This post may contain affiliate links which may generate a small commission from clicks that result in a purchase.
How good is olive oil for bodybuilders? Quality olive oil has a rich nutritional profile, including antioxidants and monounsaturated fatty acids useful for bodybuilding. Antioxidants reduce cellular damage while monounsaturated fats stimulate protein production for muscle growth.
When it comes to foods to help put up muscles, most regimens will recommend fish, eggs, and grilled chicken; for a good reason, these foods are low in saturated fats and high in proteins and help put up muscles with little to zero burden on your heart. However, they are not the only food option for a wannabe bodybuilder. Foods like avocados, venison, ostrich, and olive oil can help you beef up too.
Here we focus on olive oil and its benefits to bodybuilders.
What is Olive Oil?
Olive oil is made from olive fruit juice – this fruit is a native of the Mediterranean region. It is a significant component of the region’s diet. With the Mediterranean diet being lauded as the best diet to reduce cancer risk, heart disease, and excess body weight, olive oil is gaining popularity worldwide.
People press the oil from the fruit and use it in cooking, medicine, cosmetics, soaps, and other practical olive oil uses. You can also dip bread in the oil, use it to dress salads, or just ingest a spoonful for different body health benefits.
100g of olive oil contains 73g monounsaturated fats, 14g saturated fat, 11g polyunsaturated fat, 2mg sodium, 1mg potassium, 3 % sodium, and plenty of antioxidants. Read more about olive oil’s nutritional values and calories.
Best Olive Oil for Bodybuilders
But not all olive oils are equal; if you are going to use olive oil to build muscles, make sure to use the right kind. Always use extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) instead because it is the highest grade among oils, healthier, and retains more bioactive compounds and antioxidants from the olive fruit. Experts do not recommend refined olive oil since it is processed olive oil and has lower nutritional value.
Remember to carefully examine labels, making sure you are ponying up for the right product. There’s a lot of dishonestly in the oil market, though you can learn tips on how to choose olive oil brands to trust and check if olive oil real or fake at-home articles.
For instance, Kalamata olive oil is known one of the best extra virgin olive oil worldwide. Therefore Oliviada olive oil is 100% pure unfiltered extra virgin olive oil made by a local Greek family in Kalamata.
What are Benefits of Olive Oil for Bodybuilding?
1. Stimulate Protein Production for Muscle Growth
Olive oil has plenty of oleic acids, a monounsaturated acid that stimulates protein production and synthesis. This makes it essential for treating loss of muscle mass due to aging. You can combine it with fish oil, another food rich in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids.
2. It’s Rich in Muscle-Building Calories
If you want to build muscles using a muscle-building diet, fats should contribute 20-35 % of your calories. Olive oil helps achieve this target. 100g of the oil packs 884 calories; this makes it significantly good calorie-dense.
The advantage is that olive oil rarely causes weight gain; in fact, it’s linked to weight loss. In a two- and half-year study, 7,000 Spanish university students, consumed a significant amount of olive oil and reported no weight gain.
Olive oil can help keep your weight as desired while supplying your body with energy, antioxidants, and also minerals.
3. Increases sensitivity to insulin
Type 2 diabetes has been linked to deterioration in skeletal muscle mass. Olive oil helps keep this type of diabetes at bay. It is rich in fiber, which takes time to digest, thus preventing considerable blood sugar fluctuations.
4. Prevents collapse of muscle fibers
The antioxidants in olive oil help fight free radicals in the body, protecting tissues from damage. Free radicals are byproducts of metabolism. They are very highly reactive molecules; they react with polyunsaturated fatty acids in nucleotides of DNA and cellular membranes leading to cellular breakdown and chronic health problems such as inflammation and emphysema.
Putting up muscles when there are plenty of free radicals in your body is going to be hard. The same goes for exercising when sore due to inflammation; it is going to hurt really bad. Olive oil reduces inflammation and prevents tissue damage leading to muscle growth and enjoyable workout sessions.
5. Enhances joint health
Piggybacking on olive oil benefits against inflammation; joint pain can be helped with olive oil too. Joint pain affects millions of folks around the world. Arthritis is the leading cause of joint pain.
Joint pain can keep you from exercising and building muscles. The chronic joint pain will also stress you out, leading to poor health. Olive oil has anti-inflammatory properties that can help heal from joint pain. The antibodies in the oil also prevent cartilage damage leading to healthy joints.
Olive oil benefits after workouts
Does olive oil help with muscle pain? Olive oil’s anti-inflammatory and pain suppressing properties make it a tremendous after-workout drink.
Research shows that 3 tablespoons of olive oil are roughly equal to 10 percent ibuprofen dosage for a single person. Use olive oil after strenuous physical routines to reduce pain and accelerate healing.
Generic FAQs:
How to use olive oil for bodybuilding?
To add more olive oil to your diet, you can cook with it, use it to dress salads, dip bread in it instead of butter, etc. You can also use olive oil to substitute other cooking oils in your recipe when baking, sautéing, or even frying. Also, you can just ingest a spoonful of good-quality olive oil for different body health benefits.
How much olive oil per day for bodybuilding?
In as much as olive oil rarely leads to weight gain, it should be consumed in moderation. Use extra virgin olive oil according to the intensity of your physical workouts. u003cstrongu003eIt can be as low as 50ml or as high as 200ml daily. u003c/strongu003eExperts recommend a tablespoon or two of olive oil in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon to gain energy and support muscle mass.
Check out our article about drinking olive oil benefits first thing in the morning.
Conclusion on Olive Oil for Bodybuilders
You cannot talk about muscle building without talking about olive oil. Olive oil is an easily digestible high-calorie nutritious food source that provides antioxidants, minerals, and monounsaturated fats that support muscle mass.
Just make sure to get the best quality extra virgin olive oil, aka EVOO, and use it according to your workouts’ intensity for the maximum health benefits.
Read Next
Learn More
Hi, I’m Vangelis Kleftogiannis, the founder of Oliviada and an established olive oil expert from Kalamata, Greece. My expertise isn’t just in producing quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but also in the cultivation and care of olive trees themselves. I am deeply committed to sharing my knowledge and know-how, helping others understand the intricacies of olive tree growing and the creation of quality olive oil.