Who should take vitamin supplements?
A hard-working bodybuilder like 'Mr. India' E.G. Baiju will need extra vitamins.
A sedentary person may not need extra vitamin supplements if he or she eats well-calculated, healthy and small meals. But, the meals should provide all macro nutrients (protein, carbohydrate, fat) and micro nutrients (vitamins and minerals), based on his or her calorific requirement and lifestyle. However, it’s totally a different story for sportspersons and bodybuilders.
Oxidative stress
According to researcher Jose Antonio, PhD, persons who train hard need extra Vitamin C and E. Scientists at the University of Turku, Finland, had 17 endurance athletes perform maximal run, running as fast as possible for 10.5 km. Using specific blood tests, they measured the stress caused by generation of free radicals (oxidative stress). Excess free radicals can damage cells and lead to heart disease and cancer. The scientists repeated the test twice — without giving Vitamin C supplement and after giving 2 gm of Vitamin C supplement. The test subjects who took the supplement showed 11 per cent decrease in oxidative stress. This proved that supplemental Vitamin C was necessary for quick recovery.
Reduced soreness
Taking Vitamin C before weight training was also helpful in reducing post-workout soreness in the muscle.
Another study conducted with Dutch cyclists, studied the effects of regular intake of 500 mg of Vitamin C and 100 mg of Vitamin E for 15 weeks on lung function in response to ozone exposure. The test subjects who took the supplements showed a decrease in “forced vital capacity” (amount of air a person can expel maximally after breathing in fully) of 42 ml vs. a decrease of 125 ml in the placebo group.
Insufficient
Researchers concluded that Reference Daily Intake values of 60 mg of Vitamin C and 20 mg (30 IU) of Vitamin E were insufficient for persons who were into hard physical training. Sportspersons, including bodybuilders, would need between 500 and 2,000 mg of Vitamin C every day (split and taken along with 4 or 5 small meals) and about 400 IU of Vitamin E taken with post-workout meal.
_ C. Lakshmi Kumar
April 11, 2009 at 8:57 am
hello sir,
just a small doubt. the explanation about the need of vitamin c & e is very interesting . can we get vit c & e through natural food rather than tablets?
April 11, 2009 at 9:40 am
Dear Vimal,
you just can’t get enough vitamin c or e through foods….it’s practically impossible when you are a bodybuilder or serious sportsperson.
thanks for regularly reading all the stories.
May 2, 2009 at 1:43 am
hello sir,
how to gain weight and to get a good physic. my height is 5.7 and weight 49.5 kgs. slim personality
do u plz suggest me how do i manage to get it.
should i take any vitamin tabletsss or wat .i do push ups some times
thanks
sujan
May 2, 2009 at 10:25 am
Hi Sujan,
there is a full story on this “How to build muscle and lose fat”. It also has information on how to gain. Pls refer to it – http://trainingmasters.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/workouts-to-build-muscle-lose-fat/
4 Trainingmasters,
Murali vijayakumar aka biglee
December 8, 2010 at 9:25 am
Hey great post! thanks However I’m having problem with your RSS feed. Don’t know why Unable to subscribe to it. Does anyone else facing identical rss issue?
January 29, 2011 at 12:06 pm
hello sir,
how to gain weight and to get a good physic. my height is 5.5 and weight 69 kgs.
do u plz suggest me how do i manage to get it.
should i take any vitamin tabletsss or wat .i do push ups some times
thanks