Juicing For Muscle Gains – 5 Recipes To Try Today

If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about juicing. After all, countless health blogs tout it as the best way to lose weight, detox your body, and cure any disease under the sun. While these claims are not exactly true, we can’t deny that juicing can be an excellent way to get more essential nutrients into our body.

Not only are vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants great for your overall health, ensuring your body is getting enough of them can actually help you get more fit!

Freshly pressed juice is loaded with potent nutrients that can help boost your energy levels, improve digestion and insulin sensitivity, balance hormones like testosterone and cortisol, and regulate blood sugar levels - effects that help your body to add more muscle.

Below are five great recipes to try to speed up those muscle gains.

Picking the Right Juicer

Before we move on to the delicious and nutritious juices though, there are a few things you should know about picking the right juicer.

If you’re serious about making juicing a regular part of your lifestyle, you should invest in a good quality juicer. Masticating and twin gear juicers are great for processing all types of produce, including leafy greens such as spinach and chard, and will give you the best value for your money. This buying guide by Wicked-Reviews.com talks about the best juicers on the market today.

1. Build Muscle: Beetroot and Parsley Juice (2 Serves)

A handful of parsley

A handful of beet greens

A couple of leaves of chard

1 beet

3-4 carrots

2 celery stalks

1 lemon

Put all ingredients in a juicer, process them well and serve cold before your workout.

Why It Helps

Chard, beet greens and parsley are high in magnesium, a mineral that’s necessary for more than three hundred biochemical functions in your body. Lowering cortisol levels, regulating blood pressure and improving energy production and sleep quality are just a few of these functions. And research says higher magnesium levels can boost protein synthesis, fat metabolism, and testosterone production.

2. Muscle Strength: Beetroot and Apple Juice (2 Serves)

2 apples

2 medium-sized beetroots

1-2 carrots

2 cups of spinach

Half a cucumber

Ginger to taste

Half a lemon

Cut all ingredients and run through the juicer. Serve fresh before heading to the gym.

Why It Helps

Popeye was right: eating spinach does make your muscles stronger! The beets and spinach in this recipe are full of nitrates that according to latest research increase muscle strength and its contraction force. The nutrient also helps lower blood pressure by widening blood vessels and thus helps your body use oxygen more efficiently during your workout.

3. Prevent Muscle Damage: Watermelon and Sour Cherry Juice (2 Serves)

2 cups of cut watermelon

1 cup of pitted sour cherries

1 peeled orange

This is the easiest juice to make! Just peel the orange and remove the rind of the watermelon and throw it in your juicer. Best served cold before your workout.

Why It Helps

Research shows that sour cherries can reduce muscle soreness and exercise-induced muscle damage. Watermelon is full of antioxidants (lycopene) that protect your endocrine system from toxins and damage. Lycopene helps clean your kidneys and produce more hormones such as testosterone, which is essential for fat loss and muscle growth. All ingredients are also high in vitamin C, which keeps your joints healthy and protects your immune system.

4. Replace Electrolytes: Orange and Lemon Juice (1 Serve)

1 peeled orange

1 peeled lemon

1 peeled lime

1 cup of water

2-3 teaspoons of honey

A bit of salt

Mix salt and honey with water until dissolved. Juice all citrus fruits and mix the extract with salt water. Or if you don’t have a juicer, mix all ingredients in a blender and drink it as a smoothie. Serve cold.

Why It Helps

Citrus fruits are great sources of electrolytes, minerals that help regulate our muscle and nerve function, blood pressure, and our body’s hydration. Electrolytes also help repair muscle tissue, so this natural sports drink is best consumed after a long gym session.

5. Muscle Recovery: Carrot and Tomato Juice (1 Serve)

5-6 carrots

1 large ripe tomato (cut into cubes and frozen)

1 peeled lemon

A handful of cilantro

Half a cup of coconut water

Peel the carrots and throw into a juicer with frozen tomato cubes, lemon, cilantro, and coconut water. Consume fresh after a workout.

Why It Helps

Tomatoes are high in antioxidants, especially lycopene, which helps protect our endocrine system. Research also shows tomato juice can help regulate blood sugar levels and speed up muscle recovery. Coconut water is high in electrolytes that need to be replaced after sweating.

Wrapping It Up

These are just some of the ways you can use healthy vegetables and fruits to build muscle, protect it from damage and help it recover faster. All you need is a little bit of time, a good quality juicer, and some patience to figure out what you like. If you want to change one thing about your lifestyle, juicing might be just what you’re looking for!

Author: Karmen Saar

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