The top ten vitamins for bodybuilders
The spark plugs of metabolism
One of the most confusing things for any athlete is everything to do with nutrition and nutrients. What to take, when to take it, how much to take, and so on. The beginning can be rather daunting, because the supplement market is huge and wide-ranging, and finding the right products for optimal muscle growth can turn out to be difficult and time-consuming.
All the cells in our body depend on certain biochemical processes in order to grow and recover. These processes in turn depend on the action of specific vitamins, which can either facilitate or hinder them. It’s dead easy to forget this or simply ignore it, but without these vitamins nothing happens. Even if only one of them runs short, a bodybuilder’s progress can fade without warning. In fact, every process of muscle growth or energy production depends heavily on vitamins, one way or another.
Many bodybuilders look down on vitamins because they have no nutritional value, unlike carbohydrates, proteins and fats. But the fact that vitamins have no nutritional value doesn’t mean they are unimportant. Without vitamins, muscle mass drops, the strength of bones and joints declines, and the functioning of the whole body withers.
The different vitamins
Broadly speaking, vitamins fall into two groups: fat-soluble and water-soluble. Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) are called that because they are stored in the body’s fatty tissue and therefore don’t need to be taken every day. Note: because the vitamins above are already stored in fatty tissue, there is a risk of overdosing on them, which in turn can lead to poisoning.
Water-soluble vitamins (except vitamin C) are fully represented by the B vitamins and B-complex vitamins, which include thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pyridoxine (B6), folate (B9), cyanocobalamin (B12), biotin and pantothenic acid. Because these vitamins dissolve in water, they are not stored in fatty tissue, and the body flushes out any excess. This means overdosing is not a problem with them, if anything quite the opposite, so they should be a constant part of every bodybuilder’s menu.
Any questions about what you’ve just read?
How important is it to know all this? Ask a professional bodybuilder who keeps a close eye on their menu day in, day out. A bodybuilder who bothers to wonder at all how important vitamins are as part of a diet will ask at least one of the following questions:
1. Are vitamins directly linked to muscle function or protein synthesis?
2. Does training increase the need for vitamins?
3. Is it typical for athletes to have vitamin deficiencies?
4. Do vitamins together with supplements boost muscle growth and/or improve athletic performance?
Flex’s top ten vitamins, in reverse order
10. Cyanocobalamin (B12)
Because vitamin B12 has so many functions, we’ll cover the main ones from a bodybuilder’s point of view: carbohydrate synthesis and the maintenance of nerve tissue (the spinal cord and the nerves that carry signals from the brain to the muscles). Influencing the muscle through the nerve is important for muscle contraction, coordination and muscle growth.
B12 can only be obtained from foods of animal origin, so an athlete who follows a strict vegetarian diet should consult a doctor about supplementing with cyanocobalamin. In fact, B12 supplementation is popular among countless athletes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, and a large number of them say it has improved their results.
9. Biotin
Although not enough research has been done on biotin in the field of sport, it makes our top ten because it plays an important role in amino acid synthesis and in converting various substances into energy. Biotin is also one of the vitamins that bodybuilders can often be deficient in.
The reason is that the action of biotin is blocked by a substance called avidin, found in raw egg white. The group most at risk of becoming biotin-deficient is people who don’t boil or fry their egg whites enough, in other words those who like to eat them raw, and only if the number of egg whites eaten per day reaches twenty. Eating raw egg white also carries, of course, the risk of catching a bacterial infection called salmonella.
8. Riboflavin (B2)
Riboflavin is involved in energy production in three ways: glucose synthesis, fatty acid oxidation and the movement of hydrogen ions in the Krebs cycle. In the area of specific interest to bodybuilders, it plays a role to some extent in protein synthesis, so there is a certain link between riboflavin and lean muscle mass.
One study by Belko and colleagues found that women need a riboflavin level above the RDA for it to stay at a normal concentration in the blood even after training. Another study, by Haralambie, showed that using riboflavin improved muscle “alertness” (this was tested on trained athletes). From this it was assumed that athletes are the ones who need riboflavin most.
7. Vitamin A
Most of us probably know that vitamin A improves vision, but since that has nothing to do with bodybuilding, let’s look at this vitamin from another angle. First, vitamin A is important for protein synthesis, the basic process that drives muscle growth. Second, it is linked to glycogen production. Glycogen is the substance in which the body stores energy for upcoming high-intensity efforts.
Having vitamin A in the body is doubly important. First, most studies conducted in America show that diets are mostly too low in vitamin A. Second, both hard, strenuous physical work (which interferes with vitamin A absorption) and a low-fat diet (which leads to vitamin A deficiency) put your vitamin A level at risk. So you should pay special attention to vitamin A during the contest preparation period.
