Category: muscular

Muscles are organs that control body movement and have an extremely complex structure, in both cellular and structural terms. In fact they are formed by many fascicles of muscle fibres lying parallel to each other.

The muscular system has many functions, and it is important not only for supporting movement but also for maintaining numerous vital functions active, such as blood circulation, breathing and digestion.

It is therefore indispensable to keep the whole muscular system healthy, starting from constant physical activity. The benefits of sport in fact impact both physical and mental health. You don’t have to take part in competitive sports, all you need is regular physical activity, of even moderate intensity, to help improve the well-being of the whole body and, at the same time, quality of life.

Advice for fighting muscle fatigu

When a particularly intense sports session causes pain and tenderness, this means that there is an over-production of lactic acid, triggered by the body’s need to produce more energy. To fight this unpleasant muscle pain, we must firstly restore a correct level of hydration, drinking water to restore the mineral salts lost through sweating.

But, on the contrary, muscle pain may also be caused by a prolonged period of a sedentary lifestyle, when the muscles lose tone and suffer from fatigue with any minor effort. Loss of muscle strength also affects the bone structure, leading to a range of musculoskeletal pains affecting particularly the back, lumbar and neck regions.

Here is some useful advice for fighting muscle pain and keeping the muscles healthy:

• Keep active, avoiding excessive strain as well as a sedentary lifestyle
• Drink plenty of water
• Have a healthy diet rich in fruit and vegetables
• Maintain a correct posture
• Never forget the importance of stretching sessions, postural exercises or yoga

Supporting muscle function with supplements

As mentioned, a healthy diet plays a fundamental role in the well-being of both muscles and the whole body. 

Particularly, recent studies have considered the beneficial effects of vitamin E, showing how it can help reduce pain and inflammation with its antioxidant properties.

Which foods are richest in vitamin E?  

The ApportAL® range of nutritional supplements is also formulated to support muscle function and, in addition to vitamin E, contains: 

Selenium: useful for ensuring the correct functioning of skeletal muscles and supporting the body during periods of physical and mental fatigue.

Magnesium: contributes to normal muscle function, also helping to carry calcium and potassium through the cell membranes, which are fundamental for the transmission of nerve impulses, muscle contraction and heartbeat.

Arginine: acts on muscle efficiency, maintaining the uptake of oxygen and nutrients. It therefore speeds up recovery of muscle well-being following body prolonged inactivity and sports performance.

Carnitine: it facilitates muscle tissue repair in the event of strains and oxidative stress. It also helps to fight fatigue and breathlessness, maintaining high energy levels for prolonged periods during physical activity.

Practising sport regularly is one of the basic rules for a healthy lifestyle. In fact, the benefits of sporting activities do not only concern staying in shape, but are also tangible aids for both the body and mind, as stress and tensions are literally dissolved when the body is in motion.

But subjecting the body to more or less intensive physical effort, we must take a few precautions to avoid injuries and to ensure that the body can recover energy levels quickly, restoring normal physiological well-being.

Techniques for recovering energy after sporting activities

Warm-ups: recovering energy after sporting activities starts sooner than we might think. Never underestimate the importance of warm-ups, needed to increase the body temperature, preparing the muscles and ensuring elasticity during sports, to avoid strains and sprains.

Cool-downs: like warm-ups, after sporting activities we must ensure a cool down period, with a series of activities to relax the muscles, along with exercises that help to stretch the tissues and dispose of the lactic acid.

Have a snack: within 30 minutes after the end of sporting activities, it is a good habit to ensure sufficient rehydration, and a snack rich in carbohydrates, vitamins, mineral salts and fibre.

The importance of proteins: people who practise sports regularly must ensure that their diet includes proteins, as these provide the essential amino acids that maintain healthy muscles and cardiovascular system.

Cereals: nuts, cocoa and whole wheat cereals help to restore spent energy, and contain micronutrients that fight the oxidation triggered during sporting activities.

Physical and mental relaxation: meditation, yoga, low-impact exercises or a short walk to relax the mind: these common mental relaxation techniques also have positive effects on the body.

