Any gear head will tell you that Nitrous Oxide is like putting your car on steroids. Just Google ‘Nitrous Oxide engine’ for proof of that. But what about Nitric Oxide – will Nitric Oxide boost your sports performance and take your athletic potential do the athlete’s equivalent of zero to sixty in three seconds or less?
The quick answer to that is yes. Most of your cells make Nitric Oxide. It’s a vasodilator, which means it helps relax the inner muscles of your blood vessels[1]. In doing so, it widens your blood vessels, so you’ve got better blood flow.
That has a variety of health applications, with sports performance being among them. Let’s look closer at how Nitric Oxide may help you show up in the gym and the sports field.
Nitric Oxide Can Relieve Muscle Soreness
Here’s a great reason to use a Nitric Oxide supplement like VigRX Nitric Oxide Support: it may help reduce that feeling your muscles feel like they got hit by a train the day after you go hard on the weights. A 2010 study found that, among 41 volunteers, those who took 8 grams of a citrulline supplement had less muscle soreness 24 and 48 hours after doing reps on a flat barbell bench press[2]
Citrulline is an amino acid that boosts Nitric Oxide. With more Nitric Oxide, the muscles receive more blood flow. Citrulline appears to send vital nutrients to the muscles while being worked and reduce waste products related to muscle fatigue, like lactate and ammonia.
More studies are needed to verify just how Nitric Oxide helps reduce muscle soreness. But it’s clear there is a link here – one that could help you recover much faster if you’re an athletic person.
Nitric Oxide May Boost Sports Performance
Here’s what you really want to know. The answer is yes: Nitric Oxide helps sports performance. That’s because it dilates the blood vessels, which helps deliver nutrients and oxygen to your muscles during use.
Studies on Nitric Oxide-boosting supplements with Arginine and Citrulline show this. Among other uses, Nitric Oxide can boost sports performance in cycling, running, swimming and even kayaking.
The caveat to this is that Nitric Oxide supplements have shown mixed results for boosting performance in other sports. That’s likely because Arginine tends to metabolize or break down before it enters the bloodstream, so it has less absorption than Citrulline, which is not broken down to the same degree[3].
As with the link between Nitric Oxide and its ability to reduce muscle soreness, more studies are needed to explore and solidify the connection between Nitric Oxide and athletic potential. But the link is there – and it’s an intriguing one at that.
What is Nitric Oxide Anyway?
Nitric Oxide is a molecule. Almost all the cells in your body make it – Nitric Oxide serves a variety of functions, but its most important is vasodilation. It relaxes the blood vessels, which helps move blood, nutrients and oxygen throughout the body.
It’s this principle that’s likely responsible for the link between Nitric Oxide and better sports performance.
Nitric Oxide does other things too. It helps lower blood pressure and promotes better blood flow to the brain, which is good for cognitive function. Perhaps more enjoyable, Nitric Oxide also boosts blood flow to the penis, so you get an erection. A Nitric Oxide supplement like VigRX Nitric Oxide Support can help with that, along with better sports performance as we’ve discussed.
Easy Ways to Boost Nitric Oxide
Most people tend to make less Nitric Oxide as they get older. That’s a health issue because, among other things, Nitric Oxide deficiency is linked to diabetes, heart disease and erectile problems[4].
Fortunately, you can boost Nitric Oxide with a few lifestyle changes and a supplement if appropriate. These include:
Eat Nitrate-Rich Vegetables
Nitrate is a compound found in certain vegetables. You can find it in spinach, arugula, celery, cress, chervil and lettuce, among others.
When you eat nitrate-rich vegetables, your body converts the nitrate in them to Nitric Oxide. This may help lower your blood pressure, increase exercise potential and the sports performance benefits we’ve already discussed.
There is a caveat to this. Nitrates from vegetables appear to help the body, but nitrates from meat sources like bacon and hot dogs are often combined with sodium as a preservative and color fixative. These are linked to bowel cancer[5] – and may even lead to painful kidney stones[6]. Ouch.
Get your nitrates from vegetables and you may avoid that problem.
Consume More Antioxidants
For all its uses, Nitric Oxide is an unstable molecule that breaks down in the bloodstream. It needs to be replenished constantly. You can do that with antioxidants, which are molecules that neutralize free radicals (which contribute to lower Nitric Oxide in the body).
