Muscle Soreness: How Vitamin C Supplements Can Help

It all starts with leg day. You are both thrilled and also quite scared at the thought of the muscle soreness you will undoubtedly encounter the following day. You complete a very intense workout and you’re feeling on top of the world. You leave the gym like a fine tuned machine with all pistons firing.

The following day is a completely different story. You make your first attempt at getting out of bed, not realizing what awaits you. Your feet hit the floor and instantly your legs crumble. Of course, your initial thought is that someone stole your femur while you you slept. Well, maybe that isn’t your first thought. But you get up and your hamstrings and calves are sore and painful to the touch. This is a very regular occurrence for people of all types who strength train. What you are experiencing is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

While it’s true that sore muscles often follow physical exercise, DOMS is not actually all that apparent while exercising. Instead the aches and pains are often experienced hours after exercise. The soreness associated with DOMS might last for several days and harshly limit even your usual physical capabilities

How Vitamin C Can Help

Vitamin C has a very significant role in muscle growth. It is necessary for the building of collagen which is the most abundant protein built in our bodies (Wolbach and Howe 1926). Collagen is a connective tissue that supports heart tissue, blood vessels, and especially muscle tissue. Collagen does not have the ability to build without vitamin C. It is also evident that vitamin C has an important part at every step of the building process. Collagen makes up 1% to 2% of your muscle tissue and 6% of your tendons, which makes vitamin C a vital building block to muscle growth and repair.

Vitamin C supplementation is a crucial part of muscle growth and should be added to both your pre and post workout nutritional regimen.