The effects of leucine and whey protein supplementation with eight weeks of
resistance training on strength and body composition. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 2020;60:000-000. DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.20.09742-X)
Key words: Resistance training; Proteins; Amino acids, essential.
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R esistance training has been shown to improve

strength,1 hypertrophy2 and body composition includ-
ing decreases in fat mass and increases fat free mass.1
protein synthesis.6, 7 Authors8 recommend 3 g of leucine as
a safe dose when it is consumed orally, and a similar dose
(4-5 g) have been reported to increase the muscle protein
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Muscle protein synthesis must exceed muscle protein ca-
tabolism, therefore amino acid availability is the key fac-
tor in synthesis protein in muscles for hypertrophy.3 Sig-
nificant decreases in amino acids have been found during
resistance training, particularly leucine.4 However, oral
consumption of leucine or other amino acids before and
during resistance training, prevent the decline of amino
acids in the muscles3, 5 and significantly increases muscle
synthesis in young subjects.8
Leucine is powerful stimulator of muscle protein syn-
thesis, and it was recently shown that leucine conjunction
with protein could further improve muscle protein syn-
thesis.9 Given these findings Coburn et al.3 found greater
increases in the muscle strength among young men who
had supplementation of whey protein (20 g) combined
with leucine (6.2 g/d) compared to placebo group (26.2 g

Vol. 60 - No. ?? The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 1

OBRADOVIĆ EFFECTS OF LEUCINE SUPPLEMENTATION IN STRENGTH AND BODY COMPOSITION
of maltodextrin) after 8 weeks of resistance training. Fur-
thermore, supplementing with 40 g whey protein and 3 g
of leucine during 10 weeks resistance training improve-
ments body composition in male athletes.10 On the other
side, consuming only whey protein (35 g hydrolyzed) with
12 weeks resistance training increased skeletal muscle
mass and upper limp lean soft tissue in older women.11 In
addition, Nabuco et al.12 found that whey protein supple-
mentation combined with 12-week resistance training in-
crease in intracellular water and lean soft tissue and also
reduction extracellular/intracellular water ratio in pre-
conditioned older women. On the population of younger
participants (13 male recreational body builders) Cribb et
al.13 demonstrated that whey isolate (1.5 g/kg body wt/d)
conjunction with 10-week of resistance training improve
strength, and decrease fat mass (-1.5±0.5kg). In addition,
Burke et al..14 found increases in body composition (lean
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tissues mass) and muscular strength (knee extension peak
torque) in males (18-31 years) who received whey protein
(1.2g/kg body mass/day) supplementation in combined
with 12-week resistance training. Given the results of re-
cent studies,3, 10-14 it is possible that supplementing with
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whey protein may be confounded by experimental factors
such as resistance training mode, subjects, training status,
outcome measures and supplementation strategy.15 How-
ever, no studies have examined separate effects of leucine
compared with whey protein during resistance training on
strength and body composition in young male collage ath-
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letes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the
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effects of leucine (LEU) in comparison with whey protein
(WP) and placebo (PLA) on strength and body composi-
tion during 8 weeks of resistance training program.
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Materials and methods
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Participants
Thirty young male college athletes (23.92±1.54 years) vol-
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unteered for this study, and they were untrained in resis-
tance training. Untrained was defined as not having partici-
pated in a resistance training program for at least 90 days
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before the start of the research. The subjects were randomly
assigned to 1 of 3 groups: 1) leucine group (LEU, N.=10;
age 23±6; body height 177.6±4.2; body mass 78.8±3.12);
2) whey protein group (WP, N.=10; age 23±4; body height
178.3±5.0; body mass 79.5±3.36); and 3) placebo group
(PLA, N.=10; age 23±4; body height 178.1±4.1; body mass
78.3±2.98). LEU group orally consumed 5 g of leucine dis-
solved in 200 mL every day for 8 weeks. In this particu-
lar study, 5 grams of leucine was used as a dose, because
2 The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness Mese 2020
this dose has been reported to increase the muscle protein
synthesis in young subjects.8, 16 WP group consumed 1g/kg
whey protein for eight weeks of resistance training. PLA
group were consumed 10 g maltodextrin for eight weeks.
Participants in all groups were subscribed for students
cafeteria University of Novi Sad during training protocol.
Menu was constructed on recommendation by Ministry of
Republic of Serbia and assumes caloric value of three meals
was approximately 2200 kCal. The study was designed in
accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki17 of the World
Medical Association. The study was also reviewed and ap-
proved by Ethics Committee of Faculty of Sport and Physi-
cal Education, University of Novi Sad.
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Testing protocol
The participants underwent test assessments in an indoor
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stadium. Before each testing, the participants performed
standard 15 minutes warm-up. During the test, the air tem-
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perature ranged from 23 to 25 ºC. The testing began at 8
AM and finished by 1PM (standard anthropometry (height
and body mass), body composition and muscular strength).
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All pre- and post-training testing procedures were com-
pleted in the same order, spaced 8 weeks apart. The par-
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ticipants were instructed not to be involved in strenuous
exercise for at least 24 hours before the strength testing
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and consume their normal pre training diet before the test-
ing session. None of the subjects were injured 6 months
before the initial testing and during the training program.
All participants (LEU, N.=10; WP, N.=10; PLA, N.=10)
who began 12-week training program (4-week familiariza-
tion period and 8-week resistance training program) com-
pleted the study. All groups had similar (P>0.05) baseline
anthropometric characteristics.
Anthropometrics
Body height (BH) was measured to the nearest 0.1 cm us-
ing Martin anthropometer (GPM in Switzerland), while
body mass (BW) was obtained to the nearest 0.1 kg using
calibrated balance beam (Avery Ltd, Model 3306 ABV).
Body composition parameters were assessed by Bioelec-
trical Impedance Analysis (BIA) (Maltron Bioscan 920
– 2 (BioScan 920-2, Made in UK).18 Total body electri-
cal impedance to an alternate current (800 μamp) with fre-
quencies 50 kHz was measured. Measurements were taken
followed by the standard testing manual of Maltron Inter-
national.19 The following parameters of the body composi-
tion are fat free mass (kg) (FFM [kg]), fat free mass (%)
(FFM [%]), fat mass (kg) (FM [kg]), fat mass (%) (FM
[%]), muscle mass (kg) (MM), total body water (TBW).
EFFECTS OF LEUCINE SUPPLEMENTATION IN STRENGTH AND BODY COMPOSITION OBRADOVIĆ

