I was just reading a study on Vitamin C and it said that 99% of bodybuilders do not get enough vitamin C. The studies results claimed that one gram or more of vitamin C per day reduced muscle soreness in the participants as well as reduced cortisol levels. They said it should be taken after working out. Has anyone else heard any similiar claims?? One gram a day is A LOT of vitamin C (about 10 oranges per day)!!
One gram is not alot of vitamin C. Most Vitamin C supplements come in 500mg or 1000mg tablets. So that would be 2 or 1 pills respectively. I personally take 2 grams of vitamin C a day and when I feel a cold coming on, up to 5 or 6 grams a day. I don’t think the study you were referencing was using oranges as the Vitamin C source. That would probably be counterproductive as that is alot of fructose. It was probably tablets.
I take a gram a day and have for a few years. (Vitamin C for BB’s is old news, BTW.) That’s only one tablet of the brand I use.
That doesn’t sound like a lot. I had a gram every hour when I had a bad cold. I don’t know how it affected my training, but I got over the cold pretty quickly.
I believe that the optimal way to take in vitamin C (or any other vitamin or herb) is capsule form. The reason being is that manufacturers compress their tablets so small and solid that your digestive system doesnt have enough time to break it down completely. I myself pop 2 500mg capsules a day at separate times, more if run down.
ok, but what about what the results in the article claim? anybody hear anything similiar?
I have seen similar studies. Just add a couple grams of C a day. You probably won’t notice anything much, but it won’t hurt. Plus it is inexpensive.
I take about 2-2.5grams a day, any more and I get the runs… which is normal apparently.
Hi,
I did a little trial with Vit C after I read an article on how it helped muscle soreness. I had a lay off for two weeks and then got back into a HIT Program. I did not take Vit C for 3 days. I must admit I felt it going back. I then started on 500mg Vit C in the morning and I have felt a lot better since. Whether it works for everyone or not. It seemed to work for me. I hope this has added another perspective to your training.
Yeah, but we need more of the specifics of the study. I mean reduced muscle soreness and cortisol levels versus what? Not eating for twelve hours afterwards? I mean, eating a dozen BigMacs after working out would be better than nothing for reducing muscles soreness and cortisol levels. And when they say reduced muscle soreness, that’s very objective. Who are the subjects? This is really bs as we all know we can use a lot of vitamin c in general.
I wonder how the requirements would differ if the bodybuilder was natural or had some other more advanced chemical assistance. I would be interested to know if there are any insane doses that some bodybuilders take.
I wouldn’t think most bodybuilders would be deficient in vitamin c as most bodybuilders it seems do supplement with vitamin c. Of course without the supplementation than most people including bodybuilders would probably be deficient.
We don’t need so much vitamins. Why in the world would you want to take a gram of C a day? All you are getting is a PLACEBO effect.
Dr. Kinakin talked about using Vit C in big doses in his first interview at T-mag about a year ago. He talked about using huge amounts for drug like effects to cure overtraining, but you don’t use that much everyday of course. I think the interiew was called “smart training” or something like that. Shugs did it.
Like TEK said, taking Vitamin C for bodybuilding/exercise purposes is old news. This goes back to the old days of Muscle Media 2000. Vitamin C helps your body make collagen which act like the cement between your muscle cells. I take and have been taking 6-8 grams per day for many years. Vitamin C is a primary anti-oxidant which assists with protecting your cells from free radicals.
Your body will use as much vit C as it needs and discard the rest. So all of you that are taking HUGE amounts (over 2g/day) consistently are doing yourself and your wallet a big disservice. This nation has some of the most expensive urine in the world. The other problem with that is that your body gets accustomed to discarding large amounts of vit C, and will not react quickly when the amount you take in goes down – you end up discarding too much. Hey folks, MODERATION! Use the larger doses when it’s needed, but stay in the 1-2g/day range otherwise.
Anybody taking over a gram a day of C should be taking Emergen-C. This is an effervescent form of Vitamin C bonded with mineral ascorbates, not ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is hard on the system. No wonder why people taking 2 grams of ascorbic acid get the runs. I have taken up to 4 grams of this several times(in 1 gram doses) and have gotten excellent results and no stomach problems.
Interesting…where did you read this study? Without reading how the study was conducted, I cannot pass judgement on this topic just yet. There are way to many things in print out there written by meat-heads that have no scientific backing. Please post the reference for me…Thanks
I take 2-3 g a day,which goes up to six or even more in particulary stressful periods.
I don’t believe all the benefits people experience are placebo, and even if they’re who gives a shit.At least C is very cheap.
There is a doctor called Robert F.Cathcart who recommends huge amounts of Vit C.You could check his opinions on www.orthomed.com. What do you think about it?
Draz: I’ve been on the web since the early 90’s and that is by far, the biggest -clusterfuck- of a website I’ve ever seen. Hoooolyy shit! Whoever said that presentation is second to content has never seen -that-.