Nutrients You Need To Build Muscle – Including Probiotics

For too long, building muscle meant that you need to drink a protein shake daily, choke down the chicken with every meal, and maybe add some salmon to your plate for a treat. While those things will still work to help you build muscle, there is more that you can do. 

Apart from working out on a regular basis, getting enough sleep to let your body heal, and taking a probiotic specifically designed for men – for example: https://bioptimizers.com/best-probiotic-for-men-what-is-it-how-to-pick-definition-explanation-colon/), you can also ensure that you are getting adequate levels of nutrients. There are certain nutrients that help your body recover from the stress it undergoes when you workout. By adding these nutrients to your diet, you will bulk faster and see results much more quickly than you can even imagine:

Add Calcium To Trigger Muscle Contractions 

Calcium helps to build bones and prevents osteoporosis, a side effect of some workout routines. Even more importantly for those trying to gain muscle mass, calcium helps trigger muscle contractions. As you probably know, muscles are made up of two proteins: actin and myosin. When these filaments contract over each other, they use up energy. The more you exercise, the more calcium you need.

To get this, consider adding milk, cheese, tofu, or yogurt to your diet.

Popeye Was Right: You Need Iron

If you really want to build muscles, you need a lot of iron in your diet. Not only does iron help to bring oxygen to the muscles, which can help with regeneration, but it also helps to boost your immune system. When you feel better, it is more likely that you can talk yourself into going to the gym. Without iron, you will feel sluggish and it will take longer to recover. Most foods contain iron, but you should add leafy greens, eggs, and lean beef to your diet.

Magnesium Helps You Stay Alert

If you feel tired after a workout and it prevents you from going to the gym more often, it could be because you don’t have enough magnesium in your diet. Magnesium is one of the best minerals that help you to stay awake, eliminates cramps, and relaxes your muscles after a workout. It can also help you to get more restful sleep so that you have energy at all times. 

For magnesium, you may want to add nuts and seeds to your diet as well as more leafy greens.

Potassium For Nutrient Distribution

Your body knows where nutrients need to go, but it doesn’t always have the tools to get it there. Potassium can help. By getting more potassium into your diet, water and other important nutrients are more easily transported into your muscle cells. It helps to support your kidneys to flush sodium out of your body, which can make you look leaner and reduces the risk of hypertension and heart disease.

To get potassium, add bananas, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and squash to your diet.

Vitamin D Is Still Necessary

Vitamin D is something our parents told us we needed as we were growing up because it does help strengthen bones, but it has other uses in the body. In fact, it can also build the muscles in your biceps and glutes. Vitamin D is also linked to testosterone, which is what helps us to grow stronger. Taking a daily dose of vitamin D will also help your mental health, which is the key to all bodily health. It can be hard to add vitamin D to your diet, so you may want to supplement here. For a more natural approach, try eating fatty fish like sardines or eating more dairy products.

Drink Water

Most people who work out already know that they need to drink water regularly. In fact, most of us will drink it before, during, and after working out. Even so, you may want to drink more than you think. Water does more than quench your thirst – it helps the rest of the nutrients on this list travel throughout your body, including to your muscles. 

To get water, keep a reusable bottle with you at all times so that you can always drink. 
Your body is an amazing thing that can build muscle with a little bit of work and some smart planning. Something you should plan is your diet – foods can either help you or work against you. While it isn’t likely that you will get completely shredded without some supplements and protein shakes, you can certainly help yourself out with a good diet, adding probiotics for men, and more. For more support, visit BiOptimizers.com to find out more information on the best probiotics to meet your goals.

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