Mega dosing vitamins

[tom_power]

Hi Rip,

I have been reading Starr's The Strongest Shall Survive. In the nutrition section he recommends mega dosing vitamins A, C, E along with taking a B-complex, doses recommended were 5g of vit C per day and equilvelent high doses of the others. He then gives examples of how lifters have made large increases in strength when megadosing vs times when they were not mega dosing.

What do you think of the mega dosing of vitamins for strength gains?

Presumably this approach is less appropriate for novices as they are making fast gains already, however i am a competitive powerlifter of 6 years, so do you think it may be of benefit to me?

Thanks, Tom

[Mark Rippetoe]

I think it works for certain people, and that there is absolutely no reason not to try it for yourself to see if it works for you.

[Dastardly]

Ive heard that overdoing vitamin B can lead to muscle weakness which happens to some people on heavy carnivorous diets.

One of the most valuable to overdose on would probably be vitamin D. Well for people who do not get enough sun anyway. It is actually not a vitamin at all and cannot normally be gained from diet. It is produced in/on the skin during sun exposure.

It has important effects for growth & sports performance aswell as the commonly known bone strength factor.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Ive heard that overdoing vitamin B can lead to muscle weakness which happens to some people on heavy carnivorous diets.

I've never heard that at all, not even once, from anybody. And there is no such thing as "Vitamin B."

[Raskolnikov]

Ive heard that overdoing vitamin B can lead to muscle weakness which happens to some people on heavy carnivorous diets.

I've heard of vitamin D toxicity causing muscle weakness (you'd have to take an obscene amount of the stuff over a long period of time), but I've never heard of one of the B vitamins having that effect (most are non-toxic).

[Kincain]

this might be an interesting read about how vitamin C and E affect muscle growth in elderly and younger people, aparently high doses have better effects on elderly people than for younger people.

http://www.ergo-log.com/vitamincmoremuscle.html