By now, we all know that we need to have our macronutrients (fats, carbs and proteins) on point when trying to build muscle. But what about the micronutrients, which vitamins and minerals are essential to optimize muscle growth? You will read all about it in today’s blog!
Are vitamins that important?
To understand which vitamins and minerals are important for muscle growth, we need to look at what it takes to grow muscles. Muscle growth occurs after a heavy workout, during this workout your muscles get damaged on a microscopic level.
Your body then tries to repair these microscopic tears in your muscles and even overcompensate, which means it repairs the muscles beyond their original level. To maintain muscle growth, you will need to schedule a new and heavier workout during this super-compensated period and just continue this cycle.
After a consistent period of progressive training, you will grow muscles. At least, that is a quick and simple explanation of this phenomenon. In order to optimize muscle repair and super-compensation, you need the right nutrition. You can probably understand by now that you would need vitamins and minerals which support muscle repair. So, let’s have a look at which micronutrients help with this process, to start with 3 minerals.
Vitamins and minerals for muscle growth
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Magnesium
This essential mineral is well known for its use during muscle recovery due to the fact it supports over 300 enzyme reactions. Magnesium helps regulate blood pressure, plays a major role in muscle contractions and has positive effects on brain health, muscle repair and muscle growth according to Dr Jaime Schehr.
Magnesium can be found in many foods, a few healthy examples are; cashews, almonds, buckwheat and kelp. Besides magnesium-rich foods, you could opt a magnesium supplement such as Apollo’s Hegemony Magnesium Malate.
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Zinc
Amongst other things, zinc is important for a healthy immune system helps recovery processes and supports your body to produce muscle growing testosterone. Zinc can be found in red meats, eggs, crabs and more. But if you cannot find enough of it, about 8-11mg per day for adults, you could consider zinc supplements such as Zinc Tablets by Scitec.
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Calcium
Calcium is mostly known for its questionable effects on bones, but far less known is its importance regarding muscle growth. Due to its positive effects on blood vessel contractions and overall muscle functions, calcium is a good mineral to help you build muscle. Natural sources of calcium can be found in milk products such as milk and yoghurt, leafy greens and broccoli! But if that does not fit into your diet, you can get the benefits of magnesium and calcium in this one supplement through Scitec’s Calcium Magnesium tablets.
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Vitamin B Complex
There are 8 essential Vitamin B’s, each with its own health benefits and importance to a healthy life. However, there are a few which are specifically important towards muscle growth namely;
Vitamin B2 (A.K.A. Riboflavin)
Necessary for overall growth helps break down macronutrients.
Vitamin B7 (A.K.A. Biotin)
Metabolize carbs, fats and amino acids, aids cell growth.
Vitamin B12 (A.K.A. Cobalamin)
Involved in red blood cell formation and boosts energy levels.
There are many foods which contain Vitamin B, however, to ensure you consume enough of all 8 essential vitamin B’s you could try a vitamin B complex like the Fully Active B Complex from Doctor's Best
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Vitamin C
The mighty Vity C is necessary for development, repair and growth of body tissue and is involved in many body functions. Many fruits such as Oranges and Kiwi’s contain high levels of Vitamin C. Furthermore, there is a wide range of Vitamin C supplements available. For example, this Vitamin C supplement of Aliness.
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Vitamin D
Vitamin D is another famous vitamin which many people actually do not receive enough of. It's involved in many aspects of the human body such as maintaining healthy bones and teeth, supporting the immune system, brain, nervous system and cardiovascular health. It is, therefore, a very important vitamin which should not be neglected. Vitamin D is synthesized by your body when in contact with sunlight. You should at least get 5 to 10 minutes of direct sunlight 2 or 3 times per week. People who do not go outside often or live in a country where there is not much sunlight can also opt a Vitamin D supplement. I would suggest trying the Apollo’s Hegemony Vitamin D3 supplement to ensure you get enough of Vitamin D.
And there you have it, 3 minerals and 3 vitamins which could support and optimize your muscle growth! Let me know what you think of these supplements and if you have not tried them before, give it a shot and see what differences you notice. Last but not least, if you have any requests for upcoming blogs, do not hesitate to drop your ideas down below in the comments. Thank you for reading and stay tuned for new blogs!
Written by Sven Nicholson | Online Personal Training @ www.healthychanges-pt.com
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