February 29, 2008
How Essential Are Muscle Building Vitamins?
There has been a long debate over muscle building vitamins. There are strong arguments raised by people from both sides of the divide and the numbers of opinion seem to be as many as the number of participants themselves. So what is the right view to take? Is it true that a healthy body well fed and strong can still benefit from supplements of vitamins and minerals? Or is it just an old wives’ tale? Before we are able to help you form an opinion on the subject, maybe a short review would be in order.
The Role Of Vitamins
You have no doubt heard of catalysts – those substances that do not take part in chemical reactions themselves but by their very presence, make these reactions possible. In somewhat a similar manner, vitamins are used to fine tune the process of living and growth in the body. Had it not been for the large numbers of vitamins working hard to keep our body going, the life process would have gone hopelessly out of control. Therefore, vitamins, especially the muscle building vitamins are essential to trigger the body’s growth cycle.
There are a large number of vitamins that play an important role in maintaining our body and its extremely complex functions going. Some of these functions are commonly known – such as the vital importance of vitamin C in preventing scurvy, others are not so clear. Yet the fact is that vitamins are as important to sustain life as they are in helping you build a strong and well proportioned body.
Some Specific Vitamin Functions
Here are a few of the better known vitamins and the role they play in our lives:
Vitamin A is critical to muscle growth. It also helps in the production of glycogens that are responsible for the utilization of carbohydrates. Therefore this vitamin is essential for us to derive energy out of the food we eat.
The Vitamin B group is also called the B-Complex family and has a large role in energy production, hemoglobin production and protein digestion. These vitamins are largely responsible for the way our body develops and therefore they are absolutely essential for someone who is setting out to build a great body.
Every time you exercise heavily, your body produces waste products which need to be flushed out of the body. These are produced by the intense level of oxidation that goes in the body to produce energy. Now, Vitamin C and E are powerful antioxidants that help to reduce the level of oxidants in your blood stream. This is absolutely necessary if you are to continue exercising and not feel excessively fatigued and drained out.
Vitamin D helps the body absorb those essential minerals such as calcium and phosphorus that are essential to the proper functioning of the muscles. You need this vitamin if you are into heavy workouts.
Can you get adequate quantities of these muscle building vitamins from your regular diet alone? I regret to say ‘no’. Preserved and cooked food loses much of its vitamin reserves. And as you have seen, strained muscles need more than their normal share of vitamins to grow. That is where muscle building vitamins become essential. Since you can’t get adequate quantities from food alone, you need to get them from supplements. If you are serious about your exercise routine, ensure you take adequate supplements of muscle building vitamins.






