Healthcare Technology Featured Article

January 19, 2023

Maximizing recovery by using bodybuilding supplements




Gaining muscle mass and achieving your bodybuilding goals isn’t only about rigorous workouts and nutritious diets. It is also about a process that people often overlook or forget about: muscle recovery.

Muscles need to recover from exercise. While taking enough rest is the most effective way of ensuring your muscles are in optimal condition, supplements can also help. Bodybuilding supplements such as creatine monohydrate, essential amino acids, and whey protein can help maximize and expedite muscle recovery after workouts.

Read on to find out more about how bodybuilding supplements can maximize muscle recovery after exercise and which supplements are the best for the job. 

Importance of muscle recovery after workouts

Muscle recovery after a workout session is perhaps as important as the exercises you do. Intense exercises may create small tears in the muscle tissue, which needs to be healed before your next workout. If the muscles aren’t allowed to heal and recover, you won’t notice any muscle growth.

Another reason why muscle recovery is important is that it lowers the chances of serious injuries and provides strength to your muscles. Resting and taking some time off is the best way of ensuring effective muscle recovery. 

In addition, bodybuilding supplements can also be helpful in the recovery process, as we’ll explain in the next section.

Role of bodybuilding supplements in muscle recovery

Bodybuilding supplements can assist the muscle recovery process in a number of ways. While some supplements reduce soreness in the muscles, others aid in protein synthesis – the production of more protein for the muscles to use.

Furthermore, some supplements are beneficial in the recovery process since they help your body remove lactic acid more quickly. Other supplements help reduce muscle fatigue and expedite the recovery process after an intensive workout. Some of them even help muscle tissues to recover from an injury.

Best bodybuilding supplements for maximizing recovery

Below, we go over some of the best bodybuilding supplements you can take for maximizing recovery after workouts. All of them are quite beneficial in the recovery process and can be found at literally any supplement store.

1. Creatine monohydrate

While there is limited research that conclusively determines the benefits of creatine monohydrate in muscle recovery, some studies have found that it can aid in the recovery process. It expedites the healing and recovery process after a bout of rigorous exercise and provides greater endurance.

Moreover, creatine monohydrate also helps reduce fatigue and enhances the quality of your workouts. While some sources might claim the supplement is not safe to use, there is little truth to them. Creatine monohydrate is quite safe to use for both short-term and long-term plans.

2. Essential amino acids

Essential amino acids are another excellent bodybuilding supplement that can maximize muscle recovery after a workout. There are around nine of these essential amino acids: leucine, phenylalanine, valine, threonine, phenylalanine, histidine, tryptophan, isoleucine, and methionine.

Among these nine amino acids, three of them are known as branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) and are namely isoleucine, valine, and leucine. These amino acids play a vital role in muscle recovery and also encourage the growth and development of muscles.

Supplement products that contain BCAAs are quite popular among bodybuilders due to the numerous benefits they provide and should be strongly considered if you want to maximize recovery.

3. Whey protein

Whey protein is arguably the best supplement ingredient that maximizes muscle growth and recovery. The supplement is essentially a protein source that contains BCAAs. This makes it quite effective in repairing and healing muscle tissues while also providing more energy and greater endurance during workouts.

Bodybuilders usually take whey protein shakes after workouts to maximize muscle recovery and repair. It also helps them maintain muscle mass and recover faster from injuries sustained during intensive exercise.

Whey protein comes in a few different forms, with each form having a different protein composition. Here are the different types of whey protein:

  • Whey protein concentrate
  • Hydrolyzed whey
  • Whey protein isolate

4. L-Glutamine

L-Glutamine, which is essentially an amino acid, is yet another bodybuilding supplement that is known for helping speed up muscle recovery and providing a range of other benefits. Studies have found that it helps increase the rate of protein synthesis in your muscle tissues and leads to better muscle growth.

If you add L-glutamine to your diet, you’ll experience faster muscle recovery after exercise. This can effectively shorten resting times between your workouts and your muscles will be less sore during exercise.

5. Citrulline malate

Citrulline malate is a popular supplement used by bodybuilders to maximize recovery after workouts and shorten resting times. It is made from a combination of L-citrulline – a non-essential amino acid – and malate, from malic acid.

How exactly does citrulline malate help in muscle recovery, you might ask? It releases nitric oxide (NO), which in turn helps widen the blood vessels. This leads to improved blood flow and circulation, which helps muscles recover faster by allowing nutrients and blood to reach them more easily.

Other tips for faster muscle recovery

Here are some other helpful tips that can help your muscles recover faster after exercise:

  • Make foods rich in protein and carbohydrates a part of your post-workout meals to get the necessary nutrition for muscle recovery.
  • Drink plenty of water to replace fluids lost during exercise through sweating.
  • Take a cold bath and get a massage to reduce muscle soreness and fatigue.
  • Make sure you take some time out to simply rest and relax to allow your muscles to recover.
  • Make sure you’re getting adequate sleep.

Final thoughts

There are numerous bodybuilding supplements you can take to maximize and expedite muscle recovery, such as creatine monohydrate, essential amino acids, and whey protein. We covered all of these supplements in detail in this guide and explained how they help in muscle recovery. We hope you found this guide helpful!



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