You work out hard, you eat smart,but still you´re not hitting your training goals?
Vitamin D3 may be the reason.
Vitamin D3 is a fat-soluble vitamin that has a positive effect on immune function, brain, nervous function, bone and teeth health but also regulates insulin levels. Vitamin D3 is inactive ( 25-OH-D) until it goes through two reactions in our body to become the active form, 1.25 OH-D which is associated to increased strength.
New studies suggest that not getting enough vitamin D could interfere your athletic performance and body results.
Final reports have still to be evaluated but it could be that the vitamin D may help our muscle cells to release calcium much better during our muscles contract, which could increase all-over strength when working out but also faster sprints. In 2 studies, strength outcome measures have been significantly improved after supplementation of up to 5000 IU per day (trials lasted from 4 weeks to 6 months), 2 other studies reported trends for improved muscle strength as well. Still, more studies need to be done – but taking vitamin D3 will improve not only your performance in the gym but also have a positive impact on your over-all health!
Where to get D3?
Our skin can synthesize vitamin D3 from sun rays – which sounds in itself simple, but isn´t:
- Sunrays have to hit earth at a specific angle, which occurs only between June and September, and only between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. only then they are strong enough
- You´re not allowed to use any sunscreen, since this would inhibit vitamin D3 synthesis
- At least arms and legs must be fully exposed to sunlight
Simply put – if you don´t have a job, where you work outside and skip the use of sunscreen (and risk serious sun-caused damages), you have almost no chance to get enough vitamin D3 through sunlight. Additionally, from October to end of April, sunrays are not strong enough in Central Europe to start D3 synthesis in our skin
What to do?
Good news – there a lot of foods, containing vitamin D3. Bad news – you have to eat a lot of them to get enough vitamin D3 out of it. Examples? 1.5 kg avocado, 1.6 kg veal, 1 kg tuna or 3 kg mushrooms will give you the same support than one tiny capsule of GoPrimal D3 will do. This might look like heaven on earth for carnivores at first sight – but is probably hard to turn into reality – much easier it is, to get Vitamin D3 intake into your daily routine, like before going to bed or first thing in the mourning together with breakfast – make sure you take a D3 supplement which includes a fat source, like coconut oil – this will boost the absorption by up to 45%! Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26874878 https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77957808040&origin=inward&txGid=6f3341fc5877c62d18532a803cf51103 https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Citation/2017/02000/Effects_of_Vitamin_D_Supplementation_on_Muscle.36.aspx
