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5 Most Important Vitamins For Muscle

Growth & Recovery

Is a vitamin deficiency keeping you from making the most of

your gym time? Learn which vitamins are essential for muscle
growth and recovery.
While you’re driving home from the gym, muscle growth and repair is happening at the
cellular level.

Cellular synthesis and tissue repair depend on a variety of vitamins and minerals.

While these vitamins can typically be found in a balanced diet, frequent lifters may find
that certain deficiencies are hindering their muscle growth and recovery. Learn how
certain vitamins can improve your results in the gym.

1. Vitamin A
Vitamin A seems to be one of those forgotten vitamins. It’s well known for its positive
effects on eye health, but many of its other benefits are often ignored. For athletes and
bodybuilders, vitamin A is useful because it supports protein synthesis, which is
essential for muscle growth. Vitamin A levels decrease as protein synthesis increases.
This is related to the fact that vitamin A is needed for the breakdown of protein during
the muscle repair process.

If its role in muscle growth and repair is not enough, vitamin A also has a direct effect on
testosterone, the body’s most powerful muscle-building hormone. In a study of 102
teenage boys with delayed puberty, supplementation of vitamin A and iron produced
similar maturity to that of the group receiving exogenous testosterone. This demonstrates
that vitamin A deficiency can have a significant impact on healthy testosterone
production in males of all ages.

Finally, vitamin A plays an important role in providing more structural strength to muscles
by promoting bone development and stimulating young cells to mature at a quicker rate.

2. Vitamin D
Vitamin D is arguably the most important vitamin when it comes to muscle growth and
recovery. Vitamin D is unique in that the body needs exposure to direct sunlight in order
to stimulate its production. Sure, we all know that vitamin D is important to keep disease
away, and we know that large populations are deficient, but how can it support muscle
growth and recovery?

Well, vitamin D is the most important of all vitamins when it comes to testosterone
production! Some research studies even show that vitamin D supplementation can
significantly increase explosive power in adults, alongside a strength-training program, in
comparison to placebo subjects. Vitamin D even plays a key role in protein synthesis,
which is partly due to its impact on testosterone production. In fact, a study conducted
on men with low testosterone found that supplementation with vitamin D led to a 20%
increase in free testosterone.

In addition to its effects on testosterone and muscle growth, vitamin D can also improve
bone health. Vitamin D works alongside calcium and magnesium, which are essential
minerals for bone development.

3. Vitamin C
Vitamin C is one of the most talked about vitamins on the planet. We’ve all had a
common cold and been given advice such as, “Make sure you increase your vitamin C
intake,” but what about benefits for muscle growth and recovery?

Well, first of all, vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that works to protect muscle cells from
damaging free radicals. In addition, it works to aid in the formation of testosterone and
other anabolic hormones. The benefits to muscle don’t stop there.

Vitamin C also aids in collagen formation. Since collagen is the primary constituent of
connective tissue, vitamin C becomes an essential component in keeping bones and
muscles free from injury. By strengthening collagen, joints are more capable of handling
heavier weight resistance, with less chance of injury.

In one study at the University of North Carolina, researchers found that supplementation
with vitamin C before and after training reduced muscle soreness and prevented the
oxidation of glutathione, a very potent antioxidant. This is very important to note because
delayed-onset-muscle-soreness (DOMS) is not exactly the most pleasant of feelings, and
Vitamin C has been proven to decrease the soreness, while working as an antioxidant at
the cellular level.

4. Vitamin E
Vitamin E has many practical applications. Many people know it as a remedy for stretch
marks and skin problems, but don’t know much about it beyond this.

Good news for athletes and bodybuilders though! Vitamin E is a very powerful
antioxidant that works to protect the integrity of cells in the body. Exercise and intense
training produces free radicals in the body, which are toxic by-products of cellular
respiration.
As these free radicals accumulate, the body becomes more toxic, leading the way to
impaired performance, muscle growth, recovery, and immune health. Vitamin E works to
attack these free radicals and flush them out of the body. The end result is less oxidative
stress and a decrease in muscle damage.

