If you’re new to the bodybuilding scene and have been looking at supplements you can use to enhance muscle growth, nootropics will probably be one of the last products on your mind. But as you progress through bodybuilding, you’ll soon realize that you also need a strong mind to maintain the consistency you need to get results.
Sure, proteins and peptides can help increase your muscle gains and speed up recovery, but what about the days when you don’t feel motivated or focused enough to do your routine? That’s right, your muscle supplements won’t be of any help when you’re not even doing your routine in the first place.
This is where nootropics become an invaluable addition to a bodybuilder’s supplement stack.
What Are Nootropics?
Also known as brain boosters, with supplement forms popularly referred to as “smart drugs,” nootropics are compounds or nutrients that can help enhance major brain functions like memory and retention, focus, concentration, alertness, and creativity.
Nootropics do this through various mechanisms. They can boost blood flow and oxygen to the brain while also transporting the nutrients it needs, protect it against toxins, enhance the production of neurotransmitters, and stimulate biological processes and regulate chemicals in the brain necessary for cognitive efficiency.
Nootropic supplements can come from either natural or synthetic sources. However, most synthetic nootropics are developed as potential treatment for cognitive disorders and are only available as prescription drugs. This includes the racetam group of drugs, amphetamines, and more.
Sources
Our body can synthesize natural nootropic compounds like choline, which is a precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and creatine, which supports both brain and muscle function. However, their endogenous production can be negatively affected by poor diet, stress, and certain health disorders. So, as with all essential nutrients, it’s helpful to have exogenous sources, whether from food or dietary supplements.
Natural Food
Mother nature is abundant with natural nootropics, many of which we’re usually unaware of. Here are nature’s best nootropics — food sources rich in brain-boosting nutrients that can help enhance cognitive function:
Sources | Nootropic Nutrients |
| Coffee | Caffeine, antioxidants |
| Leafy greens | Lutein, folate, iron, zeaxanthin |
| Berries | Anthocyanins |
| Oily fish like salmon | Omega 3 fatty acids |
| Nuts | Resveratrol, flavonoids, Omega 3, choline, folate, iron |
| Eggs | Choline, tyrosine |
| Dark chocolate | Flavonoids, B vitamins, magnesium |
| Green tea | L-theanine, EGCG, caffeine |
| Meat, poultry, fish, and dairy | Tyrosine, creatine |
Nootropic Herbs
These herbs are popular in Ayurvedic medicine, and have been known for countless health benefits, including enhancing cognitive health:
- Ashwagandha
- Gingko Biloba
- Bacopa Monnieri
- Maca
- Rhodiola Rosea
- Turmeric
- Gotu Kola
Including food items with natural nootropics in your diet is one of the best ways to naturally boost cognitive function. However, since bodybuilders require more nutrients because of their routine’s physical demands, the use of supplements is necessary to ensure a sufficient supply of vital nutrients. Using nootropic supplements also makes it easier to get more of the specific nutrients you need without the added calories and carbohydrates.
Supplements
Many supplements for cognitive enhancement contain extracts of nootropic herbs. They’re also commonly a concoction of multiple brain-boosting ingredients to provide a good balance of nutrients and more benefits than what you can get from a regular diet.
But aside from the herb extracts and nutrients mentioned above, brain supplements may also have other active ingredients like citicoline, phosphatidylserine, MCT oil, and CBD oil.
How Nootropics Can Benefit Bodybuilders
Building and maintaining muscles require discipline and consistency in both training and diet. But since our fuel for energy can only come from food, bodybuilders must make it count. The good thing is a balanced diet with the right nutrients provides more than just energy. Here are the many ways you can benefit from nootropics as a bodybuilder:
#1 Improving Focus and Concentration
As nootropics enhance blood circulation to the brain, they can help you focus better when going through intense routines. This also helps your concentration, so you can execute each rep with proper form and finish longer and more challenging training sessions with better determination.
#2 Maintaining Motivation
Anyone who works out knows there will be days when you need a push even just to go to the gym. On top of that, you’ll also eventually hit a plateau at least a few times in your fitness journey.
Hitting a plateau can be frustrating and you’ll probably be tempted to stop training altogether. On times like these when you feel you’re no longer making progress, you’ll need more motivation than ever. This will be key to maintaining consistency in your training, which becomes even more important when you feel stuck in a plateau.
#3 Increasing Alertness and Mental Clarity
It always pays to be alert when training, especially when you’re lifting weights. If you’re training and using gym equipment with a foggy brain, you might end up causing accidents that will put yourself and other gym goers around you in danger.
