Free radicals..good for bodybuilding?!

[GiantsFan88]

i heard from an old workout partner that the more free radicals that your body has during a workout the more cell damage that will occur, hence giving the body more muscle fibers to repair resulting in a larger amount of muscle growth.

evidence of this is in the article below..
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/weik52.htm

now my question is would it be more positive to increase the amount of free radicals in my body prior to a workout there for enabling more overall muscle growth? this could be done by not supplementing vitamins C and E at all during the day, and waiting to consume them post workout.

am i over thinking this?? recently i havn't been taking any vitamin C tell after my workouts to avoid eliminating the free radicals while i workout and "need them".

comments and answers are much appreciated!! thanks in advance!

[in10city]

I think you're sort of missing the boat and have some misinformation in hand.
It would be myopic to fixate on just the effect of ROS on growth signalling and ignore their effects on other body functions [both good and bad].

Regardless, antioxidants are not detrimental to muscle growth in general, rather the opposite. You can't devalue this necessity. However, there is quite a bit of research on the influence of AOs on ROS and other growth/adaption signalling mechanisms and how these can potentially influence training-induced adaptations and impair/delay muscle recovery.

While dosing & timing of specific antioxidants can be taken into consideration, basically it all comes down to the individual and their current oxidative and inflammatory status and the influence of their training on it. It's finding that balance between preventing damage and enabling growth signalling. Some can be good if you're creating an abundance of metabolic stress.

Personally I avoid taking most AOs surrounding training [before and after] or limit the amount but for most people this is overthinking.