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Monday, October 29, 2018

Nitric Oxide Pre and Post Workout


Nitric oxide is one of the body's most potent vasodilators. This means that it helps the blood vessels to open more fully to improve blood flow in the body. Improved blood flow results in many health benefits especially relating to serious exercise and bodybuilding. Many bodybuilders use a nitric oxide supplement to achieve all of these benefits and boost their workout.

Nitric oxide supplements don't actually contain nitric oxide because it breaks down far too quickly to have any effect if taken as a supplement. Rather these supplements contain many of the ingredients and some booster reactants to help the blood vessels produce their own nitric oxide, which they do naturally.

Many bodybuilding experts swear by nitric oxide supplements, and there is a lot of research into the role of nitric oxide and exercise as well as a deficiency of it and disease. Check out https://www.consumeradvisors.org/ to see reviews on quality nitric oxide supplements, and to find out which might work best for you.

What's In A Nitric Oxide Supplement?

Obviously, ingredients vary from manufacturer to manufacturer but there are some key ingredients that any good nitric oxide supplement should contain. One of the ingredients should be L-arginine and another one should be L-citrulline. These two amino acids are part of the biochemical pathway that produces nitric oxide. This pathway is well studied by scientific research. In other words, there is quite a lot of clinical data to backup the idea of using these ingredients to achieve a higher nitric oxide concentration in the blood, which is not always the case for every pre-workout supplement. Beware of pre-workout supplements that do not contain L-arginine or L-citrulline even if they say they improve nitric oxide production.

Also be aware of supplements that contain low dosages of these amino acids. The best dosage is around 1680 mg of L-arginine and 480 mg of L-citrulline.

Some of the better manufacturers also include certain proven plant extracts in their supplement. For example beetroot, which contains nitrate also helps to boost nitric oxide production. Other plants which improve nitric oxide production include pine bark and Quercetin.

Benefits Of Taking Nitric Oxide

     It improves your recovery:
By opening the blood vessels and improving blood flow, nitric oxide helps the blood to carry more oxygen and nutrients to the muscles especially after a workout. Muscles become fatigued due to the buildup of lactic acid and the presence of more oxygen helps to get rid of this lactic acid and reduce muscle fatigue.
     It minimizes lactic acid build up during your workout:
Lactic acid builds up when the muscles do not have enough oxygen to meet their energy needs. If you have more nitric oxide before working out then more blood can flow to the muscles during a workout which provides the muscle cells with more oxygen so that they do not build up as much lactic acid.
     It improves stamina:
Without the buildup of lactic acid muscles can work much harder for much longer which improves the effectiveness of your workout. With nitric oxide you can do more reps and work out for longer overall.
     It helps you burn glucose
More blood flow to the muscles brings more glucose to them so they burn more of it. Glucose can sometimes be one of the major obstacles to bodybuilding because it is stored as fat if it is not used. The muscle cells using more glucose which helps the body to store less fat after the workout.

Side Effects Of Taking Nitric Oxide

There aren't any real major side effects from taking nitric oxide because the supplements are completely natural. The biggest side effect is an increased urge to urinate. This is because the breakdown of amino acids builds up more urea in the body which needs to be excreted. There is also some evidence that nitric oxide supplements can reduce levels of a neurotransmitter dopamine, which has a role in sleep cycles and motivation but this side effect has been discounted because exercise naturally increases levels of dopamine to balance everything out. There is also some evidence that nitric oxide supplements can reduce levels of zinc in the body but this can also be comforted by eating zinc rich foods or taking supplements if necessary. It is also recommended to watch your blood pressure and blood sugar when taking these supplements to make sure you're not taking too much.