Nitric Oxide and Building Your Muscle Fast
Nitric Oxide supplements are probably the most
popular supplements on the fitness market today.
Walk into any health food store that caters to
bodybuilders, and you'll see names of products
such as NO2, Nitrix, NOxplode, SuperPump 250,
NOX, TracNO and many others.
I'm a strong supporter in nitric oxide products
to build muscle and there's been some double-blind
studies that support the effectiveness of nitric
oxide supplements. But with so many Nitric Oxide
products on the market, how do you know which
one works the best for you.
To answer the question of which one would be
best for you, let's look at what nitric oxide
is. Nitric oxide is a colorless gas that's found
in the tissues of all mammals. It's actually a
natural vasodilator of smooth muscle (but not
skeletal muscle). Nitric oxide also performs cell-to-cell
communication for some metabolic functions and
this is how it is used by the body to communicate
with other body cells.
Natural nitric oxide on its own just lasts briefly
in the body. But there is an analog to produce
this gas, as it occurs when enzymes in the body
break down the amino acid called Arginine (l-arginine).
Nitric Oxide has been determined to control the
circulation of blood and may actually increase
blood flow. It also sends signals between nerve
cells, and can serve to deliver more nutrients
to muscle cells, helping the muscles to increase
in size when subjected to stress (that "pumped"
feeling from working out).
It is these large, full pumps that bodybuilders
seek when lifting weights. As a side note: Erectile
Dysfunction (ED) prescriptions work in a similar
way to increase blood flow (just that ED prescriptions
focus on controlling blood flow in a different
area).
The MRI company defined this industry when they
came out with the first nitric oxide supplement.
I believe it is still the best nitric oxide on
the market, but usually it's also the most expensive.
BSN and MHP and Pinnacle and Gaspari also make
good nitric oxide supplements, but to me, they
don't seem to be as effective as the MRI NO2,
although I believe different people will have
varying results until they find the one that works
best for them.
The way to tell which nitric oxide supplement
will work best for you is to try one for 6 weeks.
In about 2 weeks of using a nitric oxide supplement,
you should be able to feel a "pump"
after your workout and you'll be reminded of this
feeling throughout the day as you continue to
feel "pumped." It's kind of like that
"tight" feeling you might feel the first
five minutes in the morning upon arising, before
your muscles have had a chance to stretch.
If you don't feel "pumped" and have
a renewed desire to head back to the gym each
morning after 6 weeks of trying a nitric oxide
supplement, try a different one. If the first
supplement you try doesn't get you to that "pump,"
you'll probably only need to try one or two others
until you get that "good" feeling. Then
you can stick to your chosen nitric oxide generator
for a long time.
I should also mention possible side effects of
nitric oxide. While I haven't heard or seen any
serious health side effects, it's possible to
have dizziness, some fatigue, headaches or diarrhea,
as these would be symptoms of too much arginine
and they'll go away upon reducing the amount of
arginine taken.
There's also been some recent reports stating
that certain ED prescriptions may cause a sudden
blindness, and seeing that some of the process
of vasodilation could be similar to nitric oxide,
I researched to see if nitric oxide could cause
a sudden blindness similar to the ED prescriptions.
What I found is that nitric oxide works with a
different receptor and it appears that this would
not be a problem. I still take NO2 and I really
like it.
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