Optimizing Muscle Growth with Zinc

As an elite athlete or someone who trains with any sort of intensity, it’s easy to become deficient in micronutrients if you aren’t staying on top of your daily nutrition. And when it comes to a nutrient you don’t want to be low in, where would zinc rank on your list? If you know anything about this vital nutrient, you should understand its benefits and why it should be prioritized when it comes to optimizing muscle growth.

Grueling workouts can leave you in a pool of sweat. Other than electrolytes like sodium, what else do you lose through sweat? Zinc. If not replenished through consuming foods that contain zinc or through proper supplementation, you may be pumping the brakes on your muscle growth potential.

In this article, we will look at what zinc is, how it plays a role in optimizing muscle growth, and what you can do to ensure you don’t become deficient.

What is Zinc? 

Zinc is an essential trace mineral found in some of the foods we consume on a regular basis, such as red meat, eggs, fish, dairy, seeds, nuts, and legumes. Being a trace mineral, your body does not require a high amount of the nutrient in order to see its benefits.

Why would it be important to focus on foods that contain zinc or even supplements that include it in their formula? It’s because your body isn’t able to produce zinc. Therefore, you need to ingest it to prevent deficiencies and reap the benefits. 

Once in the body, you can find zinc in the muscles, brain, kidneys, and eyes — helping improve the overall health and functioning of each. 

If you’ve ever been sick and looked at some of the over-the-counter medication, you may notice that zinc is one of the added ingredients. Why? We’re going to touch on that along with how zinc can help build muscle in the next section.

3 Ways Zinc Helps Maximize Muscle Growth 

Since you’re reading this article on the Evogen Nutrition website, we can assume that you’ve been using supplements for at least a little. That said, you have probably heard about the effects that zinc has on muscle growth. 

Below, we will look at three ways zinc helps with optimizing muscle growth and why being deficient can stall your results.

1. Increase Testosterone

If you’re trying to add quality lean mass to your frame, you need to ensure your testosterone levels are normalized and not low. To help with this, zinc can be implemented into your nutrition program or supplement regimen. 

One thing to be aware of is that at the age of around 30, your natural testosterone production is going to start dropping. You can thank Father Time and the natural aging process for this. But if you’re 30+, that doesn’t mean you can’t maximize muscle growth. And again, zinc comes into play. 

Related Article: 5 Ways Testosterone Enhances Health

Zinc has many roles in the body when it comes to optimizing muscle growth. Zinc can help increase testosterone levels by supporting the health of the cells in the testes. Research has shown that daily supplementation of zinc can help increase free testosterone levels. When you increase free testosterone levels, you put yourself in a prime position to promote muscle growth.

2. Support Recovery 

The faster you can recover between sets and post-workout will determine your muscle growth potential. If optimizing muscle growth is what you’re after, zinc can help improve your recovery.

Getting enough zinc in your diet or utilizing a zinc supplement can help support protein structures, chemical reactions, enzymes in the body, and the creation of new cells and cellular function — all of which play a role in building muscle through improved recovery.

If your recovery is poor, you’ll need to spend more time resting a particular muscle group before being able to train it again. 

Taking things a step further, due to the ability of zinc to help protect cells from being destroyed, this can aid in muscle preservation and prevent your body from breaking down your muscles (which is incredibly important during something such as a cut or when you are sick). This actually leads us nicely into our last way that zinc plays a role in optimizing muscle growth.

3. Boost the Immune System 

How good are your workouts when you’re sick? Terrible, right? You want to keep your immune system shielded and able to fight off foreign pathogens, bacteria, and viruses that want to do the body harm. Zinc is here to help add an extra layer of protection.

When you’re low in zinc or have a deficiency, the chance of your immune system being compromised is increased. With adequate zinc levels, the mineral is able to go out to vital cells (such as natural killer cells) and carry out a seek and destroy mission on foreign pathogens and inflammation — helping to eliminate both from doing harm.

Zinc is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent that helps boost the immune system and improve health. And as we all know, you’re able to train hard and optimally when you’re healthy and feeling good, which can lead to increased muscle growth.

Fix Your Micronutrient Deficiencies!

It doesn’t take much to fix a zinc deficiency. You have two options to choose from — eat more foods that contain zinc or supplement with zinc. 

That said, there is a better option out there that can check off many boxes that you should be focusing on when it comes to micronutrients, and that’s including a quality multivitamin in your daily supplement regimen. 

Evogen Nutrition Evovite can put your mind at ease, knowing that you’re getting all the vitamins and minerals you need in one easy-to-use supplement. Evovite helps ensure you fill all the nutrient gaps that you may be experiencing in your diet. While zinc is one of the ingredients found in the formula, the use of Albion^® Certified Chelated Minerals ensures the highest quality and potency available.

What you get with Evogen Nutrition Evovite is superior bioavailability, performance and recovery enhancements, health and organ support, and all the key nutrients needed for optimizing muscle growth (a total of 25+ essential nutrients and ingredients). If you want something more than a strict zinc product, look no further than Evogen Nutrition Evovite.