Regular night-time rest: the health of the whole body depends on both the amount and quality of sleep.  If there is a balanced sleep-wake rhythm, there is a greater chance of having more energy when you wake up.

Supplements for recovering energy: ApportAL® contains vitamins and mineral salts that promote normal muscle function and help recover energy, strength and tone after sporting activities. This is thanks to its formulation with 19 nutrients, including:

Selenium: an essential substance for supporting skeletal muscle health and functioning.

Magnesium: indispensable for the body for producing energy, helping to guarantee muscle contraction and heart beat.

Arginine: arginine improves the blood flow and muscle efficiency, also supporting muscle recover both after sports and in the event of prolonged inactivity.

Carnitine: it is useful for facilitating muscle recovery and repair after intensive efforts and activities. It also helps the body to fight fatigue.

Muscle health is fundamental not only for competitive sports players but for everyone. Muscle tissue is not only fundamental for ensuring correct movement but also for ensuring optimal functioning of the endocrinal system. Muscles can to all extents and purposes be considered an actual organ.

Advice for healthy muscles

A healthy diet and appropriate hydration are the starting points for a healthy body. Muscles are no exception: they need liquids and micronutrients to function correctly. In addition to this, here is a short guide to looking after your muscles.

• Avoid a sedentary lifestyle, and if possible alternate different types of physical activity, without focusing on a single part of the body. For example, if your favourite activity is walking, it is better to include a training session that focuses more on the upper part of the body.
• Sport is fine, but don’t overdo it: always plan training sessions considering the importance of muscle recovery.
• Never forget the importance of massages done by professionals who know how to deal with stiff muscles and contractures.
• Sleep! Indeed: while sleeping, the muscles have time to regenerate, as GH is released (the “growth hormone” that stimulates tissue growth, including muscle tissue).

Fundamental vitamins and minerals for muscles

The body produces the energy it needs from food, and so a healthy, varied and balanced diet has more chance of assuring a generally high quality of overall health.

These are the micronutrients needed to strengthen the muscles:

Iron: essential for many body functions, and also carries oxygen to the active muscles.

Magnesium: it is indispensable for energy production, and when talking about muscles, it is precisely magnesium that supports muscle contraction and relaxation.

Selenium: the highest concentration of selenium in the human body can be found in the skeletal muscles, and it is fundamental for defending the cells from oxidative damage.

Group B vitamins: necessary for releasing energy into the body, repairing tissues and producing red blood cells. They are therefore fundamental for keeping the muscles in good health, especially when doing sports.

Vitamin C: it has a huge antioxidant power and is therefore of vital importance for protecting the cells in the muscles and indeed in the whole body.

Vitamin D: there is no well-being without this vitamin. This depends on the fact that it is involved in very many physiological processes, including the ability to increase muscle strength.

Arginine: it is able to improve muscle performance during sporting activities, protecting the muscle integrity and aiding recovery after physical effort.

Carnitine: it helps to feed the muscles, influencing their growth as it accelerates the transport of fatty acids to the muscles, where they are burned to obtain energy.

Strengthening the muscles: when to use supplements

Recourse to supplements for muscle strengthening helps in two main cases: firstly, after very intensive sporting activities and, in the same way, after significant loss of muscle tone due to prolonged periods of inactivity, convalescence or rest.

In both cases, the primary need is to restore optimal levels of muscle strength, and to do this it is possible to use nutritional supplements.

The formulation with vitamins and minerals contained in Apportal® supports muscle function, acting on the body to restore the ideal levels of strength and energy.

Physical activity plays a fundamental role in a healthy lifestyle, and the same goes for subsequent physical recovery.

But who has never had painful muscles and a general feeling of numbness after intensive sports training?

After particularly intensive training, it is normal to have numb, tired muscles: this is the way the body tells us we need to rest. You should have a break of 24/48 hours to allow the body to recover tone and energy and repair the fibres responsible for unpleasant muscle pain.

