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NO2 Nitric Oxide - Pump Up Your Muscles

Also known as a hemodilator, many say is very good along with creatine. The effect is said to give you a pump feeling that lasts throughout the day. Marketing boasts that this supplement can improve muscle growth as well as recovery time.

There are several brands to choose from and many hope that like creatine, NO will drop in price as more people add this to their supplement program.

In further research of this product, a vegetarian fitness expert who frequents a forum has this to say about what the product essentially is and what it is used for.

“The term "Nitric Oxide Supplement" is a bit of a misnomer. You can't actually ingest Nitric Oxide (NO) in any meaningful way; rather, products that fitness and bodybuilding enthusiasts refer to as "NO Supplements" work by supplying the raw materials for the body to produce NO. The primary active ingredient in all Nitric Oxide (NO) supplements is the amino acid, L-Arginine. Nitric Oxide and Citrulline are the two principal compounds produced when Nitric Oxide Synthase acts upon L-Arginine in the endothelial cells of cardiac muscle, smooth muscle, and other cell types. Among the many important cardiac functions attributed to NO, the one of primary significance to bodybuilders is its vasodilatory function. That is, Nitric Oxide dilates blood vessels, thereby increasing nutrient delivery to (and waste removal from) the muscles.”

Most users of this product have found it aided in their fitness goals (lean, vascular, pumped, hard, size gains, recovery etc) and enjoyed the results although expensive. One of the individuals who offered information based on their experience using this product found as the others that it was useful but found that his body did adjust to the dose making him have to increase the dose slightly as time went on. I would say this gives warrant to cycling the product to ensure effectiveness when in use.

Another individual expressed an incidence of lightheadedness for a few seconds and effects similar to stimulants but these things will all depend on brand, dosage and other supplements being taken so at this point I would hesitate to say this is a common side effect.

The bottom line to me seems that it has become mainly popular due to the pump effect it gives to those who use it. People need to feel the burn, feel the effects of weight training and this is another way to enhance this as well as the appearance of being harder and more muscular. Studies have yet to prove any concrete information of this supplement actually increasing muscle growth or recovery but like other supplements, getting all the right study variables done and doing so non biased is probably an impossibility.

In my opinion unless you are adverse to or have any reason to avoid stimulant type supplements then you can go ahead and try it out for yourself to see if it gives you the desired results but those who may not feel comfortable with the rush feeling and possible side effect as mentioned above, rare or not, you may want to sit this out for a bit and try it out at a later date. Something as simple as a B vitamin can give you a flush result so do not think NO is bad or scary, its just like any other supplement, you need to be well informed first.

By Linda Cusmano