4 Essential Benefits of Fish Oil Supplement for Bodybuilding
Fish oil is one of the healthiest fats that there is. If you don’t believe us then keep on reading to learn more about the benefits of fish oil for bodybuilding.
When most people think about bodybuilding, they’re thinking about building and developing muscles. It takes a lot of protein to develop muscles, with carbohydrates and fat barely involved in the process at all. Even so, this happens to be where most people fail when trying to build muscle.
You shouldn’t cut out fat completely, rather you need to get as much healthy fat in your diet as you can to boost your muscle building efforts.
Fish oil is high in the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA. These fatty acids have several benefits for bodybuilders, such as reduced muscle soreness and less severe DOMS.
Below are four essential benefits of fish oil for bodybuilding:
Improved Muscle Gain
Fish oil is rich in eicosapentanoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid; two of the very best essential oils that men need.
Studies have proven that these are the two key essential oils for modulating a range of physiologic responses including responding to inflammation, developing muscles, and oxidising free radicals.
These two amino acids are more commonly known as EPA and DHA and the scientific evidence that they support muscle protein synthesis continues to grow. This synthesis is important because it allows for the growth and development of muscle tissues.
Both variants of fish oil have also been shown to prevent the degradation of muscle proteins, allowing them to integrate into the muscular framework more easily.
To keep it all very simple, EPA and DHA have been shown to benefit muscles by enhancing the synthesis of – and preventing the degradation of – muscle proteins.
This leaves you with more muscle protein ready to be turned into actual pure muscles. Fish oils are shown to increase muscle growth while also preventing them from breaking down.
Reduces Inflammatory Response
Perhaps the most recognizable EPA and DHA benefit is their potent anti-inflammation benefits. As a person exercises, their body tissues undergo a range of physiological changes. This leads to cellular stress.
Everyone is aware of the basic implications of cellular stress. Stress can stimulate the inflammatory response on the cellular level. Exercising also means your body uses up a lot of oxygen to fuel all of the oxidation reactions that fuel your body and keep it moving during exercise.
The problem with all of this is that working out intensely also causes a more intense inflammatory response and an increase in the amount of oxidative reactions happening in your body. This makes it harder for your body to recover from exercise.
Instead of being able to get in the three or four exercises each week that you want, you could be forced to only work out a few times a week because it takes your body longer to recover from the increased oxidative and inflammatory processes.
Taking fish oil supplements alongside working out can reduce the amount of inflammation in the body and lessen the effects oxidation has. This means you can recover faster from your work out and hit the gym in no time.
You can work out as hard as you want to build your muscle, while the fish oil works to reduce how long it takes for your cells and tissues to go back to peak performance.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out the implications for bodybuilding. The very essence of bodybuilding is that working your muscles more means they grow more. Fish oil allows you to do just that.
Supports Insulin Function
Exercising – or indeed performing any kind of physical activity – requires a great energy source to fuel it. The human body’s primary energy source is the carbohydrate glucose. Cells use glucose through the production and use of insulin; which is secreted through the pancreas when glucose levels rise.
Problems arise when insulin levels rise too much as it causes excess glucose to be converted into fat. To put it simply; it leaves you with more fat to burn off.
Studies have shown that DHA and EPA can regulate proper insulin function. In particular it is great at preventing insulin spikes.
This helps to ensure glucose is mobilized into cells gradually and prevents glucose from being converted into fat. This essentially helps your bodybuilding efforts as it ensures higher levels of glycogen.
Glycogen fuels the muscles through a range of metabolic processes.
Limits Protein Breakdown in Muscles
Studies have shown that when fish oils – in particular EPA – are combined with beta-hydroxy beta-methyllbutyrate (also known as HMB) it reduces the rate at which muscle proteins are broken down.
This is great news for bodybuilders as no one wants to work hard to gain muscle mass only to watch it melt away.
Preserving muscle is just as important as building muscle. EPA from fish oil is a great way to safeguard the gains you make from bodybuilding.
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Fish oils are good for more than just bodybuilding. They are also great for keeping cardiovascular health at peak levels.
This is why professional bodybuilders recommend that if you do supplement with fish oils, you only supplement with the best ones to get the best results for your bodybuilding efforts and overall general health.