Nootropics that enhance neurotransmitter function can help you retain mental clarity longer, so you can stay aware of your surroundings and your own movements, not just for safety but also for the proper execution of your routine.
#4 Sustaining Energy Without the Crash
Short-term energy boosters and pre-workout supplements with excessive sugar and caffeine come with a price: energy crash. With properly dosed nootropics, you get more than just an energy boost, you can also sustain stable energy labels without worrying about a crash where you feel more tired and spent. This is helpful when you have longer routines or have other tasks to complete after training, whether at home or at work.
A good workout session should make you feel refreshed and more energized as it also releases endorphins — the happy hormones. But you won’t get this if your energy crashes at the end. Besides, if you often feel drained after your training sessions, you may start feeling negatively towards it. Then you might end up dreading the next session instead of looking forward to it.
#5 Reinforcing mind-muscle connection
The mind’s connection to the muscles is often underestimated. But for bodybuilders, this psychological aspect of muscle training that helps with coordination can help make each rep count. When you focus better on each muscle contraction, more muscle fibers become active in the process. This, of course, can further enhance muscle growth, and with consistency, can lead to better muscle gains.
#6 Strengthening Mental Health
Nootropics are also known to help reduce stress and anxiety, which bodybuilders are prone to because of their demanding routines. Many nootropic herbs like ashwagandha and ginseng are adaptogenic too, which can help keep stress hormones under control. As stress negatively impacts one’s muscle growth and overall health, it’s important to mitigate its effects before they put your bodybuilding efforts to waste.
#7 Enhancing Physical Performance
A strong mind combined with the above benefits can contribute to a better overall physical performance in the gym. This is also because your actual physical strength can be easily influenced by your mental strength.
When you’re lifting heavier weights, you need all the focus and motivation you can muster especially if you’re trying to surpass your previous limit. And with bodybuilders, it’s all about progressing to more intense routines — whether it’s adding more reps or more weights — if you want to see results. All these can be more feasible if you have the mental strength for the physical demands of bodybuilding.
#8 Speeding Up Muscle Recovery
Nootropics are not only helpful in protecting the brain against toxins, they also have anti-inflammatory properties, which is valuable in muscle recovery. As any bodybuilder knows, ample time for recovery is just as important as consistent training.
Nootropics help increase blood flow to the muscles and reduce damage from high-intensity training. For bodybuilders, faster muscle recovery means more muscle growth and better resilience in training.
Choosing Nootropic Supplements
Now, the next question is: how do you choose the right nootropic supplements?
If you look online or in stores, you’ll probably get overwhelmed with the countless choices available in the market. But whether you’re new to nootropics or have used it before but are looking for better products, it will be wise not to jump at the first promising product you see.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when shopping around for nootropics:
- Scrutinize the ingredients and look for reliable studies on the active ingredients to determine safety and efficiency.
- Find the optimal dose for your height, weight, and age. This is best worked out with the help of a healthcare professional, especially if you have health conditions that must be taken into consideration.
- If you’re taking other supplements for muscle building, check with your doctor to ensure compatibility and avoid potential drug interactions.
- Look for reliable manufacturers and sellers, preferably with third-party testing for product quality.
Unlike prescription nootropics, dietary supplements are NOT regulated by the FDA. This makes it all the more important to exercise due diligence when buying health supplements to ensure the purity of ingredients and overall product quality.
Check our favorite shop, Modern Aminos for high-quality nootropics, and use our code wolf10 at checkout to get a 10% discount.
We also recommend reading our Guide to Nootropic Supplements for more information.
More Tips
Bodybuilders who take nootropics should stay hydrated to help facilitate proper circulation, which is necessary in nutrient delivery. Sweating during training sessions predisposes bodybuilders to mild dehydration. This affects mental function since more fluids are lost, which creates a domino effect on one’s overall physical performance.
It’s also important to maintain good sleep quality, which is essential for muscle recovery and stress control.
Lastly, if you’re using coffee or other products with caffeine as a natural nootropic, practice moderation to avoid energy crashes that can hamper your motivation and physical strength.
Wrap Up
The intensity of training required to increase muscle gains can easily take a toll on both your body and mind. If you often get brain drain and mental fatigue after working out or you just want to improve your productivity in the gym, sharpen your focus, and fine-tune your mental agility, nootropic supplements can help you make the most of your training sessions.
Just remember to only use high-quality products and consult your doctor to ensure safety and optimum dosage. Lastly, the best nootropics for bodybuilders are the ones that not only match your current supplement stack but your health profile as well.