Strength (+16 kg or +18%; ES=1.60) compared to LEU group (+7.5

During testing (before and after 8 weeks resistance train-
ing) participants performed one-repetition-maximum
(1RM) for bench press, squat, shoulder press and maxi-
mum pull-ups.20
Training program
kg or +8.15%; ES=0.49) and PLA group (+5 kg or +5.46%;
ES=0.43) (Figure 1, 2, 3, 4). In other variable (1RM squat,
1RM shoulder press and pull-up max) no significant dif-
ferences were observed between the groups (P≥0.01).
120

After familiarization period (four weeks), all participants

Bench press 1 RM (kg)

100

followed the same resistance training for eight weeks (4 80

days/ weeks; 3-4 sets of 10-12 repetitions. The load ranged 60
from 80-95% of the 1 repetition maximum. Participants
40
were trained four days per week (Monday, Tuesday, Thurs-

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day and Friday). Briefly, split system has been used. First 20

training involved chest and biceps musculature and included 0

LEU WP PLA
six different exercise; second training involved back and tri-

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Pre Post
ceps musculature and included six different exercise; third

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training involved shoulder and legs musculature included Figure 1.—Bench press 1RM strength pre- and post-training with sup-

six different exercise.20 Qualified staff (teaching assistants)
attended the training sessions and monitored the work of the
participants. The total time of one training session for each
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plementation leucine (LEU), whey protein (WP), and placebo (PLA).
Values are means±SD.
*Significant change from pre- to post-training (P≤0.01); †significantly
greater change in WP group than the LEU and PLA groups (P≤0.01).

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participant was approximately 90-120 min (Supplementary
Digital Material 1: Supplementary Text File 1).
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120

Statistical analysis
E 100
Squat 1RM (kg)

80
All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS pro-
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60
gram (version 21.0) (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). De-
scriptive statistics and Shapiro-Wilks (normality of dis- 40
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tribution) tests were calculated for all experimental data 20

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before inferential testing. Data were expressed as mean 0

LEU WP PLA
values±standard deviation. A mixed factorial design ANO-
VA (3 x 2) was used to test for interactions and main effects Pre Post

for group (WP, LEU and PLA) and time (initial vs. final) on
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Figure 2.—Squat 1RM strength pre- and post-training with supplemen-

