Developing strong muscles will not only enhance your aesthetic appeal, but having strong muscle fibers also protect your body from injury, increase athletic performance and reduce body fat concentrations.
In order to increase the size of your muscles, you must perform regular strength training and cardiovascular exercises while adopting a healthy eating habit. However, as you are probably aware, supplements are quite popular among those who wish to gain muscle mass.
While the bulk of muscle building supplements offer false or grossly exaggerated claims, nitric oxide has been proven in scientific studies to enhance the strength and size of muscle fibers (Source). Yet, like most supplement, nitric oxide is not ideal for everyone.
What is Nitric Oxide?
Nitric oxide is a naturally occurring gas produced by your body, and its primary role in your body is to support information transmission between bodily cells. Nitric oxide is also responsible for supporting blood flow by keeping blood vessels dilated while simultaneously reducing blood pressure (Source).
Although nitric oxide products claim you are supplementing with actual nitric oxide, these products actually contain the amino acid L-arginine, which is then converted to nitric oxide once consumed (Source).
Effects on Muscle Growth:
Upon writing this article, the medical community is currently debating the actual effects nitric oxide has on muscle growth; however, a preliminary study published by the Los Angeles Times found participants who were given L-arginine showcased no significant changes in muscle size and strength when compared to the placebo group (Source).
Although this study suggests there is very little benefit of nitric oxide supplements, Exercise Biology states this gas enhances protein synthesis within your body, which will in-turn promote a higher degree of muscle growth (Source).
According to the University of New Mexico when your muscles are injured through exercise, satellite cells located around muscle fibers are activated. When called upon, these cells begin to fuse together while simultaneously fusing to surrounding muscle fibers. This action results in not only an increase in muscle fiber thickness, but also an increase in the number of muscle fibers. However, muscle growth only occurs when protein synthesis outweighs muscle protein breakdown (Source). Since nitric oxide enhancing protein synthesis, it may indirectly support muscle development when combined with a high protein diet or protein supplements (Source).
References Used:
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/09/health/la-hew-askus9jul09
Los Angeles Times: What Can Nitric Oxide Do For Me?
http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/musclesgrowLK.html
University of New Mexico: How Do Muscles Grow?
http://www.exercisebiology.com/index.php/site/articles/does_nitric_oxide_no_supplements_work/
Exercise Biology: Does Nitric Oxide (NO) Supplements Work?