Are You Getting The Right Vitamins?

Building muscle mass and getting fitter is the goal for anyone on a fitness journey. Not only is fitness great for cardiovascular health, but exercise helps with weight loss. Unfortunately, poor diet and supplementation can undo most of the work. Vitamins and minerals are essential for muscle health. Make sure these vitamins, in particular, are part of any fitness goals.

Boost your Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is involved in hundreds of small but essential processes in the body. The water-soluble B12 helps make DNA, nerve cells, blood cells, and much more. The vitamin can help in a few ways. First, the supplement plays a key role in energy production, which can help with overall fitness. B12 also helps metabolize protein, which goes directly into the muscles. Getting the right amount of B12 can boost anyone’s fitness goals.

Get lots of biotins

Biotin is also one of the B complex vitamins and is essential for many of the body’s functions. The vitamin is popular for hair and skin. However, one of biotin’s primary functions is to convert food into energy, which can help with fitness levels. Furthermore, muscles will benefit from the added protein synthesis. Biotin is in meat, eggs, nuts, and some dairy products but can also be taken as a supplement.

Vitamin B3

Niacin or vitamin B3 is another B vitamin with muscle-boosting powers. This vitamin is popular among bodybuilders for increasing muscle vascularity and testosterone production. B3 does not only help with muscle growth but with muscle repair, recovery, and improved metabolism. Take a B3 supplement or B complex vitamin to get all the essential B vitamins in one go.

Vitamin C, anyone?

A vitamin C supplement before or after exercise could do wonders for results. Vitamin C is vital for cell growth and tissue development. That means people should see the effects in muscle growth. And with age, vitamin C may be even more critical to muscle growth. Persons over 50, particularly males, retain more muscle mass when taking a vitamin C supplement.

Get a vitamin D

Known as the sunshine vitamin, the body produces vitamin D in response to sun exposure. Vitamin D is important for a range of functions like bone health, brain health, and absorbing minerals like calcium and phosphorus. Surprisingly, vitamin D can do wonders for muscle development. Research shows that people with high levels of vitamin D have increased lean muscle mass. The candidates in these studies also showed superior muscle function. About 20-30 minutes of direct sunlight a day is enough for a daily supply. If that’s not possible, try a vitamin D supplement.

Exercise is half the battle

These vitamins can help with increasing and sustaining muscle mass along with the proper fitness regimen. Best of all, these could be found in healthy foods like lean meats, fruits, and vegetables. Supplements are also useful and provide an extra boost. Make sure to speak with a doctor or pharmacist before taking any supplements or trying new fitness routines.