Most people who work out know that you need protein to grow muscle tissue. But protein alone is not enough to make your muscles bigger and stronger. Other micronutrients play important roles in supporting workout recovery and promoting muscle growth, helping your body to heal from exercise and synthesize protein into muscle.
Vitamin C supports many functions in your body, including immune support and skin health. Vitamin C also works as an antioxidant to protect cells from oxidative stress and free radicals. Because of the important role oxygen plays in energy metabolism, your body undergoes additional oxidative stress during and after exercise. As an antioxidant, Vitamin C helps to mitigate cellular damage from oxidative stress.
Ways in which Vitamin C promotes faster workout recovery:
- Helps maintain tendon and ligament strength
- Plays an essential role in adrenaline synthesis needed for intense training
- Supports adrenal gland function
- Helps maintain systemic homeostasis
- Balances cortisol levels, a catabolic hormone that causes muscle breakdown
- Works as a powerful anti-toxin
- Enhances overall physical performance
- Reduces oxidative damage to cells
- Helps to form collagen
- Supports wound healing
- Strengthens arterial walls
- Assists in protein synthesis
Dietary Sources of Vitamin C
There are many plant-based food sources of Vitamin C, and it is not difficult to get Vitamin C from your diet. However, because Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, your body cannot store it, so its availability is short-lived.
Good food sources of Vitamin C include:
- Oranges
- Broccoli
- Green and red peppers
- Tomatoes
- Kiwi
- Pineapple
- Blueberries
- Strawberries
- Cranberries
- Potatoes
It is important to note that intense training requires significantly higher doses of Vitamin C than the daily requirement for people who don’t exercise. Therefore, obtaining sufficient Vitamin C to offset post-workout recovery demands may be difficult through diet alone.
Best Way to Supplement Vitamin C for Workout Recovery
Supplementation of Vitamin C may be necessary if you train hard on a regular basis. While there are many types of oral supplements available, be aware that oral supplements do not always get completely absorbed during digestion, and some supplement pills may actually pass through your system, completely intact.
To make sure you get all the Vitamin C and other micronutrients you need to perform at your peak and recover after exercise, IV therapy may be your best option. With micronutrient infusion therapy, high dose Vitamin C is delivered directly to your bloodstream, drip by drip, and carried to cells throughout your body for immediate use in fighting oxidative stress and repairing damaged tissue.
Micronutrient IV Therapy in NYC
To maximize your vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes, Advanced Cryo NYC has the perfect micronutrient cocktail to meet your needs. Our friendly professional staff will help you select the IV cocktail that is right for you.
Then just sit back and relax in our spa-like SoHo clinic while potent micronutrients are infused into your system. While you visit, ask about whole body cryotherapy to promote muscle recovery and enhance performance.