6. B vitamins
Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant, which means it protects the cell membrane. This matters because many metabolic processes, including the recovery and growth of muscle cells, depend on the cell membrane’s
“health.” A lot of research has been done on antioxidants recently, and it has repeatedly demonstrated the role antioxidants play in the processes taking place in the body.
Specifically, antioxidants help reduce the number of free radicals in the body. Free radicals are by-products of cell function, and their buildup can cause cell wall abnormalities, such as the development of cancer. Reducing them therefore triggers recovery and growth processes in the muscle cell.
5. Niacin (B3)
This vitamin is involved in nearly 60 metabolic processes related to energy production, and it is important for bodybuilding because of its ability to produce “training fuel.” Studies have shown that athletes’ niacin levels are high right after training, suggesting that athletes need more niacin than non-athletes. If your diet doesn’t contain enough of this vitamin, the body can synthesize it from a substance called L-tryptophan, which is found in sufficient amounts in turkey meat.
Bodybuilders have probably heard more about the other form of this substance, nicotinic acid, which competing bodybuilders use before contests to make their blood vessels stand out better. This form of niacin is not recommended during training, because at higher doses (50-100 mg) the body’s ability to burn fat drops significantly.
4. Vitamin D
Vitamin D plays a major role in the absorption of calcium and phosphorus. Calcium is needed for muscle contraction. If there isn’t enough calcium in the muscle, a strong and sustained muscle contraction isn’t possible. Calcium of course also plays a part in building the bones, which support the added muscle mass and act as an anchor for muscle contraction.
Don’t forget phosphorus either. Phosphorus helps you carry out fast, forceful muscle contractions, which make up the bulk of the exercises performed in the gym. Phosphorus also plays a part in the synthesis of ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP is a high-energy molecule that the muscle cell uses as a kind of fuel when contracting.
This vitamin should be especially important for athletes who avoid fat-containing products such as dairy. So you should drink at least one glass of low-fat milk a day.
3. Thiamine (B1)
Thiamine is one of the vitamins that is absolutely necessary for protein synthesis and muscle growth, and it is also involved in the formation of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein found in red blood cells that transports oxygen. Adequate oxygen is very important for intense athletic performance and for performing an exercise over a prolonged period.
Based on the research conducted, thiamine is one of the few vitamins that affects athletic performance. Gradually increasing your intake is necessary, because it is directly linked to higher intensity and to the muscle’s ability to perform an exercise for a longer duration. And that’s not all: the need for thiamine appears to be closely tied to calorie burning. So the more often you train at higher intensity, the more thiamine you need.
2. Pyridoxine (B6)
Protein synthesis and carbohydrate absorption are possible thanks to the presence of B6. Like thiamine, pyridoxine has been shown in studies to be needed in larger amounts by active athletes, and athletic results improved after adequate supplementation.
We ranked this vitamin second for a very good reason: it is the only vitamin directly linked to protein intake. The more protein you consume, the more pyridoxine you need. That is exactly why it is so important for bodybuilders, even though this point has not been stated openly.
1. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
Surprised? Many athletes don’t realize how important vitamin C is for success. As the most thoroughly researched vitamin in an athlete’s supplement regimen, it has proven to be necessary for bodybuilders in several ways. First, vitamin C is an antioxidant, protecting muscle cells from free radical damage and thereby promoting muscle growth and recovery.
Second, ascorbic acid is involved in the synthesis of amino acids, especially in the formation of collagen. Collagen is the primary component of connective tissue. This may seem insignificant, but the heavier the weights get, the more strain the bones and joints come under, and if your connective tissue isn’t strong enough compared with your muscle (this is clearly visible in steroid users), the risk of injury multiplies.
Third, vitamin C helps iron to be absorbed better, and iron is needed to bind oxygen to hemoglobin in the blood. A muscle without enough oxygen-carrying blood tires faster, and the exercise loses much of its effect.
Fourth, ascorbic acid takes part in the formation and release of steroid hormones (including the anabolic hormone testosterone).
Finally, vitamin C is probably the most water-soluble vitamin there is. In other words, it disperses in water very quickly, and since a muscle cell consists largely of water, the greater an athlete’s muscle mass, the greater the dispersion of vitamin C, and so a deficiency is quite likely. A bodybuilder’s need for ascorbic acid is significantly higher than an ordinary person’s.
Bodybuilders are notorious for their painstaking precision when it comes to muscle mass gains and strength numbers. So we strongly recommend analyzing your menu to see whether it contains the vitamins mentioned above in sufficient amounts. Remember that even if you have the best diet in the world when it comes to calories, fat and so on, but lack enough vitamins, tracking the whole menu is wasted effort and a mental grind.
Author: Flex, translated by Kristjan
Come and train! ArtGym
