Improving your strength comes with lots of benefits. Strength is always associated with better living. Some of the benefits of improving your strength include completing daily tasks, especially the difficult ones, with ease, helping you maintain a healthy body weight, and reducing the risk of bone weakening. If you have a difficult time improving your strength naturally, here are some of the ways you can improve your strength using supplements.
Use of antioxidants
The free-radical formation is where reactive oxygen and nitrogen species get produced from increased body consumption of oxygen during exercise. These free radicals can reduce performance by sabotaging muscles’ ability to produce force. The result of this action is fatigue, inflammation and soreness. Antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin E help reduce the formation of free radicals, thus reducing skeletal muscle damage and fatigue. When taken in recommended quantities, they have no adverse effects on the body. However, if excessively taken, the antioxidants can cause gastrointestinal problems, nausea, abdominal cramps, diarrhea and a high risk of hemorrhagic effects.
Protein supplements
Protein is vital in muscle development. It helps build, maintain and repair muscle tissues. However, as people get sufficient protein from protein-rich foods, it is not the case for everyone. If you struggle to get the required amount of protein for your body from these foods, protein supplements are ideal for you. These supplements include; soy protein, protein powders, protein drinks and casein. There are no recorded adverse effects of increased protein intake. Thus, there is are no recommended quantities and limits to the amount of protein you should consume.
Creatine
Creatine is produced internally by the body; it is also obtained in small amounts from the diet. It is responsible for supplying the muscles and other tissues with energy. Creatine also helps in increasing muscle mass by enabling your body to perform better during exercises. It also increases the water content in muscle cells from which the muscle cells swell to signal muscle growth. There are recommended dose limits on creatine intake beyond which you will experience adverse effects. The reported effects include weight gain, nausea, muscle cramps, diarrhea, muscle stiffness and heat intolerance.
Beta-hydroxy-beta-meth butyrate (HMB)
HMB is the molecule produced from amino acid leucine processing in your body. It is responsible for reducing the breakdown of muscle protein. HMB also helps restore the structure and functioning of stressed and damaged skeletal muscle cells. This supplement is ideal for you if you are getting started with exercising or increasing the intensity of your workouts. The recommended intake of HMB is a dose of 3-6 grams per day and has no recorded adverse effects.
Beta-Alanine
Beta-alanine is an amino acid that helps reduce muscle fatigues and loss of force production. This effect is achieved through increased muscle carnosine synthesis. Carnosine is responsible for buffering changes in muscle pH which helps improve the performance of high-intensity activities such as swimming. Combined with an efficient exercise program, beta-alanine helps increase muscle mass. Animal-based foods contain small amounts of beta-alanine, but they are not efficient sources of muscle carnosine. A safe intake of 1.6-6.4 grams of beta-alanine for a period of up to eight weeks is recommended, beyond which you will experience adverse effects. These effects include; paraesthesia in the face, back of hands, neck, upper trunk and itchy skin.
Testosterone boosters
Testosterone is vital for your strength. It is essential for both men and women but more significant in men. It plays a key role in increasing your muscle mass and developing strong bones. Testosterone boosters are ideal for you if you have low testosterone levels. If you have normal testosterone levels, taking testosterone boosters may not give you any additional benefits. There are various testosterone boosters: vitamin D, ginger, D-Aspartic acid, zinc, and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). These supplements have various benefits for different categories of people. The most significant benefits have been on people with low testosterone levels. Others include athletes and exercise-active individuals. For example, the tongkat ali and fadogia agrestis supplement is an ideal testosterone booster whose studies show that it has the potential to take your strength to the next level. These boosters have no recorded adverse effects.
These supplements have the power to take your strength to the desired levels. However, you will not achieve that strength increase you are looking for without appropriate nutrition and strength programs. Research and get to know what supplement is ideal for you, take it in recommended amounts, complement with efficient nutrition and exercise programs, and with no time, you will get your strength where you want.