In addition to the aforementioned benefits, vitamin E has been studied as a natural

prevention and treatment of carotid atherosclerosis, which is a narrowing of the carotid
artery due to oxidative stress. As such, Vitamin E is able to further support muscle
growth and speed recovery by means of its positive effect on blood pressure, allowing
more nutrient-rich blood to reach working muscles.

5. B Vitamins (B6, Folate & B12)

Vitamin B6, folate and B12 are arguably the most important B vitamins when it comes to
muscle growth and recovery! Both vitamins B6 and B12 have a direct role in protein
metabolism. In fact, studies have demonstrated that the higher the protein consumption,
the more vitamin B6 that’s needed to support the metabolism of the increased protein
intake.

Another interesting fact is that vitamin B6 is needed to support the absorption of vitamin
B12. Together, these B vitamins are essential in the production of red blood cells and
immune system cells, both of which are invaluable to muscle growth and repair. Taking
folic acid (vitamin B9) in combination with vitamins B6 and B12 can reduce
homocysteine levels and improve nitric oxide production and endothelial function. The
end result is improved blood flow and nutrient delivery to working muscles!

References
 1. Bryer, S.C., et al. (2006). Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab, 16, 270.
2. Carrillo, A.E., et al. (2013). Clin Nutr, 32, 375.
3. Devaraj, S., et al. (2007). Am J Clin Nutr, 86, 1392.
4. Livera, G., et al. (2002). Reproduction, 124, 173.
5. Magliano, D., et al. (2006). Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil, 13, 341.
6. No authors listed. (1998). BMJ, 316, 894.
7. Pilz, S., et al. (2011). Horm Metab Res, 43, 223.
8. Silva, L.A., et al. (2010). J Physiol Sci 60, 51.
9. Zadik, Z., et al. (2004). Clin Endocrinol (Oxf), 60, 682.

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About The Author

Don Gauvreau
Don Gauvreau is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist from the
NSCA with a Master of Science degree, and a published author whose work
has been published in various health and fitness publications.
View all by Don Gauvreau »

6 Comments + Post Comment

Posted Sun, 07/19/2015 - 20:30 LIKE 14

Rick
So what amounts of each vitamin should someone take? I a multi-vitamin enough?

REPLY
REPLY

Posted Mon, 07/20/2015 - 09:51 LIKE 13

MikeWines
Rick,
It's tough to say exactly. If your diet contains a large variety of micronutrient dense foods
then you might not have to supplement much (if at all). But "enough" is a relative term
and it's tough to know exactly where you're deficient without some significant
symptoms or a blood test.
 REPLY
REPLY

Posted Sun, 07/19/2015 - 18:40 LIKE 18

Casey
So where do we get these vitamins? Other than mentioning briefly that direct sunlight
stimulates the production of vitamin d, there is no information as to what foods contain what
levels of which vitamins (VITAL information if this article is going to be useful), or at the very
least which supplements can provide what amounts of which vitamins.

REPLY
REPLY

Posted Mon, 07/20/2015 - 09:54 LIKE 15

MikeWines
Casey,
We offer all of these supplements in the M&S store both in the individual format or in a
multivitamin. If you're curious about food sources, you could simply perform a quick
google search on "foods highest in vitamin A" or something along those lines.
But as I mentioned above, your diet essentially determines your need for
supplementation. Some supplements are incredibly tough to get through whole foods
(e.g. creatine) so supplementation is beneficial in that case.

REPLY
REPLY

Posted Mon, 07/27/2015 - 05:07 LIKE 17

mohammad
whats the best multivitamins can i use for budybiulding ?????

REPLY
REPLY

Posted Mon, 07/27/2015 - 10:02 LIKE 18

MikeWines
Mohammad,
I like Controlled Labs' Orange Triad, Now's ADAM, or Optimum Nutrition's Opti-men.

REPLY
REPLY

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