If I ask you: “what is a bodybuilder?”, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? My guess is muscular men. It has been a common stereotype that bodybuilders are those who lift heavy weights that aim to have defined rock-hard muscles. Others will even think about those people with huge muscles that lather oil onto their body and then starts posing and flexing on top of a stage. Well, those are bodybuilders, too – competitive bodybuilders. However, they are not the embodiment of bodybuilders because believe it or not, bodybuilding has a broad definition.
Bodybuilders are those who aim to build a better body. If you workout to make your body look and feel better, then you are a bodybuilder. You do not have to lift heavy weights to consider you as one. What a better body looks like also differs from each and every one. As long as your goal is to have a better body, then you are one.
Aside from lifting heavy weights and working out, bodybuilders also add supplementation for them to be able to reach their strength and body goals. There are a lot of supplements out there that are taken for several different reasons and enhance different factors. However, this article would like to focus on the “rising star” of supplements: Epicatechin.
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What is Epicatechin?
Epicatechin is a natural compound, a flavonol to be specific, that can be extracted from different plants like cocoa and tea. Since its discovery, there are studies that were conducted and are being conducted to test its effectivity on a person’s health. Moreover, there are already proven benefits from people who have tried it. Here are the said benefits that can really be interesting to both bodybuilders and non-bodybuilders:
1. It helps in growing lean muscle mass.
One main benefit that a bodybuilder looks for a supplement is that it must help in growing his or her muscle mass or for “bulking” up. Epicatechin is a great ingredient for that, According to a study, epicatechin is a molecule that inhibits myostatin and helps promote follistatin. Myostatin is a protein in your body that hinders muscle growth while follistatin, on the other hand, hinders myostatin signalling. This means that epicatechin helps follistatin in promoting the growth of your muscles. One box off of a bodybuilder’s checklist.
2. It helps with endurance.
Aside from growing lean muscle mass, a bodybuilder takes supplements that can help him a better performance or endurance in lifting heavier weights and working out. And of course, epicatechin can help a bodybuilder with that. It helps boost nitric oxide in a body which in turn widens blood vessels for better blood flow. This results in better endurance and other important health benefits like lower cholesterol and increase of sensitivity in insulin.
3. It is a natural supplement.
The best thing about Epicatechin is that it is an organic ingredient which means it has no harmful chemicals mixed in it. It also has antioxidant properties that can boost a bodybuilder’s health. To make the most out of it, it is advised to take this 1-2mg for every kg of body weight daily.
4. It has no side effects.
Lastly, it has been proven from these studies that epicatechin has no side effects. It doesn’t even affect your hormones which makes it suitable for women as well.
If you want a safer and natural supplement, then epicatechin is great for you. All you have to do now is find the best product. Click for epicatechin’s more in-depth information on how it works and where to find the best epi supplements.
About Carson Derrow
