Your ability to build muscle and perform at a high level day after day, ultimately hinges on how well you recover. While we tend to focus on big picture things like consuming enough protein and carbohydrates as well as getting enough sleep, one area that isn’t emphasized enough is getting enough micronutrients.
Today, we give you 5 important vitamins required for optimal muscle growth and recovery.
Top 5 Vitamins for Muscle Growth & Recovery
#1 Vitamin D
Also known as the “sunshine vitamin,” vitamin D is an essential fat-soluble vitamin that actually serves as a prohormone in the body, impacting such anabolic hormones as testosterone! Vitamin D is also needed for bone health, immune support, and protein synthesis.
Moreover, vitamin D supplementation has been shown to increase strength, particularly in individuals who are vitamin D deficient. And, research indicates that higher serum levels of vitamin D are associated with reduced injury rates and improved sports performance.
#2 Vitamin E
Vitamin E is another fat-soluble vitamin, like vitamin D. It serves as a powerful antioxidant in the body that helps protect against oxidative stress and inflammation.
Vitamin E also supports muscle growth and recovery via its effects on blood pressure. Vitamin E has been shown to help reduce blood pressure, which supports healthy blood flow, ultimately allowing more nutrient-rich blood to reach skeletal muscles.
#3 Vitamin A
Vitamin A is most well-known for its benefits on eye health, but it also plays an important role in immune response, cell differentiation and proliferation, embryonic development, energy metabolism, and protein synthesis (which is essential to muscle growth).
In fact, deficiencies in Vitamin A are known to attenuate increases in protein synthesis (meaning less growth and repair) as well as reduce testosterone levels -- neither of which benefit your ability to repair or grow muscle.
#4 Vitamin C
Everyone’s favorite vitamin come cold season, Vitamin C also supports muscle growth and recovery. For starters, similar to vitamin E, vitamin C acts as a powerful antioxidant in the body, which helps combat oxidative stress and inflammation.
But that’s not all.
Vitamin C also plays a role in nitric oxide (NO) production via its effects on eNOS -- the enzyme that catalyzes nitric oxide production. Greater NO production supports greater blood flow, which brings more nutrients (carbohydrates, amino acids, etc.) to working muscles, which helps them grow and recover better.
Vitamin C is also needed for collagen synthesis. Collagen is the body’s primary structural protein, and it can be found all over the body, including joints, ligaments, tendons, and connective tissue. Maintaining these important structures is vital to your ability to crush it in the gym each day.
#5 B-Vitamins
The B-family of vitamins play a critical role in energy production. Beyond helping your body produce ATP -- the cellular currency of energy production, B vitamins also affect energy metabolism (your body’s ability to efficiently convert protein, carbs, and fats to usable energy) as well as protein synthesis.
Niacin, in particular, is noted for its ability to improve circulation and endothelial function as well as reduce inflammation, which helps boost recovery and muscle growth by delivering more nutrients to your muscles!
