Ditch the supplement NO2 and eat those weird purple veggies

So. You've been working out, going to bed early, eating clean and living healthy for about a year now; you feel like you have a decent amount of knowledge. You're more natural so you go to you're local supplement shop and find a supplement with the name along the lines of "NO2 extreme" or "NO2 blast", so you pick that bottle up and you read that it increases vascularity and pump! Sweet! Natural, shredded and pumped?! Take my money! 

But hold on there Charlie ol' boy!✋. Let me tell you how you can ditch that supplement and get the same results with better benefits! 


What is it?

Nitric oxide or NO for short, is produced by the body naturally. There are many ways it is produced but to keep it minuscule: Vascular endothelial cells produce NO and L-Arginine is the pathway for it. 

💪When it comes to the supps, they are filled with all those juicy amino acids. As well as B12 boosters and sometimes caffeine.


What is it used for? 

Study's have shown that people who have high blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes, ED, poor vasularity in veins, headaches and many other things should consume more L-arginine. 

To put it simply NO and L-arginine are produced by cells in the blood. 

In the fitness realm, it is used for greater pumps and increase in vascularity,. Meaning its going to make your blood thinner so it can travel to/through the muscles/body more efficiently. 

So what else should you be consuming instead?

BEETS/Juice

In a study conducted Lee J Wylie they tested the effects of Beet root juice:

"It appears that these effects are related to NO2 or NO-mediated enhancements of muscle contractile function (2, 17) and/or mitochondrial efficiency (24) and/or enhanced muscle blood flow, especially to type II fibers (14). Importantly, a reduction of the O2 cost of exercise (25, 37) and improved exercise performance (21) has also been reported as early as 2.5 h following a single dose of dietary NO3−, which is consistent with the time required for the peak plasma [NO2−] to be attained (39)."Its hard to say how much to consume, but to be honest I was getting good results with two 6-8oz glasses a day

Full disclaimer: I personally take the supplement creatine and have been for over 5 years now. It is possible that the combined creatine and beet root juice gave me greater results that just consuming them individually. Also, this stuff is nasty so i like to put some cranberry juice in with it.

When to consume it? I found the best results consuming 7 oz with 1 oz of cranberry post workout and before bed.

💪Keep in Mind that regardless of what anyone or anything says, supplements are synthetically created and are not "natural".