Bodybuilding and Juicing: The Best Juicer For Bodybuilders

Juicing (the fruit and vegetable kind, not the anabolic kind!) is something every bodybuilders should consider. Hitting the gym and pumping iron is super stressful on your body. It doesn’t matter if you’re a dude who is trying to put up huge numbers and deadlifting serious weight, or if you’re a girl who wants to develop curves and get sexy gains in order to do an IFBB bikini contest or boost your Instagram followers, you should make sure your body has the proper nutrients. Guys who want to get shredded for the beach and look great, and ladies who want to get stronger all have the same basic need for antioxidants and healthy nutrients.

As everyone knows, protein is king when it comes to gains. You won’t get results no matter how hard you train if you don’t eat right (or take the right protein). But that’s not the only thing you need. If you want your body to recover fast and not show the stress that comes with constant exercise, you need to flood the body with vital (and natural) nutrients. While some people turn to vitamins, a better way is to get these nutrients from whole fruits and vegetables.

The only problem with eating lots of fruits and vegetables is that they have lots of fiber and will fill you up. Some fruits are best eaten and not juiced—think blackberries, blueberries—but most things are better juiced. A bowl of kale is just going to full you up and leave you stuffed. That means you won’t feel hungry enough to want that egg white omelette, chicken breast, or bowl of cottage cheese. And kale doesn’t have enough protein. So while a bit of vegetables and fruits are great for fiber, to get the most benefit you will want to juice them.

The essential nutrients you are looking for in order to help your body after a workout are:

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is one of the more powerful vitamins for muscle growth. There have been studies done that show that high levels of vitamin C can reduce muscle soreness after a stressful workout. You can always take vitamin C capsules, but some people do find that they are a bit harsh on the stomach. So as opposed to taking straight ascorbic acid in pill form you can get vitamin C from a fresh juice. Some of the obvious things to juice include oranges,lemons and other citrus. However, you can also juice cranberries (which are more healthy than drinking that sugar filled junk that they sell in the store as “cranberry cocktail”). Also, don’t forget that leafy greens also have vitamin C.

Vitamin E

Aside from being one of the most powerful anti-oxidants for dealing with heart disease, Vitamin E has also been found to help with muscle issues. Muscles need to get torn in order to get larger. These small, microscopic tears require repair. Without sufficient vitamin E, people (and animals) can become sick and get “wasting disease” where they are unable to maintain muscle. One of the best sources of vitamin E is leafy greens such as spinach. You can take supplemental vitamin E, but if you do, make sure you take a natural form. There was quite a bit of debate in the scientific community a few years ago over supplemental Vitamin E. Some studies suggested that taking vitamin E could actually increase the risk of certain cancers. It turned out that the studies were done using a synthetic form of vitamin E. This synthetic Vitamin E is cheap to produce. You can spot if by the “DL” prefix to the particular form of the vitamin E being used.

The easiest way to avoid this is to just make fresh green juices.

Bromelain

This is the main enzyme that you get in pineapple. It’s incredibly powerful and important for a post workout juice. The primary reason for taking pineapple after you are done exercising is that you want the anti-inflamatory benefits of the enzyme. Bromelain is really excellent at dealing with muscle soreness as well as joint pain. So it does double duty. There are some bromelain extract pills, but its much better to get it fresh. And fresh means fresh! not canned. You don’t have to buy a whole pineapple (though you should learn how to cut, core and store a whole pineapple) you can get precut chunks. A great way to juice pineapple is to add it to a leafy green drink.The pineapple will add a nice flavor that makes spinach or kale more tasty.

Manganese

Manganese is an important mineral that is found in leafy greens such as spinach and kale, as well as in nuts and blueberries. It’s vital for collagen production, It’s also an important part in the production of superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme.

What Considerations Do Bodybuilders Have When Choosing A Juicer?

You’re mainly looking to juice leafy greens, citrus (including the skin on organic lemons) and pineapple. While berries are super healthy, they are not something that you need to juice. In fact, it’s better to get a good smoothie blender.Berries really don’t do well in juicers. That said, any other fruit or vegetable is fine.

The crush style juicer works best.

The best juicer for a bodybuilder or fitness model is one that extracts juice using a crush ( masticating) style.These juicers squeeze the liquid from vegetables and fruits using extreme pressure. They don’t produce heat, which is important when dealing with fresh juice–enzymes won’t be destroyed. Also, they are super quiet. This doesn’t really have a bearing on bodybuilders or fitness models, but it’s a nice benefit! Finally, as someone who is going to be doing serious training, you will probably want to make fresh juice at least once a day. That means you need something that is incredibly easy to clean up.

It’s also important to choose a juicer that doesn’t produce much pulp. If you do want to mix in protein powder or creatine, then you want a really clean juice that you can use to emulsify the powder in.

Vertical Juicers —Tall and Less Counter space Required

Omega–A fantastic brand. One of the pioneers in masticating juicers. They make strong, durable machines.

This is the Breville “crusher”. It’s their masticating juicer. Breville is a well respected brand. For a long time they were the big name in centrifugal juicers (not masticating) but they have now  started to make crush style juicers, which is a great because it adds more variety to the market.

My Favorite: The Workhorse!

This juicer doesn’t have some of the bells and whistles that you find in other models. It’s not a vertical design, it doesn’t have a self cleaning function, etc…. But if you want an easy to set up, super strong and durable juicer I don’t think this can be beat. It has less parts than most other juicers, so it’s quick to assemble and disassemble. It’s very strong. It’s quiet. And you get tons of juice output.