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the dependent variables. ES was classified as follows: <0.2 tation leucine (LEU), whey protein (WP), and placebo (PLA).
Values are means±SD.
was defined as trivial; 0.2-0.6 was defined as small; 0.6- *Significant change from pre- to post-training (P≤0.01).
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1.2 was defined as moderate; 1.2-2.0 was defined as large;

>2.0 was defined as very large; and >4.0 was defined as ex-
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tremely large.21 Statistical significance was set at P<0.01. 120

100
Squat 1RM (kg)

Results 80
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60
Strength 40

There was no significant group x time interaction for 1RM 20

squat, 1RM shoulder press and pull-up max (P≥0.01). 0

LEU WP PLA
However, significant group x time interaction was ob-
served in 1RM bench press (P≤0.01). Paired-samples t-test Pre Post

analysis indicated that all groups increased strength with Figure 3.—Shoulder press 1RM strength pre- and post-training with
supplementation leucine (LEU), whey protein (WP), and placebo (PLA).
training (pre to post) (P≤0.01). After 8 weeks of training Values are means±SD.
1RM bench press was significantly greater in WP group *Significant change from pre- to post-training (P≤0.01).

Vol. 60 - No. ?? The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 3

OBRADOVIĆ EFFECTS OF LEUCINE SUPPLEMENTATION IN STRENGTH AND BODY COMPOSITION

20 strength was improved markedly more after eight weeks

18 of resistance training and whey protein in comparison to
16
14
leucine and placebo groups.
Previous investigations have reported no significant
Pull-up max

12
10 changes in muscular strength after 4 weeks of the training
8
6
program in the group that consumed amino acids (0.4 g/kg
4 body weight with 27.2g of leucine per 100 g of amino ac-
2 ids) than group that consumed cellulose (placebo).22 Also,
0
increases in the muscle strength has been found among
LEU WP PLA
young men who underwent whey protein (20 g) combined
Pre Post
with leucine (6.2 g/d) supplementation compared to a pla-
Figure 4.—Pull-up max strength pre- and post-training with supplemen- cebo group (26.2 g of maltodextrin) after 8 weeks of resis-
tation leucine (LEU), whey protein (WP), and placebo (PLA).
tance training.3

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Values are means±SD.
*Significant change from pre- to post-training (P≤0.01). This study demonstrated that leucine supplementation
(5 g/day) alone does not promote any additional effects
Body composition on muscle strength during 8 weeks of resistance training

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compared with whey protein supplementation in young
There were significant interaction in groups x time for
O male adults. These results concur with results in other

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FFM (%), FM (kg) and MM (kg) (P<0.01). After 8 weeks studies.23-25 It can be noticed that supplementation with
of resistance training LEU group achieved greater increas- leucine (3 g/day) combined with 8 weeks of resistance
es in FFM (%), MM and decrease in FM (kg), FM (%) training does not improve muscular strength in untrained

compared to the WP and PLA groups. Also, the WP group
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achieved a higher FM (kg) and FM (%) reduction com-
pared to the PLA group. In the WP, LEU and PLA groups,
there were no significant changes in TBW (Table I).
Discussion
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young subjects.25 In one research, 7.5 g/day leucine sup-
plementation has no additional effects on muscle strength
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in healthy elderly men.23 Twelve weeks resistance train-
ing with 3 g leucine does not improve muscular strength
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in previously untrained college-aged males.24 However,
supplementing with whey protein (1 g/kg) during 8 weeks
of resistance training has been shown to have a positive

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect on muscular strength compared to leucine with re-
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effects of leucine in comparison with whey protein and
placebo supplementation on strength and body composi-
tion during eight weeks of resistance training in young
male adults. The major findings of this study were that
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sistance training. It was observed a significant increase
in 1RM bench press (+8.2 kg) in untrained healthy sub-
jects supplementing with whey protein during 6 weeks of
resistance training program.26 There was also noted im-

eight weeks of resistance training with leucine supplemen- provements in 1RM bench press after 8 weeks of resis-
tation cause improvements in body composition rather tance training combined with 48 g whey protein and 5.5
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than whey protein and placebo groups. In addition, muscle g leucine.27 Based on the results obtained in this study, it
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Table I.—Body composition in the LEU (N.=10); WP (N.=10) and PLA (N.=10) groups during the pre and post period. Data presented
as mean±SD.
LEU WP PLA
Variable ES ES ES
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Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post

