We all want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to make sure that our fitness journey goes smoothly and yields results. We invest in a gym membership, commission assistance of personal trainers, watch what we eat - even if it means spending more on food, and trying out health supplements - or at least that’s what I try to do. For me, it’s okay to spend a little more on these things rather than spending a fortune in hospital bills and medication.
If you’re like me and have started your weight loss journey for some time now, chances are, you’ve already heard about nitric oxide. However, not a lot of attention has been drawn to it. So, today, we will take a closer look at what nitric oxide is, how it works, and the benefits it gives to our bodies.
What Is Nitric Oxide?
Nitric oxide is a gas naturally produced by the body. Its primary purpose is to act as a vasodilator. A vasodilator relaxes the inner muscles of your blood vessels, causing them to widen. This leads to increased blood flow and lowers blood pressure.
How Does It Work?
Now, if you decide to supplement in order to increase nitric oxide, you should know that NO boosters do not actually contain nitric oxide. Instead, they have ingredients or substrates that give your body a “push” to produce more nitric oxide. These ingredients are L-arginine and L-citrulline.
A word of caution, though: If you are prone to hypotension, or have other cardiovascular diseases, see your physician first before taking NO supplements.
What Are the Benefits of Nitric Oxide?
We know that nitric oxide helps with our cardiovascular health, but today, I want to highlight its benefits to our fitness journey.
1. Amps Up Your Energy!
Since nitric oxide is a vasodilator, it widens the blood vessels and increases the delivery of nutrients and oxygen to working muscles during exercise. This lets you enjoy an enhanced exercise performance. That is why many athletes and gym-goers like supplementing NO.
2. Speeds Up Recovery
A hard day at the gym? Pushed yourself too much? When I put a great amount of effort in the gym and feel completely wiped out, it usually takes a few days for me to exercise to my fullest capacity. I would usually take it slow the day after. However, since nitric oxide strengthens blood flow to the tissues by encouraging the smooth muscles in the body to relax, it also allows more oxygen delivery to get to the working muscles. We all know that one of the primary factors in a quick recovery is to make sure that a lot of nutrients get to the muscle tissues after a heavy workout. Hence, blood flow will make a whole lot of difference.
3. Reduces Fatigue
Like I have said earlier, whenever I push too much and feel fatigued, it limits my workout. Nitric oxide can help with this. This is especially experienced when we perform lifting exercises because the body rapidly runs out of oxygen. When this happens, there will be a lactic acid build-up forming in the muscle tissue which generates a high level of fatigue. This fatigue manifests as a burning sensation and causes you to halt exercise. NO can help deliver more oxygen to the tissue which will reduce the amount of lactic acid build-up and amount of fatigue.
4. Increases Glucose Use
A study conducted by the American Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism has shown that those who had taken L-arginine L-arginine had a significantly higher glucose rate of appearance, glucose rate of disappearance, and glucose clearance rate. This means that NO users were taking up glucose faster into the muscle cells as the exercise persisted. Building on that, the supplement also supports the increase of nonesterified fatty acid concentration and glycerol in the body. This phenomenon potentially points to the burning up of fat as fuel.
5. Enhances Endurance
Endurance performance greatly relies on the amount of oxygen being delivered to the muscle tissues. Therefore, blood flow delivering oxygen will help endurance athletes to work longer without tiring out. Athletes who will be participating in a high altitude should seriously consider supplementing with nitric oxide because reduced ability to take in oxygen is significantly noticeable in that setting.
6. Show ‘Em the Muscles!
The last (but definitely not the least) is a great muscle pump after a workout. The feeling of tight and full muscles after you’ve given your all to intense biceps and triceps workout is a rewarding feeling for some. This “pump” is more pronounce and lasts longer when you have nitric oxide because muscle pumps are a result of increased blood flow to the muscle tissue.
If you are looking for an effective and trusted nitric oxide booster, then swing by our site!