You’ve likely heard of antioxidants. They’re widely discussed in anti-aging circles because they help the body age slower thanks to their ability to fight free radicals. Your best source of antioxidants will likely be from plant-based foods.
Good sources of antioxidants include fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains and seeds.
In fact, some studies suggest that ingesting citrulline with antioxidants can further reduce the breakdown of Nitric Oxide[7].
Use a Nitric Oxide Supplement
We’ve already touched on the fact that a Nitric Oxide supplement can boost Nitric Oxide and sports performance with it. The two ingredients responsible for this are amino acids:
Arginine – This makes Nitric Oxide through the L-Arginine NO pathway. It’s shown to lower blood pressure[8], however, Arginine is best combined with Citrulline because the former breaks down before entering the blood, which limits its efficacy.
Citrulline – This is another amino acid. When your body converts Arginine to Nitric Oxide, it makes Citrulline as a byproduct, which it then recycles back to Arginine to repeat the process. Citrulline has a variety of benefits, from lower blood pressure to better exercise performance[9].
Use Less Mouthwash
Less mouthwash? Yup, really. Mouthwash kills bacteria in the mouth – including some that make Nitric Oxide. In fact, evidence suggests that using mouthwash can kill the oral bacteria that makes Nitric Oxide for up to 12 hours[10]
This can lead to higher blood pressure and, in some cases, the health effects linked to it, including diabetes. That’s supported by a study which found people who used mouthwash twice a day or more had a 65% higher chance of developing diabetes[11] than people who never used mouthwash.
That doesn’t mean you should never use mouthwash, but it does suggest you should not use it often.
Exercise More
Exercise boosts Nitric Oxide. It helps endothelial function, which tells the cells lining your blood vessels to make more of the stuff. In turn, this helps lower blood pressure, your odds of atherosclerosis (hardening of the blood vessels) and the factors that can lead to heart disease.
Regular exercise helps endothelial function in healthy people and those with high pressure and heart disease as well[12]. Several studies show this. Just 30 minutes of exercise, three times a week is shown to boost endothelial function in 10 weeks[13] – and Nitric Oxide with it.
For best results, it’s good to combine aerobic exercises like jogging and walking with resistance training. Or to put that another way, hit the treadmill and then hit the weights. Pop a Nitric Oxide supplement with it and you’re good to go.
VigRX Nitric Oxide Support
We’re just going to come out and say that we are fans of VigRX Nitric Support. It’s one of most effective and best value Nitric Oxide supplements for the following reasons:
It’s Got Arginine and Citrulline – We’ve discussed why that’s important throughout this blog post.
It’s Got an Excellent Pedigree – VigRX Nitric Oxide Support is made by VigRX – the same company that makes VigRX Plus.
It Understands the Male Body – This ties in to the previous statement. VigRX has over 20 years experience helping men address the changes that occur in the body as we get older.
It’s Got a 67 Day Money-Back Guarantee – If it doesn’t boost your sports performance, just return the product and you get your money back any time within 67 days.
Yeah, we’re fans of VigRX Nitric Oxide Support. You can learn more about this awesome product here.
So Does Nitric Oxide Really Help Sports Performance?
In short, multiple studies show a link between Nitric Oxide and both faster recuperation from muscle soreness and better sports performance. It appears to help some sports better than others. Cycling, running, swimming and kayaking all appear to benefit from a Nitric Oxide supplement.
Its effect on other sports will likely be further explored in additional studies – and our current understanding does suggest it may benefit other types of exercise as well.
You can boost Nitric Oxide through diet and/or with a Nitric Oxide supplement. And you can expect more than just better sports performance. Nitric Oxide plays a very important role in the body, yet it tends to decrease as we get older[14]. That makes it all the more important to think about your life, lifestyle and the possibility of a Nitric Oxide supplement after the big 4-0.
[1] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/nitric-oxide-supplements
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22341015/.
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8238326/
[4] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-increase-nitric-oxide
[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18444144/
[6] https://www.webmd.com/kidney-stones/understanding-kidney-stones-prevention#1
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4472409/
[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5021928/
[9] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26900386/
[10] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18793740/
[11] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28939409/
[12] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10675425/
[13] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-increase-nitric-oxide#section5
[14] https://www.ausfp.com/medical-procedures-services/nitric-oxide/