Why is post-training physical recovery so important? Because the body has to rest to remain efficient. Furthermore, muscle recovery is required to make progress at sporting level, develop muscle mass and burn excess fat.

Physical recovery starts immediately after sport and on the days between training sessions. In this phase, the body begins the process of regeneration of the structures that have been stressed by intense stimuli, and works to return to pre-training conditions.

Exaggerating with sporting activities without giving the body the time it needs to regenerate, increases the risk of injuries and suffering more frequently from muscle pain, cramps and overexertion.

Vitamins and minerals useful for muscle recovery

A healthy diet is even more important during constant sporting activities, because the body needs some nutrients that support muscle activity.

Some of these fundamental nutrients for muscle well-being are:

• Zinc
• Magnesium
• Vitamin B6
• Carnitine
• Arginine

Furthermore, vitamin C and iron also help muscle recovery, reduce tiredness and fatigue, while vitamin E helps to protect the cells from the free radicals generated by the body as a reaction to intensive physical effort.

Supplements for post-training physical recovery

The charge of endorphins we get after a training session is certainly gratifying, and it almost seems that the key to bodily well-being is exactly that. However, health also needs an appropriate intake of nutrients to make recovery after sports training even more effective.

Correct training must include an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals, as this significantly affects athletic performance and productivity in everyday life.

Apportal® products are nutritional supplements that support the body in both full muscle recovery and in topping up the energy charge, in order to be ready for a new training session.

The muscle function of Apportal® is particularly promoted by:

• Selenium: fundamental support for good muscle and skeletal functioning and to fight physical and mental weakness.

• Zinc: improved sporting performance, thanks to its ability to repair and regenerate the tissues, as well as stimulate muscle recovery.

• Magnesium: correct muscle performance, controlling muscle contractions and heart beat.

• Arginine: improved muscle efficiency, promoting rapid recovery after sporting performance.

• Carnitine: useful for facilitating muscle recovery and muscle tissue repair, fighting the feeling of tiredness and fatigue.

Sporting activities, practised both inside and outdoors, in the summer or winter, make the human body lose a large amount of water and mineral salts. Physical well-being, especially for people who regularly practise sports, necessarily requires the correct hydration of the body, one of the basic principles of physical well-being along with a healthy, balanced diet.

After physical activity, the body needs to restore both a good amount of liquids and vitamins and minerals. Minerals are so-called essential micro-nutrients because they cannot be synthesised by the body and can therefore only be taken in with food. This is why doctors and nutritionists insist greatly on the importance of a diet that includes fruit, vegetables and the right amount of proteins and carbohydrates.

The 22 minerals in the body are indispensable for many physiological functions, including carrying oxygen to the cells, blood coagulation and muscle function.

The most important in the sports field are iron, zinc, magnesium, calcium and selenium, while the vitamins to be integrated after physical activity are vitamin D, group B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin E, all of which have antioxidant properties.

Nutritional supplements suited to integrating vitamins and minerals after physical activity

Generally, people who practise sports constantly should have a varied diet based on the principles of the Mediterranean diet: the basic foodstuffs include fruit, vegetables, carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice, spelt, potatoes) and pulses (beans, chick peas, lentils). The noble proteins, found in fish and eggs, as well as meat, should not be eaten more than twice a week. A balanced diet also includes milk, yoghurt, dairy products and cheeses, as well as raw extra-virgin olive oil as a condiment.

When the diet is insufficient to meet the body’s needs after sporting activities, the supplements in the ApportAL® range contain vitamins and minerals that help the body to recover after physical activity, intervening in the muscle function to reduce the feeling of fatigue.

This is thanks to the complete formulation that contains 19 nutrients that help to recover energy. Fundamental for sports people:

• Selenium: essential antioxidant for correct muscle function.
• Magnesium: useful for guaranteeing correct muscle performance and indispensable for the production of energy.
• Arginine: improves muscle efficiency, helping to dilate the blood vessels.
• Carnitine: facilitates muscle recovery and fights fatigue.