FFM (kg) 71.06±4.92 72.48±5.77* 0.26 67.79±4.60 68.43±5.77 0.12 71.24±4.45 71.57±4.53 0.07
FFM (%) 85.42±2.55 86.12±2.24*† 0.90 87.30±1.35 87.79±1.55* 0.33 86.74±1.88 71.57±4.53 0.01
FM (kg) 12.03± 2.01 10.76± 1.70*† 0.89 8.46±0.89 8.38±1.50+ 0.06 10.69±3.16 10.74±1.70 0.01
FM (%) 13.40±2.16 12.02±1.31* 0.77 10.95±1.35 10.01±1.57*+ 0.64 13.01±1.57 13.00±1.39 0.00
TBW (lt) 50.98±3.49 51.19±3.53 0.05 48.37±3.81 49.32±3.82 0.24 49.80±2.75 49.09±3.03 0.24
MM (kg) 35.40±2.72 37.52±3.31*† 0.70 34.73±2.59 35.70±2.66* 0.36 35.31±2.41 35.73±2.49 0.17
LEU: leucine group; WP: whey protein group; PLA: placebo group; FFM: fat free mass; FM: fat mass; TBW: total body water; MM: muscle massp; ES: effect size.
*Significant change from pre- to post-training (P≤0.05); +significantly greater change in WP group than the PLA group (P≤0.01).; †significantly greater change in LEU
group than the WP and PLA groups (P≤0.01).

4 The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness Mese 2020

EFFECTS OF LEUCINE SUPPLEMENTATION IN STRENGTH AND BODY COMPOSITION OBRADOVIĆ
can be concluded that whey protein in combination with
resistance training achieved greater increase in strength
in comparison to leucine combined with resistance train-
ing. It is assumed that the changes in strength (1RM bench
press) in the WP group are due to the supplements. In addi-
tion, supplementing with combination of BCAA and whey
protein, before and immediately after resistance training
sessions may provide added benefits in terms of increasing
muscular strength.2, 14
In this study, LEU group demonstrated a significant in-
crease in FFM (%), MM (kg) and significant decrease FM
(kg) compared to WP and PLA groups. McAdam et al.28
found significant reductions in fat mass in United States
Army soldiers who consumed 77g/day whey protein. Con-
suming 5 g/day leucine supplements during 8 weeks of
resistance training improves body composition in young
male adults. It is well known that leucine enhances the
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synthesis of protein in the muscles and regulates fat and
metabolism glucoze.2 It is also considered that 3-5g of leu-
cine increases synthesis of protein in the muscles in young
subjects.8 Contradictory results showed that no additional
effect of leucine supplementation (3 g/day) on muscle
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mass compared with the resistance training alone.25 It is
assumed that there is a difference, between Aguiar’s and
results in this study, in the amount of consumed leucine (3
g/day vs. 5 g/day), resistance training program, daily nutri-
tion and in participants.
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Limitations of the study
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The limitation of the present study is in a detailed diet
analyses during the 8 weeks resistance training program
and unequal caloric values of protein and leucine supple-
P
mentation (participants had 4 doses of protein per week
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in opposition to 7 doses of leucine per week). During the
study, the participants kept a diet diary, but the authors
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did not have a software analysis that would monitor the
amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates consumed during
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the day. Also, number of participants could be one of the
limitations.
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Conclusions
The results of this investigation suggested that 8 weeks of
resistance training program combined with 5 g/day leucine
supplementation is beneficial on body composition (mus-
cle mass, fat mass and fat free mass) in young male adults.
Additionally, 8 weeks of resistance training program
combined with whey protein supplementation increases
muscle strength (1RM bench press) compared to leucine
Vol. 60 - No. ?? The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 5
and maltodextrin (placebo). Further research is needed to
determine the effects of different types of supplementa-
tion as well as of the timing of leucine supplementation on
training adaptations.
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Conflicts of interest.—The authors certify that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in the manuscript.
Authors’ contributions.—Jelena Obradović wrote introduction; Mila Vukadinović Jurišić wrote the manuscript and conducted statistical analyses for Table I;

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Dušan Rakonjac provided data for Table 1. All authors supervised training protocol and reviewed the final manuscript.
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History.—Article first published online: February 27, 2020. - Manuscript accepted: January 27, 2020. - Manuscript revised: January 14, 2020. - Manuscript
received: February 6, 2019.

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Supplementary data.—For supplementary materials, please see the HTML version of this article at www.minervamedica.it
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6 The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness Mese 2020

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